Producer Affidavits to comply with COOL regulations. To save time, you can print a copy of the form, fill it out and bring it with you to Miles City Livestock Commission when you bring your cattle in. Simply give it to the person who is filling out your check-in ticket. You only have to do this once - not everytime you bring cattle to MCLC.  We will also have blank affidavits available at check-in if needed.  Thank You
Click Here for a printable affidavit in Microsoft Word	or	Click Here for a printable affidavit as a Adobe PDF form.

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Explaination of Country-Of-Origin Labeling

Producer Implementation Guidelines

Background

Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) is a USDA marketing program mandated by the 2002 Farm Bill which requires retailers to notify their customers of the country of origin of beef (including veal), goat meat, lamb, pork, poultry, fish and other perishable agricultural commodities. Retailers, packers and their suppliers are mutually responsible for contributing the information necessary to meet the requirements of this new law, which becomes effective Sept. 30, 2008.

What This Means

Livestock producers are not directly regulated by the COOL law because livestock are not considered covered commodities. However, only producers have first-hand knowledge concerning the origin of their animals. Definitive origin information must be provided to slaughter facilities so that meat products as covered commodities can be accurately labeled at retail. Livestock producers should be prepared to provide necessary country of origin documentation to their buyers.

How To Comply With COOL

Producers may use one of the following methods to comply with the COOL law and provide required country-of-origin information to buyers.

• Affidavits: Packers may rely upon producer affidavits to initiate claims. Affidavits must be made by someone having first-hand knowledge and the affidavit must identify animals unique to the transaction.
• National Animal Identification System (NAIS): Animals that are part of a NAIS-compliant system may rely on presence of an official ear tag and/or the presence of any accompanying animal markings, as applicable, to base origin claims.
• USDA-Approved Age Verification Programs: Participation in USDA Quality System Verification Programs (QSVP), such as the USDA Process Verified Program (PVP) and the Quality Systems Assessment (QSA) Program that contain a source verification component, is also considered acceptable evidence to substantiate COOL claims.

How to Use Affidavits

The industry has developed recommended country of origin affidavit statements, each of which is explained below:

If you raise, purchase, or sell cattle, there are two options:

Option 1: Complete the Producer Affidavit entitled “Continuous Affidavit of Country of Origin of Livestock.” This affidavit may be provided to those parties that you frequently sell to and is only required one time.

OR

Option 2: Include the following statement on any of your business forms (printed, stamped or handwritten on a Bill of Sale or Invoice). This statement must appear on the business form every time the animals are bought or sold:

              I attest that all livestockreferenced by this document and transferred are of                   origin.