Wisconsin Dept. of Ag, Alert

This is from someone in Wisconsin. This is what is happening in Wisconsin with NAIS. Wisconsin stand UP! Make yourselves heard at the state house.


Wisconsin Department of Ag wants to further criminalize farmers, and some farmers are willing to stand up and say that DATCP is violating constitutional rights by implementing NAIS. Countless refuse to cave, many are hiding in order to follow their personal, and religious rights by refusing to sign up for Premises ID, the first step in the National Animal ID System (NAIS). Amish are selling the herds and stopping farming rather than comply. While my family had been producing food for others, we had to stop in Jan 2006 because of NAIS implementation in WI. Now, even producing food for ourselves without submitting to NAIS in Wisconsin under an unconstitutional law is a crime.

The state legislature gave full authority to the DATCP to create exemptions based on size and type of farm (WI Statute 95.51 [3m]). The Dept of Ag continues to LIE to us and tell us that they want to protect us from disease, yet state statute 95.52 does not mention disease, let alone prevent or protect against it. They will argue repeatedly that they want 48 hour traceback in case of disease, but that is only after you or your animals are ill. They flatly refuse to allow testing for BSE ("mad cow" or other diseases at slaughter, and this law is the first of it's kind in the country, based on USDA rules, to pass as law.

Ag Secretary Nilsestuen says unequivocally in a Sept 2005 letter to the US House of Representatives, "We support the use of RFID technology in all livestock species as deemed effective and appropriate by the NAIS Working Species Groups". He wants all working species to be microchipped and has not recanted this statement in spite of a recent New York Times article that cites numerous studies of RFID tags causing cancer in animals.

What makes Premises ID most appalling is that WI DATCP does not keep the info it receives, they send it along to the Agribusiness Old Boys Network, alive and well and risking your health and safety in WI. Should you sign up, all information gets turned over to a private interest group, the WLIC. A group made up of Cargill, Equity, Digital Angel, Breeding Groups and microchip companies keeps the info.

DATCP now wants to give numbers in spite of resistance, in spite of constitutional rights to not be chipped or give up property rights. A PA lawsuit was resolved in 48 business hours because their Dept of Ag gave away numbers without statutory authority. The COO of WLIC told me personally last year that MI has been setting a great example for animal ID, yet in MI where state Ag authorities come onto land owned by Greg Niewendorp and microchipped his cattle without permission.

Until Thursday of this week, we have By U.S. mail to DATCP-DAH, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911, ATTN Melissa Mace and include subject line Proposed Changes to ATCP 10, 12 and 17 – Wisconsin’s Animal Health Rule.the opportunity to tell DATCP to stop their tyranny, to stop signing farmers up against their will for Premises ID, and to get off the Herb Kohl federally funded NAIS bandwagon.

You can send your comments to: By email to Melissa.mace@wi.gov and include subject line Proposed Changes to ATCP 10, 12 and 17 – Wisconsin’s Animal Health Rules. and tell them that they can no longer get away with tracking and usurping our property rights.

Last spring DATCP tried to sandbag me and 3 others for our opposition, we stood strong with 120 others, how many can speak out this time? The only way we can defeat this is to stand strong, and together. We will have NO local food supply if we allow this NAIS to continue. Here is the information that I have been able to put together on all of this over the past year and a half, it is included in my statements to the DATCP Board in an open hearing earlier this month:

I would like to urge this board to exercise extreme caution. By even considering signing people up against our own volition for the National Animal Identification System, you are walking on a micro-thin line.

As individuals, I would like you to remember that you also enjoy these same protections afforded under the constitution of the United States, and the Wisconsin State Constitution, both of which grant us liberty to free exercise of religion, the right to the use of our name, our papers, and personal property. As a citizen, I promise you that were something this egregious to threaten your rights by another agency, that I would stand beside you and fight with you to maintain those rights.

As a board, I want to remind you that you represent the state, and by considering these measures, the state is usurping personal rights and responsibilities from us as private individuals. I can think of no worse violation that I have personally faced in my life. If you make this move you will be criminalizing freedom, and countless will be forced to chose between obeying the state and obeying their beliefs. This is a fundamental outrage, and a decision that you should not have the authority to even consider.

I think I speak for a majority here when I say that you do not have my consent to sign me, my family or my property up for any program.

With that in mind, I would additionally remind you that we are also aware of the truth. This is not about animal disease; this does nothing to prevent disease, nothing to treat it, and doesn't even address it. Saying it over and over and sending it out in a “media blitz” does not make it true. By using semantics in press releases that are half truths, and lying repeatedly, you do the public a grave disservice.

The National Animal ID System has three steps, the first is Premises ID, the second is tagging all animals, and the third is tracking all animals. The statute 95.51 (3m) allows for exemptions but there are none created. Rather than consider this, DATCP goes to the opposite extreme and now wants to sign up individuals who disagree without consent. A person who owns one livestock animal or more must register with the Wisconsin Livestock ID Consortium, WLIC, not DATCP. WLIC has contracted with DATCP and maintains the database. DATCP also contracts with the USDA to implement NAIS.

WLIC sends the information to Colorado to the USDA database, and registrants are given a US PIN code that is unique to the property. It stays with the property, and there is no way to remove it from either database. The PIN can be inactivated, but records cannot be expunged. Even though it is "confidential" all licenses held (i.e. Milk Producer Licenses) and County Fair attendees, have the US PIN attached and printed on them and are required at most county fairs. Milk Licenses are available in open records requests. This cannot, then, be confidential.

