Dear Customer,
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.
Sincerely,
Lexington Livestock Market
