Knowing the location of at-risk, exposed, and diseased animals, where they have been, and when they may have made contact with other animals is vital to facilitating a fast and effective response when animal diseases has been diagnosed. This is referred to as animal traceability. At Vet Sentry, we make it easy to get the animal health certificate your clients need for each of their animals.
Animal Identification and Traceability
Records on farm animals and groups of farm animals are kept through a process of animal identification. This is done for the purpose of tracking them from birth and throughout their marketing chain of ownership. Although identifying animals in this way was done in the past more for verifying ownership and preventing theft, now the reasons for animal traceability are also to ensure a rapid response to any animal health and/or food safety alarms. The traceability of animals encompasses their movements from location of birth to the location of their slaughter and processing.
Benefits of Animal Traceability
Animal disease traceability is important for the purpose of generating a quick response when an animal disease event as occurred. With an accurate and efficient animal traceability system that keeps track of animal diseases, the number of animals that are the subject of a particular investigation may be reduced, along with the time required to respond to the disease occurrence, and the cost to the government and producers.
Federal Law on Animal Traceability
Effective March 2013, the Federal Traceability for Livestock Moved Interstate Rule, put into place certain minimum documentation and identification requirements regarding the traceability of livestock conveyed between states. The rule covers species such as sheep, goats, horses (and other equines), bison cattle, swine, elk and deer (captive cervids), and poultry.
When transported from state to state, unless they are exempted, these animals must be identified and travel with a certificate of veterinary inspection (CVI) for interstate travel, or with another transport document that the receiving and sending states agree upon.
For an easy and efficient way to get the animal health certificate documents you need for your customers, give Vet Sentry a try. To learn more, call us today at 320.216.7617 or send an email to scott@Vet-Sentry.com.