Background Nationally: In 1988, the Livestock Conservation Institute (LCI) hosted the International Livestock Identification Symposium, long before the first outbreak of BSE ("mad cow") was reported in the US. LCI is the predecessor of NIAA, National Institute of Animal Agriculture, and their membership parallels the membership in the WLIC. In 2002 ID/INFO EXPO, hosted by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (LCI’s successor). "Highlights" of that meeting included a report from the WLIC. This presentation, by Neil Hammerschmidt, now with the USDA and then COO of WLIC, stressed the importance of cooperation on identification and more importantly how it was being accomplished in Wisconsin. The National Identification Development Team, established in early 2002 by NIAA, presented the first preliminary draft of what later would be known as the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) and is now NAIS. This is two full years before the law was passed in WI.

Background in WI:

In 2002 WLIC set up shop in WI with a $3.75 M USDA grant procured in part by Herb Kohl. Senator Kohl has Kim Cates as his Agricultural aide, and she is married to Dick Cates, of the DATCP board. WLIC has received (according to their 990s) several millions of dollars to date. ($1.75M in 2007 according to the Cooperative Agreement)

The USDA moved NAIS from Mandatory to Voluntary in 2005 because of public outcry, but in WI, the Premises ID law had already been passed before the spring of 2004. We were the first, and it was passed in just over two months, by telephone vote (according to a taped comment April 25th, 2007 made by Al Ott, Chair Assembly Ag Committee).

Farmers Union and Farm Bureau are members of WILC, M&I Bank, Digital Angel, Allflex, Cargill, and as I continually state, it is a huge conflict of interest for them and to be members. Biotech companies like ABS Global are additional members. They also have ex offico members who include DATCP Board members, the WI state vets, Eihlenfeldt and McGraw, and USDA officials. A former original member is State Rep. Gary Tauchen who also sat on the Assembly Ag Committee. There are in fact 6 RFID tags that are approved by WLIC/NAIS at this time: 2 manufactured by Allflex, 2 by Digital Angel, 1 by Y-Tex and 1 by Global Animal Management. All four are WLIC members. Does everyone see how it is easy realize the fact that this is a conspiracy?

Secretary Nilsestuen's comments at the US House Ag Committee meeting in Sept of 2005 which completely contradict his statements in his May 1, 2007 press release and in the State Journal, because what DATCP does is send the same information out over and over just to different places. The secretary stated that he and DATCP "support the use of RFID technology in all livestock species as deemed effective and appropriate by the NAIS Species Working Groups." So yes, RFID tagging is next, and is already underway if you look at the WLIC web site.

A copy of the Cooperative Agreement between the USDA and DATCP, names Dr. Weimers as the National Animal ID Coordinator. The USDA website confirms that Asst. State Vet Paul McGraw, sitting right here, is the NAIS Administrator to the State of Wisconsin. It's listed also listed on the USDA website.

I don’t see any difference in this than if Merck, Pfiser, Abbot Labs, were to get together with RFID companies, the CDC and NIH and FDA to implement a national database on our children and microchip them all after they have been vaccinated, then bribe the states with tax money to set up a database which would be maintained by the pharmaceutical companies and other private interest corporations.

I fear that we as a race are doomed if you continue on this course, and again urge you to approach this as humans.

Copyright 2006-2008 all rights reserved.

Now or Never…NAIS at the Threshold

©Doreen Hannes

I want to tell you how I found out about NAIS in the hope that you will see how disturbing this is and why we have to fight it with everything we have. In July of 2005, I went to a meeting at the Ava Missouri Sale Barn regarding a new electronic cattle identification program that was to be mandatory in January of 2006 in order to sell cattle in the State of Missouri. Yes, January of 2006. Dr Taylor Woods, a member of the NAIS Subcommittee, was the one speaking. He never said what the name of the program was, nor offered any website where one could go for information. I asked a couple of questions and then made a statement. That statement was, "It sounds like you just want to have complete control of the food supply." Dr Woods replied, "We already do." It is a frightening prospect to consider any group of men in complete control of the food supply, much less a bunch of people who fear microbes. Needless to say, much of what Dr Woods stated was not entirely true. We would not be required to electronically identify our cattle to be able to sell them in January of 2006, and it wasn't really a done deal except in the minds of bureaucrats who hate the fact that we still have this irritating thing called the United States Constitution that needs to at least be given lip service from time to time or chance a full scale revolt.

Then, in late November of 2005 I went into a local feed store, MFA, and was greeted by a flame orange sign on the counter saying "Due to the Bioterrorism Act We must have your name, address and phone number to sell you feed". As creepy as that is, I now had a starting place. In a short amount of time I found myself with the name of the program Dr Woods was talking about, which was indeed the National Animal Identification System, and a whole lot of information on the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, which is basically NAIS for food and feed up to the final consumer. Incidentally, the Bioterrorism Act passed as part of the 2002 Farm Bill, which included the Animal Health Protection Act (the USDA claims AHPA as their authorizing legislation for NAIS) introduced by none other than current Ag Chair Senator Harkin of Iowa. This same man has now introduced the first probable statutory reference to NAIS in the 2007 Farm Bill. Is this a coincidence? Not likely.

