AUSSIE RANCHER SPEAKS OUT

AMERICANS ARE CONSTANTLY BEING TOLD BY THE USDA THAT THE ANIMAL ID SYSTEMS IN OTHER COUNTRIES ARE WORKING GREAT AND THAT WE NEED TO CATCH UP WITH THEM OR WE ARE GOING TO BE LEFT BEHIND...AUSTRALIA IS THE COUNTRY THAT IS MOST USED AS THE ONE TO EMULATE IN THIS REGARD. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS, WE ARE FINDING OUT THAT ALL IS NOT SO ROSEY IN AUSSIE ANIMAL ID LAND - AND WE ARE GETTING OUR FACTS STRAIGHT FROM THOSE WHO ARE HAVING TO LIVE WITH IT....

I urge you to consider stopping the introduction of this NAIS system in your country. Just as the feedlots manipulate the system to suit themselves to lower the price for cattle purchased so will you find the system will be rorted in the horse world. We currently have an outbreak of Equine Influenza and horses that are vaccinated must be microchipped ($80 dollars). A passport system akin to the Race Horse scene ensures the traceability of those chipped and vaccinated, a requirement for horses who go off farm to Shows, to events, to stud etc. Vaccination must be undertaken every 6 months by a vet at a cost of $100 for the vaccination plus the vets' expenses in travel and consultation fee. The 80% of pleasure horse owners in Australia can't afford that...the 20% race horse owners are used to the cost of micro chipping but not to the cost of vaccination but it looks like we have it forever...like you do. It will impact greatly on people owning horses, breeding horses and competing with horses. It has already had a huge impact on event cancellation and the breeding season has been destroyed as horses can't move off their farms due to the lock down. So I urge you to fight this NAIS with all you can muster in resistance! Jenny Bird.Down Under

Australia has suffered the introduction of a National Livestock Identification System using electronic buttons in cattle for over 3 years now, and since January the adoption of it in sheep and goats, I am well versed in the topic to pass on some advice. I am at the coal face of resistance with a pro active and enlightened group of farmers across Australia called The Australian Beef Association (ABA).

However there are some factors you haven't seen rolled up in that cement ball that will scare the XXXX out of you all, but by then it will be too late....the system will have been put in place and those who know how to manipulate it all to their advantage will have control.

eg feedlots are currently discounting heavily any cattle they purchase if a farmer sells less than 20 head of cattle with the same Property Identification Code (PIC) or button in their ear.

eg Any button that doesn't scan in a load of 75 head or isn't Life Time traceable, the whole load is discounted by 5 to 10 cents per kilogram depending on the feedlot involved.

eg. Feedlots are insisting on cattle being "breeder's cattle" or once removed from the place of birth/breeder (cattle must be owned by the farmer or the person who bought them...called "second hand" only. Cattle that become 3rd hand owned or lose their life time traceability by losing a tag or a tag that doesn't scan, who don't carry the property of birth button are heavily discounted. The difference in price can be hundreds of dollars.

eg. Given the "rules" above "feed lot on feeders" like we are cannot afford to buy these "unwanted" cattle, and are forced to buy vendor bred only in a highly competitive market at weaner sales...5 to 9 month old calves that take over 12 months to grow out and get up to feedlot intake weight. Meanwhile the feedlot buyers are buying all the second hand cattle at discounted prices with no competition from us.

The issue of traceability, data base stuff ups, incorrect NVDs (National Vendor Declarations which must accompany every consignment of cattle sold) is a night mare. Another day for elaboration on that if anyone is interested......I am on the run to muster and manually read steers and find the relevant NVD papers for every beast on the load to go out tomorrow. Our particular feedlot currently accepts from us fewer cattle than 20 with the same button...so a load of 75 may have 50 odd NVDs that have to be sent with the load to verify they are vendor bred, Life Time Traceable (LT).

Fight on and don't falter. You won't win but you may gain some ground as far as the horse ID is concerned...but they are trying to amortise the billions of dollars this system is going to cost across as many animals as possible. They are not likely to let any farm animal off as you represent a revenue source to lower the infra structure costs for the benefit of "the big boys".

