Liberty Belle
Well-known member
Wanna see somethin' funny? The SD Brand Board just took over the brand inspection program in South Dakota and talk about a train wreck, this is going to be something to watch!
I posted this on Ranch Talk, but since this seriously impacts every rancher and livestock producer in western South Dakota, I'm going to post it here too. Click on the link at the end of the story to read what ranchers think of this studid idea!
Brand board takes over inspection contract from Stockgrowers
By Steve Miller, Journal staff Monday, June 02, 2008
The South Dakota Brand Board voted Monday to take over the brand inspection program from the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, ending the Stockgrowers' more than 100 years of operating the program.
The brand board, meeting via conference call, voted to reject the last two proposals submitted last Friday by the Stockgrowers Association for a new agreement to replace the current contract, which expires June 30.
A major sticking point in negotiations between the two entities was the amount of profit to be allowed for administering the program.
Under the current contract, the Stockgrowers Association receives 8 percent of the total fees collected when horses and cattle are sold or otherwise leave the brand inspection area (22 counties west of the Missouri River). The current fee is 80 cents a head, and approximately 1.4 million cattle and horses are sold each year. Under the current contract, the brand board pays expenses of the program.
The brand board last Wednesday rejected a Stockgrowers proposal for a 6 percent fee.
On Friday, the Stockgrowers submitted another proposal for 6 percent, but agreed to other procedural demands by the brand board, according to Stockgrowers President Larry Nelson of Buffalo. In the second proposal, the Stockgrowers offered to pay all expenses of the program but keep the 80-cent-a-head fee, much like it had done for decades, Nelson said.
Some of the brand board members felt the brand board could operate the program more cheaply and efficiently than the Stockgrowers, board President Mark Kimball of Platte said last week.
Brand board members last week said they were willing to give the Stockgrowers only about 2 percent of the fees because the board paid all the expenses.
"We felt like that we weren't going to do it for nothing, and 2 percent was pretty close to nothing," Nelson said Monday.
Nelson said the Stockgrowers would continue its focus as an advocate for independent cattle producers. "We're not going anywhere. We're going to go right ahead and do what we've been doing."
Brand board officials did not return phone calls from the Journal on Monday. An e-mail from the brand board to the Stockgrowers did not indicate the breakdown in the Monday vote among the five-member board.
But last Wednesday, Kimball, Tom Conger of Buffalo Gap and Curt Mortenson of Fort Pierre voted against the Stockgrowers' proposal. Bart Blum of Reliance abstained.
Board member Lyndell Petersen of Hermosa was the lone member to vote in favor of the Stockgrowers last week. Petersen said he opposed the state taking over the contract. He said the state of Wyoming took over its brand inspection program and now has to subsidize it with taxpayer funds.
Nelson said the Stockgrowers Association used profits from administering the brand inspection program to help fund its organization.
Currently the program has 15 full-time inspectors, about 40 part-time inspectors, plus chief inspector Jim Reed and an administrative assistant in the Rapid City office.
It is not clear whether those employees will remain under the brand board.
Reed said last week that one inspector already had resigned over the dispute.
He said the brand board had not offered him a job. But, he added, "I'm not going to work for the brand board after all the heartburn they've given us over the past four or five years."
Aside from the brand inspection program, the Stockgrowers Association has two full-time employees. Nelson said those employees will remain on board, for now, at least.
Nelson said he isn't sure exactly how the group will replace the revenue from the brand inspection contract. "It's going to take us a little bit to assess what our position is," he said.
The organization's ties to brand inspection go back to the early 1890s, when the Western South Dakota Stockgrowers began operating the brand program in the state on behalf of livestock producers. The group later became the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association and operated the brand inspection program for most of the time since, except for a brief period in the 1930s, when the state Ag Department ran the program.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or [email protected].
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/06/03/news/local/doc4844a10fc44e1967681248.txt?show_comments=true#commentdiv
I posted this on Ranch Talk, but since this seriously impacts every rancher and livestock producer in western South Dakota, I'm going to post it here too. Click on the link at the end of the story to read what ranchers think of this studid idea!
Brand board takes over inspection contract from Stockgrowers
By Steve Miller, Journal staff Monday, June 02, 2008
The South Dakota Brand Board voted Monday to take over the brand inspection program from the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, ending the Stockgrowers' more than 100 years of operating the program.
The brand board, meeting via conference call, voted to reject the last two proposals submitted last Friday by the Stockgrowers Association for a new agreement to replace the current contract, which expires June 30.
A major sticking point in negotiations between the two entities was the amount of profit to be allowed for administering the program.
Under the current contract, the Stockgrowers Association receives 8 percent of the total fees collected when horses and cattle are sold or otherwise leave the brand inspection area (22 counties west of the Missouri River). The current fee is 80 cents a head, and approximately 1.4 million cattle and horses are sold each year. Under the current contract, the brand board pays expenses of the program.
The brand board last Wednesday rejected a Stockgrowers proposal for a 6 percent fee.
On Friday, the Stockgrowers submitted another proposal for 6 percent, but agreed to other procedural demands by the brand board, according to Stockgrowers President Larry Nelson of Buffalo. In the second proposal, the Stockgrowers offered to pay all expenses of the program but keep the 80-cent-a-head fee, much like it had done for decades, Nelson said.
Some of the brand board members felt the brand board could operate the program more cheaply and efficiently than the Stockgrowers, board President Mark Kimball of Platte said last week.
Brand board members last week said they were willing to give the Stockgrowers only about 2 percent of the fees because the board paid all the expenses.
"We felt like that we weren't going to do it for nothing, and 2 percent was pretty close to nothing," Nelson said Monday.
Nelson said the Stockgrowers would continue its focus as an advocate for independent cattle producers. "We're not going anywhere. We're going to go right ahead and do what we've been doing."
Brand board officials did not return phone calls from the Journal on Monday. An e-mail from the brand board to the Stockgrowers did not indicate the breakdown in the Monday vote among the five-member board.
But last Wednesday, Kimball, Tom Conger of Buffalo Gap and Curt Mortenson of Fort Pierre voted against the Stockgrowers' proposal. Bart Blum of Reliance abstained.
Board member Lyndell Petersen of Hermosa was the lone member to vote in favor of the Stockgrowers last week. Petersen said he opposed the state taking over the contract. He said the state of Wyoming took over its brand inspection program and now has to subsidize it with taxpayer funds.
Nelson said the Stockgrowers Association used profits from administering the brand inspection program to help fund its organization.
Currently the program has 15 full-time inspectors, about 40 part-time inspectors, plus chief inspector Jim Reed and an administrative assistant in the Rapid City office.
It is not clear whether those employees will remain under the brand board.
Reed said last week that one inspector already had resigned over the dispute.
He said the brand board had not offered him a job. But, he added, "I'm not going to work for the brand board after all the heartburn they've given us over the past four or five years."
Aside from the brand inspection program, the Stockgrowers Association has two full-time employees. Nelson said those employees will remain on board, for now, at least.
Nelson said he isn't sure exactly how the group will replace the revenue from the brand inspection contract. "It's going to take us a little bit to assess what our position is," he said.
The organization's ties to brand inspection go back to the early 1890s, when the Western South Dakota Stockgrowers began operating the brand program in the state on behalf of livestock producers. The group later became the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association and operated the brand inspection program for most of the time since, except for a brief period in the 1930s, when the state Ag Department ran the program.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or [email protected].
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/06/03/news/local/doc4844a10fc44e1967681248.txt?show_comments=true#commentdiv
