PRATT, Kan. (AP) _ Modern technology is invading the traditional cattle auction, as the industry tries to respond to concerns about an animal disease outbreak, or a terrorist attack on the nation's food supply.

This week at the Pratt Livestock auction ring, 500 of the 6,000 cattle auctioned off wore electronic identification tags in their ears, which emit radio signals.

The cows also have a computer chip that stores the animal's 15-digit I-D number.

When the cattle left the ring, they went through a chute outfitted with scanners that sent the information from the tags to a computer.

It's part of a national effort to test a system that would allow the government to find millions of head of cattle within 48 hours of some type of disease outbreak or terrorist attack.