USDA Withdraws RFID Requirements

The United States Department of Agriculture has apparently reversed course on the issue of radio frequency identification (RFID) for cattle.

In April of 2019, APHIS posted a factsheet to provide producers with information about the Agency’s guidelines and goals related to Animal Disease Traceability. The factsheet broke the news that USDA would no longer accept the metal bangs tag or other government-approved metal tags as an official form of identification for sexually intact adult cattle that are sold or moved interstate. USDA outlined the dates for its plan to require all of these cattle to bear an RFID tag by 2023.

But USDA has changed its mind, in part due to President Trump’s Executive Order calling for “transparency and communication ,” says an updated agency factsheet.