SD Congressional Delegation Unresponsive on Ag Issue

First, I will say that staffers from both Senators and our Representative have responded… they just have chosen to do nothing.

Here’s the issue: Ag producers have responsibly administered antibiotic drugs to treat their livestock, for decades. That is about to be a thing of the past, without first getting a prescription from a veterinarian. My friend and fellow Ag producer Darol Dickinson describes the issue very well in the article we published recently.

USDA Assault on Cattle Producers

The bottom line is this: Senator John Thune, Senator Mike Rounds and Representative Dusty Johnson have done nothing to stop this regulation, and they have no plans to do so. The best they have done is offer calls and/or correspondence attempting to “console” Ag producers.

I want to be very fair, and say that each of their offices did at least some research on the issue. The problem is that they have chosen to do nothing about it.

With a growing shortage of large animal Vets in South Dakota and across the country, it makes little sense to further exacerbate the problem by disallowing producers to responsibly administer antibiotics to treat their livestock.

While we are busy minding our business, our elected officials are simply too busy or too unconcerned to protect us from more cumbersome regulations and restrictions.

That, my friends, is the sorry truth.

NOTE: Senators and Representatives in other states have apparently taken the same “do nothing” approach. Maybe you should call YOUR Senators & Representatives.