Congress To Include Livestock ID System In 07 Farm Bill

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. lawmakers intend to take on the responsibility of improving how the U.S. will operate a nation-wide livestock identification program - a tool to control outbreaks of animal diseases - when Congress writes the 2007 Farm Bill, even if that means delays, a key U.S. senator said Thursday.

Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told reporters: "This is an issue we're going to deal with in the Farm Bill," and added it is more important to delay the process and "make sure we do it right."

The Bush administration and private industry representatives have already completed much of the ground work for an identification system to track U.S. cattle, swine and other livestock and they were counting finishing it by 2009 without Congress' input.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, responding to Chambliss' comments, said the identification program is a top priority of his that the government has already invested a lot of money in.

"We would not wait for the Farm Bill," Johanns said. "We don't want it to be slowed down."

Johanns stressed that livestock industry representatives have asked that USDA speed up the process.

But Chambliss said Congress' help is needed to resolve tricky issues such as ensuring the privacy of information that would be submitted into identification databases by livestock producers.

Chambliss say he didn't know yet whether participation in the identification program should be mandatory.

Johanns said preliminary participation in the early stages of development are voluntary, but eventually participation should be mandatory. "There is a point at which you've got to have a very comprehensive system," he said. "It won't work if you've identified 50% of the animals."

Source: Bill Tomson; Dow Jones Newswires; 202-646-0088; bill.tomson@dowjones.com