The above is only the tip of the iceberg on this topic....but my time is somewhat consumed with dealing with the home based fight.....as well as coping with the system as it has been imposed on us!
Jenny

Just a bit more politically motivated than usual as this whole fiasco is threatening our livelihood big time as far as the cattle side of things go.

Hey..you better tell them your system is far from great too!!!! But you people only have a few head of cows in your back yard anyway! :-)...not thousands to cope with! We keep getting your "marvellous" trace back system shoved down our throat as the reason why we need NLIS (what they call it here...ie National Livestock Identification System). One of the reasons they give for why we have to have it!!!! We had a perfectly cheap and effective means of trace back with a simple plastic stick on tag applied to the tail of every beast sold anywhere. But that didn't create any new bums on seats or set up a whole new marketing venture for the plastic extruders, scanning techno manufacturers, weigh scale producers, let alone avenues for stock agents to manipulate the market scene, feedlotters to manhandle the producer and get a buying monopoly......etc.
More another time Mate! Got NVDs to go out with 2 loads tomorrow am to sort out! Will be burning the midnight oil again!
Cheers.
Jen

The sad part is farmers are a flow with the tide group......the loudest voice......they aren't politically motivated, interested, or educated to the ways of business. Very hard to achieve any action especially when they have their arse to the wind, the bank manager at their throat in times of drought, fire and low prices! All the latter applies here as it does there....and the glib sell of these promoters and vested interest sales mongerers who have a guile that takes your breath away....as you know from personal experience.
The ABA are really hard at it.....but short on time too. The daily scene here changes like the wind and they are hard enough pressed to keep on top of our own scene, let alone yours!
Jen

Keep up the fight but you need to realise you must work through and around the basic ignorance of people somehow......usually the short cut is through their hip pocket...take a leaf out of the profiteers' repertoire. eg Feedlots currently offer premiums ($15 to $20 and diminishing) for cattle that have been needled against respiratory diseases pre delivery to the feedlot. In fact these cattle gain preferential purchase over non-needled cattle in Australia at the moment. This practice will shortly become mandatory and will be at the farmers own cost but many haven't woken up to that yet!

Now....a suggestion....put a motion up to all the breed associations (QH, Morgan, ...) at their AGMs that the registries charge a NAIS fee at point of registration of an animal......say $80/$100....to ensure that all horses are "tagged/micro chipped. Most people will react pretty negatively to that you would think......but it will serve to alert them to the implications of the cost of being pro NAIS....and you may (no guarantees in this world!!!) gain a few people waking up and speaking up...at least taking a bit of notice!!!!

An interesting ploy the pro NLIS (NAIS) people used here was to give away to farmers the first buttons free of charge. Now these buttons were known to be faulty and the manufacturer couldn't sell them anywhere else in the world but my State of Victoria jumped in and brought in "mandatory" tagging first in Australia....and the quick of the mark people got a few free buttons......but big farms/companies got the majority.....then we had subsidised tags for a period after this ($3:50 from memory). However, we all dutifully put these buttons in the cattle's ears and when they were sold they had to have them in their ear. The problem was that the infra structure to scan them and take them off your data base wasn't set up in most sale yards, abattoirs, and feedlots so all these tags remained on the farmer's data base and still do today although the cattle are long dead. eg we have 2400 head on our data base and 800 head walking round in paddocks! This backlog of cattle on MLA's data base (Meat And Livestock Authority who over sees the whole program) is where the discrepancy of the phantom 11 million cattle Australia probably stems from we suspect! ABA (Australian Beef Association) is campaigning to have an audit done. Most farmers don't know what is on their data base as only 5% have created an account with NLIS to have a look..so ignorance is bliss! If the taxation department looked at their cattle figures submitted against the data base figure there would be a few questions asked and all of a sudden everyone would be looking at NLIS data base!!!!!

