Burlington Hawk Eye, IA
10-15-06
Livestock ID program intended to track disease
Producers worry about cost of national system.
By SHAWNA RICHTER
srichter@thehawkeye.com
Should mad cow disease or Avian flu find its way to a Des Moines County
livestock herd, the disease could spread to 24 states within five days, said Byron
Leu, Iowa State University Extension center livestock field specialist.
Within a month, he said, the disease could spread to 40 states.
And that's under normal livestock movement.
While the odds are slim of that happening (the last large–scale outbreak was
Newcastle disease in 2002), the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National
Institute of Animal Agriculture have been working the past four years on a
national animal identification system. The idea is to prevent the spread of
disease, whether it occurs naturally or by bio–terrorists.
Once fully in effect, the system will allow officials to track diseased and
potentially diseased livestock within 48 hours. Now, that process can take days
or even years, said Dore Mobley, public affairs specialist with Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service, part of the USDA.
Delays cost the USDA $176 million to eradicate Newcastle disease, which finally
was controlled in early 2003, Mobley said. Hundreds of backyard flocks were
infected. Twenty–two commercial farms were hit. And an estimated 4 million
birds were "used" to stop the spread of the contagious viral disease that affects
all bird species.
NAIS isn't without its critics as everyone who owns livestock ranging from
chickens to goats, horses to hogs, cattle to elk to llamas will be affected.
George Altheide, a goat farmer in Keokuk, is strongly opposed to the new USDA
policy. But J.D. Stucker, a sheep and cattle farmer in Danville, doesn't think the
new policy will affect him much, and Julie Harrison, a horse rancher in Fort
Madison, is looking forward to full implementation of the new plan.
"This is a mammoth deal," Leu said. "There are going to be some major growing
pains."
What is NAIS?
The national plan, referred to as NAIS, eventually will require all livestock owners
to register their animals and report their movements with the national system.
Until 2008, compliance with the plan is voluntary in states where local or state
laws have not already been passed.
Under NAIS, livestock will be identified individually by a 15–character animal
identification number. In groups, if they grow and move together as one unit, a
13–digit number will be used. United States ID's will begin with 840, the
European Union country code for the exports from the U.S.
All numbered animals will be registered to a premise, which will have its own
unique seven–digit number.
Animals now entering the market can have up to five different identification
numbers because of disease eradication programs and herd management laws.
Beef, for example, have brucellosis vaccination numbers, while goats get scrapie
numbers.
NAIS would like those ID numbers folded into its system, which will be fully
operational by 2009.
What's the program's status?
All 50 states, two U.S. territories and several tribes are registering properties
where livestock "are born, managed, marketed or exhibited." The regulations
vary state to state.
By the end of this year, some states will have made it mandatory for producers to
report their livestock movements. By July 2008, it will be mandatory nationwide.
And in 2009, the USDA will start enforcing the regulation.
Until 2008, though, NAIS will be voluntary so producers and working group
representatives can help design, develop and test the system to make sure it is
practical.
The USDA is continually updating its Web site to keep livestock owners and
producers updated.
"To achieve the goal of 48–hour trace backs, all producers and affected industry
segments must eventually participate," the USDA Web site states. If the market
does not provide "incentives for participation in NAIS, it may be necessary to
establish requirements for identifying premises and animals and for reporting
animal movements."
Early next year, the USDA will send out alerts to livestock owners notifying them
of the upcoming mandatory regulations.
So far, nearly 315,000 premises have been registered, and the USDA expects to
have 475,000 registered by the end of the year. That leaves an estimated 1.6
million to be registered.
The most recent phase of NAIS was implemented in March. Animals are now
getting their 15–digit NAIS numbers called AINs.
Animals that never leave the farm of birth or are only moved for custom slaughter
for personal consumption will not have to be identified or recorded.
By January, USDA–approved private databases will be in place, recording animal
movement, and allowing state and federal animal health officials to track ID'd
animals during a disease investigation. The first private database was approved
Aug. 1. The system is run by Global Animal Management Inc.
With the Global database and others up and running, animals' movements off the
farm or premise will have to be entered into the system.
"Animal owners who choose to participate in the animal identification and
tracking components of the NAIS are not expected to report all animal
movements," the USDA Web site states. "The USDA has no interest in where all
animals are all the time."
NAIS is not a real–time system. Mobley, the public affairs specialist with the
inspection agency said the government will never be able to use global
positioning systems to identify where animals are.
