09/01/05 USDA guidelines for animal i-d system

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns says there will be four guiding principles for developing a National Animal Identification System. Johanns is well aware of the confidentiality concerns of producers but he envisions a system that has a single, privately held animal-tracking repository. JOHANNS "When this system is fully implemented we expect to be able to identify all potentially affected animals in premises within 48 hours of disease detection. After all the faster we identify affected animals in premises the faster we are able to contain the disease." Johanns says the only way the system will work is if stakeholders have a role in designing it. JOHANNS "The piece of the system that is the most producer dependent is this piece dealing with tracking animal movements and so it simply makes good sense for producers to design and maintain that piece of the system." Johanns says USDA believes this is a right approach and that's why 19 million dollars were dedicated to getting the infrastructure started in 2004. This year USDA invested another 33 million, with about half of that going to cooperative agreements. Another 33 million was including in the President's 2006 budget. Johanns says more than 100 thousand premises are now registered. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott