Farm Journal Top Producer Dairy Today Beef Today MyMachinery Pro Farmer AgDay U.S. Farm Report
CROP COMMENTS
CORN
SOYBEANS
WHEAT
Technology
SOUTHERN GROWER
CATTLE
DAIRY
SOUND OFF!
LEGACY PROJECT
SHOPS
UPCOMING EVENTS
AGWEB's RSS FEED
EXCLUSIVE FEATURES

News

AgWeb Home > Articles
Agriculture Markets
Futures MO Last Chg
Corn December 391'0 -4'0
Soybeans January 1046'0 7'0
Wheat December 559'6 -2'6
Milk November 14.06 0.00
Feeder Cattle January 92.675 0.850
Live Cattle December 83.950 0.275
Lean Hogs December 57.600 1.625
Cotton December 70.41 1.59

Enter Zip Code below for LIVE local results.

Cash Bids
LDP Quotes
Charts & Quotes
Sponsored Sections
Cash Grain Bids Cash Grain Bids
Get Five Local Grain Prices!
Plant Health Section Plant Health Section
Crop Watch 2008
Ads by AgWeb

England’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak signals need for animal I.D. system in U.S.

8/14/2007
Catherine Merlo
The recent reappearance of foot-and-mouth disease in Great Britain is a reminder that the U.S. needs a national animal identification system to be better prepared in case a similar outbreak ever occurred here, the National Milk Producers Federation said today.

Although it now appears that the outbreak of FMD in Great Britain has been confined to two farms near London, “the fact that history has repeated itself just six years after a devastating FMD epidemic in England and other European nations should give U.S. livestock producers pause for thought,” said Jerry Kozak, NMPF’s president and CEO.  

“We need to learn from history that having the ability to identify farms, and animals, is a key bulwark of our biosecurity system,” Kozak said. “And right now, we have more work to do to improve that system.”

NMPF and other dairy organizations involved in the IDairy coalition will be working in the next year to spur the voluntary registration of dairy farms as part of a national system identifying where livestock are located.  

“Part of the reason the British government was able to contain this latest outbreak is because they established quarantines and surveillance zones around the initial site of the outbreak,” he added.“That only works if you know which farms to quarantine – and that is information our government is lacking.”

NMPF is working with five other organizations: the American Jersey Cattle Association, the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association, the Holstein Association USA, the National Association of Animal Breeders, and the National Dairy Herd Information Association, in the IDairy coalition to promote the need for dairy farmers to register their premises with state agencies. Learn more at IDairy’s website: http://www.idairy.org/where.html.

Printer-friendly version Printer-friendly version

Email Article to a Friend

Your Email:    
Your Friend's Email:    
Message to add to the body:


© 2009 AgWeb.com - The Homepage of Agriculture
AgWeb.com is a Division of Farm Journal Media, Inc.
Quotes by eSignal delayed 15 minutes