Animal and Plant Inspection Service
March 3, 2006, USDA-APHIS announces the implementation of the animal identification number (AIN) as the next phase of the voluntary National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

APHIS is the Animal and Plant Health Information Service, which is a division of the US Department of Agriculture.

Aphis Veterinary Services March 3, 2006
USDA Releases Guidelines for the Manufacture and Distribution of Official Identification Devices Under NAIS
AnimalIdentTags_sa_vs_nais3-3-06.pdf

The above document, Marc 3, 2006, appears to be the most recent action by the NAIS. It specifies only ear tags for cattle, which have been in use for many years for all cattle intended for food.

Reference Documents at:
Reference Documents provides links to three separate documents giving details of the current status of the plan.

Draft Strategic Plan: NAIS_Draft_Strategic_Plan_42505.pdf

Draft Program Standards: NAIS_Draft_Program_Standards_42505.pdf

Technical Supplement: NAIS_Technical_Supplement_072605.pdf

At the Reference Documents: http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/about/reference_docs.shtml

[quote]
Although the draft strategic plan references mandatory requirements in 2008 and beyond, to date no actions have been initiated by USDA to develop regulations to require participation in NAIS. APHIS will publish updates to the implementation plan as recommendations are received and evaluated by the NAIS Subcommittee and the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases.

NAIS is currently a voluntary program. To ensure the participation requirements of NAIS not only provide the results necessary to maintain the health of the national herd but also is a program that is practical for producers and all others involved in production, USDA has adopted a phased-in approach to implementation.

The immediate priority is premises registration. Animal identification is slated for implementation in early 2006 with official tags becoming available for cattle. The interim phase of the integration of private and state databases will be initiated by April of this year.

[endquote]

Since this program has been ongoing for quite a few years (note that the Draft Strategic Plan was released 6 years ago) no one in the agricultural food production business should be surprised at it, or be unaware of its current status.

The only "tracking" involved is that the tracking database must me notified of any movement, transfer, or other change in location, ownership, or other disposition of all registered animals included within the program.

The only "remote tracking" capability I see is that the ear tags placed on individual cattle must be "readable at a distance of at least 30 inches."

For animals in a herd, all of whom are from a common source, all of whom are kept together and separate from other herds, a "herd identification" is sufficient. If an individual animal is separated from the herd, the group information is simply entered into a separate record for that animal.

There is no requirement now, or that I see any evidence being anticipated, that would require catfish growers (or small chicken growers) to tag individual animals unless they are mixing multi-year crops. If that's a problem for them, they may, I believe, still submit comments to the Strategic Plan to note what accommodation they believe is in the best interests of the food animal producing industry.

Since the purpose of tracking (by pencil and paper, largely) is to be able to identify where a specific individual animal has been in contact with other like animals, specifically to identify where that animal may have been infected with a tracked infection and/or to identify other animals that animal may have infected, it is remotely possible that animals capable of cross-species infection might be targeted for tracking at some time in the future. At present the technological capability for doing that is less than adequate, especially for small animals.

Thus far at least, the only ones affected are those producing animals for commercial processing for human consumption, at least so far as I can see. Anyone in that line of work should be in constant close contact with their local Ag agent and should be well informed on this project.

John