Cattleman association welcomes new livestock regulations

The chair of Saskatchewan’s Cattleman’s Association believes new mandatory regulation is the right way to prevent the spread of disease among livestock.

Early last month, the province announced all livestock producers have to take part in the Premises Identification (PID) program, which tracks and controls potential disease outbreaks like tuberculosis and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) more commonly known as mad cow disease.

Ryan Beierbach, chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, said the association has been advocating for the province-wide regulation for some time.

“It’s more preventative. It is sort of like buying insurance,” he said. “What it does is if we have some kind of an outbreak of a disease, it lets us know where all the cattle are that have been in contact with that animal are, or maybe born or raised in the same place.”

Beierback said recently there were cattle in Alberta diagnosed with TB. Because so many producers are registered with the PID program, cattle farmers were able to reduce the spread of the disease much quicker. He said the information was also critical during an outbreak of mad cow disease. Being able to identify a disease earlier could mean all the difference in reducing its reach.

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“It is something that if we do need it, we need it to move as quickly as possible,” he said.

The province first launched the program back in 2014, but producers weren’t forced to sign up. Similar PID programs in both Manitoba and Alberta are mandatory. Beierbach said some producers may still be reluctant, but hopes these attitudes change.

“The federal government has been saying within the next year it is going to be mandatory on a federal level,” he said. “Alberta has been pushing it harder than what Saskatchewan was. It has been mandatory there for a while. They have a really good database.”

Beierbach didn’t believe the new regulations would have an impact on consumers.

Jeff.Labine@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @labinereporter