Taking a horse on a trail ride with a neighbor, moving livestock from one pasture
to another, trading birds among private individuals and animals that "get out" and
visit a neighbor's land are considered "low–risk" incidents that do not have to be
reported.
Taking livestock to a fair, pigeon/swap meet show or the veterinarian pose a
greater risk of disease transmission and are therefore reportable, Mobley said.
Next year, local 4–H'ers will be required to register their livestock with NAIS and
submit reports on their animals' movements on the fairgrounds to the NAIS
system, said Martha Nelson, Iowa State University Extension Center county
youth coordinator.
With the animal movement recorded, should there be an outbreak of disease,
NAIS or state health officials could check the database, see where the infected
animal has been and when, and then cross reference it with all other animals in
the same location at the same time. Theoretically, when the entire system is
running in 2009, all the infected animals could be found within 48 hours.
"The USDA is developing the standards for collecting and reporting information,"
the USDA Web site states, "but the industry will determine which type of
identification method works best for each species."
Cattle may be best identified by ear tags, chickens by leg–banding, horses by
microchips inserted under their skin. While retinal scans and DNA methods of ID
have been suggested for use, the USDA is leaning toward radio–frequency ID
tags.
In August, the USDA approved four RFIDs for animal registration. All are ear
tags. Three are buttons, while one is a panel tag.
The only requirements of tags at this time are that they be visual and include the
840 number. This means non–RFID tags can be used.
"It's the choice of the producer if they want to go manual or use a computer,"
Mobley said. The same holds true for reporting animal movement. Producers can
manually submit the movement documents or use a computer.
While each of these steps is free so far, the USDA's $27 million mandated
funding to states will run out eventually and people will be required to register
their property and animals for a fee.
Cost for ID numbers and the respective tags already is being absorbed by the
livestock owner, and every animal that qualifies to be identified individually will
need a tag.
Preliminary estimates by Livestock Marketing Information Center put tagging cost
for a herd of 63 cows at $24.49 per head for radio frequency identification
systems. Cost for a herd of 1,250 would be $3.99 per head.
Altheide, who also is the Iowa Dairy Goat Association president and American
Dairy Goat Association board member, predicts the cost will be closer to $10 to
$15 per head for goats.
Production farms that move all livestock at once can buy a single ID for the lot,
reducing the cost per head.
Once an animal is moved through the meat production system, its number will be
retired.
Mobley said the final cost for NAIS implementation cannot be predicted.
"The USDA recognizes that cost is an issue," said Steven White, Iowa State
Animal ID coordinator. "They are trying to figure out ways to make it work without
too high a cost."
In Iowa, registering premises — the furthest the program has gotten here — is
still free. Iowa is approaching 4,000 registered premises, many of which are
packing plants and sale barns, White said. Numbering animals has not started
yet.
The state also has not passed any laws requiring residents to register their
property or livestock, and the legislature does not have any other bills concerning
NAIS proposed.
Illinois Department of Agriculture has entered into a five state consortium to
develop and maintain NAIS. The Illinois legislature has not passed any
legislation, either.
A few state legislatures, such as Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas, have passed
laws concerning NAIS. In Wisconsin, and in Indiana starting in September, it is
mandatory to register a premise. Texas has passed legislation in support of the
entire NAIS process, though mandatory premise registration does not begin until
2007.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit law firm in
Pennsylvania, has drafted a law outlawing NAIS. The draft can be used by any
city, township, county or state that is concerned with NAIS, said Stacey
Schmader, program development coordinator with the organization.
The question of confidentiality
"The USDA will only request data and combine information from databases when
animal health officials need information to respond to animal disease outbreak or
other emerging animal health concern," the USDA Web site stated. "It is
important to note that the national repositories will include information only for
animal and disease tracking purposes. ... Proprietary production data will remain
in private databases."
The USDA said livestock producers can check their own premise and animal
information but will not have access to anyone else's data.
Veterinarians and officials tracking a disease would have access to a batch of
producers' information, but they would not have access to private production
data, such as cost of a person's farm or livestock. Instead, they would have
access to premise number, location and date it was activated, name and
operation type of the entity, contact phone number, livestock numbers and dates
of livestock movement, among other relevant information.
But because producers will be logging their animal movements with private
databases, there is no guarantee the information will be kept private. That's
because, as written, it would be legal for those private companies to share or sell
that data.
NAIS is trying to get legislation passed to prohibit the practice.
