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Pete, Last time I checked I'm neither a wacko nor a nutcase. I seldom wear my aluminum foil hat. However, here's what I understand about the National Animal Identification System. 1. It is in three phases.
2. The states administer the program and have some leeway for its administration.
3. Most, if not all of the states are only in phase one of the program. That is the voluntary registration of your premises. Each premises receives a unique number that distinguishes it from all other premises in the world.
4. Phase 2, which has not been implemented in most states, requires that you install some type of identifying tag onto each of your farm animals (horses, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, etc.) As mentioned, you do not have to tag individual chickens, turkeys, guineas, etc.
5. Phase 3, which I don't think has been implemented in any states yet, requires that you enter any movement off your premises of any tagged animal. Industry will be setting up websites, in cooperation with the USDA, that you will log into and register the movement of your livestock. For example, if you sell an animal at an auction, the auction house will read the animal's tag, log into a participating website, and register that your animal has been on the auction house's premises on a certain day. Ostensibly, the reason for all of this is so that if a diseased animal is detected in the food-chain, a trail can be reconstructed back to the source premises, and all other exposed animals can also be tracked back to their points of origin. The devil is in the details. Some people say that if one of my cows breaks through a fence and gets into my neighbor's pasture, my neighbor will have to register that fact in some database. Some say that if I take my horse to a horse-show, it and all other horses at the show will have to be registered to show that they were together. Etc. Etc. Others say that is ridiculous and the program won't require things of that nature. The fact is, no one knows how phases 2 and 3 are really going to be implemented, since it hasn't been cast in law as yet. Furthermore, no one knows what the government is going to do down the road after phases 2 and 3 are initially implemented. The program has the potential to help protect our food-chain and to encourage foreign buyers to use food stuffs grown in the US. It also has the potential for egregious regulation by a government that has a less than stellar reputation concerning its incessant desire to intrude into people's lives. I guess we'll see. Tom in TN
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