National Animal Identification System will put small farmers out of business, by requiring that farmers pay the cost of registration devices of between $1 and $20 for each animal. Large, corporate factory farms which are connected to vertically integrated, birth-to-death factory systems ID and pay by the herd (and not the individual animal), while small farmers must pay it for each animal. The National Animal Identification System covers most livestock species, including cattle, poultry, horses, donkeys, mules, sheep, goats and swine, as well as bison, deer, elk, llamas, alpacas and even some fish species, under the heading of aquaculture. Household pets such as cats
National Animal Identification System final component of NAIS is animal tracking. This would allow a report to be filed each time one of a set of events occurs, such as a change of an animal's ownership or movement to a new premises. A report would include the animal's or group's identification number, the premises identification number where the event took place, the date of the event, and the type of event, as slaughter or a sighting of the animal. In 2004, the U.S. Government asked farmers to use EID or Electronic Identification ear tags on all their cattle. This request was part of the