Ranchers may soon be signing a few extra forms at the sale barn when the new mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) program officially begins Sept. 30, according to Blanco County Farm Bureau S-T Adrian Schulze.

COOL will require producers to provide documentation on the origin of the products they sell. Beginning this fall, they may be asked to sign an affidavit declaring the origin of livestock (and other products) whenever they are sold at auction, by private treaty or to a feedlot. Schulze said it is a pretty simple concept.

“It’s designed to provide country of origin information for almost all meat products, most produce and a few nuts at the retail level,” Schulze said. “Consumers will be able to walk up to those products at the grocery store and easily be able to tell what country they come from.”

Schulze said suppliers will ultimately tell producers what they require of them once COOL is in effect. Until that information is available, everyone will be operating on best assumptions. However, once the interim rule is final on Sept. 30, producers will need to source verify every animal born or brought into the United States after July 15, 2008.

“Livestock producers may sign affidavits from the cow-calf and stocker level to certify country-of-origin because we know where those livestock came from,” Schulze said. “That information will then accompany animals all the way through the retail level.

Schulze said Texas Farm Bureau recently compiled a Question & Answer checklist entitled “What you need to know about COOL,” It is available on the state’s largest farm organization’s website at www.txfb.org.