Glad you brought this up Ms. Jay! Very timely. At the moment, the registration is voluntary, but that could easily change VERY SOON. I'm a member of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, and this is their most recent bulletin. Educate yourselves and take action, folks, or we'll be the losers! pam

NAIS News:
Subcommittee Hearing
Last Chance to Comment on USDA's Proposed Rule
Appropriations Update

Congress Holds Hearing on NAIS

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry held a hearing on NAIS. Several Subcommittee members' questions and comments revealed that they view NAIS as a food safety program. One member said, in essence, that the costs to farmers financially and in loss of privacy must be weighed against the "cost in human life" if NAIS isn't implemented.

This is a false choice. The USDA has not presented any scientific evidence to support the claimed benefits for NAIS, and the idea that tracking live animals will improve food safety has no basis. Yet many in Congress continue to accept the agency's unsupported claims.

NAIS won't improve food safety. And NAIS won't address animal health. NAIS will impose government surveillance and significant expense on animal owners for no real benefit to the public. The only ones who will benefit from NAIS are the meat packers and exporters, tag manufacturers, database managers and other large corporations.

Take Action: Send this press release to your local newspaper! Help educate your local community about the problems with NAIS!

http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/files/Press_release_090311_Groups_Protest_NAIS_Hearing.pdf

You can read FARFA's written testimony to the Subcommittee at:
http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/files/Testimony_Animal_ID_FARFA.pdf

We will be submitting additional testimony to the Subcommittee next week, in response to the questions and comments of the Subcommittee members.
Last Chance to Comment on USDA's Proposed Rule!

The comment period on USDA's proposed rule to implement NAIS premises registration ends on Monday, March 16. The proposed rule would require all farms and ranches where animals are raised to be registered in a federal database under the NAIS for existing disease control programs for goats, sheep, cattle, and swine. It also sets the stage for mandatory NAIS animal identification in the future.

Over 18,000 people have already submitted comments! Add your voice today!!

An easy way to comment online is through the Organic Consumers Association's system, at:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26665

Please be sure to personalize the letter! It can be as easy as a couple of sentences at the beginning stating who you are (for example, a farmer, consumer, property rights proponent) and why you care about NAIS.
Appropriations Update

The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 was passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama yesterday. The bill includes $14.5 million for USDA to continue implementing NAIS. This is about half of what the agency requested, but still too much.

Thank you to everyone who called and emailed their Senators to try to strip the NAIS funding out of the bill. Although no amendment was offered, your calls still mattered! The Senators know that their constituents care about NAIS and are watching this issue, which will be important as we continue to fight NAIS battles in Congress throughout this year.
Support Our Work

Please consider joining FARFA today! You can donate online at http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/join-farfa
We need your finanical support. And, just as importantly, the strength of our voice depends on our membership! We are frequently asked, by both legislators and staffers, how many members we have. The more members, the more they will listen. Please help us be a strong voice.

We have said from the beginning that this will be a long, hard fight. The grassroots opposition to NAIS has slowed the program significantly. But we have a long way to go, and a key component will be educating our elected officials about the real issues surrounding food safety. Stay tuned for more tips on how you can help make a difference!

Working together, we can make our voices heard.

Judith McGeary
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
www.FarmAndRanchFreedom.org
Phone: 512-243-9404
Toll-free: 866-687-6452

I have an farm premises #, have had for some time. I am all for parts of this . I want to kinow if there is something moving into the area so I can take precautions for protection of my stock. I value my animals and dont want to lose them if it can be prevented. losint $2 chickens is one thing but losing a $200 one is a bit different.

If there's something that they consider disastrous in the area, you can bet they won't be notifying you. They will be coming to irradicate your animals. Defra (Britain) did that to farmers in 2001 I think it was. At one point I had a link to Warmwell, it had pages & pages of comments from the farmers, a real tear jerker, they came & shot herds & herds of animals, burning them=the stink was horrendous based on the farmers accounts they posted.. The sad part is animals can develop an immunity to Foot & Mouth. Foot & Mouth is not zoonotic, either.

NAIS will not do anything to prevent disease. They don't even know the cost of the program!!!! They'll just pass the entire cost of the program on to you, whatever it is, with charges for every "event". It's free for now, but I bet not for long! Not to mention other issues such as religeous beliefs & Constitutional trampling.

