06/13/06 House Ag Cmte hears from NW rancher

American Rancher June 13, 2006 She would have rather been on horseback back on the ranch but Sharon Livingstone, President of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association took the time to testify at a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing on federal farm policy held in Yakima, Washington last weekend. Livingstone said cattlemen like a hands off attitude and don't ask for a lot of government intervention but the industry is facing increasing regulation. And one thing the cattle industry doesn't need is to have manure regulated under the Superfund law. Livingstone: "Manure is a natural fertilizer. We use it on my place naturally. And it is still a fertilizer that is considered to be natural in the production of natural beef. We do not need to have manure regulated as a toxic pollutant." Livingstone said cattle producers do need help to conform to the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act and she praised the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Livingstone: "We also are very much involved in the support of wildlife habitat on our private land. And we need to be rewarded for the good things that we do to protect wildlife." Livingstone said animal identification should be voluntary and market driven and she stressed the importance of public land grazing for western ranchers. I'm Bob Hoff.