Washingtonians

[TrystInn]

Hubby just returned from a nearly month long shake down cruise (Navy) and was so thrilled to be home, he said I can get 20 chicks this year, as long as I get him two turkeys! Woot - woot! We'll get plans ready and begin extending the coop this weekend during his leave. *jumping for joy*

So Washingtonians, I'm on Whidbey Island, so a wet, fairly cold climate. I need good layers (duals are okay) who are fairly calm, don't fly, good forages and who can handle confinement in a coop at night. I'll admit I lurv me a pretty, mixed-color chicken, but single-colored black, reds, and browns are good, too. I already have very bossy Rhodies and Black Copper Marans, already.

What would you recommend?

 

[Tailfeathers]

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I hear ya Greg. I guess I'm a little surprised that more folks on here aren't as angry as you. Last year the WA State Legislature passed the new law regarding NPIP Certification and pretty much made it cost prohibitive for us to get certified. I know I can't afford to spend a thousand bucks just to get NPIP Certified. Now they're at it again. Here comes another new law.

Maybe a lot of folks are thinking, "Well, that has to do with King County and it don't affect me." Guess they've not heard of the slippery slope. Here's a news flash... if this thing passes the next thing we'll be hearing is, "Coming soon to a hometown near you!"

Well, all I can say is that I've made my phone call.

God Bless,

 

[weaveagarden]

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The one in my flock that is a kind that most people overlook, but shouldn't, is a dark cornish. Most people think of them as meat only birds, but mine is a great layer of a fine decent sized medium brown hard shelled egg. In addition her temperament is great. I also love the color of their Black double laced brown/red feathers. A bonus is how much their feathers glow in the sunlight.

Here is a picture that sort of shows the shine of her feathers and the double lacing. Please excuse my little piglets over-full crop.


This picture is several months old. She is even more pretty now, but I have a hard time photographing her.

 

[weaveagarden]

Hi Guys!

I think most of us, while concerned about it, are not as informed as the two of you about the implications. I know it makes me mad because it sounds like another way to take away my rights. But I am not able to get my head around all of the details very quickly and don't have the time to make the effort involved. Others my not be as congnitively challenged as I am at this point with new and different info, but they may not realize that this could potentially impact them.

There seems to be an assumption that we understand what all of this means. Quite frankly, many of us don't. When you posted about some of this a few months back, I knew even less. Like what is NPIP. And why should I care. If you could try to be a little bit more educational, it might help us to understand.

Thanks

 

[justbugged]

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Yep Bonney Lake is the first place that has any kind of real shopping, and it's within 12 miles and almost next door to the outpost town that I live in. I just let me know what you need. Bonney Lake is one the furthest northern towns in Pierce County. It's north of Tacoma, just a bit further east. Puyallup is farther south just easier to get to. Bonney Lake is also the fastest growing town in Washington. You do have to watch out for rednecks though. Oh. and don't worry about Buckley it's just a wide spot in the road between here and there. They do have a the Best Vet in Washington, and a really good feed store. Oh and a Log Show in June.

 

[Greg Richardson]

Tailfeathers. You are right. That is how the slippery slope starts. Just like Toll Roads. In a few years they will be all over the place as well as red light and speed limit camera's.
I hope the people here call and let their voice be heard. Otherwise the control freaks will speak for us!

This goes along with the same topic. This is an on going process they are filtering into our lives.
Not sure how many people know this but it was almost going to become law or should I say regulations to be imposed?
These people are not going to give up.




The U.S. Department of Agriculture is pushing regulations that would require every farm animal to be tagged and tracked. Every animal?
By Sharon Zecchinelli
http://www.dailyyonder.com/speak-your-piece-tag-every-animal

As my friends and I rode our horses the other day in the Cold Hollow Mountains of Vermont, I tried to savor the moment. Besides hearing the grunt of a moose, whose retreating tracks we saw on the ride back down the mountain trail, there was sign of a big deer alongside a set of canine tracks. I made note of the place where some partridges rose up out of the bush. Here and there fall colors were beginning to appear in the sugar bush.

I sighed, as I always do, thinking about how these days of having the freedom and liberty to own and ride horses with friends could be slipping away due to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

NAIS is a mandate "“ not a law "“ dreamt up by various federal acronyms: the USDA (United Stated Department of Agriculture); the APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services); and the NIAA (National Institute for Animal Agriculture). The idea of NAIS is to supposedly trace back disease in the "national herd" within 48 hours of its discovery.

(It is worth perusing NIAA's membership list to understand who will benefit from NAIS. In other words, follow the money.)



