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General News    H3'ed 1/19/09

Pre-inauguration reality: Obama's choice of Vilsack and the death of American farming

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Linn Cohen-Cole
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A letter from a farmer.  Welcome to the decency and hard work of our real farmers and then to what the government is doing to them and why they are desperate.  Perhaps now liberals will start to see the malign use of regulations they have trusted a corrupt government to impose.

 

Obama picked Vilsack.  Vilsack pushes NAIS.  Monsanto helped design it.  NAIS is a plan to get rid of farmers. 

 

"I was asked by someone on the No NAIS lists to write ... about NAIS. THis is how it has effected me.
 
"I have a small farm with mostly small livestock. Until NAIS raised its ugly head we raised them mostly for our own use and sold a few a year or sold their products for our income. It was our practice to vaccinate, test and treat regularly. Our veterinarian and the state university veterinary school were taught us quite a lot about health issues and proper treatment. We sold breeding animals only and sold them within a three state distance in any direction. All our animals were purebred and many are heritage breeds. We loved our animals and our life.
 
"Since NAIS we no longer sell across state lines. We have made the decision that if we are forced to register this premises, we will stop breeding and not sell any breeding stock. This is not just a problem for us but for other heritage breeders as the gene pool for those animals is small. While others had the option of buying some of our genetic lines in exchange for thiers they no longer have that option. We used to talk to veterinarians on a regular basis. We not only used our local vets but also spoke to those who were experts in their feilds when we had a problem we couldnt solve. We no longer call the vet unless we absolutely cannot handle it ourselves. If the USDA memo goes through we will have to put a lot of animals down that dont need to be because vets will be directed to register us without our consent. We have quit dealing with two feed stores because they required a premise ID. We spread the word on them and many of our friends who bought their no longer do so. We do not sell at livestock barns. We no longer sell anything to anyone unless we know them. We no longer allow strangers on our farm. We question everyone who writes or calls about an animal or any of our products before allowing them access to our place. Our fear is so great of someone making a complaint or reporting a  real or imagined "disease"  that we cannot be the open farm we used to be. We no longer allow the vet school to collect data for research on our animals. We no longer have school groups come for farm day. We have become closed, paranoid and defensive.  A cattleman who was pro-NAIS once said we didn't matter anyway because we didn't make any real money. We don't make a lot of money but we made enough to give us a reasonable standard of living and the contribution we make to genetic diversity was real enough. When NAIS goes in and people like us are gone, the price of food will go us as will the food bourne illnesses. People like us who raised animals on grass and whole grain and did not use a lot oc chemicals or unneccessary medication will be gone. The terrorists that the government is so afraid of will have a single databse to look up the biggest feedlot in America and in one fell swoop contaminate the whole food supply. People like us made America. We still exist by the thousands in number far larger than the big farms. WHat will America be like without us? Do you really care?" 
 
Petition seeking help:
www.thepetitionsite.com/1/seeking-your-combined-help-to-save-desperate-american-farmers-our-farmland-our-animals 
 
Join FarmOn  at farmon[at]googlegroups[dot]com
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Met libertarian and conservative farmers and learned an incredible amount about farming and nature and science, as well as about government violations against them and against us all. The other side of the fence is nothing like what we've been (more...)
 
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