(NAFB.com) – The American Sheep Industry Association was awarded a grant of over $111,000 from the National Disease Preparedness and Response Program. The goal is to evaluate the traceability of livestock marketed in an auction setting utilizing electronic identification in a Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak through collaboration with industry and state partners. The collaboration’s purpose is to demonstrate how electronic ID systems when utilized in a livestock auction market setting, can enhance animal disease traceability and decrease response time in a Foreign Animal Disease outbreak. ASI will accomplish this by simulating two FMD outbreak trace exercises of animals like sheep, goats, and cattle sold through Oregon livestock markets. The first exercise will be based on the current animal ID system used by the livestock auction markets to provide rapid animal movement traceability information to state animal health officials. The second has to do with an electronic ID system in auction markets.