No Mandatory Animal ID

I know, it has been a long time since I posted here. I've been monitoring things and maybe I should have commented earlier but I didn't so here goes.

Earlier this year the American Angus Association partnered up with the USDA on premise registration efforts. What I didn't know is that the USDA is paying money to them to do this. No wonder the Angus people went for it. I understand though that it might be backfiring on them a little bit. Members of the Angus association were going to try to bring up the issue at their annual meeting and get it repealed. Whether they were able to or not I haven't been able to find out but it does show that there is opposition to the leaders of the Angus Association on this issue and rightfully so.

What really brought my attention to this was the announcement that the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) was partnering up with the USDA for the same reason. Do you know how much the USDA is giving the NCBA for this "cooperative agreement?" Two million dollars. Yes, 2 million dollars of our taxpayer money so that the NCBA can try to con more people into registering their premise for animal ID.

I think the American Angus Association and the NCBA are both going to pay for this in members. They are going to lose members over this because so many people are opposed to NAIS.

I guess the question becomes, why is the USDA pushing premise registration so? Why are they spending all of this money for registration? If they get enough premise registrations are they going to go back to mandatory NAIS? This is what I am concerned about. We will have to wait and see and I will try to keep an eye on things. This issue hasn't gone away, it just is quiescent right now. What really worries me is what is going to happen with a new administration. That is definitely a wait and see.

The National Cattlemen's Beef association (NCBA) has been all hot and bothered over the whole NAIS for some time now. They have thought all along this is the next best thing to sliced bread for the cattle industry. Then I read this story.

Despite McDonald's Corporation, the largest U.S. beef buyer, calling for a national animal traceback system, beef industry leaders oppose any mandatory measure.

Mike John, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) president, agrees a traceback system is needed, but remains opposed to a mandatory program.

When has the NCBA been opposed to a mandatory system? Never up until now. Why have they changed their minds on this? Maybe they are starting to hear opposition from enough members to see the light and figure out that the cattle producers are opposed to this mandatory system and something else needs looked at.

I have advocated a voluntary, market driven system for a while now. If consumers want meat traceability, they should pay for it . Then the meat packers will pay more to the producers for it and the market will drive producers that want to make more profit to find a way to voluntarily make a traceback situation work. Look what Mike Johns is saying now all of a sudden.

Because of current private industry solutions that meet the requirements traceability is looking for, John said any traceback system should be voluntary. If anything, the market should drive involvement in this traceback system.

"If producers invest in the system because there is a return to them, they will purchase the tags, they will pay the fees associated with participating with private industry programs," John said.

Epiphany!! A market driven system. [sarcasm]Damn I wish I would have thought of that months ago, NAIS.html">which I did, and been talking about it instead of just whining about the mandatory system.[/sarcasm]

Mike Johns is finally wising up and at least talking like he represents the cattle industry. I will be curious to see where this goes, if anywhere. When the largest cattle producers organization starts talking this way, Congress might begin to listen. Our pressure on people in charge of implementing NAIS must be doing some good, keep it up.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it did change the way the NCBA is approaching this monumental shift in the way the business operates.

I think Mike John, President of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), really needs to get a clue about what cattle producers want.

Livestock National ID Sign-ups S-l-u-g-g-i-s-h

The president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association says in states where premises identification is not mandatory, enrollment has been painfully slow in establishing what will eventually become a national age, process and source verification system.

This, despite the fact many producers may already have the information needed for animal certification. "A very small percentage of producers have actually received a premises number," says 2006 NCBA President Mike John. "I don't know why that is. Every state has access to a Web-based premises allocation system. If people are worried about the government having access to that information, it already does."

If Premise Identification enrollment has been slow, maybe there is a reason for it. Like people think it's an unreasonable Government intrusion into their business. Of course in states where it's mandatory it's going well according to Mike John. Yea, you take a large stick and beat producers over the head and tell them they have to enroll in this "voluntary" program administered by the Meat Packers, through the US Animal Identification Organization, or they will be fined and wonder why enrollment is going well.

Mike John just doesn't get that he is a shill for the Meat Packers and is not working for the best interests of the Cattle Industry. I plan on being in the cattle business and I will wait until the USDA/NCBA/Meat Packers (they are all one outfit) forces me to get mine through law and do it under coercion. It's wrong and everybody knows it but whether we can turn this train or not is still in question.

An ear tag never stopped a disease, but it sure doesn't stop the government and their shills from pushing unwise policy down cattle producers throats.

NCBA Cattle: U.S. Animal Movement Database Rolled Out

The National Animal Movement Database, which will allow U.S. Department of Agriculture health officials to trace an animal or group of animals back to their source quickly, was rolled out Thursday.

Charles Miller, chairman of the directing organization called the U.S. Animal Identification Organization, said the system seeks and stores only four pieces of data: the premises identification number, the individual animal or the group number, the date of the "event" necessitating the input of information into the Web-based system and the "event" code, which identifies whether the event is the birth, first sale, slaughter or a list of other possibilities.

Another step towards the enslavement of all animal producers to the USDA's whims. Write your Congressmen, state officials and local papers. More voices are needed hearing opposition to this.

Remember, an ear tag, ID number, or premise ID, never stopped a disease, it just enslaves animal owners to the government.

A private group has been formed to oversee the National Animal Identification System. The United States Animal Identification Organization held their first meeting via teleconference this week, where the board's first three members were elected.

One leader of the organization is NCBA member Rick Stott of Boise, Idaho. He says the group is a non-profit, independent organization with just one purpose: to provide an industry controlled entity to manage the National Animal Identification movement database.

