A proposed nationwide cattle identification system could get a boost with the Bush administration seeking $60 million from Congress, the agriculture secretary said yesterday in Phoenix. Such a program would be aimed at curbing further cases of mad cow disease and other ailments in the United States. It would fund animal surveillance and research and development, too. The request in 2005’s budget is $47 million more than the current year’s funding, said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s convention in Phoenix. About 5,000 people are attending the event, which ends tomorrow. Cattle prices have taken a hit since the discovery of an animal with the disease in Washington in late December. But U.S. consumer confidence and prices are rising, Veneman said. Full Story