Feds want ranchers to microchip their cattle

CULVER, Ore. – For generations, ranchers have tracked their cattle by their brand.

Every year, they corral and rope the calves, and burn the ranch’s mark onto them.

Now the federal government would like to add a step to the process.

Agriculture officials want ranchers to start tracking their animals electronically, using microchips. The National Animal Identification System, which is currently a voluntary program, would follow a cow’s every move.

The U.S. Agriculture Department began a pilot project with the identification system in 2004, a year after a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was discovered in Washington state. The discovery prompted the major supermarket chains operating in Oregon to pull beef from their shelves. More than a dozen countries banned American beef imports, and at one Oregon auction yard, the sale price for cattle dropped by nearly 20 cents a pound.

Prompted by the case, the federal government accelerated development of the identification system. The idea is to have a national identification program to track the source of the disease within 48 hours of an outbreak.

Over the last two months, the U.S. Agriculture Department held meetings on the program across the country.