So how does this effect the day to day job for me? We have 6 mile of river frontage and cattle walk in and walk out to the neighbours or into our paddocks. Every time I want to look up a beast that doesn't belong to us to find out who owns it, I read the button, wade through 2400 cattle on the data base to check it isn't ours for sure, then I have to take the button number to a stock agent or the sale yards data compositor or ring NLIS office as they are the only ones who can tell who owns it....the common farmer hasn't got this access!!!! As you can never get on to the NLIS office the former is the easiest. Once you find out who owns it you can then make arrangements to have it returned.

Another impact is that when people sell a beast that is yours, (let us assume they do so in ignorance) NLIS send a fax stating that "someone has attempted to take a beast off your data base"....THEN it says "No further action is required by you"!!!!!! If I saw someone taking a beast out of my paddock.....I'd call the Police....wouldn't you?
There are lots of other "issues" ....just no time right now to relate. Got to get into the data base to see how many "Guaranteed vendor bred" cattle we bought at the sale that weren't vendor bred and Life Time Traceable before we send the cheque to the agent as we knock off $100 dollars per head off every beast that is wrong. The agents don't argue by the way....as they say the farmer is to blame as he has signed the NVD (National Vendor Declaration) stating they were.........the fact he forgot he bought some cows and calves 6 months prior that had another PIC (Property Identification Compliance) button in their ear means he can't sell them all as vendor bred.....they are already second hand and we can't buy them and on sell to the feed lot!!!!!! They are worth a hundred less to us and in the market place as they can only be put back through the domestic fat market.........which means you have to fatten them to get anywhere near their purchase value back!!!!
Keep battling.
Jen....Down Under

Anyone employed in a Government soft jobs in Agriculture has latched onto this NLIS with both hands as it means a bum on a seat getting shiny till retirement. They have run out of excuses for their existence......Johne's disease, brucellosis,anthrax, cancer eyes,foot rot, lice, pleuropneumonia .....all forgotten issues or fixed/controlled/or acknowledged we have to live with them. NLIS is a forever event.....so expensive the Government just has to make it work....but in reality we the farmer is paying!!!! Currently the transaction levy which went up from $3:50 to $5 per head everytime a beast is sold.....plus MLA is reaping $25 for books of 20 NVDs (National Vendor Declarations). Every movement of cattle ...even from one place you own to another must have an NVD accompany them......oh and they are dollars each if you down load off the internet!!!! These used to be free.... but now you pay .....as they have conned the farmers into thinking they are the only legal ones. NOT SO!!!! They have no statutory right to make people use their paperwork.....but that is a long story. What's more they are saying they are using this NVD revenue to conduct the "compulsory" audits of your farm!!!! Yes, in order to get a second and subsequent booklet.....they gave you the first one!!!!.... then when you rang up.......if you could get through.....to buy another one, you had to answer yes to 4 questions over the phone.....which they then said gave them the right to conduct an audit of your farm ......so everyone is waiting for the phone call to say they are being audited for the Livestock Production Assurance qualification. ie chemical storage, safety of yards, work practices.....the list is endless. If you use any chemicals these days you have to have done for an in-service and gained a Chemical Users Licence....usually a day or two for between $190 and $250.... conducted by who other than Ag Department personnel or enterprising "qualified and accredited free lance companies". If you haven't got your "ticket" you can't buy chemicals let alone use them. Scary stuff!!! Some friends of ours have been audited....apparently random selection occurs......and they had a terrible time...and they had state of the art premises with first class cattle handling facilities, locked chemical storage etc!!!! God help the average farmer.......timber yards held together with wire or baling twine and non workable crush/bale head! Drenches stored with sprays in the same area......oh no!!!!
See web site
www.mla.com.au/lpa
If it doesn't come up do a google search and it will. Note that ONLY stock agents can obtain emergency NVDs in packs of 20 for $55!!!! Look forward to all the manipulative controls and breach of your "Rights" if you let this monster get loose! Your rights mean nothing.......so get used to it!!!!
Jen.....Down Under........still doing NLIS searches to see if the 200 steers we manually read the NLIS buttons on today are LT....lifetime traceable and vendor bred. Time to do this was 9 am to 5 pm with 15 minutes off for lunch! To cross check these cattle will take me another 4 hours....if I can get into the data base on the computer.

