Those of you from South Dakota have probably received a letter from the Animal Industry Board (AIB) wanting you to sign up for a national premise number for the VOLUNTARY phase of a National Cattle identification program. If you are from another state you may have or probably will receive a similar letter. I have received lots of phone calls about this and whether to fill it out or not.
Remember this program is VOLUNTARY at this time. With what has happened with COOL recently (delayed yet another 2 years) and the excuses for essentially killing it, I am going to make a big circle on the form with a line running through it and send it back to the AIB. The meat packers and retailers killed COOL by saying it was a record keeping nightmare, so I think we should use their tactics to kill MANDATORY ANIMAL ID. If there ever was going to be a record keeping nightmare this is it. The government will track your cattle for every premise to premise movement and want info on births and deaths of livestock etc. (talk about government intrusiveness).
Some other points why I am against signing up for a premise ID number is that by doing so you are saying that you support animal ID. Yes that is true, about a month ago the Sec. of Agriculture, Mike Johanns said in an interview that nearly 100,000 producers have signed up for a premise number so there is that much support for mandatory ID program. Well, I know individuals that got a premise number but are in no way in support of a mandatory program. I actually don't know why these people signed up for a number.
Another thing is that the USDA wants to let the NCBA control the database for the program. I don't know about you but I don't trust NCBA to keep my records confidential from the meat packers and others who can exploit the whole cattle industry. Results of the pilot programs that USDA funded are coming in way below what was expected for tracking livestock. Furthermore, computers are hacked into at high level places, how convenient for the database controller to simply say that someone hacked into the database and stole your cattle information.
This letter is coming from USDA, they are just using the state AIB to channel this part of the program (premise numbers) through. I have no gripe with Dr. Sam Holland or the AIB, they are doing what USDA has asked of them. For the state vets, keeping track of the animals in their state is a big part of the job, but from what I have seen and heard of the USDA wishes for a national ID I personally cannot support this in any way.
This is America and you can do what you like with this letter. I have received calls asking me if I am going to fill it out and send it back, so this letter is merely telling you what I plan to do with my letter. Maybe if enough of us draw a circle on the letter with a line running through it and send it back a strong message will be sent to USDA. There is a postage paid envelope to send it back so it will not cost you a dime.
Someday this will become mandatory and I will have to have a premise ID number, but for now this is VOLUNTARY and I volunteer not to participate.
Thank you,
Rick Fox
Remember this program is VOLUNTARY at this time. With what has happened with COOL recently (delayed yet another 2 years) and the excuses for essentially killing it, I am going to make a big circle on the form with a line running through it and send it back to the AIB. The meat packers and retailers killed COOL by saying it was a record keeping nightmare, so I think we should use their tactics to kill MANDATORY ANIMAL ID. If there ever was going to be a record keeping nightmare this is it. The government will track your cattle for every premise to premise movement and want info on births and deaths of livestock etc. (talk about government intrusiveness).
Some other points why I am against signing up for a premise ID number is that by doing so you are saying that you support animal ID. Yes that is true, about a month ago the Sec. of Agriculture, Mike Johanns said in an interview that nearly 100,000 producers have signed up for a premise number so there is that much support for mandatory ID program. Well, I know individuals that got a premise number but are in no way in support of a mandatory program. I actually don't know why these people signed up for a number.
Another thing is that the USDA wants to let the NCBA control the database for the program. I don't know about you but I don't trust NCBA to keep my records confidential from the meat packers and others who can exploit the whole cattle industry. Results of the pilot programs that USDA funded are coming in way below what was expected for tracking livestock. Furthermore, computers are hacked into at high level places, how convenient for the database controller to simply say that someone hacked into the database and stole your cattle information.
This letter is coming from USDA, they are just using the state AIB to channel this part of the program (premise numbers) through. I have no gripe with Dr. Sam Holland or the AIB, they are doing what USDA has asked of them. For the state vets, keeping track of the animals in their state is a big part of the job, but from what I have seen and heard of the USDA wishes for a national ID I personally cannot support this in any way.
This is America and you can do what you like with this letter. I have received calls asking me if I am going to fill it out and send it back, so this letter is merely telling you what I plan to do with my letter. Maybe if enough of us draw a circle on the letter with a line running through it and send it back a strong message will be sent to USDA. There is a postage paid envelope to send it back so it will not cost you a dime.
Someday this will become mandatory and I will have to have a premise ID number, but for now this is VOLUNTARY and I volunteer not to participate.
Thank you,
Rick Fox