[Squashmania]

The following was my response to this proposal. Thank you for the link. I didn’t read the proposal completely before responding, however the core of my message is congruent.

Thank you for posting the link. Buckle up. I paraphrased Joel Salatin at one point.

I am a private small midwestern grower, and this goal is ludicrous, exorbitant, untenable, and cumbersome. I do NOT agree with this proposal. DO NOT PLACE THIS into law. DO NOT have a “trial group”. Please DO read on. It places additional burden of time, cost, and accounting squarely on the farmer, and undue additional stress on the animals, not to mention the dreaded “red tape” effect, which slows the productivity of everything it touches.

There are relied-upon methods to account for one’s stock; ear tags, brands, segregated groups; the list goes on. These previously listed identifiers can all be seen by the naked eye. Howr many shysters will claim that their stock is “e-tagged”, when they are not? There are just too many opportunities for obfuscation and misleading.

This proposed identification would put undue strain on an already fragile supply chain. What happens when it is the allotted time to “chip” your stock, but the chips are on backorder? How often has THAT happened to you in the last two years? It took my neighbors 22 weeks to get a couch. Really. And these are electronic devices, which can break, cease to function and be counterfeited, never mind having (and not losing) a correctly functioning reader. Would this require a USDA annual inspection and seal? Any implanted device carries the inherent risk of concomitant infection.

In order to accurately position such a device the animal would need to be “handled”, which, when in large groups, requires infrastructure, multiple people multiple hours to coordinate, with typically heavy machinery. If you think this is “no big deal”, see what it takes for a bison rancher to place ear tags and give a vet exam. Have you ever had a bison burger? It is totally delicious.

Now on the other end of the spectrum, when would every rabbit produced also be required to have this tagging method? They are a livestock species that is farmed and consumed. The idea of, “where we go one, we go all”, is ringing in my head, and the slippery slope that is being proposed is very dangerous. Livestock is different than a treasured pedigreed dog that could be lost.

My sister breeds pedigreed dogs. They are “tagged” prior to sale. It is not a small process. Besides placement of this chip, there is an electronic “back end” component to this. She is placed as primary and the purchaser is placed as secondary on the chip memory, which requires computer programming. All these steps have a cost; money and time. This is where a cost-benefit analysis for a litter of 8 puppies makes sense, but for a herd of hundreds, or even thousands, is ludicrous.

Once processed, would these “e-tags” be removed and recycled? Would they be placed back into circulation? Yet another step and more costs, which sounds like an impending problem for the leather industry.

Do not underestimate the “average” farmer’s intelligence in comprehending the behemoth that this law would create.

This idea has been adopted by people who are disconnected from their food sources, and have no idea the volume of animal stock that is required to feed such a large populace. I wonder if any person drafting this proposal has been to a CAFO lot? I highly doubt it. I wonder if any farmer was part of drafting this proposal? I also very much doubt that.

I will reiterate that I do NOT support this proposal.