By Allison Hahn, Communications & Administrative Manager, Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium
The Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC) is debuting a video highlighting the importance of animal disease traceability and the use of premises registration and individual animal identification – including the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags – to protect the food supply. The video explains how farm-to-fork traceability starts by tagging animals at the farm of origin through the end of life, and how using this technology provides fast and easy traceback in case of an animal disease outbreak.
Viewers will gain perspective on how to implement this technology on their farm – including the many ways livestock producers already use tagging in their daily operations. Both producers and industry professionals will see examples of traceability and the important role it has in case of an animal disease outbreak, as well as the overall benefits to farm management and the added value to the end product.
The video also explains what happens to all the data collected, how it is entered into the database and protected by WLIC, and how it would be used by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to immediately halt movement and limit disease spread, should an outbreak occur.
The video can be found on the WLIC website. Veterinarians are encouraged to use the video as a tool to educate the producers they serve and fellow industry professionals.
Please email WLIC Executive Director Jodi Legge with questions or for additional ways to support.