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*