01/26/06 The premise of I-DAIRY

Many of the key players in America's dairy industry are spending time in various meetings next week across the country, starting with the Dairy Conclave in Sacramento California, featuring over one hundred dairy farmers from primarily the Western U.S. And according to Chris Galen of the National Milk Producers Federation, there will be several matters to discuss. GALEN: I think that we talk about things like trade policy, and animal identification, and environmental regulations and a lot of the other things that are bottom line concerns for dairy farmers. And although some news reports may tell you otherwise, Galen is among those who believe what may be foremost on the minds of dairy producers is indeed a national animal identification system. It definitely was a concern among some of the dairy industry's major players, and that resulted in the formation of a new coalition last year to address national animal I.D.. The name of the group is I-DAIRY. GALEN: That's the coalition we formed last fall and that we announced at the World Dairy Expo last October. It involves National Milk, Holstein Association, Jersey, National D.H.I.A., the professional breeders, as well as the Professional Dairy Heffer Growers Association. All six of us working together basically to help producers register their premises. Galen says the I-DAIRY model most closely resembles existing and mandatory animal I.D. registration laws in Wisconsin. However, with several thousand dairy farms still in need for animal I.D. registration across the nation, and registration requirements varying from state to state, Galen says I-DAIRY can help assist farmers with the registration process in their individual states. GALEN: Really, that's the first step in having a national I.D. system is if you locate a premises where an animal might be housed. The next steps will be developing tag standards for R.F.I.D. tags, and then a third issue, or the third shoe to drop if you will, is registering the tag information in the database. And while many producers are focusing on the tag information registration process for individual animals, Galen emphasized that nothing can get done as far as animal identification unless premises are registered first. GALEN: We really feel that's putting the cart in front of the horse if you will, or in front of the cow. You really need to get the premises registered first, so there's a lot of information at i-dairy.org, our web site. That's i-dairy.org, where people can go. And you can even go to your particular state and register your premise if you haven't already done so.