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4-H, FFA members begin enrolling animals in NAISBy Jennifer M. Latzke It's a spring ritual 4-H and FFA families have done for many years--the spring tagging of market livestock projects. But, for FFA members across the nation, and for 4-Hers in a few select Kansas counties, spring weigh-ins brought a whole new added responsibility this year. Members are now participating in the National Animal Identification System. New tags for 4-H 4-Hers showing market animals in Finney County, Kansas learned about NAIS last year. That was the first year in a two-year pilot program that required members in select Kansas counties to tag their market animals with electronic ID through the NAIS. Barbara Addison, Finney County Cooperative Extension agent, explained that each member in a market livestock project needed to first register for a premises ID number, either online or using a paper application. "When we tag animals in the spring, they then give us that premises ID at that time," she said. "We have to attach that number to the bar code that comes with each tag. Then, we keep that information in a data system and when we come back to the fair and weigh-in, we use a hand reader that is connected to a computer." The scanner inputs the numbers into a program, which then prints out a list of all the market livestock that have moved from their premises of origination to the fairgrounds, she added. The fairgrounds has its own premises ID number as well. This data is then sent into a contact person at the state level who collects all the information from all the participating pilot counties and sends it on to the state animal health department. The first year the pilot began with 10 test counties, and has expanded to about 20 now, Addison said. In Finney County, located in southwest Kansas, only market animals in the beef, swine, sheep and meat goat classes are required to have eID tags that correspond with the NAIS. There are many benefits to this project, Addison said. With computerized scanners that check the digital chip encoded in each tag for the animal's ID number, volunteers at weigh-in have an easier time of moving animals through the scales. Superintendents can set classes faster, too, she said. "All of my superintendents like it, because they just have to zap an ear," Addison said. The benefits even go on after the fair. For example, the local processing plant that handles the market beef carcass contest has found it even easier to track 4-H animals through their system with the electronic tags. The state is speculating on expanding the mandatory eID program statewide next year, but that decision won't come until later this fall. The pilot project will have wrapped up its second year. Once the pilot is over, the grant money that has paid for the eIDs will run out and members will then have to pay for their own tags. Of course, if the state chooses to expand the mandatory project, they could get a discount on tags, Addison said. She estimates tag prices could range anywhere from $2 to $2.50 a head. Learning by doing For the Gross family, Holcomb, Kan., registering for a premises ID number and tagging their grandchildren's market pigs were just another step toward ensuring a safer animal health environment. Connie and Eugene Gross have a commercial farrow to finish pig operation and house their grandchildren's market pigs at their farm. The Grosses are no strangers to 4-H, having raised their children in the program and volunteering as project and community leaders for many years. Connie Gross is a microbiologist in Garden City and has been trained in emergency preparedness procedures as part of her job. She views premises registration and the NAIS as just another step to prevent a widespread animal health scare. "A lot of people think that it isn't going to happen to them," she said. Many, like the Grosses, argue that having a quicker tracking system in place can help authorities track down an infected animal's movements through the production chain faster, and thus stopping or preventing large outbreaks that could devastate the livestock industry. The tags used by Finney County 4-Hers are companion tags, which mean that they have a round electronic ID tag with a number that matches to a larger identifier tag. Both are used on an animal, so that it can be scanned electronically, or identified by sight, Eugene Gross explained. The Grosses have about 20 head of market pigs tagged with the 4-H eID tags for their grandchildren and for a few neighbors who house their 4-H pigs at their farm as well. Rather than tracking the individual animal, the pigs will be shipped out and tracked in batches, with each batch being recorded as it moves from premises to premises. And, only those pigs destined for the county fair will have to be enrolled in the NAIS, as Finney County is only one of a few Kansas counties testing the program. Those pigs that will be shown at the Kansas Junior Livestock Show, for example, aren't required to be registered with the NAIS eID tags, Eugene Gross said. Because the family uses eIDs on their 4-H animals, and they already had registered for a premises ID number, they've begun tagging their own cattle and pigs with NAIS compatible eID tags. "We tag all the calves when they're born, with and eID tag," Eugene Gross said. The family's commercial cow-calf operation is a result of their children's past 4-H cattle projects. The Grosses see some benefits to the future of the program, but also see some things that could use tweaking. "It (the program) needs to be mandatory and enforced," Gross said. "There's not a lot of good it will do if we don't make it mandatory. Everybody's got to do it and everybody should get a premises number right now." Additionally, in the case of spring jackpot livestock shows, there needs to be better data collection of the movement of each of those animals, she added. Perhaps most important, the program as it stands now, requires members to bring their livestock to a central county weigh-in location that can bring up the potential for transferring animal diseases itself. The Grosses would like to see implementation of the eID tags the same as the old 4-H market livestock tags, where they could tag and record them from home. Addison explained that the central location for tagging was required by the pilot project in order to control the use of the eID tags. "At weigh-in, we make sure it's known that it is optional for members to weigh their pigs," she said. "We have one vehicle at a time pull into the barn, and they can tag the pigs in their trailer themselves with us there to control the tags. If they want to weigh-in, we have disinfectant available to spray around the scales to control the porcine virus in pigs." FFA joins in NAIS In June, the National FFA Organization received a $600,000 grant from USDA to promote NAIS and premises registration in all of its chapters across the nation. FFA is using the grant to create classroom materials for instruction on the concept of premises registration and animal ID, and local chapters will tag their own livestock with electronic ID tags and register their livestock premises in the program. This all stems from a February 2007 announcement from USDA that $6 million will be set aside for cooperative agreements to support nonprofit ag organizations in their work to promote NAIS and boost participation in premises registration. As of June, only 17 out of 50 states have more than 25 percent of their premises registered, with Idaho, Indiana and Wisconsin registering more than 75 percent of their premises. About 14 states have less than 10 percent of their premises registered. The Garden City, Kan., FFA Chapter Advisor Casey Jagers is one of the many FFA advisors walking their students through the NAIS process for the first time this year. The first step was signing up students for their premises ID numbers, he said. Jagers said he has about 15 students with pigs, five with cattle, 10 with sheep, and about 4 with goats as their SAEs. "Most had their ID numbers already," he said. Those students whose families hadn't registered their farms for premises ID numbers registered with Jagers' help online. The process of tagging is still similar to before. FFA students still tag their pigs and cattle along with the county 4-Hers at spring weigh-in. Just now the tags have electronic chips that can be recorded to track an animal's movement from premises to premises. FFA, with the funding from USDA, pays for the special eID tags. Because it's the first year of this new system, Jagers said the pros and cons have yet to be worked out, but he can see one benefit for his students--better record-keeping skills. "It's going to be prominent in the future, as we need to have better tracking of livestock origins and source verification," he said. Of course, it might mean a little more paperwork, he added. In the future, Jagers could also see his students garnering a premium for their livestock that have been enrolled in the NAIS. Also, he can build lesson plans around the animal health system and the livestock production system using their NAIS participation as an example. Learning responsibility For the most part, participants in Finney County had good things to say about the NAIS. "As part of the emergency preparedness system in Finney County, I just see this as a real help to our farm communities in case something should happen," Connie Gross said. "We see this as an educational tool," Addison said. "Our members are learning about tracing an animal in case of an outbreak and hopefully they can also see the consumer meat that they are producing can be traced back in case of an outbreak." Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. B 1 7/23/07 4 Star NE Date: 7/19/07
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