The USDA recently released new documents that will make NAIS next to impossible to fight without going on the offensive and filing suit against the Federal government. The USDA states in their Business Plan that in a scant few weeks (February 2008) they will issue a proposed rule to roll all breed registry identification into NAIS. They will also issue rules to roll all disease control programs into NAIS compliant identification standards. Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, Coggin's and Pseudorabies will magically roll right in through the rulemaking process. NPIP for poultry will just roll on in. Scrapies for sheep and goats will simply be turned in to NAIS premise ID without the knowledge or even consent of participants in this program. Certificates of health to move animals across state lines, or even within the state will be rolled in as well. If you get the idea that NAIS is like a bulldozer on steroids, you'd be about right. Remember that NAIS is a three part program with it's foundation being premise identification. You must have a premise id to get an animal id, and you must have premise id and animal id to have animal tracking.

The USDA is busily making Cooperative Agreements with all states and tribes and any non profit organization that will stick it's hand out for the taxpayer money to encourage and probably require their members to enroll in premise id and animal id in order to reap the benefits of membership in those organizations. The states are to help make NAIS compulsory in order to engage in commerce under these contracts. There is an exception allowed for individual animal identification… If you never move an animal off your property other than directly to slaughter it will not require an NAIS animal id, but there is no exception mentioned or alluded to for premise id under USDA's plan.

Meanwhile, our federal level legislators blithely reiterate to us "NAIS is voluntary at the Federal level" and say that they are doing so well because they cut the budget for NAIS. Well, the infrastructure has already been laid, folks. Unless you specifically stop NAIS via statute or a moratorium, it's going to roll over all of our rights through all disease control programs! Why do you refuse to uphold your oath of office? You didn't take an oath to pervert "general welfare" for the benefit of corporations and bureaucrats, did you? Did our forefathers bleed and die so that an agency could require birth certificates on chickens?

Many people seem to have a very difficult time understanding that NAIS is and always has been 48-hour traceback on all livestock. If you want 48-hour traceback, you must have 24 hour reporting of movements. NAIS is not a marketing program; it is being brought to bear at the point of market. NAIS cannot, by very definition, be a voluntary program. The USDA is holding states hostage at the point of interstate commerce by attaching NAIS premise id, and animal id to health certificates and disease control programs. To up the ante even further, they are buying the participation of feedlots, breed organizations, farm groups, youth groups and processors. To move across state lines, or in many cases, even within that state, you will need to be in NAIS. How can that be voluntary?

NAIS opposition has been fairly effective fighting this on a state by state level in a disorganized and haphazard fashion. The original plans called for mandatory in January of 2008 and mandatory with enforcement of all aspects in January of 2009. We've pushed the USDA back, and sideways, but we have not stopped them because the people in positions of power have not had the will to take on the fight.

The anti-NAIS movement has had a grand total of one case filed; and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture backed off just because of the filing. Why are all the attorneys who have stepped into this battle against NAIS not going after the federal government for an injunction or more? The entire program is patently and assuredly un-Constitutional. The USDA is trying to shift all lawsuits to the states by saying "NAIS is voluntary at the federal level" while they push the states into full implementation through perverting the Interstate Commerce Clause.

Certainly, if we still have a Constitution, we can win on simply the religious objection alone. But our arguments go further than even the First amendment. We also have the 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th amendments that are being violated with NAIS. There are issues of unfair competition that will need to be addressed, as well as real estate effects of this program. Why can't we get on the offensive and file suit? We have harm in many of those who were rolled in, or coerced into the program, and they are not all Amish who won't file suits.

We have the Alliance Defense Fund who won the case without even going to court in PA, and the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, who have taken on Greg Niewendorp's case in Michigan, the Center for Law and Religious Freedom involved in Wisconsin where the Amish have been assigned PIN's without their consent; they have all broken their teeth on NAIS. We have several individual attorneys who are well researched on the subject, and still, no filing on the federal level to stop the USDA from shoving this down our throats. The states of Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin already have mandatory NAIS to a large degree. With the myriad of roll ins (Massachusetts, Idaho, Colorado Fairs, Illinois fairs, North Carolina Fairs and hay, Tennessee hay share, NY calf hood vaccination, Pennsylvania any farm programs, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, etc.) without proper authorization, there is no doubt where this is going. And it doesn't take a degree to see it.

While I readily concede that suing the USDA is not something to be done on a whim, surely if some of these learned individuals could get together and keep their egos out of the way we could find someone with the proper experience and expertise to bring suit against the USDA and get it stopped before we have to fight every single rule they promulgate related to NAIS for every one of the species covered under the program.

This is a plea from one who knows without a doubt that if this program is not stopped that there will be bloodshed…and not just the blood of animals. I am fully committed to doing everything within my power to stop this before it comes to that point. Please, please, stop playing politics and start filing before we have a complete disaster on our hands.

And to the unwashed masses, people like me that is, we cannot and must not fail to call our representatives on a regular basis and let them know we expect them to uphold the Constitution and the principles of freedom we have been endowed with. When we get a federal suit filed, we will need to reach into our wallets and support the one bringing the suit. When we get meaningful legislation to stop this, we must rally support for those pushing for us. It is going to take every one of us in whatever capacity we have to get this thing stopped. Don't wait for someone else to do it, or it won't get done. Your freedom is your responsibility. We have a gigantic secret weapon… there are way more of "us" than "them", and we're right!

The Rebel Cow Farmer

Finally a balanced article. It is long but well worth the read.

The Rebel Cow Farmer
Anne Stanton

Greg Niewendorp was a passing blip on the TV news last week, but it�s a blip that will likely balloon. Niewendorp has started a needed conversation about the industrialization of our food supply, and the liberties of people�both farmers and consumers�who don�t want to be part of it.
Last week, in an act of civil disobedience, Niewendorp forced the Michigan Department of Agriculture to obtain a search warrant before coming onto his farm to put radio frequency ID chips on his cattle and to test his cattle for bovine tuberculosis.

