USDA calls for tracking animals from birth to slaughter

Tucked away on the disease traceability tab, in a June update to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) website, the agency says twice that it is working on a program to track animals from birth to slaughter.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its long-awaited update to the animal identification rules on Friday, April 26, 2024.

The June statement runs counter to the April plan, which calls for electronic identification in place of the silver metal “bangs” tag on sexually intact cattle (18 months or older) and/or bison that move across state lines. USDA estimates this includes about 11 percent of the US beef cow herd and bison herd.

A comprehensive animal disease traceability system is our best protection against a devastating disease outbreak. USDA is committed to implementing a modern system that tracks animals from birth to slaughter using affordable technology that allows for quick tracing of sick and exposed animals to stop disease spread. In September 2018, USDA established four overarching goals to increase traceability. These goals are: 

• Advance the electronic sharing of data among Federal and State animal health officials, veterinarians, and industry, including sharing basic animal disease traceability data with the Federal animal health events repository;
• Use electronic identification tags for animals requiring individual identification in order to make the transmission of data more efficient;
• Enhance the ability to track animals from birth to slaughter through a system that allows tracking data points to be connected; and
• Elevate the discussion with States and industry to work toward a system where animal health certificates are electronically transmitted from private veterinarians to State animal health officials.

In an April news release, USDA said:

“One of the most significant benefits of the rule for farmers and ranchers will be the enhanced ability of the United States to limit impacts of animal disease outbreaks to certain regions, which is the key to maintaining our foreign markets. By being able to readily prove disease-free status in non-affected regions of the United States, we will be able to request foreign trading partners recognize disease-free regions or zones instead of cutting off trade for the entire country. Traceability of animals is necessary to establish these disease-free zones and facilitate reestablishment of foreign and domestic market access with minimum delay in the wake of an animal disease event. 

“This rule is the culmination of goals established by USDA to increase traceability, one of the best protections against disease outbreaks, and enhances a rule finalized in 2013 for the official identification of livestock and documentation for certain interstate movements of livestock.”

Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, a Republican who is carrying a bill to defund the electronic ID program to prevent USDA from implementing it, said that by USDA’s own figures, which she does not necessarily trust, a birth to slaughter tracking program would cost at least $250 million.

“I keep saying this is incremental,” said Hageman. “They start with a small number of people who are the targets of whatever the rule is and then the gradually ratchet it up.”

Hageman said that, although USDA predicts that their current official plan of requiring electronic identification of all 18 months and older sexually intact cattle and bison that cross state lines will cost $26 million, the appropriations bill only includes $15 million to implement it.

“I guarantee most of that will go to expanding USDA APHIS in Washington, and not to our producers,” she said. “And if it does go to the producers, it will go to the politically connected ones, not the little guy.”

Hageman said the current system works for cattle traceability and the proposed electronic ID mandate is unnecessarily expensive and intrusive.

“Rapid traceability in a disease outbreak will not only limit how long farms are quarantined, keep more animals from getting sick, and help ranchers and farmers get back to selling their products more quickly – but will help keep our markets open,” said Dr. Michael Watson, APHIS Administrator in an official statement in April.

But Hageman, whose brother raises cattle near Lusk, Wyoming, said, “We have the most robust traceability program for diseases. The 2013 rule has worked using brands, backtags, tattoos and more. This is a solution in search of a problem. Disease outbreaks in the U.S. are very rare.”

Hageman said she doesn’t trust federal agencies to have the small producers’ best interests at heart, but she’s not talking about local USDA staff – she’s talking about the agency leadership. “The local employees are not the problem, it’s the bureaucracy.”

“Vilsack? He has no idea what it takes to run a ranch. He’s dictating policies that are unfeasible,” she said.

“This is nefarious and insidious,” said Hageman. “They try to act as if this is about disease traceability. You don’t have disease traceability if you are tracking 11 percent. It’s incrementalism.

“All you have to do is look at Denmark and Ireland. Denmark was the first country to do full mandatory ID. They just imposed a $100 per had tax on cattle producers. Without being able to trace each head of cattle, they wouldn’t be able to impose those kinds of restrictions on people.

“In early 2022, Ireland adopted an EID mandate and by August of 2023 they issued an order to slaughter 41,000 head of cattle. Not because of a disease outbreak, but because of global warming.”

Hageman said she just took part in an ESG (environmental and social governance) hearing where it was made clear that the three industries under scrutiny for climate change are energy, travel and cattle.

“Those are the three industries they are targeting the most,” she said. “The next step will be BQA. You won’t be able to sell if you aren’t BQA certified.”

Mandates like electronic ID can put U.S. producers at a disadvantage against imported beef that doesn’t have such requirements.

“That’s how they put producers out of business. Reduce meat production, get cattle off of federal lands,” Hageman said. “I can see adopting a rule that if you don’t comply with BQA, you can’t get a grazing permit. I can see a methane tax in the future. This is all about control – controlling our food supply and food chain. More and unneeded regulations will lead to more beef imports.”

USCA and R-CALF USA support Hageman’s efforts to halt USDA’s implementation of the electronic identification mandate.

In February, the NCBA Cattle Health and Wellbeing Committee adopted a policy to support the current USDA rule to require electronic identification of 18 month and older sexually intact cattle moving across state lines. Additionally, NCBA “will provide outreach and education to members following anticipated publication of USDA’s final rule requiring EID devices for interstate movement of all subject to the 2023 USDA Animal Disease Traceability rule (sexually intact cattle > 18 months, rodeo and exhibition cattle, dairy cattle).”

And “NCBA will support a private, industry managed, non-government Independent Database Collaborator (IDC) to serve as a hub for critical data, coordination, including data collection and housing for four date points (ID number, time, date and location); seamless coordination with USDA’s Animal Health Event Repository (AHER) and major animal identification program organizations; and a defined process for animal health officials to interact with the IDC in the event of a disease event of national significance.”