Study shows NAIS will cost more than $175 million annually

Washington

-- The cost of implementing a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the cattle sector is $175.9 million annually, which represents 91.5 percent of the total cost of the program, according to a study released by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

But that is less than one-half of a percent of the retail value of U.S. beef products.

The study shows federal and state governments' savings on animal-disease control and eradication will be significant and will allow the nation to keep exporting products when more countries require animal traceability.

Estimated tag and tagging costs vary among cattle producers with 50 head from $3.30 to $5.22 per cow. The swine and poultry industries each have a lower cost because tracing requirements for them involve less infrastructure and often no individual devices.

The average cost per animal marketed is: $5.97 for cattle, $0.059 for swine and $1.39 for sheep. For poultry, the average cost per animal is $0.0195 for layers, $0.0007 for broilers and $0.0020 for turkeys.

The study finds that the effect of not implementing some aspects of NAIS may result in losses of as much as $13.2 billion annually due to reduced export market access.

Additional highlights, including the benefits and costs by species sector, can be found in the Key Findings document posted on the NAIS Web site. An executive summary and the entire report are available here.

The study was completed by Kansas State University, with assistance from Colorado State University, Michigan State University and Montana State University.