Sheep industry seeks plastic tags

The American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) sent a letter to USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach last week requesting that funds for plastic scrapie ear tags be reinstated. As of Oct. 2017, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) only provided U.S. sheep producers with metal ear tags for the scrapie eradication program. Previously, it had provided both metal and plastic ear tags under the National Scrapie Eradication Program free of charge. “For the sheep and goat industries, plastic tags are much preferred, which results in greater overall compliance,” wrote ASI President Mike Corn of New Mexico. “Metal ear tags, if caught in comb and cutter of a shearing clipper, pose a tremendous danger to both the shearer and the sheep.” ASI is requesting that the funds appropriated for the small ruminant line item in Fiscal Year 2019 budget be used to provide both metal and plastic, or plastic ear tags alone. — WLJ