04/10/06 USDA`s animal ID plan

American Rancher April 10, 2006 Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has unveiled USDA's implementation plan for the establishment of the National Animal Identification System, NAIS. Johanns: "This new plan outlines timelines and benchmarks for implementation of the system. It also sets an aggressive timeline for establishing a fully operational system by early 2007 and achieving full participation by 2009." USDA has also released the general technical standards for animal tracking databases that will enable integration of private systems with the NAIS. Private database owners are invited to submit applications for system evaluations to USDA and offer feedback. Johanns says USDA may be entering cooperative agreements with those private databases by June. By early 2007 the Secretary says a metadata system is expected to be in place that will allow state and federal animal health officials to begin to query the NAIS and private databases during a disease investigation. The plan and several other documents are posted on USDA's website at USDA.gov The long term goal of animal ID is to be able to identify all animals and premises that have had direct contact with a disease of concern within 48 hours of its discovery. Currently the plan is for a voluntary animal identification system but that could change. Johanns' comments on that tomorrow. I'm Bob Hoff.