SHERIFF RIDES INTO COW TOWN
The scene was peaceful. Charlevoix County Sheriff George Lasater read the search warrant while Niewendorp and 10 supporters stood and listened on an unusually hot fall morning. Niewendorp�s supporters, including one woman who worked on a TB project in Nepal years ago, peppered the key state official, Bridget Patrick, with questions about the $10 million bovine TB eradication program. After about 30 minutes of this, the two techs and the state veterinarian hiked the hills of 160 acres of pastureland to find, catch, and do the skin test on the cattle. It took them the entire day.
Niewendorp lives in the middle of a very quiet nowhere in East Jordan, raising about 20 herd of dairy and beef cattle and one hog. He rotates his cows on 40 different pastures, riding his horse and using a herd dog. In winter, the cows eat hay. Like a lot of small-scale farmers, he slaughters the cows himself and �gives� to friends and family.
His homestead is reminiscent of the kids� tale of Old MacDonald�s farm - and starkly contrasts with the Kansas feedlots of 38,000 head of confined cattle. It wasn�t lost on anyone standing at Niewendorp�s farm that the nation just suffered its second largest recall of meat in history�more than 21 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties suspected of E. coli bacteria contamination �a byproduct of feedlot cows forced to stand in their own manure for months on end.
Niewendorp�s own farm began as a political rebirth. A fifth generation farmer, Niewendorp, 54, grew up on an Iowa farm and saw his father play by the rules in the 1960s, employing �modern management techniques.� His dad amped up his beef herd and each year, confined the animals, and tried to �manage� the pools of liquid manure, which created a penetrating stench on the farm. But �bigger� meant broker, and the family farm went belly-up.

GROWING RESENTMENT
There is no stench on Niewendorp�s farm because the cattle are not confined. Niewendorp said the factory farm system heightens the risk of disease, which has led to the birth of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Its goal is to track every animal from birth to death, and all the movements in between, with the radio frequency IDs that look like white buttons. Supporters say that tagging animals with a 15-digit ID will make the food supply safer. The USDA aims to register all meat producers by January of 2009.
The idea of the NAIS�voluntary in most states�is to quickly identify the source of an infected animal and to protect citizens from terrorists who contaminate the food supply. Farmers will have to log in every �event� of an animal�s life, such as going to a fair, trucking them to another farm, or participating in a rodeo. Not just cattle, but also pet ponies, 4-H animals, and backyard chickens (not fish, though). Scanners at the slaughter house read the chips, much like a grocery store wand reads the price of milk.
Niewendorp said small farmers can scarcely afford the burden of logging and reporting every event of every animal�s life.
The state switched to the RFIDs in March, but was already tracking cattle with metal tags. Niewendorp believes they are using the bovine TB issue as a guise to comply with the NAIS, although state officials say it�s simply quicker, with less room for error.
�These tags make me part of the system, and I have never agreed to that,� he said.
David Gumpert, a writer for Businessweek.com with the blog, thecompletepatient.com, has followed Niewendorp�s story since last winter. He calls his actions �a rebellion of the factory food system.�
�This all ties into nutritional freedom and the growing resentment and suspicion of our country�s whole food supply. A bigger issue than NAIS and raw milk and bovine TB is the integrity of the food system. What you�re seeing is the reaction of increasing numbers of people buying local. What Greg really does is sell directly to local consumers. Unfortunately, the state�s view will take away the individual�s right to self-police, and to knowingly buy meat from cattle that hasn�t been tested for bovine TB or injected with antibiotics or hormones, precisely because that meat is clean.�

TEST OR CONSEQUENCES
On the other side of this issue is Bridget Patrick, the bovine TB eradication project coordinator from the Michigan Department of Community Health and liaison MDA.
She believes that Niewendorp has a right to his opinion, but says it�s a straightforward issue: the state simply wants to protect the public from the risk of contracting bovine tuberculosis, and to stop its spread from wild deer herds to domestic cattle. The test is free, she said, and Niewendorp owes his customers the assurance of safe meat. (As a note, all commercial cattle have been federally inspected for TB at slaughter facilities since 1959; no one, to Patrick�s knowledge, has been sickened by eating a TB cow.)
�The thing is, we have to test for TB because it is in the deer herds, and if we don�t find it in the cattle, it can go from cattle to healthy deer. So although this person doesn�t want to participate in the testing program, he�s jeopardizing the cattle farms and the deer herd,� Patrick said.
There�s a real fear that bovine TB has spread from the northeast part of the state to Antrim and Emmet counties. Yet the devil is in the details. One wild deer tested positive in 1999 in Antrim County. Neither cattle nor deer have tested positive in Charlevoix County where Niewendorp lives. Two cattle tested positive in neighboring Emmet County, but that was five years ago. Two cattle tested positive in farms somewhat near Niewendorp�s farm, but were imported from different parts of the state. The only animal to definitively contract TB in the area was a dairy cow, which tested positive in May of 2006, but it was 15 miles from Niewendorp�s ranch (the range of a wild deer is seven miles). Extensive testing of wild deer turned up nothing.
When pressed at last week�s event, Patrick said this: �If we don�t test, our farmers would lose their ability to market their cattle. It would impact the entire country.�
And her point is valid. The USDA can impose heavy consequences on Michigan farmers if the state does not meet its testing requirements. Since Michigan lost its TB-free status, farmers have sold meat as usual, but Wisconsin farmers stopped buying the state�s live cattle.
Since testing began a decade ago, the numbers of one or more cows testing positive in a herd have dropped from a high of eight herd in 2001 to four last year. Only one cow tested positive this year so far.
Wild deer tell a different story. It peaked at 78 in 1998, with numbers bouncing generally down. A total of 41 deer tested positive in 2006, about twice the number of 2005, and they continue to heavily cluster in the Alpena area, home to exclusive hunt clubs of the rich and powerful (see sidebar).