Sharon Zecchinelli and Merry Grace (who would require an ID chip embedded in her neck).
Photo:Vince Zecchinelli
NAIS has three prongs: premises registration, animal identification and animal movement reporting. Here's how these are supposed to work to identify every farm and farm animal in the country:

Premises Registration: Every property that houses even one livestock animal must register to receive a premises ID number. Anybody with a chicken, horse, cow, sheep, goat, bison, llama, alpaca, turkey, duck, or a backyard trout farm will be required to register. (One of the pesky problems is that the premises ID number may remove your clear rights to ownership. When you register your property you become an ill-defined "stakeholder.")

Animal Identification Number (AIN): Numbers are assigned by group, lot or individually. So, if a large Midwest feeder lot has 10,000 beeves on an in/out lot they get one number (AIN). But someone like me, with a flock of laying hens, a couple of pigs or sheep, some meat birds and a horse would have to individually tag each animal. For horses they prefer an RFID tag inserted along the nuchal ligament in the area of the 4th and 5th vertebrae.

Other AIN tags are RFID ear button tags with a 15-digit number starting with 840. The ISO country code for the United States is 840. It is interesting to note that the number 840 is included on all financial instruments, like stocks, checks, and bearable securities like as dollar bills. See? So grows the "National Herd."

Animals that don't need to have AINs are animals that never leave the place of their birth or animals that are moved from their place of birth to slaughter.

Animal Tracing: This final component requires that animal movements be reported to a database owned by private industry or by state agriculture agencies. Under this provision, animal movements need to be reported. (This used to be called Animal Tracking but when the anti-NAIS grassroots protest was heard, USDA began changing terms to make it seem like they were listening.)

The USDA issued its NAIS User's Guide on Thanksgiving Eve 2006 and it was entered into the Federal Register in February 2007. The department began using phrases like "voluntary at the Federal level" and it seemed the USDA had softened its position with regard to small farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists and backyard horse owners. Indeed, before the User's Guide appeared, the original Draft Plan was strict, harsh, uncompromising.

The USDA announced, quietly, grant opportunities for fund-starved state agriculture departments. Under these so-called cooperative agreements, states were required to implement measures aimed at ramping up premises registration numbers. Since then the 4-H and FFA have received USDA grant money that essentially forces children into registering their family's land. For example, earlier this month the Colorado State Fair ejected some 4-H junior livestock entries because they hadn't registered the premises of their project animal. One father registered so that his daughter's project pig could compete.

(Meanwhile, the USDA issued a How-To-Handbook this past February. It was meant to be a confidential document for state and federal staff, instructing them how to promote a "voluntary" NAIS. The Handbook demands uniformity and strict adherence to four "key messages" that staff are to present to audiences of farmers when promoting NAIS. The Agriculture Department apparently doesn't believe animal owners are very skilled readers. As described by the USDA, these "key messages"¦are organized into topic categories and supported with concise sentences. They are designed for an audience reading at the sixth grade level." (Handbook, p. 41.)

The How-To-Handbook asks state agriculture agencies to weigh the option of registering properties by "data-dumping" information about property from existing programs into the new animal tracking program. The idea was to determine first if that would be tolerated by landowners. Some states decided to data-dump first and ask questions later by registering premises behind the backs of farmers. Wisconsin and New York have registered Amish property in spite of their objections to the Mark of the Beast as cited in Revelations.

Vermont, late September, 2007.
Photo:Vince Zecchinelli

USDA continues to march forward with its plans to make NAIS mandatory. (Makes that "voluntary" with a capital M.) In August, the department published Advancing Animal Disease Traceability, a blueprint for how the USDA is going to impose NAIS by requiring "common data standards" (mandatory use of NAIS ID numbers and tracing) in existing disease programs and interstate shipping. This explains why NAIS was stripped from the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) law in the House version of the Farm Bill — because with this scheme, they don't need a law, just regulations.

NAIS should alarm everyone. If USDA is allowed to continue with NAIS, small/private farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists will drop their animals like hot potatoes. Some have already, sadly, preferring to give up their animals rather than fight.

If that happens (which is what NIAA hopes will happen) what will be the source of organic manure to feed organic produce? It won't be small producers. And this is the point: NAIS isn't all about farmers. It will impact the consumer. Imagine a world where the only "organics" come from Monsanto-owned farms.

***

Sharon Zecchinelli, is a retired chef and small homesteader who lives in NW Vermont with her husband, a flock of hens, the occasional freezer lamb or pig, horse and two dogs. She can be reached via email at [email protected]. Her blog is Post Menopausal Ponderings. For more information about NAIS visit NoNais.org or alternately Google up NAIS opposition.

 

[herbandteas]

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What kind of bunnies do you have?

 

[TifsBroodyBabes]

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Thats like my daughter calls my grandparents that live in Graham "great-gramma & grampa from Mountain Rainier!!

 

[weaveagarden]

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But oh so true! That goes for people Farther North, East and West too! In fact I would venture to say if you live in King County, you live in Seattle to most folk everywhere but in King County.

And to a lot of people west of the Rockies, we all live in Seattle, even those closer to Spokane.

 

[LaSombra]

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LOL, so true...