The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the National Pork Board have joined forces in a year-long push for 100% of hog operations’ premises to be registered under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) by Dec. 31, 2007.

The Pork Board will soon hire regional swine identification (ID) coordinators who will work with state pork producer associations and state ID coordinators to urge producers to register their premises.

“Simply stated, NAIS is about maintaining the national herd health and ensuring that we can quickly control and recover from disease outbreaks,” says NPPC President Joy Philippi, Bruning, NE, pork producer. “Getting each producer’s premises registered and entering the premises number in each state’s database is the only way to create an effective and functional NAIS.”

About 40% of swine premises have been registered. The effort to achieve 100% premises registration is being facilitated by a first-ever joint agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Pork Board.

Under the agreement, USDA is providing $400,000 to assist the pork industry with premises registration.