ONE COW, TRIPLE THE HASSLE
If a single cow is diagnosed with TB, the entire herd is �depopulated� as Patrick would say. The reasoning: the bacterium is very slow growing. Infected cows might test negatively, yet spread it to deer who are nuzzling them through the fence. Producers receive fair-market value, the testing is TB free, so Patrick is wondering why Niewendorp is complaining.
Patrick�s words sound soothing. But Niewendorp�s act of civil disobedience has prompted farmers to speak up.
There is Doug Kirkpatrick, a farmer outside of Alpena, who had his 50 cattle and 10 pigs �depopulated� after a single cow was diagnosed with TB. The herd was condemned a year ago, but the USDA took months to remove. Kirkpatrick told the Petoskey News Review that he spent $6,000 to feed animals considered already dead. The state also killed 231 cattle owned by Kendall Sumerix of Alpena because a cow he bought from Montana tested positive. The MDA went even further and destroyed another 26 cattle of his brother-in-law, Kim Sumerix, in June of 2006. Why?
�Because we bought 13 of the Montana cows from Kendall two and a half years before they ever found the reactor cow in Kendall�s herd,� said Neva Sumerix, who is married to Kim. �But our cattle never tested positive. We were blown away. They told us we had to destroy any relation to his cow because of the possibility of exposure. There was also an issue of what to do with the 13 calves, but my husband and I both work full-time and we didn�t have the time to bottle feed the calves, so we said, take them too. We tried to get along. If we didn�t, our herd would have been quarantined and we wouldn�t have been able to sell our cattle to make payments on the farm. It doesn�t make any sense.�
The MDA says it gives market value for the cows that are �depopulated,� but Sumerix said she had to pay more money for the 11 new cattle than the total she received for the 26 killed. The farmer can�t restock the farm until the last exposed cow leaves the premises, and then it�s another several months to disinfect the farm. That�s time the farmer loses to make money.
Kim Korthase, who lives 10 miles from Niewendorp, said after a steer tested positive, it took �months and months� for the USDA to remove the 259 cattle.
�They found one deer in Antrim County in 1999. Are we going to kill everything for one deer? They have to treat each area for the actual risk. I say, get rid of the deer in the (Alpena area) and let the deer herd come back healthy.�

A BETTER WAY?
Whole herd testing began in Charlevoix County after the MDA declared Antrim County as a �high risk� area in a July 2003 memo. Niewendorp went along and allowed his herd to be tested for TB, but he began researching the disease, believing there was a better way. He discovered that bovine TB bacteria thrives in high-acid, high-iron soil that�s common in Northern Michigan. The iron percolates into the water and into grass and herbs, which are eaten by deer and cattle. With high iron levels, the deer and cattle are more susceptible to the invasion of bovine TB. Bait piles also throw off the deers� natural diet and drive up iron levels. Medical studies show that TB bacteria thrives when a host has high iron supplies. Niewendorp gives his own herd calcium-enriched water, which helps keep iron levels normal for very little money.
He also came across a 1997 Michigan State University study of M. paratuberculosis, in which Michigan farmers were asked to apply lime to pastures as a protective measure. This particular bacteria causes Johne�s Disease. It is a mycobacterium, the same as bovine TB, but not a strain of bovine tuberculosis. In that study, researchers saw a ten-fold reduction in odds of herd infection in pastures applied with lime.
Dr. John Kaneene, a study author and an MSU professor of epidemiology, said he believes it would be a good idea to conduct a similar study with the bovine TB bacterium. One reason is that three Michigan farms found with infected cattle were re-infected, despite attempts to disinfect the grounds.
�The question is, why? Obviously there are many, many reasons. Maybe the farmers don�t do what we recommend�disinfecting and cleaning their farm before bringing in new animals. But the one key question is, are we destroying the organism from the environment from the farm.�
After hearing of Niewendorp�s approach of reducing iron levels of the cattle with calcium supplements, Kaneene agreed that it might serve as an experimental approach. The only caveat was getting permission to expose healthy animals with a dangerous bacteria.

