I have none of the 'conspiracy theory' generated fears of NAIS, and understand the purpose (protection of US farm animals against rapidly transmissible diseases).
However, if it ISN'T implemented, I and others who understand the value of information which can be transmitted via RFID tags can even more easily capture that value because fewer animals with RFID will be available.
Re. branding: we do hot iron brand, castrate, occasionally have one which needs dehorning (most are naturally polled), and perform other health related tasks which may APPEAR painful and cruel, are they truly so? I say no more than many similar practices applied to humans, from birth onward.
Do they still circumsize boy babies without anesthesia. I now it used to be that the anesthesia was considered more dangerous than the mementary pain of not using it. As I recall, some other surgeries were, and maybe still are, performed on tiny babies without significant anesthesia, tho Im not oinvinced it was truly only momentary pain.
We once had a four year old who required a couple of stitches on his forehead and the doc said going without pain killer would result in one less 'stick' than just whipping in the stitches. The pain truly was momentary and he was pretty tough about it. Many of us have experienced similar situations as adults and understand that such pain likely isn't as bad as thinking about it beforehand was!
THen, there is childbirth without, or with little real pain relief.....I will spare you the details! But it is worth pointing out these issues to people who believe we are cruel for properly caring for our animals by administering such treatments.
We do notice that the fear of the little calves, and especially being separated from their mothers for a short time is probably more fear-inducing than the actual treatment, even hot iron branding. They are nursing immediately after being reunited, and even playing and acting as tho nothing had happened within very few hours, with very few exceptions......and who knows but what those were due to other causes. A calf which gets infected from castration, for instance, likely had something awry in their system BEFORE the surgery, and the open wound is where the organism presents itself. Doesn't happen often, and is the major reason for carefully checking the herd in a day or so after branding/castrating. That is assuming clean conditions and proper meds used in the operation.
However, as in many animal husbandry practices.......to each his own methods and let the marketplace sort the better practitioners from the lesser ones.
mrj