Massachusetts has joined the ranks of states that are involuntarily signing people up for voluntary Premise Registration, the first step of the USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS). It is not yet clear yet how many people in MA have been affected by this. MA has joined VT, ID, WA, TX and USDA cases of the government falsifying voluntary signup.
Some cases like WA and ID are outright fraud - The governments’ are signing up people against their wishes. In other cases it appears that people were signed up for Premises ID when they are doing other programs with the states where it is not made sufficiently clear what they are signing. I would strongly recommend that you carefully read any documents that you sign prior to signing. This is a good policy in general. Be careful of any surveys or government inspectors.
It behooves the government not to even have the hint of rotten behavior on the topic of voluntary signups. I would suggest that the state governments and the USDA carefully go through their lists of ‘voluntary’ signups to weed out any questionable registrations, double checking any that might somehow be less than truly voluntary cooperative with the full knowledge of the premises owners. Otherwise it sounds like it is time for a class action lawsuit against the federal and state governments for falsifying information and involuntary signup to voluntary programs. The government is playing dirty or just getting plain sloppy in its excitement about NAIS. Probably a bit of both.
Watch for a change in the weather…
How can we find out if we’ve actually been signed up? Here in MA the town animal inspectors do their annual inspections and I understand that the info collected this year does go to register as premises. I do NOT want to be registered and if I am, it was through involuntary means. !!! This is just plain dirty pool!
Comment Gwenyth — May 3, 2006 @ 6:11 am
I haven’t read any comments about the experience of people in WI where they currently have mandatory premise ID (since January 1, I think).
I took a quick google sample of information out there and found the WILC website but I didn’t see much in the way of public comment.
Is there anyone there who wants to comment on it? How is it being publicized? issues with compliance? How does the populace feel about it?
Aphella in VT
Comment Afella in VT — May 3, 2006 @ 7:11 am
For info for WI expressly … go here: link
Comment Gwenyth — May 3, 2006 @ 11:06 am
Good question Gwenyth: I asked the same question within the comments of the article about VT premise id’s taken under false pretences.
Is it possible to check public records so as to confirm whether or not a premise has been registered? Is there a master list in any state that identifies registered premises?
And if so…what security protection has been afforded to those on the “list”?
NONE of these so called public officials has taken security into consideration! If they have a public access list, then the list is probably not secure.
If they don’t have a list available, how is one to check to see if their premise has been registered against their will or under false pretences?
They have put the “kart before the horse”. They have rushed into premise registration without considering all of the ramifications.
Suppose you are a breeder of rare show birds. You have rare birds on your premises. Now, because you inadvertently signed one of these deceptive forms, it is possible that your premise location is now available for public access. Somebody might discover your information and now they know where your rare birds are kept. Figure out the rest.
Same thing will later apply to all of the other animals on the list.
Forget (for a moment) that you have now added your premise to a data base that may be accessed by God knows who…and that maybe you signed this form by mistake…is there anyway that you can check your premise status so as to see if you have been signed-up against your will? And…if YOU can check the list, who ELSE can check the list?
Comment Neil W. — May 3, 2006 @ 2:54 pm
Aphella, interestingly four or five people in Wisconsin that I have spoken with via email about Premise ID have all said they are not registered and do not plan to register. They said they had not been sent anything about it by the government and didn’t intend to comply unless forced. -WJ
Comment walterj — May 3, 2006 @ 3:15 pm
We have a farm call scheduled for the May 17. I’m already prepared for my comeback should they ‘request’ me to fill out ANY paperwork other than my coggins info. BEWARE of the wolf in sheeps clothing.
Comment Goose — May 4, 2006 @ 8:29 am
Walter:
You say “They said they had not been sent anything about it by the government and didn’t intend to comply unless forced”. (re: your contacts in WI)
But my question remains unanswered…namely; if they have been registered against their will or without their knowledge because they signed what they thought was something else…then how would they know? Is the government required to issue a confirmation when they sign-up a premise? Or could they just sign you up and you might not know about it for years!
And what about those that say that premises are being added to the data base from other records…example feed stores or vets who supply the government with names and addresses without the owner’s permission or knowledge.
Comment Neil W. — May 4, 2006 @ 9:52 am
Neil, the government sends you a Premises ID number and package of information. The USDA tried to do me by phone and I have heard from several other people getting it that way. Someone in TN just emailed me yesterday about this happening to her. Other people like Pat & Celeste in WA were signedup based on other data and then received a package in the mail containing their Premises ID number. Since they want you to have the Premises ID number I think they do generally make contact to give you that number. However, in ID they might not have sent out notices to everyone they falsely registered according to what I was told by one person there. It seems to be a real mixed bag and rather uncoordinated in some ways.
