If you haven't heard about any of the new food safety bills and their effects on small farmers and ranchers, you should check out this video.
Showing posts with label NAIS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NAIS. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Wisconsin Judge Rules AGAINST Mandatory Premise Registration
Another strike against NAIS or what ever the USDA wants to try and call it now. Wisconsin was one of the first states to require mandatory premise registration for all livestock owners. They didn't allow for religious exemptions such as for the Amish. Well one Amish man stood up to the State of Wisconsin and refused to participate for religious reasons. The State of Wisconsin decided to prosecute him for failure to comply and they lost in court! The Judge ruled that the farmer has a "religious right" to be exempted from the law and that the state did not show enough evidence that they allowed for alternative ways to get a hold of farmers who wished to be exempted.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A horse turd by any other name is still a horse turd
You may have heard people celebrating lately that NAIS (National Animal ID System) has been dropped by the USDA. People are happy that there will not be an NAIS System. Unfortunately all the USDA did was change the name to Animal Disease Traceablity Network (ADTN). The USDA states that they have put to much tax payer money into the program to scrap it completely so they are renaming it and keep going on in the same manner. They spent 142 Million dollars on a program that was hated and opposed by horse owners and livestock ranchers all across the country. They can't let that money go to waste even though the money they wasted was on a totally unconstitutional program that violated MULTIPLE constitutional rights of US citizens.
As an article in the Texas Farm Bureau shows here they intend to keep portions of the old NAIS.
"Using some of the elements from the existing NAIS system is crucial, USDA reported in its question and answer compilation about the new traceability program."Considering the significant investment of taxpayer money, it would be irresponsible to completely disregard all elements of NAIS," Edgar said."
They continue to force register individuals into the programs. All horse owners who got coggins test for your horse within the last year were AUTOMATICALLY registered into NAIS maybe even with out your knowledge or approval. Remember NAIS was a VOLUNTARY program and yet individuals have been force registered for years. The State of Idaho force registered all ranchers and cattlemen who renewed their brand applications.
Horse owners don't think you will get out of this new program. The new approach is directed at interstate commerce. That means if you sell a horse across the state lines you would be required to be linked into the new system. There is also speculation that interstate commerce could be interpreted as horse shows, horse racing, and competitions designed to increase the value of your horse for breeding or sales purposes. That means any competitions that you enter outside of your home state could lead to you being enrolled in the new ADTN. If you own a stallion and ship semen for breeding you are conducting interstate commerce and as such could be subjected to the new ADTN.
For more information on the new program see the following links
Food Safety News
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
NAIS and Horse owners!
ALL horse owners who got a Coggins test in the past year have AUTOMATICALLY been enrolled in NAIS even without their permission or maybe even without their knowledge. The USDA has gone a head with the ruling that required all animals getting particular blood tests to be enrolled and their owners get a PIN even if they didn't want one. There was a recent article in "The Western Shooting Horse" magazine titled a "Global Solution to Health Certs" that discusses NAIS as positive and needed. And one paragraph goes like this.
"if you have had a Coggins test done in the past year you are already required to have a PIN. If you have not applied for one, the USDA will assign one to your address."
A PIN if you don't already know stands for "Premise ID Number" A PIN is the number for the property where you keep your horse. So that means if you keep your horse at home, your property ahs been identified by the Federal Government as a place where livestock is kept. Once a property receives a PIN, The USDA has no way to delete that from their system even if animals are no longer kept there.
As defined but the USDA:
Premises registration is an effort to identify all the locations in the United States where livestock and/or poultry are raised or housed.
Mandatory NAIS is here and lurking in the background. How many people have been enrolled against their will in the past year? How many people even know about it? Do you even care that you as horse owners are being forced into a program that is labeled "Voluntary"?
If you don't know much about NAIS or want to read more check out the following websites and blogs:
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