Not Again! Farm

  Note to all:  I am not now, nor will I ever be anywhere near the number of dogs that will be directly affected by this bill, however, as a dog owner and a groomer, this bill will have an effect on me. 

Eleven key points to consider:

1. HB 538 will put all larger commercial dog breeders in Virginia out
of business. (Cap of 50 dogs ‘for breeding purposes.’)

2. Commercial puppies (about 20% of our total supply) will be replaced
by new importing (VA law doesn’t apply to out of state), and new
smaller in-state breeders.

3. Because expensive regulations will apply over 29 bitches, the only
truly legal breeding will be by small ‘extra money’ home operations.
The other small breeders who start will be ‘puppy moonshiners,‘ doing
it in hiding: 100-200 bitches is small enough to hide and portable
over a weekend.

4. Enforcing VA laws against the moonshiners is going to be far more
difficult and expensive than managing the few dozen much larger,
established and well-known locally commercial breeders we have now.

5. Virginia isn’t going to give the localities a nickel to do the
extra enforcement — this is an unfunded mandate, pure and simple.
That means it’s going to be paid for out of your local taxes.

6. What if the breeders who are put out of business decide to sue?

7. The moonshiners and importers (some of them pickup truck gypsies
selling at flea markets) will cause us more ‘puppy lemon’ problems.
How will THOSE laws be enforced, when the sellers are ‘here at noon,
gone by four’ or hiding back in the woods?

8. Lower average dog quality — illegal breeders will be selling them
at four weeks, you bet — will mean more dogs winding up in shelters.
Your taxes at work AGAIN.

9. The moonshiners and gypsies won’t be collecting sales tax or paying
income tax, either. So more of the bite will fall on YOU.

10. Basically, HB 538 should be called the “Virginia illegal dog
breeding industry creation act.”

11. And when the mess caused by HB 538 starts to really stink — say
about two years after the new law goes into effect — the HSUS
solution will be “We need a NEW, TOUGHER law to regulate all those
small breeders!” Guess what’ll happen to us hobby breeders then?

To read the bill itself, go to:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+sum+HB538

and click the lowest blue line under ‘Fill text:’ That will be the
latest version that’s on-line; we don’t have the minor changes from
this morning, yet.

But ALL PET LOVERS should oppose HB 538. If you’re just a pet owner,
don’t you want to have your choice of puppies bred legally, out in the
open? Don’t you hate things that mean higher taxes but don’t do any
good? Cats aren’t in there, but don’t you think they will be when the
bill is ‘fixed’ in a couple of years?

We should all try to visit our Senators if possible — visits are way
the most effective. Phone calls are second most powerful; if you are
a constituent ask to speak to the Senator himself. Letters are third
in line. Emails are also helpful.

THANKS EVERYONE! Contact info is below.

Walt Hutchens
Timbreblue Whippets
Virginia — current center of the HSUS attack on breeding dogs!

=============================

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR VA SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

Chairwoman
Patricia S. Ticer
district30@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7530
Fax: (804) 698-7651

John Watkins
district10@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7510
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Mary Margaret Whipple,
district31@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7531
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.
district24@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7524
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Wm. Roscoe Reynolds,
district20@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7520
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Frank M. Ruff, Jr.
district15@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7515
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Phillip P. Puckett
district38@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7538
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Harry B. Blevins
district14@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7514
Fax: (804) 698-7651

R. Creigh Deeds
district25@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7525
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Mark D. Obenshain
district26@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7526
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Ryan T. McDougle
district04@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7504
Fax: (804) 698-7943

A. Donald McEachin
district09@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7509
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Chap Petersen
district34@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7534
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Ralph S. Northam
district06@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7506
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Richard H. Stuart
district28@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7528
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Note to all: I am not now, nor will I ever be anywhere near the number of dogs that will be directly affected by this bill, however, as a dog owner and a groomer, this bill will have an effect on me.

If you are reading this you probably have or want to have a purebred dog. Right now, today, dog breeders in Virginia are under attack by the Humane Society of the United States. If you love your dog, if you want a puppy in the near future, help us to let our Senators know that VIRGINIA IS FOR DOG LOVERS.  The following is from testimony today at the Senate Agriculture Committee.

My name is Donnita Ackley. I live in Prince William County. I am a
pet owner, rescuer, a member of the Pomeranian Club of Central Virginia, and
the Pomeranian Club’s delegate to the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners
Association. I am not a breeder. I am here today representing VHDOA and
its groups and members to request you not report HB538.

HB538 is unnecessary and the costs to the localities and the taxpayers of
Virginia will be enormous. This bill is a hasty reaction to a media
inflamed issue. VHDOA and many other clubs, associations, and federations
weren’t consulted at any time during the development of HB538.

HB538 is a duplication of existing USDA licensing and registration
requirements defined in the Animal Welfare Act. The existing federal system
registers, licenses, and inspects all large dog breeders and investigates
any dog breeder with four (4) or more females about whom a tip or a
legitimate complaint has been received.

