Area ranchers were clear about their dislike for a proposed mandatory National Animal Identification System presented earlier this week in Rapid City.

During a U.S. Department of Agriculture listening session on the proposed identification system - NAIS - very few voiced support for the plan that would allow for a uniform tracking system to be used in the event of disease outbreak.

A national animal identification system is do-able; it's manageable and it would be in the best interests of the consumers and the management of the nation's food supply. A national identification system would make data consistent from one producer, one state, to the next throughout the animal's life and provide data to track an animal in the event of a disease outbreak.

Still…

Is it a good idea for South Dakota producers? Not now, but it has a future in our state.

Opponents of the plan have made a valid argument a national tracking system. U.S. herds, they say, have long been disease free; why put a more complicated, expensive and time-consuming identification system in place to track disease that doesn't exist? The real disease control should be taking place at the borders, they argue, where beef from Canada, Mexico and Argentina has brought disease - and consumer scares - inside the U.S.

They're right; U.S. producers shouldn't be held to a higher standard than producers importing animals across the border. Until that is addressed, a national animal identification system probably won't get much traction from producers or politicians.

But the idea is sound. With the capabilities we have today, there's no reason controlling disease outbreaks quickly and efficiently can't be managed with an enhanced animal identification system.

It's estimated the program would cost in the neighborhood of $190 million on an annual basis. What that adds to the cost of the individual animal is between $5 and $6 per cow, 6 cents per pig and $1.39 per sheep.

Of course that cost would be passed on to the consumer, but the time involved - managing records and other requirements of the identification system - would be the burden of the producer.

Tracking animal's in the nations food supply goes back hundreds of years. It's no surprise the systems to track the animals would change as technology evolves and the massive distribution web becomes even more complex.

A national animal identification system makes sense. But until the border issues are addressed and an identification system is feasible - a.k.a. affordable and practical - for the producers, it won't have much success in U.S. markets.

We think the Department of Agriculture and the nation's producers can figure out how to make a national animal identification system work, and we hope they do.