The NAIS - Why are they being so pushy???

[patandchickens]

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With all due respect, that is a real oversimplification of the issue.

LOTS of countries in the world have active successful cattle farming despite endemic FMD. It is not the end of the world.

Not all strains of the virus have equally severe effects. It can sometimes be tolerable, especially compared to the alternative of having ALL your animals slaughtered. Individual animals with serious lingering bacterial infections can still be slaughtered on humane grounds.

And vaccines exist, and in fact is it not the case that vaccination was *compulsory* in Europe til fifteen or twnety years ago when they changed to the kill-everything-near-a-diagnosed-case program in hopes of permanently eradicating the disease from the continent? IIRC. Indeed, dunno the current state of things but I seem to recall that in the past few years there have been serious movements afoot in several parts of Europe to change to a vaccination strategy of response.

I'm not trying to argue FMD policy issues per se (it is more complicated than this summary)... my point is just that it is by NO means universally accepted among the international cattle farming community that mass slaughter in response to single cases ("depopulation" of the area ) is really the best way to manage the disease. And thus I question its use as a poster child for the supposed great wisdom of NAIS type programs. It isn't that simple.

Pat

 

[Cheekon]

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Big Brother is NEVER a good thing. Killing perfectly healthy animals and wiping out an entire way of life is NEVER a good thing.

Well said!

I agree 100% they have no right to mess with our perfectly healthy animals.

 

[Cheekon]

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Big Brother is NEVER a good thing. Killing perfectly healthy animals and wiping out an entire way of life is NEVER a good thing.

I would have to disagree with this statement...if foot and mouth disease was found on a farm within 1 mile of your animals...and it was necessary to destroy your animals to prevent it's spread (even if they are currently healthy) is a good thing to protect other animals outside a quarantine zone from becoming infected and the disease spread throughout the farming community.

Why not just quarantine instead of killing hundreds of healthy animals?

 

[cjeanean]

Personally, I think NAIS is a bad idea because any time you have a corporation-friendly law rather than a small farm friendly law something is amiss. Also, any time you have the government pushing something so hard odds are it's not a good thing. Remember all the stupid stuff that our government has voted in and pushed the past few years??? This is a prime example of the same thing. If the USDA is so worried about diease, they need to quit letting large companies SHIP and IMPORT their animals OVERSEAS where they can pick up diseases. They need to employ more people to keep track of big corporations' livestock living conditions, to make sure that animals are being cared for correctly and are not being fed the wrong food. Small farmers tend to care for their animals better, therefore there is less disease and sickness. Granted, disease and sickness are always a possibility, just like in humans, but what do they tell humans to do to keep our chances down for contracting diseases and staying healthy??? EAT RIGHT, KEEP GOOD HYGIENE, KEEP YOUR LIVING ENVIRONMENT CLEAN, BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM, SEE A PHYSICIAN IF SOMETHING IS WRONG. Blah, blah, blah. They don't tell us to get a freakin chip so the government can trace us all back 48 hrs!!!! Livestock are not humans, mind you, but in the areas of disease and sickness a lot can be avoided by following the same guidelines given to us. Now, go tell the big corporations that!!!! Tell the USDA to shove it and do their job instead of trying to help big businesses make more money by eliminating the option to buy from small farms.

 

[speckledhen]

THIS is why I have NO faith that the USDA is looking out for our best interests. Read it and rub those chillbumps, people: http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2007/107_virus.html

Tell me, just tell me, this is a good idea! NOT

 

[RoostersCrow]

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They don't tell us that .......YET....

 

[cjeanean]

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They don't tell us that .......YET....

I know, I was thinking that when I wrote it.....makes you wonder, huh????

 

[chickenannie]

I would like to make the case against our modern "agricultural model" in that there is a HUGE difference in health between large poultry or animal operations where animals are raised by the tens of thousands indoors in crowded, filthy conditions versus a hobby farmer or small farmer who might raise anywhere from 150-2,000 birds per year.

IMHO it is the large confinement operations that raise animals in often very unhealthy and stressful conditions, needing to dose them with antibiotics at all times, or they will die. It is no wonder that animals will have less immunity, get sick faster, and die more frequently under those stressful dirty conditions. I hear farmers in my area who consider it "normal" to remove hundreds of dead birds DAILY from their chicken houses. I would not consider that acceptable by any means, but farmers have been brainwashed (and pushed) to think it's acceptable to raise animals that way.

Animals can be raised in balance with the land and kept healthy if we consider their needs too and their natural way of living. For example, give them space and allow them contact with sunshine!

NAIS has a single outlook toward the very large farm operation which has different needs and problems than a small farm. That is why NAIS is mistaken in its approach to animal identification and disease. Had they looked at the small farms as a model, they would have come up with something completely different as a way to control disease outbreaks.

 

[Arklady]

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You're a plant right? Someone to talk us into joining nais before the dead line... So you can take our information here.
????

Arklady/ no to nais

 

[d.k]

* Use what happened in Florida as your model folks. The excuse was "eradication" of a disease that they had no chance OR MEANS of "eradicating". ALL they did was consolidate control of oranges and juice into the hands of the "BIG GUYS" and the tactics violated or waivedthe rights of an entire huge state of people. . . .