Sidneyfarmer - 1/19/2024 10:48



Yep, I'm just like you, used to put them in at birth, put them in now just before they go on the trailer. About a third had to be run back through to re tag anyway, so might as well save a few bucks and do them all. Of course anything going for private slaughter doesn't need them.

For the give me liberty crowd, they've been mandatory in Michigan for well over a decade now. No big deal. It's just what we do. If a buyer wants our cattle because they're easier to verify, good. We'll take that and you can go on your merry way. They're $2 each. We all get them through the Holstein Association so the antis can't use freedom of information to get any of our private information. The state set it up with the Holstein Assn on purpose that way.

There's no end of conspiracy theory "what ifs" out there dampening enthusiasm for it, but here in Michigan, we have facts and experience on our side and I'm telling you, it's no different than putting any other tag in them. I suppose if you want to age verify, there'd be some additional record keeping, but all the general commercial market and government officials who trace disease want is that EID tag so they know where it came from with the swipe of a scanner.

Last time talk radio got it stuck in their craw, one of the local conspiracy nuts started in on it like he thought I was going to agree with him 100%. It cut him right off at the knees when I didn't. He said "The government can't even keep track of millions of illegal aliens, how are they going to keep track of all the cattle?", I said let us farmers and ranchers own the illegals and we'll keep track of them. That shut him up.