More and more computer chips are being used to identify livestock in Colorado and elsewhere, bringing a high-technology boost to an industry with roots in the Old West.
The National Animal Identification System, a voluntary program coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and local government agencies, can be used as a safeguard to protect against the spread of animal disease, proponents say.
Information gathered in the system can also be used in marketing and animal management, among other applications.
In Colorado, information from the system helped quickly identify and assist ranchers in southeastern Colorado whose stock were trapped in snow by a recent wave of blizzards.
Since most roads were snowed over, National Guard helicopter pilots, who were airlifting feed, couldn’t visually follow highways to ranches. But coordinates of ranches registered with the system allowed rescuers to quickly and methodically find snowbound ranches.
“That’s what we used in the blizzard situation,” said John Heller, NAIS director with the Colorado State Veterinarian’s Office. “We were able to get feed to animals and ask ranchers: ‘Are you guys OK? What do you need?”‘
More than 5,500 ranchers and livestock operators in Colorado, about 25 percent of the total, have agreed to take part in the system.
So far, about 1.4 million radio-frequency ID tags have been shipped nationally, said Ben Kaczmarski, an NAIS spokesman with the USDA.
Kaczmarski said identifying and tracing animals as part of the system should be in full operation by about midsummer.
The main focus of the program is to help eradicate disease by being able to quickly trace livestock origin and movement, Kaczmarski said.
“That is the goal of NAIS, to develop a communication system to help folks in the event of a disease outbreak,” Kaczmarski said. “To get them the information they need when they need it.”
Participants will use radio-frequency ID tags, computer chips about the size of a quarter that are attached to an animal’s ear.
The tags can be scanned from close range, allowing ranchers to electronically identify and track livestock. Information on vaccinations, weights, medical history, genetics, birth dates and more can be stored in the tags. The information could be used to help close a sale or perhaps even boost the price.
Still, some ranchers are wary of government intervention or dependence.
“It makes me nervous that government is going to get too involved with us and turn the ranching industry into the same thing that farming is,” said Scott Starr, a cattleman from Stapleton, Neb., and a National Western Stock Show exhibitor.
Starr, who runs about 2,700 cattle on his 32,000-acre ranch, said he isn’t opposed to a national identification system but wants it to be market-driven instead of forced by government.
“I’m for the need to get it done right,” Starr said.
Kaczmarski, of the USDA, said Starr and other ranchers can breathe easy about how the program will be implemented.
“There really are no plans to ever make it mandatory at the federal level,” Kaczmarski said. “We believe market demands are really going to drive participation in the system down the road.”
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
