COOL QUICKLINX

IBC COOL Webcast Archive

IBC Director's Audio Interview on COOL (download)

• Final Rule (effective March 16, 2009)
• COOL Q&A
• COOL Record Examples
• Livestock Producer Compliance

• IBC Affidavit (Iowa 4-H supported affidavit)
• LMA/NCBA Affidavit
• CME Affidavit

University of Nebraska COOL Web site

CME Group COOL Requirements

National Animal Identification System Web site

Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) will begin Sept. 30, 2008, and cattle producers must be prepared when the law is implemented. Currently cattle imported directly for slaughter are identified at the time of border crossing. Feeder cattle imported from either Mexico or Canada are permanently identified with a brand. However, buyers may still request a signed affidavit from the seller declaring the origin of the cattle. The following guidelines provide a practical method for sellers to be able to document the origin of the cattle if audited by the USDA or a buyer.

Purpose:

Provide practical yet accountable recommendations for cattle producers that will assure COOL compliance. The Iowa Cattle COOL guidelines identify minimum requirements including supporting documents and recommended additional steps beyond the minimum requirements.

Foundation:

• Producers maintain auditable records at their farm or ranch using existing management records and information.
• Sellers self-declare the product category (country where born and raised) with a signed affidavit passed to the buyer.
• Animals can be group identified if they are of the same product category.  Animals of a different product category must be identified or penned separately.

Recommended Documentation

Producers must maintain and have available, if audited, on-farm records that can document animal origin and movement for a given time period such as a year or quarter.  These records should include:

• Beginning inventory
• Additions (births, inshipments*, purchases*, leased*, or customer cattle*)
• Removals (sales, deaths, outshipments)
• Ending inventory

*Additions from other sites must have adequate documentation (signed affidavits) of origin.

Typical operational and financial records that can be used include:

• Balance sheet, income statement, other financial records
• Scale tickets and purchase and sales receipts
• Closeout records and/or feed records or bills
• Health papers, vaccination or other health treatment records or receipts
• Shipping records
• Calving books

For a list of USDA recognized records that satisfy COOL, click here.

Operations should prepare a brief written statement of standard operating procedures (SOP) for record keeping, animal or group identification methods, or other documenting procedures that are followed as part of their normal management system. 

Examples of how the Iowa Cattle COOL Guidelines could be used:

• Cowherds maintain inventory records at home and sell calves with a signed affidavit stating that the calves were born in the U.S. 
• The marketing agent (if used) passes signatures to the buyer or keeps the signed forms from sellers on file and records the seller’s name or number on the buyer’s invoice and issues the buyer a signed affidavit stating the origin of the cattle. 
• The feedlot or stocker operation maintains the signatures on file for any additions to the feedlot and develops a standard operating procedure for identifying cattle by product category.  For example, if the normal management procedure is for the feedlot to tag cattle, those of a different category could have a different colored tag.  If a producer does not normally tag cattle then tagging cattle of another product category would be sufficient identification.
• When the cattle are sold,  the seller should notify the buyer as to the product category on the signed affidavit.  For example, “Orange tag born in Mexico, green tag born in Canada, and white tag born in U.S."