Press Release                            

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 5, 2006

For more information contact:
John Henn
Senior Agriculture Marketing Specialist
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2847
Email: jhenn@state.wy.us

Tom Lacock
Marketing and Public Relations
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2851
E-mail: Tlacoc@state.wy.us

Age and Source Verification Program Kicks Off

CHEYENNE, WY. - With markets for American beef proving restless in the Pacific Rim and around the world, the Wyoming Business Council is rolling out a voluntary program designed to help producers satisfy export requirements for Wyoming meat.

John Henn of the Wyoming Business Council begins his Wyoming Verified Program for source and age verification of Wyoming livestock this month. As an approved partner in AgInfoLink’s USDA PVP program, Henn will audit ranch records to verify age of animals and their place of birth.

The program is in place due to restrictions placed on American beef after Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was found in a Canadian animal on a Washington State ranch in 2003. Even though U.S. food safety measures ensure any material that could potentially carry the BSE agent does not enter the food chain, Japan closed its borders to American beef, depriving producers in the states a market that had brought $1.4 billion annually to the U.S. beef industry. The impact of this program will benefit the producer financially, Henn said. The loss of the Japan market meant a loss that equated to about $150 a head on the finished animal. We hope we can
get that back over a period of time when that market re-opens.

Animals that are source and age verified have been getting a premium from buyers and packers here at home. Since BSE has not been found in any animals under the age of 30 months, several countries around the world are not accepting beef unless its age is certified by a third party and proves to
be less than 21 months of age for Japan and 30 months for other countries.

The Wyoming Business Council is working with AgInfoLink, a USDA Process Verified Company, to provide source and age verification for Wyoming producers under AgInfoLink’s process verified program (visit http://processverified.usda.gov/ for specific claims). Henn will audit rancher records, take care of the necessary United States Department of Agriculture paperwork and then the producer will fit the animal with a radio frequency identification tag (RFID).

The RFID tag will contain a 15-digit number that corresponds with a number at AgInfoLink’s database. That database will contain animal records, which can follow the animal as it changes hands. Under the Wyoming Verified program, the only cost to producers is for the tags and enrollment and data handling fees - generally $3.25-$3.75 per head.

To be eligible for certification, producers will be required to have verifiable and documented birth dates and a premise ID number. For cattle, the birth records may be individual birth date or the date of the first born with the bull turnout date recorded. These have to be written records for verification and individual animal traceability.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming.

For more information, please visit our Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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