Understand the media is hard to crack to get another side to the story as the dollars roll in for advertising from the big companies.......all the NLIS scanning equipment, the sale ads for cattle, sheep, clearing sales, properties...any Rurally based media has an effective gag put on it to run any counter argument or "disquiet" let alone the facts of what is going on. That is why it was so important the other day that MLA got caught red handed altering the poll on NLIS. People started to think!!!!
This week there is very little in the press however after all the coverage of the RORT by MLA last week!!!!! The new poll results which ends today will be published on Thursday in the press!!! Can't wait!!!! More on this another time.
Jen

One of the issues people have about NAIS is the implanting of micro chips in horses.
The experience I have had with chipping horses is with endurance horses which started back in the 90's and with the thoroughbreds. In the early days the process was subsidised and we could get the horses done at an endurance ride by vets for $20......a huge saving against employing a vet to do the task as a private individual at a cost of $100 plus travel costs!!!Today's prices for doing the thoroughbreds range from $150 to $200. We have 2 to do in the few weeks so I will give you an up date on costs then.

The concept behind micro chipping endurance horses and race horses is ofcourse identity......checking the said horse is in fact who it is claimed to be. Ironically the officiating vets at rides and race courses don't always have a scanner so stewards are still reliant on the drawings in passports of race horses and on Registration papers of breed associations at Endurance rides. The scanners cost between $1000 and $1500 for hand held machines.
In your situation in America where you have to pass between restriction areas it would be necessary for the check points to have scanners. Who would pay for these I wonder? I suspect that Show and event officials would have to have one too!!!

We used to lend camp drafts and cutting events 300 head of cattle but the rules now dictate that the cattle must be scanned leaving the property and scanned again when they leave the venue and be accompanied by a National Vendor Declaration (NVD). The event organisers rarely own their own scanners so they borrow Stock Agents scanners (who mostly have them in their cars as the companies have found they need to scan farmers' cattle to determine ownership ahead of them being sent to sales and feedlots as their clients are penalised if cattle carry buttons that don't scan.....and this upsets clients!!!) The event organisers have to notify the data base of the movement of the cattle.........all of which means they need computer access!!!!....and this is not always available at many events in Australia. When they are dealing with 3000 plus cattle for such events it is difficult. As a farmer providing cattle we suffer button loss in transport and at the events.....so those cattle lose their Life Time Traceability and fall into the "discounted" price range for non traceable cattle. Consequently farmers are loathe to provide cattle to such events. The standard rate of compensation for these "loaned"cattle is between $3 and $7 but I have heard of rates being paid of $15 per head to encourage farmers to provide cattle. It no where near covers the actual loss of Life Time Traceability of a beast. As I said we used to loan cattle to these organisations and most donate a small sum to our local fire brigade.....but from now on we can't afford to be quite so generous!!!

We used to lend cattle weekly to a local National cutting trainer and competitor but we have had to stop that as well for all the reasons above.
Bolus implants are also not favoured by farmers as the administering of these into a beast is dependent on very good facilities plus equipment most don't possess as well as the application of a tag to the ear denoting the beast carries a bolus......but as identity tags are often lost this causes issues at sales yards as well as on farm!!!!
Jen......Down Under

The NAIS issue should be on the front line for all animal owners. Here in Australia we have had a win.
A farmer has challenged the validity of the $1:50 levy being charged on all store cattle sold in sale yards by yard managers and Stock agents....which they decided to do to retrieve the costs of transferring cattle to the NLIS data base. The Sale Yard Dues paid, and the Agents' 5% commission on sales isn't enough they say! He has asked a State farming body called the Victoria Farmers' Federation (who was the initiator of that State adopting NLIS buttons earlier than all other States) to check the legality of the levy. It has been reported in the press that it isn't legal and MLA (Meat And Livestock Authority who is in charge of NLIS) have also stated it isn't legal. So the pot is brewing!

