Premises Identification Program Ready;

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(From e-mail Tx. Animal Health Dept.)
In my opinion the only reason that independent, very much right leaning ranchers are standing for this is that they are so frightened of losing large amounts of money any time a damaged animal is found in the system but its source is not quickly located. If you had told my ancestors, they would give the government this type of control and knowledge, you would have been run out of town on a rail as a commie.

"Ranchers and other livestock facility owners from every facet of the Texas livestock and poultry industry can now sign up for a unique “premises identification number,” for their livestock facilities. The premises identification number will identify the location of livestock operations in the state. It is the first step in implementing a national system for quickly tracing livestock and poultry for disease investigations or during a disease outbreak or animal health emergency. The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) also is launching a year-long pilot project with a number of ranches, feedlots, livestock markets, slaughter plants and other facilities to test the durability and reliability of electronic ear tags, related equipment and databases for identifying and tracking individual animals.

“The national premises and animal identification system has been under development for several years, with input and ideas from nearly 70 federal and state animal health agencies and livestock industry associations,” said Dr. Bob Hillman, a member of the Secretary’s Advisory Subcommittee on the National Animal Identification System. He serves as Texas’ state veterinarian and heads the TAHC, the state’s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.

“The U.S. must have a reliable and efficient method for tracking and finding livestock and poultry during an animal disease investigation or when an animal health emergency occurs,” Dr. Hillman said. He noted that producers and organizations have discussed at great length, the need for information to remain confidential. To protect data in regards to premises and animal identification, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state-level agencies, such as the TAHC, and livestock organizations and associations are seeking national and state legislation to protect the data from public release or access.

“Regulatory agencies do not need or want access to production data, but specific information, such as the age and class of animal, as well as movement information is critical for finding potentially infected or exposed animals during a disease situation,” he said.

Today, it can take days to track the movement of livestock, to ensure that all exposed or diseased animals have been detected, Dr. Hillman pointed out. He predicted that, by 2008, when the national system is fully implemented and mandatory, tracking livestock movements could be streamlined, greatly enhancing disease eradication efforts. He stressed that the ability to rapidly identify animals and trace livestock or poultry movements is crucial to an effective animal disease response.

Dr. Hillman explained that the national animal identification system, also called “NAIS,” has two major components. The first, he said, is the unique premises ­ or facility ­ identification, which identifies the location of livestock operations. This seven-character alphabetic and numerical ‘address’ is to be assigned to ranches and other sites where livestock or poultry are maintained or moved. Premises information will reside on a database, managed by each state and accessible only by animal health officials.