Texas Landowners Council

Animal Identification

Current status of premises and animal identification in Texas

By Lauren Stucky Flake

The Obama administration has decided to abandon USDA’s National Animal Identification System. USDA announced February 5, 2010 that it will develop a new animal disease traceability framework that will only apply to animals moving in interstate commerce. After spending more than $120 million to implement NAIS, USDA reports that only 36 percent of livestock producers participated.

Last year, Wisconsin became the first and only state to enforce mandatory premises identification, the first step in implementing NAIS, and began prosecution of individuals for noncompliance. In December 2009, USDA approved EriginateTM Corporation’s eTattooTM as the first official ultra-high radio frequency identification tag to be used in its animal health programs. The eTattooTM Starter Kit, which includes 100 UHF cattle tags, costs $9,995; a bundle of 100 replacement tags costs $395.

H.B. 1361 passed in the 2005 Texas Legislative Session, giving the Texas Animal Health Commission unconstitutional power to implement NAIS in Texas. H.B. 461 by state Rep. Sid Miller, which would have kept NAIS voluntary and removed criminal penalties for non-compliance in Texas, failed to pass the Texas Senate in the 2007 session.

In 2009, TLC supported S.B. 682 by state Sen. Eltife and companion H.B. 3322 by state Rep. Kleinschmidt, which would keep NAIS voluntary in Texas until the federal government makes it mandatory. The bill would also allow a participant to withdraw from NAIS at any time and would prohibit a person from conditioning a service, benefit, license, payment, or permit on participation in NAIS. The Senate and House failed to pass these bills.

According to a May 2006 article in The New American, "The NAIS was conceived by the large meat producers in the late '90s as an alternative to country-of-origin meat labeling legislation introduced by Chenoweth-Hage."