Paul Revere’s Ride The warning is being sent out, loud and clear, will we hear and react in time?

By Karin Bergener

If it looks like the USDA has finally decided to listen to livestock owners who oppose federally mandated micro-chipping and reporting of animal movements, look again...

As if livestock owners across America needed a special boost, USDA jumped in and gave us a bountiful Thanksgiving treat, with its announcement November 22, 2006, that “NAIS is voluntary.” Well, as we'll see, that Thanksgiving announcement really was a turkey and the New Year means we still must fight the war against NAIS.

So, what sort of strategy applies in this war? Centuries ago, armies met on battlefields, essentially by invitation (or appointment, depending on your view-point). It took so long to bring armies together that each side had full advanced warning, and battles stopped and started per agreement.

Gradually, military strategy changed, and armies ceased announcing their attacks ahead of time. Instead of the “announcement” method seen in USDA’s 2005 Draft Strategic Plan and Program Standards, the USDA and state departments of agriculture have now adopted the small skirmish strategy to push their plans of NAIS on us.

The Element of Sneaky Surprise
THE TACTIC OF MOVING ON MULTIPLE, SMALL FRONTS AT THE SAME time is evident in two documents released on November 22, 2006; a User Guide and USDA’s 2007 announcement funding NAIS implementation in the states (the “Announcement”).

Some horse owners point to the recommendations of the Equine Species Working Group (which, you may recall, has no actual authority, but acts only as an advisory group) as proof they will be relieved from NAIS. But, the new USDA Guide contains no exceptions for equines.

Horse owners are getting complacent, or maybe just weary, and because they don’t want to believe something as ludicrous as NAIS could happen here, in the good ol’ US of A, they say things like, “but there is no rule that says we will have to report our horses’ movements. There is no statute establishing NAIS and announced to us all.” As we will also see, there will be no invitation to this battle. It is already happening - in small administrative rulings, in individual states. ..

USDA Premises Registration “Opt Out” Procedure
As of press time, USDA announced that people could ask their states to remove them from the Premises Identification Database. USDA called this an “opt out” procedure, and acknowledged that the exact procedures hadn’t yet been worked out. So while this "sounds" encouraging, there is no real assurance yet as to what it actually means.

More information will be posted regularly at www.libertyark.net. The Liberty Ark Coalition would like to hear from people who have requested that their premises be removed, and how the process has worked – or not.

Reports and inquiries may be sent to noah@libertyark.net and to Karin Bergener.

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Buy ‘Em
THE USER GUIDE AND THE ANNOUNCEMENT OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED the progressive change in strategy that NAIS watchers had seen for some time. States will implement NAIS, using federal (and some matching state) funds. The States are paid these funds on a performance basis. The more premises they register, and the more animals that are identified and tagged, the more money the states receive from USDA.

The new User Guide states that USDA does not plan to adopt regulations making the NAIS mandatory at the national level. Many people celebrated at this announcement. But The USDA still seeks to have every person who owns animals participate in the program 1 . Many people dislike government intrusion on principle and will avoid NAIS for that reason. People who live in poverty (or close to it) and raise a few animals to supplement their food supply or income simply won’t be able to afford tags, computers, and wands. Think about all of the people who simply can’t afford another expense. The probability of reaching USDA’s goal of 100% participation through a truly voluntary system is… zero.

The first aspect of the NAIS strategy has been in use for a number of years already. Each year, USDA announces funding, based on the states achieving certain levels of NAIS participation. This is the same strategy that was used to reduce the speed limit to 55 mph. The federal government frequently uses the power of purse strings to get state and local agencies to do what the feds want.

For 2007, the cooperative agreements between USDA and the states include requirements that the States reach “measurable outcomes.” This puts considerable pressure on the states to achieve their goals. They can get there through mandatory programs, by coercing people to enroll in the program, or by simply lying about the voluntary nature of the registrations they present to USDA.

The Announcement of the availability of federal funds for 2007 sets out the conditions for states’ receipt of funding. The funding agreements “will be administered as a performance-oriented, base-plus cooperative agreement. Applications must present well-defined measurable outcomes and total allocation of funding will be dependent upon achieving projected results with a mid-year assessment.”2 More specifically, USDA will withhold part of the funds from certain states “based upon percent premises registration to date.”3

Most states will be unable to get the full funding until they show that they have achieved “the measurable outcomes stated in the work plan.”4

If you’re in charge of a cash-strapped state department of agriculture, you’ll find a way to meet those goals. And, meeting goals pays off. The funding offered the states for 2007 ranges from $80,000 for states who have low performance to date (Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) to $1,200,000 for Texas.

These amounts are in addition to other special funding, such as the federal money supporting mandatory radio frequency ID (RFID) cattle tags in Michigan.

In short, your property rights and privacy are being sold out from under you for federal funds, while the tune of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is being whistled in your ear by state and federal authorities.

