The first phase of developing a fully functional animal identification system is to register all livestock premises, or farms and other places that hold or manage livestock.  The development of an animal identification system in Tennessee continues with strong statewide participation in the program.  Currently, more than 10,000 livestock producers have registered, making Tennessee one of the leading states in the number of registered premises through voluntary participation.  The goal is to eventually register all of Tennessee’s estimated 57,500 livestock premises. 

Animal identification in Tennessee is voluntary, and we support an industry-driven approach to the development of the NAIS.  This will be increasingly important as markets, and ultimately the consumers, demand age and source verified livestock and livestock products. 

On April 6, USDA announced an implementation plan that outlines timelines and benchmarks for the establishment of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), along with a plan for the initial integration of private and state animal tracking databases with NAIS.

In the implementation plan, USDA outlines four guiding principles as follows:  The NAIS…

• must not unnecessarily burden producers

• must not unduly increase the size of government

• must be flexible enough to interface with a variety of technologies

• animal movement data should be privately maintained

USDA re-emphasized that the goal of the NAIS is to improve our nation’s ability to respond to animal disease outbreaks.  The system will also allow the U.S. livestock industry to remain competitive in the international arena as traceability becomes more important in the marketplace.

By early 2007, USDA expects to have the technology in place, called the Animal Trace Processing System or commonly known as the “metadata system,” that will allow state and federal animal health officials to query the NAIS and private databases during a disease investigation. The animal tracking databases will record and store animal movement tracking information for livestock that state and federal animal health officials will query for animals of interest in a disease investigation.

For more information on USDA’s implementation plan can be found at www.usda.gov/nais.