USDA says that its electronic identification ear tag mandate will enhance disease traceability. However, not all rancher groups agree, including R-CALF, which says the rule falls short.
According to CEO Bill Bullard, “The only way the government can improve disease traceability better than what we have now is to make it more efficient by causing those chips being read to be electronically imported into a database, and that is not part of this rule! So, the only right way this rule can be effective is if USDA writes another rule. Another rule to require the Interstate Certificate of Verterinary Inspection, the health certificate to be read electronically and the reason that this rule doesn’t do that is because it’s cost-prohibited to require the purchase of the wands necessary to read those tags, and then all the infrastructure to carry that electronic data throughout the entire system.”
That rule is set to take effect next week on November 5th.
