WTH is wrong with TSC? Chick purchasing nightmare.

[realsis]

What federal Animal tracking program! Very creepy if you ask me!

 

[lularat]

I had already ordered my chicks from a local feed store, but was going to get them from TSC if I hadn't already ordered. I did go and see their chicks and the employees were very polite and pretty knowledgeable about chickens. They had all breeds separated in large troughs which were very clean. I would really consider getting chicks from them next time. I guess it really depends on management and employees as to what kind of experience you have with them.

 

[buckbye]

What federal Animal tracking program! Very creepy if you ask me!

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/traceability/downloads/NAIS-UserGuide.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Animal_Identification_System

http://xstatic99645.tripod.com/naisinfocentral/index.html

http://www.nonaiswa.org/wordpress/tag/nonais/

http://www.nonais.org

http://naissucks.com/wordpress <----absolutely heartbreaking story of a small goat dairy

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17915.cfm

http://www.nffc.net/Issues/NAIS/page-NAIS.htm

http://www.noanimalid.com

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/483469/nais-is-back

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/249744/rant-tsc-and-the-nais

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/149741/tractor-supply-federal-tracking

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/635892/tsc-taking-my-name-and-number-just-for-buying-chicks

And watch out for 4-H and FFA. FFA got $600k to register kids' parents' properties.

http://arkansasanimalproducers.8k.com/whats_new_45.html

http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news/news-27july2009-13.html

If you're going to shop at TSC, try to get away with giving them fake personal info (better hope they don't ask you for an ID), and for goodness' sake pay in cash. I abhor the fact that every TSC store seems to actively lie about why they are collecting your information, blaming everything from hatchery rules to state agencies to PETA. (As if hatcheries and PETA could enact and enforce such rules!)

Murray McMurray has taken a position on NAIS: http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/faqNAIS.html

I believe Wisconsin is currently the only state where it is mandatory, but since its backpedaling from its position of requiring participation nationwide a few years ago, due to public outcry, the USDA is utilizing "soft" or "backdoor" tactics to add premises and animals to the database, including paying private companies and organizations to collect information, such as 4-H and FFA. Some states have been very enthusiastic about promoting and expanding NAIS (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, for example), whereas others have blocked funding for it. Purchasing livestock from a registered Premise is how many people are unwittingly added to the database. There is no mechanism for purging or expunging a Premise ID from the database; it may only be"deactivated." Which means the govt. still retains all information.

What is very concerning are the possible implications for your ownership of a Premise, once registered, and what rights and access to your property the Feds may claim, and what they may do there. (Look up the legal definitions of "stakeholder" and "encumbrance.") If sickness is reported at a flock down the road, don't be surprised if guys in hazmat suits show up to confiscate your animals, as well.

The program ultimately intended (intends?) that even cats and dogs and aquatic livestock be registered with a 15-digit federal ID number. You would be responsible for notifying the USDA of births, deaths, sales, runaways, etc., within 48 hours. RFID tags on animals would be required on all animals, would be very expensive, and would be a federal offense to remove.

The requirements of the program wouldn't be nearly as much of a burden on Big Ag, which can register under a single ID, "groups" or "lots" of animals that stay together from birth to slaughter, but they would cripple the small farmer. They were most likely designed to. In fact, the program was devised some infamous names in Big Ag. (Can you say "Monsanto?")

Even if you still take a benevolent view of the U.S. government (heh), don't drink the Kool-Aid until you've read the ingredients. And know who poured it.

*tips tinfoil hat*

 

[Bill Matthews]

To Platinum Poultry and Anyone interested in or concerned by the reference to the National Animal ID System....For a more balanced and more UP TO DATE perspective go to www.farmtoconsumer.org/news..The FINAL RULE requires NO Premise Registration, NO Mandatory Electronic ID's, NO Centralized Data Base, and NO Reporting of Movement WITHIN a state for backyard and casual personal use animals including poultry.The comment about cats and dogs and Hazmat suits! Well, no comment needed for that one. Many of the issues surrounding the NAIS furor stem from a confusion of issues at the comment stage with the Final Rules. Many of the proposed rules were STUPID and indicative of a lack of knowledge about rural life. USDA seems to have given up on any further effort in this area for now.. It is a GOOD SIGN of the strength of our democracy that these proposals never became actual rules after we protested..Yes, people like ME AND "buckbye.".Be a critical thinker...Get the Facts..Don't fall for someone else's agenda or succumb to their paranoia. ... I reluctantly conclude that many of the remarks here and elsewhere on this subject are closer to a very strident political statement than an attempt to educate or inform... I am NOT calling anyone paranoid or attempting to demean and argue with anyone...Just stating what I am rather certain is a more ACCURATE representation of the FACTS..Thanks, Take Care, and God Bless.

 

[Fred's Hens]

And with that, we're done here.

Thanks. This thread is now over 2 1/2 years old and taking it down a path the OP never intended isn't necessary.