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Cattle organization asks Congress to intervene on potential RFID tag mandate

R-CALF USA is asking Congress to stop USDA’s efforts to potentially mandate radio frequency identification ear tags. President Bill Bullard says producers should be able to choose the best identification system for their business.

“By forcing an RFID mandate upon the industry, you’re increasing production costs for all producers.”

At the end of 2022, R-CALF USA says the White House gave USDA approval for a proposed rule to mandate RFID. R-CALF also has an active lawsuit against the USDA for a lack of transparency in attempting previous RFID mandates and is watching the situation closely. Bullard has not yet seen the proposed rule recently approved by the White House.

“When we see it, we’ll see if there is some effort to address the concern we raise at the high costs of this proposal.”

In a statement to Brownfield, the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association says producers should not be responsible for the costs of RFID ear tags and would like certainty producers won’t be responsible for future costs. USCA says it is important to build an animal disease traceability system that’s efficient and effective, but the electronic data gathered must also remain confidential by state animal health officials.

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