Greetings from Hammerstead Farms!
Well, in case you've not noticed, there's not been a newsletter for some months. It's really very simple: no news, so no letter! But there's some BIG news now, and no mistake!
Hammerstead Farms is pleased to announce that we're now an egg vendor for the Sunflower Market in Indianapolis. You can visit their website here.
And by all means visit their store at 1021 Broad Ripple Avenue: you won't be disappointed. In addition to our fine free range eggs, they have possibly the finest selection of organic and natural foods I've seen anywhere.
We've added 60 new hens to our flock, and are increasing production to handle the increased sales. This is a good thing, indeed!
On another front, I have a request to make of you, the readers of this newsletter and the customers of our humble efforts at real farming. There's a serious threat to us on the political horizon, and there's a vote coming up next week that could make our future much more secure.
I'm talking about the National Animal Identification System, or NAIS. In a nutshell, this program would mandate that I place an RFID tag on every beast I own. We have over 200 chickens, 10 head of cattle, about the same number of sheep, three goats, a llama and a horse. At about $5 per tag, that's better than a thousand dollars, right out of my pocket. But I'd also have to purchase a wand reader for another $1500, and register my farm with it's GPS coordinates with the USDA. And give them three weeks notice before I move an animal from one pasture to another!
This is being done in the name of disease prevention (avian flu, mad cow, etc.) but in fact will do nothing to prevent disease - it'd only track animals. Further, each of my large livestock already has an identifying number (ear tag, brand or tattoo) now: this is pure duplication.
Worse, the large "factory farms" are being made mostly exempt from it's provisions! Seems as though it would cost them too much, so USDA is cutting them some slack. They have better lobbyists than we small operators.
You can find out more about NAIS and why small farmers everywhere are rising in opposition to it here.
Now, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has proposed an amendment to the agricultural appropriations bill (H.R.5384) that would essentially kill NAIS by blocking funding for it. We need to get this amendment passed! I urge you to contact your congressman and ask them to vote for Rep. Paul's amendment to this bill.
The vote is scheduled for early next week (week of May 22nd, 2006) so please make your feelings known! If it is not stopped, NAIS could be the death knell for small scale farming in the United States. It's that serious.
Thanks again for your interest in (and patronage of) Hammerstead - we're still excited about our farm!
Be well,
Dave Haxton