The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announces a new initiative to provide no-cost RFID (radio frequency identification) eartags for swine beginning fall 2025. These tags will be available for sow and exhibition swine producers. Once available, producers and State animal health officials will be able to order tags on the Merck Animal Health website at www.840swinetags.com.
In July 2025, APHIS awarded a contract to Merck Animal Health to supply up to $20 million in tags to sow and exhibition swine industry segments, over the next 5 years.