Against NAIS

Chuck ZimmermanAnimal ID

No NAIS.orgI’ve mentioned Google news alerts before. They’re handy and you get some interesting results. Like this morning when I checked and found a link to a post done by a lady who calls herself the Henwhisperer. She is dedicated to the defeat of the NAIS (National Animal Identification System).

While there I also found a link to another blog dedicated to the same thing called No NAIS.org. The organization was started by Walter Jeffries who owns Sugar Mountain Farm in Vermont. Here’s an excerpt from his description of No NAIS.org: NoNAIS.org is nothing fancy or complex. It is myself, a homesteader, father and small time farmer in Vermont plus a few other volunteers like Celeste who has been compiling alerts about NAIS.

Another interesting link I found while surfing around these sites is one to the RFID Weblog. Their mission statement says, “The award-winning RFID Weblog provides a balanced view of RFID technology with a focus on business uses.”

Find out more about NAIS on USDA’s website.

12 Comments on “Against NAIS”

  1. Thanks to Google news and blog alerts I can find out who is talking about NAIS and who is mentioning my blog. Thanks for the exposure!

    Chuck, I was at the NIAA ID Expo 2006, one of the “extreme opposition” (that’s what Dore Mobley called us, go figure), and no how did they talk about NAIS being voluntary. The take home message was that they mean to tag and track every livestock animal in the country. Unfortunately, the factory farms get one in/out AIN per lot while a homesteader like myself would need to tag each animal.

    The supposed good news that came from Libby Quaid’s AP article, Animal IDs will not be mandatory” is a bunch of hogwash. If anyone has read the Cooperative Agreement for FY 2007 between the USDA and the States for implementing (further) NAIS, you’ll know that they don’t mean for it to be voluntary, that there has been premises registration data dumping all of last year and, in fact, to even qualify to apply for funds, the State has to prove that they data dumped. Gosh, how voluntary is that? Kind of like in the military where they say, “We need three volunteers, you, you and you.”

    I agree that the factory farms need tracking, after all they are the source of disease in the food chain. What I and tens of thousands of other small/private farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists and horse owners want to know is what does global marketing have to do with us?

    If USDA/APHIS/NIAA will but define voluntary, well then we’ll have a starting place. But they won’t do it because NAIS isn’t voluntary.

    Bwakk.

  2. Thanks to Google news and blog alerts I can find out who is talking about NAIS and who is mentioning my blog. Thanks for the exposure!

    Chuck, I was at the NIAA ID Expo 2006, one of the “extreme opposition” (that’s what Dore Mobley called us, go figure), and no how did they talk about NAIS being voluntary. The take home message was that they mean to tag and track every livestock animal in the country. Unfortunately, the factory farms get one in/out AIN per lot while a homesteader like myself would need to tag each animal.

    The supposed good news that came from Libby Quaid’s AP article, Animal IDs will not be mandatory” is a bunch of hogwash. If anyone has read the Cooperative Agreement for FY 2007 between the USDA and the States for implementing (further) NAIS, you’ll know that they don’t mean for it to be voluntary, that there has been premises registration data dumping all of last year and, in fact, to even qualify to apply for funds, the State has to prove that they data dumped. Gosh, how voluntary is that? Kind of like in the military where they say, “We need three volunteers, you, you and you.”

    I agree that the factory farms need tracking, after all they are the source of disease in the food chain. What I and tens of thousands of other small/private farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists and horse owners want to know is what does global marketing have to do with us?

    If USDA/APHIS/NIAA will but define voluntary, well then we’ll have a starting place. But they won’t do it because NAIS isn’t voluntary.

    Bwakk.

  3. Thanks to Google news and blog alerts I can find out who is talking about NAIS and who is mentioning my blog. Thanks for the exposure!

    Chuck, I was at the NIAA ID Expo 2006, one of the “extreme opposition” (that’s what Dore Mobley called us, go figure), and no how did they talk about NAIS being voluntary. The take home message was that they mean to tag and track every livestock animal in the country. Unfortunately, the factory farms get one in/out AIN per lot while a homesteader like myself would need to tag each animal.

    The supposed good news that came from Libby Quaid’s AP article, Animal IDs will not be mandatory” is a bunch of hogwash. If anyone has read the Cooperative Agreement for FY 2007 between the USDA and the States for implementing (further) NAIS, you’ll know that they don’t mean for it to be voluntary, that there has been premises registration data dumping all of last year and, in fact, to even qualify to apply for funds, the State has to prove that they data dumped. Gosh, how voluntary is that? Kind of like in the military where they say, “We need three volunteers, you, you and you.”

    I agree that the factory farms need tracking, after all they are the source of disease in the food chain. What I and tens of thousands of other small/private farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists and horse owners want to know is what does global marketing have to do with us?

    If USDA/APHIS/NIAA will but define voluntary, well then we’ll have a starting place. But they won’t do it because NAIS isn’t voluntary.

    Bwakk.

  4. This site is obviously pro-NAIS, which is your constitutional right to believe so….too bad that NAIS in action will go against several constitutional rights of those who do not want the program.

    Western Horseman magazine did a for/against poll about NAIS….over 93% were against. I wonder why!

