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Is it a pink small paper?
Yes, pink paper with Commonwealth of Massachusetts Dept of Agricultural Resources, etc.
Our town charges $25 for the inspection.
The animal control officer is responsible for doing inspections in our town and we don't have to pay for it. Since I've had poultry and livestock for so long, these days the officer just calls me and asks me to send him a list of what I have! Then he stops by to inspect my barn and runs for cleanliness, and leaves the pink piece of paper in the mailbox.
In case you don't know... in Massachusetts the animal control officer or other official (such as from the health and sanitation department) in each city/town is required to keep a "barn book" which is a census of all the livestock and poultry being kept in the town or city. That's part of what the inspection is all about. That information is then sent to the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources (current head of MDAR is Doug Gillespie), who in turn may make the information available to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
BTW, when NAIS (the hated National Animal Identification System) raised its ugly head in Massachusetts, Gillespie is alleged to have sent the state barn book information to the USDA so that all the poultry/livestock owners in it could be registered for NAIS without their knowledge. If that allegation is true (and I have reason to believe it is), it was illegal, as the commonwealth would first have had to have approved voluntary participation in NAIS, which was not the case.
Even so, I have my poultry inspected by both the city animal control officer and by the state poultry inspector (who does blood tests) yearly. I'm determined to do things "by the book" unless and until the authorities try to take away my right to freely own birds and animals!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all my fellow critter/chicken/poultry keepers.
Is it a pink small paper?
Yes, pink paper with Commonwealth of Massachusetts Dept of Agricultural Resources, etc.
Our town charges $25 for the inspection.
The animal control officer is responsible for doing inspections in our town and we don't have to pay for it. Since I've had poultry and livestock for so long, these days the officer just calls me and asks me to send him a list of what I have! Then he stops by to inspect my barn and runs for cleanliness, and leaves the pink piece of paper in the mailbox.
In case you don't know... in Massachusetts the animal control officer or other official (such as from the health and sanitation department) in each city/town is required to keep a "barn book" which is a census of all the livestock and poultry being kept in the town or city. That's part of what the inspection is all about. That information is then sent to the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources (current head of MDAR is Doug Gillespie), who in turn may make the information available to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
BTW, when NAIS (the hated National Animal Identification System) raised its ugly head in Massachusetts, Gillespie is alleged to have sent the state barn book information to the USDA so that all the poultry/livestock owners in it could be registered for NAIS without their knowledge. If that allegation is true (and I have reason to believe it is), it was illegal, as the commonwealth would first have had to have approved voluntary participation in NAIS, which was not the case.
Even so, I have my poultry inspected by both the city animal control officer and by the state poultry inspector (who does blood tests) yearly. I'm determined to do things "by the book" unless and until the authorities try to take away my right to freely own birds and animals!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all my fellow critter/chicken/poultry keepers.
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