I am going to submit the documents to the Department of Fair Trading regarding my case of intimidation by an Agent for refusing to pay which includes the accounts for scanning cattle from other States than didn't even have buttons to scan, and the threatening letter to not trade me if I didn't comply (I was actually told the Agent would refuse to take my bid! and that I would gain a bad credit rating if I didn't comply.) I have a group of farmers prepared now to develop a Class Case to retrieve the funds paid out over the past 3 years!!!. I am also heading up a fight against the local Council over their decision to shift the sale yards, privatise them and alter sale times without public consultation. Am a bit busy!!!

If you all get behind this NAIS fight, you can move mountains.......BUT whatever you do, you MUST stop it...and that will take every horse owner pulling their weight.
Jen .....Down Under.

My letter to the editor......Border Mail. If you people want to stop NAIS you have to use every means possible to bring heat on every Politically involved person you think that can be embarassed. Then they in turn gain confidence to fight the issue......if they know others will join them.
Jen...Down Under

Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 8:47 PM
Subject: VFF tells buyers to get tough on saleyards levy. Country Mail Saturday 9th September. Letter to the Editor.

It is amazing to read that the VFF and MLA have only JUST recognised that the 'NLIS levy' is illegal!!!!
Back when Victorians had the 'privilege' of being the first State in Australia to be forced to adopt NLIS button application in cattle's ears and have their production costs increased over other States and when the infra structure to scan these buttons was not installed in feedlots and abattoirs....and many selling centres....let alone have the cattle sold taken off their data base....I objected.

I objected louder when the Stock Agents Association and the Wodonga Yards Manager decided to impose the 'NLIS Levy of $1:50 per head' on purchasers of store cattle....NOT fat sale purchasers. I objected most ardently when they charged the fee on cattle from other States which didn't carry buttons at all! I refused to pay. The manager of Elders threatened to sue me for non compliance. I was also informed that their auctioneers would refuse to take my bid. I was publicly humiliated and derided. Other agents turned a blind eye to my "failure to comply". Brian Unthank and Rodwell were the only company to object, but were enforced to add the fee to their accounts as the Stock Agents Code of Ethics enforced the majority ruling.

When I contacted the Dept. of Fair Trading I was informed verbally that the Minister was particularly interested in such matters and they forwarded me the paper work and a copy of the Act stipulating what was actually being contravened by this 'levy' imposed. I was advised by the buyers both of fat and store cattle that I was a 'little fish in a big sea' and was ill advised to take action. I couldn't and wouldn't win! I completed the forms and sent a copy to ABA (Australian Beef Association) with all the relevant accounts and threatening letters but didn't forward them to Fair Trading for fear of retribution but mainly for fear of gaining a bad credit rating for non payment. I paid the 'levy' to Elders. All farmers should take a look at the fine print of rate of interest charged for non payment over 7 days!

I thought the VFF was a toothless water rat.....but they aren't! Isn't it wonderful that MLA, the administrator of the NLIS Program, has just discovered what has been going on at Sale Yards for years? I trust the Wodonga Council hasn't spent the meagre $500,000 the sale yards generate in income each year. They may need to find that and a trifle more to pay out a class action suit for all the illegal revenue they have garnered from this little scheme!
Jenny Bird
RMB 370
ALBURY 2640

Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 9:53 AM
Subject: I am one who has NEVER stopped complaining about the illegality of the NLIS Levy!!!

I objected to it right from the start and refused to pay it. They were charging the levy on cattle from NSW, SA and Q. that didn't even have buttons as well as Victorian cattle! When I refused, ELDERS Manager Albury threatened to sue me and also said his company would refuse to take my bid at sales!!!! I was publicly humiliated, shouted down and derided by the Manager of Elders and his Assistant on many occasions. I contacted Fair Trading and they were delighted to hear from me. I compiled all the documentation, but was "talked out of proceeding" by other purchasers of cattle on the basis that I was arguing with bigger people than myself and I had better shut up and pay up. I paid up...even the interest I had been charged by Elders....so at least I haven't got a bad credit rating!!!!!