With the way I see NCBA/meat packers manipulating the whole NAIS I don't feel at all good about this "Private group" being formed. I am sure it's packed with people who are towing the line to the meatpackers/NCBA/USDA line of bull we are being fed. Just another group to keep an eye on.

I normally don't link to opinion pieces but this one gets an exception.

The mark of the beast

The piece is about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and the problems with it.

Everyone wants a safe, abundant and affordable food supply, which America has enjoyed for years – without a National Animal Identification System. Why is it necessary now? The increased terrorist threat certainly justifies tightening up security in the food chain. But the NAIS does little or nothing to tighten security, while imposing ridiculous burdens upon the small producer.

The NAIS was initiated by the National Institute of Animal Agriculture, a non-government organization consisting of the leaders of agribusiness. The program they designed tends to shift the burden, cost and ultimate responsibility for food safety from the agribusiness giants to the small producer.

The NAIS requires the small producer to not only bear the cost of the program, but also to be the ultimate scapegoat in the event that an agribusiness supplier's product is found to be faulty, for whatever reason. Should little Johnny get sick after eating a hamburger made with beef supplied by BigAgri Packing Company, BigAgri simply points the finger to the producer, or producers, whose cows were in the batch from which Johnny's hamburger was made. Agribusiness shifts its responsibility for buying only healthy product to the farmer, who must guarantee his animals to be healthy.

The NAIS is an industry-designed program which will drive small producers out of business, reduce competition and ultimately put both supply and price in the hands of industry giants – unless opponents of this program get organized.

I agree with all of this. It's a program designed to put the burden of the whole system on the producers and not the big companies. The National Cattleman's Beef Association (NCBA) and the USDA support this system and as I've reported and showed before the big meat packers control these two entities to do what they want, which is NAIS.

I have yet to meet a rancher that supports this and one of my neighbors is a big supporter of NCBA so you think he would, well guess what, he doesn't. People need to wake up on this one and start hitting their congressman and state representatives. This will hurt all Americans in the long run and not help anybody but the big business drive the small producers out.

Herd Identification System (HIS).

[sarcasm]Interesting[/sarcasm] commentary from Mike John of the National Cattleman's Beef Association (NCBA), (the right arm of the meat packers) on the HIS.

As chairman, I have spent many hours working with my fellow commission members to move us toward a voluntary, producer-led solution to this issue.

Voluntary? How can a program that is mandated by the federal government be considered voluntary? Producer-led? The NCBA is led by the Meat packers, not producers so how can a program led by the NCBA be producer-led? Must be some good drugs around to make these statements.

He says critics like me are spreading lies about the system. I've never said a word above and beyond the ear tags don't stay in and I don't see that it is necessary to do, but lets approach his points.

NCBA’s just doing this to make money.

NCBA is not in this to make money, I agree. The NCBA is in on this because the meat packers want a system they can get information from to discriminate against producers of cattle that they deem to be sub quality or from producers that give them trouble. There is all ready anecdotal information (I can't find Internet links for it, sorry) that meat packers in Australia are doing just this so it's not a stretch to think the meat packers will do it here. Since the NCBA is controlled by the meat packers the NCBA is doing it.

USDA is handing this issue off to the NCBA.

USDA, NCBA, it doesn't matter, both organizations are controlled by the meat packers.

Cattlemen will be better served by a government system.

Hell, the last thing I want to see is the Government involved in this thing. One look at Hurricane Katrina ought to prove that to anybody.

If NCBA’s plan moves forward, it will have too much industry control.

NCBA does not plan to operate or control the national animal movement database once it is operational. Instead, we plan to turn it over to a non-profit, multi-species consortium that is independent of NCBA.

Prove it!!! I bet this organization they plan could be called the Independent Council of the Meat Packers, exactly who they are designing the system for.

Vendors will make all the money from this system.

It's a government mandated system, people who sell ear tags and tagging systems will make money. Who cares, if it wasn't a mandated system I wouldn't care.

We don’t really need animal ID.

If anyone still believes this, they simply are not paying attention to the industry. If you don’t believe that source verification is important, ask McDonald’s why they are paying a premium for it. If you don’t believe animal ID is important to our international trading partners, just look at the struggle we have endured to get market access back after being derailed by a single case of BSE. While we do not feel that animal ID should be mandated by the government, we believe the marketplace is already handing down an economic mandate that will provide cattlemen opportunities. To reap these benefits, cattlemen need a solution right now, not in three to five years.

As I've stated, I don't agree with this. I don't see where the HIS is necessary. My brand has worked good for years and the state of Montana can track cattle to me via the present brand in less than 24 hours. That's the goal of the system, so why do we need this expensive system using ear tags that isn't going to work properly, right now tests have it reading accurately less than 90% of the time, when the brand has worked good for centuries?

R-calf is starting to take a stance on this to get it out of the NCBA's hands. I applaud this and support them. If we have to do this, get it out of the NCBA's hands. Who's to administer it that producers can trust I can't say but I don't want to see the Government or NCBA involved.

I do have on question I would like to throw to the NCBA now. Why do you as an organization oppose Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) but support HIS? You support HIS because it lets the government/meat packers know where the cattle are coming from but oppose COOL which would let consumers know where their meat is coming from. Explain the difference to me? They look like the same thing in the long run.

Why the difference? I can answer this. The meat packers like to mix US ground beef with foreign sources of meat and they don't want to have to stop doing this and pawning the whole product off on consumers as US beef and COOL would stop them from doing this while HIS doesn't. NCBA=Meat packers. I told you.