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Texas Agriculture Archive
April 21, 2006
TAHC puts Premises ID on hold
On the heels of an announcement by the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) to put proposed premises registration regulations on hold, the USDA released an implementation plan that outlines timelines and benchmarks for a national animal identification system.
According to Dr. Bob Hillman, TAHC cancelled plans to address proposed regulations for premises registration at the upcoming May 4 meeting of the TAHC meeting in Austin, primarily because USDA timelines were delayed on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
"We had moved forward with our proposed rules believing USDA was moving forward with their's," Hillman told TFB Radio Network's Curt Lancaster in a recent interview. "They have not stopped but they've slowed down, so their timelines were off."
Premise ID is the first in a series of steps needed for what TAHC said will be a national animal identification system that allows health officials to better identify, track and ultimately, contain and treat animal disease outbreaks when they occur.
Another reason for delaying the regulations were misunderstandings among many of those potentially affected.
"We were accused of not adequately informing people and not communicating with people, and frankly, that's a little disappointing to me to hear people say that, because we've done an extraordinary amount of work to try to get the word out as to what we were doing and why," Hillman said.
Meanwhile, two days after TAHC's announcement, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) implementation plan, along with a plan for the initial integration of private and state animal tracking databases with NAIS.
The implementation plan continues to set an aggressive timeline for ensuring full implementation of the NAIS by 2009 (see chart, Page 22). It establishes benchmarks for incrementally accomplishing the remaining implementation goals to enable the NAIS to be operational by 2007, and to achieve full producer implementation by 2009, Johanns said.
"The plan we are releasing today (April 6) will guide our efforts as we continue to work with our state and industry partners to implement a nationwide system," Johanns said.
As far as Texas is concerned, Hillman said TAHC will "redouble" its effort to communicate with producers about animal identification and what it is attempting to accomplish with its rules.
"Certainly, the fact that we postponed the rules does not negate the idea of an animal ID system nor does it eliminate the need to generate revenue through fees," he said. "I still think there's going to be expectations from the Texas legislature that we do that."
Hillman said TAHC will continue to promote voluntary, free registration of premises where livestock and fowl are held, handled or managed. As of April 4, more than 10,000 premises have been registered in Texas, and more than 213,000 have been registered nationally.
Information sheets about premises registration, NAIS booklets, or presentations about premises registration may be requested by contacting the nearest TAHC area office, or by visiting their website at www.tahc.-state.tx.us.
