Yes,it would be,if that were the USDA's only agenda.But that is not all that NAIDS is about.

I suggest going to the grassroot's organization website www.libertyark.net for the true story.I am surprised that more people on HTW have not addressed this.

crowleysridgegirl,

Thanks for posting that site!  Great info!  We all need to start banding together to fight NAIS and to educate our NON-animal/livestock friends and family who would be fooled by the backers of NAIS.  BEFORE it's too late.

Well I am certainly glad to see somebody agrees with this and is not wanting to start a fight over it to the detriment of horse owners.ALthough I imagine someone that is well meaning but ill informed will add to this before long.

All a person has to do is read this site,plus others,to see the true agenda of the USDA through National Animal Identification.Their goal is to track the movement everywhere of everyone's livestock,horses included.They initially proposed (and will still push through if they get their way) to have every "farm" or even your own back yard 1-2 acres numbered with a farm ID ,then require you to microchip your horses,then require you to call some giant unseen entity to report each time you took your animals off of your premises. I mean EACH time.

They are starting to come to the realization that Americans have freedoms that they are not willing to blindly reliquish to government that professes to "know what is best" for them.There is a Freedom to Farm bill that has a big impact on the NAIDS in my home state.

Don't take my word for it if you don't believe me.Do your own research and arrive at your own conclusions.I can't help but feel that horse owners as a group will agree that we don't want to make a phone call to tell anybody we are going on a trail ride,right?

And not just one tax/fee,either.THe ones that stand to profit are the ones pushing for it.Especially all the microchip folks that came out of the woodwork to lobby for NAIDS.

Imagine the sheer amount of record keeping and tax money involved to have a 24 hour monitoring system in place if you were required to report movement of your animals? It has been determined that it would be the biggest record keeping system the government has EVER encountered.

I'm certainly not for it.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/62858/

(excert)   Such industrialized meat producers as Cargill and Tyson have three reasons to love NAIS. First, the scheme fits their operations to a T, not only because they are already thoroughly computerized, but also because they engineered a neat corporate loophole: If an entity owns a vertically integrated, birth-to-death factory system with thousands of animals (as the Cargills and Tysons do), it does not have to tag and track each one but instead is given a single lot number to cover the whole flock or herd. Second, it's no accident that NAIS will be so burdensome and costly (fees, tags, computer equipment, time) to small farmers and ranchers. The giant operators are happy to see these pesky competitors saddled with another reason to go out of business, thus leaving even more of the market to the big guys.

I wonder if John Q Public has stopped to think just how much MORE expensive food will become when it's completely monopolized by a few big corporations?  There were some other good points in that article. 

Unfortunately, I think that all the info out there has been so difficult to trudge through (the stuff that actually talks about what NAIS "really" is) or has been so watered down that the average person out there doesn't think it will affect them. 

(excerpt)

Third, the Cargills and Tysons are eager to assure Japan, Europe and other export customers that the U.S. meat industry is finally doing something to clean up the widespread contamination of its product. A national animal-tracking system would give the appearance of doing this without making the corporations incur the cost of a real cleanup. The health claims of NAIS are a sham; NAIS backers assumed they could sneak their little package of nasties past the people before anyone woke up. Wrong. Because it does not touch the source of E. coli, salmonella, listeria, mad cow and other common meat-borne diseases. Such contamination comes from the inherently unhealthy practices (mass crowding, growth stimulants, feeding regimens, rushed assembly lines, poor sanitation, etc.) of industrial-scale meat operations, and NAIS will do nothing to stop these practices. Moreover, tracking ends at the time of slaughter, and it's from slaughter onward that most spoilage occurs. NAIS doesn't trace any contamination after this final '"event" in the animals' lives.

HUMMMMM........

Wendy,thanks a bunch for posting that,further clarifying what NAIDS is about.

In the grain farming business all of my life,first as daughter of a small rice/soybean farmer and now involved in the operation myself,I can tell you exactly what has happened in our sector echoing what you stated about food prices soaring when a few big boys are naming their prices.("Middlemen.")

We have seen this for one example that has put a lot of us over a barrel.Used to be a farmer could hold back a select seed variety for planting the next year if that seed was disease resistant,good yielding and hardy.This practice has been stopped.Now the god of seed companies,Monsanto who recently purchased Delta Pine & Land Company,Cargill and the like tell US what we can plant.Resulting in varieties that are sensitive to weather patterns that are off the chart and other maladies.

Welcome to the new world of freedom.I'd still rather live in America than anywhere else there is,that is a certainty,before some military minded folks jump me as the guy did (or tried to) in the recent thread about "Trouble Hauling Across Iowa." But if you think for one second you are free to do as you please even in an honest occupation such as we run,think again.

Their website is:http://www.libertyark.net

They are the unified voice in Washington for those of us that are opposed to a National Animal Identification System involving horses.

 And KCW,didn't mean to hijack your thread about the American Horse Council,but just wanted others on this forum to be aware of their position on NAIS.If anyone wants further information from this point,you can PM me here.

 Thanks, KCW and crowleyridgegirl, for the reminders!

  I have been a member of our state Horse Council for MANY years. I also have heard and read about NAIS, but had 'dropped it off my radar' for awhile--and it should NOT be forgotten about! I just went and forwarded the Liberty Ark web address to a bunch of horse people on my address list, with hopes they will take it as seriously as it NEEDS to be taken!

Margo(aka olehossgal) in NM

It's already happened... think back to the 1980s...

http://www.rrojasdatabank.org/agrib1.htm

Anyone here everheard of...Lonrho???

Lonrho, the London-based transnational comprising over 800 companies
operating in over 80 countries. Its principal activities embrace mining
and refining of minerals, manufacturing, general trade, agriculture,
motoring and equipment, distribution, and financial services.

Wholly-owned subsidiaries are in the U.K., Angola, Belgium, Bermuda,
France, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria,
South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, U.S.A., Germany, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe.

Agriculture and mining concerns are mainly in Africa. Lonrho is Africa's
largest food producing company, with a ranch and crop cultivation spread
of over a million and a half acres, a total herd of 125,000 head and
seven sugar plantations, which in the late 1980s were producing half a
million tonnes. Major crops are maize and wheat, tea, coffee, chilies,
macadamia and cashew nuts, palm oil, and cotton lint. Some cattle
interests are in the U.S.. Mining and refining in Africa includes gold,
platinum, copper, coal, and asbestos. A joint venture with the
government of Zambia to promote the mining and marketing of amethysts
was agreed in 1987.

Also, Lonrho is one of the largest distributor of motor vehicles in
Africa for Audi, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Toyota, Ford, Massey Ferguson
and Mercedes Benz. Textiles in Zambia and Zimbabwe, and finance and
general trade all over the continent.

Nevertheless, only a quarter of Lonrho sales are in Africa, but half
of its net profits come from Africa. D. C. Stafford and R. H. A. Purkis,
"Macmillan Directory of Multinationals", Macmillan, 1989