03/31/05Different ID system

There's a lot of research on animal ID right now, but it's not really a new idea. I'm Jeff Keane and I'll be right back with some thoughts. The National Animal Identification System is our nation's attempt at an answer to competing in global trade and having the ability to pinpoint disease outbreaks quickly. To accomplish this goal many methods are being tested from ear tags and hot brands to bar codes and retinal scans. Now, most livestock producers know their animals and many old-time and contemporary stockmen are uncanny about recalling every horse or cow in a herd. One old-timer in our area had a herd of 150 to 200 horses. At one round-up, the horses were just gathered, still circling and dusting up the corral, when he crawled upon the fence and told his brother that Badger, the bay horse with black spot was not there. When the dust settled and the horses were sorted, Badger wasn't there. Another neighbor didn't have ear tags in his cows, but when we bought them and put in ear tags so we would know their ages, he stated their ages before we read the brucellosis vaccination ear tattoos. I think he only missed five out of 80 head. Like many others, these stockmen knew their animals by their own knowledge, but it's a little cumbersome to place a cow in a national ID system by identifying her as the cow that the skunk sprayed in 2002 while she was grazing by a lone pine tree that lighting struck in 1999. I'm Jeff Keane.