Return to TFB Main Page
Return to Current Edition
Texas Agriculture Archive

February 17, 2006

Proposed rules set fee
for premise registration

By Mike Barnett
Editor

Want to save 20 bucks? Then register your farm or ranch or that place you keep livestock or poultry with the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) before July 1.

Premise identification will likely become mandatory July 1 in the Lone Star State if the Texas Animal Health Commission passes a proposed rule being considered at press time.

Under the rules, registering a premise will be free up until July 1. After that date, premise ID will be mandatory and producers will be charged $20, or $10 a year for a two-year period.

Premise identification is first of the foundation blocks of the National Animal Identification System, whose goal is to trace back outbreaks of infectious disease in livestock within 48 hours.

The second part of that system is identification of animals, whether as individuals or groups, and the third block is the animal tracking system.

"The goal is to collect the information on animal movement so that when you do have a disease, you can go to the system and determine where animals have been and if they have exposure to the disease," according to Dr. Bob Hillman, TAHC executive director.

In an update at the recent Texas Farm Bureau Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Hillman said premise ID, started in Texas in December 2004, was slow going at first.

"We knew we had glitches in it," he said. "So we didn't push and pressure people to register premises, we encouraged them to do so. Many of the glitches have been fixed. We have producers who can go on-line and register without a whole lot of problem if they fill in the information correctly."

Currently 5,500 premises in Texas have been registered out of an estimated 200,000.

Hillman pointed out that the proposed rules have allowed TAHC to develop an identification system consistent with the national system.

"However, we're talking specifically about developing and implementing a premises identification system in Texas, not the whole package at this point," he said. "Animal identification and tracking are going to be on a voluntary basis at this point, at least until we go further with the national system."

The proposed rules will recognize premise numbers, animal ID numbers and group numbers as official numbers, so they can be used in an official disease program or national animal identification system. The rules would also accept official identification numbers, such as a registry tattoo or Bangs tags.

In addition, the proposed rules protect information coming into the system from public disclosure.

"That's an important aspect, something that industry has been very concerned about," Hillman said.

For more information on premise ID or to register your operation, visit the TAHC website at www.tahc/state.tx.us.

Premise ID proposed fee structure

Under proposed rules being considered at press time by the Texas Animal Health Commission, fees charged to register a premise would be $10 a year, charged for a biennial period—or $20 total.

Premise ID registration and fees would be compulsary starting July 1 of this year, and would be good until July 2008, when the operator would have to renew for another $20 fee.

A premise can be registered with no fee until July 1. Those premises will not have a fee until July 1, 2008, when the premise will have to reregistered.