USDAs Animal ID Program and Horses

"Big Brother wants to control where you trail ride and when," read an equine blog in reference to the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). On the contrary, the program's goal is to better ensure the safety and health of America's livestock, including horses.

Animal identification, and a method for tracking livestock, is not a new concept. Animal identification is a part of American history, having began in the 1800s with branding of livestock to deter theft.More recently, the need for a way to track livestock became readily apparent with the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in the United States in 2004. The inability to track one offspring of this infected cow beyond a particular herd led to the slaughter of 400 calves. Clearly, a tracking system is necessary.

For horses, the goal of NAIS is to 揺stablish a national system to identify those horses and equine premises that are part of the system and to record animal movements for purposes of disease control only,?according to the Equine Special Working Group (ESWG), which was formed by members in equine industries and organizations throughout the United States to evaluate the NAIS. The group's goal is to make informed recommendations to the USDA. 

Advocates of the NAIS hope to be able to track livestock disease outbreaks to the source because the longer a disease outbreak takes to be diagnosed, sourced and contained, the greater the cost. The horse community should be sufficiently concerned with the potential for disease outbreaks as the importation of horses from other countries is practically routine, and the movement from shows to breeders to clinics to new owners puts our horses in danger of contracting a serious illness. Quarantines are effective, but they are not 100%, and a severe outbreak of an equine disease of concern would have a serious veterinary and economic impact upon the nation抯 horse industry.According to the USDA "the ultimate goal is to identify all animals and premises that have had direct contact with a disease of concern within 48 hours after discovery." For horses, the program intends to utilize existing tracking techniques from microchips to lip tattoos and registries.

Participation in the NAIS program is currently voluntary. Learn more about the NAIS program and locate the ESWG representative in your area to voice your opinion and concerns. Go to http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/audiences/horses/index.shtml