National Pork Board funding RFID equipment 

To improve pig disease traceability, the National Pork Board is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to dispense radio-frequency identification tag equipment for United States hogs at key market channels.  

Diseases such as African swine fever continue to be a concern for the American pork industry and being proactive in tracing infected animals provides peace of mind. Tracing is an opportunity to slow the spread of such diseases.  

RFID tags contain an electronic chip with a 15-digit number assigned to each individual animal. Instead of manually reading a traditional ear tag, the electronic chip in the tag is read by a scanner, making it easier to store accurate data on the animal and its history. 

Last year, the pork board pledged up to $1 million in RFID funding and began distributing equipment in September 2024. The funding is expected to run until Sept. 15, 2026. So far, RFID equipment has been distributed at 280 exhibition sites across 26 states, covering 106,000 pigs a year, and 19 sorting stations across eight states for the cull sow market. To learn more about acquiring funding for RFID equipment, contact Brent Pepin at [email protected]. 

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].