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Vermont to identify its farm animals
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)--The state Agency of Agriculture is due to conduct a census of Vermont's farm animals this fall as part of a national plan to help prevent the spread of disease.
Vermont has received $100,000 in federal funding to support the project, which will begin in coming months with a mailing to the owners of farms large and small to determine how many cows, chickens, sheep, pigs, horses, llamas, and other livestock are living in the Green Mountain state.
"You would think we already have a good handle on that, and we do," said Kerry Rood, the state veterinarian and the leader of the state's animal identification project. "But there are lots of hobby farmers, perhaps a 4-H person that has one or two cows, that perhaps we don't have as good a handle on."
Federal officials have long discussed instituting a national tracking system for livestock that could help trace cows, pigs and chickens as they move from farms to the table. The system would help authorities track livestock that were exposed to infectious diseases to prevent the spread of those diseases.
The plan drew new attention after mad cow disease was discovered in December in a cow on a Washington state farm.
This month, the USDA released $11.64 million to states, American Indian tribes and others to help develop animal identification systems.
Vermont got $100,000 for a system that will include hobby farmers--even for animals that will never go to slaughter.
"From a disease standpoint, we'd need to include everyone," Rood said. "Sometimes it's that person who has one or two animals that's just as susceptible as the farmer that has 1,500 head of cows."
The initial stage of the plan calls for letters to go out to all animal owners who could then fill out a survey by mail or by e-mail. Rood said he expected the project at some point to require the addition of "several staff positions.
"We haven't ironed all this out," he said. "We're going to have to come up with some language that defines exactly what a farm is, defines what a producer is.. .and defines when they need to have this done by."
He said he expected the first phase to be up and running by November.
There's no law that requires farmers to take part. But many said they would.
"I have no problem with it at all," said Deborah Kirby, who raises 14 angora goats and five sheep in Brandon. She noted that as a sheep producer, she is already in a federal identification program that is aimed at controlling the disease scrapie. Kirby said she had heard little about the Vermont program.
Poultry, dairy and beef producers are also regulated on the state and federal level.
"But there's this gray area out there that we don't necessarily have a good thumb on, and that's the hobby farmer--the one who has one milk cow or two feeder pigs," said Rood.
The second stage of the program calls for the animals to be identified, and it's not yet clear what form that will take. National groups are working on that question now, said Rood--for example, how to mark poultry.
"Obviously we cannot put ear tags in chickens," he noted.
There's no timeline for having every animal in Vermont identified through a microchip, band, or other means.
"It's obviously not going to be done overnight," said Rood. "It's going to take a lot of education, a lot of effort on everyone's part."
It's also going to take a lot of money--a fact that has already caused a stir among large producers in other states. Vermont hasn't solved that part of the problem yet, said Rood.
"If you did have 1,400 cows, I think the cost would be an issue," he said. "We are sensitive to that."
Date: 9/23/04
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