National Animal Identification Program

[livius drusus]

NAIS - National Animal Identification System

It's a USDA reg set to take effect in 2008 that would require anyone who owns even a single livestock animal must register their home -- owner's name, address, telephone number, and, believe it or not, GPS coordinates -- in order to receive a "premises ID number" which will be kept in a federal database along with the individual ID numbers of each animal. On top of that, the owners will be required to report to the feds within 24 hours whenever an animal leaves/returns to the premises, loses a tag or has one replaced, dies, or is missing.

Obviously this is an attempt to contain any bird flu-mad cowey sort of things, but it seems like a ludicrous overregulation to me, and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'd like a wee flock of egg layers one of these years myself.

I mean, small businesses are exempt from all kinds of laws and regulations, so why not at least exempt small animal husbandry dealies from this mess? Is bird flu really going to hit the 3-chicken flock in someone's back yard before it hits the gigantic international poultry concerns where thousands of birds live packed together?

[TomJoe]

Heh. At work I just got done handling paperwork for a pathogen repository database, which keeps track of every government lab in the United States and what bacteria (pathogens or not) take up residence there.

Startup was a pain in the ass, upkeep is much easier. It does seem a bit "big brother-ish" but it will help with epidemiological analysis/prediction in case of outbreaks of any number of animal-borne illnesses related to livestock. I would bet someone could argue a bioterrorism angle as well. Especially if someone wants to breed an "agent" from within the United States.

ETA: The FFA seems to be supportive of this registry, and such things are typically done with the support of the farmers.

[D. Scarlatti]

Here's one way to get an exemption. The ol' "number of the beast" trick.

I've got the NOTB on my Rolodex, lessee...

867-5308

Who knew?

[Dingfod]

Just when I was thinking about getting a few chickens.

[Henwhisperer]

Hello,

I am new here having found my way via a Google blog alert for National Animal Identification System. Pardon me while I correct some misinformation and make some clarifications.

In all truth, NAIS has nothing to do with disease, but rather about insuring the global export market for the big boys - Cargill, Monsanto, National Pork Producers, Walmart, Tysons, et all (and members of National Institute of Animal Agriculture NIAA). USDA/APHIS/NIAA conceived of NAIS way before any mad cow incident. They would like to see all small/private farmers, homesteaders and hobbyists go away as they see us as competition.

NAIS is currently a mandate not a law. There is a section in the new Farm Bill that would "legitimize" NAIS and slap it together with COOL (Country of Origin Labeling, which is already a law but not one that USDA favors).

The thing about the premises registration is that it sets a landowner up for having their rights to own the premises over to the gov't. See How to Become a Serf in One Easy Step.

USDA gave out Cooperative Agreement grants to the states, though I'm proud to say that Vermont did not take the bait and we here are free right now from the threat.

ETA: The FFA seems to be supportive of this registry, and such things are typically done with the support of the farmers.

The only reason FFA and 4-H seem supportive of NAIS is because they also received grant money. When we think of FFA and NAIS we must remember Hitler's Youth Brigade. The way to get cooperation is to train them up young when they don't know any better.

I'd like to invite you to investigate and educate yourselves about NAIS. The main repository of NAIS information can be found at NoNais.org.

I have been a scholar of NAIS for the last two years. I am eager to educate non-farmers and consumers about NAIS because it will affect you, too. As it is now, USDA inspects 1% of the meat that finds it's way onto the grocery store shelves. With NAIS they will have a false sense of security and inspect even less. Worse yet is on a whim, USDA will be able to point to a potential possible risk of a so-called disease, descend on a farm and kill all the animals within a 6 mile radius.

Oh, did I mention that the factory farms, those Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) will only need just one Animal Identification Number per in/out lot while someone like me with 2 pigs, 12 laying hens, 6 meat birds, 4 meat turkeys and a horse will need an AIN for each of the animals. So skewed.

Thanks if you read this far.

[livius drusus]

First of all, let me just say how deeply I adore your username, Henwhisperer. I'm glad Google brought you to this thread to share your perspective, especially since my own interest is in small scale husbandry like your own (only even smaller ).

I'm off to peruse your links. Welcome to FF.

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by Henwhisperer

In all truth, NAIS has nothing to do with disease, but rather about insuring the global export market for the big boys - Cargill, Monsanto, National Pork Producers, Walmart, Tysons, et all (and members of National Institute of Animal Agriculture NIAA). USDA/APHIS/NIAA conceived of NAIS way before any mad cow incident. They would like to see all small/private farmers, homesteaders and hobbyists go away as they see us as competition.

While it is easy to speculate that this is some subterfuge to do away with all small private farmers (which is baloney), I'm going to go with the USDA's explanation which reads as:

The threat of a foreign animal disease outbreak or other animal health event in the United States is real. Unfortunately, the timing and severity of an outbreak are impossible to predict.

NAIS is a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal health events in the United States. The NAIS program-a voluntary State-Federal-Industry partnership-is designed to:

1. Protect your premises and your livelihood

2. Reduce hardships caused by an animal disease outbreak or other animal health event in your community

3. Protect your access to markets

You have the power to protect yourself, your animals, and your community against the impact of a disease outbreak or other animal health event. NAIS can help you - but the choice to participate is yours.

While conspiracies are interesting to entertain, they're more often than not, not worth the bandwidth they're transmitted on. Whether or not NAIS was formulated prior to any mad cow outbreaks is irrelevant. If a prior proposed idea finds even more utility after a crisis, so be it.

