No Mandatory Animal ID

I have been reading some about Texans fighting the state NAIS and applaud those that are fighting it and wish them well. Maybe I have been dropping the ball here on this by not mentioning it here before but I am busy enough I just haven't gotten it done. A good place to go to check up on what is happening in Texas is Texas Animal Health Commission Watch which I have added to my Websites of Interest. They are fighting the good fight and more Texans need to rise up against this and get it stopped.

I will particularly point out the article at Texas Animal Health Commission Watch from Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), J.D. (Yale) as a good read on the whole NAIS issue.

Comments on NAIS Draft Program Standards and Draft Strategic Plan

I have added this to my Pages of Interest on the right for easy access should anybody need to reference it again. Go check out how the Texans are fighting this and support them. They need all the help they can get. We get this shutdown in one state maybe the rest will get the hint to stop shoving this down our throats.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure has the Texans up in arms over their oppressive government.

A new group has formed to oppose NAIS called National Property Owners Association.

It is regrettable that NPOA has been born out of the lack of respect by our own government towards the Constitution of the Unites States of America; particularly The 5th Amendment, which states the following.

Amendment V of the United States Constitution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Go Visit them and help the fight.

An Ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure brings diverse groups together to fight the good fight.

SD Stockgrowers Circulate Petition to Stop Mandatory Animal ID

Members of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association (SDSGA) are asking friends and neighbors across the state to sign a petition opposing the implementation of a mandatory national animal identification program.

“We’re trying to contact all cattle producers who are opposed to the excessive cost and regulation that a mandatory program would include, and asking them to sign our petition. Then we plan to share our petitions with USDA and our elected officials to help them understand the level of opposition in the heart of cattle country,” said Fox.

Fox added that if any producers have not had the chance to sign a petition or would like to circulate one, they may contact Carrie Stadheim at the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association office at 605-342-0429 or carrie.sdsga@midconetwork.com.

Get out there and sign that petition. Let our elected officials know the opposition to this proposal.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure brings people together in opposition to it.

Voluntary:
1 : proceeding from the will or from one's own choice or consent
2 : unconstrained by interference : SELF-DETERMINING
3 : done by design or intention : INTENTIONAL (voluntary manslaughter)
4 : of, relating to, subject to, or regulated by the will (voluntary behavior)
5 : having power of free choice
6 : provided or supported by voluntary action (a voluntary organization)
7 : acting or done of one's own free will without valuable consideration or legal obligation

Cattle might get individual ID numbers

U.S. livestock might soon receive individual identification numbers in a voluntary plan to prevent the spread of mad cow and other diseases.

NAIS Plan from USDA

• January 2009: Reporting of defined animal movements required; entire program mandatory.

I will point out the news story says the program will be voluntary, proceeding from the will or from one's own choice or consent, and the USDA's plan is it to be mandatory. Who is fooling who here. Do they really think I am this stupid to buy into their propaganda that NAIS will be voluntary? Just keep remembering magical word mandatory in the NAIS plan and don't buy the propaganda. The USDA will try anything to control the lives and property of what they consider to be their serfs, the farmers and ranchers of the US.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure drives the government propaganda machine.

The other day I come across a post talking about opposition to NAIS that had this quote in it.

the public outcry in support of National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is comparable only to the public outcry in opposition to NAIS.

I very politely posted that following comment.

You make the statement, "public outcry in support of National Animal Identification System (NAIS)." I was wondering if you can support this statement with facts. I have never seen anywhere where there is public support for this. The government would lead us to believe there is but I have never actually seen it. I would appreciate the facts to back up your statement.

I have yet to receive any answer from the person that posted this, cyoung-puyear, and am still waiting. Is this such a hard question to answer? Support your position with facts please. Where is this "public outcry" in support of NAIS? Can anybody out there answer this question for me.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, it just causes people to lie in support of the position.

Walter at NoNAIS.org brings us some interesting information about the need for NAIS. All along the government has proclaimed that Nais is necessary to control diseases like BSE. According to the US Food and Drug Administration;

Are the protective measures in place sufficient to ensure the safety of the human food supply in light of the June 2005 BSE positive cow?

Yes, the protective measures put into place in July 2004 by FDA ensure that cattle materials that carry the highest risk of transmitting the agent that causes BSE are excluded from human food, including dietary supplements, and cosmetics. These measures, along with similar measures established by USDA, provide a uniform national BSE policy and ensure the safety of human food.

Is the food in the U.S. likely to be a BSE risk to consumers?

