But I Had No Sheep - Part 1

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a three prong scheme devised by USDA, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and National Institute of Animal Agriculture (NIAA) who explain it this way:

NAIS is a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States. The NAIS program-a voluntary State-Federal-Industry partnership-is designed to:
1. Protect your premises and your livelihood
2. Reduce hardships caused by an animal disease outbreak in your community
3. Protect your access to markets

The three prongs of NAIS are 1) premises registration, 2) individual animal identification via the preferred RFID chip or tag, and 3) reporting of individual animal movements.

Premises registration involves registering any property that houses even just one livestock animal - cattle, bison, deer, elk, llamas, alpacas, horses, donkeys, mules, goats, sheep, swine, all poultry species (chickens, ducks, etc), and even some fish species, under the heading of aquaculture, and any animal that may be added to the list in the future. In turn you receive a number and a GPS coordinate. They say it isn't anything more revealing than the information one has to provide for the 911 system. It is the first time in the history of this country where an agency of the government has mandated the registering of private property with the sole purpose of keeping track of it because it interferes with the profits of business.

In the next step,individual animal identification, their plan becomes a bit more transparent. The large Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) only need one animal identification number per in/out lot of perhaps 10,000 animals. Small/private farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists, horse-owners, 4-H and FFA all need to individually tag each one of their animals with an RFID chip or tag. Horses, for example, will need an RFID chip inserted in the nuchal ligament, the fibrous membrane in the neck around the 4th - 5th vertebrae. Goats get the RFID tag in the ear, which is a problem for some goats with extremely small ears. The cattle working group has recommended RFID eartags, which use radio frequency to convey information, as a preferred form of identification

In the third phase of NAIS implementation, animal movements will need to be tracked and reported with fines for noncompliance. Initially, even horse trail rides were reportable events, but USDA changed their minds, maybe, about that. The reason for the "maybe" is that in one place they say one thing and something else in another. More about that later.

Initially, USDA said NAIS would be mandatory for every person who even had just one laying hen. They claimed that NAIS would permit improved animal health surveillance by identifying and tracking specific animals. Its purpose is to allow the government to track the births, deaths, co-mingling and all movements of all livestock in the United States.

It is with this understanding of NAIS that small/private farmers, homesteaders, etc. all around the country began the largest spontaneous grassroots activists efforts via the internet. Anti-NAIS blogs and websites sprang up in a short amount of time, the word got out.

End of part 1

With permission and apologies:

When NAIS started, I was a simple woman with six chickens and a horse.

First, they came for the cattle ranchers (although they already knew how to find BSE)
But I was not a cattle rancher, so I did not fight.

Then, they came for the sheep ranchers (although the sprapie program worked fine)
But I had no sheep, so I did not speak out

They came next for the goat herders (who already tattooed their goats)
But I did not consider their plight my own

Then, they came for the chickens and ducks, but "only the large producers"
So I did not fight against NAIS

Again they came, this time for the pigs (although pig farmers have proper husbandry)
But I did not raise pigs, so I did not fight

Then they came after the Llamas and Alpacas but they were expensive animals,
So none of the ranchers fought, even those who owned them

Then, they tagged all the horses, but the AQHA and Jockeys said it was all right,
not to worry
So I did not think I would lose my right to trail ride

Then, in waves, they came after
The elk ranchers
The deer herders
The bison ranchers

Then, when the numbers were not enough, they came for the small farmers
And I, now a felon with chickens and a horse, had no one to speak for me.