Leading with Facts, Not Fear: The Role of EID in Cattle Traceability

Finding accurate information concerning the cattle industry is becoming increasingly challenging. Too often we see distorted and misrepresented facts used to promote a special interest narrative. Unfortunately, conspiracy theories spread like wildfire, while truth and facts are met with suspicion.

From late spring to early fall, the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association held a series of six Region Roundup meetings across the state. These meetings are used to connect and communicate with members, and reach out to potential new members, while also providing programming focused on important issues facing producers. The 2024 Region Roundup meetings focused on the update to the 2013 United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) rule regarding traceability in cattle. Since 2013, any sexually intact cattle 18 months of age or older, rodeo or exhibition cattle, and dairy cattle have required official identification before moving across state lines. The updated rule, which goes into effect November 5th, changes the required form of official identification from a visually readable identification to a visually and electronically readable form of identification.

These meetings, that were open to the public, were held at meeting halls, local cafes, and livestock barns. Dr. Beth Thompson, State Veterinarian and Executive Secretary of the South Dakota Animal Industry Board (SD AIB), as well as the assistant state veterinarian Dr. Mendel Miller presented to each group. Not only did they provide information to assist producers as they prepare to comply with the updated rule, but also hosted an open forum to answer questions and address concerns that producers voiced. They came on behalf of the SD AIB to communicate what the national identification system rules will be and what producers need to know to comply with them, not as representatives of SDCA. We appreciate their willingness to share the facts with the farmers and ranchers that attended.

The rule change is as simple as was stated: anything that needed to be identified before, needs to be identified after November 5th, and the method of identification now must be electronically and visually readable. Cattle identified with an approved method before November 5th are grandfathered into the system, so no cattle need to be re-tagged. No additional data is collected that wasn’t previously. No information can be acquired through the federal Freedom of Information Act or state open records laws, and challenges to those laws have been upheld by the courts. Nevertheless, efforts are underway to enhance those laws and protect data collected under the rule from being disclosed or used to track or compile information on methane emissions.

Under the current rule, the number on the metal clip on tag is read, written down, and filed to be later manually entered into a database. Under the updated rule, the electronic identification (EID) tag can be electronically read, and the number can be uploaded into a database. There are no other changes to the information gathered. The tags can be put in at any time, and can be acquired free through your veterinarian, and electronic readers can be found through those means as well. The ONLY difference is that the identification number can be read electronically, making the data input process faster and more accurate.

SDCA members have created and approved policy that supports using the latest technology available to enhance animal disease traceability. Our members believe it is extremely important to be able to trace any animal that falls into the required group, to protect the nation’s cow herd. While South Dakota has a system that works, the ability to have EID will enhance the efficiency of this trace back. It is important to remember that not every state has as robust a system as South Dakota, and this rule change puts the nation on the same level. Tracebacks will be done far faster and more accurately, all but eliminating the possibility of unnecessary quarantines or, God forbid, euthanization.

Electronic tags have been around for many years. As the technology has improved, they are being used more and more. People in the cattle industry are seeing the benefits of having an accurate and efficient method of identifying individual animals. Electronic tag use is being driven by the industry. This is evidenced by the number of producers putting in EID’s to steer calves to comply with the requirements of the buyer of their calves. The USDA/APHIS is merely using the technology industry has developed to improve our nations traceability program to limit the impacts of a possible catastrophic disease outbreak.

We’ve been using EID in every calf on our operation for many years. It hasn’t hampered processing, hasn’t added any expense, and hasn’t had a single negative impact on our operation. In fact, we’ve found the ability to trace cattle through the harvest process valuable to our breeding decisions. We believe, as do the members of SDCA, that it’s important to embrace new technologies that provide opportunities to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the cattle business.

Look at the EID requirement for what it actually is, not what it is being made out to be. Don’t be misled into believing it is about carbon credits, greenhouse gas emissions, or anticipating slaughter cattle numbers. It is about USDA APHIS utilizing new technology to improve the current national identification system.