The Stanley County Commission has approved (March 4, 2025) a resolution expressing their opposition to mandatory electronic identification tags for livestock.
The resolution is 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.”
Among the issues mentioned in the resolution are:
- the cost of EID tags disproportionately burdening small and medium size independent farmers
- large, corporate-owned herds being allowed to be tagged as one group
- potential interference with price discovery found in traditional markets
- the claim that EID is about animal health, but the tags do nothing to prevent or treat disease
The Stanley County resolution 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.”
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