January 8, 2009

Help save the chickens!

Astrus no nais

Under NAIS every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. Big factory confinement farms are allowed to use a single ID for thousands of animals. Small farmers, pet owners, and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal, in most cases using electronic ID.

There are NO exceptions - even small farms that sell direct to local consumers will be required to pay the fees and file all the paper work on all their animals. The USDA has not done a cost-benefit analysis. Based on estimates from Australia and England, NAIS could cost anywhere from $30-$69 per animal on average. The costs include the tags, the labor and equipment needed to tag each animal and file reports of the movements within 24 hours, and the massive databases needed to track over 100 million animals. Factory farms can use group ID to avoid many of the costs, while small farmers could face even higher costs.

Those who refuse to cooperate with NAIS will be subject to heavy fines or even criminal penalties. NAIS is not legislation but a program designed by USDA bureaucrats with the help of businessmen and manufacturers of ID tags.

Please vote to stop the tracking of livestock animals for pets or small farmers….see below (the vote is to make non-funding of this invasive program a top ten priority to the new administration)
Pass this on if you know anyone that is interested in supporting small farmers.

The private website, www.Change.org, will present the “Top 10 Ideas for America” to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day. “Stop NAIS” has made it to the second round of voting! It is competing against 86 other ideas to see if it can make it into the Top 10. The second round of voting will end at 5 pm next Thursday, January 15.

TAKE ACTION

STEP 1: If you are not already signed up for the site, register at: https://www.change.org/admin/sign_up

STEP 2: Go to http://www.change.org/ideas/view/stop_nais

Voting ends at 5pm ET on Thursday, January 15

Be sure to click the box labeled “vote!” to the left of the Protect Our Food Supply — Stop NAIS! Simply leaving a comment does not count as a vote. The box should change color and the text will change to “voted.” You may have to try a couple of times.

STEP 3: Email all your friends, and ask them to vote also!
STEP 4 (optional): The most important thing is the number of VOTES that the idea gets. If you want to leave a comment after you have voted, think in terms of what will encourage other people to vote to stop NAIS. Keep your comment short and clear.
Remember that Stop NAIS! is competing against all of the other ideas for one of the Top 10 slots. Only the Top 10 will be presented to the transition team.

This idea is currently in 17th Place and needs 1096 more votes to be part of the final 10 ideas presented at our event in Washington, DC

Filed under: bwak bwak — fidget @ 9:23 pm

7 Responses to “Help save the chickens!”

  1. Suzi Says:
    January 8th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

    Well, geez. I thought our food system was already about as screwed up as it could be, with most of our food being made of chemicals. I think it’d be great to track each animal that we EAT, but pets? Why would we even consider that? Tagging the animals we eat would be largely a waste of time, anyway, because by the time it makes somebody sick, the animal and its tag are gone gone gone.

    Poor Flo must be worried SICK about this.

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    fidget Reply:
    January 8th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

    Between the wing clipping yesterday and then finding out that in a matter of months she could be shipped off to less desirable quarters, Flo is distraught to say the least. Astrus (pictured) is fretting and Miss Henny Penny is just beside her self with worry.

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  2. Solomon Says:
    January 9th, 2009 at 4:45 am

    It hardly seems fair (or logical) that if you have a lot of chickens, you only have to pay once, but if you have only a few chickens, you have to pay for each one.

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  3. AtHomeDaddy Says:
    January 9th, 2009 at 7:44 am

    Been wondering about this, too.

    Thanks for the info. I think.

    AtHomeDaddy’s last blog post..Carpet cleaning for 7 year old boys

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  4. MJH Says:
    January 9th, 2009 at 11:20 am

    According to USDA website (www.usda.gov/nais), the entire program is voluntary participation, unless your state requires it. I think if the program morphed into the monster you’ve posted about, then yes, it’s terrible. But as it stands now, participation is voluntary (no fines for choosing not to) and designed to benefit farmers and consumers. Something to keep an eye on, but not time to panic.

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    fidget Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am

    i can see this quickly becoming mandatory. We started out being able to voluntarily” register dogs with the county as a way to keep track of them if they ever ran off. It’s now required that you pay a fee every year to the county to register your dog. Your vet is required to rat you out when you take your dog for their yearly rabies vax.

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  5. Julia Says:
    January 11th, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    I went to sign up and vote. I think they have the required number now since there was not a sign for “vote” up any more. But the loony people are totally out to send our country into the great depression by all these extra regulations and bureaucracy. I say, “Stay the F away from my chickens.” and everyone else’s livestock for that matter. Thanks for posting.

    Julia’s last blog post..Winner of the Floral Apron by The Paper Passion

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