DATCP Board Agrees to Some Animal Health Fee Increases

By Joan Sanstadt, News Editor
Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:36 AM CDT

After a great deal of discussion, members of the board of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection voted approval of the final draft rule that will increase animal health fees sometime in either 2008 or in 2009.

The rule affects license fees, voluntary herd certification fees, fees for veterinary certification forms and fees for voluntary certification of animal health professionals. Some of the fee increases may affect several sectors of the livestock industry while others are limited to specific livestock sectors. The DATCP has not raised animal health fees since 1999.

The proposal does not reflect Governor Jim Doyle’s proposed one-time transfer of funds from the Agriculture Chemical Cleanup Fund ($125,000 in fiscal year 2007-08 and another $125,000 in fiscal year 2008-09) to augment animal health funding.

If the legislature enacts that transfer in the state budget, DATCP will be able to delay most of the animal health fee increases, currently proposed for 2008, until 2009. However, fee increases for certificates of veterinary inspection and fish farm registrations would still take effect in 2008.

Bill Vyvyan, president of Whitetails of Wisconsin, and Ray Hanson, a deer keeper from Chetek, appeared before the board and stated the reasons why they opposed fee increases for deer owners.

Vyvyan called the deer industry, since the discovery of CWD, “the most scrutinized and regulated agricultural entity in the state. We have put our animals through a living hell at times, just to get into compliance with the extreme regulations that were put upon us.”

Comparing how CWD has been handled to the way the department reacted to the outbreak of pseudorabies in Clark County, Vyvyan pointed out “in just three weeks time it was time it was determined that this disease came from wild feral hogs that are known to exist in small numbers in various parts of the state. Clark County swine herds were declared safe. It should be clear that a far greater concern for CWD rests with the wild herd than with captive deer farms.”

Vyvyan told the board, “It seems the deer industry is being called upon to make up most of the shortfall n but we’re the smallest segment. Out biggest concern is that the fee increases are not equitably distributed across the entire animal industry.”

Hanson said he holds three licenses for which he pays a total of $300 annually. “If these increases go through as stated, my total cost, after the increase, will amount to $1,075 annually n more than three and one-half times as much.”

Also appearing on behalf of the deer industry was lobbyist Gary Goyke. Saying he understood the frustrations of the deer farmers with overlapping fees and regulations, Goyke urged the department to “look at the formation of a Cervid Advisory Council. I think that would be a wise management choice.”

The board did vote approval of the fee increases, with member Enrique Figueroa voting no.

The board also approved an emergency rule related to diseases of fish including the VHS disease. As part of the emergency rule, the brucellosis-free certification of farm-raised deer herds will be extended from two to three years, which is consistent the with tuberculosis-free herd certification.

Board member reports

Board member Brian Rude described for fellow board members the effects of the August flooding in Vernon County where 22 inches of rain fell between Aug. 18 and 21.

“The impacts were unbelievable with large losses for organic farmers. Corn is now showing signs of the stress with ears falling off.

“The impact on local roads and infrastructure was great n at one point every highway in Vernon County, with the exception of Highway 14, was closed,” Rude said. In addition Coon Valley Park suffered a lot of damage “and there was water in almost every basement. A lot of the homes that had losses were without insurance.”

On the rail freight issue, Rude was hopeful about passage of the bill introduced by Senator Kohl that would take away the anti-trust exemption enjoyed by the railroads.

“The bill came out of the Judiciary Committee on a voice vote n it’s the first time since 1978 that railroads have lost in committee,” Rude explained.

In addition, the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the agency with some regulatory control on railroads but has never exercised that control has started to look at the situation. “Congressman Petri brought the head of STB to Oshkosh where it met with Badger CURE group. The STB has also started a panel to look at some of the issues. It has huge implications for agricultural commodities and ethanol plants,” Rude said.

Board member Shelly Mayer said the recently concluded World Dairy Expo had demonstrated what a dynamic industry dairy is. “A question asked of me at WDE was, ‘where is the Wisconsin dairy industry going?’ I almost had to snicker, Mayer confessed. “My reply was, ‘it’s not going anywhere n we’re growing’.”

Margaret Krome said the Michael Fields Institute had received a grant from the Risk Management Agency. This grant is “about how to use federal programs to obtain grant money for minorities engaged in agriculture,” she said.

Board Chair Mike Dummer, reacting to Rude’s depiction of the flood devastation said, “this is some pretty serious stuff. Folks who never had damage from floods before experienced it. No practice can sustain that quantity of water,” he added.

Dummer recommended an area to be watched was the approval of building sites. “They should not be on hills where there has been 20 inches of rain.”

He also announced that on Oct. 16, he would be a visiting principal at Glendale Elementary. (Last winter representatives from the school, which is located near DATCP headquarters, asked the board and department to volunteer and become more involved with the school.)

Secretary’s report

DATCP Secretary Rod Nilsestuen reported on a successful Governor’s Trade Mission to China and Japan. “We went to the most northern Chinese province n where the climate is more like that of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota n to view their $2 million dairy modernization process. They were very interested in everything dairy from Wisconsin. Their goal is for every child in China to be offered one-half liter of milk every day.”

Nilsestuen also announced that Will Hughes, administrator of the department’s division of agricultural development, will represent Gov. Doyle on a trip to Europe to meet with leaders of the European Union on issues involving agriculture and rural development.

The most pressing issue, the secretary said, is the budget. (For more information on this, see Capitol Update Column and a separate story about a letter board members sent to legislators.)

“The worst alternative,” Nilsestuen emphasized, “is no budget.”

Other business

In other business, the board:

- Approved for public hearings, a draft rule on retail food: local agent fees and evaluation. One hearing will likely be held in Madison and another in Wausau.

- Heard a report from Al Hermann about the Wisconsin Agricultural Education and Workforce Development Council.

- Engaged in a long range planning session that included discussion of the Working Lands Initiative, more industry partnership, the budget, livestock siting and other issues.

- Set the meeting schedule for the remainder of 2007 and 2008.

- The next meeting will be held on Nov. 14 in either Madison or Milwaukee.

Comments »

Comment on this story

Comments will be approved within 48 hours

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)