Sooooo, my big question for the day is, WHY would they move Plum Island off of the Island & put the testing facility in the middle of farmland? Just last year at one of the facilities overseas there was another case of foot & mouth, traced back to..........the testing facility!!!

Why, would USDA refuse to let a processing company, Creekstone Farms I think it was, voluntarily at their own expense, test for Mad Cow? They were denied the right to test for this disease. Why? IMO it's because there are far more diseased cows passing through the system than they want to let on, AND that would put Creekstone (if I have the name correct) above the average processor (read agribus) in the eyes of the consumer, . The last figures I know about was abou 2% cows are tested in the US for Mad Cow, that number may have changed, but it is still VERY low.

It seems there is an ulterior motive-export. The imports are not held to the same high standards, yet we keep importing these foods. The US food chain is considered the safest in the world, without this program. (Please, 1 exec who purposefully & knowingly ships salmonella contaminated peanut butter broke the rules, and the USDA inspections failed, not for discussion by me today nor related to NAIS).

Who's best interest is in mind here?
I'm with you HenHilton. There are no benefits that I or many others can see yet the cost & labor involved for even small 2 chicken operations is ridiculous.

I have very little faith in that department. They have become liaisons for the large agribusinesses, the ones who will have the least cost, and will benefit the most. This program is not for you, it's for the chip companies, scanner companies, large corps, and the software company who will win the contract(s), and of course the large exporters. The good part is that not all large producers are for it, R-Calf & others was and still are a voice for us against this system.

A far better solution would be to educate owners, make them aware of diseases, how to prevent them, how to deal with them. They'd get much farther much quicker.

Somethings not right here. Actually somethings VERY wrong.
I say educate yourselves on issues pertaining to NAIS, it's not as they are painting it. Get those comments in now, you have until Monday.
Brendasue

I was not sure what this was and now that I read some of this it does sound familiar. When I got the ID I was told that it was mainly used for Hay relief. They said you had to have the card and I just got the card in the mail so that is practically 2 winters. That is what made me think about it this morning and why I was wondering if anyone had experienced any advantages to the program.

Fancifowl have you used the program in any way as you described above?

I guess it is too late for me to back out now. I hope I did not get myself into something that I am going to regret. I will do some more research tonight.

Also don't you need a farm ID in order to participate in fairs and shows?

Thanks for the input. I thought I was doing something good getting a farm ID.

Here are some links that might be useful:

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Creekstone_Farms_sues_USDA_for_refusing_to_allow_mad_cow_testing

http://libertyark.net/

http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/

http://warmwell.blogspot.com/2007/11/far-too-cosy-word-to-describe-what-goes.html

http://goexcelglobal.he.net/~natpropg//nais.html

http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-12mar2009-2.htm

http://www.r-calfusa.com/

http://nonais.org/

You CAN opt out of the progam, however for a voluntary program, they've made it very difficult for those who signed up unknowingly to do so. I'll have to dig for the means to opt out, but I'm sure it's on a couple of those websites I listed.

btw premise is not defined the same as property (as in personal property). You should look that up while your at it.
Brendasue

Thanks for the links BrendaSue. I hope this does not make me too upset!

you said:
btw premise is not defined the same as property (as in personal property). You should look that up while your at it.

what do you mean??

There are a number of older threads on this forum from a few years ago on this subject.

If they end up coming and testing your flock and destroying them you will be very unhappy; If they destroy your neighbors flock and save your from dying you will be very happy. They will not just indiscriminately destroy animals, and it is unlikely that they will probably birds unless a human virulent bird flu sweeps through (in which case you will be attending funerals at such a rate that you will probably not care about your birds as much). In Britain where they have more problems with animal diseases (and zooanoises) they pioneered this kind of system, and they absolutely do contact farmers when they suspect a problem, and they do test animals, and they do destroy them. If you apply any known model for disease progression they have saved the lives of hundreds of humans and tens of thousands of animals with this type of system.

This is more of the trend away from freedom and towards living in harmony that we will continue so long as our population density continues to rise.

I guess I just don't have much faith in our gubbermint. As far as I can see, any number of 'programs' are administered much more efficiently in Britain than similar programs are in these united states. As I read the regulations of this proposal, I will have to deal with some beaurocrat every time one of my animals dies of old age or gets eaten by a coyote. And probably have to pay some 'filing fee' for the privilege. Never been a big fan of more paperwork, myself.

