Posted on 10/25/2005 6:59:42 PM PDT by SJackson
BARABOO - Even if residents own as little as a few chickens, some horses or a pet llama, a new state law requires that animal owners register all premises where livestock are kept.
Beginning Nov. 1, people must register with the state locations where livestock are kept, said Robert Fourdraine, chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium, a nonprofit organization working with the state Department of Agriculture. This is a first step toward implementing a nationwide system of livestock identification.
A wide variety of animals are considered livestock under the law, a including: fish; cattle and bison; alpacas; deer, elk and moose; horses; captive birds such as pheasants, emu and waterfowl; poultry and sheep. Registration is required of all livestock owners, including those keeping an animal defined as livestock as a pet or for hobby purposes.
Livestock owners are asked to complete their registration by Jan. 1, Fourdraine said. Once the window for registration ends, the law establishes penalties for livestock owners who don't comply.
The registration of addresses where livestock are kept is part of an effort to control future outbreaks of animal and human illness, said Paul Dietmann, Sauk County's University of Wisconsin agriculture agent.
"If there were an outbreak of diseases, it would be a lot easier and faster to notify people if livestock have been registered," he said. "You can understand why it's important to know where all the livestock are located and to have a means to quickly notify the people if there is an outbreak."
Disease emergencies involving livestock include the severe outbreak of foot and mouth disease, an illness of animals such as cattle and sheep, in Britain a few years ago, Dietmann said. While it never arrived in the U.S., agriculture authorities had to prepare for the possibility it might.
"The county has an emergency response plan for highly contagious animal diseases," Dietmann said. "If something were to break out, or even if it were suspected, there's a process the county would go through so people who need to know are notified."
Another concern is the avian flu, he said.
Health officials have not yet reported finding the avian or bird flu strain, formally called H5N1, in the U.S., according to press reports. But it has been found in poultry and wild birds in Asia, and just recently in parts of Europe.
Health experts worry H5N1 could mutate and become a deadly flu that easily spreads from person to person. It has killed about 60 people in Asia, but the few made ill generally caught it from contact with poultry.
"Avian flu could be an even bigger concern, because there's (a threat to) humans involved," said Dietmann.
Some farmers are skeptical about the national livestock identification process, he said, because state and federal laws do not yet require animals being imported to the U.S. to be identified and tracked.
"There's a higher requirement for farmers in the United States than there is for farmers who are exporting to the United States," said Dietmann.
A thorough livestock identification program would require registration of both local premises where livestock are kept and country-of-origin labeling for imported animals, Dietmann said. However, he still believes registration of livestock premises is a good idea.
"The faster we can notify people there needs to be a quarantine or something, the better off we are," he said.
In the statement, Fourdraine notes Sauk County is one of the leading counties in Wisconsin for numbers of places where livestock are housed.
Until Oct. 31, livestock owners may register their premises at http://www.wiid.org. After Nov. 1 the appropriate web address is http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/premises.
Owners may also call (888) 808-1910 to receive a registration form. Or they can get one at Sauk County-UW-Extension, Sauk County West Square Building, 505 Broadway, downtown Baraboo. Registration also may be done through a Farm Service Agency office.
Just more of the same of big government socialism and control of your life and property.
Only the people can stop it.
Yes, projects of this type are discussed openly in Industry Trade magazines and newsletters.
Actually the Animal ID project is a compromise offered since the cattle industry especailly is opposed to the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) many are pushing.
I know it sounds crazy to people who don't grow animals for human consumption, but I happen to subscribe to the theory that everyone deserves to know where the meat they purchase at the Supermarket comes from.
As environmental regulations become more stringent all the time, the livestock industry is moving out of the U.S. into Mexico and Brazil.
In the U.S. livestock diets are more restricted than humans. There are many growth promotants and veterinary vaccines which are commonly used outside the U.S. which the Food and Drug Administration has decided to outlaw here. In the case of outlawed antibiotics, the reasoning for banning the antibiotic is to help prevent humans building up a resistance to them. It is for our own good health that these vaccines are not available to livestock producers to use on their herds. Yet these same vaccines are commonly used in other countries.
This is why I feel it is extremely important that we all know where our food is grown. The COOL legislation would have helped us in that way. Unfortunately there were powerful infulences within the industry (maybe packers who also own livestock???) who were able to stall the COOL legislation. The Animal ID project is the compromise substitute.
Most responsible livestock producers I know are not going to complain too much about it, until they start publishing the information in the newspaper. Then all HELL will break loose.
I don't see it as odd for livestock raised for consumption...
What seems odd is that they have broadened it to animals that are essentially pets such as horses and llamas and the like.
Look here. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/issues.html
But it's for your own good. For the love of God, think of the children. LOL
"Your papers, please.
