Big Brother

Federal plan aims to track all livestock by 2009

A new national system, designed to prevent the spread of diseases such as avian flu and mad cow disease, aims to track every livestock animal in the nation – be it a cow on a feed lot, a farm-raised trout or a baby goat in Averill’s back yard.

Farms will be registered, animals will be tagged with numbers, and their movements will be reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The information will be stored in a national database.

It will affect an estimated 50,000 animal owners in North Carolina. Even children who raise animals for 4-H programs might have to comply.

"Even if it’s Aunt Bessie’s pet cow, that cow is susceptible to foot and mouth disease," said Mary Ann McBride, a state Department of Agriculture veterinarian implementing the system in North Carolina.

The program is voluntary for now. Agriculture officials are asking animal owners only to register their property. But the government plans to make the full program mandatory by early 2009.