National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Mark Eisele, a Wyoming rancher, reacted to USDA’s final animal traceability rule. USDA’s final traceability rule updates the existing requirement for animal identification that has been in place since 2013, switching from solely visual tags that are both electronically and visually readable for certain classes of cattle moving interstate.
“Many producers are already familiar with using these visual tags and under the new rule, they will instead use electronic tags,” Eisele says. “NCBA worked hard to secure $15 million in funding for producers to reduce the cost of implementing the change.”
He also says NCBA remains committed to safeguarding producers’ private data and continuing to reduce the cost of ear tags for farmers and ranchers. To avoid the potential of devastating financial losses during a possible foreign animal disease outbreak and help producers return to commerce, NCBA says America needs an efficient animal disease traceability system.
NAFB news service
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