Farmscape for July 31, 2006  (Episode 2208)

The Canadian Livestock Identification Agency has identified the creation of a national premise registry as its top priority during the coming year.

The Canadian Livestock Identification Agency, the organization responsible for facilitating a nation-wide, multispecies livestock traceability system, includes broad representation from the livestock commodity groups, federal and provincial governments and other industry stakeholders.

CLIA Chair Dennis McKerracher notes there is already one national registry administered by the Canadian Cattle Identification  Agency.

Clip-Dennis McKerracher-Canadian Livestock Identification Agency 

The federal government and the provincial governments and livestock industry have recognized that premises registry is one of the building blocks for our traceability system.

You have to know point A and you have to know point B and be able to track animal movement.

The livestock industry believes that the premises registry should be a national registry and, to facilitate that, the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency is furnishing unique premises registry numbers to the commodity groups.

We don't want to have producers that have three species have to register three times.

We don't want to get in an error factor where, just because you have sheep and cattle on your farm, you end up with two different numbers for that land location.

It's imperative that one unique number is issued, it's imperative that producers don't have to register multiple times and it's imperative that we work with the provincial governments to verify the premises locations.

McKerracher expects stakeholders to have a better understanding of the direction the premise registry will take following meetings scheduled for the end of next month.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council