Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

Emotions or not, if we do not get it all out about this program we are only hurting ourselves.

For some there are pros and others those pros are cons...IT SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK FOR ALL.

 

I stand by my contention the NAIS program will  however hurt EVERYONE.  EVEN if you are not an animal owner.  YOU WILL BE PAYING FOR SOMETHING USELESS.

 

Botton line is, is that I do not support this program.  I see too many loopholes and problems with it and we already have stop gaps in force that monitor animal movement particularly horses...case in point the COGGINS test.  You get that test for any horse, YOU GET NOTICED. You go to a vet, YOU ARE NOTICED.

 

HOWEVER, ever stop to think how worthless a Coggins test is if your horse can get the virus after the test is took and you have a paper in your hand that says its good for 6 months or a year???  Think about it, you buy a horse, the guy hands you a test that says it was took months ago and you are a fool to think that it is good if you do not have one drawn at the point of sale so how good is this program???

 

But anyway, if you have goats or sheep, its a scrapies test, if you have a dog, it's a rabies shot record, if you have ....etc etc.. there is a record.  However, in cats, even though they can spread rabies, why don't we have tags for them???  most people don't get shots for their barn cats now do they?

 

NAIS to me is nothing but overkill causing a pile up of paperwork to a JOE that does a favor for someone else or you take a ride off your property and there is NO DOUBT in my mind that this program will hurt everyone because, if it will not, then why are soooo many  in an uproar over it!

 

As for a guy raising one hundred chickens...pardon me, but 100 chickens will barely feed a family of 2 for a year...and does not even enter the main food  stream in those cases. And any one thinking that 100  or even 1000 chickens is BIG business is a total idiot.  It might seem that those numbers are big to a guy who only has one animal, but it is not. Although when you start adding up the number of backyards who do this, the big guys are the ones in protest because they want a peice of it and one way or the other that is the game.  Some showbreeders have 100-300 birds on their property, and most birds if they are butchered rarely see week 24. SO tagging backyarders with animals with that shelf life is insane.

 

I can site any given day and thousands of wild birds will visit my ranch no less for the numerous deer, coyote etc etc etc...my animals go virtually no where so where would a disease come to me?...more than likely through a neighbor, the wind or a stray.  So to say a disease would have started at my farm, would be ludicrucus when you do not tag what comes into it.  As for a 48 hour track back...hmmm..there are a lot of illnesses that take a week to 10 days to show clinical symtoms, so what the is with that?

 

If you think because a guy has 100 rowcrop acres wow, that is a big farm, that farm will rarely support a family of 2.  My point being here too is that we have people pushing laws that have no clue as to the animal industry, or farming and that laws get passed that are detrimental to the industry.  We do not need ANOTHER program that is worthless.

 

Even a hobbist hen house with 2-3 birds can invest $100's to thousands of dollars in a pair of birds and sell a few offspring and get a good price, this does not make it big business and some of those show homes are in the backyards of suburbs.  They are NOT FARMS, but are allowed to keep a few birds. The hype about bird flu is a problem too and in most cases, people hear the very words and cringe because the media has made an issue over a serious disease that can spread to humans, but those issues are reomote over the other types of bird flu that exist.  They are two seperate problems under the same name getting confusion and emotions in an uproar and those who do not have animals take it the wrong way due to their ignorance. 

  

The media has also not come totally clean in its hype on mad cow either and it is the exporters whining the most..  I have seen animals kept deep in their dung, and left for days to eat nothing but their dung and animals die and the bovines in the lot left to nibble on carcasses.  GET AFTER THOSE stys. Leave the little guys alone, whowever I have seen the little guy in a bad way too, so what is one to do?

 

If you really want to learn about the issues of NAIS, talk to the people in CANADA

or other countries who do import and export and what it is doing to their businesses and individual owners along with the soaring price of fuel.  I guarantee you, they are not happy and they see the way this is headed.  Or get involved into it yourself and open your eyes if you are not doing it to see the problems with it.

 

If I ride my horse off my property, I am not going to be a victim of filing useless paperwork just becasue I want to enjoy a recreational hobby or go help a neighbor look for his lost kid.  But heretoo, I have already fallen a victim. ESPECIALLY AND I REPEAT WHEN IT IS A GOOD CHANCE IT WILL COME TO ME, NOT ME GOING TO IT.  48 hour track back, grumble grumble, that is worthless as .....

 

The problem also is is once a premise is IDed in the system the ID  carries beyond the life of the farm and it's original owner otherwise why bother ID a premise.  You might not think it does, but IT WILL.  This is censurship.  AND you will get noticed if you buy land that is zoned for animals whether or not you board a horse there or are the landowner with horses because you simply pay taxes or are zoned.  IT WILL FOLLOW WITH EACH ANIMAL. It is also more dig in empty pockets and that is what will hurt the little guys even more.