Constitutional rights
Altheide said NAIS violates producers' Fourth Amendment and Fifth Amendment
rights. The CELDF draft "Liberty Township" agrees.
"Premise registration is mandatory in Wisconsin and in Texas, where it is
mandatory and required for a premise to be renewed every two years," Altheide
said. "It amounts to getting government permission to raise livestock on your own
property. I have a concern with that."
In Texas, the Keokuk goat farmer added, nothing is preventing the government
from denying someone permission to raise animals in the future.
"Fundamentally, this is a violation of our property rights," Altheide said.
As for the ID tags, people are being required to buy a number they might not
necessarily need, Altheide said. His goats are sold mostly in northeastern states,
yet he would need to buy a tag that would allow him to export his goats
worldwide.
"The worldwide ID standard is not useful on a small farm," he said.
With the ID number comes paperwork telling the government where the goats go.
"How would you like to inform the government of everywhere you went?" he said.
"All the information collected is stored on a huge database," Altheide said. "As a
veteran I know very well how the Department of Defense (kept records)."
Altheide recently received a letter stating the personal information of nearly 27
million vets was lost.
In June, USDA computers were hacked, and the names, Social Security
numbers and photos of about 26,000 current and former USDA workers was
stolen. The department later announced the information was not transferred
outside its computer system.
On the other hand, the USDA has failed the last six Federal Information Security
Management Act report cards. Its –grade has fluctuated between 56 points in
2000 to 24 in 2005. An A score is between 90 and 100.
"We're supposed to put our information in a large database to be hacked ... all for
the sake of government expediency," Altheide said. "They say it will make us
safer, but they are ignoring segments of the Fourth and Fifth amendments."
Altheide said under NAIS, veterinarians or USDA officials could come to his farm
if scrapies were found in a single goat, seize his livestock and kill them, paying
market value for the animals.
"I have a senior herd," he said. His goats are worth nearly $1,000 a piece, and
he'd earn 50 cents per pound, or a fraction of their worth, if his goats were
slaughtered by the government.
"The Fourth Amendment says you will not deprive someone of their property
without due process," Altheide said. "NAIS gives out no court orders. There is no
contesting a charge before slaughter."
While Mobley said the USDA will "most certainly not take someone's animals
without prior notification," she noted each outbreak of disease is treated
differently.
Since mad cow disease does not transfer animal to animal, Mobley said the
USDA would not have to wipe out an entire herd. A highly contagious disease
could change the story.
The control and evaluation of individual practitioners would follow the rules set by
the American Veterinary Medical Association — slaughter must be humane.
There is no mention of courts. They refer people to the Center for Disease
Control regulations.
Altheide's other beef with the plan is that this is all done without any vote,
population or congressional.
"This isn't a law," he said. "It's USDA policy."
And though it is claimed voluntary, it's not.
"Like with the scrapies program, if I wanted to sell or show an animal, I had to
volunteer for the program," he said. "That's not really volunteering."
Altheide said he's heard of national ID systems in Canada, England and
Australia. The head of the Australia Cattleman's Association said to fight NAIS
because of the market value of the animal.
" 'It doesn't work,' he said," Altheide said.
Altheide sells his goats to people along the East Coast, where people pay $40 for
the meat of a small goat. Spend $10 to $15 for a goat tag and profit drops
significantly.
It drops even further as Altheide maintains ear tags aren't appropriate ID sources
for goats; neither are microchips with their ability to move through the animal.
Should he and others turn to a bar code of sorts, meat would become
unaffordable, Altheide said. For example, he said a colleague from Illinois saw a
pork chop for sale in Vienna, complete with the bar code from the hog it came
from. The pork chop cost $8 a pound.
Altheide would sooner pay $8 per pound knowing the animal actually was tested
for disease.
NAIS won't do that.
The "Liberty Township" draft cites the First Amendment's free exercise of religion
among the other Bill of Rights violations by NAIS.
According to Mary Zanoni, executive director of Farm for Life, many Old Order
Amish and Mennonite beliefs prohibit them from registering their farms or
animals or from owning the computer and radio equipment required to record
animal movements.
The USDA maintains it is sensitive to people's religious beliefs.
"We are respectful of these beliefs and are committed to ensuring that workable
options are available to religious communities," the USDA Web site states.
"Again, NAIS is a voluntary program; those who have objections to the program
are not required to participate."
Until 2009 that is. And the USDA hasn't made any provisions for religious
opposition.
Paper trail
"NAIS is a good idea," Leu said. "But it's a huge task."
