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This Brand Board was appointed by the governor after he fired the former board members to "protect them" and the Brand Board is answerable only to Gov. Rounds. There is no legislative oversight over the board and that was fine as long as they contracted the brand inspection to a private livestock organization that understood what they were doing.

The brand inspection program worked just fine when Claude and John R. Olson were presidents of the Stockgrowers, it worked fine when your husband was the Stockgrowers president and it worked fine when Bart Blum was the president. The Stockgrowers weren't doing anything differently with the brand inspection program than they did back then and I for the life of me can't understand why the governor would try to fix a program that wasn't broken.

The more I look at this the more I'm starting to believe that this whole fiasco is political. As Lyndell said in his letter, it all seems to stem from when the Stockgrowers split with NCBA and went with R-CALF and the governor acted on some bad political advice he got from former Sec. of Ag Larry Gabriel. I have no love for either R-CALF or NCBA, I don't think the political positions of either are healthy for the livestock industry, but that has nothing to do with an effective and reliable brand inspection program.

I wouldn't care if the brand board gave the contract to any other livestock organization if that organization wanted it and was set up to handle it, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. If the South Dakota Cattlemen wanted to take over the contract, that would be great. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it doesn't take a genius to see that turning brand inspection over to a governmental agency is just dumb.

The Brand Board IS a state agency and since they have turned brand inspection into a government program, you can be sure that this is one legislator who is going to demand some accountability from them. Heaven help them if they try to raise the inspection fees or fail to conduct an efficient, reliable, and effective brand inspection program.

Reggie – try to keep politics out of this will you? The merits of NCBA versus R-CALF or SDSGA versus SDCA have nothing to do with brand inspection. I care passionately about keeping a reliable, effective and efficient brand inspection program because our livelihood depends on it and I could care less about the politics involved in any of these organizations.

<blockquote data-quote="Liberty Belle" data-source="post: 287918" data-attributes="member: 26">This Brand Board was appointed by the governor after he fired the former board members to &quot;protect them&quot; and the Brand Board is answerable only to Gov. Rounds. There is no legislative oversight over the board and that was fine as long as they contracted the brand inspection to a private livestock organization that understood what they were doing. The brand inspection program worked just fine when Claude and John R. Olson were presidents of the Stockgrowers, it worked fine when your husband was the Stockgrowers president and it worked fine when Bart Blum was the president.&nbsp; The Stockgrowers weren&#039;t doing anything differently with the brand inspection program than they did back then and I for the life of me can&#039;t understand why the governor would try to fix a program that wasn&#039;t broken.&nbsp;The more I look at this the more I&#039;m starting to believe that this whole fiasco is political. As Lyndell said in his letter, it all seems to stem from when the Stockgrowers split with NCBA and went with R-CALF and the governor acted on some bad political advice he got from former Sec. of Ag Larry Gabriel. I have no love for either R-CALF or NCBA, I don&#039;t think the political positions of either are healthy for the livestock industry, but that has nothing to do with an effective and reliable brand inspection program. I wouldn&#039;t care if the brand board gave the contract to any other livestock organization if that organization wanted it and was set up to handle it, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. If the South Dakota Cattlemen wanted to take over the contract, that would be great. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it doesn&#039;t take a genius to see that turning brand inspection over to a governmental agency is just dumb.The Brand Board IS a state agency and since they have turned brand inspection into a government program, you can be sure that this is one legislator who is going to demand some accountability from them.&nbsp; Heaven help them if they try to raise the inspection fees or fail to conduct an efficient, reliable, and effective brand inspection program.Reggie – try to keep politics out of this will you? The merits of NCBA versus R-CALF or SDSGA versus SDCA have nothing to do with brand inspection. I care passionately about keeping a reliable, effective and efficient brand inspection program because our livelihood depends on it and I could care less about the politics involved in any of these organizations.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Liberty Belle, post: 287918, member: 26"] This Brand Board was appointed by the governor after he fired the former board members to “protect them” and the Brand Board is answerable only to Gov. Rounds. There is no legislative oversight over the board and that was fine as long as they contracted the brand inspection to a private livestock organization that understood what they were doing. The brand inspection program worked just fine when Claude and John R. Olson were presidents of the Stockgrowers, it worked fine when your husband was the Stockgrowers president and it worked fine when Bart Blum was the president. The Stockgrowers weren’t doing anything differently with the brand inspection program than they did back then and I for the life of me can’t understand why the governor would try to fix a program that wasn’t broken. The more I look at this the more I’m starting to believe that this whole fiasco is political. As Lyndell said in his letter, it all seems to stem from when the Stockgrowers split with NCBA and went with R-CALF and the governor acted on some bad political advice he got from former Sec. of Ag Larry Gabriel. I have no love for either R-CALF or NCBA, I don’t think the political positions of either are healthy for the livestock industry, but that has nothing to do with an effective and reliable brand inspection program. I wouldn’t care if the brand board gave the contract to any other livestock organization if that organization wanted it and was set up to handle it, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. If the South Dakota Cattlemen wanted to take over the contract, that would be great. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that turning brand inspection over to a governmental agency is just dumb. The Brand Board IS a state agency and since they have turned brand inspection into a government program, you can be sure that this is one legislator who is going to demand some accountability from them. Heaven help them if they try to raise the inspection fees or fail to conduct an efficient, reliable, and effective brand inspection program. Reggie – try to keep politics out of this will you? The merits of NCBA versus R-CALF or SDSGA versus SDCA have nothing to do with brand inspection. I care passionately about keeping a reliable, effective and efficient brand inspection program because our livelihood depends on it and I could care less about the politics involved in any of these organizations. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What animal is usually the product of a ranch?