National Animal Identification System
Though heavily promoted, no one’s yet sold me on the necessity for National ID. Though my brand is only registered in California and may be duplicated in other states, it’s not as if this year’s calves shipped to an Iowa feedlot were without brand inspection papers and Health Certificate, the originals of which are on file in Sacramento. I’ve heard the argument that we need the program because most cattle east of the Mississippi aren’t branded. Frankly, that’s not my problem – and that may be a good place to test the NAIS – but at least give producers the choice to brand their cattle instead.
The recent spinach E-coli outbreak had me wondering if we needed an All-Flex ID button for each leaf, because apparently there weren’t enough plastic bags with enough information available to not kill spinach sales across the USA. I’ve lost count of the Mad Cow incidents over the past three or four years, most all traced back to dairy cows, which have had very little impact on the market for beef. Any argument that the NAIS could better maintain cattle prices by quickly quarantining the target of a terrorist attack or other contagious disease has yet to be proven.
What we do know is that this program is going to cost a lot of money – not just for the ID buttons and high-tech wands that wirelessly read them as they file through every auction ring and loading chute in America, but to administer it. We know how these government bureaucracies work, the offices and enforcement reps they’ll need, the additional paperwork and forms that we will probably have to file with the USDA. Once Washington has that information, I can guarantee that there will be more forms to fill-out, and some with penalties for forgetting or failing to do so. And once included in the USDA databank, this information would be accessible to friend and foe alike under the Freedom of Information Act.
Millions? No, billions of dollars to start and no one seems to care with trillions in Federal deficits. Is the consumer picking-up the tab? I can’t think of a single agricultural commodity where the consumer pays a surcharge for the extra costs that come with increased regulations, accountability and paperwork.
Maybe I’m wrong-headed, but what do we get in return? I plan to contact the feedlot in Remsem to see if the VAC 45 program helped keep our calves from getting sick, to learn what percentage of carcasses graded Choice or Prime, and most importantly, would they buy our calves again? I don’t need the NAIS for that.
As an incentive for voluntary compliance, McDonald’s and Wal-Mart are offering $20 for each head with an NAIS ID button in an ear. However, most of the beef that they might trace would be from cull dairy cows, a good many of which are never branded anyway. With the regime of hormones and antibiotics in a dairy cow’s short life, I don’t blame McDonald’s or Wal-Mart, but I’m not looking to pick a fight with the Dairy Industry either – it just is what it is.
Currently, the NAIS is voluntary and proposed to be mandatory by 2008-2009. According to the latest issue of the Western Livestock Journal, “U.S. Senator Jim Talent, R-MO, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently introduced legislation that would prohibit USDA from developing a mandatory National Animal Identification System (NAIS).”