Animal Disease Traceability Coordinator

What You’ll Do The Division of Animal Health is seeking an Animal Disease Traceability Coordinator (Program Administrator 1) to lead the statewide ADT Program. The Division of Animal Health is charged with protecting and promoting the health of Ohio's livestock and poultry industries. Responsibilities include livestock and poultry testing and inspection, licensing, controlling animal diseases in Ohio, and providing veterinary diagnostic laboratory services. The position may be headquartered within one of the following counties: Licking, Union, Logan, Champaign, Clark, Madison, Franklin, Fayette, Pickaway, Fairfield, Hocking, Perry, Muskingum, Coshocton, Knox, Holmes, Morrow, Marion, and Delaware. This role will require statewide travel as needed to support Ohio’s markets, in addition to frequent in-person meetings in Reynoldsburg. The ADT Coordinator works under the guidance of division leadership to complete the following: • Maintains, promotes, and advances animal official identification for interstate and intrastate movement • Leads outreach and education of livestock producers and county and state fairs for traceability program • Acts as lead for implementation and enforcement of animal identification regulations, policies, and procedures (e.g., disease traces statewide, resource management, implementing regulations, policies and procedures for distributing and tracking tagging, inspections, audits, and training) • Assists in administration of regulatory program response • Assists with the annual USDA Cooperative Agreement work plan, provides recommendations on annual allocation of program funds & drafts ADT related documents for the division • Serves as a liaison between the Division of Animal Health and veterinarians, producers, livestock market operators, feedlots, licensees, and the public • Meets and communicates with producers, market owners, regional veterinarians, and other stakeholders to establish consistent state-wide application of ADT • Works closely with state and federal USDA-APHIS personnel to ensure existing Ohio ADT programs are consistent with all federal livestock identification/traceability program rules and regulations • Works with Division of Animal Health staff to provide training on current animal identification and traceability rules and regulations • Collaborates with USDA on scrapie rules and identification efforts & with other state’s ADT efforts to coordinate and streamline state-to-state ADT efforts • Relays ADT changes to division staff impacting the processing of certificates of veterinary inspection, owner shipper statements, commuter herd agreements, swine production health plans, and other regulatory program information • Coordinates and executes activities as described in the Ohio Traceability Program roadmap and conducts an annual evaluation of the Traceability Program. • Presents agency’s ADT program information to various groups & represents the Division of Animal Health on state and national committees (e.g., national, state ADT groups & associations, USAHA, USAHERDS, sub-committees) • Works with communications division to maintain the ADT website • Works within livestock disease tracing database programs, assuring data is current and accurate and that databases will function to assist in livestock disease tracing activities • Serves as an administrator of USAHERDS database & works with division staff to implement and enhance USAHERDS SOP's to maintain the database functionality and accuracy within the traceability program • Acts as point of contact for all electronic certificates of veterinary inspection options with the ability and aptitude to promote, train, and support accredited veterinarians in their use • Acts as expert on the technology involved in the use and reading of Electronic Identification Devices, to include operating, troubleshooting, and teaching the use of such devices and software in the field at locations such as various livestock markets across the state • Serves as the lead contact for the USDA Trace Performance measure activities • Oversees animal identification tag number trace-back exercises • Coordinates the receiving of such traces, performing the trace and reporting the completion and findings • Investigates and follows-up on non-compliant traceability activities • Reviews data to determine program effectiveness, to identify problem areas, and to detect trends or developments • Recommends goals and monitors distribution and use of electronic identification devices (EID)’s provided by the division to improve adoption of EID technology across organizations • Participates in planning and supporting state animal health emergency management activities • Manages inventory of ear tags, both visual and electronic, applicators, and electronic tag reading equipment • Supports animal depopulation events through execution of ADT related tasks including verification of official identification and collection, shipment, and/or delivery of ...