Enhancement Ideas Animal Disease Traceability Framework

Volume 19 | August 20, 2018

While APHIS [Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] is confident that implementation of the basic Animal Disease Traceability [ADT] framework was successful, some of its parameters limit the progress of the program, and significant gaps still exist within current tracing capabilities,” according to Animal Disease Traceability, a summary of program reviews and proposed directions from the State-Federal Animal Disease Traceability Working Group (ADTWG).

Among examples of the gaps:

Application of the official ID requirement only to livestock moving interstate creates significant confusion in marketing channels and enforcement challenges.
Use of visual-only, low-cost ID ear tags presents obstacles for collecting animal ID efficiently and accurately.
The traceability regulations do not include feeder cattle, which APHIS views as an essential component of an effective traceability system in the long term.
Some federally approved slaughter plants could improve collection of ID devices at slaughter and correlation of the devices to the carcass through final inspection.

WI-Origin Tags Now Available!

WLIC is selling Wisconsin-branded tags, as well as readers and taggers on our website in the online store!

The WLIC online store gives producers several options for purchasing the WI-Origin™ tags, including choice of style, color, and price. Other preferences include a selection of both RFID (radio frequency identification), or non-RFID tags.

WLIC is competitively priced and all proceeds will be used to fund our programs and services. In addition, Allflex, USA, provides WLIC with a 10-cent rebate for every Wisconsin-branded tag sold.

Meet Our Members

Milwaukee Stockyards has been marketing livestock since 1869. They are Wisconsin’s leading market for slaughter livestock offering services such as Private Treaty.

Milwaukee Stockyards sells cattle by private treaty five days per week, calves, sheep & goats by auction and by private treaty. As well as feeder cattle auctions on the second Friday of each month.

Milwaukee Stockyards is a leader in the state of Wisconsin to help you with your marketing needs, MS are the first to offer you this opportunity under private treaty conditions. They offer premiums for value-added cattle being sold with conditions being met such as: Cattle must be of U.S. origin, Cattle must be under 30 months of age, Cattle must not be cloned, just to name a few!

WLIC Trivia

How many counties participate in the DNA program WLIC offers?

A) 15

B) 26

C) 35

D) 47

Answer shown below!

In the News

Researchers Develop Test for FMD in Bulk Milk

Testing of pooled milk samples could provide an efficient tool for foot and mouth disease (FMD) screening, and for facilitating movement of milk supplies during an FMD outbreak. Researchers at The Pirbright Institute, in collaboration with USDA/APHIS scientists at the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on Plum Island, New York, have shown that such testing is feasible and sensitive enough to detect the presence of one infected cow in a milking herd of up to 1,000 head.

Tick- and Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Increasing Dramatically

Recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal a staggering threefold increase in reported cases of what we broadly term “vector-borne diseases”—or illnesses transmitted by mosquitoes, lice, ticks and the like—between 2004 and 2016 in the United States. Making matters worse, nine new pathogens emerged for the first time in the U.S. during this same period.

Exports: Beef Hits Homerun

Red meat exports in the first half of 2018 were a cause of celebration for U.S. livestock producers. With both pig and cattle herds amid expansion and inventories at record highs, exports have become even more critical to maintaining positive prices for producers.