No docs needed

The handlers were visiting with Suzanna and Hector in their warm kitchen the last Sunday night before the move. The warmth came from the wood burning stove where there was a vat of food cooking for Rambo, their dog. The food consisted of huge chucks of bone, beef and rice. Very nice!

They mentioned that the agricultural census was going to begin on Monday, and they were worried as they did not have paperwork on their cow, Negra. Paperwork? Come again? Apparently cows and horses, and any large scale farm operations, need documentation. Further, if you are producing anything on the farm for sale, you need to show documentation of that.  And with documentation comes the government ability to tax. Wow. Do chickens require documentation (as we sure would like chickens at the farm)? Hector said that if you have fewer than 30 chickens, he didn’t think documentation was necessary, but if you are selling the chicken meat or eggs, then most definitely. If the eggs are for personal consumption, no docs needed.

I didn’t think much of it…until, from my perch on top of Female Handler’s (FH) desk, I saw an army truck with a canvas top barreling down our little lane. I mean, they were screaming down the lane as if they had a war to get to at the end of it. Apparently I missed that news broadcast.

FH ran to the back window to see what on earth was happening farther down the lane which ended at Gabriela’s farm (I decided to take refuge under the covers of the bed). A couple of guys wearing fatigues got out. Fortunately none seem to be totting guns, but instead clip boards. Ahhhhhh, the census! I could only presume that they were noting how many horses resided at Teresita’s Chacra Perico. After much note taking, and clapping of hands to get the horses attention (and awake any who might be sleeping on the ground down the hill), they left just as quickly as they had arrived. They did not knock on our door or wish to talk to us. What does this mean? It means that they are really focused on only the large animal population and not the human population? And cats don’t count.

Later in the week when we had moved onto our farm, the army truck showed up there. FH met them prior to rounding the corner where they would have seen 1000 almond trees in lines going down the hill behind the house. She was asked if she had ever participated in the agricultural census before and she explained that she was new to the country, and no, she had not. They asked her if she had income from anything being produced on the farm. She replied simply, “no”. They asked if she had any animals, and she replied two cats. He explained that no docs were needed for cats. She asked him when she might expect them to return, and he replied in ten years.

The next day…another army truck showed up, this time with more Army solders getting out.

Oh my.

Again FH ran outside to stop them from having a look-see around the farm. Seems that this census-taking group didn’t know that the other truck had been there the day before. Once FH explained that she had already filled out the pencil written form, they were off again.

The following day…we were spared a third visit.

So one wonders how many repeat counts they actually record? I suppose it could happen if family members didn’t actually tell one another they dealt with the census truck that day. According to the "census", there are at least 4 times more sheep and cattle then there are humans in Uruguay.