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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Wisconsin requiring registration of spots where livestock kept
  • Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:24:22 -0700

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/13045926.htm

Posted on Mon, Oct. 31, 2005
Wisconsin requiring registration of spots where livestock kept
JOHN HARTZELL
Associated Press



MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin becomes the first state in the nation Tuesday to
require registration of livestock locations, the first of three steps to help
governments prepare for an animal disease outbreak, officials say.

"People saw what happened when foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Europe
several years ago and asked, 'What's going to happen in Wisconsin?'," said
Robert Fourdraine, chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Livestock
Identification Consortium, which is spearheading the law's implementation.

It includes livestock and industry organizations, the University of Wisconsin
Extension and state and federal agriculture departments.

The Wisconsin Premises Registration Act goes into effect Tuesday and requires
all who board livestock to register their premises, regardless of the kind
and size of the operation.

Wisconsin received a $2.75 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture to develop the system, which 35 other states are also
adopting, consortium spokeswoman Leanne Ketterhagen said.

The steps are needed to respond to an animal disease outbreak within 48
hours, according to the consortium.

"If there was a case of avian influenza in Wisconsin, that's where a system
like this would be so beneficial," Fourdraine said. "We've known very little
about who we need to contact."

Dore Mobley, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection
Service, said the livestock location system is the first of three steps
planned in the states and nationwide. The next will be to register all
animals and the third is to track animals throughout their lives, she said.

More than 22,000 people who board livestock have voluntarily registered since
the system was started in October 2003 in Wisconsin, but now all are being
required to participate, Ketterhagen said. Fourdraine said they don't know
how many need registering.

Terry Quam, who raises beef cattle and dairy heifers at Lodi, said if
officials have good information about the animals' location, the size of a
quarantine area in the case of an outbreak could be greatly reduced.

"If we don't know where they are, the quarantine could be hundred of miles, a
whole county or the entire state. It could make the difference economically"
for many farmers, he said.

But Dave Matthes, state chairman of the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund
of the United Stockgrowers of America, said that grass roots organization of
farmers and ranchers has concerns about mandating the requirement. Matthes,
of Viola, said current procedures were effective in tracking diseased animals.

"We've traced back and stopped every disease," he said. "They haven't shown
what (disease) we're trying to protect against."

Numerous animals are covered under the law including cattle, llamas, deer,
horses, goats, pheasants, exotic birds, chickens, turkeys, geese, ostriches,
sheep and swine.

The new state law will require anyone keeping livestock who is not licensed
by the state - including hobby farmers and those who have a few animals - to
register by Jan. 1. Dairy farmers and operators of large feed lots for beef
cattle are among those licensed by the state and must register by their
license renewal date, the consortium said.

Those who fail to register could face a fine of $200 to $5,000, Ketterhagen
said. They would also be ineligible for state and federal payments they could
otherwise receive for any livestock that die as part of a disease outbreak.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is
enforcing the regulations, said spokeswoman Donna Gilson said.

ON THE NET

WLIC Web site: http://www.wiid.org





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