Animal I.D. Plan, designed to quickly track disease, creating frustration among Texas sale barn owners

By JULIET BRISKIN | Staff writer

May 6, 2004 -- In a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press briefing on April 27, Bill Hawks, under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, explained that the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) is currently in its implementation phase and they hope to begin issuing premises identification numbers later this year.

But, according to the USAIP website, it is recommended that all states have a premises identification systems initiated, specifically, by July 2004.

It is this type of ambiguous information regarding the program that has led to frustration and confusion throughout the animal agriculture industry.

"We do not know what the specific requirements of this program are," stated Keith Chapman, executive director for the Texas chapter of the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA). "We have the USAIP plan, but we want to know how we actually implement this. That is what everyone is vague about. They have the parameters in the plan, but the particulars of how this is going to work are not really there."

In January the national board of the LMA voted not to support the proposed USAIP. "There are too many unanswered questions," explained LMA President Billy Perrin in a LMA press release, "particularly how the plan will impact our producers, customers and markets."

While the LMA is not in support of the plan as it is currently written, it is continuing to work closely with the task force charged with developing the USAIP. The plan, which will eventually identify all food animals and livestock, is designed to create a system that will be able to trace the origin of any animal within 48 hours.

"One of our concerns has been that they pass a rule and say that it affects everybody, but they don't have any enforcement personnel other than at a livestock auction," said Chapman. "For everybody else it seems like they are saying to just do the best you can, but for us at the livestock auction we have to cross every 't' and dot every 'i.' It could have a huge impact on our business."

In an attempt to clarify this issue, the Texas LMA Chapter will hold a panel discussion at their annual meeting in Waco on May 23. Currently the panel includes Dr. Bob Hillman, state veterinarian and executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission, and Nancy Robinson, national LMA vice president for government and industry affairs. Chapman has invited Valerie Reagan from the USDA, but as of the last week in April, she had not confirmed her attendance.

"I'm still working on nailing down the panel and hopefully it will provide some answers to some of these unanswered questions," stated Chapman. "We just don't know how in the world this is going to work."

For more information on the USAIP, visit www.usaip.info.