Comment walterj — May 4, 2006 @ 10:04 am
Walter: Thanks for the clarification. And please be aware that Dr. Rood HAS responded within the comments of “VT. False Voluntary Premise ID” article!
I want everyone to be sure and scroll down to that article because Dr. Rood has responded and will hopefully respond again to my latest follow-up question for him.
If Dr. Rood is willing to respond to our comments on that article, then the least we can do is to read his responses and not forget about the article!
Comment Neil W. — May 4, 2006 @ 10:31 am
Hi Neil, yes, I saw Dr. Rood’s comments. I hope that we will have continuing back & forth dialog that will both clear up missunderstandings and modify the system such that it will work for small farmers, what perhaps we should even call micro-farmers, as well as homesteaders and pet livestock owners. We can accomplish the goal of good disease prevention without trampling on people’s rights and privacy.
Comment walterj — May 4, 2006 @ 10:40 am
An additional Note, It seems horse registories are pushing NIAS when members are strongly apposed, I smell a goverment pay off in the wind!
Comment Betty Rodgers — May 29, 2006 @ 1:05 pm
Walter, may I cross post this on my website? I’m forming the Oregon Small Holders Alliance in order to give us a recognizable prescence with our law makers here in Oregon and this is something I’d like to put up on the page I have on the website regarding state laws and rule making as well as updates on NAIS implementation.
Behavior such as this on the part of state agencies just makes people trust them that much less.
Thanks for the heads up - Joanne Rigutto
Comment Joanne Rigutto — May 29, 2006 @ 2:07 pm
In Missouri, the MAIP signup sheet doesn’t require a signature.
Comment David Hannes — May 29, 2006 @ 9:01 pm
In addition ,folks I know here in Pa. have been assigned a # in order to participate in 4H fair and they told me 4H made them get the no# or else,we have several folks in this area who have quit the 4H over it and I have recieved calls from folks who have quit the American Dairy Goat association over their involvementin NAIS I contacted them myself an told them I was burning all my “papers” and would support a “NEW group to register goats with in the future,folks really need to take a close look at what groups they may belong to that are cutting our throats and jump on them and quit if nesessary to sent a message,even what we purchase needs to be looked at with a critical eye to see if we’re funding our own destruction the only defense we have against these companies is to not purchase their prouduct or sevice if they’re the enemy,in the sidebar is a link to a blog called Badcorp.org they have some info that is interesting.I also emailed the Appaloosa Horse Club (fence sitters) and encouraged them to get on our side the fence,maybe some of you would like to also we need all the help we can get.
Comment LEE — May 29, 2006 @ 9:16 pm
I was a bit confused on the 4-H thing. I never participated, but our extension agent said that 4-H’ers are given a number to animals to protect against fraud. ie. a pig wins at a fair in Iowa and is bought and hussled up to MN to compete? Is that “hog-wash”? (no pun intended)
Comment LuAnn — May 30, 2006 @ 8:51 am
LuAnn,these folks had to have a premiseID # before they could enter an animal or compete in the horse events,that was how it was explained to me.
Comment LEE — May 30, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Thanks Lee. I didn’t think it made sense as it was explained and “premise ID” was definately not the terminology used. So, I wonder if the 4-H’ers know that this is the primary purpose. I don’t like being lied to.
Comment LuAnn — May 31, 2006 @ 1:51 pm
Well,all I can say is there seems to be a lot of fraud going on out there but it seems to be that the lies/fraud are coming from the gov’t and NAIS supporters telling the people that its only a little tag,what are you being so unreasonable about? “After all we’re only trying to help you” Just keep telling every one who will listen whats going on and then point them to this site and others as well that are exposing the big lie,I have some little business cards I made up with a few lines explaining the problem ,then three websites this one ,stopanimalid.org ,and the USDA site on one side and names and numbers of all local and state reps for this area on the other side ,I tell folks ,”Dont just take my word for it EDUCATE YOURSELF and then call your reps and you will be able to speak from firsthand knowledge and not just something I told you, and it seems to be working others here have started doing the same so I have hope that we can get the people to speak out and we will defeat BIGGOVT/BUSINESS and their lackeys.
Comment LEE — May 31, 2006 @ 3:52 pm