Junior Horton in Carroll County was known to the animal control officer,
authorities, and the community. He had a local business license and a 500
dog kennel permit. But he wasn’t federally licensed and inspected as
required by federal law. This could have been remedied with a call
reporting him to the headquarters or regional offices of USDA APHIS Animal
Care.

HB538 would require localities to designate an Animal Control Officer to
inspect and ensure compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.
The USDA APHIS Animal Care inspections are conducted by a staff of
veterinarians and animal health technicians. The inspections check
compliance with 60 pages of detailed dog care standards. Virginia’s Animal
Control Officers’ training program does not adequately prepare them for
these duties.

HB538 contains many conflicts with federal law and unintended impacts on
hobby breeders. Examples of these conflicts would be veterinarian breeding
approval required annually for each female. A hobby breeder would be
prohibited from selling to a pet store because they are a non-commercial
breeder. If a hunt club or a hobby breeder that co-owns 30 females has one
litter HB538 is triggered. It limits a kennel to a maximum of 50 dogs.
Many hunt club kennels exceed this number.

The challenge Virginia should be facing is how to get commercial breeders
federally licensed and inspected rather than putting a large unfunded
mandate on the localities to inspect and regulate them.

If you love purebred dogs, call or email the Senators on the Agriculture Committee and Ask them to VOTE NO ON BILL HB538. You must include your name and address or your voice will not be heard.

Email Addresses below:

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR VA SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

Chairwoman
Patricia S. Ticer
district30@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7530
Fax: (804) 698-7651

John Watkins
district10@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7510
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Mary Margaret Whipple,
district31@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7531
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.
district24@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7524
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Wm. Roscoe Reynolds,
district20@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7520
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Frank M. Ruff, Jr.
district15@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7515
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Phillip P. Puckett
district38@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7538
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Harry B. Blevins
district14@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7514
Fax: (804) 698-7651

R. Creigh Deeds
district25@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7525
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Mark D. Obenshain
district26@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7526
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Ryan T. McDougle
district04@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7504
Fax: (804) 698-7943

A. Donald McEachin
district09@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7509
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Chap Petersen
district34@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7534
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Ralph S. Northam
district06@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7506
Fax: (804) 698-7651

Richard H. Stuart
district28@sov.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 698-7528
Fax: (804) 698-7651

I don’t mind admitting that I love snow!!  Here in Virginia it is a thing of beauty, like the daffodils in spring.  Here today, beautiful, clean, coating the world in a pristine beauty that is unmatched and then before you can get tired of it, it’s gone.

I was tagged by Oh HorseFeathers to put up an old picture and tell it’s story and then tag three others to do the same. I had to sort through some photos before I came up with one that had a story.

The picture is of my grandson Hunter, my miniature horse stallion Buck and Katja. Hunter moved in with me spring before last when he was three. Buck was 12 that spring so he had some age on Hunter. Buck was a wonderful mini. We had so much fun with him in the cart and on drives to the park. His only really bad habit was that no one could catch him until he was darned good and ready to be caught. He was smart and wily enough that not even grain could tempt him near enough to get a handle on him.

Hunter spent hours out in the pasture with him. At the time, Buck was the only horse on the place and Hunter would slide through the fence and follow him around. In time, I would see him out there walking along beside Buck just talking up a storm. And then he would throw an arm over Buck’s neck and they would just stand there. Hunter talking and Buck grazing.

Eventually, Hunter learned to get the lead line and would take it with him. He would snap it on Buck’s halter and walk him all over the pasture. He would take him over to the barn and brush him. I don’t think he ever took him treats unless one of the grownups was right there. This picture was taken on one of their walks.

I was moving something into the barn one day and as I went through the gate, Buck slipped out. I grabbed a bucket of grain and a lead and chased that fool horse for 30 minutes. I was out of breath and he was having a ball.

A couple of the neighbors had joined in the chase and we were none too successfully trying to herd him back into the pasture. About the time, I was ready to give up, my daughter pulled up with Hunter. Hunter walked up to him and lead him back into the pasture by the halter fussing at him all the way.

When Hunter and his mom moved to Washington State last year. Buck went with them. As much as I miss them both, I didn’t have the heart to break up their friendship. He lives out there now with his two donkey friends and another little gelding and of course, his best friend, Hunter.

And I’m tagging:

Liz at Waldo’s World

Elle still getting used to the idea that these were hers.

All tucked in for the night.  The red glow is from the heat lamp.

Just a quick update for those who have been waiting to hear the news.  Elle had three beautiful babies today.  One Tri color boy, one blenheim boy and one blenheim girl.  She started in labor this morning at 4:30 and had the last puppy at 9:30.  We are just in from the vet for a post partum checkup and all the babies and mom are healthy and happy.

