11/12/2004 8:26:38 PM
Voluntary Western US Cattle ID Plan Seen Ready In 2 Weeks
PASCO, Wash. (AP)--A voluntary pilot program geared toward tracking and
identifying cattle in seven Western states should be up and running in the next
two weeks, according to organizers.
Northwestern U.S. beef industry leaders announced plans in May to implement a
pilot animal identification system. The goal is to meet a new requirement by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture that ensures a diseased animal or tainted
meat can be traced within 48 hours.
The ability to trace livestock became crucial following the discovery of the
first U.S. case of mad-cow disease in a Washington state Holstein late last
year.
Already, ranchers in seven Western states have volunteered to enroll about
10,000 head of cattle in the program, said Rick Stott, chairman of the
Northwest Pilot Project and vice president of business development for Boise,
Idaho-based Agri Beef Co.
Organizers are aiming for ranchers to enroll about 27,000 animals in the
pilot project - 22,600 beef cattle and bison, 3,300 dairy cattle and 1,100
sheep. Given the early interest, Stott said he expects to see closer to 35,000
animals enrolled by September 2005.
Ranchers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California and Hawaii
may participate in the program. As an incentive, producers can receive 75 cents
for each data entry for each animal as it is traced from birth or purchase
through death or sale.
The Web-based program will list participants, Stott said, but keep livestock
information confidential except to state and federal officials. Cattlemen,
feedlot owners and meat packers hope the system will serve as a model for a
national identification system.
"We have an opportunity on important regulations that will be as big, as
huge, as the brand laws in the 1800s. This program will survive," Stott told
about 150 ranchers at the Washington Cattlemen's Association annual meeting.
"It's really important that we have our input into it."
The USDA announced Dec. 23, 2003, that the nation's first case of mad-cow
disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, had been
discovered in a Mabton, Wash., dairy cow. Investigators traced the cow's
origins to Canada days later, but not before dozens of countries closed their
markets to U.S. beef products.
People who eat beef tainted by the aberrant protein believed to cause mad cow
can contract a rare but fatal disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Voluntary Western US Cattle ID Plan Seen Ready In 2 Weeks
PASCO, Wash. (AP)--A voluntary pilot program geared toward tracking and
identifying cattle in seven Western states should be up and running in the next
two weeks, according to organizers.
Northwestern U.S. beef industry leaders announced plans in May to implement a
pilot animal identification system. The goal is to meet a new requirement by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture that ensures a diseased animal or tainted
meat can be traced within 48 hours.
The ability to trace livestock became crucial following the discovery of the
first U.S. case of mad-cow disease in a Washington state Holstein late last
year.
Already, ranchers in seven Western states have volunteered to enroll about
10,000 head of cattle in the program, said Rick Stott, chairman of the
Northwest Pilot Project and vice president of business development for Boise,
Idaho-based Agri Beef Co.
Organizers are aiming for ranchers to enroll about 27,000 animals in the
pilot project - 22,600 beef cattle and bison, 3,300 dairy cattle and 1,100
sheep. Given the early interest, Stott said he expects to see closer to 35,000
animals enrolled by September 2005.
Ranchers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California and Hawaii
may participate in the program. As an incentive, producers can receive 75 cents
for each data entry for each animal as it is traced from birth or purchase
through death or sale.
The Web-based program will list participants, Stott said, but keep livestock
information confidential except to state and federal officials. Cattlemen,
feedlot owners and meat packers hope the system will serve as a model for a
national identification system.
"We have an opportunity on important regulations that will be as big, as
huge, as the brand laws in the 1800s. This program will survive," Stott told
about 150 ranchers at the Washington Cattlemen's Association annual meeting.
"It's really important that we have our input into it."
The USDA announced Dec. 23, 2003, that the nation's first case of mad-cow
disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, had been
discovered in a Mabton, Wash., dairy cow. Investigators traced the cow's
origins to Canada days later, but not before dozens of countries closed their
markets to U.S. beef products.
People who eat beef tainted by the aberrant protein believed to cause mad cow
can contract a rare but fatal disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
