Hamish Munro, and his wife, Eve, were attending this week's short course from Cumnock, New South Wales, Australia. He is attending on a Young People in Rural Industries scholarship from the Astralian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
He said while the National Animal Identification Program may be causing heartburn among cattle producers in the United States, if everyone worked together, "the small bugs could be worked out," he said. Benefits exist "at the end of the tunnel," he said.
Hamish and his countrymen have already been through this: a national identification program was first proposed in Australia in 1999, and as of July 1, all cattle have to be tagged at the point of sale. Austalia exports about 90 percent of its cattle.
Hamish, who is a fifth generation cattle producer, buys calves from cow/calf producers and then fattens them on mostly alfalfa pastures to about 1,270 pounds. When the program was first proposed, he had just graduated from an Australian university, and he saw a chance to add value to the cattle he was selling.
He and his family bought a software program that allows them to keep all of their records, including records of vaccinations and all buyer transactions.
The identification program allows ranchers to show buyers traceability and hormone-free status required by the European Union, their primary market.
EDITH CHENAULT
e-chenault1@tamu.edu
Leave a comment