USDA and Cattlemen Partner to Register Premises
News Date December 05, 2007
USDA and the National Cattlemen's Foundation in cooperation with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) have announced a partnership to facilitate the registration of additional cattle premises as part of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). USDA previously announced similar cooperative agreements with other agriculture organizations to provide education and outreach for the animal ID system.
The cooperative agreement with the cattlemen's association will include print, television and other educational outreach efforts to promote the animal ID system to producers. NAIS is a voluntary program and consists of three components: premises registration, animal identification and tracing. The premises registration component of NAIS ensures the availability of a nationwide communications network to assist livestock owners and animal health officials in the event of an animal disease event.
USDA also announced that it will soon release a business plan to advance animal disease traceability. That plan outlines strategies to be undertaken to help achieve the long term goal of NAIS which is to retrieve sufficient trace forward and traceback data within a 48 hour window. This will allow animal health officials to trace a disease back to its source, which ultimately protects other premises and cattle from the adverse economic impact of a disease outbreak. (Contact: Bob Ehart)