Some States Cowed by USDA, But Not All
YOU MAY ALREADY KNOW BY NOW OF WISCONSIN’S AND INDIANA’S MANDATORY (state) premises registration, by statute.5 But Texas and Vermont agencies have proposed regulations that so far have failed, due to activist pressure. But the spread of NAIS, like the diseases it purports to “control,” will be much more insidious. In its User Guide, USDA stated “success of the premises registration component would be achieved through the participation of producers in long-standing disease management programs and compliance with interstate movement regulations.”6 How does this work? To see, we need to look at Michigan, and for a moment, consider the situation of cattle farmers.

Michigan has a longstanding tuberculosis control program. It was established by statute, Section 287.745 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, and by Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) Rule R 287.701). In mid-2006, MDA announced a policy change in the existing tuberculosis program. No amendment to the statute or rule, just a policy change.

The change required enrolling cattle owners in the NAIS database without their consent, using data in the TB program database, and required that all cattle have an RFID tag by March 2007. There was nothing for citizens to comment on or protest.

Similarly, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture has made premises registration in NAIS a requirement for getting various forms of farm assistance. No announcement, and no statute, rule or regulation. Just a request for your premises ID number when you apply for aid.

Equines Specifically Included
SO, YOU MAY ASK, DIDN’T THE NEW User Guide take into account the Equine Species Working Group recommendations, and relieve horse owners of the NAIS? Evidently, not. The User Guide pointedly states: “While owners and/or managers of certain species may not typically be referred to as a ‘producer, ’ owners of horses for example, these individuals are to be interpreted as being included in this broad use of ‘producer’ in the context of the NAIS User Guide.”7

Horses are referred to specifically in discussions of which species are included at page 4, costs of injecting the RFID transponders (curious estimations, that at $20 include a vet visit) at pages 10 and 35, and animal identification systems and numbers, at pages 28 and 33. Clearly, horses are in the NAIS.

But, you say, the coercion with cattle doesn’t apply to horse owners. Horse owners won’t be caught at the slaughterhouse (yeah, right), and we can use private sales instead of auction barns where premises ID’s are being required. Sorry… the User Guide specifically lists private sales and “regional” shows as reportable events, at page 47.

Applied Sneak Attacks
THE MDA STRATEGY WITH CATTLE can be applied to horses.

Existing regulations already exist that could easily be manipulated towards the same end. Do you know the full breadth of your state’s Coggins regulations? Take for instance, Ohio’s regulation, which requires someone bringing a horse into the state for a show to provide, upon request, a list of all the places that horse has been in the past 30 days.

What’s to keep the Ohio Department of Agriculture from deciding, as a matter of policy, that it prefers a report out of the national horse movement-tracking database? Not in the national database? What’s to stop the state from charging you a large fee or simply not allowing you admission into Ohio with your horse, because the national database is the only proof they’ll accept? Yes, you too could wake up to a guerilla attack by the Department of Agriculture of your state, or the one you plan to visit next week.

NO NAIS, NO Exceptions
HORSE OWNERS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT UNLESS SPECIFIC LANGUAGE EXEMPTS us entirely from NAIS, we are just as likely as cattlemen to be 100% caught up in it. Assumed protection is no protection. Like other infringements in the name of “Homeland Security” NAIS is a disaster in the making that no American citizen should even have to worry about. But it is happening, right now to livestock owners all over the country. Rather than hope for the best, live in denial, or wait until we are mired in it, now is the time to speak out against NAIS at the state and federal level.

Let us not be left sitting in our saddles, like the British generals that lost the Revolutionary War, because they did not understand the other side’s tactics and were waiting for an invitation to battle. Observe the events around you and see the pro-NAIS movement’s tactics as they are - you will not receive an announcement of NAIS’s expansion. Like the British who failed to adjust their tactics against American revolutionaries who chose to fight from behind trees, we will lose unless we look behind those trees, and adjust how we fight against NAIS.

You can reach her at bergener@config.com, or (330) 298-0065.

Footnotes
¹ USDA, National Animal Identification System (NAIS): A User Guide and Additional Information Resources (Draft Version, November 2006) (hereinafter "User Guide") at p.5-6 (emphasis added). Bruce Knight, the new undersecretary for marketing and regulation, continues to say that USDA wants 100% participation by January 2009, which was the goal they announced in April of this year.
www.cbs13.com/topstories/
² USDA, Announcement of Cooperative Agreements for Implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) (Nov. 22, 2006) (hereinafter "Cooperative Agreement Announcement") Initial Announcement of Cooperative Agreements for Implementation of NAIS, Nov. 22, 2006, p.1
³ Cooperative Agreement Announcement at p.5
⁴ Cooperative Agreement Announcement at p.10
⁵ Wis. ATCP Rule 17.02; 345 IAC 1-2.5
⁶ User Guide at p.8
⁷ User Guide, footnote 2

Return to Top