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I don't know how they are going to ID farm animals. It's not like they have names and SS numbers, and, according to the article, they are not going to brand them any longer. I was once appointed as trustee for a large dairy farm with about three hundred cows. Each cow had a metal ear tag, and the cattle were collateral for two banks and at least one government agency. The numbers on the ear tags were supposed to tell someone which cow belonged to which bank. What seemed like a simple system developed into a total mess that could not be sorted out. The same cow was security for multiple loans, most of the numbers could not be located on any cow, and other cows had numbers that corresponded with no one's security documents. “Oh well, that easy to explain” the farmer said, “Lots of times the cows brush the tags off on a fence, sometimes we copy the numbers down wrong be cause the tag is scratched and hard to read, and sometimes they fall off and we put new ones on”. I suspect that whatever system the government comes up with will experience the level of success.

pop an RFID tag on ‘em and be done with it. It’s cheap and easy and it’s required for most pet adoptions so it will work for farm animals too. Plus, cows and pigs aren’t interesting to ACLU so the nonsense privacy fears shouldn’t be an issue.

They have already started instituting it but the full implementation has been delayed.

The first version indicated RFID chips will be used in tagging. Any animals transported on public road will have to go through truck waystations. They cannot be seen by a vet, who also has to log treatment of animals by the tag.

In addition the USDA can at anytime check the animals on any property and this included animals never meant for public consumption. Animals I want to raise for my own family have to be registered as well.