Ranchers vie to keep using brands as USDA prepares to release final proposal for tracking of cattle

Later this summer, the U. S. Department of Agriculture plans to release its final livestock and meat tracking proposal. While states and Indian tribes will have authority to select individual tracking methods, USDA will push ear tags as the preferred method, Shannon Dininny of The Associated Press reports. "Whether states also want to recognize brands is up to them," USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spokesperson Abby Yigzaw told Dininny. (AP photo of Washington rancher Craig Vejraska with branding iron)

Many ranchers are upset with the proposal because it veers from the branding tradition of the West. "We find this decision outrageous that the USDA would level a direct attack on what is an iconic symbol of our industry and what has been a tried, proven and effective means of conducting disease trace backs," Bill Bullard of R-CALF USA, an advocacy group for ranchers, told Dininny. The ranchers also argue that ear tags detach too easily.

Eldon White, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said he understands the USDA's position because Texas registers brands only at the county level, allowing duplicate brands within the state. Even so, he told Dininny: "Brands are still a very important method of owner identification in Texas and will continue to be so. We would be very concerned and would fight against a movement to eliminate the use of brands altogether." (Read more)