Trich Testing

Several months ago, a law requiring that all beef bulls in the state be tested annually for Trichomoniasis was passed by the full body of the Idaho Senate 35-0, and passed the House.  Governor Otter signed the legislation into law, which will go into effect July 1 of this year. Just because I love the way Wyatt Prescott thinks and because I was there in McCall when there was a big meeting among cattle men about this issue, I brought up the issue again with Wyatt. “About a year ago I was up in McCall listening to what I wouldn’t call acrimonious but certainly concerned testimony on the part of the number of beef ranchers on either side of the issue concerning trich testing, how do you now feel about the fact that all beef bulls must be tested in the state of Idaho? The trich legislation had been a very long process and what you witnessed was what we hoped to accomplish in the collaborative grass roots process where we do not want to run legislation over anyone. We want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity for their input and that decisions are made inclusive of the entire industry so we had worked over the course of the last three years with northern Idaho producers as pasture shortages became more and more present and cattle were moving a lot more readily around the state and in and out of the state and ultimately came to the conclusion that it would be best for the entire state of Idaho to fall under the same trich testing requirements. That being said, there are producers north of the Salmon River that have not had to test in the past and in the spirit of not liking to be told what to do by the government, they really do not want another regulation that is requiring them to do that.