National Animal Identification System  (NAIS)

By Sandy Poletti

IFOR Region 4 Director

In 2005, the USDA announced the development of the National Animal Identification System known as NAIS.   The goal of NAIS is to create a trace back system to identify all animals and premises potentially exposed to an animal with a Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) within 48 hours of discovery.

When NAIS is fully implemented, it will cover 29 species of animals from clams to cattle.  No animals, including those owned by religious sectors such as the Amish, will be excluded from NAIS. 

NAIS will be implemented in three stages.  The first being premise registration; second stage will be animal identification; and the final stage will be the reporting of animal movement within 24 hours of leaving the registered premise property.

One will have to notify the USDA every time they take their animal off their property; whether going on leisurely trail ride in the woods near your home or to a show or exhibit.  Or worst yet, imagine a microchip in your equine, and your daily trail ride being mapped by a GPS system.

NAIS was the brainchild of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA).  NIAA membership includes a broad spectrum of those involved within several animal species organizations but also includes many involved with industrial agriculture and technology.  Many NIAA members would reap great financial benefits in the successful implementation of NAIS.

NAIS is no more than a “feel good program” that is a waste of taxpayers money.   It is has a degree of redundancy to it as many of the safeguards are already in place especially at the state levels.  NAIS would be technologically impossible to implement costing millions to register and track animals.  These costs would most likely trickle down to animal owners driving small farmers and ranchers along with their suppliers out of business. Those who own animals for hobby may not be able to handle the extra cost or the aggravation involved with registering and reporting their animals’ movements.

NAIS clearly favors corporate agriculture allowing animals raised and killed together in large confined groups such as feedlots to register as one number while farms that do not confine their animals in small areas must register each animal.  The cost of registering one large animal such as a cow is estimated to be $25 - $30.   Feedlot cattle being registered as one would cost $1 to $2 per cow.  A chicken would cost about $2 to register, pennies per chicken for large chicken lots being registered as one.  Clearly, the playing field would not be equal with NAIS. NAIS will make independent farming, especially organic farming, cost prohibitive.

Although it is well known that animals raised in confined areas have more diseases, this is not taken into consideration with NAIS.  NAIS will not prevent and control disease.  Animal diseases and the transmission of diseases greatly depends upon the living conditions under which animals are kept and real food security comes from raising your own food or buying from a local farmer you actually know. 

The USDA is relying on each state to implement NAIS.  Most states currently have a voluntary premise registration.   But how voluntary is it?   Many livestock owners have been rolled into NAIS without their knowledge or consent through existing state disease-control programs such as scrapies, calf vaccinations and brand registrations.

In States experiencing extreme drought, livestock owners where not allowed to buy hay trucked in from other states without a premise ID.

In Illinois, like many other states, a premise ID number will be required to exhibit livestock at state, county, 4-H and FFA fairs beginning in 2008.

The time is now to contact your elected officials in Congress and ask them to not fund NAIS.  State officials should also be contacted and asked to support or sponsor a State bill outlawing mandatory NAIS, as the Arizona State Legislature did recently.