040104 Ranchers May Embrace Hi-Tech Cattle Tracking

Helena, MT - Cattle ranching is fast becoming a brave new world.

It's not so unusual to see a Montana cattleman recording herd notes in a digital Palm Pilot, instead of a spiral-bound notebook.

Some 20,000 livestock animals here already sport electronic ear tags and ranchers are beginning to debate the merits of embedding microchip identification tags in their cattle.

"Life is changing out there," said Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. "Modern technology is slow to come to our industry, but it is making itself known."

Modern times - and the recent mad cow scare - have brought about surprising support for a national electronic cattle identification system among the state's industry leaders.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been developing such a program over the last year and a half. Some of the state's industry leaders expect the initial phases of the federal program to be implemented sometime this year.

Never mind that the state's cattle ranchers have historically resented government regulation. And forget about the Montana Stockgrowers Association policy of 1986, in which the organization denounced such an idea.

"In general, we are not large fans of having the federal government mandating anything upon our industry," Pilcher said. "But I think in view of everything that is happening, I think our industry realized it may become necessary for animal identification to provide us with trace-back capability."

Ranchers, consumers and the government want to be able to trace back the movement and lineage of cattle in the event of a health crisis, such as mad cow disease.

Just last month, the stockgrowers association approved a new policy that supports an economically feasible national identification program as long as it retains the state's hot-iron branding tradition.

John Munsell, owner of a Miles City meat processing and distribution plant, said a national cattle identification system is more than necessary.

"I think it's absolutely mandatory," Munsell said. "Obviously, the system today does not allow for scientific trace-back of animals."

The federal government is still trying to locate all 82 cattle from the herd that contained America's first cow afflicted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.

Such trace-backs in Montana are possible but can be cumbersome, given the amount of paperwork an investigator must sift through to retrace a cow's life, state agriculture officials said.

Montana ranchers file paperwork with the state when their cattle herds are sold, are moved out of county or out of state. Transportation permits, brand identifications and animal health certificates buttress the paper files.

"In Montana, we are able to combine livestock identification records with animal health records to build a system that works well together in developing trace-back information," said Marc Bridges, executive officer of the state livestock department.

But not every Montana rancher follows the cattle paperwork trail, Bridges said. He said the value of the law is contingent upon compliance.

"It's kind of like you're supposed to stop at all stop signs," Bridges said. "Not everybody does it."

And Montana's stringent brand identification program loses continuity when animals are sold to states that have no identification requirements, he added.

Veneman announced earlier this week that federal officials have been developing a national cattle identification program, but USDA officials said Friday that the program is still "preliminary."

Jim Rogers, USDA spokesman, didn't know exactly how such a program would work, who would maintain its massive database or how much such an undertaking would cost.

But industry leaders don't think ranchers should be forced to bear the cost burden.

"The cost could be substantial to ranchers with small herds," Munsell said, adding that everyone, including the consumer, will benefit from the program.

And the debate over how to track cattle is just beginning. Munsell is an advocate of microchip technology, saying that time alters the appearance of hot-iron brands, and ear tags are easily ripped off.

The Montana Stockgrowers Association favors hot-iron brands, since they are easily recognizable from a distance and familiar to the Montana rancher. He also said microchips embedded beneath an animal's skin could move into an edible section of the cow and turn up on someone's dinner plate.

Despite the disagreement over details, industry leaders around Montana say a national cattle tracking program is needed in these modern times.

"It could do nothing but help improve consumer confidence," Munsell said.

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