FDA and other federal agencies have had preventive measures in place to reduce the U.S. consumer's risk of exposure to any BSE-contaminated meat and food products. Since 1989, USDA has prohibited the importation of live animals and animal products from BSE-positive countries. Subsequently, USDA expanded the ban to include both countries with BSE and countries at risk for BSE. Since 1997, FDA has prohibited the use of most mammalian protein in the manufacture of ruminant feed. In 2004, FDA issued a rule prohibiting the use of certain cattle materials in human food and cosmetics, and USDA issued a rule prohibiting certain cattle materials from use as human food.

So, it seems that all measures are all ready in affect to protect the consumers from BSE. Why does the Government want the NAIS then? As a prelude to numbering all people in the US maybe. It's not as far fetched as you think.

An ID number never stopped a disease, it just gives the government more control over our lives.

Talk About Big Brother watching you- is anyone else upset about the NAIS?

I don't know, maybe its because I'm a little slow on the uptake, or maybe I don't follow national politics enough, but I just found out about the NAIS and I just can't even believe it! I called my daughter up as soon as I found out and she said she knew, she said they have been doing it in Europe already. For anyone out there who shares my ignorance, NAIS stands for the National Animal Identification System- a supposedly "voluntary" project aimed at "keeping our food supply safe" by tagging livestock with ID chips that can be tracked by satelite. I know this sounds like something out of a George Orwell novel, but the real plan is to make it mandatory by the year 2008.

The more people that open their eyes and find out about this the better. Glad to see more people being outraged by this. He even sees it's ultimate goal.

The really creapy thing about this is that they are also wanting to put ID chips in people, too.

Make more noise, let people know, we can change this.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure seems to motivate people.

State's livestock registration system on hold

State animal health commissioners, flooded with public comment, have opted to postpone indefinitely the start date of the livestock premises registration program.

The Texas Animal Health Commission chose to delay the proposed program, originally scheduled to become mandatory July 1, during a meeting Feb. 17 in Austin. Commissioners will take it up for consideration again during their next meeting, the date of which is pending based on finding a hotel with an adequately sized conference room, commission spokeswoman Carla Everett said.

This just shows that working together we can slow and stop this unjust law from taking affect. Good job Texans.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure motivates people to fight an unjust law.

Go check out NoNAIS.org for great talking points on NAIS. Call your local radio shows, senator, congressmen, anybody who cares or doesn't care and get this heard.

An ear tag never stop a disease, but working together we can stop the ear tag.

So, what can we expect after NAIS gets shoved down our throats? Count and number all the people in the United States.

One of the reasons for it laughable enough is for health information database. Yes, track humans for disease control. When will they ever figure out, an ID number never stopped a disease.

Hat tip to Northview Diary for this.

Digital Angel Livestock Tag Sales Climb

"As we get closer to full implementation of a National Identification Program in the United States, retailers, producers and cattlemen, in general are preparing for the evolution into RFID technology as a standard in the livestock tracking industry," President and Chief Executive Kevin N. McGrath said. "Both in the United States and internationally, the use of RFID in livestock tracking continues to grow."

Now I've heard the theory that the tag manufacturers are the ones driving this whole NAIS business since they will be able to sell more tags that the government is requiring cattle producers to buy. I don't buy it. They are not the ones driving the policy. The big meat packers are driving the policy, the tag makers are just taking advantage of the situation and make a ton of money selling tags that will now be mandatory.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it will line the tag manufacturers pockets with lots of money.

AUSTRALIANS ANGERED OVER IDENTIFICATION RULES

Australian beef producers have hit out at the imposition of a mandatory livestock identification system, which they say erodes the sector’s competitiveness. The producers are angry that they have a mandatory system when other leading beef producers are introducing voluntary systems.

The USDA keeps pointing to Australia as the system we should emulate when it comes to National Animal Identification System (NAIS) but the Australians don't appear to be very happy with their system. The articles main concern deals with the statement I've read from the USDA that states "there won't be a mandatory ID program by 2009, as previously announced."

I hate to tell the Australians, but that statement doesn't mean there won't be a mandatory system, it just means there won't be one in 2009. The USDA might wait until 2010 or jump up the time frame and make it 2008. Mandatory NAIS is way to important to the meat packers for the USDA to abandon the whole concept unless a lot of pressure from people is laid at their feet. Contact your Congressmen out the NAIS issue and let them know your concern. Maybe together we can get this stopped.

Remember, an ear tag never stopped a disease, it just makes the Australians mad at us.

Why does NAIS have to be mandatory? Why can't we have a market driven voluntary system? One of the main reasons given for the formation of NAIS is that export markets demand this. If this is the case why not let the market drive the solution?

