Vemont Against NAIS

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Vermont_against_NAIS/

I'm trying to pull together resources for Vermonters to use to stop the National Animal Identification System as it pertains to hobbyists, homesteaders, 4-H clubs, small family farmers, backyard farmers, etc.

Join Vermont Against NAIS, use the information at stopanimalid.org and nonais.org. There are petitions, flyers, intelligent talking points, things you can do, people you can contact. I'll be putting up links for Rural Vermont and NOFA so that you can make yourselves heard there. They need a little more pushing to get them moving.

Fight the National Animal Identification System

If you've come here looking for information about the NAIS, you've come to the right place.

stopanimalid.org -----> flyers, petitions, ideas, fire for your belly
nonais.org -----------> contact information, timeline, discussion lists, a good logo or two
slowfoodforum.org ------->more information

And finally, Join Farm for Life.
Contact:
Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), J.D. (Yale), Executive Director of Farm for LifeTM
P.O. Box 501, Canton, New York 13617
Email: mlz@slic.com
phone: 315-386-3199

Pretend you are Paul Revere and ride, run, tell everyone as fast as you can. If you don't, in not too many years from right now, the only food sources left will be the mega-conglomerates. And we all know what they feed their animals.

PS. Did you know the USDA is kicking around the idea of importing chickens from China? Don't believe me? Google it up, my friend, read it and weep.

Hen (I will not wear a chip)

Vermont Agency Wants to Create Farm Registry

Vt. Agency Wants to Create Farm Registry

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Writer
© 2005 The Associated Press

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Vermont Agency of Agriculture wants to keep closer track of all livestock in the state to be prepared in case of an outbreak of mad cow disease, avian flu or other diseases.

The agency has proposed requiring that all livestock farms register with the state.

The registry is necessary "so that if we have an outbreak of disease we can act very, very quickly," Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr said last week.

The new rules must first be approved by a legislative committee. If passed, they would take effect in July, officials said.

The plan is part of a national effort to eventually identify every cow, pig and chicken and store information about them in a database, officials said. The Agriculture Department is developing an animal tracking system that would allow livestock to be traced within 48 hours.

After mad cow disease was confirmed two years ago in a Washington state heifer imported from Canada, more than 450 cows had to be destroyed because it was unclear how many animals came in contact with the infected one, Kerr said.

The discovery of the disease in the U.S. cost beef producers between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion in lost exports, said state Veterinarian Dr. Kerry Rood.

The state's livestock have been relatively disease-free for nearly 20 years, officials said. Vermont eradicated tuberculosis in 1979, brucellosis in 1982 and is working to control rabies and West Nile virus.

The federal government required all states to develop a farm registry system by 2005, Kerr said.

Vermont has not yet determined what size farms will have to register, but Kerr said he is concerned about small backyard flocks.

"In my opinion, we need to make this mandatory to the backyard level," he said.
My emphasis.

If you are in Vermont, start writing your legislators now. Write to Steve Kerr and Dr. Rood.

We must stop this....at all costs or the costs will be greater than you can imagine.

Hen

First post of the New Year

Has it been nearly two months since I last posted? Originally, this blog was supposed to be about my life, but the NAIS has taken over, it's that important of an issue. The visitor count is way up, 38 visitors just this week! They are coming from googlesque searches for NAIS information. And from bloggers like Sugar Mountain Farm. Thank you Walter!

There does seem to be more awareness about the National Animal Identification System which makes me happy. I hope that we can do something about it. Your next stop from here should be to StopAnimalID.org.

Here in Vermont we have several important political races coming up this year. One is for Senate (R) down in Washington. I met Rich Tarrant, running for that seat, the night he did a spaghetti dinner in St. Albans. He was up at the front introducing himself and expounding on what he was gonna do for us. Yeah. He went on and on about the organics issue and the family or small farmer. I raised my hand at that moment and said, "Well, if the NAIS gets put into place there won't be any family farmers, so the issue will be moot." Ha! His face turned red, he looked over at his campaign manager who did not know what I was talking about. Later, I spoke with Rich and spoke with his campaign manager a couple of times about it. They were going to take up the cross, yeah sure. From his website: http://www.tarrant06.com

Q. How do you see Vermont workers fitting into the American and world job markets?

A: Globalization is inevitable. I believe that Vermont reaps enormous benefits from international trade, especially, our trade with Canada.

Globalization is inevitable? Cutting edge thinking there, Rich. (wink, wink) Can't we have a candidate who really represents the people?

Hen