Mug Shots

What next: animal mug shots?

"I tell people about this, and they think I've gone nuts."

She's talking about an extraordinary plan under way to register, and track, every livestock animal in the U.S. That's all the cows, horses, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, pigs, even llamas.

It's called the National Animal Identification System. It seeks to assign each animal a 15-digit ID number and physical tag such as a radio-frequency device. So far it's voluntary, but it's slated to be mandatory in 2009 for any animal that moves from one property to another (i.e. if they're sold, borrowed, displayed at a fair, or just wander around a lot.)

It's well-meaning. If we know where all the animals are at all times, then we can quickly quell outbreaks of disease, such as mad-cow or avian flu.

But there are more than 10 billion such animals in the U.S. We kill 9 billion chickens a year. Keeping track of them all, even if some are registered in groups, will require massive government record keeping.

Another problem: It's insane. Especially for people who own just a handful of animals.

"it's insane." I hardily agree. Most of the opposition I see to this comes from small producers but there are a lot of big producers out there, like me, who disagree with NAIS too. It's insane to number and count all the animals in the US. What's next RFID tag all the people to keep track of them?

Remember, an ear tag, ID number, or premise ID, never stopped a disease. Proper health and nutrition by caring people, not factory farms, provide disease prevention.