February 2010 Issue |
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IN THIS ISSUE: |
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• Subscribe to Meat Goat Mania • Email Us • Onion Creek Ranch • Bending Tree Ranch • OCR Health & Management Articles • MGM Archive |
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THE U.S.D.A. 'STARTS OVER' ON NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION Goat producers need to understand that Sept 11,2001 was the *excuse* used by the federal government for implementing national animal identification. The push to create such a program was in the works years before 9/11 occurred. If you doubt this statement, google NAIS on the Internet and start reading. There are many documents relating to establishing a national animal identification system in the USA that pre-date 9/11. Justifications included human food safety and animal health, neither of which was possible to achieve under the methods established in the proposed NAIS rules. Details backing up this statement can been found on websites like that of the Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance. NAIS has always been pushed by the big agricultural firms and the companies making microchips; the original lobbying group was and still is controlled by these people. The 9/11 attacks gave them one MORE justification (biosecurity) to lobby to pass regulations requiring microchipping every animal in this country. The real underlying reason behind big ag's desire to implement NAIS has always been to give them a marketing edge to export their products to Japan and the EU and *certify* the meat as *healthy.* A bonus side effect is that small producers will bear the brunt of the cost and will therefore be marginalized and many put out of business. The microchip manufacturers are lobbying to expand their market, i.e. sell more microchips and microchip readers. Follow the money. Dr. Lou Nuti, PhD, reproductive biology, International Goat Research Center at Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas, has the following comments: "The USDA still won't answer the question, ''Is this system going to improve the method of identifying and reporting individual animals and herds over what we currently have in place? What is it going to cost the taxpayer to run such a large governmental oversight agency on top of what it will cost the producer on the farm? The main thrust of the 'old NAIS' was supposedly to speed up the method of tracing diseased animals and keep the food chain safe, especially in the event of a terrorist event. How are they going to control the greater potential of spreading livestock disease caused by migratory animals and insects (buffalo, elk, moose, carribou, flies, migratory birds)? The USDA has refused to address these issues as well as the problem of disease transmission by feral hogs and smuggled animals. Here is another bit of info you may not know. We have a local USDA Inspector whose sole job is to make sure we are feeding only permitted feeds to our goats. Any feeds which contain any special medications which are not approved for goats cannot be used with animals which are intended for human consumption. Recently he came to Prairie View A&M University and asked us how we feed our livestock guardian dogs. He told us that we cannot feed dog food to our dogs if they are with the goats because there are some dog foods which contain bone meal from foreign sources which potentially may be a source of the prions associated with mad cow disease. What a crock. This goes not only for PVAMU, but for all of you that have LGD's running with your goats who are feeding these dogs with the goats. I think we have too many of these regulatory agencies who have too much time on their hands. Why do they put the burden on us rather than regulating food that is being imported into this country for our own consumption?" FOLLOW THE MONEY. Suzanne W. Gasparotto |
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