States Considering Livestock Care Standards Board

Idaho and Missouri are taking preemptive action to protect livestock production.
Compiled by staff at Farm Futures
Published: Mar 16, 2010

The Idaho Senate has approved a bill that would set up a Livestock Care Standards Board. The board would be similar to the one voted in last November in Ohio. Like Ohio, Idaho hopes to get ahead of any efforts by the Humane Society of the United States to influence animal welfare laws in the state.

The legislation has yet to pass the Idaho House. If it goes into law it would create a 13-member committee that would include representatives from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, statewide organizations for dairy, livestock and cattle professionals and legislators and would make recommendations on animal care.

In Missouri, a bill is moving through the Missouri General Assembly that would protect livestock care practices in that state. The Missourians for Animal Care Coalition supports the bill, because it would protect the right to raise animals in Missouri. The Coalition says there are animal rights extremist groups like the Humane Society of the United States trying to get a ballot initiative that would put severe limitations on the ability of anyone to own and raise animals.

The intent of the bill, according to Missouri Farm Bureau's legislative director Leslie Holloway, is to try to ensure that additional restrictions on raising animals, whether it be livestock or dogs or whatever the case may be, are under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly rather than interests that might come in from out of state such as the Humane Society of the United States.

If passed, the animal care constitutional amendment would join a HSUS-backed bill on this fall's state-wide ballot that would crack down on dog breeders in the state.