ODD BEDFELLOWS
Along the way, Niewendorp has collected an odd mix of bedfellows�organic food activists such as author Stephanie Mills; stay-off-my-land property rights activists in Antrim and Charlevoix counties; and Amish farmers who feel the same way as Niewendorp about getting their animals tagged. The Amish oppose the tags because of a prophesy in the Bible�s Book of Revelation, which says the �beast� forced everyone to �receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark.� In this case, the computer that scans the ear tags would be the beast.
Niewendorp also had long talks with Ted Beals, a pathologist who taught at the University of Michigan Medical School for 31 years. Beals� own research showed that it is extremely rare for a person to contract bovine TB in this country with current safeguards (although some elderly may harbor the bacteria from earlier days).
In fact, since the big TB scare ten years ago, the MDA has identified only two people with the specific strain of bovine TB. One was a hunter who was dressing a deer in Alpena County. He cut into a TB nodule and the bacteria seeped into a cut in his hand. The cut was badly infected and it took nine months to heal with the help of antibiotics, Patrick said.
The other was an elderly man, who died of other causes shortly after the bacteria was discovered in a medical workup. No one knows how and when he got TB.
The chances of contracting bovine TB by eating meat is so remarkably low, it�s almost impossible, Beals said.
�The animal would have to be very, very sick, and you�d have to eat an infected part of that animal. If the animal had active TB, it would be very obvious to the farmer it was very sick. It�s unlikely that the animal would get past an inspector, and if it did, you�d have to eat the part of the animal that�s actively infected (the lungs, stomach or lymph nodes), and that�s even less likely.�
How about drinking milk from a TB cow?
Possible, but again, highly unlikely. �I am unaware of any documented cases in which a human became infected with bovine tuberculosis by drinking milk that contained the bacteria. It may be technically possible for the bacteria to be present in milk (in those countries with lots of infected and sick cows) and technically possible for a human to drink that milk and have bovine tuberculosis in the intestine, but I do not believe that it has ever been documented. And that is not even conceivable in a country were bovine tuberculosis is seen only rarely in cows, and sick cows are not being milked,� Beals said.

EXTRAVAGANT WASTE
The bovine TB eradication program in 1996 cost several hundred thousand dollars. Now it tops $10 million.
Niewendorp said that one reason he refused testing last year, and again this year, was that the program is an �extravagant waste of money.� A state law says testing must stop if there�s no positive finding within three years in a �high risk� area (Patrick said Charlevoix County is not �high risk�). He contends that the state has not refined or pared down the program and that�s because it would lose $5 million in federal matching grants.
Meanwhile, many hunters are still using bait piles because it hasn�t affected them. Only one deer has actually been found dead of TB, perhaps because critters eat the weak and infected deer, or the deer are shot before getting sick. Whatever the reason, herd numbers are steady.
Beals supports common sense herd management, but said that testing Niewendorp�s herd is unreasonable.
�He is a very good farmer and he knows his animals very well, unlike some situations. There are some big factory farms, where the actual owner may never see the animals. He�s not like that. He knows their health. If any are sick, he knows about it. They are his equity. He�s extraordinarily careful when milking his animals to avoid contamination.�
But wouldn�t examination on a farm-by-farm basis be too difficult?
�The inspectors do know Greg personally and they know all the farmers personally � I don�t buy that argument. You need to do something wrong before you�re arrested or issued a ticket. We expect from our civil servants a fairly high degree of judgment.
Author Stephanie Mills agreed that the state must act in a measured way or risk bankrupting small farmers.
�I must tell you that having consumed beef and milk and cream from Greg�s animals, I discovered what those things really taste like. I did so knowingly. We weigh the risks of the vanishingly small possibility of getting TB from these grass-fed critters against the risks of getting something worse from poorly inspected slaughterhouse beef that�s been re-reddened by exposure to carbon monoxide to keep it salable on the shelf, or encountering hormones in milk that�s come from scores of big dairies to be processed and mixed. I can imagine there being small farmers who are real slobs and who try to get away with shabby practices and sick herds, and I wouldn�t knowingly trade with them. But I know Greg and I know his standards.�

So how did the TB skin tests come out? Two of Niewendorp�s young calves tested positive, meaning they could have avian TB, which is harmless to cattle, or bovine TB. It also could be a false positive. A blood test will provide answers on Tuesday. Stay tuned.


Is The Feeding �Ban� a Farce?

