USDA drops program to trace livestock

Faced with stiff resistance from ranchers and farmers, the Obama administration has decided to scrap a national program intended to help authorities quickly identify and track livestock in the event of an animal disease outbreak.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today announced the end of the controversial National Animal Identification System to track all livestock in the United States. Northern Plains Resource Council member Gilles Stockton, a rancher from Grass Range, participated in a conference call with the secretary announcing the decision. In 2009, Stockton flew to Washington, D.C., as a representative for the Western Organization of Resource Councils to meet with Vilsack. Stockton and Northern Plains have long opposed the animal ID system as intrusive and cumbersome.

“I and my fellow members of WORC (and Northern Plains) are pleased with Secretary Vilsack’s decision to scrap the proposed National Animal Identification System,” said Stockton. “Livestock producers from across this nation recognized that this proposal was intrusive, expensive, and unworkable, and we told this to Secretary Vilsack in as clear terms as possible. To his credit he listened and this animal identification proposal first introduced by the Bush Administration in 2004 has been killed.

“The Secretary has directed his agency to work with the individual states to come up with a revised animal ID program. Each state will be responsible to regulate its internal livestock movements in whatever manner is most appropriate for that state. Interstate movement traceability systems will be developed in collaboration with the individual states and with the input of livestock producers. It was my understanding from the call that ultimately there may be a number of different tractability systems tailored to the needs of individual states, regions and industry segments.

“Here in the northern Rocky Mountains we have a special situation with the brucellosis endemic in the wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We certainly do not want brucellosis to spread to our cattle herds, and we don’t want our cattle to infect cattle in other states. This means that we have a special responsibility to work with our governors and state veterinarians to work out a system acceptable and workable for all involved.”

Participation of ranchers and farmers in the National Animal Identification System was voluntary, but the goal was to give every animal, or in the case of pigs and poultry, groups of animals, a unique identification number that would be entered in a database. The movements of animals would be tracked, and if there was a disease outbreak or a sick animal was found, officials could quickly locate other animals that had been exposed.

The system quickly drew the ire of many farmers and ranchers, particularly cattle producers. Some objected to the cost of identification equipment and the extra work in having to report their animals’ movements. Others said they believed the voluntary system would become mandatory, that it was intrusive and that the federal government would use it to pry into their lives and finances.

Vilsack announced the changes on Friday. It could take two years or more to create new federal rules, officials said, and it was not clear how far the government would go to restrict the movement of livestock between states if the animals did not meet basic traceability standards.

The old system received $142 million in federal financing, but gained the participation of only 40 percent of the nation’s livestock producers, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.

When Vilsack took over the Agriculture Department last year, he began a series of public meetings on the identification program and was bombarded by strident opposition.

The New York Times contributed to this report