Livestock Producers Freedom Rally highlights concerns on USDA EID mandate

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Calling the mandated use of electronic identification tags an "unnecessary burden" on cattle producers, R-CALF USA and the United States Cattlemen’s Association hosted a Livestock Producers Freedom Rally on Oct. 7 that focused on their issues about the tags soon to be mandated for use in cattle and bison sold across state lines.

“This is a completely unnecessary burden upon the independent U.S. cattle producers to essentially begin control of this industry,” said Bill Bullard, CEO of R-Calf USA.

This rule was adopted by the USDA earlier this year and is set to go into effect on Nov. 5.

“It is, in my opinion, illegal. It is a violation of the law,” said U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.). “The USDA does not have the authority to do this. But there are so many serious negative consequences associated with the USDA imposing an EID mandate against our cattle and bison producers.”

Bullard said that if the USDA does enforce a rule like this, it would have the same effects on the cattle and bison industries as it has had on branches of the ag industry.

“We’ve seen what’s happened already with our sister industries, particularly the hog industry, because the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not take any action to preserve the independence of those producers and that entire industry is not vertically integrated,” he said. “We wiped out about 90% of all the hog producers that were in business just four decades ago are gone today. Cattle industry is the last frontier. One of the reasons it is, is because of the independent-minded U.S. cattle producers.”

Hageman said enforcing the mandate of electronic ear tags would be expensive. She said according to the USDA, this rule would apply to 11% of the nation’s cattle and bison producers and is estimated to cost $26.1 million.

“That is for nothing more than the ear tag itself, a little button. That doesn’t include the wands, that doesn’t include the software or the hardware. It doesn’t include any of the compliance costs, cattle handling, anything else,” she said. “Then when you think about it only applying to roughly 10% of the industry, if they eventually enforce it against the entire industry, that’s a roughly $250 million rule right there, according to the USDA.”

Privacy is also a concern.

“Who is going to control and handle and manage the information that is gathered to this electronic identification,” Hageman asked.

However, not all livestock groups are in opposition of this mandate. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has expressed their favor because of enhanced traceability efforts. The North Dakota state veterinarian has said EID tags should be a more accurate and efficient way of keeping track of information already being gathered.South Dakota's State Veterinarian and South Dakota Cattlemen's Association are also not opposed to the mandate, saying it is just another form of identification.

Other countries around the world have implemented similar programs.

Hageman said in Denmark, since they know how many cattle there are and where they are located, they were able to impose a $100 per head annual tax on all of their cattle producers to address global warming.

That rule actually will begin in 2030, and Danish livestock farmers will be taxed 300 kroner, equivalent to $43, per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs. By 2035, that tax will increase to 750 kroner, or $108 per metric ton. Due to an income tax reduction of 60%, the actually cost per ton will start at 120 kroner, $17.30 and gradually rise to 300 kroner by 2035.

A majority of Danish cattle are dairy cows, which emit 5.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per year. With the lower tax rate of 120 kroner, that would mean that dairy cows would be a charge of 672 kroner per cow, or $96.

Hageman also claimed Ireland implemented an EID mandate and later issued slaughter orders for 41,000 head of cattle. In reality, Ireland did mandate use of EID in 2022, but did not mandate slaughter of cattle . While a government paper did outline a plan calling for the culling 200,000 cattle from the country over three years , that action was not taken. An updated climate action plan instead calls for finishing cattle at earlier ages and focusing on genetics to reduce methane .

“This is the opportunity for the USDA, the big conglomerates, to control our cattle industry and block access to the interstate market,” Hageman said.

Bullard said this program is designed to benefit the multinational meatpackers who want to be able to sell beef in the international market with claims of knowing where the beef originated.

“We have producers that are currently using RFID technology today because they are receiving a premium in the marketplace,” he said. “But once the government mandates the use of these ear tags, then those premiums will evaporate because there’s no longer a reason for the packers to continue to pay for the value-added information that these ear tags carry.”

Bullard said this rule is going to benefit the vertically integrated entities because they won’t be required to put an ear tag on their animals. Instead, they can use a group lot identification for their animals, even when crossing state lines.

“So, there’s an inherent advantage given to the vertically integrated entity, which is exactly the opposite of what we want to achieve in this industry, because that very vertical integration effectively kills competition,” he said.

Julie Trask is a veterinarian and cattle producer in Elm Springs, South Dakota. She said that although the USDA says it will be used to help trace and stop diseases, it is still an overreach of privacy.

“It’s paired with premise registration, which is part of the problem with the overreach,” Trask said. “All the individuals were asked to premise register, which then would go into this other database, which we don’t even know who has access to, in combination with the chips. We don’t know where the chips are made or who has access to that data.”

Trask said previously, veterinarians have used metal clips to identify animals. They write down all the information about the client and the cattle and send that to the state.

“That information is privately held between me, my client and the state,” Trask said. “I give copies of all of that information to each one of them and I can know that that information is private, because that’s all that gets the information. There is no extra access to anything on a metal tag.”

Countries like Australia have implemented animal identification rules, and Trask has seen what it has done to their veterinarians.

“It has turned their regulatory agencies into tag police is what they call them and their veterinarians, that’s what they are for,” Trask said. “So really, instead of fighting disease, we’re simply monitoring and penalizing our clients, customers, for not meeting the tag criteria that is set forth by the federal government.”

Trask said South Dakota has a proven 24-hour trace back for animals.

“If somebody calls in a number to the state, they have proven that they can 24 hours trace between the hot iron brand system, the bangs tattoo and tag, the metal tag and different tags used by the individual producers,” she said. “So, we do know that we have, at least in this area, in my practice area, a proven trace back system that doesn’t also give away private property rights and information owned by individuals.”

While the tag mandate is started with the breeding animals, Trasks anticipates that it will eventually be enforced in every animal.

“The reason that’s dangerous is that they want to know how many animals are being born so that they can manipulate the markets,” she said. “They can then know what animals didn’t come to town, where they are and when they might come to town. It all seems crazy, but that’s actually the sad reality is that it is information that is not theirs, but they want to use it.”

Trask said the USDA has been calling her to have her sign up for premise registration and receive free electronic ear tags.

“I told them, I refuse to be the Judas Iscariot in all of this. I will not betray my clients’ private rights, property, to the information that belongs between them and me that they have entrusted me with out on to their places, that then I give to the state for our cooperative effort to trace things. I refuse,” Trask said.

The USDA has not pushed too hard yet, Trask said, but she is concerned about what it will look like going forward.

“For me, as far as accreditation or licensing or whatever, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” she said. “But honestly, this is something that I refuse to budge on. I will not by EID tags, and I will not premise register, nor will I ask any of my clients to do that.”

Hageman has introduced a resolution that would overturn the mandate. Bullard and Hageman encourage producers who want to fight against the mandate to be in contact with their elected state and federal officials.

“They need to get a hold of who represented them, their senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and they need to ask them to sign on to my bill to block this rule from going forward,” Hageman said. “Then the other thing they need to do is they need to get a hold of their governors, and they need to get a hold of the head of their state ag organization and say you need to fight back on behalf of the independent producers.”

Hageman doesn’t know if they will be able to block the rule before it goes into effect on Nov. 5, but she is hopeful that there may be a chance to after the presidential election.

“If we get a new administration in January, if we get a new presidency, and if the Republicans control the Senate and the House, we can pass my Congressional Review Act resolution,” she said. “What that would do is it would block the USDA from being able to implement the rules.”