SPEAKER SAYS NAIS IS NOT DEAD: JUST RENAMED

     Contrary to what you are being told the National Animal Identification System is not dead; just renamed, reworded and still very much alive, This was the message brought to the Ozarks Property Rights Congress meeting in Gainesville Thursday, February 11 by Bob Parker who said he hated to bring that news. “Being one of those who has worked hard over the past four or five years to stop NAIS, nothing would please me and my co-workers more than to be able to report that indeed NAIS has gone away. But sadly it is still here under a new name and coming at us with a reshuffled approach”.  Parker read excerpts from a fact sheet released by USDA Feb, 5th which outlined the new approach.
    The animal identification program will now be called  the Federal Animal Disease Traceability System and premise identification registration numbers are  now “unique location identifiers.”  Parker pointed out that the USDA paper says that since so much tax payer money has been spent on efforts to implement NAIS that as much of the failed program as possible must be salvaged and used in the new program such as use of the NAIS”840″ ear tags. They say it would be fiscally irresponsible to disregard all elements of NAIS.
    USDA acknowledged that massive public opposition to their proposed NAIS program has caused them to revise the prior policy and offer a new approach .
    Parker noted that while USDA says the frame work for the new  approach will emphasize states participation, they are very clear and emphatic on one major point which seems non negotiable in their view. They intend to enforce animal identification at the level of interstate commerce as they said they would do under the original NAIS plan. This would force Missouri producers into their program as the state has practically no in-state feed lots or major slaughter facilities causing nearly all of the states livestock production to cross state lines.
    Addressing the issue of states like Missouri which have passed laws prohibiting forced participation in NAIS, the fact sheet points out that this program is no longer called NAIS and the new framework will spell out what states must do for their animals to be able to move in interstate commerce.
    Parker expressed disdain for those elected officials who quickly put out news releases bragging how they were instrumental in stopping NAIS. “They evidently didn`t read the rest of the story and were quick to make political hay. They do their constituents  a real dis-service by touting a hollow victory.”

OPRC president Russell Wood said links to the the fact sheet Parker was referencing can be found at  www.r-calfusa.com or http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/animal_health/content/printable_version/faq_traceability.pdf  under Questions and Answers: new animal traceability framework.

GROUP WARNED OF NAIS TAGS BEING PUT ON COWS AT SOME SALE BARNS

 Despite warnings of a winter storm approaching, the Ozarks Property Rights Congress  convened Thursday night, January 28,  in Mountain Grove to hear of the developing storm being perpetrated by the Missouri Department of Agriculture through local sale barns.
    Doreen Hannes spoke to the group about the practice started at some area sale barns, at the direction of MDOA personnel, of tagging cows with National Animal Identification System tags. She said according to all NAIS documents issued over the past several years, it is very clear that “840″ (NAIS) tags must be connected to a premise number of the producer where the animal was born and the premise number of the buyer of the animal. She said this is a back door attempt to bring unsuspecting sellers and buyers of cows into the NAIS premise registration program.
    Missouri passed a law (SB931) in 2008 which prohibits MDOA from forcing NAIS premise registration on citizens. At a hearing on the use of these tags held before Chairman Senator Chuck Purgason’s Government Oversight Committee recently, at which Hannes testified, state vet Taylor Woods and MDOA director Jon Hagler testified there was no official policy on use of the NAIS tags by these sale barn vets. “Some are using them and others are not . It`s up to the market veterinarian”.
    Hannes and others at the OPRC meeting told of sale barn owners and vets saying they had been told by MDOA personnel to use the NAIS tags in cows coming through the sale beginning Jan. 1   Other barns are saying they are not applying the NAIS tags.
    At the Jefferson City hearing, Senator Purgason instructed Woods and Hagler to submit their policy in writing, making certain that it reflects SB 931 requiring NAIS to be voluntary, and send the policy to  all sale barns as there is currently no policy that can be nailed down as MDOA is operating by word of mouth.
    “The sale barns are caught in the middle of this”, said PRC president Russell Wood. “They feel they have to do what MDOA tells them but at the same time they are going to have some mad customers who end up in the NAIS program just by buying or selling at the sale barn. Producers should ask their sale barn if they are using the 840 NAIS tags before they unload”
    Hagler stated in a letter to Senator Purgason that the NAIS tags being used have nothing to do with premise registrations. Hannes said, “Secretary Hagler is either ignorant about the NAIS program or misrepresenting the facts to the Senator. Tags starting with the number “840″ are official NAIS tags and must be tied to the premise of origin. Other wise there is no point in using them, as the stated purpose is trace back.”
    On another matter, a Douglas county property owner involved with a boundary dispute with the Department of Conservation reported that no headway had been made in resolving their differences.  At the Dec. 3rd OPRC meeting attended by department personnel it was agreed the two sides would meet and try to resolve the conflict. That meeting has not been held it was reported.

Thank you to you who have signed up on the Ozarks PRC Website. We are working to figure out this whole process. We want to use the site to the best advantage of getting the word out. If you know folks who have email, encourage them to sign up.

Don’t forget the PRC Meeting in Mountain Grove at the Hayloft at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 22.

As it has always been, your email address is not passed along. If we could get the whole list online, it would be wonderful both in saving money and the labor intensive physical newsletter.

Thanks for your support.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!

Carolin