Animal Disease Traceability
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Premise Registration
Premises registration is key to help respond to and minimize the impact of an animal disease outbreak. The first step in implementing an animal identification system is identifying and registering premises where livestock is congregated.
Animal Health officials work with federal and state partners along with producers to establish a successful identification program that will enable rapid traces to disease suspects and therefore rapid and more effective disease control.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture provides free metal official identification tags to producers upon request. If you would like to request tags, or have any questions regarding official identification or Premises registration, please
contact us.
Animals Moving Interstate are Required to Have Official Identification
The federal government issued final regulations in January 2013 that now require most animals moving interstate (unless going directly to slaughter) to have official identification. States are required by this rule to implement and oversee individual official animal identification for animals moving in interstate commerce.
General information about animal disease traceability, the final rule and a summary of the requirements can be found at the USDA website posted below:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/traceability/index/index.html
Animal Health Requirements for Fairs and Shows
For information on animal health requirements for Fairs and Shows please visit the Fairs and Shows page.
