Permanent i.d. for cattle promoted

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

March 21, 2002 -- Herd bull selection, breeding soundness, livestock marketing issues, permanent identification in livestock and foreign animal diseases were among the topics at the Lake Fork Area beef cattle seminar, March 8, in Quitman.

Dr. Glenn Rogers, with Pfizer Animal Health, spoke on the importance of permanently identifying livestock. The main reason standarized, individual permanent identification is needed is for biosecurity against foreign animal diseases.

"The purposed benefits of a national animal identification are increased market and management potential. You can't manage what you can't measure. Improved carcass quality and assurance of safety to consuming public are potential benefits," Rogers told those at the seminar.

"I was asked one time what would be the best thing to happen to improve cattle health?" he said. "Most revolutionary would be a permanent identification system that would probably change the way we do things, more than vaccines or antibiotics because then we would have better records of what was going on."

According to surveys, there is a growing trend using individual ID.

"Most cattlemen support a voluntary measure for identification," Rogers said, "but if some type of system is not in effect voluntarily within the next three years, the USDA may consider mandatory measures."

Key players for permanent identification are the National Cattlemen Beef Association (NCBA), National Institue of Animal Agriculture, beef alliances and manufacturers (such as tag makers).

There are several different methods of cattle identification. These include branding, ear tags, neck chains, brisket tags, tattooing, ear notches, wattles, electronic, and retinal imaging. Only a few of these would be acceptable for a national and permanent individual identification system.

One form of identification that fits the criteria is electronic, such as rumen boluses, ear implants, hip implants or ear tag chips. The drawback to using "non-visual" methods, such as rumen boluses or ear implants, is that some type of visual tag will also need to be used. Animals with these methods would have to go through a chute in order for the device to be read by a transceiver, according to Rogers. This method could be expensive.

An interesting way to identify cattle is with retinal imaging. Using a small camera, an individual can look at a cow's retina. Cattle retina, just like a human retina, differs from individual to individual; therefore making each cow's eye different, Rogers said.

Standards for permanent, individual identification is set by the International Standard Organization (ISO). It is important that these standards are followed to insure unique individual identification for the millions of cattle identified around the world, he added.

Some countries already have an identification system in place. In France, a photo ID of the producer is part of the packaging in some grocery stores. Canada, Rogers indicated,will have the greatest influence on the United States. Their program is managed by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) and is industry led. The cattle are ear tagged with a number that stays with that animal throughout its entire life. A flaw of this program is that all ownership is not tracked, Rogers stated. Major concerns are there is too much emphasis on herd of origin and that liability is shifted to the point of origin.

"A big obstacle of tracking is the tremendous amount of movement in the cattle market. The USDA's concerns are where did the cattle come from, whom did they associate with, and where did they go? But there is a market trace back system already in place. Cattle are tagged when they enter the salebarn, making it able to trace that animal to an owner, the rep said. The problem is that this method is not permanent and the back tags are easily removed.

Would officials and cattlemen be able to trace where a disease came from if there was an outbreak? In Europe, a national permanent identification didn't prevent the outbreaks, but it did help to find where it originated. It is speculated that Scrapie's (a sheep disease inwhich new premise ID regulations go into affect April 1) in England was involved in "mad cow disease", according to Rogers.

"There are many options and concerns surrounding implementation of a standardized, permanent national identification system. The NCBA position is that permanent ID should be voluntary and industry driven. I support that," Rogers said.