New Ideas

New Ideas

Last Friday was the deadline to file legislation for the upcoming session. As the chair of the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, I am called upon by numerous groups in the Oklahoma Ag Industry to carry water for agriculture across the state. Usually, if it is an ag issue, it is vitally important to my district, especially Tillman County and rural Comanche County, whose economies rely heavily on farming and ranching.

I was asked a few weeks ago how the equine dentistry issue does any good for my district. My response was “that issue, as contentious as it is, has far reaching ramifications to all of agriculture, especially those in the cattle business, as well as horse owners, both the hobby riders and those who use their horses everyday”. Now let me say again before we get into this that no matter what you hear, I am not anti-veterinarian. I have said this many times over the last year or so, our vets are our partners in animal agriculture. Those of you who handle large numbers of livestock, just remember back a few years ago when you could order large quantities of different medicines that you needed to process cattle directly from the wholesale house. You now have to have a script from a vet. It is not unusual for a large scale stocker or cow/calf man to be as up to speed on the available pharmaceuticals as any veterinarian would be. If you are going to be in that game, you are going to have studied because dead cattle do not make much money. That was a small thing a few years ago but it has lessened the flexibility of our large-scale producers and, to some degree, has increased the cost because, basically now, the law put a new middle man in that scenario, your veterinarian. Again, not that our vets do not have a very large role in the livestock operation, but it was a freedom to choose taken away from the producer. The equine dentistry issue is similar in many respects and it is no different than the battle between optometrists and ophthalmologists, or the battle between chiropractors and medical doctors, or the battle between dental hygienists and dentists. It is a scope-of-practice battle, plain and simple, except that this is out in the country where we live.

If you watched the National Finals Rodeo on ESPN this past week, you saw 46-year-old, many time world champion, saddle bronc rider, Billy Etbauer, score two very high scores in two of the later rounds of competition in Las Vegas. Mr. Etbauer, as well as NFR barrel racer Mary Burger, both attended our interim study and stood with the equine dentists and said simply “they are our horses and we want the freedom to choose who does our work.” Basically, leave us alone and let us choose who we want. Billy Etbauer, as I said earlier is 46, and cannot rodeo forever. In fact, I can tell ya, it is a miracle that he can still ride as well as he can. He and his wife ride and train performance horses for a living. They are good at it and they know their business. They want the flexibility to make decisions on what is best for their livestock and they have a lot at stake because it is their livelihood. Just like your neighbor down the road who may have several pot loads of stocker cattle to get straightened out, or someone who is in the purebred cattle business who uses artificial insemination or embryo transfer on a regular basis. There are still lots of procedures that a vet needs to do. I will tell ya, if I have a gooseneck load of calves, with my busy schedule, sometimes I will run them to the vet and put them through the chute because I do not have the time or the help to work them at home. But, that is not practical when you are dealing with pot loads or larger operations.

Another bill that I filed was requested by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. As large as the wheat business is in Oklahoma, the Wheat Commission is still a very small agency with limited resources. This measure will attempt to make the wheat commission more nimble in their ability to purchase items for their operation without being handcuffed by the cumbersome and bureaucratic central purchasing agency, hopefully to use funds to promote one of Oklahoma’s largest agricultural commodities.

Another bill I filed was at the request of the Livestock Marketing Association. The bill is intended to ease cumbersome regulations on livestock dealers across the state.

That is just a small sample of the hundreds and hundreds of bills that I am sure were introduced by 101 House members across the state. It will be interesting to see, as the lists are produced, what all will be coming at us this session.

Another role that I fill as Ag Chairman is to be the gate keeper for the many issues that come down the pike. Not every bill that is introduced is a good bill. Sometimes we have to ward off evil spirits that can “haunt” our business. There are many times that I have to choose to not hear bills that could be harmful to the ag business and thus, harmful to Southwest Oklahoma and our vast ag economy.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the capitol, please do not hesitate to send an email to donarmes@house.gov or call me at 1-800-522-8502.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

“Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.” -William Jennings Bryan