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FRANKFORT,
Ky. — Kentucky is preparing to launch a federally funded
animal identification pilot program as another wraps
up.
“Our
livestock industries must develop the capability to
trace an animal back to its point of origin within 48
hours to minimize the impact of a disease outbreak and
its effect on the agriculture economy,” Agriculture
Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “The animal identification
system also must be affordable to producers, stockyards,
packers and everyone else in the livestock food chain.
Kentucky is leading the way in the search for a viable
animal identification system, and I intend for us to
stay ahead of the game.”
The
Department is making revisions the United States Department
of Agriculture required to an application for a $269,093
grant USDA awarded to KDA in August, State Veterinarian
Dr. Robert Stout said. The revisions will be completed
and submitted to USDA by Sept. 10, he said.
The
KDA is studying what software to use for the premises
identification phase of the grant and hopes to be able
to acquire premises identification data from existing
sources, Dr. Stout said. The Department's goal is to
collect data on 25 percent of all 87,000 Kentucky agricultural
premises by April and on 50 percent by next September,
he said.
The
10-state pilot livestock tracking phase of the grant
probably will be carried out between January and July
2005, he said. The Southeastern Livestock Network, which
includes Kentucky, will tag and track 1,500 slaughter
cows from their points of origin to the Shapiro packing
plant in Augusta, Ga.
The
Kentucky grant was one of 29 grants to states and tribes
totaling $11.64 million for animal identification projects.
USDA
has set a deadline for mid-2005 for all cattle, swine
and small ruminants slated for interstate movement to
have individual or group/lot identification.
For
several years Kentucky producers have used beef cattle
identification as a tool for marketing their animals
and capturing carcass data to see how their cattle are
performing and make management decisions that will improve
their performance.
Kentucky
will carry on the work of the Five State Beef Initiative
through the Value Added Targeted Marketing Program,
a collaborative effort of the University of Kentucky
and the Kentucky Beef Network that is funded by the
Kentucky Agricultural Development Board. The beef cattle
identification program provides cost sharing funds to
participating producers. The Five State Beef Initiative,
an identification program involving producers from Kentucky,
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, concludes this
month.
In
Kentucky's Certified Preconditioned for Health (CPH-45)
program, beef cattle are raised under a strict health
regimen and sold as commingled lots. The CPH-45 sale
season opens Nov. 5 with a steer and heifer sale in
Marion.
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