DATE: 1/27/2006

CONTACT: Dr. Boyd Parr, (803) 788-2260, ext. 231

WRITER: Tom Lollis, (803) 284-3343, ext. 241

Cattlemen told animal ID program will eventually be mandatory   Boyd Parr           Jim Gibb

BLACKVILLE – A National Animal Identification System (NAIS), vital for tracking animal diseases back to place of origin, is still in development.

Whatever its final form, expect it to become mandatory, according to Boyd Parr, director of Animal Health Programs for Clemson University ’s Livestock-Poultry Health Programs (LPH).

Parr told an audience of nearly 200 persons at the annual South Carolina Cattlemen’s Association meeting at Edisto Research and Education Center Jan. 26 that NAIS will have three components – premises registration, animal identification and tracking.

“LPH has already registered 1,100 livestock production sites in South Carolina under a voluntary program,” Parr said. “ Wisconsin was the first to make premises registration mandatory, but Indiana , Colorado , Texas and several others have moved in that direction.”

Methods of identification for individual animals will vary according to species. Poultry may use leg bands, for example. In the case of cattle an international 15-digit code will be the standard under current proposals.

“The first three digits would be ‘840,’ which means ‘the United States,’” said Parr. The next 12 digits will be a number unique to an individual animal.

"The working group (setting standards) on cattle has proposed using electronic radio frequency identification (RFID), he said. The first 840 RFID tags may be available in late March. Current tags that begin with a manufacturer's code or USA will be grandfathered into NAIS, according to Parr.

“We hope that most 840 tags for cattle will be RFID,” he said. “Other species such as sheep and goats will not be RFID initially but will follow the 840 numbering convention and distribution system.

Parr said that the original draft timeline called for premises ID and animal ID to be mandatory in April of 2007 with full enforcement in 2008.

Tracking – which would allow animal health authorities to tell where any animal has been at any time – would have been fully implemented in 2008 with full enforcement of all phases in January of 2009. That timeline could change with a new draft expected soon from the USDA.

Whether tracking information will be handled by private industry or the federal government has yet to be determined.

“The Secretary of Agriculture favors all information on premises and animal identification being collected privately with federal access to the data 24/7,” said Parr.

South Carolina cattlemen also heard Richard McClung, managing partner of Wehrmann Angus of New Market, Va. , detail the building of one of the elite herds of Angus cattle in the United States .

McClung said that he believes cattle breeders have probably reached sort of a plateau in performance from the growth standpoint.

“I would like to see us improve the consistency of our calves,” he said. “I would like to get to where the worst one will be as good as the first one.”

He said that new technology in the form of genomics may help producers reach that goal.

Jim Gibb, director of beef genetics for Merial Animal Health, told the audience that beef producers can now add DNA testing to their bag of tools when making breeding decisions.

His company markets a test to determine the likelihood that a bull or a cow has the genes to produce calves that will grow the tender cuts of meat in demand by consumers. The technology also has the potential to provide information on DNA markers for traits such as disease resistance, feed efficiency, carcass quality and palatability attributes, fertility, carcass quantity and yield, milk production and growth performance.

“DNA testing won’t be your only tool,” said Gibb. “It’s just another tool to go along with traditional information such as weaning weights, yearling weights, EPDs (expected progeny differences) and weight per day of age.”

Melanie Sojourner, field representative for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, urged producers to support the national organization and thanked South Carolina cattlemen for sending support to Mississippi beef producers who were affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina last fall.

Outgoing SCCA President Louis Tisdale presented several Awards of Excellence for 2005. They included: Industry Service, Blanchard Compact Equipment of Spartanburg ; Environmental Stewardship, Edsel Williams of Britton’s Neck; Associate of the Year, Garland Parker of Fort Dodge; Educator of the Year, John Irwin, Clemson Extension Service animal scientist, Laurens County ; Commercial Cattleman of the Year, Rusty and Jesse Thomson of Blue Lake Farm in York County ; Purebred Cattleman of the Year, Benji Hunter of Gray Court ; Young Cattleman of the Year, Darren Carter of Ninety Six; Association of the Year, Pickens County Cattlemen’s Association, second year in a row.

The Wax Company presented $1,000 scholarships to Lena Marie Wilson of Chester and Jesse James Miskelly of York .

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