Leu said the biggest issue with NAIS will be getting people to register their
animals prior to their move to the marketplace. But he believes most people will
register and number their livestock, and reporting their animals will be just
another set of paperwork to file.
"Is it a hassle (to report animal whereabouts)?" he said. "Not really."
And many producers already leave a paper trail, he said.
He added that identifying livestock will be no different than people getting a
drivers license for identification.
"Do you think the government cares if you have 59 cows or 48?" Leu said. "Do
you think (U.S. Sen. Charles) Grassley, (Gov. Tom) Vilsack or (President George
W.) Bush cares if a farmer has an extra 15 cows? If you are doing something
illegal then you'd be nervous."
Leu maintains that all NAIS records will not be under public scrutiny. They will not
be open to neighbors or to the media. Only health officials will have access. (But
that's only if Congress passes legislation restricting the private database
operators.)
Leu knows it will take some time to get NAIS running properly, and there could
be delays in auction and sale barns until people figure the system out. Until that
time, a few more auction barns could close down.
But the people most affected by NAIS will be the breeders who will constantly
have new stock to tag and sell, he said.
Overall, though, he sees only positives from the ID system.
"Canada and Europe are much faster at tracking animals down than we are," Leu
said, and with NAIS, America might be able to catch up.
"Down the road it will have a positive impact on exporting," he added.
Leu said Japan recently opened its ports to American livestock, and with NAIS in
place, something viewed as strengthening the system, more countries will be
open to importing American livestock.
"I think (NAIS) will give more credibility to the cattle industry if they (the USDA)
get this done," said Stucker, who isn't concerned NAIS is coming.
On his Danville farm, Stucker has 80 cattle and 55 breed ewes, and of the two he
said cattle will be the bigger deal — they are more prone to lose their ID ear tags
and the cost of labor to tag them will be higher.
"I'm in the business of sheep so I have to ID them anyhow," he said. "(NAIS) is
not too big of a deal. I don't think it will affect me much."
Julie Harrison of Fort Madison believes the system is a good one. She owns five
horses.
"I think it's a great idea for a couple reasons — and not just with horses," she
said.
Horses that have microchips in them are easier to find if they are stolen.
"There are still horse thieves out there, believe it or not," she said. "And when the
economy is bad, people steal big animals to sell to research labs."
Though her horses already are tattooed and branded so she knows they are
hers, the microchips, she believes, would be a deterrent to thieves.
"Everyone I talk to is excited (about NAIS)," she said.
As for those against it, she said, "It's like anything that is subject to change. We
fight change. We're a species that does that."
Lori Prado of Fort Madison and Betty Theinberg of Fort Madison both own
horses, too. But both are sitting on the NAIS fence. If it comes, they'll enroll. If it
doesn't, they are fine with the current system.
Theinberg doesn't quite see the necessity of ID'ing horses, though.
"Cattle I understand," she said.
Will it make consumers safer?
Mary Zanoni doesn't think the system will promote added safety.
"With a lot of the diseases, I'm not sure how this (system) makes a difference,"
she said.
Zanoni said a recent USDA press release estimated that there were possibly 427
infected cows left since mad cow disease was first discovered in America, and
only two people have been infected with the human variant of mad cow disease
since then.
How many more people could be infected by the possible 427 cows when
millions of cows go through production each year?
"Other things such as foot–and–mouth disease and the Avian flu are not directly
that much of a threat to humans," she said. "(Centers for Disease Control director
Julie) Gerberding noted that people have more of a problem with salmonella than
they ever would with the Avian flu, and salmonella has nothing to do with the ID
system."
That said, NAIS ends at the slaughterhouse door.
Neither White nor Leu thinks a diseased animal would ever be processed at a
plant, though. Leu said animals are inspected prior to slaughter and are followed
through the packing plant up to the point they are cut up or ground with other
livestock.
"It's a pretty darn good system," Leu said.
Yet, in July 2002, with company inspectors in the meat packing plant, ConAgra
Beef Co. in Colorado managed to send out millions of pounds of E. coli
contaminated beef, according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Company inspectors, who tested the meat, and held some back, sent millions of
contaminated pounds out onto store shelves. More than 25 people in eight states
got sick.
Mobley said NAIS wasn't designed to keep people safer.
"The system is a preventative measure," she said. "It's not supposed to stop
incidents of disease. It is to control the spread of it."
So what's the real answer for animal and personal safety?
No one knows.