When a 2009 tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in northwestern Minnesota shut down Don Schiefelbein’s family farm—over 200 miles away from the infected area—he learned firsthand how valuable a producer-led animal identification and disease traceability system could be to his operation and the entire beef industry.
“The government took an arbitrary response to shut down cattle movement across all of Minnesota, regardless of our distance from the outbreak, until we proved we didn’t have TB,” he said. “The ironic thing is that Canada and North Dakota are both just 25 miles from the outbreak area, but they were not impacted or required to shut down.”
Schiefelbein, who recently served as president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), said all one has to do is reflect on what the nation has gone through during the pandemic to realize “there is no greater risk of shutting down the beef industry than a foreign animal disease coming into the country.”
“For producers across the land, it should be a huge wake-up call to see that when the government gets involved without a plan, their drastic actions could potentially cripple an industry,” he said.
Industry officials suggest that without a U.S. animal identification and disease traceability system in place, a foreign animal disease outbreak would instantly cease foreign trade, which adds about a $400 value per animal, and possibly shut down the domestic market within a few days if the disease was widespread.
“There is currently no hardline plan to safeguard producers,” Schiefelbein said. “We have no systematic way to isolate cattle moving in and out of an infected area and no means to say which producers are safe to continue doing business.”
The concept of animal identification and traceability is not new. In fact, a 2013 USDA ruling requires several classes of cattle to be officially identified and accompanied by an interstate certificate of veterinary inspection to move across state lines. However, concerns about technology, privacy and cost have challenged the development of a comprehensive cattle identification and disease traceability system for years.
“Traceability has been all over the place since it was initially introduced,” Schiefelbein said. “The government wanted it to do so much—it wasn’t just traceability, but a way to manage data on an animal—and it got so convoluted and so complicated that all of the sudden the wheels fell off.
“Then the government said the evil ‘mandate’ word and all air went out of the issue.”
But Schiefelbein said he has seen a recent shift in producer mindsets—due in part to the pandemic—and thinks the industry is ready to take a producer-led, voluntary approach to traceability.
“I think COVID opened up a lot of eyes in terms of not wanting to be at the government’s mercy in managing a disease outbreak,” he said.
Based on NCBA research, Schiefelbein said producers are interested in a traceability program that offers three things: a strict focus on foreign animal disease outbreaks (not used to collect other pieces of data), a voluntary approach (not mandated) and a database controlled by a third party (not the government).
NCBA President Todd Wilkinson is currently leading a traceability task force involving producers, sale barns, feed yards and processors from across the U.S. to develop a plan that meets these demands while quickly and effectively tracking animal movement and potentially preventing an industry-wide shut down in the case of a disease outbreak.
“Through our grassroots process at NCBA, we want to propose a system that moves traceability forward without alienating producers but also makes sense for every spot along the supply chain,” Schiefelbein said. “If you choose to participate in traceability—and we want to make it voluntary—then it’s basically like purchasing insurance for foreign animal disease risk.”
Schiefelbein said a voluntary animal disease traceability program would require any animal entering or leaving a participating operation to have an electronic identification tag so a third party could quickly identify and isolate cattle located in or originating from a foreign animal disease outbreak area.
“If somebody can prove through the traceability network that they are not impacted by the disease outbreak, then they are free to continue business as usual and won’t be arbitrarily shut down,” he said.
Without a sound animal disease traceability system, Schiefelbein said the U.S. beef industry is especially vulnerable to activists who want to end animal agriculture and could potentially use a foreign animal disease and the risk of human health concerns to put the industry out of business.
“If we’re trying to work with an administration that doesn’t understand the cattle business, they could put an entire industry in harm’s way in the name of trying to protect human health,” he said. “And when you use that as your charge, it’s hard to stop.”
A few years ago, that vulnerability to government reaction, rather than a producer-driven response, led a group of industry organizations to develop U.S. CattleTrace, a national infrastructure for end-to-end cattle disease traceability. The system utilizes radio frequency identification technologies for speed-of-commerce contact tracing in the case of a foreign animal disease outbreak.
Callahan Grund, U.S CattleTrace executive director, said the goal is to proactively build a voluntary traceability system that meets producer demands and allows state and federal animal health officials to respond quickly and efficiently during a foreign animal disease outbreak.
“We are working to build a contact tracing system for animal disease traceability and a search mechanism for animal health officials, and we’re willing to work with other industry stakeholders to make that a reality,” he said.
While the logistics involved in the vast U.S. cattle system have created challenges, Grund said producer concerns about privacy and operational changes have ultimately limited traceability’s adoption rate.
“Everybody likes to do things a certain way on their operation, and sometimes change can be hard when there’s not a dollar value associated for creating extra steps,” he said. “The dollar tends to drive action in our industry, so as more producers understand the potential economic impact of a disease outbreak and begin to see traceability as a protection tool, the more buy-in we expect.
“At the end of the day, there are other protein sources out there that consumers can turn to other than beef, so when we think about traceability and the opportunity to quickly respond to these events and continue business operations, I think it becomes an important source of protection within our supply chain.”
Kansas rancher Mary Ann Kniebel said she understands many of her fellow producers’ concerns about the added labor and expense associated with traceability, but as evidenced in other protein industries, the ramifications of a foreign animal disease outbreak can be crippling.
“I know a lot of people would like to not ever have to deal with traceability, but that’s unrealistic,” she said. “It’s not ‘if’ something happens, it’s ‘when’ something happens, and we have to be ready.
“We’ve all seen what our sister proteins have gone through with high path avian influenza in chickens and all of the horrible diseases in hogs, and at some point, it’s going to be our turn.”
Kniebel, who chairs the NCBA Cattle Health and Well Being Committee, echoed Schiefelbein’s sentiments on the importance of regionalization, or being able to prove that a disease is contained to a specific area or areas so the rest of the industry can keep moving.
“In the case of a disease outbreak, we don’t want to completely shut down every segment across the country, but we can’t have regionalization if we don’t have traceability,” she said. “Likewise, there are certain countries like Canada and Mexico that we have agreements with to recognize regionalization, but if we don’t have a system in place to prove it, then we cannot trade with them.”
Kniebel admitted she doesn’t always like change but realizes that sometimes sacrifices have to be made to protect her way of life. She recalled a time a few years ago when major packing plants began requiring truck drivers to be Beef Quality Assurance Transportation certified before delivering cattle to their facilities and how that extra step helped build accountability with consumers.
“Just like haulers have to prove their humane handling skills, we as producers are going to have to prove our cattle are not infected when a disease outbreak occurs,” she said. “The lack of an animal traceability system is a glaring hole in our industry, but we have an opportunity to create one that fits our needs and boosts our credibility with consumers.” — Macey Mueller for the Red Angus Magazine
