The Hughes County Commission has unanimously approved (April 15, 2025) a resolution expressing their opposition to mandatory electronic identification tags for livestock.
It’s in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s October 2024 approval of a new rule saying it “is committed to implementing a modern system that tracks animals from birth to slaughter.”
Bryan Hanson owns the livestock auction barn in Fort Pierre. He said the new rule didn’t change what needed to be identified, but it did change what farmers and ranchers are allowed to use as identification.
Hanson said step one was for dairy cattle.
Using his Fort Pierre Livestock Auction the example, Hanson said any auction barn that moves a large volume of cattle is headed for a record keeping “nightmare.”
Although it doesn’t have any legal standing, Hanson said the show of support at the local level is important.
The Stanley County Commission approved the same resolution last month (March 4, 2025). It suggests that the “funds currently earmarked for this program be reallocated to efforts to restore important standards that protect all livestock producers and consumers from introduction to foreign animal disease.” It also requests that all elected officials “make every effort to block this government overreach by the USDA.”
Among the problems mentioned in the resolution are:
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the cost of EID tags disproportionately burdening small and medium size independent farmers
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large, corporate-owned herds being allowed to be tagged as one group
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potential interference with price discovery found in traditional markets
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the claim that EID is about animal health, but the tags do nothing to prevent or treat disease
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