By Anne Stanton

Back in 1994, there came a troubling sign that Michigan was no longer free of bovine tuberculosis. An infected deer was found on the grounds of the ritzy Turtle Lake Club, a 23,000-acre deer hunting club that�s home to 19 multi-millionaire members and cottage mansions.
The 1994 discovery led to the state�s effort to eradicate bovine TB both from cattle and deer. But one farmer in the �hot zone� surrounding Alpena County said the state won�t win the war until it stops going easy on the powerful hunt clubs.
If you�ve never heard of the Turtle Lake Club, an Outdoor Life article describes life on the other side:
�Hunters at Turtle Lake are taken to their blinds in horse-drawn wagons. The deer are driven to the hunters by locals who walk through the woods squeezing rubber bulbs on horns like those used in antique cars,� * wrote Eric Sharp in the September 2007 article.
State officials realized that deer eating and breathing together at bait piles triggered the bovine TB problem. That led to limiting bait to two gallons per hunt site; it must be spread out, not piled.
But farmer Kendall Sumerix, also a biochemist, said enforcement of that rule is a farce. The number of bovine TB deer found in 2006 was about double that of 2005. That�s because the state became lax, he said.
�Stores are selling sugar beets in bulk again; they haven�t done that in five or six years. They�re advertising again and they�re selling the stuff by pick-up loads,� said Sumerix.
Sumerix suggested increasing the current fine of bait pile violations from $100 (it was originally a wrist-slapping $25) to a $500 fine. Maybe half the fine could reward the one who reports it, he said.
Sumerix said the state won�t get tough on bait piles or force a thinning of the infected herd because it would mean mixing it up with the rich and powerful.
�If it involved unimportant people such as us, they�d take out all the deer,� Sumerix says. �But look who hunts there - Governor John Engler. They (the hunt clubs) give politicians free perks and free hunting trips. I�m a Republican, and I think it�s disgusting. It�s all politics, there�s nothing scientific about this program.�
One study shows an outright ban on bait piles would be effective. An extensive MSU study completed in 2001 showed that any amount of bait can be expected to �sustain and spread a disease like bovine TB, but smaller quantities tended to be even worse than the large ones.�
A Danish study gives another compelling reason to eliminate bait piles. Wild deer, in winter, eat moss containing usnic acid, a natural antibiotic for TB. Captive deer won�t eat it because they aren�t hungry enough, Sumerix said.
DNR wildlife biologists for years have told the Natural Resources Commission that bait piles help spread the disease, but the NRC has repeatedly blocked an outright ban, said outdoor writer Bob Butz.
Keith Charters, who heads the NRC, is a long-time friend of former Governor John Engler. A ban on baiting piles would drastically reduce deer numbers and make it much harder to snag a deer.
DNR biologists in the field have told Sumerix that it would be best to drastically thin the infected herds, and let the herd rebuild with a healthy stock. Those in the DNR�s higher echelons say they can�t do that on private land�not even when the deer are fenced in. But that�s exactly what they�re doing with cattle herds on private land when they find just one infected animal, Sumerix said, whose herd was �depopulated� last year.
Is it possible to skin test deer?
No, because the stress would kill them, said Bridget Patrick, bovine TB eradication project coordinator. DNR biologists observe captive deer herds periodically. The DNR is also field testing a blood test that provides an instant result, said DNR spokeswoman Mary Dettloff.
If the state doesn�t get serious about bait piles, bovine TB will continue to seep to other areas of the state, Sumerix fears. The deer are like firewood: hunters kill them, take them downstate, butcher them, and often throw the bone into the bushes. Small animals could eat the guts and spread TB to cattle and deer. The DNR doesn�t believe that small animals can transmit the infection, but many farmers differ.
Sumerix is more than a little concerned. �It�s spreading now! How long are they going to wait?�
Dettloff said that while the incidence of bovine TB spiked in 2006, the state is much better off than it was 12 years ago. �In 2006, the prevalance rate for Bovine TB (in the hot zone), was 2.3 percent. In 1995, it was at 4.9 percent. Eradication efforts are working.�
Tom Cuorchaine, who heads up enforcement, said the department has written 150 citations in the core area and conducted 100 flight patrols since 2004. It plans to step up enforcement this fall.
�I know we haven�t made progress in the last year or two, but it�s not because we haven�t been trying. It goes back to public support�the people who own the property, the people who hunt deer, and the courts.�

Greg Niewendorp Served Warrant, Cattle Tested and Tagged - Meanwhile our big U.S. packing plants are employing TB infected workers...

Greg Niewendorp Served Warrant, Cattle Tested and Tagged Against Niewendorp’s Will

East Jordan, Michigan--Monday October 8, 2007

This morning, agents of the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) used a warrant to get on the property of cattle farmer Greg Niewendorp for the purpose of TB testing and ear-tagging his cattle with National Animal Identification System (NAIS) compliant Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) ear-tags against Niewendorp’s will. Niewendorp has refused to participate in the dangerous experimental herd testing program and refused the application of the RFID ear tags which force him, against his will, to have his cattle be part of the NAIS.

Charlevoix County Sheriff George Lassiter, who has worked closely with Niewendorp in the events leading up to today’s trespass, served the warrant at 9:00 and soon after MDA agents arrived and began to herd the cattle into pens for testing and tagging. Sheriff Lassiter did not allow the Michigan State Police to participate, contrary to what TB program coordinator Bridget Patrick insisted would be the case when I interviewed her two weeks ago.

Patrick showed up early to be interviewed by the numerous media present (local NBC and CBS affiliates among others). A woman physician among Niewendorp’s local supporters asked Patrick extensive, pointed questions about the nature of TB and the TB eradication program, as did Niewendorp. Independent filmmaker Mark Nixon taped the day’s events including the Patrick interviews.

MDA agents took from 9:00 to 3:00 to pen the cattle they could catch, leaving them panting and without water in near-90 degree weather while they tested and tagged. Though the warrant said “tag” it did not specify RFID tags. When Niewendorp said. “I’m protesting the fact that RIFD tags are being used on my cattle. It’s what puts you into the USDA system,” his formal protest was entered in the day’s report. Unsure how to proceed, the agents called their superiors for orders, were told to use the RFID tags, and proceeded to do so.

NOTE: Mark Nixon will be providing a raw footage DVD of the day which we hope to post on the VICFA and NICFA websites. Please check regularly for non-compliance updates at http://www.vicfa.net and http://www.nicfa.org .

Non-Compliance Relief Fund:

Taking a stand of non-compliance puts a tremendous toll on one’s resources. The National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM) established the Non-Compliance Relief Fund to provide specific support for those like Greg NIewendorp who take such a courageous position. To support Greg and others like him, please donate here (one-time donation or monthly pledge) or send a check made out to NORM to:

Non-Compliance Relief Fund

c/o NORM

680 E 5 Point Highway

Charlotte, MI 48813

http://www.normeconomics.com/

Many thanks,

Deborah Stockton, Editor

VICFA Voice

http://www.vicfa.net

editor@vicfa.net

The Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA)

Our purpose is to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade

that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products.

VICFA opposes any government funded or managed National Animal Identification System.

Greg Niewendorp to be served

LOCAL PEOPLE ASSEMBLE at GREG NIEWENDORP’s on Monday, October 8, at 8:00 a.m.

NOTE: See http://www.vicfa.net and http://www.nicfa.org for regular updates on Greg Niewendorp, Mark Nolt and non-compliance.

