Here we go again! The Brand Board is not going to rest until they stop the use of a hot iron brand for cattle identification in South Dakota. Read this and weep. Thank God Lydell Peterson is still on the board, but how long can a decent, sane, and sensible member last on this board?
Stockgrowers, brand board clash on inspection program
Deadline to reach agreement is midnight Saturday
By Steve Miller, Journal staff Friday, May 30, 2008
A dispute over money could end the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association's decades-old operation of the state livestock brand inspection program.
The South Dakota Brand Board, which is responsible for the program, on Wednesday rejected the Stockgrowers Association's proposal for a new contract that would pay the group 6 percent of fees collected when horses and cattle are sold or otherwise leave the brand inspection area -- 22 counties west of the Missouri River.
About 1.4 million cattle are sold each year out of the West River region. An 80-cent brand-inspection fee is assessed on each animal, resulting in slightly more than $1 million in revenue. The inspections ensure that those in possession of livestock are the actual owners.
The Stockgrowers Association's most recent contract pays it 8 percent of the total fees.
Some brand-board members say the board could operate the program for less money and are pushing the Stockgrowers Association to accept a 2 percent or 3 percent profit on fees, according to brand board president Mark Kimball, a Platte area rancher.
Kimball said that under the most recent contract, the brand board pays all of the expenses of the inspection program.
"On a complete no-risk contract, we just felt like 6 percent was way off the chart," Kimball said Thursday.
But Stockgrowers Association executive director Margaret Nachtigall said it takes money to operate the association, just like any other organization or business that contracts to deliver services. "If you're a general contractor and you contract somebody to dig the ditches, that person is entitled to a profit; otherwise, he wouldn't be doing it," she said.
Kimball also cited a feasibility study that, he said, showed the board could operate the program more efficiently.
Kimball, along with board members Curt Mortenson of Fort Pierre and Tom Conger of Buffalo Gap, voted Wednesday against accepting the Stockgrowers' proposal for a 6 percent share of the fees. Bart Blum of Reliance abstained.
Board member Lyndell Petersen of Hermosa voted in favor of the Stockgrowers' proposal.
Neither side had submitted a new proposal as of Thursday afternoon.
If an agreement is not reached by midnight Saturday, the brand board, a quasi-government entity, will take over the program at the end of June when the current contract ends.
Petersen said that would be a mistake, and he is skeptical about the feasibility study. "The study was very superficial," Petersen said Thursday. "We needed to take details that we have from the daily and yearly operation and plug them into the premises that were brought forward by the study and make a judgment. That was not done and has not been done. To draw a conclusion without going through that exercise, to me, was unwise."
In fact, Petersen said if the brand board takes over the program, he expects costs will rise and the board will have to raise the inspection fees charged to producers when they sell cattle and horses.
"My experience with government bureaucracies is I've never seen any of them do anything but grow," said Petersen, a former longtime state legislator. "I'm predicting that if the state board takes this over, it will indeed grow, and it will indeed cost more money. Fees will get higher," he said.
Petersen said the state of Wyoming took over its brand-inspection program and has been using general-fund money to keep it afloat.
The South Dakota program is funded entirely by fees paid by the producers.
"Our main concern is expenses for producers," Kimball said.
However, Kimball said he couldn't predict whether the board could lower fees or keep them level. "I would never speculate on that right now, because all of our expenses just keep going through the roof," he said. "We're looking at maybe having to raise it a bit to make it work."
The 2008 South Dakota Legislature approved a brand-board request to raise the cap on fees to $1 per head, although the fee remained at 80 cents.
The brand board is somewhat autonomous, although it is appointed by the governor. Gov. Mike Rounds dismissed several board members in early 2004 when the board threatened to reverse a decision to take over the brand-inspection program from the Stockgrowers. A compromise was later reached allowing the Stockgrowers to continue administering the program.
The Western South Dakota Stockgrowers, formed in the late 1800s, began operating the brand program in the state and later became the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, Nachtigall said. The group has operated the brand-inspection program for most of the time since. The state Agriculture Department ran the brand-registration program briefly in the 1930s before turning it back to the Stockgrowers, according to a former brand-board official.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or
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http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/05/30/news/local/doc483f8d1c5c0ba096915359.txt