FAIR and the Michigan TB Eradication Program -- One Year Review

 

 

Dr. Robert Fourdraine, National Farm Animal Identification and Records &

Dr. Larry Granger and Kevin Kirk, Michigan Department of Agriculture

 

As the first full year of working together with Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) and USDA has passed, this article will outline some of the accomplishments that have been achieved through this cooperative effort so far.   In October 2001, MDA and FAIR established a cooperators agreement and received funding through USDA for a two-year project to monitor and record animal movement inside and coming out of the Tuberculosis (TB) high risk and surveillance areas in Michigan.

 

The goal was to develop a cost-effective and user-friendly electronic information system that would record animal movement from farm-to-farm, farm-to-market, and farm-to-slaughter.  The system has slowly been phased in over the last 15 months, and is almost complete.  The system was implemented in four phases:

 

Phase 1             Obtain and load Premises ID information into FAIR

Phase 2             Develop an electronic data recording system

Phase 3             Record animal movement from markets and processing plants

Phase 4             Implement movement permit system

 

PHASE 1

The first phase was to establish all premises in FAIR for herds that have been tested in the two years prior to the start of the project.  By obtaining more than 2,000 Michigan premises from the USDA's Generic Database in Fort Collins, Colorado, FAIR was loaded with premises ID, and address information.

 

PHASE 2

To limit data entry errors and speed-up the data recording process, the second phase was to replace the paper recording system with an electronic recording system.  Forty Psion handheld computers with attached RFID (Radio Frequency ID) readers and forty laptop PC's have been purchased to equip all testing teams. In addition, RFID tags have been issued to the testing teams to tag animals and record animal IDs electronically. The handheld recording system was delivered in November 2001, and was implemented by various testing teams in 2002.  Since January 2002, producers that are required to test for TB are receiving RFID ear tags. 

 

The American ID numbering system is used to uniquely identify an animal, and is cross-referenced on the handheld computers with the RFID number. Other ID information such as breed, sex, age, and the TB testing information is also recorded using the handheld computer.  After the data is recorded on the farm, the information is uploaded via the internet to the FAIR database. The FAIR database records the TB test information, checks for errors, and updates the herd's animal inventory when processing the information. 

 

Once the data is processed, a weekly summary of test data is sent to the USDA Generic Database in Fort Collins, Colorado.

 

Since newborn animals in the affected area are required to be identified before they can move, producers in the affected area can obtain inventory RFID tags from FAIR to tag newborn animals.

 

PHASE 3

The third phase was to develop an infrastructure of stationary RFID readers throughout the major Michigan livestock markets and processing plants that process animals originating from Michigan. By doing so, most animals leaving the affected areas can be traced to a market or processing plant. 

 

Currently, the four major markets accepting animals from the affected areas have a stationary RFID reader, and seven major processing plants have an RFID reader installed as well.

 

PHASE 4

The fourth and final phase was to develop an online movement permit system.  Producers in the affected area are required to obtain a movement permit before animals can be moved off the farm, unless they are destined for slaughter.   The movement permit validates intended movement against the TB test data and provides the printed forms that will accompany the animals that are allowed to move. The movement permit system also serves as a means to track animals from farm-to-farm or locations without a stationary RFID reader installed.

 

Currently, 830 herds in Michigan have received RFID tags, 32,000 animals have been TB tested using the RFIDs, and 5,000 animals were ID’d and received an RFID. An additional 30,000 RFIDs have been issued to producers for newborn animals.  MDA expects to have all required animals tested and tagged with an RFID by the middle of 2003.

 

MICHIGAN’S PERSPECTIVE

According to Kevin Kirk from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the Michigan Electronic Identification Program has completed the first year of operation. The goal of the program is to rapidly locate and trace livestock from the farm to market and on to slaughter.  This is critical for the efficient and effective monitoring of the health status of the state's livestock. 

 

The results to date are outstanding for tracebacks, database, and animal handling. One of the many benefits include tracebacks - trace is done in a day rather than weeks and fast enough to prevent animals moving out of state.  Also, the database is more accurate, with less human error, backlog went from months to days, and errors are easily spotted.  The animal handling really improves the second time the herd has a whole herd test because animals spend less time in the chute, which decreases production loss, animal injury, and human injury.  The real benefits are that everyone wins with electronic identification; happier veterinarians and producers. 

 

The total cost of Bovine Tuberculosis is decreased with use of electronic identification to the point the industry does not want to lose the program.