Introduction
Protecting your horses from disease, theft, and natural disasters is important.  Now there’s an option available to assist you in safeguarding your horses’ health and safety – the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). 

NAIS is a modern, streamlined information system that helps horse owners and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to major animal disease events, theft, and natural disasters in the United States.  The foremost goal of NAIS is to have the information necessary to trace all horses associated with a major disease outbreak within 48 hours to limit spread of the disease.  NAIS is voluntary at the Federal level.

How does NAIS work for you, the horse owner?
To participate in NAIS, you will first need to obtain a premises registration number (PIN), which identifies the location where your horse is kept.  If your horse is boarded, the owner of the boarding facility needs to obtain the PIN.

Obtaining your PIN is free and easy.  To sign up, just fill out the form for your State.  You can find the form at www.usda.gov/nais or by contacting your State’s department of agriculture.  The information requested is simple and includes the address of your property, as well as the types of animals you keep. 

Once you receive a PIN, you can purchase official injectable ID transponders for your horses.  These transponders, about the size of a grain of rice, are encoded with unique 15 digit numbers beginning with “840” which is recognized as the numeric code for the United States.  This number is known as the “Animal Identification Number” (AIN).  The code in the transponder is linked to the premises where the horse is kept or where the transponder was implanted.  Working together, the AIN and PIN provide you with the assurance that if there is a horse health event near your horses, animal health officials can find and alert you.  

When you have received your transponders, you can have them injected by your veterinarian.  More information on the procedure is available on this website, or from the U.S. Department of Agriculture at www.usda.gov/nais. 

As an owner, you may already uniquely identify your horses through methods such as lip tattooing or color diagrams.  Official ID can supplement those identification methods.  Some horses have an implanted transponder that pre-dates introduction of the “840” transponder.  Horses that already have injectable transponders without an “840” number will be “grandfathered” into NAIS.  These animals do not require a second injection.

What’s in it for you, the horse owner?
With the “840” number, you have one number and many potential uses.  The official “840” identification enables you to use your horse’s AIN and PIN in animal health programs, on certificates of veterinary inspection (CVI), and for equine infectious anemia (EIA) testing.  Since the “840” transponders also meet the requirements of the International Standards Organization (ISO), they can be used to trace both national and international horse movements. 

How do you get injectable transponders for your horses?
First, sign up to receive your PIN.  Once you have your PIN, you can obtain the “840” transponders through an approved distributor.  While USDA has approved a number of “840”devices, currently only Destron Fearing makes “840” NAIS-compliant injectable transponders. Veterinarians and breed registries, along with industry organizations, may sell the transponders.  A complete list of “840” official ID devices is available on the USDA NAIS website.
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Tim Cordes, DVM, is senior staff veterinarian for equine programs and national coordinator for equine diseases in the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services

Neil Hammerschmidt is the Veterinary Services programs NAIS coordinator and is the staff liaison to the Equine Species Working Group