I Disagree with National Animal ID

The concept is being spread all over the Net that dairy farmers are in favor of mandatory NAIS, the national animal ID system.
I have very harsh words for that idea and I really, really, really would like to print them here.
Just think about the inevitable byproduct of the male bovine digestive process, the one that has the initials, BS, and you will have my opinion on making NAIS mandatory. As has been repeatedly proven, we can already trace cows and other livestock and we can trace them quickly. How long did it take them to find out where the first BSE cow in Washington came from? No time at all. And they keep touting stopping mad cow disease as an excuse for this intrusive program. A big waste of time. We already have more safeguards in place than we need. For Heaven's sake you are much more likely to be struck by lightning while riding an elephant in the circus than to contact BSE.

The groups that are making this claim are not dairy farmers. They are mostly folks who sell ear tags and maintain for-fee databases of animals. It is just a case of follow the money. Take for example the Holstein Association, Holstein USA. One of the things they do is maintain the registry for the purebred Holstein herd in this country. Another thing they do is sell ear tags and keep records on the critters that wear them. Of course they want to force everyone into a position where they have to buy their products.

And the whole ear tag thing is a sad and sorry joke anyhow. Please take a minute, click on this link and read this story about the cost of tags and their efficacy.

However, IDairy is in Washington telling Congress that I want mandatory ID on our cows. They claim the idea of buying expensive tags that the cows will promptly lose in the feed throughs and maintaining records of every time one moves anywhere is my plan for a good day. They are lying. I swear I am about ready to cancel my membership in Holstein USA. I already pay them for three memberships for family members, plus a good chunk of change for every calf born on the place. Now they want me to pay them to keep track of and tag cows that we already keep track of and tag. Bull byproducts to them!!

This kind of program should be MARKET DRIVEN. If consumers want meat and eggs from micro chipped, ear tagged, tattooed, pass ported animals they should pay a premium for such products. I assure you, if there is money to be made in the marketplace by tagging cows or keeping track of every time they take a breath, farmers and ranchers will do what it takes to get the money. However, what the government wants is for those same farmers to pay for the program whether anybody gives a hoot about it or not. Bah!