12/13/07 Clearing up some animal ID confusion

Idaho State Department of Agriculture's Linda Cope is trying to clear up some of the confusion over animal identification. First of all, says Cope, it's a program for livestock identification. COPE "That would include cattle and bison, sheep, goats, swine, the domestic elk, some llamas, alpacas, things like that." Cope says the state wants to know about poultry or game birds even though they don't need to be registered. COPE "We don't care about grandma's chickens. We're asking you to let us know that you do have chickens in the backyard." The reason for that is so the state can notify bird owners if there's an outbreak of avian flu or Newcastle disease in their area. Another misconception is that producers need to notify the state if they move livestock from one grazing area to another. COPE "What we care about is can we get in touch with you if we have a disease outbreak and you can tell us where you moved them. We trust you." Cope says they have 18 thousand premises identifications so far and USDA says that's 96 percent compliance. She says ISDA believes that percentage figure is inflated and they continue to encourage livestock producers to enroll in the voluntary identification program. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott