The USDA has awarded pork producers $400,000 to promote premises registration as part of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
The funds will be used by industry coordinators to encourage producers to register their premises. To date, about 40% of U.S. pork producers have registered their premises in the voluntary national program created to facilitate the tracking of livestock in the event of a disease outbreak. U.S. pork producers are on record as supporting premises registration and a mandatory identification system for all relevant livestock species.
The USDA has said it hopes to have 70% of all livestock premises and 40% of all livestock animals registered by January 2008. By January 2009, USDA wants 100% of all premises registered, 100% of all newborn animals identified and 60% of all animals under a year old documented.
The National Pork Board will utilize the money to fund three Regional Swine ID Coordinators. These contract positions will be responsible for coordinating and implementing promotional programming and events to facilitate swine premises registration in their assigned region. Information on the positions is available on the Pork Board website.