Let's Start a Movement!

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Delay in Production - My Apologies

I wanted to apologize for the lateness in this issue of Ruminations. It is coming and it is at the printers, but we have hard time juggling demands here on our time. Rest assured, the next issue is in development now and you WILL receive 4 issues this year.

How can you help make it easier? Send me your photos, articles, questions and classified ads. If you can afford to advertise, we really need that influx of money to pay the printer. I try very hard to keep every issue jam packed with practical information, balanced with beautiful photographs, but those don't pay the bills. Advertising is critical in keeping a magazine running. Subscriptions help, but do not cover the whole cost.

Ruminations is a tradition that I am honored to keep alive. But it has always been a community project. Let's keep that community strong. Thank you!
Pat

Issue 72 is Out!

The Winter Issue of Ruminations is now in the mail, and along with it, a new version of the website. We're trying to keep the site more up to date, and have included a new PDF outtake from the present issue, so non-subscribers can see what we're talking about.

The Spring Issue is a great opportunity to advertise your farm with a special advertising package. Present subscribers get a free business card ad, or the cost of that ad off a larger advertisement. New subscribers get that same deal, plus 4 issues of the magazine and a classified ad in a future issue, all for $20/ for the first year.

Why are we doing this? Because we know that it can be hard to get noticed on the web, and for those not on the 'net have an even more difficult time. Also, Ruminations is a subscriber based publication, and we need advertisers to keep the magazine going. We try to make every issue helpful to you, and honor the precedents that were set before we bought the magazine. But we need you to send in your photos, articles and advertisements to keep us viable. We hope you'll help us keep Ruminations growing strong! Thanks,

New Issue

Sorry I've been so bad about updating this blog. I am just juggling so much that I just don't remember to take the time. But this issue is really important - to me, and to the breed.

There is a lot of "hoopla" about the buck height right now, and I'd just like to state personally that to me it's about time the conversation happened. A new breed club is starting up, and that's building some resentment too. But I think it's a good idea to have more than one view on a topic. No one has to believe any particular way, but they should have the knowledge to make a proper decision.

This new group has put together a survey to find out what the Nigerian dwarf breeders around the world really think. We'll publish the results in Ruminations, and a synopsis online. It's not our job to censor information, but we do want to be clear that each person can only vote once. We want to hear from as many people as possible, and if we "max out" on Survey MOnkey, we'll run the survey again another month.

To take the survey visit it here. Please let us know what you think about this important topic. Thanks.

Food Safety Bill

Well, a victory for us small producers. The Senate Bill 510 was voted on this morning and it passed. While the original bill was supported by Big Ag because it did exclude small farmers, farmer's markets and farm sales from its jurisdiction, the bill that passed does, thanks to Senator's Tester and Hagan. When their Amendment was attached, Big Ag began lobbying heavily to stop the bill, but they did not succeed.
Now we have to make sure that the conference committee which will compromise the HOuse and Senate bills into one law, adopts the Senate bill over the House Bill. The Senate Bill has aspects which limit control over farms and companies with less than $500,000 in sales, which is much more "farm friendly." Keep an eye out for the progress of the conference bill. Senator Reid was hoping to get this through during the lame duck session. Who knows?

Public Meetings Re: Animal Traceability

The USDA has announced three meetings where citizens can voice their opinions about
the new proposed Animal Traceability Program. The meetings are at:

• Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Holiday Inn Kansas City – SE Waterpark
9103 East 39th Street
Kansas City, MO 64133
• Thursday, May 13, 2010
USDA Center at Riverside
4700 River Road
Riverdale, MD 20737

• Monday, May 17, 2010
Crowne Plaza – Denver International Airport
15500 East 40th Avenue
Denver, CO 80239

The meetings will discuss the impact of the new program, outlined at
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/02/0053.xml

The USDA wants to alert people that there will be a $4 parking fee at the Maryland
site, but there is public transportation nearby.

For those of us who aren't near any of these sites, we need to send emails, letters
or phone calls to the USDA office and to our Federal Legislators.

The USDA has stated that there will be additional public sessions in the future. We
will be posting those as we are able to discover them.

There is a page at the USDA Animal Traceability Site that has an FAQ about the program. Please take the time to read that document and make comments with those explanations in mind.

This is the USDA's new NAIS approach. We got it stopped the first time around, so let's use this opportunity to craft an approach that will work.

There is a grassroots group that is offering suggestions in a letter being sent to Secretary Vilsack, which makes helpful suggestions that affect small farmers/ranchers throughout the nation. I am a part of that group so I can assure you that many of our concerns are reflected there.
- Pat Stewart