Cattle tracking regulations paused after concerns raised by Sask. ranchers

Saskatchewan cattle producers welcome a pause on new rules that would have tracked livestock movements across their entire life cycle.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has put a temporary halt on its newly proposed movement reporting requirements for cattle and bison.

This comes after organizations like the Saskatchewan Cattle Association (SCA) raised concerns about the proposed regulations.

“This is something that we’ve pushed for. We called for a halt to the initial proposed amendments regulations in January, which CFIA did put a halt on it,” SCA District Two director Wade Beck told CTV News.

“After that, we went around the province and had town hall meetings, and it was pretty clear from our producers that they did not want to see the proposed regulations going forward.”

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Beck said the tracking regulations would be another burden and another cost to producers, and that the technology to record traceability out in the field is not quite there yet.

Cattle producers are currently required to put RFID tags in their animals that stay with them throughout their life cycle to track where the animal is raised.

The CFIA is planning to move ahead with updated traceability requirements for other animals, including sheep, goats and cervids, to bring them in line with requirements similar to cattle and bison.

The agency added that it will continue to work closely with the cattle sector and other livestock industries to inform future plans to strengthen Canada’s livestock traceability program.