Cattlemen anticipate electronic identification regulations

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Cattleman Association President Adam Smith contemplates the reality of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) proposed rule change for animal disease traceability regulations as he tags newly birthed calves this spring.

The APHIS proposed a change to disease tracking procedure which would mandate the implementation of Electronic Identification for cattle.

According to the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association President Justin Tupper, this proposed rule change addresses concerns with record keeping requirements concerning record accuracy, quality, completeness, availability, and accessibility.

Smith says that a majority of cattlemen don’t oppose better tracking for the purposes of disease control.

According to Smith concern for disease control in light of trade with foreign countries highly influences the support of cattlemen.

“It kind of helps protect trades with other countries,” Smith said.

Smith explained the concern with disease tracing in connection to “The Cow that Killed Christmas.”

“So basically what happened in 2003, I think on Christmas Eve or something like that, they found a cow in Washington state that had foot-and-mouth disease,” Smith said. “They were able to trace where the cow came from, so there wasn't nearly as many implications.”

According to Smith, following this scare, however, trade from all export countries stopped.

Smith, along with many other cattlemen, feel that international exports of cattle will experience better protection with the improved accuracy, quality, completeness, availability, and accessibility produced with Electronic Identification.

“Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) generally supports the transition to EID as the official identification for cattle currently covered under 9 CFR, part 86, because we recognize the need for rapid and effective animal disease traces in the unfortunate event of a disease outbreak,” ICA Chief Executive Officer Matt Deppe stated in comments to the APHIS. “However, specific measures must be put in place to safeguard private information and business practices of independent cattle producers from other stakeholders in the beef cattle industry and meat supply chain.”

Deppe suggested that the new regulations include requirements that cattle ID information for disease traceability remain “confidential and strongly protected from disclosure,” and encouraged the APHIS to protect ownership information from disclosure to future owners.

Smith’s main concern surrounds the expense of tagging all their cattle with the Electronic Identification.

“There's not a lot of people that have 200, 300 head of cows,” Smith said. “There's a lot of 20 head or less herds here in the state, and you can't really expect a guy with five head of cows to buy a $1,500 reader to read those animals. It just doesn't make sense.”

“And that's where they're kind of struggling now,” he said. “If it gets pushed through and gets forced, I could see that there's going to be a consolidation in the cattle market, in the cattle herd, just because there's going to be people that aren't going to conform to it and just they'll just say, the heck with it and get out [of the industry].”

Tupper addressed some of these financial concerns within his comments to the APHIS.

“The APHIS should continue providing the readily accepted National Uniform Eartagging System (NUES) metal eartags at no cost to States and Tribes,” Tupper wrote. “[The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association] kindly requests the continuation of this program as a separate line item in APHIS’ annual budget …”

“Its current budgetary status relies on essentially scraping spare change from in between the couch cushions to fund it,” he continued. “This is an important proactive animal disease traceability program practice, and it should be treated with the same level of care as other preventative measures.”

Tupper also expressed concern that the APHIS’ proposed rule would lessen the testing requirements for tag manufacturers to obtain approval for new official identification devices.

According to Tupper the proposed rule lessens the minimum testing length from 24 months to only 12 months.

“New official identification devices must be comprehensively tested for quality and longevity,” Tupper wrote. “Reducing the testing requirements could expose the industry to faulty devices.”

Additionally, “If this proposed rule is finalized, USCA strongly urges USDA APHIS to immediately seek equivalency from U.S. trading partners in requiring EID on imported live cattle,” Tupper added.

The APHIS closed comments on the proposed rule March 20, and will take them into consideration before issuing any further regulations.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com