Vermont to require farmers to register cattle
In what may be only the first of many such moves Vermont will begin to register cattle in order better to monitor the spread of disease
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture plans to keep closer track of all livestock in the state to be prepared in the event of an outbreak of mad cow disease, avian flu, or other diseases. The agency has proposed requiring that all livestock farms register with the state starting in July. The registry is necessary “so that if we have an outbreak of disease we can act very, very quickly,” state agriculture secretary Steve Kerr said. The new rules must first be approved by a legislative rule-making committee. If passed, they would take effect in July.
The plan is part of a national effort to eventually identify individual animals and store that information in a database. With such a database, if an infected animal is discovered, officials could determine what other animals it had contact with and how to respond.
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