The Brits have plenty of governmental ineptitude. No matter where you go the government is made of people, people or Giant Razor-Clawed Bioengineered Crabs.

They would have to break the locks on the pen in order to test without my permission. I read everything on the NC website and I did not see anything where they will be coming on the property randomly testing. Also I am the only one around here who has livestock animals.

If there was a outbreak of some animal disease I would like to be informed and have my animals tested. If they had something incurable and that would kill me then I would agree to them destroying the animals.
according to link #2:
If the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is made mandatory, anyone who owns even one horse, chicken, cow, pig, sheep, goat, or any other livestock or exotic, will have to:

* Register their property with the state and federal government;
* Identify each animal, in most cases with electronic identification;
* Report events to a government-accessible database within 24 hours, including every dead or missing animal, private sales, and regional shows.

I don't see a problem in that as long as I can report on the Internet.

Link #3 I do not agree with everything said. They said that every animal would have to be identified but as I understand it only the premises would have to be identified along with a contact of a person who has knowledge of the animals on the property. They (gov't) said that there is no satellite tracking or surveillance.

I guess my point it that for larger farmers I can see the expense and aggravation this would cause but for a hobby farmer like myself this might not be a bad thing.

Whenever anything new comes out there is always a panic from the people and criticism reigns. I did not really read anything that was so bad. Correct me if I am wrong.

I also noticed in several photos over time where people have ID tagged their animals. I would like to hear both sides of this story. I know this might be a touchy issue to some but I think we can discuss respectfully. I prefer to hear from animal owners as this is who it is is effecting.

Thanks,,, just trying to understand it all

Too funny, brendan! I'm gonna remember that one!

Seriously, tho, I'm not saying the Brits win any gold stars, either, but being smaller than us, I suppose they might have less tiers of politicians administering things.

NAIS will certainly be of more benefit to the factory farms, which can register their animals in herds, than to those of us who have a dozen chickens, 6 goats and a couple of cows. WE will have to register each animal and account for that specific beast. I just don't trust that will really be any "up" side for ME. I can't imagine Big Brother bothering to give me a call if there's illness in my neighborhood, until he shows up to tell me to surrender my flock. Call me a skeptic.
pam

I'm with you on a number of points, Jay. I would love to know if there's a problem in the area, and would have no beef with testing and destroying my animals if they were diseased. But I can see where this will all lead to my personal butchering of my livestock being regulated and inspections required, etc., as another current thread here discusses.

As you point out, brendan, it's part and parcel of living in harmony as we all have less and less elbow room in this world. But I feel like I would rather see a competely voluntary program being administered correctly and fairly before the gubbermint jumps in and starts trying to keep track of millions of animals all at once and louses the whole thing up beyond redemption.

Well thats why the system is voluntary now, kind of like a soft opening. SSN's came online and were not used for identification initially. They will louse a whole lot up, again people, I think the thing to do is to try and figure out a better way of doing things, and to help get things done in a more effective manner, not to put our feet down and say no we won't.

MsJay2u People have been tagging their animals in various ways for thousands of years, for identification and ownership reasons.

According to the high number of people who have signed up for the program I am surprised that no one spoke out on the "for" side. Well I guess this is going to be a wait and see situation.

Here is a sample form letter for those who dont like to write, you just need to change a couple of areas,
1. The date
2. The general area of concern/profession
3. Your town & state
4. Your name & address
These are in Capital letters for you to find easy.

Your letter can be faxed to: 202-225-4544. MY mistake, the comment period ends on March 20th, Wednesday.

March 18, 2009

The Honorable David Scott
Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
1301 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6001

Re: Testimony for March 11, 2009 Hearing on Review of Animal Identification Systems

Dear Chairman Scott and Subcommittee Members:

I am a (INSERT YOUR TYPE OF PROFESSION OR GENERAL AREA OF CONCERN HERE) from (INSERT YOUR TOWN AND STATE HERE) and I urge you to reject the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDAÂs) National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

NAIS is government intrusion at its worst. It is un-American for Congress and USDA to force each U.S. farmer and rancher to register with, and report to, the federal government their real property, the number and species of livestock they own, the number of animals produced
from each yearÂs production, and the date and location where their livestock are located or moved  even when their livestock are not moved in interstate commerce or sold for human consumption. With few exceptions, no other segment of AmericaÂs free enterprise system is subject to such a heightened level of direct government surveillance.

