A state cattle association supports USDA’s final animal disease traceability rule.
Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association director Kaitlyn Root suggests updates requiring visually readable electronic identification of certain cattle should not be too cumbersome for producers and will help in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak.
“It’s estimated that a Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in the U.S. would lead to $200 billion of losses for the economy, so it’s just very important that we are able to find where this foreign animal disease is coming from and feel like this rule would help with that.”
She tells Brownfield the association is pleased USDA is providing financial assistance to reduce the cost of implementing the change.
