On the Canadian side of the border, traceability is front and center," says Rick Wright, Executive Administrator for the Manitoba Livestock Marketing Association.
Wright attended the 2024 Livestock Marketing Association Annual Convention in Oklahoma City a couple of weeks ago. He says the first publication of the new regulations on full traceability have been published in the Canada Gazette, with expectations for the new regulations to come into full effect in January of 2026.
"This will affect the cattle business quite a bit moving forward," he adds. "What's going to happen is that anytime cattle move they're going to have to be recorded. So, the tags are going to have to be scanned and the information of where they were moved to and when they were moved, and how they got there, because it's all for disease control."
Wright says this will result in a lot of paperwork for the cattle producers. He adds the new regulations will certainly change the way we do business in Canada and the producers will have a lot more responsibility than they have in the past."
"This has been on the table for about 20 years, and it's been bounced back and forth and the producers have had a lot of input into it, but we are very, very nervous about foot and mouth disease, it's all around us. And if it comes to Canada without some kind of a traceability program, we're going to have big problem reopening our borders," he explains.
"And we can't eat our way out of our industry problem," adds Wright. "We produce more than what we can use domestically. Our export markets are critical to the success of the cattle industry."
Livestock producers can expect to have full traceability within 2 years' time on everything except horses, says Wright.
Please listen to more with Rick Wright on this topic of traceability below.