Charlevoix County Sheriff George Lassiter has notified Greg Niewendorp that Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) Regulation Agent Kevin Latterwasser, and possibly other agents, NOT accompanied by Michigan State Police, will come on Niewendorp’s property on Monday, October 8, at 9:00 a.m., for the purpose of TB testing Niewendorp’s cattle herd and applying NAIS compliant RFID ear tags to the cattle, against Niewendorp's will. NOTE: Michigan State Police are not being allowed to participate in this. Since February, when he submitted a letter to the MDA stating that he would not participate in the MDA’s dangerous experimental TB herd testing program, Niewendorp has refused to let the MDA on his property. On August 21, state police and an MDA representative came illegally onto Niewendorp’s property attempting to coerce him into having his herd tested, and Niewendorp politely escorted them off.

Sheriff Lassiter will come on alone to serve the warrant, and it his desire that media and the people there video him shaking Niewendorp’s hand as he serves the warrant. He will dispatch to the MDA agent(s), waiting out on the raod, when it is time for them to come in.

Niewendorp’s desire is that the cattle NOT be tested or tagged.

This event is being well attended by local and regional people who will join with Niewendorp in standing up for his God-given divine rights and preventing the barbaric behavior of the MDA. Niewendorp is not encouraging long distance travel for this event. We encourage this type of non-compliance in your own neighborhoods, rather than spending time traveling.

PLEASE DO NOT BRING FIREARMS. THIS IS A PEACEFUL CIVIL ACTION.

UNKNOWN VEHICLES WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ON THE PROPERTY

Bring your hearts, your resolve, and your good mind.

Charlevoix means strong manly voice.

Greg Niewendorp is putting everything on the line for the freedom and rights of all of us. Let us not fail him.

LOCATION

Greg Niewendorp
4185 Beishlag Road
East Jordan, MI 49735

231.536.7956

Non-Compliance Relief Fund:

Taking a stand of non-compliance puts a tremendous toll on one’s resources. The National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM) established the Non-Compliance Relief Fund to provide specific support for those like Greg NIewendorp who take such a courageous position. To support Greg and others like him, please donate here (one-time donation or monthly pledge) or send a check made out to NORM to:

Non-Compliance Relief Fund

c/o NORM

680 E 5 Point Highway

Charlotte, MI 48813
http://www.normeconomics.com/

Many thanks,

Deborah Stockton, Editor

VICFA Voice

http://www.vicfa.net

editor@vicfa.net

The Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA)

Our purpose is to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade
that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products.

VICFA opposes any government funded or managed National Animal Identification System.

Sun Oct 7, 2007 6:15 pm

ALERT: Michigan Ag Gets Warrant to Test and Tag Greg Niewendorp's Cattle

~CIVIL ACTION~
PLEASE BROADCAST FAR AND WIDE ---ESPECIALLY TO FOLKS IN MICHIGAN

East Jordan, Michigan
Sept. 23, 2007

On Tuesday, September 18, Sheriff George Lassiter informed Michigan cattle farmer Greg Niewendorp that the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) has secured a warrant to go on Niewendorp's property to TB test his herd and apply NAIS compliant radio frequency identification ear tags to the cattle. Since February, when he submitted a letter to the MDA stating that he would not participate in the MDA's dangerous experimental TB herd testing program, Niewendorp has refused to let MDA on his property. On August 21, state police and an MDA representative came illegally onto Niewendorp's property attempting to coerce him into having his herd tested, and Niewendorp politely escorted them off.

Sheriff Lassiter told Niewendorp and the MDA that, as the server of the warrant, he will give Niewendorp 72-hour notice before serving him the warrant. The 3 day notice will allow time to notify supporters to assemble at Niewendorp's.

It is important that as many people as possible assemble at Niewendorp's farm the day the MDA plans to trespass to test and tag the cattle. Niewendorp's intent is that the cattle NOT be tested or tagged. Niewendorp wants as many people as possible to come. Please be ready to assemble once the 72-hour notice has been given. Niewendorp plans to "open the freezer" and have an all-day cookout for everyone who joins with him in standing up for his God-given divine rights and preventing the barbaric behavior of the MDA.

The MDA will have an undisclosed number of police "to assist." In my conversation with Bridget Patrick, coordinator of the TB herd eradication program, she insisted the police were just coming "to assist." Though she went through a number of verbal gyrations to try and eliminate any concerns I might have, she was quite evasive in answering my pointed questions concerning the nature of that "assistance." The bottom line is, the more people who show up, the better off everyone will be. There IS safety in numbers.

Please bring video recording equipment and cameras.

We will send updates (and directions) with any new information.

Greg Niewendorp is putting everything on the line for the freedom and rights of all of us. Let us not fail him.

LOCATION
Greg Niewendorp
Beishag Road
East Jordan, MI 49735

Non-Compliance Relief Fund
Taking a stand of non-compliance puts a tremendous toll on one's resources. The National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM) established the Non-Compliance Relief Fund to provide specific support for those like Greg Niewendorp who take such a courageous position. To support Greg and others like him, please donate here or send a check made out to Non-Compliance Relief Fund to:

Non-Compliance Relief Fund

c/o NORM

680 E 5 Point Highway

Charlotte, MI 48813

http://www.normeconomics.com/

Many thanks,

Deborah Stockton, Editor

VICFA Voice

http://www.vicfa.net

editor@vicfa.net

The Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA)

Our purpose is to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade

that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products.

VICFA opposes any government funded or managed National Animal Identification System.