And The Saga Continues...... More farmer hassels.

[sheepdog 10]

The department of Labor wasn't satisfied with harrassing farmers about their foreign employees, making sure they had nice clean comfy beds. Oh, no, that was just the begining. Now they are after them over child labor. The Department of Labor is trying to make it illegal for children to do practicly anything on the farm. Branding, breeding, dehorning, vaccinating, castrating and treating sick or injured animals all would be forbidden. This could very well spell the end of many 4 H projects, as the children are expected to handle the livestock they are raising for 4 H and FFA and take care of any needed animal husbandry of their show animal. Acording to the new proposed laws, they would have to have 90 hours of regular schooling (governement school) before they could opperate any machinery. Now when was the last time you saw classes for driving a tractor in a public school? Especially grade school, since most farm kids start driving tractors long before they get into high school. It's not just tractors either, they have gone so far as to include herding animals in confined spaces, such as feed lots or corrals; on horseback; or using motorized vehicles, such as trucks or all-terrain vehicles.While the Department of Labor has not made major restrictions on the children of the immediate farm family, in and effort to keep out of trouble with parental rights, it will completely restrict nieces, nephews, cousins, or grandchildren. This totally disreguards the make up of the family farm, where very often the entire extended family lives and works on the farm. This is a direct attack on the family farm. You can bet the giant aggri bussiness corporations will not have any problems with this new proposed restrictions, not being family owned. The saddest part of this whole nasty business to me is the fact that it is the farm kids in this country that are about the only ones left that have half a chance of growing up with some sense of responsibility and a good moral work ethics. You grow up knowing that you have things that have to be done in a timely mannor, that you have to do them wether you want to or not when it is time to be done. They are certainly not going to teach this in public government run schools. I think the only thing schools are teaching our kids these days is how to become and then stay dependant on the government for anything and everything. Don't think for yourself. Don't be independant, follow the crowed and do what the government tells you to do. Very very sad.