Sheep Industry News March 2022

ASI Industry Partners TITANIUM SPONSOR American Wool Services GOLD SPONSORS Purina Superior Farms Darrell & Teresa Keese – Keese International Farm to Feet – Nester Hosiery SILVER SPONSORS Catelli Brothers Inc. Chargeurs Wool (USA) Inc. Groenewold Fur and Wool Company PLATINUM SPONSOR Anodyne Wool

BRONZE SPONSORS

Nugget International

Rabobank

INDUSTRY SUPPORTER (LEVEL TWO)

Allflex Livestock Intelligence American Hampshire Sheep Association Bank of Baker Center of the Nation Wool Colorado Serum Company Crescent Sock Company Great Plains Wool Company Katahdin Hair Sheep International Kentwool

Imperial County Farm Bureau Roswell Wool Shaniko Wool Company

INDUSTRY SUPPORTER (LEVEL ONE)

North American Babydoll Southdown Sheep Association & Registry United Suffolk Sheep Association Utah Wool Marketing

ing EID “would help us know where those animals were, where those animals are go ing, much more rapidly” than traditional record-keeping with paper and visual tags. If EID were in place, it would automati cally become part of the disease control program, Wolf said. Even if all produc ers aren’t ready to implement EID now, the sheep industry needs to be ready to protect the industry. To that end, the ASI Electronic ID Transition Working Group spent the last year examining the issue and preparing a report to the industry. The working group recognized that real time traceability is important to ensure the continuity of business for sheep producers

should it be faced with a rapidly spreading disease. The only proven system that works for that is using low-frequency RFID tags, readers and software, such as those already used in regions such as England and Australia, and sporadically throughout the United States. Wolf said the working group learned some basics from other countries, includ ing that a subsidy for the program was necessary, as were mandates and educa tional campaigns. Other countries also demonstrated the benefits of the program, including preparedness for a foreign ani mal disease, their ability to market lamb meat using traceability, and increased pro

ductivity and profitability in their flocks. While RFID systems are available and in use in the United States, the working group developed a list of concerns and impedi ments to setting up a national program, as well as a series of recommendations for moving the industry forward. Among its recommendations, the working group suggests that government cost-sharing in development and implementation of the program is necessary, and that there should be a phased-in approach to the program, with a state or region fully imple menting the program within one year, before all states would transition to RFID within two years.

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