For immediate release FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2004

Contact: Patrick Jennings
or Cara Hazelwood,
(502) 564-5126

Frankfort, KY—Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer has assembled a working group to guide Kentucky’s efforts at developing a statewide electronic animal identification system.

“Kentucky is a national leader in animal identification, and it’s in the best interests of producers as well as consumers that we stay ahead of the curve,” said Commissioner Farmer, who will chair the working group. “At the same time, we have to come up with a plan that will minimize the burden on producers to comply with the program. I have made sure that producers are well-represented on this working group so we can achieve both goals.”

The working group will make recommendations on how to implement a statewide animal identification program. State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Stout and Brian Furnish, Executive Director of the Office of Agriculture Marketing and Product Promotion, also will represent the Kentucky Department of Agriculture on the working group.

Other members will represent the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association, the Livestock Management Association, the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association, the Kentucky Pork Producers Association, the Kentucky Poultry Federation, the Kentucky Meat Goat Association, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, the Kentucky Aquaculture Association, the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and the Breathitt Livestock Diagnostic Laboratory. A staff member from the legislature’s agriculture committees will serve as an ex-officio member of the working group.

Kentucky beef cattle producers who have participated in the certified pre-conditioned for health (CPH-45) sales and the Five State Beef Initiative have used eartags to identify their animals and retrieve production information from packing plants. The KDA, the Kentucky Beef Network and other agriculture interests conducted a demonstration of an electronic identification system in a standard stockyard setting Feb. 20 at the Washington County Livestock Center in Springfield. Another demonstration is planned this spring at the Madison County stockyards in Richmond.

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