National Animal ID Raises Concerns
I am a (very) small farmer and I am very concerned about the USDA's National Animal Identification System (NAIS) that lumps everyone together from the huge factory farms to the small family farms to grandma with her single laying hen in the backyard. Under NAIS we will all be 'taxed' for any animals we own by having to pay an annual Premise ID fee plus individual animal RFID tags. The big factory farms get to use one ID for tens of thousands of animals and not actually do any tagging. The small farm and homesteader will have to tag and track every single individual animal. This will put a burden of $500 to $5,000 per year on small farms which will drive many of us out of business.

Why are they doing this? So that the big beef exporters can have a trace back system to be able to export their beef to Japan. That is the original and real reason for NAIS. The USDA now claims it is for disease prevention but tags do not stop BSE and other diseases. Proper farming methods do. Such as NOT feeding cows to cows. More importantly almost all food contamination happens after the animal leaves the farm at the processing plants.

When small farms and homesteads are killed by NAIS with them will go the heritage breeds of animals that they maintain. The factory farms are a big source of pollution and will grow even larger. Consumer food prices will go up and choice will go down as our national food supply is concentrated into the hands of fewer & fewer large corporations.

Small farms and homesteaders should not be burdened with this program. NAIS is for the benefit of just the big producers. NAIS should be made 100% voluntary instead of becoming mandatory. I hope that you might help spread the word about NAIS. You can see the informational web site I have created at http://NoNAIS.org and there is a handout at http://NoNAIS.org/handout which summarizes the issues as well as providing links to the government and other supporting documents.

Sincerely,
Walter Jeffries
Raising Pastured Pigs & Sheep in northern Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/ 

RE: Premises Identification Essential to Animal Health and Safety By Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff