Driving the Cattle Industry Into the Future

Driving the Cattle Industry Into the Future

Driving the Cattle Industry Into the Future

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Senate Bill 5733, recently signed into law by Governor Inslee, will allow increased flexibility for the cattle industry by implementing an electronic livestock transaction system. Senator Judy Warnick, who sponsored the bill, says it will modernize the way the state manages animal disease traceability programs. Licensees will now be able to electronically report cattle transactions as an alternative to mandatory cattle inspection requirements currently in place. The legislation is a result of cooperation between industry leaders, lawmakers and state agencies to improve and modernize reporting of animal disease traceability. 13th District Representative Tom Dent has been a passionate advocate for Senate Bill 5733 since being asked by Senator Warnick to help run the bill as it came out of the Senate, making sure all interests had what they needed.

DENT: I brought all the people together, the Cattle Producers of Washington, the Cattlemen, and the Department of Agriculture and the Dairy Federation and we kind of worked this bill, really worked it over, and narrowed the scope and really came to an agreement. I'm real proud of the work we've done, and I think it's a good place to start for the ADT program.

Jay Gordon of the Washington State Dairy Federation says they are very thankful for Senator Warnick and Representative Dent's leadership on the bill, and that it's one more step to improving producer's ability to help protect their farms and rural economies from serious contagious foreign animal diseases.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray with the Ag Information Network of the West.

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