Doing a little Math

If you pay taxes in the US, you might be interested in knowing that The USDA {as mentioned in the previous post} has 3 contracts for 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.

Previous reports have told us that the RFID tags will be reasonably priced. Nothing close to what Australia and the UK pay for theirs. So let's break it down a bit and see what our government is paying for these inexpensive chips. $0.89 a piece. So they are correct, that the tags are inexpensive. But what about this claim that they will be under $0.05 a piece?

I went looking. RFIDusa.com has 1,000 General Metal tags priced at $7.49 each.
But we can't stop there, we have to buy other things as well. The mouse sized reader will cost you the low low price of $499.00. Wait, there is more. An antenna is also a must have, priced at a comfortable $295.00. Who else here will need to get a loan?

Then there is an issue of privacy. Someone in our Government informed people that the tags are only readable from a few inches away. Good that's a relief. But wait, what's this? NONAIS.org is reporting that EPCglobal’s press release puts considerable emphasis on allaying potential consumer privacy concerns. The press release states an EPC label “… can only transmit its unique number when it is less than about 10 feet from a reader that activates the label… The statement about 10-foot range is interesting for several reasons. First, because EPCglobal and RFID vendors rarely publish specific RFID range figures, in part because range varies significantly based on environmental and other factors. Second, when discussing range product manufacturers routinely claim 20- and 30-foot read ranges for their Gen2 products,


Walter Jefferies goes on to say It has been demonstrated before with the older technology that they were already able to read tags at much greater distances than advertised. With special antennas and signal processing it has been stated that the range may be closer to 1,000 feet. Read the entire post here



So this means that I could stand in the road and read your chips if I so felt like it. All that info that is placed in those chips, those things that are private, things that you and only the USDA and your vet should be reading, is accessible to anyone that wants to spend the money to do so. And this stops terrorism how?


Now let's take a little bit more money. Chickens are slaughter before reaching a year old, while lambs are butchered by 8 weeks, not to mention calves. These chips are not to be reused. Ok, so I do not have 1,000 animals, though it would be in my best interest to buy that many tags to get the bulk discount. I need to buy items to help tag the animals. RFIDusa doesn't seem to carry them, Premier 1 Supplies does have applicators for $19.00. I can not find how long lived these applicators are. RFIDusa informs me, via website, that RFID software development can be undertaken using traditional methods such as using a Software Developer Kit (SDK). SDK’s generally provide software tools and documentation to aid software development for a piece of hardware such as an RFID interrogator. Software can be purchased for $199.99. And then there is the special power supply that is needed. Radio Frequency Modules require special power supplies to assure proper performance and reliability of the RFID systems. The range of voltage levels and regulation, as well as maximum ripple voltage and ripple frequency under full load are specified within the applicable Texas Instruments documents. Your power supply needs can be purchased for $150.00

My loan office will just love me.

A deer has been found dead with Bovine TB within 15 miles of your farm or homestead. The NAIS enforcers come in and "depopulate" your livestock after 3 months of informing you that they will be doing this. You are not allowed to "depopulate" your livestock yourself, so you are forced to feed them, money out of pocket. These animals are considered dead, yet you have to pay to maintain them. Then after the "depopulation" you have to wait until they give you the all clear to repopulate. This can take months. How easily it can cause a small farm to go bankrupt. Your livestock could be healthy, but testing is not required before "depopulation" occurs. I can not give you figures for this situation. And this has happened, more then once under this "voluntary" program.

I am still waiting for some one to tell me how a "national Herd" will persuade terrorists not to attack our food supply. Still waiting to be told how a 48 hour track back system will eradicate diseases associated with Stockyards. Waiting to hear how GPS tracking of my livestock that never leaves my property will protect/help me. Can you answer these for me?

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}

Can I Make You Fall for Planting Trees?

The other day, my husband and I loaded up the kids and took a trip to the local farm supply store. Our objective was to get feed for the goats and sheep, and the chickens, as well as a few heat bulb for our adolescent chickens. As we approached, we saw some of the trees that were left from the spring. Still green, but the leaves were falling off, they were fast approaching their dormant stage. As we got closer we saw the sign, the sign that changes your plans.

50% off our nursery stock.

SOLD! $9 for 3 year old fruit trees!?! You know we couldn't pass that one up. My husband and I looked at each other. Money? ~sigh~ I know. Fruit? yep. Should we? In the long run, it will be worth it. Agreed. {as I said previously, my husband and I are very articulate people}

There was about a dozen or so trees available. We looked at the tags, most were apples, but we already have 4 apple trees, 1 pear tree that has been graphed to produce 3 types of pears, a cherry, a peach and a plum. Our nectarine had been killed in the late frost earlier this year. And there it was, 1 nectarine left in the bunch. I took it. My husband declared that he loved my plum jam, so he decided that another type of plum was needed. It saddened me a bit, because the only reason we got our first plum tree was because of my father, so I was reminded of him. But my husband did indeed like the plum jam, so it was all good.

Wait a minute Phelan, it is cool out now. I know, I hear you. That bitter north winds are starting to cut through the landscape. Frost has arrived at least once by now. Why on earth would we go ahead and buy trees to plant? Autumn is a prime time to plant trees. With them in their dormant stage, they have time to establish roots systems without worrying about getting nutrition to the rest of the sleeping tree.

Bare root and burlap roots are the best for fall planting, but if you happen to find a deal like we did, and the trees are in containers make sure they get the required amount of water. Plant your fall trees as you would your spring ones. They need to be mulched in with organic materials, in wide shallow holes. If you can get them in the ground before the hard freeze of winter, before the soil loses it's warmth, you will see that those fall planted trees do better, then your late spring, early summer ones.

