Ty Thompson, Cattle Sale Manager for the Billings Livestock Commission and Public Auction Yards offers an explanation on how the new USDA Electronic Identification (EID) rule will affect ranchers who sell cattle at the yards when the rule takes effect later this year.
I’ve had a large number of calls with questions regarding the EID tagging of your cattle over the past few days, so I thought I’d address it quickly in hopes of helping with the understanding.
In a nutshell with the new rules that take place in the upcoming months very little will change from how we have been doing it, other than we will be required to use EID tags rather than metal clips.
You will be able to bring all beef cattle from in state or out of state to the yards without an id. No brand paper or permit is needed if you are coming from in county if they have your brand, only a market permit is needed if you are coming from out of county and the cattle have your brand and only a brand inspection is required if you are coming from out of state. All of this is just the same at is has been for quite some time.
When cattle 18 months and older are sold at the yards and leave the yards going out of state not for slaughter they get an id tag post sale, at our yards the buyer pays for that. (Some states require cattle younger than 18 months to be id tagged and always have, the buyer also pays for this). This is how its been for quite some time, the only change is we will now use EID tags rather than metal tags.
Dr. Roe and his crew have actually been using EID tags post sale for awhile now and are very efficient at handling large numbers of id’s. Currently the government is providing EID tags free of charge.
All beef cattle selling at the yards and staying in state have not and will not require an id post sale with the new rule. If you have cattle with the old metal id clips or old orange metal bangs clips they are fine to bring. The only change you will see at the ranch is when you bangs vaccinate you will be required to use an EID bangs tag rather than an orange metal clip and currently the government will pay for those. Be sure and use orange EID for the females you are bangs vaccinating as using the white EID as your bangs tag creates confusion in many instances.
No matter your stance on mandatory EID and where it goes in the future….. the EID tag is much more efficient for following the rules we have been following for quite a few years now. It also has much better retention than the metal clip. We will continue working closely with the Livestock Marketing Association to push the government to continue funding the EID tags just as they did the metal clips.
So keep bringing your cattle to Billings as you always have, there is no change other than the market is probably a little better than the last time you brought something! Hope this answers a few questions and look forward to seeing you at any of our upcoming sales.
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Reposted from Billings Livestock & Public Auction Yards Facebook page.
