Authored by Matthew Lysiak via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A controversial measure to include $15 million for the electronic tracking of livestock has made it through Congress via the recently passed omnibus bill, raising fears among critics that the new system could be weaponized by the government to limit beef consumption.
Cows and sheep grazing in a paddock near Albany, Western Australia, on Nov. 24, 2023. (Susan Mortimer/The Epoch Times)
American cattle rancher Shad Sullivan told The Epoch Times that he fears that the electronic tags will be the end of the small rancher.
“They are going to use it as a taxing mechanism to eventually control the livestock,” Mr. Sullivan said. “In the European Union, they used these measures under the guise of climate change lies to limit the cattle supply, and if they do that here, it will destroy our industry.
“If the tag mandate is implemented it will be the key to open the door to the gas chamber for independent ranching.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who owns livestock, also sounded the alarm that the move could lead to the erosion of the industry.
“The left wants to ban cattle and before you can ban anything you need a registry, you need to know where it’s at and who owns it and that’s why they want to tag cattle,” he said in a March 23 post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “We’ve seen it happen in Europe.”
In a previous post, Mr. Massie wrote that, if passed, the electronic tracking “will be used by the GREEN agenda to limit beef production, and by the corporate meat oligopoly to DOMINATE small ranchers.”
Poster Comment:
Claire's Observations; This means that very soon, if you want beef which is grass fed, and not treated with either hormones or antibiotics, your choices will be from "very limited" to "non-existent". In the area where we live, we have a number of Amish farmers, who raise beef cattle the old-fashioned, traditional way; I wonder how they will fight this legislation, and if they are going to be successful, on religious grounds.