Just Thinking Out Loud

Robbyn, author of The Back Forty, left a comment for me

You've likely already been given this, but I'm passing along the Thinking Blogger award to you from my site. Yours was one of THE original homesteading sites I first read EVER, and it always make me think.

Thanks so much, Phelan!

Actually no, Robbyn. No one has ever accused me of being a thinker. Thank you for the award Robbyn!

Talking about thinking, I think another discussion of NAIS is in order. Oh stop the grumbling, this is important. If you have any type of animal that could possibly be edible, including horses, this effects you. I realize that I have gone over and over about what NAIS means to us, but something you might have missed is

An incident at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo last week has spawned a firestorm of controversy related to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS is a program which seeks to register premises and livestock for the purpose of traceability and is administered by USDA.

Two young 4-H’ers, who were qualified for the livestock sale, were ejected from the fair and prevented from showing their livestock in the market show because their families had not registered their premises with NAIS. The families were given the opportunity to either register their livestock and premises on the spot, or be removed from the fair.
The ejection stems from a new rule created by the Colorado State Fair Board of Authority which stipulates that entrants in a livestock show much register their premises prior to participating in the fair. The two families involved allege that they had consulted fair officials and were allowed to list their local fairgrounds as the premises of origin for their livestock in lieu of personally registering with NAIS. Story Continues

NAIS is not yet mandatory, but the USDA is working with states to make it so.

Monica over at Small Meadow farm has two wonderful posts on NAIS. One is Help is Needed and the other is The Consequences of our {governments} actions. The later tells the story of a man that refused to allow the mandatory (for the state of Michigan) NAIS officials onto his property to test and tag some cattle for TB. Not only did they come back with warrants but he was forced to have his cattle RFID tagged.

And let's not forget your tax dollars are hard at work.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2007--The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced contracts with three manufacturers to produce 1.5 million radio frequency identification ear tags that are compliant with National Animal Identification System standards. The combined cost of the contracts is $1.7 million. Press release found here.

How far are you willing to allow the government, one that was voted in by you, to dictate your life? They cannot protect us from lead tainted toys from China, they can not protect us from tainted foods that are imported, nor are they willing to simply inspect and test the mass producers that are local. Instead of testing they are willing to wait until the public gets sick and then trace it back to the original owner, someone who could be innocent of any wrong doing. How many stock yards and slaughter houses will be held accountable for their actions? From the many stories I have read and heard, we, the simple homesteaders, the small family farmers and Amish will and are suffering from their decisions. I implore you to think about NAIS, do your own research and decide for yourself.

On my side bar there are links to other websites, including the USDA.

I oppose both Real ID and NAIS.

Speaking of sticking foreign objects into animals for the purpose of tracking and slaughtering in the off chance that said animal might get sick and or might leave the property to infect other animals, so that the other animals might be slaughtered without testing and no compensation to the owners. . . what do you think of my Trina? I got my goat. {new header picture}