Agriculture Reference
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state seemed to have little concept of how the hatching and shipping of baby chicks
functioned. He told me that each of my chicks must be identified with my premise
number prior to shipment.
I asked how I was to do this. He said I could wing-band the day-old chicks. When I
indicated how long wing banding would take and how impractical such a task would
be for me, I was told to place a colored sorting dot on each chick's head with our ID
number written on the dot. The receiving customer could then wing band the chicks
upon arrival, he said.
I chuckled and asked if each of the breeds of poultry would have to be identified
differently. His response: “Of course.” I told him I raised more than 230 breeds and
that I didn't think they make 230 different colors of dots. He was unimpressed. “Well,
it needs to be done,” he said.
I asked if he had any strategies for keeping the dots on the heads of the ducklings
and goslings, which love to pick at things. I knew the dots wouldn't stay on their
heads for five minutes, let alone during a two-day shipment. It didn't take long to
determine that this person had never worked with chicks in his life and really had no
idea about the challenges involved in raising fowl.
He had no concept of the time involved in identifying each baby as an individual
and by breed the day they were born. He couldn't begin to comprehend the Herculean
task of banding and dotting each one and then packing all of the chicks that same day
into shipping boxes in order to send them as day-olds and ensure their arrival on time
— so that they would survive! He could relate only to ear-notching pigs or ear-tag-
ging lambs or calves.
If I were to abide by this law, I would have to document every egg that was laid
and make note of every egg that didn't hatch. All chicks that died would have to be
documented within 24 hours. The bookkeeping alone for this would take 24 hours a
day! I was told that if my numbers did not appear to fit the size of my operation, I
would be subjected to frequent and random inspections to make sure things were be-
ing done correctly.
Fortunately this state has not fully implemented the law; here's hoping it will stay
on hold as people in charge begin to realize its impossible expectations.
Backyard Raisers Not a Risk
Increasingly, as our society moves farther away from producing its own food, we be-
come collectively more ignorant of how the animal world operates. A typical backyard
poultry raiser who has a half-dozen hens and raises a few meat birds each year is really
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