The Rules Are Multiplying in the Filing Cabinet
LANCASTER, Pa. (Farm.FM) — Dairy farm regulations have been spotted multiplying in a filing cabinet, prompting a local farmer to ask whether compliance documents require their own breeding permits. The discovery came when owner Pete Walsh opened a drawer marked IMPORTANT and found three inspection checklists, two milk-quality reports, a manure plan and a folded receipt from 2009. His veterinarian advised him not to panic. His accountant recommended a second drawer and a depreciation schedule. Pete asked his Holsteins who had authorized all this administration. One cow maintained eye contact while chewing. The rest demonstrated their usual commitment to not attending meetings.The Cow Doesn’t Know What an Acronym Is
The rules cover different things, and some are vital. Milk sanitation protects consumers. Animal-health procedures help protect herds. Environmental requirements address waste and water. Calling all regulation useless would be as sensible as replacing the bulk-tank thermometer with a lucky horseshoe. The FDA’s Grade A milk model documents include the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, a framework used by participating state milk-safety programs. Separately, the EPA explains animal-feeding-operation requirements under the Clean Water Act. Different authorities, different questions and, to Pete’s enduring frustration, different folders. At a hastily convened roundtable, a consultant proposed one universal form for all government reporting. Another consultant immediately objected that creating the universal form would require fourteen preliminary forms to determine which form everyone meant. Pete suggested a simpler test: if the milk is safe, the cows are healthy and the creek isn’t full of manure, perhaps someone could stop asking him for the same address. The committee agreed this was a promising first draft and requested it in triplicate.
A drawer marked IMPORTANT containing three checklists, a manure plan and a receipt from 2009 is the most accurate portrait of American governance I’ve seen this year. Paperwork is the only livestock on the farm that breeds without supervision and never needs feeding. Pete’s cow maintaining eye contact while chewing is also how most of us get through a compliance meeting.