Latest BSE Demands Compulsory ID System  Industry hasn't stepped
up to the urgent need of a mandatory national animal
identification system.  Published on: Mar 14, 2006  Monday's
confirmation of a third U.S. case of BSE shows clearly the
overriding importance of immediately establishing a mandatory
national identification system in the United States.  "Sadly the
U.S. industry has not bitten the bullet and accepted the need
for a compulsory system rather than voluntary system at this
point," says Cattle Buyers Weekly editor and publisher Steve Kay
in an exclusive interview with Farm Progress.  "Registration of
livestock breeds is very slow." Wisconsin and N. Carolina are
the only states that require compulsory registration on the
premises. Indiana will require it as of Sept. 1. Texas, which by
far has the largest cattle population, keeps postponing its
decision about making registration compulsory."  Without a
national ID system Kay says USDA will find it impossible to
trace cattle involved in this and future