In Oklahoma.

Participants in swine shows & exhibits will be required to have an official premise I.D. card issued by the Oklahoma Dept. of Ag. , Food & Forestry effective 8/1/09. Officials say the rule will protect both the economic & social interest.

"This is a very proactive step that lets Oklahomans decide how best to protect the health of our citizens, our livestock industry, & our livestock show industry" Governor Brad Henry said. "Suggestions were made earlier by the Center for Disease Control & some commercial producers to eliminate swine shows completely, but this is a much better alternative that lets our 4-H & FFA members compete in livestock shows.
Even though the novel influenza A-H1N1 is not known to exist in any U.S. swine herd it is possible that a person with an influenza virus couls transmit the disease to swine.State Secretary of Ag. Terry Peach said if an influenza outbreak were to occur rapid tracking of the infected animals would be critical to containing the disease.
A large percentage of show swine are kept on school farms, Peach said. In those cases the school farm will have it's own I.D. & the exhibitors will not need additional I.D.
If the animal is always at the school, no other premise I.D. is required." he said. Also if an exhibitor shows up at a livestock show without premise I.D. the new rule does not refuse them to show if they fill out the required I.D. form immediately."
There is no charge for premise I.D. & all information is strictly confidential & cannot be released. No other livestock species brought for exhibition are required to have premise I.D. at this time.
The State Board of Ag.voted unanimously to approve the measure at it's monthly meeting.
Premise I.D is already required at many swine shows including the Fall Classic held in Duncan, OK.annually. Arizona, Colorado,& Ohio also require premise I.D. for participants.
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This was taken from the loacl newspaper published 8/25/09

"Strictly confidential and cannot be released" If you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you. This is nothing more than a back door approach to a National data base known as NAIS. Much like the back door approach to gun control by forcing you to fill out a form listing the SN of your gun to buy ammunition. More Govt. control over every aspect of our lives. Wake up folks!!

The real shame is that we have ben sickened more from contaminated fruits and vegetables than meat, and I haven't heard anything about registering vegtable farms and orchards. And how are we going to register all the foreign produce and the areas they come from. I was looking at canned pears in the grocery store and it said product of China, can't believe we have to import pears from China. No mention of the orchard they came from and China is a big area.

our federal government has the greatst standing army in the history of man..if necessary i think they could arrange to turn it on us and then do what they will..the first steps in this direction is food and gun control..

look for it to go to horse shows very soon..

I am a 4H leader in Iowa. We received notice earlier this year, April I think, that a premise ID was required for everything but commerical gilts. They were the only thing allowed to go home after the fair and had to be quarantined and tested for pseudorabies. According to the info we were given it is 'the packers' that are requiring this.
Total load of crap. At least Oklahoma Dept of Ag had the balls to publish the requirement and put their name on it. I wouldn't even mind if Iowa State Extension says they will lose federal funding if they don't require the Premise ID. But saying 'the packers' are requiring it? Too generic. And I didn't think swine had anything to do with H1N1?, it was mislabeled swine flu earlier.

the amount of misinformation in this thread is simply amazing.

yes pigs can get swine flu and people can get swine flu from pigs.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-04-26-swine-flu-questions-answers_N.htm

it is a legitimate concern that the public attending the fair could infect pigs with swine flu

by having a way to track pigs that attended the fair, athorities can contact the rest of participants to allert them their pig may have been exposed before that animal moves on to yet another farm.

it makes no sense what so ever that the slaughter industry requires premise ID because of swine flu. People cannot get swine flu from eating pork. Swine flu is not a food safety issue.

the animals most at risk of perpetuating the flu are the animals that go back home.

once again NAIS is not about food safety, it is about controlling the spread of livestock diseases.

and sure, I DO understand concerns about confidentiality. I just hate to see so much mis informatin being disseminated.

janet

So many folks believe that if they read it in the paper or heard it on TV, then it has to be true.*************

A huge part of the problem is the reports themselves being completely unqualified to report on subjects, or they seek out opinions that sway thoughts the direction for popularity.

Janet if you register to bring stock to the fair they are already going to have all your information and most fair committee require health certificates from a vet who will have that info registered with the state. This premise I.D. is just another governmental scheme to make money and will get more costly as time goes on. It still won't stop any diseases and it is always going to be a problem once the livestock leave an area. It is also ripe for fraud and the crooks will still figure a way around the system with the honest people paying the bill. We have more than enough controls in place to track our livestock, with out more government intervention, and as we have seen it does work if we are all honest in our dealings. The government has the ability to track our every movement and does in fact do this with cell phones, gps, etc. Google your address and go to satellite and see what you get. Any one can do this if they have a computer. I can actully see my animals in their pature.

Alan,

I was not defending the fair's decision for premis ID, I was just trying to get some facts straight.

Janet

Maybe they should check the people for "swine flu" in the usa. I am unaware of any hogs having it in this country. Yes Canada had at least 1 case brought in by a human.