    What if I had a disease but I forced YOU to take and pay for the meds so I could go tell the world I am healthy? Silly, huh!!! ….that is NAIS in a nutshell!

    the following was written by someone else but I cannot remember who but it helps explain what NAIS really is and how it really works…. The NAIS plan was actually written in 2000 by NIAA. The original intention was to make U.S. meat products acceptable to Japan to aid the big NIAA producers in their overseas marketing. That is why they are exempt from the expensive chipping and reporting requirements for individual animals – they wrote the rules. The stated intent for NAIS was changed from aiding exports to animal health when they realized they would never get people to agree to this so the big corporations and factory farms could get richer on the backs of small ranchers and farmers. The target date for making it mandatory also continues to change as resistance mounts. The USDA is bribing (using your tax dollars ) the states to write and implement a compatible plan. We MUST talk to our legislators and tell them that mandatory NAIS in any form is completely unacceptable. If the NIAA members want traceability for exports, let the system be totally voluntary and market driven. Let those who reap the benefits pay the costs.

  5. This site is obviously pro-NAIS, which is your constitutional right to believe so….too bad that NAIS in action will go against several constitutional rights of those who do not want the program.
    Western Horseman magazine did a for/against poll about NAIS….over 93% were against. I wonder why!

    What if I had a disease but I forced YOU to take and pay for the meds so I could go tell the world I am healthy? Silly, huh!!! ….that is NAIS in a nutshell!

    the following was written by someone else but I cannot remember who but it helps explain what NAIS really is and how it really works…. The NAIS plan was actually written in 2000 by NIAA. The original intention was to make U.S. meat products acceptable to Japan to aid the big NIAA producers in their overseas marketing. That is why they are exempt from the expensive chipping and reporting requirements for individual animals – they wrote the rules. The stated intent for NAIS was changed from aiding exports to animal health when they realized they would never get people to agree to this so the big corporations and factory farms could get richer on the backs of small ranchers and farmers. The target date for making it mandatory also continues to change as resistance mounts. The USDA is bribing (using your tax dollars ) the states to write and implement a compatible plan. We MUST talk to our legislators and tell them that mandatory NAIS in any form is completely unacceptable. If the NIAA members want traceability for exports, let the system be totally voluntary and market driven. Let those who reap the benefits pay the costs.

  6. This site is obviously pro-NAIS, which is your constitutional right to believe so….too bad that NAIS in action will go against several constitutional rights of those who do not want the program.
    Western Horseman magazine did a for/against poll about NAIS….over 93% were against. I wonder why!

    What if I had a disease but I forced YOU to take and pay for the meds so I could go tell the world I am healthy? Silly, huh!!! ….that is NAIS in a nutshell!

    the following was written by someone else but I cannot remember who but it helps explain what NAIS really is and how it really works…. The NAIS plan was actually written in 2000 by NIAA. The original intention was to make U.S. meat products acceptable to Japan to aid the big NIAA producers in their overseas marketing. That is why they are exempt from the expensive chipping and reporting requirements for individual animals – they wrote the rules. The stated intent for NAIS was changed from aiding exports to animal health when they realized they would never get people to agree to this so the big corporations and factory farms could get richer on the backs of small ranchers and farmers. The target date for making it mandatory also continues to change as resistance mounts. The USDA is bribing (using your tax dollars ) the states to write and implement a compatible plan. We MUST talk to our legislators and tell them that mandatory NAIS in any form is completely unacceptable. If the NIAA members want traceability for exports, let the system be totally voluntary and market driven. Let those who reap the benefits pay the costs.

  7. The USDA claims those who are against NAIS are spreading misinformation. How is it misinformation to tell someone what NAIS will require, the registering of premises, microchipping, reporting and depopulation. While they claim it is voluntary, they are bribing states to make it mandatory or requiring 4Hers to have a premise number in order to show their animals. How is that voluntary?

    Free to sign up? Sure, the drug dealer always gives the first hit free. The real costs come later on, with chipping our animals, filing reports, losing animals to depopulation and chipping away our freedoms.

  8. The USDA claims those who are against NAIS are spreading misinformation. How is it misinformation to tell someone what NAIS will require, the registering of premises, microchipping, reporting and depopulation. While they claim it is voluntary, they are bribing states to make it mandatory or requiring 4Hers to have a premise number in order to show their animals. How is that voluntary?

    Free to sign up? Sure, the drug dealer always gives the first hit free. The real costs come later on, with chipping our animals, filing reports, losing animals to depopulation and chipping away our freedoms.

  9. The USDA claims those who are against NAIS are spreading misinformation. How is it misinformation to tell someone what NAIS will require, the registering of premises, microchipping, reporting and depopulation. While they claim it is voluntary, they are bribing states to make it mandatory or requiring 4Hers to have a premise number in order to show their animals. How is that voluntary?

    Free to sign up? Sure, the drug dealer always gives the first hit free. The real costs come later on, with chipping our animals, filing reports, losing animals to depopulation and chipping away our freedoms.

  10. NAIS is trying to be a one-size-fits-all program yet there is a huge difference between granny’s back yard hens, a pot belly pig in suburbia, horses which are not in the food chain and the multi-billion dollar corporate ag and factory farms, which this program was ultimately made for.

    (oh by the way, the factory farms get one lot number per groups of animals, but granny has to microchip every animal she has and report their births, deaths and off-property movements.)

  11. NAIS is trying to be a one-size-fits-all program yet there is a huge difference between granny’s back yard hens, a pot belly pig in suburbia, horses which are not in the food chain and the multi-billion dollar corporate ag and factory farms, which this program was ultimately made for.
    (oh by the way, the factory farms get one lot number per groups of animals, but granny has to microchip every animal she has and report their births, deaths and off-property movements.)

  12. NAIS is trying to be a one-size-fits-all program yet there is a huge difference between granny’s back yard hens, a pot belly pig in suburbia, horses which are not in the food chain and the multi-billion dollar corporate ag and factory farms, which this program was ultimately made for.
    (oh by the way, the factory farms get one lot number per groups of animals, but granny has to microchip every animal she has and report their births, deaths and off-property movements.)

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