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The U.S. Department of Agriculture will end the National Animal Identification System, the voluntary program intended to help the government respond to disease outbreaks in livestock, The New York Times reported.
Agriculture officials told the newspaper they would work with the livestock industry to develop a new program tracking only those animals that are transported between across state borders. They added that states may implement their own animal identification programs.
The national system has been in place since 2004, but just 40% of livestock producers participated in it. Detractors cited high equipment costs for tracing livestock, burdensome amounts of reporting, and fears that the government could use the information inappropriately to monitor business practices or income.