I am first to admit that paperwork and I do not seem to know each other. There are times in my life when I was absolutely forced to handle a lot of paperwork and I did just fine, but my stress levels were way up and my enjoyment of life meter was way down. I hate it.
Thus, I am not adept at keep records of the sheep and their offspring and registrations. I have a book and some papers that indicate who was born to whom and when and which ram was there to create that. But every time I need that information I have to go find it again. Last year, the lambs were all tagged because there simply got to be too many to keep tabs on. Some looked similar to others too, so just telling from appearance was getting tougher. It is law that the sheep are tagged if they leave the farm. A butcher shop is not allowed to accept animals without ear tags that are able to be read with a digital reader. I am not for that system. I think it is a big part of controlling food and I have said it before, "control food, control people". I did not tag the animals to comply with the law and if I could simply identify them with another system, I would. The government really has no business keeping tabs on small farmers. If I so much as go buy a bag of oyster shell now, I have to give my name and address for biosecurity purposes and have had to register for the government premise identification program as well, which I strongly do not agree with. Again, I do not feel the government has any right to pay attention to small farmers. We are not allowed to sell meat from the farm anyhow, another wonderful Alberta law, so it seems all so redundant. Biosecurity, harumph! Not a chance.
But to register any animals, they also have to be radio frequency tagged and this year they need two tags. Two tags, oh my goodness. You see, one tag could be lost and then, heaven forbid, they would not know where the animals originated. That is a flawed system. There is nothing to prevent someone from purchasing and animal, removing the existing tags and replacing them with new ones, thereby screwing the entire tracking system. One is not supposed to do that, tsk tsk. So, now, I have to double tag any animals to register them. I do not like paperwork to begin with and there are now two numbers that must be reported on registration papers, not one. I would not register any animals but then of course, I could not sell them as purebred and crossbred sheep are much cheaper than registered ones, so there is the catch 22. Forced to double tag and forced to register. That part of farming I hate and want to quit every time a new law is thrown my way. I want to take my critters and go up where no one cares and just keep to myself and be a hermit. That is how much I hate that imposing governement legislation system. I cannot register or sell or even transport animals if I do not comply. Shiza! Doesn't that get your back up? Just a little?
Thus, I am not adept at keep records of the sheep and their offspring and registrations. I have a book and some papers that indicate who was born to whom and when and which ram was there to create that. But every time I need that information I have to go find it again. Last year, the lambs were all tagged because there simply got to be too many to keep tabs on. Some looked similar to others too, so just telling from appearance was getting tougher. It is law that the sheep are tagged if they leave the farm. A butcher shop is not allowed to accept animals without ear tags that are able to be read with a digital reader. I am not for that system. I think it is a big part of controlling food and I have said it before, "control food, control people". I did not tag the animals to comply with the law and if I could simply identify them with another system, I would. The government really has no business keeping tabs on small farmers. If I so much as go buy a bag of oyster shell now, I have to give my name and address for biosecurity purposes and have had to register for the government premise identification program as well, which I strongly do not agree with. Again, I do not feel the government has any right to pay attention to small farmers. We are not allowed to sell meat from the farm anyhow, another wonderful Alberta law, so it seems all so redundant. Biosecurity, harumph! Not a chance.
But to register any animals, they also have to be radio frequency tagged and this year they need two tags. Two tags, oh my goodness. You see, one tag could be lost and then, heaven forbid, they would not know where the animals originated. That is a flawed system. There is nothing to prevent someone from purchasing and animal, removing the existing tags and replacing them with new ones, thereby screwing the entire tracking system. One is not supposed to do that, tsk tsk. So, now, I have to double tag any animals to register them. I do not like paperwork to begin with and there are now two numbers that must be reported on registration papers, not one. I would not register any animals but then of course, I could not sell them as purebred and crossbred sheep are much cheaper than registered ones, so there is the catch 22. Forced to double tag and forced to register. That part of farming I hate and want to quit every time a new law is thrown my way. I want to take my critters and go up where no one cares and just keep to myself and be a hermit. That is how much I hate that imposing governement legislation system. I cannot register or sell or even transport animals if I do not comply. Shiza! Doesn't that get your back up? Just a little?
I have a variety of purebred registered and not registered sheep. The Babydoll registry is the worst demanding of the groups and the Canadian Livestock Records the best. Still, I would not register anything or tag anything if I could get away with not doing so. I think Joe, the livestock guardian dog agrees. Do you?
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