Sheep Working Group Meets

July 7, 2006 - The Animal Identification Sheep Working Group met on Friday, June 30, in Kansas City under the direction of Cindy Wolf, DVM. The primary focus for the meeting was to review current research being conducted on identification devices.

Lyndon Irwin, Ph.D., chair of the American Sheep Industry Association's (ASI) Producer Education and Research Council, attended the meeting and commented that after reviewing much of the sheep-specific research, it was reconfirmed that there is no advanced technology currently available which can effectively meet the stated identification tracking requirements as communicated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for sheep and goats.

Some points made during the day-long discussion included:

1. Animal ID policy implemented by the ASI Board of Directors indicates support of a plan that is economical and workable.
2. There are no proven advantages to implement a new identification system over the one currently in place for the National Scrapie Eradication Program. The sheep industry has a national identification program that is perhaps the most effective in animal agriculture.

Staff contact: Paul Rodgers, 303-771-3500

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