PA is Starting an Animal Identification System.. ?? Big Brother ??

I can't believe there are people who buy this "protection from terrorism" stuff. I mean let's get real. Do you honestly think a terrorist is going to go around infecting small herds (at the risk of encountering the farmer's dog or worse the heavily armed farmer himself)when they can more easily infect most of the nation by getting a job at a large feedlot where the animals are passed through as fast as they can with at best a cursory inspection? As for the taxation issue I agree that that is the primary objective. How many of you have gone to the local sale barn with your excess rabbits or chickens ar even a couple of spring lambs, kids or a calf? Have you paid income tax on what you got for them? You better now. NO FREE INCOME! And for the couple of you who don't think the government wants to get rid of small farmers think again. Around here they are paying people not to farm. If you will let your land lie fallow they'll give you all sorts of money and tax breaks. They are paying dairy farmers to downsize their herds. Now think once again. If they get their way and the small farm is no more then what is going to happen when one of these horrible diseases they are so adamant about protecting us from comes along? No food supply. And who is it going to devastate....them? I doubt it. Just imagine how lucky we have been for two centuries to survive without the government there to tell when to go to the bathroom. We have survived through diversity and our varied ways of doing things. This is our strength and they are trying to make us into a nation of clones. I for one am not like everyone else and I'm darn proud of it.

BM, Even if there's an outbreak, in the 48 hr window of response that the ID is supposed to provide, how many places has someone's shoes, tires, etc already infected?? How is that protecting your herd/flock?
If anything,having the ID will just target your animals for erradication if Joe Smoe gets a disease down the road!

Don't buy from Auctions, only buy from private sellers if you're that concerned about the disease spread. Spend time researching before buying and then practice biosecurity on your own place.

In all of the years I had animals; many animals; I never had a disease problem but I didn't let anyone in my barns,pastures or coops. When I went to other farms I had different shoes that I wore as well as changing clothes before re-entering my own animal care areas. Hygeine, good security practices & quarantining any new animals for 30 days seemed to work for me and gee, I didn't have the help of the US governemnt.

Btw, my father had his whole swine operation destroyed due to an uncle bringing hog cholera onto our farm. So I have seen what can happen and the cost of not being secure & smart in your bio-security. It was my dad, who taught me what Not to do & What to do after that hard learned lesson. Not once did he expect the Government to cover his a** & protect his livestock because he didn't take the proper precautions-he believed in personal responsibility not only for our family but the livestock we were had.

So volunteer for the ID, tags, chips, whatever. I'm sure the line won't be long and you can feel safe.

You know, I could tolerate the government making suggestions for sound animal husbandry practices, but this tagging animals is a crock of you-know-what.

I am sick to death of the government trying to take control of everything and anything in my daily life.

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOVERNMENT, DARN IT!!!

Why are people so willing to just lay down and die when the bureaucracy sticks its stupid hands into their business.

JUST SAY NO, PEOPLE!

If this is going on when we move to The Farm, you can bet your last shiny zinc-composite penny that this Pony will NOT bend the knee to the All-Intrusive Government.

Pony!

I believe it was the "big" business who decided it was ok to grind up animal parts and feed it back to cows/swine/chickens...hence mad cow disease was made possible as some infected parts were fed in the feed. Doesn't the USDA regulate feed? Why, I believe they do, it is right on their website..see livestock feed labeling.

I trust the government less when it comes to my personal safety and welfare than I would pretty much any other organization with the exception of PETA..

I have NEVER had the government get involved in my affairs where it did not cost me money and/or take longer than expected.

Sidepasser

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Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

Excuse me, but at least what I have heard about animal ID/premises registration in my state is that this doesn't just apply to people with herds of animals, people who sell to the public - they are applying this to anyone who owns any type of animal except dogs or cats. A family with a couple of chickens, for crying out loud. That is ridiculous.

Well guess what I just got in the mail yesterday? Yep, another application. Not sure if I should just throw this one away as well, or fill it out with the statement the farm is no longer in operation.

Persistant little buggers.

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Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

Yesterday, I got a letter from the Farm Service Agency, along with an aerial photo of my farm, asking me to verify the boundaries of my fields. Since I don't take any money from them, I'm planning to call them and ask, innocently and politely of course, why it is their business where my fields are.

Big brother IS watching, at least here in PA.

uh, because your backyard chickens could infect my chickens...for crying out loud.

Exotic Newcastles Disease was first identified in home "backyard" chickens and then those spread to others. It didn't start with the "big guy".

At least you are responsible - many people aren't. They assume they are immune - blinders on - their few chickens can't impact others. Well, they can.

If I choose to id, tag, identify - whatever...I won't feel more safe. If for some reason, my animals are ever identified as a source for a disease that can potentially kill my neighbors animals - then I want it stopped on my place.

Uhm... I don't quite understand how a flock of birds in my backyard are going to have any effect on birds in your yard, since the birds are not going to come into contact with each other.

The most basic precautions would prevent the spread of any disease.

Personnel from the guvmint traipsing from one farmyard to another could spread disease, though, couldn't they?

Pony!

This can happen without tags, you know. It will stop because you take the personal responsibility to make sure it stops, not because of tags. Tagging won't stop someone whose birds mysteriously die from just burying them and keeping quiet, but wearing their infected shoes to the feed store or the neighbors barn. Personal responsibility will.

Absolutely right on.

You can't legislate responsibility.

Pony!

Ah, but what kind of Backyard Chickens are we talking about? It was determined that one activity that quickly spread Exotic Newcastles Disease was cock fighting. The owners of fighting cocks who were trading cocks and/or transporting cocks across state lines for fights were taking the disease with them. Considering that cock fighting is illegal in most states, I really don't see folks involved in that illegal activity standing in line to get numbers for their animals or registering their coop location with the county.

Your chickens are far more likely to get infected from diseases carried by migrating wild birds then from my small backyard flock which stays on my property. Bio-security? Simple, no one visits our flock because no one visits us. We don't show or sell our animals either.

I won't register our individual animals nor will I give anyone the location of our coop. Bio-security starts at home.

deb

BaronsMom says:
If I choose to id, tag, identify - whatever...I won't feel more safe. If for some reason, my animals are ever identified as a source for a disease that can potentially kill my neighbors animals - then I want it stopped on my place.

But it WON'T be stopped at your place. "They" will kill everything in a huge radius of your place, I believe it is 25 miles... Infected, not infected, tagged, not tagged - won't matter a jot. Dead is just as dead with a tag or without...

Mary