There have now been numerous reports of the USDA, Washington state, Idaho and other states falsifying ‘voluntary’ Premise ID by signing people up without their permission, against their will and without their knowledge. I have received personal communications from a number of individuals, who asked not to be named because they fear governmental reprisals. They said that they were intimidated by the government into signing up for Premise ID. Others were tricked into it, being told that it was a required program when it was not. Now in Texas the web site Texas Animal Health Commission Watch reports:
It has come to our attention that there are several unscrupulous business and organizations that are misinforming FFA, 4H students and others that : “The Texas Animal Health Commission requires all producers to register a premises identification”
Be aware that you may be told that registration is mandatory. Currently only Wisconsin has mandatory premise registration. Texas was going to make it mandatory but backed off when there was a huge public outcry against Premise ID in Texas. They moved the meeting to March 23rd and then canceled that. The new date is May 4th. If you are in Texas, be there or be scared.
All this leads one to question the USDA and state claims that farmers support the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) when they point to their approximately 200,000 registered premises. How many of those were falsified? How many were achieved via intimidation? Deception? We know for fact that over 13,000 of them were not voluntary. I know that I did not voluntarily signup. Pat and Celeste were both signed up against their will by their over zealous state government. When I talk with other small farmers, homesteaders and horse owners the overwhelming feeling (>90%) is that they strongly oppose NAIS. Where are we that our government is resorting to lies, deception and force to falisify support for an terrible, unconstitutional program? I realize that some of you would say, “business as usual.”