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OCA members hear latest on horse slaughter legislationBy Doug Rich
Horse slaughter, Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) were all on the agenda at the 56th annual meeting of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, held recently at Midwest City. "This is not about the humane treatment of horses," Elizabeth Bostdorff, manager of Policy Affiliate Relations with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), said. Bostdorff said no federal law dealing with horse slaughter has been passed yet, but several House resolutions have been presented. The most recent is HR 6598, which would make it a criminal federal offense to sell a horse with the intent of selling that horse for slaughter. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-MI, introduced the bill entitled Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008. The bill states: "that anyone who knowingly possesses, ships, transports, purchases, sells, delivers, or receives in or affecting interstate commerce or foreign commerce, any horse or horse carcass with the intent that it is to be slaughtered for human consumption shall be fined or imprisoned for up to three years." The bill was introduced on July 24 and was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security the next day. "Horse slaughter is an issue that will just not go away," Rep. Frank Lucas, R-OK, said. "There are too many groups that are using this issue as a fundraising tool. It boggles the mind that there is nothing rational from the other side about this issue." COOL discussion COOL will become mandatory on Sept. 30. It is currently going through a 60-day comment period for the interim final rule. The rule covers commodities including muscle cuts of beef, veal, lamb, chicken, goat and pork, as well as ground beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and goat. Bostdorff said producers should know that there are four different labels. The first is for U.S. product only. The second label is for product with content from multiple countries with the U.S. being listed first on the label. The next label is for cattle coming into this country for immediate slaughter. This will cover cattle primarily from Canada. Label number four is for product from foreign countries only. Ground beef will be labeled by the batch with the label listing all countries providing meat to that batch. "Producers will only need to provide documents that are already being used in the normal conduct of business," Bostdorff said. A producer affidavit is all that is required. Producers taking part in the National Animal Identification system will not need an affidavit. Scott Dewald, OCA executive vice president, outlined recent efforts by the organization to maintain emergency haying and grazing rights for CRP acres. OCA worked along with NCBA and other state organizations to provide information for the court in this case. "CRP and RFS are inter-connected and intertwined," Lucas said. "Who would have guessed that we would have had the kind of weather we have had the last three years: two wheat crop failures in Australia, a corn failure in southeast U.S. last year, typhoons and droughts in other parts of the world. "At the same time, India and China are able to buy all the food they want for the first time in 200 years. We have the demand for our chief feedstock around the world at unprecedented levels. We have ethanol and biodiesel consuming corn and soybeans at unprecedented levels. It is the perfect storm." How has the market responded? Lucas said to look at the CRP acreage levels. Three years ago there were 36 million acres in CRP. There are 33 million acres in CRP right now and Lucas anticipates this will be 32 million acres by the end of this year. "There are 2.3 million acres of CRP land coming up for renewal next year," Lucas said. "I would bet that 2 million of that 2.5 million acres will be coming out. CRP acres are coming down dramatically." RFS impact Lucas said the RFS has an out clause that states when the economic impact, among other issues, is so great, the standard can be turned down or restrained. It can be waived for a period of time. Lucas said his problem is that certain people in Congress and the current administration don't want to do that. "Those of us that want to let the market work will ultimately prevail," Lucas said. Lucas stressed people need to be reminded that CRP is a volunteer program that has done wonders for wildlife and the environment. But it is voluntary and producers do not have to re-enroll at the end of the 10-year contract. He said USDA should to be allowed to be flexible with the program at times when it is necessary. "Don't kill a good program," Lucas said. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 8/18/08 Date: 8/14/08 Advertisement
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