More later, I still have dog chores to do.

I have spent the day turning my dining room back into a nursery.  With the pups due this week, it’s time to move Elle into her whelping pen and start puppy watch.  This is always an exciting and nerve wracking time.  I still have to work so I worry the whole time I am gone.

Thankfully, after all these years, I know and recognize the signs of impending labor and usually have anywhere from a 4 hour warning to a 10 hour warning.  Only once in all these years have I been surprised and that was by Kory this summer, but then we were all a little stressed at the time.

The pen has to be moved into the dining room and disinfected  again.  Then the whelping box/bed gets disinfected again and goes into the box.  I put several layers of newspapers in the bottom of the box.  She will need them when she starts nesting.  She will get her blanket or sheepskin over the newspapers so that she will be more comfortable.

She and Kory both look like they are going to pop.  Elle’s poor belly looks like a cantalope.  I always feel so bad for them in the last week or so but it doesn’t seem to bother them as much as me.  Elle can still jump up into her second story crate for dinner.  I swear she was born with springs.

So I will be on pins and needles all week.  It gives me a whole new perspective on child birth and a lot of sympathy for expectant fathers.   Cigars anyone?

I got a call today that one of the puppies in the picture above had passed away yesterday.  It was an unusually warm winter day in NC after a week of warm weather and she went out to play with her sister.  They found her down by the lake but she was already gone.  They believe that the warm weather brought a snake out early.

All dogs enter our homes and warm our hearts but Cavaliers have a way of endearing themselves to everyone they meet.  It is hard to lose a friend and to lose a friend unexpectedly in the prime of life is harder yet.  Her memory will live on with those who knew and loved her.  She had the best of everything in life but the thing she loved best was Cheryl’s lap.

To Cheryl and Family, and all those who have lost a friend, I leave you with this poem

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Author: Mary Frye

It must be the warm weather that is making me think about gardening. I hope that I can start my cottage garden this year. I plan on doing 2 4×4 square foot gardens for vegetables and would like to start a couple of gardens around the house.

Except for my poor sick Maple trees, it looks like a desert in the front and side yards. As you can see from the pictures, there has been practically no landscaping done here in decades. There are a few crepe myrtles on one side and a forsythia that has as much wild privet hedge as it does forsythia.

I have two challenges to doing any gardening this spring. One is lack of tools. I don’t have a rototiller so I am left to break and dig any ground by hand. The other challenge is funds. I am barely making it here as it is right now and I know in my head that I can’t afford to go buy plants. Sigh… it’s my heart that argues.

It’s already too late to plant daffodils. They are my absolute favorite but I will get them next fall. I do have sort of a plan. A friend of mine has a house with old gardens and she hates to garden. Most of them are overrun with weeds and vines but there are still some actual flowers and herbs in there. She has told me that I can take all I want… all of them if I want them.

I think I am going to compromise and clean the gardens up, separate out some of the flowers, mostly iris and maybe see if I can snag a little lilac bush. It isn’t much of a start but it’s something. There is also some rosemary bushes that are huge and I can thin them as well.

So a few Iris, a lilac bush and some rosemary will be a start. I thought about doing some trading on one of the garden sites but I have nothing to share this year. My yard is barren. The two small gardens that are already here are… sad. I am going to have to dig them up and add topsoil and compost to get them going again as even the daylilies look sad in them.

I’d like to get a small kitchen garden started in the corner where the main house and the kitchen addition meet. It’s a small space and gets the morning sun but misses the scorching hot afternoon sun. I think it will do well there and it will give me a place to start.

There is another month or so to dream and plan and so much may happen between now and then.

It’s been a wild week here on the farm.  I’ve been busier than normal anyway and then the wind started up this morning.  I spent most of the morning battening down the hatches and getting things tied down or moved out of the wind.  I was worried about Grace the horse since she moved in with the goats.  She can’t get in the shelter in the goat pen so I moved her back into the pasture.

I knew that she wasn’t going to like being separated but I didn’t realize that the goats were going to object so strenuously.  She spent 45 minutes running around the pasture and charging at the fence.  The goats spent just as long running around trying to get in with her.  I finally gave in and put her back in the goat pen.  Hopefully she won’t get hit by any flying missiles. Once back with her dwarf friends, they all settled down.

The wind has been so strong that it has moved the satellite dish and now I am back to dial up temporarily.  I hope once it dies down, I can wiggle it back into place, otherwise, I will have to do the whole repair thing again with Hughes.

On top of having no internet, my phone has been weird all week.  It says I have messages but when I listen to them, they are all blank.  If you have been trying to call me, you might try email instead.

The dogs are enjoying the warm spell.  They have been outside all day this week.  They prefer it to being locked up in the boring house.  Elle and Kory are both getting bigger around.  It reminds me that puppies are imminent.

I hope tomorrow will be a much quieter day.  I have a full morning at the grooming shop and will be gone early again.