I'm not even sure a voluntary NAIS is a good idea anymore. These people want all or nothing and are setting up coercisions to achieve it.
http://www.breederville.com/auction/forumtopic.php?topic=66&boardid=1
Tulsa, OK State Fair
The wether meat goats will get tagged with a Tulsa State Fair
tag/microchip, on the date they are nominated, either July 6 in
Chickasha, or July 7 in Tulsa. Also, the on the date they are
nominated we will take a DNA sample, (hair follicle).
If you have any other questions about nominating your wether meat
goats, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Contact info at link.
In the UK, NAIS is called Defra.
They have a Smallholders Online Newsletter.
The below commentary is from their Smallholders Online Newsletter Number 159, 25 June, 2006
Welcome to newsletter number 159
20 June, 2006
Dear Smallholders,
We have a home with an half acre garden and 6 acres of agricultural land. I belive it is a registered small holding (I seem to recal seeing something from Defra and we frequently get correspondance from them asking us to make various returns). We keep a few chickens (up to 30) for eggs an grow a fair amount of fruit and vegetables and want to expand this activity (more chickens, fruit and probably a few pigs and sheep). My questions are:
1) What are the benefits of being a registered small holding (or is more a case of having to be registered)?
2) How can I find out if we are registered (I have looked on Defras web site and cannot find any information). I would appreciate your comments.
Thank you
Andrew Libberton
Dear Andrew
The "benefit" of being registered is that you become subject to the full weight of bureaucratic nightmare that is DEFRA.
If you keep even one sheep, pig or other large livestock, it is a legal requirement to register. It sounds as though you may already be on the radar and if so, your correspondence from DEFRA should quote your holding number which looks something like this -
18/180/0810 (denotes county/parish/individual no.)
All agricultural land has been through a registration process over the past year with the Rural Land Registry, a branch of the Rural Payments Agency, as part of the Single Farm Payment Scheme. Your land should have been through this process and, if you own it, you should have been filling out umpteen forms like the rest of us! But the system is in such chaos that nothing surprises anyone anymore.
If you remain unsure, contact your regional DEFRA office (contact details from the phone book or DEFRA website) to find out - they should know if your land is registered or not.
Regards
Alan
14 June 2006
Alan
Hi,
We live in Wales in the country. How much land do we need to claim subsidies as a 'small-holding' - we have the option to buy 2.7.acres and just wondering about options ?
Advice would be appreciated
Joy Kett
Hello Joy
The new "single farm payment scheme" has registered all agricultural land in the UK and all future payments will be based on that registry. If you buy a bit of land, it will almost certainly be registered and you should check that it has been registered before buying it.
There may be a minimum acreage on which you can claim - and to be honest, the few quid you'd get for 2.7 acres is unlikely to make much difference to your life. Smallholders don't live on subsidies, only large scale farmers do that!
Regards
Alan