Introduction
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States. NAIS is designed to:
- Increase the United States' disease response capabilities
- Limit the spread of animal diseases
- Minimize animal losses and economic impact
- Protect producers' livelihoods and privacy
- Maintain market access
At the 142nd Annual Convention of the National Grange, grassroots Grange delegates from across the nation reaffirmed the National Grange’s support to a voluntary National Animal Identification system.
The National Grange urges the passage of legislation maintaining the voluntary NAIS system for livestock and poultry and providing adequate funding for the program to be administered through USDA. One of the strong tenets of the program must be strict privacy protection in the national identification program at all levels of government. We further recommend that the method of identification could be breed specific as approved by each breeds’ national association such as ear tags, microchips, and/or lots for small animals. The National Grange also supports tax incentives for voluntary participants in NAIS. To help ensure open international trade, the National Grange believes there should be an animal trace-back framework developed and administered by the USDA in case of a health emergency. The procedure should have the following elements once implemented:
- 48-hour trace-back capabilities
- Confidentiality
- One integrated system incorporating breed organization systems
- Federal funding
How Can You, as a Family Farmer or Rancher, Benefit from NAIS?
- Your voluntary participation means that you will be notified quickly when a disease outbreak or other animal health event might put your animals at risk.
- Choosing to participate ensures you will receive the information you need - when you need it most - to protect your animals and your investment.
- With timely, accurate information, USDA and the livestock industry can better contain a disease outbreak or other animal health event more quickly and more effectively.
- Rapid disease response limits the impact of the outbreak on your operation - and could even prevent disease spread before it reaches your animals.
- Rapid disease response reduces the number of producers impacted by a disease outbreak or other animal health event.
- Fewer affected producers means less hardship associated with an outbreak or other animal health event- the loss of irreplaceable breeding stock and bloodlines, as well as the animal distress and financial loss resulting from the disease and the eradication effort.
- Rapid disease response also reduces the economic strain (decreased incomes, lost jobs, loss of animals and livelihoods) on affected communities.
- The faster the disease response, the faster an animal disease is isolated, the sooner life gets back to normal for everyone.
- Choosing to participate demonstrates your total commitment to doing everything you can to protect your animals, your livelihood and your neighbors.
- Choosing to participate in NAIS helps preserve the marketability of your animals - no matter where your markets are.
- Prices are dictated by the overall demand for U.S. products, at home and abroad. To maintain and protect prices for domestic commodities, it is crucial for international markets to stay open to U.S. animal exports.
- NAIS can help quickly define which regions of our country are, and are not, affected by an animal disease outbreak - keeping markets open for unaffected producers and preventing unnecessary movement restrictions.
- Market demands for better historical information on specific animals are increasing in importance in national and international commerce, and a number of other countries are already using animal ID systems to gain a competitive edge.
- Voluntary participation helps ensure that you and other American producers stay competitive in domestic and international trade.
- Federal law protects individuals' private information and confidential business information from disclosure. For example, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistical Service conducts a Census of Agriculture every five years that collects detailed operational information on every known agricultural operation in the U.S. The operation specific information provided by producers for the Census of Agriculture is far more detailed than information recorded for NAIS. Federal law mandates producer cooperation with the information requests from the Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture has never had an instance where private or confidential business information from individual farms has been deliberately or inadvertently released.
- USDA maintains only limited premises registration information and will not have direct access to animal identification or movement records.
- Animal health officials will only request access to animal movement and location records in the case of an animal disease event.
There are Several Ways for Producers to Voluntarily Participate in NAIS
- Premises Registration – Premise registration is the identification of the geographic location where animals are raised, housed, or boarded through a Premises Identification Number (PIN). You can register your premises by completing the application on your State’s Department of Agriculture website where available, or contacting your state or tribal NAIS administrator. The process is fast, simple, and free. You will need to provide some basic information about where your animals are located and your contact information when you fill out the application. Obtaining a PIN does not require you to participate in the other two NAIS components (Animal Identification and Animal Tracing). USDA maintains limited premises information and will protect individuals' private information and confidential business information from disclosure.
- Animal Identification – Animal identification is an individual or group identification that remains with the animal for its lifetime. Depending on your situation, you may choose to participate in animal identification, the second component of NAIS. Animal identification, whether individual or group/lot, provides producers and owners like you with a uniform numbering system for identifying their animals. If you choose to identify your animals, there are two potential options individual identification and group/lot identification.
- Individual Identification
Individual identification is a good option for many situations. Any animal can be identified individually if you prefer. The method of identification varies by species. USDA recommends using 840 animal ID devices whenever official animal identification is needed or applicable. Available in visual only eartags, radio frequency identification (RFID) eartags and injectable transponders, 840 devices use a standardized 15-digit numbering system. The resulting number is known as an Animal Identification Number, or AIN. The AIN stays with the animal throughout its life. All other official identification devices defined through the Code of Federal Regulations, including those with the National Uniform Eartagging System, continue as official and are NAIS-compliant.
