ID tags on cattle

[farmerjan]

Hearing rumblings that these ID tags/buttons will be required on cattle going through the stockyards/sale barns... possibly in November... Back to the "No NAIS" stuff. Required for dairy animals to have now... stockyards will tag them for a fee... $5, I think...anyone heard anything new? One stockyard has just bought a brand new big fancy chute/head catch/ all that to install to be compliant... but I hadn't heard anything about it...

 

[redcowsrule33]

From what I understand they are replacing the metal tags with rfid tags. So any movement that required them (interstate) is affected. Sounds like implementation around October 1st. If an animal has an official metal tag applied prior to that date it will be grandfathered in. The rule includes Bangs tags.

 

[farmerjan]

Did some searching, and basically you are right @redcowsrule33 .... for anything over 18 months for breeding stock, any dairy and dairy cross so all these black/dairy crosses will need these tags that previously have not needed them... not going to affect the beef cattle feeder cattle except for stuff going back to the farm over 18 months... that is sexually intact.
Does not affect anything going directly to slaughter, except dairy cattle, either. So not a deal for our older cull beef cows.
They want to make it so that they can swipe a wand over them to read them.

This stockyard moves a lot of cattle through,... it is more of a "buying station" than it used to be, so it will make it easier for them to work all the cattle that get unloaded there and then loaded back up to go elsewhere.
I do a few dairy calves and such, and had always put in metal tags so now will have to use these... the way they talked at the yard was everything had to have these tags...
I'm going to print off the rules so I have them in front of me... and the official posting date was in May, so 180 days after that it is in effect.
Just found that it is in effect as of Nov 5, 2024.

 

[kenny thomas]

Jan, in Virginia the Department of Agricultural has been installing ID buttons on all head cows going through the stockyard for a couple years. They do it as they are preg checked. So far its been free. To us all its been is proof that the cow has been traded before. I have a pretty good collection of them in the trash can beside my head chute.

 

[SBMF 2015]

They want to make it so that they can swipe a wand over them to read them.

The Tyson plant that I deliver to has a 14' alley with dividers in it it's broken into 3. The cattle walk through it on their own and it records their EID.
I asked one of the yard men how he liked it and he said "it sorta works"

 

[Lucky]

We saw this coming down the line and started looking into the Tru-Test systems. We wanted to get set up for this deal but more so to track performance. I ended up finding a reader and indicator on Craigslist for a good price. I called the State last week to get our free tags and they had to set our ranch up with some kind of location ID #. I was hesitant at first but the lady pretty well already knew who we where, where we were at, and how many cattle we ran. She said they'd send us 200 tags for free. A state rep delivered our tags yesterday and we talked for a bit about things.

The state guy told me that anyone who has ever recieved drought assistance or any program money is in the system already. He also said he figures in the next few years all cattle will need an ID tag to be sold. I ask him about the tags not having any info and all the info being in the indicator. He says all tags sold will be assigned to you by the number on the tag. In Texas the tags start with 840xxxxx right now. He also said that for now he'd but these tags in our cows or any heifers we plan to keep. That makes sense since they'll be sold after they are 18 months of age.

At the end of the day it's just a tag that doesn't require you to have any special equipment. I'll agree that this is just another government over reach that's pretty much useless for the producer. I'd suggest anyone selling cattle call and get the tags while they're free. Last ww looked the tags were a touch over $3 bucks each. I'd guess the salebarn would hit everyone with a $5 fee for tagging and assigning the ID# to you.

 

[simme]

The ID tags are sort of similar to a license plate on your vehicles. License plate does a little for the owner - can be used for ID, assist in ownership issues, tracking in case of theft, etc.

Also can be used for id in case of traffic violations, toll road toll collections, etc. Both tags cost money and are used to assist in compliance with laws and regulations.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I don't really care for the government tracking citizen's livestock.

 

[farmerjan]

@kenny thomas I have been aware of the id tags in any cows returned to farm for breeding... head cows and such. We record the number and where/when we bought her and the price so I can keep track for our own records... The thing that threw me was they were talking like all the feeder calves have to have the tags and I was pretty sure they didn't... so wondered if I missed out somewhere on some important change.

These type tags are used by all the dairies now...

840 is the country, and the 003 signifies something else.... the last 9 numbers are the animals' individual number.
One dairy I test puts them in all his bull calves that are picked up weekly by a buyer... and he keeps a record of them separately.... the buyer requires that he gets a list of all the tags of the calves bought at each pickup.
Many dairy farmers use the "840" number as the registration number for their heifer calves now...
My concern was that something had changed that I wasn't aware of on the feeder calves being sold... But the rules are the same, just requiring the RFID buttons instead of the old metal tags.

And for the "record" @kenny thomas , it is "illegal" to remove those tags.

 

[Warren Allison]

And for the "record" @kenny thomas , it is "illegal" to remove those tags.

I bet he tears them off of mattresses, too!

 

[farmerjan]

It's legal to tear them off mattresses once you are the owner...says so right on the tag...

 

[TCRanch]

My retained heifers have been getting them the past few years when my vet BANGS and pelvic measures them. And at the last County Livestock Association meeting they said it's only a matter of time before it's required.

 

[kenny thomas]

@kenny thomas I have been aware of the id tags in any cows returned to farm for breeding... head cows and such. We record the number and where/when we bought her and the price so I can keep track for our own records... The thing that threw me was they were talking like all the feeder calves have to have the tags and I was pretty sure they didn't... so wondered if I missed out somewhere on some important change.

These type tags are used by all the dairies now...

840 is the country, and the 003 signifies something else.... the last 9 numbers are the animals' individual number.
One dairy I test puts them in all his bull calves that are picked up weekly by a buyer... and he keeps a record of them separately.... the buyer requires that he gets a list of all the tags of the calves bought at each pickup.
Many dairy farmers use the "840" number as the registration number for their heifer calves now...
My concern was that something had changed that I wasn't aware of on the feeder calves being sold... But the rules are the same, just requiring the RFID buttons instead of the old metal tags.

And for the "record" @kenny thomas , it is "illegal" to remove those tags.

Not illegal yet according to the Department of Agricultural guy putting them in . He does encourage me to leave them in just in case they are stolen.

 

[farmerjan]

Not illegal yet according to the Department of Agricultural guy putting them in . He does encourage me to leave them in just in case they are stolen.

Not "illegal"... just "unlawful to remove" so it says...

 

[kenny thomas]

Not "illegal"... just "unlawful to remove" so it says...

So who does it say will enforce the rule. Once the button is thrown away they cant match it to the cow.
Its not a huge deal but if im buying cows i notice the tags as they are unloaded. Just like years ago we would check the state code on the metal tags to see which state the cows had came from. At a special cow sale they could easile be from 4 states. One of those states Virginia said they would not allow cows from. But nobody enforced it.

 

[farmerjan]

So who does it say will enforce the rule. Once the button is thrown away they cant match it to the cow.
Its not a huge deal but if im buying cows i notice the tags as they are unloaded. Just like years ago we would check the state code on the metal tags to see which state the cows had came from. At a special cow sale they could easile be from 4 states. One of those states Virginia said they would not allow cows from. But nobody enforced it.

I'm picking..... yeah, who is going to come and enforce it...