(WASHINGTON) – The United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) announced their support of Representative Harriet Hageman’s (R-WY) joint resolution to block the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) rule mandating electronic identification (EID) eartags for bison and cattle moving interstate.
While disease traceability is a priority amongst the industry, there is currently a robust system in place that allows for the flexibilities outlined in USDA’s Animal Disease Traceability Framework and have thus far maintained the health and safety of the American cattle herd.
Mandating EIDs comes with multiple concerns the least of which is the cost associated to implement a mandatory, new system. Funding has yet to be defined and USCA remains adamant that the added cost should not fall upon the producer.
Further, scanning tags at points throughout interstate commerce could create unnecessary delays on shipping and sale days, causing added stress to cattle.
Finally, one of the main concerns is that of the misuse of information gleaned by a mandatory EID system. These new technologies cannot be used for tracking cattle on public or private lands by any government entity or NGO without the permission of the livestock owner, nor should they be associated with promoting specific production practices or unfairly discriminating producers based on adherence to such ideals.
“We commend Representative Hageman for taking a stand for the U.S. cattle industry that protects not only the privacy of our producers, but just as importantly, the flexibility that our dynamic industry requires,” USCA President Justin Tupper said.
Hageman’s bill is cosponsored by 14 representatives and Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced bicameral legislation in the Senate as well. Upon blocking the proposed mandate, USCA is calling on the cattle industry to reinvigorate the Cattle ID Working Group to fully evaluate potential consequences of any such mandatory rule. This group was successful in developing the 2013 animal disease traceability framework which recognizes visually readable tags, brands, tattoos, and breed registry certificates as official identification.
Source: USCA press release