WHERE WAS THE VFF WHEN I NEEDED THEM?????? WHERE WERE ALL THE SUPPORTERS BACK THEN?????
THE ONLY SUPPORTERS (silent, mind you) I HAD AT THE TIME WERE THE AGENTS WHO ACCEPTED I WIPED THE FEE OFF MY ACCOUNTS WHEN I PAID FOR MY CATTLE.

All agents had to include the levy on their invoices by ruling of the Stock Agents Association/Wodonga Yards Management (Wodonga Council). The only Agent who dared to stand up to them was Brian Unthank and Rodwell.
A copy of my Fair Trading submission was given to ABA. Perhaps it is not too late to see it activated.
Jenny Bird

I have called on all manner of people to join the fray over the Yard issue. You need to use all people you think can lend a hand on these sorts of issues like NAIS. Don't leave the fight to a few.......every horse owner MUST do something to help.
Jen.....Down Under.

Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 9:56 PM
Subject: Fw: VFF tells buyers to get tough on saleyards levy. Country Mail Saturday 9th September. Letter to the Editor.

It was the VFF who convinced Cattle Producers in VIC that they were receiving subsidised NLIS tags. The VFF forgot to mention that the subsidy for the NLIS tags is derived from the VIC Cattle Compensation Fund which gets its funding from a compulsory levy placed on producers (claytons subsidy)..... $5 per head on every beast sold. Here in Victoria cattle change hands several times....each transaction attracts the $5 levy.....so our cattle are keeping the northern controlled fund coffers well fed! Most feedlots are owned by the Japs.....a large slice of our money is being spent on working out better ways to feed their cattle in their feed lots!!!!

It was the VFF & CCA that introduced NLIS in the first place, it was the VFF that ushered in the OJD eradication campaign (sheep) debacle which bankrupted many of its members. These same arrogant VFF people dominate the Peak Councils from CCA, SCA etc, as well as all the "Implementation Committees" that enforce industry ideologies that severely restrict our ability to trade and work. They also sold farmers up the creek over water and dams in the Uppper Murray.....and they have lost a huge number of supporters locally. They are as useless as tits on a bull when it comes to having any punch at a Government level and as manipulative as can be when it means keeping in "good" with the power brokers.... manufacturers of scanning equipment, agents, insurance companies...etc.

One of the difficulties in this whole issue is that farmers don't comprehend what they had was good enough (tail tags) and the whole thing is a master minded sales gimmick.....not just here in Australia but world wide. It is a rort.

You have avenues to attack the issue if you look around at your own little horse communities.....4H clubs for example, and show committees, your local governments. You may not always win, but you are registering your concern/drawing a few more people's attention to the issue. Ignorance of the issue is your biggest enemy!
Jen.....Down Under

Use your local media outlet......encourage them to support the issue over NAIS and back it up with evidence from other organisations such as ABA (Australian Beef Association) material is all sound and relevant.......Australia has led the way in the fight and has heaps of material to support you. Use it to advantage.
Be mindful that big companies pay mega dollars to newspapers in advertising so you will meet with some "reticence" sometimes!!

Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 5:45 AM
Subject: Happy to make my letter briefer/Suggested titles

Reheading for the NLIS levy letter:-

CLASS ACT OF ILLEGAL PROFITEERING
EVERY BIRD HAS HER DAY
THERE'S A HOLE IN THE LEVEE
PROFITEERING BACKFIRE
NLIS LEVY LIMP EXCUSE FOR GREATER PROFITEERING

Farmers are no longer patient "beasts of burden".

If the manager of Wodonga yards, Mr Vaughan Smith, thinks that the NLIS levy "was something people seemed to be happy with" and the issue has "settled down", he needs to think again! It has only just begun! Many vendors in the store sale are unaware that the purchaser has to pay a levy on top of the 5% they pay to their agent as well as all the other charges levelled such as Yard Dues by the council and $5 cattle compensation levy per beast extracted by MLA. In addition, farmers are subjected to a 10 hour curfew on cattle sent to the fat sale. Ten hours off feed for an animal averages 10% loss of its body weight.......big dollars 'melted' off the farmers' profit. If post weigh selling (i.e. weighing the cattle after the sale is over and payment on that weight instead of the weight gained when pre sale weighed) is introduced, the farmer will find their profit margin tighten again.
All hours standing round on cement impinges on animal health. Apart from the stress factors which result in dark cutting of carcasses, the beast that is returned to the paddock by an on feeder or restocker takes 5 days minimum to regain its pre sale weight.

