The left wants to outlaw cattle, and a registration must be established in order to determine where it is and who owns it.
A controversial measure with a$ 15 million budget for the electronic tracking of livestock has passed through Congress thanks to the recently passed omnibus bill, igniting concerns among critics that the new system might be used by the government to stifle beef consumption.
Shad Sullivan, an American cattle rancher, claimed that he fears the little rancher will end thanks to the digital tags.
” They are going to use it as a hard process to eventually handle the livestock”, Mr. Sullivan said. ” In the European Union they used these steps to reduce the cow source under the pretense of climate change lies to control the cow supply, and if they do that, it will ruin our industry.”
” If the label authority is implemented, it will serve as the key to the gas chamber for separate ranching.”
Rep. Thomas Massie ( R- Ky. ), who owns livestock, also sounded the alarm that the move could lead to the erosion of the industry.
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The federal bill, which was passed on March 22, combines six important paying bills into one and includes language that allocates$ 15 million to “related system” needed for the system.
If the proposed rule,” Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison,” is finalized, the agreement directs the Department to continue providing the tag and related infrastructure needed to comply with the Federal Animal Disease Traceability rule, including no less than$ 15, 000, 000 for EID tags and related infrastructure needed for stakeholders.
The requirement for electronic ear tags for cattle and bison crossing state lines has sparked controversy, especially among small ranchers, since its initial proposal last year. They worry that the additional costs, which large corporate ranchers can bear, will cause many smaller businesses to shut down.
Currently, most livestock are tracked using tags that display 11- digit numbers, which are both visible and trackable. The Federal Register published proposed regulations that mandated the inclusion of radio frequency identification on ear tags on January 19, 2023. These enhanced tags must be “both visually and electronically readable” in order to be recognized as official for the interstate movement of cattle and bison.
According to the proposal, all sexually intact cattle and bison of any age who were born after March 11, 2013 and who are used for rodeo or recreational events and who are used for shows or exhibitions are included in the animal and plant health inspection service under the control of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Since 2003, following the discovery of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, in the United States, ranchers have been pushed to adopt electronic identification tags for livestock movement. Since then, the cattle industry has been gradually moving toward stricter traceability standards and technology.
According to Justin Tupper, president of the United States Cattlemen’s Association, the federal mandate for electronic ear tags would add unnecessary and punitive costs to American ranchers and increase the cost of beef.
” It is another example of ridiculous spending”, Mr. Tupper told the Epoch Times. There would be no real harm if they were to use these funds to distribute free tags to those who would like them, but that is not what it appears to be doing.
Instead, they will give them to the big-box retailers to force us to do it, which is entirely different.
Additionally, a new livestock-related mandate would only serve as yet another impediment to an already blighted sector by regulations and drought.
The price of beef has reached an all-time high and concerns about the long-term health of the nation’s farming community have risen since the supply of beef cattle reached its lowest point in decades. A series of severe droughts, coupled with government policies that continue to favor large, industrial food processors, has reduced the nation’s supply of beef cattle to a level not seen since the early 1950s, according to Mr. Tupper.
The omnibus bill’s single paragraph passage, which lawmakers inserted the funding for the electronic ear tag infrastructure, provided another illustration of the increasingly intrusive role the federal government plays in the lives of independent ranchers, he continued.
” Anything that is mandated we are going to push back very hard against”, said Mr. Tupper. ” We always have to be aware of the data’s owner.”
” We are well aware of the fact that data can exert a tremendous amount of control over the nation’s livestock”, he added.
According to Mr. Sullivan, the provision could also mark the beginning of the independent American rancher’s era.
” The beef industry is the last bastion of freedom”, said Mr. Sullivan. ” Ranchers across the country have to stand up. If not, these tags will be the end of the small rancher”.