If foreign countries demand this the meat exporters should pay more money for meat that is source verified via ID. Using beef as an example, this premium would theoretically then be passed down through the feeder to the cow-calf producer and would give the cow-calf man a monetary incentive to source ID their cattle. This would then be a market driven way for all in the supply chain to make a little extra money per animal. The present mandatory system as now envisioned will only cost more money for all but the meat exporters who gain from the system.

That's why the meat exporters/meat packers are so behind this mandatory system. It is only a win-win situation for them and the cow-calf man will be the ultimate loser since the majority of the cost of the system will be on them.

The other big reason for the Mandatory NAIS is for disease track back purpose. A market driven voluntary system will accomplish the same thing as the mandatory one, assuming there is as much demand for source verified animals as we are led to believe, since most animals will be involved because the producers will want the market premium.

A voluntary system will do the same thing as the mandatory one without penalizing producers of the animals. The US is known worldwide for the health of its animal herds so the chimera of disease prevention is just that, a myth to sell the idea to society at large. We need to call the USDA n this myth and demand a voluntary system through our Congressmen. Write, call, visit do whatever you can to bring this issue out into the light of day for everybody to examine.

A ID number never stopped a disease, it just gives the government control over your life and property.

My friend in New York has a great picture up of what exactly happens to the type of tags the USDA wants us to use in this NAIS scheme. I couldn't agree more, I see this all the time with my cattle.

She then continues in another post about the Tags and how they stay in and how badly they are needed.

And tagging doesn't carry a lot of weight anyhow. We have a pen with eleven yearlings in it. All were tagged with the same type of tagging system the government advocates. THREE still have their tags! THREE!

Mine aren't even bunk fed and we have the same problem. Missing and lost tags.

And then there is the fact that about twenty years ago an animal from here triggered a test at the state when we sent her to the auction. There was nothing wrong with her, they had just changed the test and it was so super sensitive that there were a lot of false positives. You know what? They were on our farm testing the whole herd the next day. No forty-eight hour trace back, more like eighteen! They don't need a new system to trace back cows. They just want more control over our personal property.

I couldn't agree more. Why is this necessary when there are perfectly adequate methods now for this. A couple of years ago I was getting a load of old cows ready to go to market. One of the things I do is brand inspect them to make sure they all belong to me before I ship them. I recognized them all so it was not a problem but I went the=rough the formalities anyway. Low and behold one of the cows did not have my brand on her. In fact, she had absolutely no brand on her at all. I knew the cow well, she had a real wild eye to her and had been giving me trouble for years so I knew she was mine but I had no brand to prove it.

After consulting with the brand inspectors about what to do I shipped her to market as a stray so that they could try to identify who she belonged to. Within 12 hours they had positively identified the cow as mine and sold her in my name. How did they manage this? Through the existing brucellosis tag, and ear mark. Easy and no fuss or muss. No complicated ear tag needed. The existing laws and procedure in the state handled it no problem. So why is NAIS needed?

I still say it's a scheme by the meat packers to blame their problems on the small producers pure and simple. Maybe it's a test run for ID'ing all humans in the US too. Who knows or cares. NAIS needs opposed and now. We need to derail this before it goes any further. Mandatory Animal ID is wrong. If a producer wants to voluntarily do it thinking he is going to make more money that should be his choice, not something he is forced into by the government.

Remember, an ID number never stopped a disease, it just allows more government intrusion in our lives.

The Real Deal: Tagging Terrorist Chickens

Agribusiness lobbied the USDA to create a system to protect them from legal liability if an epidemic does break out. More, NAIS would protect agribusiness market share, forestalling a public revulsion against their product by “confirming” that only a few animals were sick, rather than not thousands. NAIS enables huge agribusiness conglomerates that concentrate thousands of animals (and so concentrate the chance for spreading diseases) to point their finger at someone else.

Here’s the scenario:

# People in Sheboygan get sick from something they ate.

# It’s determined the meat came from a local fast food joint.

# That fast food joint gets its meat from ABC cow factory.

# ABC cow factory buys cows from XYZ feedlots.

# Those feedlots had cows numbered 1q10 through 1q500 in their possession and those cows came from 15 small farms in suburban Tempe.

# Goodbye 15 small farms in suburban Tempe.

# Hello scapegoat for fast food joint, slaughterhouse, and feedlots.

Somebody besides me gets it. NAIS is the USDA/meat packing companies way of doing away with the small farmer and rancher. I might be overstating it a little but that's the way I see it. The author of this opinion piece has insightful vision to see it too.

I do have a serious question though. How does a person get people to care about this issue and do something about it? A few voices yelling and screaming about the issue and people just label you as a crackpot. Whether I'm cracked or not I don't know but I won't silence myself. But how do i effectively communicate my message? I'll think of something and keep working on it.

Remember, an ID number never stopped a disease.