Your questions answered on proposed changes to livestock traceability

Fact: Canada's traceability system is working, but there's room for improvement.

The existing livestock traceability system requires regulated animals to be tagged at their farm of origin and for their information to be reported at slaughter. However, it does not track animal movements at the various locations where animals may live between those points. This creates a gap in the system.

The proposed changes aim to address these gaps by:

• including livestock species that are not currently regulated
• improving information gathered about where and when livestock are moved

Having this information from the start will improve speed and accuracy during a disease response. If producers are affected by a disease investigation, these changes would reduce the time and effort required from them, offering greater value for the investment in tagging and tracking.

Fact: Recent disease investigations have highlighted gaps in Canada's current livestock traceability system.

For example, bovine tuberculosis investigations highlighted limited information on livestock movements after animals leave their birth farm.

Without this additional movement data in an accessible database, the CFIA must:

• visit individual farms
• review producer records, brands and sales receipts to trace hundreds of potentially exposed animals

This process is time-consuming and demanding for both CFIA and the impacted producers and operations, and often some exposed animals cannot be found. This is a significant gap.

Without improved traceability, a fast moving, highly contagious disease outbreak – such as foot and mouth disease – could cause delays in tracing animals resulting in:

• more animals exposed
• more farms impacted
• larger areas of Canada affected before the disease could be contained
• longer market closures

Fact: Yes. The proposed changes reflect more than a decade of engagement with national and provincial producer associations, scientists, governments, and groups of interest. Public consultations were held from 2013 to 2023.

Other key milestones include:

• In 2016, the cattle industry agreed that there was a need for improved traceability, and developed the Cattle Implementation Plan, with input from 19 organizations. This plan forms the core of the requirements proposed for cattle.
• In March 2023, the CFIA published the first draft of the proposed changes to the livestock traceability regulations in Canada Gazette Part 1 for 90-day public comment period, followed by further consultations with industry associations.

Fact: Producers already purchase and apply tags, so this is not a new cost.

The new requirement is the time and resources needed to report when animals arrive at your site. Some producers may want to buy a tag reader to speed up the reporting process.

Fact: Yes. The proposed changes to the livestock traceability regulations would apply across Canada and integrate with existing provincial and territorial systems.

Quebec has had provincial livestock traceability regulations in place for over two decades, requiring livestock producers of cattle, sheep, and cervids to identify animals and report movements between sites. The proposed national livestock traceability changes would align with practices are already standard in Quebec for those species.

Fact: No. CFIA and provincial animal health officials will only access livestock traceability data as needed under Canada's animal health legislation, including animal disease preparedness, surveillance and response. Personal data collected under the livestock traceability program is protected by the Privacy Act. If there is a lawful investigation by the RCMP, such as for stolen cattle, they may request to use the data.

Fact: Existing tools will continue to be used.

Many provincial systems and tools are already in place, and the proposed changes to the regulations are designed to work alongside them.

For example, the provinces have Premises Identification (PID) programs; the proposed changes would require producers to use their PID numbers to report contact and location information. The new requirements for a movement information document to travel with animals aligns with provincial livestock manifests in many western provinces, so no additional documents would be needed., Producers using herd management software will benefit from integration, making reporting easier and seamless.

Fact: If a tag is lost, producers are expected to replace it as soon as reasonably possible, as required under current regulations. The aim is to improve data quality, not to penalize producers.

Fact: Required information can be submitted to the responsible administrator, such as the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency database using:

• Website or app
• Third party apps or farm management software that is linked to responsible administrator's databases
• Email
• Telephone
• Fax
• Mail

Fact: Under the proposed changes, it is the arrival of cattle that needs to be documented. It is not required to report the departure of cattle from your site unless you are sending them to a community pasture, agricultural society site or veterinary clinic.

Fact: Reporting the death of animals is not required. However, on-farm disposal of tagged animals (except pigs) must be reported – as per current regulations – to retire the tag number.

Fact: No. Producers do not have to report the birth of livestock animals.