4hfarms
Well-known member
Hmmm, mad cow no longer here, why worry? Because they just brought it to the Manhattan KS level 4 lab. In the middle of cow country! Great decision...
Mandatory EID tags for KY cattle
- Thread starter Ky hills
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Ky hills
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Ky hills
Well-known member
We called the KCA office as was recommended by the Paris Stockyards.
We found that what we were told by the folks at KCA is somewhat different than their own list says, though I'm sure they left wiggle room in their responses.
We were told it would not cost the producers because of government funding. Our response was a question who pays for the funding? Our Answer we all do.
Another issue that we were told was that it was going to just be for tracking only and no information would go anywhere. Yet in the list it mentions being built with infrastructure that supports other uses of ID. That is a glaring problem that I see.
These associations are pushing this on us like a Trojan horse. Once it gets in place it will open us all up to a Pandora's box of potential Government and packer control.
redcowsrule33
Well-known member
Perhaps some of the members from other countries who already have this type of system in place could chime in and give us some perspective. Good, bad, ugly.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
I've been using RFID tags for well over 10 years. I don't see them as any sort of control device.
In my mind they are no different than a registered brand would be. Somebody can read the RFID or look at the Brand and tell you where that animal originated. My USDA premise ID is all the information that is on the tag and that just leads back to my mailing address. No different than western guys going to the brand inspector to find out who owns an animal.
In my mind they are no different than a registered brand would be. Somebody can read the RFID or look at the Brand and tell you where that animal originated. My USDA premise ID is all the information that is on the tag and that just leads back to my mailing address. No different than western guys going to the brand inspector to find out who owns an animal.
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
I emailed the USDA-
'RFID tags cattle - Is the USDA going to make these tags a national requirement? We see that the comment period is over. Thanks'
'RFID tags cattle - Is the USDA going to make these tags a national requirement? We see that the comment period is over. Thanks'
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Ky hills
Well-known member
When we were selling bred heifers through a special sale. The heifers had to have an EID tag. They had an individual ID number and it was recorded.
To me the EID tags if required for every animal and recorded in a data bank somewhere is different than a farm or ranch brand or a tattoo.
Who ever would have access to that information will also know how many cattle you have, and where those cattle end up. To me it's pretty dangerous from privacy and freedom standpoint.
It could conceivably used against us if the government or other entities wanted to limit our cattle numbers or if they wanted to cut out our freedom to have beef processed by local processors.
Also since the cattle herd numbers would on file it would then be easy to enact taxes per head if it ever came to that.
Hopefully all of that stuff is just a what if but it looks like to me the tags are a pretty good Trojan horse to get the ground work laid, under the guise of traceability in case of disease.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
It sounds like animals only need to be tagged when they leave the farm. If you precondition feeder cattle it's pretty easy to tag them when they're in the chute. Nobody will have a hard and fast inventory of your herd.
As far as breeding stock goes the E-id's are just replacing the usda steel tags. The traders won't like them because they're harder to remove.
Breeding stock has been traceable since the the beginning of the eradication of brucellosis.
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
Many states across the US have put a stop to mandatory Bangs vaccination, tags and testing. Oregon has as of Jan.1st, Washington is next. It would have chapped my backside if I had gone ahead and paid $220.00 to Bangs vax my heifer a few months ago.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
I'm not sure any state had mandatory BANGs vaccinating unless they were out of state hfrs coming in.
Lots of producers still BANGs there hfrs just so they can travel anywhere when they are sold.
It used to be a selling point; Everything has been done to them that could be done. Real reputation cattle here. Take them home with confidence.
I've spent a lot of cold winter nights hanging out in front of a cattle chute, pulling blood and reading tattoos getting ready for a bred cow special at the sale barn.
wbvs58
Well-known member
We are about 18 years into it and see it as no great impost and if I really wanted to I could get information back from the processors. Overall the only benefit to me is that it is another form of ID for registering my cows and I need it to sell my cows through the recognized channels and it is a marketing strategy for our export markets. Most producers that are bigger than me and a bit more tech savvy will use it for automatic recording of weights, recording information whenever they work the cattle. Some people have weigh stations in the paddock that cattle step onto and their weights are recorded. There are many management advantages. I know big companies and producers wouldn't be without it. I suspect it would be the same in the US, big outfits would already be using it.
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Logan52
Well-known member
Scrapie tags have been mandatory for sheep and goats for some years now.
I try and tag them at birth and they usually last the life of the animal.
I buy the larger tags, imprinted with my farm number and the individual number, and use them for identification within the flock, so there is really little extra expense.
The aggravation comes when one loses a tag and you do not discover it until you get to the stockyards and have left your tags and tagger at home.
Still, I am instinctively against more government regulation and fear what it might lead to.
I might add the government was originally very helpful in supplying the tags free and helping at the yards with lost tags. With time these costs were quickly passed to the producer.
I try and tag them at birth and they usually last the life of the animal.
I buy the larger tags, imprinted with my farm number and the individual number, and use them for identification within the flock, so there is really little extra expense.
The aggravation comes when one loses a tag and you do not discover it until you get to the stockyards and have left your tags and tagger at home.
Still, I am instinctively against more government regulation and fear what it might lead to.
I might add the government was originally very helpful in supplying the tags free and helping at the yards with lost tags. With time these costs were quickly passed to the producer.
rocfarm
Well-known member
I'm glad it seems a grassroots movement has defeated this initiative.
