On February 5, 2010 USDA announced a new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability in the United States. The framework will provide the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capacity in the United States. USDA's efforts will:
- Only apply to animals moved in interstate commerce;
- Be administered by the States and Tribal Nations to provide more flexibility;
- Encourage the use of lower-cost technology; and
- Be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the full rulemaking process.
As of this time (Feb. 28, 2010) it sounds like USDA will work to make sure that producers who have already registered their premises and purchased 840 tags will not have to revamp their ID program in order to be compliant with new rules and regulations that come into play through State and Tribal Nation implementation of ID programs for traceability. We will try to keep you updated as more information becomes available.This page lists current tags approved for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The USDA 840 tags are the tags that had been approved for the NAIS - the program which the USDA had tried to implement since the first Mad Cow or BSE case was discovered at the end of 2003.
The NAIS required the producer to have a premise ID number in order to purchase these tags.
Premises registration was to be used in conjunction with approved ID devices to aid in rapid traceback of animal origin in the event of a disease outbreak. It is likely that there will still be programs in place which will require premises registration which can usually be taken care of through your state Dept. of Ag. See the above link to find the best location to register premises in your state.
ID devices that have been NAIS approved all bear the USDA shield and have a unique 15-digit identification number. These devices are not to be removed from the animal once they have been applied.
Up until now when you purchased your USDA 840 identification devices, the 15-digit identification number for each device you purchased was linked to your premises ID number in a database.
You do not have to report to the database when the animal is sold or removed from your premises but it is a good idea to keep track of where the animal is moved to next.
If you wish to use these devices to help with marketing your animals then you may want to enroll with a third party verifier or PVP program such as Certified Angus, AgInfoLink or South Dakota Certified Beef.
Devices which had been approved for the NAIS as of January 2010 include RFID button tags; matched sets which include an RFID button tag and a visual tag set with matching 15-digit nubmers; All in one tags or combo e tags which combine the RFID device with a panel tag; or USDA 840 visual tags which are panel tags with a 15-digit number printed on them.
These tags will also meet COOL requirements.
Approved devices for horses (equine), alpaca/llama are a microchip transponder such as the Destron LIFECHIP (available with Bio-Thermo technology which also allows you to monitor the animal's temperature) which is inserted under the skin of the animal - usually in the neck on horses or at the base of the poll on llama/alpaca. We are not currently marketing the USDA 840 version of the LIFE CHIP but do have the standard version available - See more information at this page - Life Chip.
Click on the images below for more information on each type of device.