Sucker white ash from last spring

I would suggest going out this weekend to the places you saw the spring time trees for sale. More than likely they are on sale, and you can get a great deal. Any questions?

Microburst and A Hoterless Fire

Before I tell you about the storm, a few weeks ago I went to shut down my father's bank account. I received the letter to confirm that the account was closed, and the next day I went to the bank to deposit money, only to discover that all our accounts that had my name on it had been closed. I received a letter later that day informing me of this. The teller told me that it would take a day or so to reopen the accounts. Unfortunately for us, I have several bills that are paid atomatically from this account. None of them got paid and the bank never called back to tell me if the account was reopened. We went back to our old bank, but getting the money needed to pay those bills was slow in coming from them. We also made a few decisions that now we see were not wise ones, but necessary ones. We are back on track now, trying to salvage things.

I went to my mother's house last week to do some work. On the way it was storming and my windshield wipers quit on me. I please please please all the way to her house, hoping that the rain didn't pick back up. I was lucky and it didn't until after I pulled into her driveway. I called my husband to tell him that I was going to sit out the rain at my mother's because of this, and that the weather man said it would clear up after dark.

My mother and I went downstairs to look on the computer to see what the storm were doing. Wow did the one headed this way look rather nasty. It was a solid red on the radar. It might be later than I thought going home. We stepped outside after the heaviest part of the storm passed to have a smoke. As we sat talking my little brother and his wife came walking up in a hurry, "did you see the fire?" he asked. No of course not. we walked the one house length t the corner of the street, barefoot, to see flames licking the treetops. My new sister-in-law called the fire department, informing them that it looked like a transformer on fire. Oh I was gleeful because I was right. SO THERE MOTHER! An hour or so earlier I had heard the explosion and informed my mother that it had sounded like a transformer had exploded. She hadn't heard anything, so of course I was wrong. Don't question the daughter, humph.

We waited while the single rescue truck with a total of two firemen arrived. We could here sirens going off everywhere around us, but only these two men showed up. People tend to forget how to drive in the rain, so it was a busy night. We watched as they tried to figure out how to get into the woods to the fire. I could understand. We were in the middle of a city that sits in the Prairie, how many forest fires do this guys really fight? It was drizzling and even though my mother is voyeuristic I convinced her to go back to the house. hehe, We ran upstairs and watched out the window.

After a time my mother was satisfied watching from our perch, plus she was worried that the fire would spread down the line and catch the house on fire. This time in shoes and a jacket we went to ribber neck. Here is the time I feel it would have been appropriate for us to have martini glasses in our hands, my mother suggested lawn chairs. Dry and sarcastic humor comes very quickly to my mother and my lips. We watched from the street as the men shot water through the trees aggravating the electrical fire. I had to ask my mother if they realized what type of fire it was, and if we should go remind them.

After a time the fire men came over to us to ask if we were the women that lived a hous down. oh busted, I told mom they had seen us peeking through the window like a couple of perverts. The firemen couldn't figure out what the line was for. No one had lost electricity. They did realize it was electrical, but they couldn't get to it with the small container of foam they had. They had to wait for back up.

My mother asked me about the different colors of the fire, I proceeded to tell her the hottest color to the...um well...hoterless. See martini glasses would have explained it better.

After the rain past I headed home. Only to wake the next morning to this:



This post from a privacy fence leaning against my house


I mean embedded in my house. The shower stall had prevent it from going all the way through.


Our horse tank, the one we bought a few months back for so cheap...was over a mile away in a wheat field. It had crashed through at least four different cattle fences to get to where it was.


Part of the privacy fence that was used to shelter our well. This is only half of it. And a bunch of junk that ended up resting around the well.


The other half of the fence ended up in the drive way, just missing the corner of the house.


The wood on my covered deck was blown off.





And this was all that was left in our yard of our trampoline. We found the rest scattered through our neighbor's field and the base and canvass was wadded up 1/2 mile down the road in a lagoon.

A micro burst, sudden strong isolated wind, had pushed through our yard. Actually it looks as though it started in our yard, because if you follow the path of destruction, the beehives where fine, but everything else in the path for 2 miles is broken, gone destroyed. We went and gathered our things from other's yards. Making nice with the neighbors.

On a positive note, our electric bill for the month is $6. Sometimes it is good to be a homesteader.

Will the Real Phelan Please Log In?

I am back, with a new mouse {thank you Marina} and new keyboard {thank you mother} and bills paid. I should remain for awhile yet.

Where to begin. . . from the beginning you say? Ok, order of events that you missed.

My littlest brother got married! It was an outside wedding. Very pleasant though hot for October. My three boys were in it, and my other younger brother came out to be best man.

I decided to go all Princess Lea {is that spelled right?} And curl my hair. This lasted for 10 minutes before the weight of my hair dragged those Shirley Temple curls down. {The other day I cut 1' of my hair off and it still hangs past my shoulders}

We got are boys dressed. Aren't they darling? I feared they would some how manage to get covered in mud in the truck. Hey it happens.

Lota of photos....


Then the walk. My oldest was hidden behind a pillar so I was unable to get photos of him standing up there with his uncles.

With the vows said

It was time to party.

The Park people neglected to turn the bathroom lights on, and no switch was found. I swear, if people just happen to overhear my mother and I one would think we were very drunk, all the time. We walked into the bathroom with my husbands LED penlight, holding it over the stall door for one another, being belligerently sober.

It was a great wedding for my brother.