National Animal Identification System

National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

SECRETARY VILSACK ANNOUNCES NATIONAL ANIMAL
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM LISTENING SESSION IN JASPER, FLORIDA

JUNE 27, 2009

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2009--The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will hold a listening session on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) on June 27 in Jasper, Florida. “We would like to hear from a wide variety of stakeholder audiences, so we are bringing the listening tour to six additional cities, including Jasper,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “These meetings offer additional opportunities for the public, and in particular limited-resource farmers, to voice their concerns about the current NAIS system and offer potential solutions.”

APHIS seeks to gather not only producer comments and concerns, but also potential solutions to create a program producers can feel comfortable supporting. The listening session will include information about the current program, as well as an opportunity to give public testimony or ask a program-related question. Discussion sessions relating to the following areas of concern will allow producers to provide their input on ways to make the program into something they can support: cost, impact on small farmers, privacy and confidentiality, liability, premises registration, animal identification and animal tracing.

The public meetings will be held at the Hamilton County Extension Building, 1143 NW US Highway 41, Jasper, FL 32052, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, with registration one hour prior to each meeting.

Additional information on the meetings can be found at: www.usda.gov/nais/feedback.

In 2004, APHIS began implementing NAIS, an animal traceability system that would enable producers and animal health officials to respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States. This notice was published in the May 22 Federal Register

Angela McKenzie-Jakes,
Extension Animal Science Specialist/
Small Ruminant Program Leader
Florida A&M University
Research and Extension Center
4259 Bainbridge Hwy.
Quincy, FL. 32352
(850) 875-8557 (Office)
(850) 875- 8558 (Fax)
http://www.famu.edu/goats