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Leaders push cattlemen to register their premises By Jennifer Bremer The push continues for livestock producers to acquire a premises identification. "The time is now to get on track with the 446,000 other producers who have already registered for a premises ID," said United State Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for marketing and regulatory programs Bruce Knight during a session at the 2008 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Reno, Nev. Feb. 6 to 9. Only one-third of the 1.4 million livestock operations are registered, but Knight said that number continues to grow, as 1,000 to 1,500 more a registered each week. "Our goal in doing the premises IDs is to be able to have 48 hour traceability in the case of an animal health outbreak," he said. "This will allow us to continue to keep markets open for exports if we know where the problem started." Knight said the traceability wouldn't just help for animal health problems such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or foot and mouth disease, but it would also help find sources of tuberculosis or brucellosis as well. Different species have set different priorities according to where they are in the premises ID stages. "The poultry industry already has traceability in place, the pork industry will be there within a year, the sheep industry has been able to build on the scrapies program and will be there within two years, but the beef and dairy industry have been the most challenging and have the most work to do," he said. Knight said it needs to be a collaborated work in order to make it work for the entire livestock industry. Producer concerns John Peirce, a veterinarian and customer relations representative for AzTx Cattle Co. in Hereford, Texas said traceability is very important to the operation he works for. "In order for us to stay competitive in the world market, we need to incorporate a way to have traceability," he said. "We will also be able to show consumers that we take good care of our animals and we will be able to document it." Peirce said the American beef producers continue to lose opportunity in the world market because other countries are ahead with traceability and age and source verification. "Premises IDs are the ticket to admission for us to get into the game of exports around the world," he added. Daniel Bell, president of ZZ Cattle Corp. in Nogales, Ariz., echoed Peirce's message. Bell, who has 12 miles of international border said he worries often about what problems may be coming across those borders and affecting his cattle. "The fence is often cut and the cattle are co-mingling. We often worry about what the people may be bringing across also," he said. "We have had our premises registered for three years." Global opportunities Gary Smith, Monfort endowed chair in meat science at Colorado State University, said traceability has a huge impact on global meat exports. "Adding value to beef animals through proper management and gaining export markets won't work if there is no access to the market," he said. "Market access requires traceability, good animal welfare and adherence to beef quality assurance guidelines." Even though registering premises is currently a voluntary program, access to markets such as the European Union, South Korea and Japan may lead to a mandatory program. "Farm to fork traceability is very important to these countries," he said. "Right now it isn't required, but if you can prove traceability there are huge benefits to all participants." U.S. exports of beef grew 22 percent in 2007 and Smith said with access to the Japanese and South Korean markets, that number will continue to increase. "Right now the first step is the register your premises," he stressed. Jennifer Bremer can be reached by phone at 515-833-2120 or by e-mail at jbremermaj@hotmail.com.
Date: 2/28/08
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