* If you own farm animals of ANY type - even just chickens, rabbits etc - please educate yourself on the animal ID issues - www.NoNAIS.com is a great site but google for yourself and LEARN, Please. Big Ag loves these ideas for their own liability & international meat sales but it'll be difficult for small producer/growers to comply... If you have a chance, watch "Fresh, The Movie!" Happy farming! Liberty Ark Action Alert: USDA Anounces Two More Public Meetings on Animal Identification Date: June 10, 2010 USDA has announced two more public meeting on its animal traceability framework: Thursday, June 24 Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel 150 West 500 South Salt Lake City, UT 84101 Thursday, July 1 Holiday Inn DFW Airport South 14320 Center Station Drive Ft. Worth, TX 76155 The meetings will take place between 8 am and 4 pm, and the meeting agenda is posted at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/traceability/downloads/public_meeting_agenda.pdf The meeting agenda appears to be the same as the previous public meetings. The morning will consist of presentations by government officials, followed by breakout sessions at tables based on species groups. After the small groups have reported back to the full audience, a USDA official will respond to written questions, and there may be an opportunity at the very end for oral questions or comments. If youÂre within traveling distance, please come and make your voice heard! 1) After the initial presentations, the participants will break out into tables based on species groups. Be prepared to be an advocate for your views and to politely disagree with the facilitator(s). If they claim that a "consensus" has been reached with an answer that you donÂt agree with, say so! At the end, when the table reports back to the whole group, speak up if the person doing the report doesnÂt cover all of the issues that were raised. 2) Plan a few written questions ahead of time. When the USDA official goes through the questions in the afternoon, if he doesnÂt actually answer your question, stand up and politely insist on an answer.

In the top photo- I'd say squirrel. The 4 feet are all group together so that it appears to be hopping rather than walking. I believe rabbits have larger prints for their hind feet.

If it is a smallish dog I will be ripped..seeing we have a leash law here and I don't own one. Of course my neighbor (behind me) does own 4 Pugs and one of her little ladies is quite the Houdini getting out under the fence- although she gets out it's really not often. But still I have to wonder, seeing this is not just one poop, but one of many that are in my yard and were in different stages of well, lets just say deterioration. Which would mean she would have to get out at least once a week and poop on my lawn everytime, which I find to be a bit unbelieveable. What made me curious about the rightful owner (of the poop) was that my hanging basket if nesting material had been ripped down and there was a rock hard poop on it, made me wonder if the owner of the poop was also the culprit of tearing down the nesting material. So when I went to the back of the yard to check on my wren house I saw this one- fresh as a daisy which made me realize this was not just a one time shot. Hmm.

Well in general ground hogs don't leave parts uneaten but squirrels do. So do gophers and rats. I tend to bet on squirrels simply because I have so many of them. That is one reason why many pick at color break and finish ripening indoors rather than leaving ripening fruit on the vine. Once color break happens the fruit gets nothing else from the plant so nothing is gained by leaving it on the plant. Dave