USDA and Congress are using fear tactics to justify NAIS. They claim the U.S. is behind other countries in disease preparedness and cannot effectively control and eradicate animal diseases. This is absurd. The U.S. veterinary infrastructure is the envy of the world. For decades,
U.S. livestock producers worked with their local veterinarians, state veterinarians, and regional and national USDA veterinarians to make the U.S. livestock herd the healthiest herd in the world. It is dishonest
and irresponsible to assert the U.S. is second behind any other country in its ability to prevent, control and eradicate animal diseases.

The problem NAIS is supposed to solve is not real; it is speculative. The U.S. has controlled every disease ever to enter the United States. If this were not true, why did USDA significantly cut back its BSE surveillance testing and why does the agency allow the importation of Mexican cattle known to continually reintroduce bovine tuberculosis into the United States? Congress refuses to address the real disease problems facing U.S. livestock producers and consumers. The massive meat recalls involving millions of pounds of meat were not caused by U.S. livestock producers; they were caused by unsanitary conditions at U.S. and foreign slaughterhouses. The 2003 mad cow disease case in an imported cow that closed U.S. export markets was not caused by U.S. livestock producers. It was caused by USDAÂs failure to restrict Canadian imports after Canada iscovered its first case of mad cow disease in 1993.

Rather than prevent the introduction of foreign animal diseases by strengthening our border restrictions and addressing the actual source of meat contamination by enforcing food safety standards in U.S. and foreign slaughterhouses, Congress and USDA intend to impose the most onerous regulatory regime imaginable upon U.S. livestock producers.

Please stop NAIS and work with R-CALF USA to develop a sensible plan that would benefit livestock producers by improving our already effective disease prevention, control, and eradication programs.

Sincerely,

(INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE)

If this goes through it's going to be a nightmare for all owners of livestock. I for one, don't want the government tracking my every move.....like they would be good at it! Imagine the logistics of such a thing? Big Brother will definitely be watching you.

Thanks Brenda Sue for sharing all this info. I have been diligently working with others to spread this word through the horse community.

Your welcome.

I wonder what it's all going to look like when the food costs skyrocket even more & the taxes on animals start?

In essense the identification is a license to own livestock (birds & other species other than livestock included). And yes, the proposed rules include tagging each animal, and reporting, in addition to the premise ID. It's in the proposed regs.

To take it one more step, we don't need the extra expenses of such a program for our grandchildren & their children to bear, particularly when COOL & the current programs are doing & have done a fine job. TB was irradicated, and is now back due to unsecure borders.

It sickens me to think how my descendents will be barely surviving due to the high cost of living because we have allowed it. This program has cost plenty, with more to come, we (owners, not Corps)were not represented for the initial meetings & drafts. This program is the very thing our forefathers tried to protect us against. They never in their wildest dreams thought we would have to defend our foodsource.

If there is a disease in the area, they won't be waiting for test results if it is a serious disease. They will be culling. What do they consider a serious disease? Good question, huh? Scare tactics work on the uneducated public.

Maybe someone can fill in the radius, it's been a long time since I dug into the proposed regs, that is when they havn't been playing musical website URL's. I think it's 2 miles, I could be wrong.

Culling for a serious zoonotic disease is acceptable, culling for a disease that is not zoonotic, or one the animals can develop an immunity to if allowed, or one that has vaccines available but not to US citizens is not acceptable to me.

NAIS will be a boondoogle. Just like SS, & AIG.
Brendasue

Heck prices are going up so high now. I made lasagna this weekend and it cost me $40!! I could not believe it. Anyway I am going to fill out the letter "just in case" but for the record I am not so convinced yet that I agree with the panic.

BTW no matter how we might try to fight it the Gov used 911 as an excuse to get into all our business and privacy went away. Everything is documented now and the ID requirements for "homeland security" is just ridiculous. Fingerprint and DNA databases, everyone having to have passports, it is all coming to one point. Big Brother. It is a fact of life. Remember when we were in school and we had to read George Orwells 1984 and how ridiculous we thought it was that big brother would be watching our every move, controlling us and taking away our rights? Well guess what folks...it is coming to pass!!

911 was used as an excuse to steal part of our constitutional rights for sure. Once gone we won't get them back.

Okay people! We must rise up and have our voices heard. Brendasue has shown you a way to do something about this so do it!

It makes me crazy!

take a deep breath and count to 20