05/15/06 US Animal Identification Organization

There's a reason why the US Animal Identification Organization was formed. STOTT "Government is not going to solve our problems. That's reality and if they try to they'll be very inefficient and very costly." Rick Stott of AgriBeef says by mid-summer USAIO will have millions of entries logged and by fall they'll be in full swing with hundreds of thousands of events being recorded monthly. STOTT "Quite frankly it's more important to move forward with a voluntary industry driven solution than worrying about whether is mandatory at some future or voluntary. We continue to work with USDA. We continue to try to help them get a vision of where we need to go but we are moving forward at a very rapid pace." American Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen's Beef Association and National Bison Association are represented on the US Animal Identification Organization's board of directors. USAIO isn't political, nor is it regulatory but it is a producer operated data base group that was formed in January. STOTT "Confidentially and the whole thing gets taken off the table. We'll provide information to state veterinarians and to USDA as needed for animal disease surveillance but they will not have access to the full data base and so we protect the confidentiality of producers." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott