U.S. Effort to Create Animal ID System Lags

Positive mad cow test prompts call to add resources

By Marc L. Songini

July 11, 2005 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - An automated national system for tracking animals seems years away from being operational because of numerous challenges. But some experts are pushing the U.S. to quicken the pace, since a cow tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, last month in Iowa.
Although the Department of Agriculture has been actively working on a livestock-tracking program since 2003, the U.S. continues to lag behind beef-producing rivals such as Japan, Australia and the U.K. . The department is drafting a strategic plan and program specifications; the deadline for public comments was last week.
So far, the big challenges are securing adequate funding and selecting the right technology.
Although there is no official estimate, some observers have pegged the long-term cost of the NAIS project at $600 million or more. Cattle ranchers expect the system to be based primarily on radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, though the USDA says other technologies such as optical scanning are also being researched.
The USDA says a fully operational system is slated to be ready in 2009, when participants will be required to have both their premises and animals logged into a national database that will enable a complete trace within 48 hours.


A recent case of mad cow disease in the U.S. has renewed calls for an automated national tracking system for animals.

But the effort to reach that goal still faces considerable problems, according to industry insiders.
To date, adequate funding for the program hasn't been allocated, said Jess Petersen, director of government relations at the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, a trade and marketing group in Washington.
A USDA spokeswoman said the government appropriated $33 million for the project in 2005, with another $33 million included in the White House's 2006 budget. She added that the agency will let the industry decide on the technology.
"There is still a major debate going on in the industry," Robert Fourdraine, chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium and a member of the NAIS subcommittee, said in an e-mail. "Certain groups feel USDA is going too fast, while others think too slow."
Participants in the effort to create the ID system exist in every state and include various industry associations and cattle-raising Native American tribes, the USDA spokeswoman said.

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