One week ago the Animal Disease Traceability Rule went into effect. The U.S. Department of Agriculture decided that livestock being moved interstate must have official identification.

Chief Veterinary Officer for the USDA, Dr. John Clifford, says the purpose of this is to trace livestock and poultry when there is a disease event, “We believe that as a result of the increased ID, we’ll be able to more quickly identify which animals do not need to be held and tested during a disease investigation. This in turn will reduce the number of locations affected and the number of animals tested, thereby decreasing the length of investigation and the cost to producers and the government.”

Obviously implementation of this new rule provides some challenges for both states and producers, but Wyoming State Veterinarian Dr. Jim Logan says he thinks Wyoming is up to the task, “Wyoming is pretty well poised to comply with the federal rule, simply because  we already have identification requirements in Wyoming that’ll help our producers be ready for this. But there will be challenges that will come with this new rule as far as recording ID on official Certificates of Health Inspection when animals move across state lines and that’s going to be a challenge to producers as well as veterinarians.”

Logan says that Wyoming is not alone in this struggle, however, as every state is working to comply with the new rule.

Salute to Ag: Animal Disease Traceability