- Group/Lot Identification
Group/ Lot identification is best suited for animals that are raised and move through the production chain as one group. These animals can be identified by a Group/Lot Identification Number (GIN), rather than individual numbers. The GIN is a 15-character number consisting of the 7-character PIN; the date that the group or lot of animals was assembled; and a 2-digit number to reflect the count of groups assembled at the same premises on the same day.
- Animal Tracing – Animal tracing is access to timely, accurate animal movement records to quickly locate at-risk animals in the event of a disease outbreak. The final NAIS component, animal tracing, is available through several Animal Tracking Databases (ATDs) maintained by States and private industry. This component of NAIS is one that still requires the most development, as a lot of data collection infrastructure will need to be put in place at markets and other locations. However, producers already have access to several ATDs for reporting the movement of animals that are shipped from or moved into their premises.
Movements within a production unit for management purposes (e.g., from pasture to pasture) are not ones that impact disease spread, and therefore are not necessary to report relative to NAIS. State and private industry animal tracking databases (ATDs) will hold the animal location and movement records that producers report. When there is a disease outbreak or other animal health event, the ATDs provide timely, accurate reports that show where potentially exposed animals have been and what other animals have come into contact with them. The NAIS Species Working Groups, in collaboration with animal health officials, are developing recommendations for the specific types of movements that should be reported to an ATD - those movements that pose the greatest potential to impact the spread of diseases for each species. Instructions on how to report animal movements will vary depending on the ATD selected by the producer.
Once the animal tracing component is complete, it will be much easier for producers, States, industry, and USDA to determine the scope of a disease or animal health event and locate infected animals. Additionally, federal and state animal health officials will receive animal location and movement records only if a disease or animal health event - such as an outbreak of avian influenza or bovine tuberculosis - occurs.
NAIS Pilot Projects
USDA has funded a number of projects with States and Tribes, who collaborated with industry partners to carry out various field trials and research projects related to NAIS implementation. This work focused on resolving questions and concerns about NAIS processes, costs, and technologies. Many of the projects tested NAIS in real-world scenarios, integrating animal identification and animal tracing into everyday commerce. The results provided valuable information about the day-to-day use of animal identification and tracing technology.
Most importantly, the NAIS projects showed that animal identification and tracing can be implemented successfully in a production environment. The projects gave stakeholders “hands-on” experience using identification technologies and, as a result, delivered practical solutions for their routine use. For example, the project results demonstrated successful advancements in automated data capture, which is essential for animal identification and tracing to function effectively in commercial production environments. Demonstrations conducted early on in the projects produced only 50-60 percent read rates (percent of animals whose identification code was recorded) when using low-frequency RFID. Project coordinators identified a variety of issues that affect the effectiveness of tags and scanners (data capture) in real world scenarios. These included the read range of the scanner, the readability of tags, the location where the scanning takes place, and any interference from existing structures and other factors. After studying these issues and identifying practical solutions, many of the final project summaries now report read rates of 90-99 percent. This drastic improvement was a direct result of the continued evaluation, trial and error that occurred throughout the pilot projects.
The initial pilot projects produced a number of valuable lessons learned and other key findings. An overview of these results is provided below.
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The retention rate of RFID button-button tags is significantly higher than anticipated. In the Southwest pilot project, a producer with 6,000 tagged animals reported a retention rate of nearly 100 percent, compared with a 96-98 percent rate for visual tags. Other participating producers found similarly high retention rates with properly-placed RFID tags.
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The use of RFID at the auction market can reduce the need to restrain animals when recording their individual ID numbers. The Minnesota project concluded that RFID technology in this environment could actually improve animal and human safety.
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Using the group/lot method of animal identification can significantly reduce a major barrier for producers to participate in NAIS. In the Northwest region, groups of animals are often moved and managed together in situations where uniquely identifying them is virtually impossible without causing a serious and often detrimental change in the way business is conducted. The Northwest pilot project found that group/lot animal identification mirrors the natural flow of commerce in this region. The project concluded that group/lot identification is an important option for western cattle operations, but also acknowledged that individual identification is necessary if animals are commingled with cattle from other premises.
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RFID technology is not a “plug-and-play” application and must be customized to individual locations—the needs of which vary tremendously. In the Texas pilot project, the sites chosen for testing were often ill suited for immediate installation of equipment and required a time intensive process of site surveys and collaboration with facility owners to prevent any interference with the natural flow of commerce. Several facilities in the Southwest pilot project also required modifications (i.e. retrofitting existing facilities) to resolve interference problems with the panel readers. Overall, the majority of projects reported that the RFID/reader technology required careful setup, calibration, modification, and use.
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Proper tag application and placement has a direct and significant impact on the retention and readability of the tags. The Kentucky pilot project showed that RFID ear tag application and placement alone can account for as much as 40 percent of the variation in read rates and retention.
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In certain environments, the automated recording of animals’ identification as they are loaded onto and off-loaded from trucks is critical for successful animal tracing. While RFID technology is promising to achieve this goal, the Kansas pilot project found that improvements and advancements in the technology are still needed to make the “on-board” RFID systems more rugged. The project found that the available hardware/software needs to be refined to require less human intervention. In addition, it is important for service providers to be fully integrated (share information across systems), to ensure that checks and balances can be programmed as needed in the transportation environment.
