Google: Team Washington. The NAIS shows up in some interesting places. This is from 2005:
National Animal Identification System –
A key tool for responding
WSDA is building the Washington portion of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) to help Animal Health Officials respond to and manage animal health emergencies. The goal of the system is to be able to trace the history of where animals have been and to complete the tracing within 48 hours of a disease outbreak of other animal health emergency. The need to improve our ability to trace animal movement was clearly demonstrated during the December 2003 BSE “Mad Cow” incident.
The NAIS is being implemented in three phases: The first phase is Premise Registration. WSDA began premise registration in January 2005 and had received over 500 applications by March 31. A premise is a geographic location where animals are kept. The premise registration is assigned to the physical location and remains with that land regardless of who owns or operates on the land. At this time premise registration is voluntary. Eventually, WSDA will register up to 30,000 premises in the state of Washington.
The second phase is Animal Identification. Animal identification will begin in August/September 2005. Animals that are individually identified will be assigned a nationally unique 15 digit number, which is like a social security number for people. Official tags will have both visual and electronic components. Each species may have a different form of identification. Cattle will use radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) worn in the ear. The horse, sheep, goat, swine, and other species groups are still deciding how to identify their animals.
Animals that are raised and moved as groups may use a group identifier. The group identifier is a combination of the premise number and the date the group was formed. Most chickens and swine are expected to be identified as groups.
The third phase is Animal Movement Reporting. This phase is expected to begin in August/September of 2005, in conjunction with Animal Identification. When an animal or group of animals is moved from their home premise, the movement will be reported to the state database. A series of movements recorded in the database allows animal health officials to track that animal and all other animals that were commingled with the animal, and potentially exposed to a disease.
When all the pieces of the system and data are in place, animal health officials should not only be able to track the movement and possible exposure of animals, but may also be able to create maps for use in managing restricted movement areas or quarantines. Clusters of animal concentrations can be identified to target responses and prevention techniques. The data can be merged with public health and law enforcement data when needed.
Participation in the system is entirely voluntary at this time. USDA aims for mandatory reporting by 2009. Reactions to the system by producers vary considerably. The key issues in implementing the system include cost, confidentiality of data, and liability.
For more information, consult WSDA’s website or enmail Naishelp@agr.wa.gov Index
19
.
National Animal Identification System –
A key tool for responding
WSDA is building the Washington portion of the National Animal
Identification System (NAIS) to help Animal Health Officials
respond to and manage animal health emergencies. The goal of
the system is to be able to trace the history of where animals have been and to complete the
tracing within 48 hours of a disease outbreak of other animal health emergency. The need to
improve our ability to trace animal movement was clearly demonstrated during the December
2003 BSE “Mad Cow” incident.
The NAIS is being implemented in three phases: The first phase is Premise Registration. WSDA
began premise registration in January 2005 and had received over 500 applications by March 31.
A premise is a geographic location where animals are kept. The premise registration is assigned
to the physical location and remains with that land regardless of who owns or operates on the
land. At this time premise registration is voluntary. Eventually, WSDA will register up to 30,000
premises in the state of Washington.
The second phase is Animal Identification. Animal identification will begin in August/September
2005. Animals that are individually identified will be assigned a nationally unique 15 digit number,
which is like a social security number for people. Official tags will have both visual and electronic
components. Each species may have a different form of identification. Cattle will use radio-
frequency identification tags (RFID) worn in the ear. The horse, sheep, goat, swine, and other
species groups are still deciding how to identify their animals.
Animals that are raised and moved as groups may use
a group identifier. The group identifier is a
combination of the premise number and the date the
group was formed. Most chickens and swine are
expected to be identified as groups.
The third phase is Animal Movement Reporting. This
phase is expected to begin in August/September of
2005, in conjunction with Animal Identification. When
an animal or group of animals is moved from their
home premise, the movement will be reported to the
state database. A series of movements recorded in the database allows animal health officials to