Keith Neier has been farming since the 70's, and he says animal identification is nothing new to him or his operation.

"Most farms do tag their cattle individually to keep track of them," he said.

But whether to make animal ID mandatory or voluntary for livestock in the state is causing debate. Senate Bill 931 addresses animal ID, and is currently up for discussion in the state legislature. The Missouri Department of Agriculture supports a voluntary system.

"We see the need to protect animal agriculture as our state's largest industry and our role again is from a health standpoint," said the Missouri Deputy Director of Agriculture, Matt Boatright. The department says age and source verification of meat wll add value to products all the way through the food chain.

"Consumers are very interested, quite frankly, in knowing more about their food sources and we understand that. And we not only want to have the framework structure in place to accommodate that for those who want to voluntary participate in that, we think it's very important," said Boatright.  

Another argument is additional costs associated with identification tags, but Neier says he doesn't think it's a big issue because "it's not a big cost, it's just a little bit of a time thing."

Neier is confident the majority of his peers will follow a voluntary identification program.