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• Animal identification number (AIN) radio frequency (RF) eartags used for NAIS can also support value-added opportunities. Florida’s pilot project demonstrated the market-driven benefits of electronic animal identification and tracing. In one segment of the project, 6,500 individually identified cattle qualified as source-verified beef and yielded monetary premiums (totaling $56,000) during an industry-sponsored heifer sale. In another segment of the project, the Seminole Tribe also realized market-driven benefits when calves with electronic identification garnered premium amounts in a video auction sale.
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Information collection for NAIS can be achieved effectively through programs producers are already engaged in for management and/or marketing. For example, the Pennsylvania project built upon the existing infrastructure of the national Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program. The DHI system proved to be an effective partner in collecting data for NAIS data collection, and did so in a producer-friendly manner by using systems already in place and utilized by many producers. The Northwest Pilot Project also found that producers are most eager to participate in animal identification and tracing when existing systems are utilized for data collection.
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Producers’ access to technology—or lack thereof—is a key factor impacting participation in animal identification and tracing systems. The Southeastern Network Pilot Project found that only approximately 15 percent of producers involved in the project had Internet access and used e-mail. The Northwest Pilot Project also found that many producers do not have convenient access to technology, or was not comfortable using the technology. Results from both projects highlight the need for non-electronic data collection methods requiring minimal action on the part of producers.
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Buy-in for animal identification and tracing must extend beyond producers to include others involved in the production chain. In several projects, data collection was hindered because individuals in key industry segments (i.e. auction markets, slaughter facilities, and commercial transporters) lacked understanding of the technology and basic procedures involved with animal identification and tracing systems. During the Minnesota pilot project, the participating slaughter facility did not report equipment failures to State officials or manufacturers because the problems did not interfere with the facility’s own operations. Such results demonstrate that outreach, education, and market incentives will be especially important within these groups to achieve the animal tracing goals of NAIS.
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The cost-effectiveness of LF-RFID must be evaluated according to species. The Montana pilot project found that individually identifying all animals in a sheep production system would be too expensive unless it could create value-added benefits. A subsequent project is now being conducted to evaluate the potential use of group lot ID systems within sheep marketing channels.
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Participants at all levels of production need to be well informed about basic procedural matters related to animal identification. The North Dakota CalfAID project found that facility owners were often unaware of the purpose of the project’s RFID tags. As a result of the common practice at feedlots and other such facilities to remove all eartags from animals upon arrival, the potential outcomes of the project were lost. It will be especially important to educate the entire industry about animal identification practices to prevent the removal of official identification devices.
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Workable options are available for producers who want to identify their animals electronically without the added expense of reader equipment. Producers in the Northwest pilot project found value in using “matched set pairs” of eartags. A group/lot visual tag was used for day-to-day management purposes and then matched with an individual RFID tag number—without the use of an RFID reader or software—when the animal moved off the premises. The project also determined that this method could work well with other related management and marketing programs, such as process-, age-, and source-verification.
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The level of training equipment operators receive directly impacts data collection and, ultimately, the system’s success. In the Oklahoma project, employees at most locations were either unprepared or unwilling to properly operate computer equipment, resulting in poor data capture rates. However, the South Dakota project reported that equipment performance improved with operator training and experience. In fact, all facilities in this project experienced improved read rates as employees became more familiar with the equipment.
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The use of electronic identification allows for more accurate and efficient recordkeeping. During the Southwest pilot project, many producers who were exposed to RFID technology for the first time reported a significant reduction in data entry errors. It was also reported that the use of the technology enhanced business practices and, as a result, reduced labor costs.
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Calves can be tagged successfully with RFID devices at a very young age. In the Tri-National project ( Arizona), dairy calves from 3 to 5 days old were tagged upon arrival at a participating calf ranch and then shipped to a feedlot at 6 to 8 weeks of age. The project reported acceptable tag retention rates.
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Effective, producer-focused outreach and education is critical to the success of an animal identification system. The Texas pilot project reported that the biggest challenge in implementing animal identification was not the technology itself, but rather the attitudes among livestock owners towards the technology. State and industry outreach efforts were able to address many common misconceptions about the capabilities of RFID technology and foster participation in the project. Explaining the need for and value of animal identification, with a specific focus on how identification devices can add value to livestock, was particularly effective in garnering producer support.
NAIS is an evolving program and may change as additional public comments are received and additional legislative proposals are considered. Species groups continue to work with USDA to answer technical and procedural issues. Farmers can also learn more about NAIS at http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml. Farmers can also make written inquiries about the NAIS program directly at: NAIS Program Staff, Animal and Plant health inspection service, USDA unit 200, 4700 River Road, Riverdale MD 20737.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this Action Alert, please contact National Grange Program Assistant Molly Thompson by e-mail: mthompson@nationalgrange.org or by calling 1-888-4GRANGE, ext. 107.
Thank you for your grassroots participation in the National Grange Legislative Program.
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