To: R-CALF USA Members, Affiliates, and Friends

From: Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA

Date: March 16, 2023

 

 

Background:  For nearly two decades the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has tried relentlessly to force American cattle producers to affix electronic identification (EID) eartags to all their cattle. And for nearly two decades, you have helped us stop USDA in its tracks.

It was producer outrage that stopped USDA from mandating the exclusive use of EID in 2010. It was R-CALF USA’s lawsuit filed with your support that stopped USDA from mandating RFID eartags in 2019. It was your ongoing opposition that stopped USDA’s proposed mandate in 2020. But USDA is at it again with a proposed rule to require adult cattle shipped across state lines to wear a costly EID eartag.

This proposed rule is simply Phase 1 of the USDA’s grand plan to require all cattle producers to register their premises with the government, to affix EID eartags on every calf as soon as it hits the ground, to record and report every movement when cattle leave their registered premises, and to record and report the disposition of every animal upon its loss, death, or slaughter.

USDA’s proposed rule is intended to allow the agency to stick its nose under the tent, and once it has done so, to begin the command/control process of telling you how to run your farms and ranches.

You can help us put a stop to this once again, but you have to act on or before March 20.

Farther below are instructions as to how to effectively object to the USDA’s inappropriate overreach. But first here are some arguments you may wish to use when you object:

  • The USDA estimates the cost of EID tags is as high as $3.65 per head. If an independent cattle producer has to ship 100 head of adult cattle across state lines each year, the added cost of complying with the EID mandate is $365 per year, which represents a 10-year cost of $3,650. This added cost is significant and will negatively impact the competitiveness of U.S. cattle producers who already must compete with cheaper cattle imported from Canada and Mexico.
  • Mandatory EID is not needed. The U.S. has successfully prevented the spread of diseases using current animal identification devices including containing the 1929 foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in California, the 2003 mad cow disease outbreak in Mabton, Washington, brucellosis outbreaks in the Greater Yellowstone Area, and bovine tuberculosis outbreaks in Michigan. And, USDA continues to knowingly allow the importation of cattle with a high-risk of bovine tuberculosis from Mexico – a practice USDA would not continue doing if it did not already believe it had the capacity and capability of controlling disease spread in the United States.
  • The USDA should focus its resources on preventing the introduction of foreign animal diseases at our U.S. borders. USDA reports show the U.S. continually introduces bovine tuberculosis from imported Mexican cattle. U.S. cattle producers should not be shouldered with the burden of containing other country’s diseases that the USDA knowingly allows into the United States.
  • The main driver of USDA’s mandatory EID plan is to assist multinational beef packers who want insurance against the closure of export markets. USDA reports show that cattle farmers and ranchers and feeders earned historically high returns in the mid-2000s when most U.S. export markets were closed due to BSE. When this occurred, the beef packers had to pay more for domestic live cattle in order to meet U.S. demand for beef. Because the U.S. cattle industry underproduces for the U.S. market, this mandatory EID program shifts the cost of maintaining lucrative export markets from multinational beef packers to independent U.S. cattle producers.
  • Until the recent drought severely shocked the U.S. cattle market causing prices to rise, the U.S. cattle industry suffered a prolonged period of severely depressed prices, making recovery of cost-of-production difficult if not impossible. The USDA should not be burdening U.S. cattle producers with an additional production cost for which there is no expected financial return from the market. The mandatory EID proposal will accelerate the exodus of independent cattle producers from the U.S. cattle industry.
  • The mandatory EID proposal will render cattle producers who must ship cattle across state lines for feeding or other purposes less competitive than cattle producers in states where all downstream markets are readily available. This is because those in states with adequate downstream markets will enjoy lower production costs than those subject to the costly EID mandate.
  • The use of EID must remain voluntary. If multinational beef packers believe their export marketing will benefit from EID use, then they should offer market premiums to incentivize U.S. cattle producers to voluntarily incur the additional cost.
  • Mandatory electronic livestock identification creates no food safety benefit and will not prevent foodborne illnesses because the tracking ends at the time of slaughter. The vast majority of food safety issues stem from slaughter and processing, not the farm or ranch.
  • Mandatory electronic livestock identification creates privacy concerns and increases corporate control over the livestock industry. Mandatory electronic animal identification could create potential risks for farmers’ private financial information and fuel increased corporate control over the livestock industry by giving packers more information about how animals are produced. This information could potentially be used to discriminate against farmers based on the information available.

Action: Please ask the USDA to withdraw its electronic identification mandate. Go to www.regulations.gov.  In the search window type in: “Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison”. Then click on “Search”. Now find the entry for the proposed rule with the same title and click on the box that says “Comment”. Then follow the instructions to submit your comments.

Remember, you must do so no later than midnight Eastern Time on March 20.

Thank you for your help!

We’ll be in touch.

# # #

R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is the largest producer-only lobbying and trade association representing U.S. cattle producers. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. Visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516 for more information.