A big concern for many is the cost of manditory animal identification. A recent letter to the editor, by Donald R. Larson, former president, Northeast Colorado Cattlemen, in the September 11, 2006, Midwest Ag Journal has the following quote:

The ID system will also cost ranchers and sale barns a lot of extra money. Sale barns will need special equipment at great cost to them and they will need to charge ranchers more to sell cattle to recoup their investments. The ID system will also cost ranchers in cattle shrinkage caused by extra handlings, as well as tags, time, and all the rest of the necessary nonsense that will be involved in marketing cattle. Cattle loose tags, and many change owners several times during their productive lives. I can well imagine what a nightmare this will be.

My job outside of farming is an information technology project manager. In other words, I implement computer systems. One constant with new technology is that it always costs more to implement than the original estimate. The costs can easily double or more. RFID is the technology that is most often talked about as the method to implement animal id tracking.

Wal-Mart, the United State’s biggest retailer, is mandating RFID from their suppliers. Even with all their money, the Wal-Mart effort has not been without problems. Once again, all new technologies will have difficulties. Wal-Mart’s suppliers in China do not see a need to implement RFID, as it is not cost-effective for them.

What does this mean for farmers and ranchers? I am sure that most operations do not want to increase their costs. There will be equipment and tags to purchase. There will be labor costs to maintaining these systems. The equipment will not be made with commodity parts, as it will need to be hardened to handle the stressful environment of livestock operations. What about the small family farm or hobby farmer? Will they have the resources or time to comply with this program? You need to ask yourself if you are willing to pay. (Hint: take the initial cost estimates and double them!)