USDA NAIS

[aznewbe]

Has anyone here read about the nais program? And is it as bad as ppl make it seem. the usda web site makes it look like a great idea. just wanted to see what ppl thought and if back yard chickens should start fighting it.

 

[AZChick]

It's not bad at all if you don't mind big brother living with you.

 

[V Chic Chick]

Of course USDA make it sound like a great idea - they want everyone to sign up to it.

In reality, it's just another way for the government to gain a little more control over our daily lives. It won't solve anything, it will just waste time, waste money and cause small farmers to go bankrupt.

 

[chickbea]

People keeping chickens in their back yards has never been a major cause of avian disease. Factory farms with tens of thousands of genetically similar birds crammed into overcrowded barns is what is dangerous!
Backyarders shouldn't be expected to participate in a ridiculous system that I can't see ever actually working.

 

[hillshouse]

I don't like it. The government sticks it nose in to much.We have a small farm in Western Ky. Part of our farm is in a river bottom and declared wetlands. We can't turn a shovel of dirt with out them saying something. We don't need the government in everything. I fill out so many forms now just to tell them what I am doing. What grows here and there and how much. How often the cows cross creeks to get to the pasture. I just don't like having to spend so much time with each agency. The FSA, USDA, Dept of Ag., They don't talk to each other and I have to fill out forms for each over the same things. A WASTE!!! I can just guess what would happen with this.
Moni

 

[FrankBlissett]

Here's some info to clear things up.

First, the USDA will NOT require people to register their flocks. It's left up to the states to decide on these specifics, so lobbying for exemptions for small flocks should be directed there. There will be NO fines or penelties to producers on the federal level, and likely none on the state level. If they require feed-lots, auction-houses etc to only use registered animals they don't really need to.

For larger operations, here's an interesting tidbit from the USDA site:
"If your animals "stay together" and are raised as a group, and travel through the production chain that way, you may want to consider group/lot identification, rather than individual identification. When animals "stay together" as a group, individual identification of each animal in the group is not necessary because it does not enhance disease response efforts."

Also from the USDA site:
"the following situations are not applicable to NAIS:

* Livestock that never leave the premises of their birth, even if they move from pasture to pasture within that premises, do not need to be identified
* Animals that never leave their premises other than when they "get out"
* Animals that are only moved directly from their birth premises to custom slaughter
* The participation of animals in local trail rides
* The movement of animals to small local parades or fairs"


Certainly, we need to keep the pressure on our state and federal government, and less regulation would be better. But (current) reality of NAIS is a far cry from what we're hearing.

-Frank