The Wet Mountain Tribune
P.O. Box 300
Westcliffe, Colorado 81252
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http://www.wetmountaintribune.com
By Jim Little, Editor - editor@wetmountaintribune.com
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A bully is looking for trouble On one corner, he spots a six-foot, 200-pound guy. Across the street, there's an 11-year-old kid hanging around. Which ones going to be pounded?
This scenario seems analogous to Colorado's stance regarding the federal premises ID program for livestock: don't mess with the burly rancher but beat-up the 4-H and FFA kids instead.
Colorado State University's cooperative extension program has mandated that all Colorado 4-H and FFA youths have a premises ID in place by October. This week, at the coaxing of Custer County Fair Board members, the county commissioners passed a resolution opposing the CSU mandate.
The federal premises ID program has been bantered about since 2004, and was the Department of Agriculture's response to the Asian bird flu, the so-called Mad Cow disease and similar afflictions which threatened America's ag industry. There seemed to be some merit to the plan: livestock producers would register the location of their operation along with any animal raised there, and USDA agents would then be able to trace any afflicted animal back to that location, thus allowing for quick quarantines and the ability to prevent the spread of disease.
Though much of the corporate ag world supported the plan in fact, the idea was borne in a corporate board room smaller producers, not surprisingly, were skeptical if not downright opposed And self-policing among livestock producers has virtually achieved what the program wanted to accomplish anyway.
Opposition was so widespread that the USDA is now only encouraging livestock producers to register on a voluntary basis.
There's no mandatory target date established
It therefore seems a bit premature to force this program down the throats of youngsters who are raising an FFA lamb in their backyard. For some youths, who also take part in livestock shows in other states, the premises registration may be necessary, because state laws differ. But for Colorado kids who are only going for a ribbon at their county fair, the law seems burdensome.
If Colorado is keen on establishing a premises ID program, it should start with commercial operations. Our 4-H and FFA kids should be left out of the equation.
Copyright 2007, Wet Mountain Tribune.