National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
The USDA in conjunction with corporate farms and makers of the equipment for microchiping are trying to put this system into place. Disease control, trace an animal back to it's origin within 48 hours is the main theme you hear. What they don't tell you is how it will limit your choice for food sources; because it will just about eliminate the small family farm. We loose the family farms we will loose animal breeds because the corporate farm raises just one maybe two different breeds for market.
Why will the family farms go under? The cost of having micro chips in every animal and the paperwork. More so the paperwork, filing has to done within 24 hours if any animal comes or leaves the property, by way of selling, butchering, wandering thru the fence & coming back. Don't know half the time about the ones that go thru a fence for a few acorns they see on the other side & then come back. (their satalite equipment will know & can impliment fines for me for not filing the paperwork-up to $1000 a day)
This year 50+ chickens were put in the freezer for our use. Under NAIS I would have to chip everyone of those birds. They are bought as chicks from a hatchery, they would be required to put a $15 (average cost) chip...that cost would be passed onto me. Pretty expense chicks. If I raised my own chicks, I would be required to put a $15 chip in each bird. Paperwork filed within the 24 hours as the chicks hatched. And again paperwork filed on each and every bird within 24 hours of being butchered that they had been butchered and now in my freezer. How am I going to put the chip in? How will I be able to scan each aniamal? I am going to have to buy a scanner...$500 minimum. Could let the vet scan....that would mean loading up the birds...more paperwork required within 24 hours now that they have left the farm. Or have her come out here & be charged for $1 a mile travel fee...($80 for me) plus the fee she would charge on each animal to be scanned.
To chip every livestock animal I have at the moment, would be a minimum of $1500. Every spring with new kids being born that's an additional $1200 a year. Plus the filing of 75 papers for each new animal born on the place within 24 hours of their birth. During kidding I may average 3 to 4 hours of sleep a day for several weeks at a time.
What I find interesting is that corporate farms will only be required to have one chip per lot and there might be as many as 200 animal in a lot. Which means less cost & less paperwork...one filing per lot as the animals are loaded up for the slaughterhouse.
Also interesting, is the fact that this system started being pushed as larger numbers of people were buying more of their food from small farms.
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