Sir, it appears that your papers are not in order.
Come with me."
Another part of the business development plan for government.
I haven't read the Wisconsin law, but if it's like the ones I've read about in the trade magazines they will be required to register the farm the animals are on, not each individual animal.
It is not unusual in the midwest for a farm family to piece together their land holdings over the years they are farming, so all the land isn't necessarily contiguious. The purpose of the bills I know about is to identify 'where' the animals are raised. Which is why I am concerned about the bureaucrats publishing the information and letting PETA and ALF have access to it.
Illegals that enter Wisconsin will be issued a cow, for tracking purposes. Predators, I'm not speculating on that.
Notice how many freedoms are being impinged on in the name of public health? Be it gun bans, ATV regs, or whatever, when a public health concern is expressed an attack on freedoms is sure to follow.
Wait until the mental giants in "Sandal City" aka Madison figure out that fish "poop" in the water.
Next thing Ban fish!
Of course we'll need to tatoo the animals for identification...and then the humans too.
This is nothing new, it's been done before.
Borrowed from http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/fish.htm
Praline: (whistles a bit, then) Hello. I would like to buy a fish license, please.
Postal clerk: A what?
Praline: A license for my pet fish, Eric.
Clerk: How did you know my name was Eric?
Praline: No, no, no! My fish's name is Eric. Eric fish. He's an halibut.
Clerk: What?
Praline: He is an halibut.
Clerk: You've got a pet halibut?
Praline: Yes, I chose him out of thousands. I didn't like the others, they were all too flat.
Clerk: You must be a loony.
Praline: I am not a loony. Why should I be tarred with the epithet 'loony' merely because I have a pet halibut? I've heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabarro has a pet prawn called Simon - you wouldn't call him a loony! Furthermore Dawn Pathorpe, the lady show jumper, had a clam called Stafford, after the late chancellor. Alan Bullock has two pikes, both called Chris, and Marcel Proust had an 'addock! So if you're calling the author of 'A la recherche de temps perdu' a loony, I shall have to ask you to step outside!
Clerk: All right, all right, all right. A license?
Praline: Yes!
Clerk: For a fish.
Praline: Yes!
Clerk: You *are* a loony.
Praline: Look, it's a bleeding pet, isn't it? I've got a license for me pet dog Eric, I've got a license for me pet cat Eric.
Clerk: You don't need a license for your cat.
Praline: I bleedin' well do and I've got one! Can't be caught out there!
Clerk: There is no such thing as a bloody Cat license.
Praline: Yes there is.
Clerk: No there isn't.
Praline: Is!
Clerk: Isn't!
Praline: Is!
Clerk: Isn't!
Praline: Is!
Clerk: Isn't!
Praline: Is!
Clerk: Isn't!
Praline: Is!
Clerk: Isn't!
Praline: Is!
Clerk: Isn't!
Praline: What's that then?
Clerk: This is a dog license with the word 'dog' crossed out and 'cat' written in, in crayon.
Praline: Man didn't have the right form.
Clerk: What man?
Praline: The man from the cat detector van.
Clerk: The loony detector van, you mean.
Praline: Look, it's people like you what cause unrest.
Clerk: What cat detector van?
Praline: The cat detector van from the Ministry of Housinge.
Clerk: Housinge?
Praline: It was spelt like that on the van. I'm very observant. I never seen so many bleedin' aerials. The man said their equipment could pinpoint a purr at four hundred yards, and Eric being such a happy cat was a piece of cake.
Clerk: How much did you pay for this?
Praline: Sixty quid and eight for the fruit-bat.
Clerk: What fruit-bat?
Praline: Eric the fruit-bat.
Clerk: Are all your pets called Eric?
Praline: There's nothing so odd about that. Kemel Attaturk had an entire menagerie called Abdul.
Clerk: No he didn't.
Praline: Did!
Clerk: Didn't!
Praline: Did, did, did, did, did and did!
Clerk: Oh all right.
Praline: Spoken like a gentleman, sir. Now, are you going to give me a fish license?
Clerk: I promise you that there is no such thing. You don't need one.
NB: The TV Version continues.....the album version continues below
Praline: Then I would like a statement to that effect signed by the Lord Mayor.
(Fanfare of trumpets. Mayor gorgeously dressed with dignitaries enters flanked by trumpeters.)
Clerk: You're in luck.
(In long shot now. The Mayor, who is nine foot high, and dignitaries approach a startled Praline. Organ music below a reverent voice over)
I feed the fish here in the lake. Will I be taxed on my pets?
But the government can't allow you to be able to feed yourself and your family directly.
How can they force you to follow their directives if they can't starve you, sort of like the way the USSR did with the Ukraine!
Mark
I guess I can add one more reason to be happy that I don't have crabs.
Sheeple.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.