July 3, 2009

MN Officials Urge USDA to Stop Listening

News — walterj 7:05 am

Minnesota officials don’t think much of farmers…


Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson and State Veterinarian Dr. Bill Hartmann sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday asking him … to end “a bogged-down debate” about if NAIS should be implemented and focus instead on practical issues related to the implementation of a modern animal traceability system that provides animal health officials with critical information needed to respond to animal diseases and foodborne illnesses while respecting producers’ concerns for privacy.

The letter suggested that state animal health officials, as first responders to animal diseases, should have a greater involvement in the development and implementation of NAIS. It is vital for state animal health personnel “to build and maintain accurate and updated information systems” with premises registration, animal identification and producer contact information, according to the letter.
-Feedstuffs

Of course, farmers and consumer’s shouldn’t be involved in the discussion. Only the experts, the totalitarian bureaucrats, should be deciding our future. I bow down to their omniscience and benevolence. Not.

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July 1, 2009

NAIS Scorched in Nebraska

News — walterj 6:37 am

As a last ditch effort to hear favorable comments on NAIS the USDA scheduled an extra, special, session in Omaha, Nebraska, home of Big Beef. What they got was scorching heat from farmers and ranchers who don’t want the government telling them what to do as reported by Art Hovey in the Journal Star:


LA VISTA — As a long procession of critics pounded away at the federal government’s floundering animal identification initiative Tuesday, federal veterinarian Dave Morris sat in the back of the room, mostly expressionless and sometimes occupied with his cell phone. It would be easy enough to believe that Morris, of the national program staff in Riverdale, Md., was texting somebody to “Beam me up, Scotty.”

“I think this one was consistent with many of the others,” he said later of the 14th and final listening session held across the country. The government’s long listen is aimed at overhauling a widely unpopular program launched five years ago.
:
To [cattle producers], the livestock identification plan is a government invasion that’s likely to become mandatory, add to their cost of production and infringe on their ability to run their operations as they see fit.
:
“For all us producers, this is our livelihood. We know these cows. We have health records on these cows.”

Although she tried to refuse a number, Stec said, she got one — and her cows got ear tags with government numbers, too — as a state and federal veterinary team conducted TB tests at her ranch.
:
Vinton worries animal identification will lead to situations in which he and his peers will be blamed for meat contamination problems that aren’t their fault.
:
The Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation and Nebraska Farmers Union also testified Tuesday and suggested the problems dogging the identification program could be, and should be, fixed.
:
-JournalStar

The FB continues to not ‘get’ it. We don’t want to fix NAIS. We want to eliminate it. When I fix a pig it isn’t going to reproduce. We don’t need the government fixing farmers.

Well, the listening sessions are over. The USDA has been told loud and clear that NAIS needs to be killed dead with a silver bullet, a stake driven through it’s heart, the head severed and the blood drained. We don’t want this this zombie resurrecting itself and coming after us in the future. Time to kill the monster.

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June 30, 2009

Congress Dings NAIS for 2010

News — walterj 3:59 pm

Direct from the Congress Critters:

National Animal Identification System.–The Committee recommendation eliminates funding for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). After receiving $142,000,000 in funding since fiscal year 2004, APHIS has yet to put into operation an effective national system that would provide needed animal health and livestock market benefits. The Committee is aware that USDA is conducting a public listening tour around the country for several months to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how to design and deliver a successful animal identification system. Until USDA finishes its listening sessions and provides details as to how it will implement an improved animal identification system, continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted.
-Ag Bill 2010

NAIS is unfunded. Lets keep it that way.

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