Information is power, and, although I think EIDs are fine, I don't think we should be required to use them.
We are tracked enough already. The beef supply is already efficient, safe and cost effective.
Leave us alone. We can figure out how to get the job done on our own, thanks.
Information is power, and, although I think EIDs are fine, I don't think we should be required to use them.
We are tracked enough already. The beef supply is already efficient, safe and cost effective.
Leave us alone. We can figure out how to get the job done on our own, thanks.
Any time the government gets involved it can sound like a good thing. Looking back, it never seems in the long run to turn out that way. Too many people on the 40th floor making decisions wanting to put a feather in their hat, trying to take a mole hill and make a mountain out of it.
rocfarm
Well-known member
Ever since I walked away from 'deals at the bank', 'borrowing', and using their 'tech' to improve my profit, I've made more money in life.
They do let you make in the short run, but over the longer term they try to force you into their model, and guess how you do when someone controls the model you are forced to use?
This is true across many different businesses, not just ranching.
The packing plants don't need to have the information on all your cattle, when they were born, what they weaned at, and their geographical location from birth to 7 months, etc.—unless you want to provide that information.
In fact, when packers have accurate information on exactly how many cattle feedlot folks have on hand, they often use this information to their advantage to hardball hard-working families out of profits. Feedlots should be able to not report their numbers until after sale, IMO.
You don't necessarily have the right to know similar details about the buyer at the auction house. They wouldn't tell me who bought my cattle last time I went, how many cattle each buyer bought, the total they paid, where they are going. So, why should they have much more information on you than you do on them? That is a disadvantage to the seller.
Again, if any individual seller wants to provide that information, then that is fine. But sellers should have a decent right to privacy as well. Besides, the professional buyers only need 5 seconds to tell with very high accuracy whether or not an animal is healthy, what it weighs, its average feed efficiency, etc.
Now, if all of the sudden the beef supply was diseased and unsafe, then we might need some measures.
But has anyone seen any big news stories about unsafe beef lately?
Check out what PBS says…
Dave
Well-known member
I don't know about that. Just last week bred cows that were not Bangs vaccinated were marked as such at the sale. They can go anywhere within the state just as they have for years. But can't go out of state except to kill plants.
Silver
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Is that like if we are at sea and the boat is sinking now is a good time to shop for a bilge pump?
farmerjan
Well-known member
I bangs vacc heifers so that they can go anywhere... It stopped being mandatory here and many dairies do not Bangs vacc anymore. Foolish in my opinion... a one time vacc that prevents the spreading of Brucellosis, which is transmissible to humans... and it is herds of bison in the west... why not continue to prevent something that can be financially devastating to a farmer/rancher..?
I would rather not consume milk from a cow that is not bangs vacc... I get milk from a small farmer (when I don't have any milking) that used to milk for a living, bad injury and he finally sold the herd but kept a couple cows for himself... he still continues to bangs vacc his heifers....and I will continue to do mine. Sometimes we miss a few heifers if they are not near the barns when the vet is at the farm, but try to do any that I keep.
I would rather not consume milk from a cow that is not bangs vacc... I get milk from a small farmer (when I don't have any milking) that used to milk for a living, bad injury and he finally sold the herd but kept a couple cows for himself... he still continues to bangs vacc his heifers....and I will continue to do mine. Sometimes we miss a few heifers if they are not near the barns when the vet is at the farm, but try to do any that I keep.
TexasJerseyMilker
Well-known member
It is great that it's now optional. I would have Bang's vaxxed my heifer but not at $220 for the shot plus the $350 fee for the vet to come out here. And she only sees large animals on Thursdays. That's ridiculous. Now I'm glad it is no longer required. If dairy cows have to be vaccinated to cross state lines that is fine. Thats how they keep Brucellosis out of the state. If my young cow ever had to go out of state she'd get tagged after a negative blood test.
Interestingly, I brought my old cow in a stock trailer from Texas a couple of years ago. I had her TB test results, her new replacement bangs tag and a certificate of vet inspection. Not one single ag inspection station wanted to see her papers, they just waved us on through. They did not ask about did I have any fruit or vegetables. They had dope sniffing dogs and were also searching for illegals.
Undulant fever germs and many others are killed by pasteurization.
Interestingly, I brought my old cow in a stock trailer from Texas a couple of years ago. I had her TB test results, her new replacement bangs tag and a certificate of vet inspection. Not one single ag inspection station wanted to see her papers, they just waved us on through. They did not ask about did I have any fruit or vegetables. They had dope sniffing dogs and were also searching for illegals.
Undulant fever germs and many others are killed by pasteurization.
rocfarm
Well-known member
Doesn't work like that. We'd see it starting. They already have lots of measures in place to catch things like this, both at the feed lots and especially at the packing plants.
It's more like you don't add an extra health check and battery of blood tests for a 30-year-old that already has a good BMI, eats a healthy diet, exercises 5x a week and is showing basic blood test data of being very healthy. Not needed and wasteful. But if you drop the right comment to an anxious, OCD person, some of them will pay the extra thousands to triple confirm what the already basic tests told you was 99.999% true.
Read the PBS article. The biggest concern right now is E. coli. That's a feed lot problem, not a producer problem.
And the American beef supply as never been safer according to ALL the experts mentioned.
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