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Jury still out on cattle-tracking project
The jury is still out among Klamath Basin ranchers regarding a now voluntary National Animal Identification System program that would allow cattle outfitted with microchips to be tracked electronically.
A pilot identification project was launched by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in 2004, a year after beef prices
dropped and several countries banned imported American beef
following the 2003 outbreak of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. In recent years, support
for an accelerated identification program
Some Klamath Basin ranches, including the massive ZX Ranch
headquartered in Paisley, have implemented an identification
“Part of it is cost, and part of it is the amount of time it will take,” said Chandra Engel, a livestock specialist with the Oregon State University Extension Service of opposition. “They have their reasons and they are very good reasons.”
Opponents
Among those opposing a mandatory system is Glenn Barrett, a
Langell Valley rancher who runs a stocker-feeder operation
that involves buying cattle of all ages, commingling and
eventually selling them.
“It’s just a logistic nightmare,” Barrett said. “The electronic readers are not advanced enough to identify cattle in a group.”
Barrett says the stimulus for the identification program stems from the increased ability to track the source of a potential disease, something that’s been successfully done with traditional cattle branding.
He’s unhappy the program targets and, he
An added expense
Bill Kennedy of the Lost River Ranch in Poe Valley believes tagging has obvious benefits, but noted the tags are an added expense — about $2 to $3 per electronic ear tag, plus scanners to read the tags and other computer equipment.
He said the lack of a uniform system for reading signals can create other problems, and cites privacy concerns.
Despite some drawbacks, ZX manager Dick Meacham said the
ranch has been placing electronic ear tags on about 1,600 to
1,700 replacement heifers annually for the last three
“It’s a company-wide deal. Down the road we will have tags on all our cows,” Meacham said.
Financial concerns
Bill Moore, the president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, told the Associated Press he hopes there will be financial incentives to participating.
“I have concerns about the costs of this program and who is going to pay,” Moore said.
“We maintain it should be voluntary and market driven, instead of something made mandatory by the federal government.
“The big difference is, with a voluntary system, the market
can drive it.
Barrett and Kennedy agree that a mandatory registration system would penalize ranches already involved in tracking cattle.
In many cases, cattle producers get higher prices for
participating in source verification programs. If the
program is mandatory, that economic advantage would be lost.
For state veterinarian Don Hansen, concerns by ranchers are trumped by controlling disease.
“It’s a system designed to curtail the spread of a contagious disease,” Hansen told the AP. “It’s never been designed to be a food safety tool. It’s how do we know where the animals are in case we have a horribly contagious disease that’s flying around the country.”
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