On September 30, 2008 Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) goes into effect as
federal law. Under COOL All Livestock must have their origin (USA, USA and/or
Canadian, USA and/or Mexican, etc.) declared before the animals are sold. As a
livestock producer this will mean that you will need to sign an affidavit or
origin declaration when you market your animals.
To simplify this process we are asking that you sign and return the accompanying
Continuous Origin
Affidavit. This affidavit allows you to declare the origin of all livestock that
you sell and is valid until you revoke or change the affidavit in writing. In
other words, if all the livestock that you sell are of USA origin you will only
need to sign this Continuous Origin affidavit once, we will keep the record on
file and it will automatically declare the origin of all livestock that you sell
until you have revoked the affidavit or changed it.
If you do not already have a Continuous Origin Affidavit on file with us when
you wish to market your livestock you will be asked at that time to either sign
a Continuous Origin Affidavit or a one-time
declaration of origin for the livestock selling that day. It will be important
that you, the owner or person with first hand knowledge about the livestock
being marketed, sign the affidavit. We will not be able to accept an affidavit
signed by a trucker or transporter.
For those purchasing livestock we will provide an origin declaration on your
buyer invoice or other
purchase documents declaring the origin of the livestock listed in that
transaction. It is very important that you collect a similar declaration from
whom ever you purchase livestock and you should keep these
documents on file for one year from the purchase date.
In addition to using an affidavit/declaration of origin, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture permits the use of an official ear tag and/or marking on animals
that are part of a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) complaint system
or other official identification system, such as the Canadian or Mexico official
systems. For information on the use of COOL compliant identification systems, we
strongly suggest you contact your local USDA Farm Services office.
Please let us know if you have any questions about the implementation of COOL,
as we wish to work with you to make this process as workable as possible for all
concerned.
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