If you need more ammo regarding charges let me know?.......there is more!!!!
How about asking why the Pivot weigh scales were closed where farmers were able to weigh a truck load of cattle for next to nothing in comparison to the Sale Yards weighing fee per head? Ask for a fee schedule of charges and see for yourself.
Jen

Had a stroke of luck today. A Councillor John Mitchell from Towong Shire that covers all the Upper Murray.....heart of the cattle country .....provider of probably 60% of the cattle that go through the sale yards and large purchaser of store cattle for fattening, etc.... came and saw me today at the sale and he was followed up with the husband of the Mayor Mary Fraser, Brian....prime mover and shaker of all things political. The Towong Council has voted to notify the Wodonga Council that they wish the yards to stay just where they are.......THANK YOU! and that they don't want them privatised!!!! Head to head these Councils are as black and white.......and I can tell you NOBODY is a match for Towong led by Mary Fraser. They have their own sale yards anyway.......but they will siphon off all the northern trade and boycott Wodonga and direct all their cattle away from Wodonga..... if push comes to shove. Wodonga would lose everything because to the South we have yet another Council .....Yea Shire.....sweating on things going wrong at Wodonga and setting up currently to become the master centre catering for the whole of Victoria south of Wodonga and a large slice of Gippsland and Geelong and the Western district to the SA Border and quite capable of doing it!

These were two steers which didn't make it to the feed lot as a result of set back from foot injury and inflammation post sale from scoring on the cement at Wodonga store sale. Their initial cost was $712 and $580 respectively plus NLIS levy and freight home. They lost their NLIS buttons and therefore their Life Time Traceability and their right to entry to any feedlot for Export trade......price related. Their pre-weight full (no curfew) the day before was 520kg and 445kg respectively.

Note after curfew weight .....465kg and 400kg.

Note Agents commission of 5% on sale price.

Note transaction levy charged without consent given nor asked for.

I employ a private carrier who carries his own insurance and I pay him direct. Carriers who allow Agents to collect the transportation on the carrier's behalf are charged 5% of the freight charged on their behalf.....often more than the carrier charges for the job himself.

Note Government Transaction Levy.....gained by MLA.

Note Cattle Compensation.....a left over from the days when we used to be compensated for "cancer eye cattle", pleuropneumonia, TB reactors,.....etc.......none of which happens today!

Note Saleyard Fees......for weighing of cattle and other uses unspecified!

Jen

Sept. 21, 2006

Having spent 3 days solidly on the computer trying to correct an NLIS data base error of cattle being put on the wrong Property Identification Code (PIC number), not ours and having those cattle not being able to be sent to the feed lot until they are.......AND finding that "someone" has hacked into my sent files containing all evidence of such correspondence with MLA and NLIS (Governing bodies of this Animal Identification Scheme) over this issue of the past 2 days, I have been a little too busy to keep you updated.

I read in the Cattlenetwork.com web site a summary of issues by Jolley that are significant. I quote......

1. "Most major producing countries have a national animal ID program. Canada and Australia have it, and Mexico has a really good program. We are a country that maybe hasn't quite stepped up to the plate on that issue".( Source: Santa Fe New Mexican, September 15, 2006) Dave Fly, New Mexico deputy state veterinarian, telling a reporter how New Mexico has taken the lead in animal ID.

Perhaps you need to look again at who are the influencial people pushing this NAIS and who is telling them about its successfulness...for what...and at what cost? Jen

2. "This is a real step forward. The grassroots community has been working hard to get legislators to pay attention to this intrusive program USDA has been trying to implement".(Source: GOPUSA, September 15, 2006) Karin Bergener, founding member of the Libery Ark Coalition, signaling her approval of legislation submitted by Missouri's Senator Jim Talent and Representative Jo Ann Emerson to prohibit a mandatory animal identification program.