And I can state for a fact that the USDA is very concerned about the individual farmer. They interact very closely with individual farmers, and when the 2007 Farm Bill was being drafted Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns held statewide fora where any and every farmer could go and raise their concerns. The transcripts can be found here.

If I was a small animal producer and there was an outbreak a few towns over, I'd like to know about it ASAP, and not have to rely on the grapevine. The NAIS will accomplish just that.

As for your "Serf in one easy step" link. So the USDA owns the "PIN number", big whoop. That means you can't sell it to someone else, someone perhaps four states over which would kind of ruin the point behind a tracking and information system. Also, take a look at your drivers license and credit cards, who do they belong to? You or the state you live in and the bank you bank at? The correct answer is: Not you. As for calling farmers "stakeholders" ... the USDA also calls them "customers". The USDA is in the business of serving the agricultural community, and has done so since President Lincoln formed the USDA, so this language isn't as threatening as the link makes it out to be.

[wildernesse]

Looking through the FAQ's, there are also exemptions for animals that remain on premises from birth to death or animals that only leave for "custom slaughter." This would seem to mean that people who raise their livestock for home (or other small) consumption purposes would not be part of the system. So, if you bought 3 chicks, you could raise those little biddies and while they might initially need to be registered from their place of origin, their offspring that you keep to increase your flock would not need to be registered and you probably wouldn't have to register them if they aren't going anywhere. Our small beef cattle farm is made up primarily of animals that would fit this description--the cows mostly remain on premises from birth to death, although steers, the bull, and poor breeders do not.

Cattlemen have talked about a registration and tracking system for beef for many years now, actually, even discussing how it might be possible for producers to get higher prices if the cattle associated with their farm is judged higher. Or something. I haven't talked about cows for a long time.

Mostly, this seems to be a way to pinpoint disease quickly in the event of an outbreak, without having to go out and destroy all the cows in West Georgia because X disease was found in a cow that was in the feed lot that gathers livestock from that greater area. After watching Bitter Harvest when I was little, I told my dad how horrible it was that they killed all their cows--and he said if some disease broke out around us, The Government could make us kill all our cows to stop the disease. (Off topic. My dad was always promoting anti-government sentiment in this way--he also would tell me that The Government could build a highway over our house and there was nothing we could do about it. And now I have a degree in bureaucracy. Hmm.) That would be much worse than pinpoint and contain.

Although, I hear you on privacy concerns. USDA is not so great with the keeping SSN's off the internet and what have you.

[ChuckF]

I didn't read the OP or the article it links to, or any of the posts in reply. But I can say with confidence that this is a total waste of government dollars. We don't need another gummint program to identify animals.

That's a cow!
That's a rooster!
That's a sheep!
That's a goose!
That's a camel!
That's a peacock!
That's a bison!
That's a donkey!

How many billions did I just save?

[livius drusus]

Truly, you are a civics lesson incarnate.

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

That's a goose!

Actually ...

... that's a silly goose. Where is the serious goose? And the goose goose?

[LadyShea]

We were just talking the other day about getting a goat or two for milk and cheese, as well as general lawn mowing . This is insane that we have to register for a couple of animals!

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

We were just talking the other day about getting a goat or two for milk and cheese, as well as general lawn mowing . This is insane that we have to register for a couple of animals!

You don't have to register, as it's currently a voluntary system. If it ever becomes mandatory, I don't see why it would be insane though. Several states that I am aware of have dog registry systems. This wouldn't be that much different, except it'd be national rather than local.

[LadyShea]

Originally Posted by TomJoe

You don't have to register, as it's currently a voluntary system. If it ever becomes mandatory, I don't see why it would be insane though. Several states that I am aware of have dog registry systems. This wouldn't be that much different, except it'd be national rather than local.

In my area we don't even have to register guns, let alone dogs.

[TomJoe]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

In my area we don't even have to register guns, let alone dogs.

Well, I suppose if any government agency has to drag your state kicking and screaming into the 21st century, it may as well be the USDA.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by TomJoe

Actually ...

... that's a silly goose. Where is the serious goose? And the goose goose?

And the duck duck goose?

Well I guess it's here, sorta or

It's not the same without the head tapping tho.

[Shelli]

Alas, I can't legally have chickenses in the great City of Springfield anyway.

[Watser?]

When there was bird flu here a couple of years ago they killed (or 'culled') hundreds of thousands of chickens. Even so-called 'hobby-chickens' that people kept at home were killed if they were in the radius that the authorities decided was to be cleared.

[Angakuk]

Back when I lived in Arizona they had something called the Sanitary Livestock Inspector. Any time you sold a horse, donkey, mule, cow, sheep or goat (I don't know about pigs as I never bought or sold one) you had to have the inspector come out and inspect the animal and fill out transfer papers on that animal. If the animal had not been born on the place you had to have transfer papers on it before it could be inspected for sale. There was a trip fee for each inspection (not each animal inspected, but for each trip the inspector made to your place). The whole process was a real pain in the neck for the small operator or hobbyist. This was especially the case if one were offering a single animal for sale, or several animals to multiple buyers. The buyer would have to come out and look at the animal and commit to the purchase (the buyer's name had to appear on the transfer paper). After which the seller had to make an appointment for the inspector to come out and inspect the animal. Then the buyer had to come back out and pick up the animal. All this just to sell a single goat or calf. Large operators were allowed to keep their own book which was, supposedly, subject to periodic inspection by the livestock inspector. As I understood it the system had very little to do with animal health (I have no idea why the inspector was called a Sanitary Livestock Inspector) and more to do with a history of legislation designed to prevent rustling.