RAPID CITY, S.D. -- Area ranchers were clear about their dislike for a proposed mandatory National Animal Identification System recently presented in Rapid City, S.D.
During a U.S. Department of Agriculture listening session on the proposed identification system, very few voiced support for the plan that would allow for a uniform tracking system to be used in the event of disease outbreak.
A national animal identification system is doable; it's manageable and it would be in the best interests of the consumers and the management of the nation's food supply. A national ID system would make data consistent from one producer, one state, to the next throughout the animal's life and provide data to track an animal in the event of a disease outbreak.
But is it a good idea for South Dakota producers? Not now, but it has a future in the state.
Opponents of the plan have made a valid argument against a national tracking system. U.S. herds, they say, have long been disease-free; why put a more complicated, expensive and time-consuming identification system in place to track disease that doesn't exist? The real disease control should be taking place at the borders, they argue, where beef from Canada, Mexico and Argentina has brought disease -- and consumer scares -- inside the U.S.
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They're right; U.S. producers shouldn't be held to a higher standard than producers im-porting animals across the border.
But the idea is sound. With the capabilities we have today, there's no reason controlling disease outbreaks quickly and efficiently can't be managed with an enhanced animal identi-fication system.
But until the border issues are addressed and an identification system is affordable and practical for the producers, it won't have much success in U.S. markets.