PS: American Farm Bureau and National Cattlemen's Beef Association expressed strong opposition to the bill.

You have about 20 million farmers who are members of this organisation....perhaps you can join their ranks and make a concerted effort with them or at least follow in behind and target the people they are lobbying. Jen

The item below was in response to Don Heatley's trite propaganda in the media.....head of the Department concerned with NLIS implementation. It gained some response but had little effect on the day to day battle we all still face on this issue. The department has employed a marketing team to help promote the NLIS scheme and are running some amazing rubbish in Rural Press telling farmers of the benefits and successes of the scheme!!!!!

DON'T GIVE UP! Jen.....Down Under.

The bottom line is that the tail tag system worked, was cheap and effective. We at least were able to easily determine cattle boxed at sale yards when pens were left open! The Victorian based farmer is generally a small operation of less than 200 breeding herd and few feed on so the revenue generated for MLA with cattle turning over several times is a lucrative revenue source for MLA. MLA would be well advised to attend to the difficulties being generated by this system. These farmers cannot justify the expense associated with it and tolerance levels are low. Ask any agent! Ask the VFF if they are losing members! Ask the farmer who is being charged $22 plus GST at Wodonga for having a replacement blue tail tag applied to a beast that arrived without an NLIS devise! I'm happy to relate the stuff up I encountered this week when we purchased such a beast and the time it is taking to get it right.......when I finally DO get it right!!!! Ask farmers if they perceive any value in MLA or this system for them! But start by telling them just how much in real dollars you are spending and be accountable. Those who hold export licences or send cattle off shore direct to killing works may be benefiting but your regular farmer/producer isn't reaping the reward I can assure you.

“The Chinese Wall that surrounds MLA and protects its closed culture and senior management may yet prove to be penetrable,” noted Mrs Linda Hewitt, Chairperson of the Australian Beef Association.

Mrs Hewitt said “ABA had hoped the wall would come down earlier than this, by an admission from MLA that they need to be more accountable to their paying members, but instead it has taken a blow from inside MLA, to almost dent their defences. The culture of manipulation and exaggeration used by MLA, to support flawed programmes imposed on their levy payers with enthusiastic support from Peak Councils, may have been the reason that certain members of staff, thought they could get away with rorting a NLIS poll.”

She continued, “It is distressing to hear David Palmer describe the incident as ‘youthful exuberance’ of people wanting to protect NLIS, ‘to which they had devoted a large part of their working lives’, when the consequences of their actions would have a far more devasting affect on the whole industry”.

Mrs Hewitt said, “Messrs Heatley, Watson, Palmer and other Directors of MLA, have known for almost a week who the mysterious departmental head is who allowed this action to happen, and not report it.” She asks, “Who is he?”

The ABA remains unconvinced that any junior members of staff would have acted alone. They would not have risked their jobs or even cared enough about the poll to instigate this rorting.

“It beggars belief that such sophisticated hacking and clever IT work could occur without the knowledge and sanction from a higher level of management. We would like to know who this person was, or persons are?”

The ABA looks forward to the tabling of the Ernst & Young report into the incident, and hope that the report will identify all the persons involved.

“The whole polling incident would have gone unnoticed, and in fact would have been misused in follow up reporting, if it had not been for the diligence of the ABA who spotted the fraud as it happened”, pointed out Mrs Hewitt.

“Everyone else is busily congratulating MLA for sorting out an internal situation that, in reality, they were not even aware of, or were, and just laid ‘doggo’, until the Rural Press’ investigation brought about by the vigilance of the ABA, brought it to their attention.”

Office Manager
Australian Beef Association
7/188 Margaret Street
PO Box 812
TOOWOOMBA QLD 4350

P: 07 4637 9477
F: 07 4637 8303
M: 0411 103 059
Website www.austbeef.com.au