JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Critics of an animal identification system plan to protest at a meeting sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The agriculture department is holding an all-day discussion Tuesday at a Jefferson City hotel to solicit opinions about the National Animal Identification System. Critics plan to protest outside the meeting.

Protest organizers say the discussion should focus on whether there should be an identification system and not to hear concerns about the proposal from farmers.

The nationwide system started in 2004 to trace livestock if there is a disease outbreak. Farmers were to have voluntarily registered their properties with their states by January 2008. Mandatory reporting of livestock movements was to begin one year later.

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