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Under the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, livestock is defined as “all sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months and older; all female dairy cattle of any age; all male dairy cattle born after March 11, 2013; cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreational events; and cattle and bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions, according to the proposal.”
The push toward adopting electronic identification tags for livestock movement began in 2003 when the first case of so-called “mad cow disease” occurred in the United States. Since then, the industry has been moving toward enhanced traceability rules and technology.
Justin Tupper, president of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, believes mandating electronic ear tags would place “unnecessary and punitive costs on American ranchers” and raise the price of beef.
“It is another example of ridiculous spending,” Tupper told The Epoch Times. “If they are going to use these funds to hand out free tags to those who would want them, then there would be no real harm, but that is not what it looks like they are doing here.
“Instead, they are going to give them to the big tag companies to shove down our throat to mandate it, which is an entirely different thing.”
The cattle industry is already facing significant headwinds from regulations and drought, and a new livestock mandate will only exacerbate those problems.
The supply of beef cattle has already slipped to its lowest point in decades, with the price of beef reaching an all-time high and some becoming concerned over the long-term health of farming and ranching in the US. Tupper said that a number of severe droughts, combined with government policies that favor large, industrial food processors, have slammed the supply of beef cattle to levels not seen since the 1950s.
Tupper slammed Congress for the practice of sneaking pet projects into thousand-page omnibus bills, including the one-paragraph requirement for the ear tags, which could easily be overlooked in the rush to pass such a bill. He said this is another example of the increasingly intrusive federal government targeting independent ranchers.
“Anything that is mandated, we are going to push back very hard against,” Tupper said. “We always have to be aware of who controls the data.
“We are well aware of the fact that data can exert a tremendous amount of control over the nation’s livestock.”
Sullivan also worries the provision could be the end of independent American ranchers.
“The beef industry is the last bastion of freedom,” Sullivan said. “Ranchers across the nation have to stand up. If not, these tags will be the end of the small rancher.”

https://lawenforcementtoday.com/provision-tucked-inside-massive-omnibus-spending-bill-could-spell-the-end-of-small-ranchers-in-the-united-states