 

The fact is, is you are already noticed when you pay your real estate taxes on ag zoned property.....The NAIS program has hidden issues that if you own animals...you will get noticed.  It is also what they are not saying at this time on the system that could change in the future.  What is not said is often what we need to listen to and heed the most.

 

The problem is is it is big businesses that are pushing this program so to say,"do not join

tax issues, business issues and the NAIS" is kind of tough to do when it is the companies like Monsanto, Tyson etc who have the most to gain by pushing the program while they put the  little boys out of thier hobbies and little businesses.  It is like when a Walmart comes to a small town....the family ventures fold and suddenly the town is ruled by the big box monopoly.

 

The proof that the NAIS system will work is unavailable as well and that to me makes the issue MOOT.  It is also what makes the issue nightmare. Because why they want some things are ludicruos and makes no sense what so ever.

 

To put it another way, if you VOLUNTEER to join the army, you are stuck.  YOU will not find yourself able to "UNVOLUNTEER" to go home on your own whim or chose the battle you want to fight.  You suddenly are a part of a mandatory system of orders until discharged be it honorably or otherwise.  WITH NAIS...there is no discharge and thus it becomes mandatory..

 

NAIS is what I would call a program that is like that, it is a backdoor draft.  VOLUNTARY TODAY, MANDATORY TOMORROW...AND THE MAJORITY OF ANIMAL OWNERS really have no benefit of this type of program.   It's a track my animal, track me movement as well.

So what goes with this...if we do not volunteer, all of a sudden we are stuck with what, fines up our kazooz for noncomplience???  Aren't our court systems tied up enough with tripe cases?  And if we cannot afford to volunteer, the mandatory part errodes whats left.

 

When you farm, you may pay a voluntary corn check off or bean check off, but try and get a refund to a program like that.. It simple does not happen. Those poultry dollars a little guy spends are better spend elsewhere in his farming program. And don't we have already in some states a program called a beef and even a horse check off????  And who amongst us has seen the benefits on that??  I haven't

 

It (NAIS) is a program that will go awry just like so many of the other environmetal and ag programs that lack enforcement or the work force to do it.  Don't we have enough programs like this in our government that do this and that are a waste of time and spending? 

 

PROVE TO ME THAT this is not big business sucking the life out of the little guy and maybe I could support this, but nobody can, because it is the big businesses that implemented this.

 

NAIS to me is nothing but a paycheck collected for some that will be doing absolutely nothing.  IT IS SIMPLY OVER KILL ON PROGRAMS THAT ALREADY EXIST.

 

I also do not beleive that theft of any animal is the reality of this type of program.  Besides that most people who own animals and who care very much for them do most everything in their power to kep and protect them.   An animal getting lost though in the case of  like Katrina, well, that is a rare occurance.  I also have to fault the government for not letting those people take their critters.  People who care for their animals generally keep records of their animals health as well.  It is only good common sense and husbandry, but to me, the pandamonium with this program is the vast amount of records of keeping of healthy animals...you ride off your premise..you HAVE TO MAKE A RECORD OF IT??? WHY????
NAIS is idiosity at its best.

 

Most of us who would have over a handful of animals would have trouble relocating them in a heartbeat anyway  if it got down to it..Those owners having more than they can move are in a situation of going down with their own ships so to speak so they need their own preparedness in the event of a disaster.

 

Not all of us can afford to microchip every animal we own either.  Many of us already

suffer from adversaty of farm life  and here is where it will hurt the most.  And a heck of a lot of us already suffer from a medical system that is broken down and that has harmed individuals economically no less in their health, but in insurances and these are not even pandemic issues....it is just life...

 

Like I said, when we can put a tag on every creature that walks and including the wind, only then will such a ludicrus program work and I for one do not want to be a prisoner in my own home.  My freedoms and civil rights have become violated enough through media hypes and governments trying to scare us to death. 

 

What I have to say more on the issues are not publishable due to the fact that I would not be able to control my civil tongue and could be classified as x-rated.  I am chosing a higher path and electing NOT TO GO THIS WAY

 

Lastly, have you ever stopped to think that the more we try to secure ourselves the more we lock ourselves in and all of a sudden it's a lousy deadbolt that has trapped us into our own burning building? When the smoke and mirrors are in our face, we often cannot find the key to escape.  IT (NAIS) and it's smoke and mirrors has got to stop. NAIS IS OVER KILL and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ALREADY.

 

Karen Nesbitt

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