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USDA mandates EID tags for interstate cattle movement

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued its definitive traceability regulation, mandating the use of electronic ID tags for specific interstate movements of cattle and bison.

“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.  

The USDA says that the most significant benefit of the rule for farmers and ranchers will be the enhanced ability of the United States to limit the 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,” wrote APHIS in a press release. “Traceability of animals is necessary to establish these disease-free zones and facilitate the re-establishment of foreign and domestic market access with minimum delay in the wake of an animal disease event.”

The final rule requires official eartags to be visually and electronically readable for official use for interstate movement of certain cattle and bison, and revises and clarifies certain record requirements related to cattle.

The rule applies to all sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months of age or older, all dairy cattle, cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreation events, and cattle or bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions.

Image by USDA APHIS

The USDA will continue to provide tags to producers free of charge to jumpstart efforts to enable the fastest possible response to a foreign animal disease. For information on how to obtain these free tags, visit the APHIS’ Animal Disease Traceability webpage.

copy of this rule may be viewed online, and the rule will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks. This rule will be effective 180 days after publication in the Federal Register. 


The response among cattlemen is conflicting

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