Ranch Work Day 2009/OK Vet Board Regulations

I love working with cattle; I spent the summers of my youth on the family farm in Iowa doing everything from working with pigs and cattle, to clearing fields of thistles, and hauling loads of grain to the elevator. So was was excited to get the chance to spend Saturday on a friend’s ranch helping him wrangle cattle. The primary goal of the day was to administer vaccines to cattle, and sort the calves to be weaned (Their mothers were not pleased about the separation from their young...see the last pic at the end of the post).

During a break, one of the other helpers said, "You know, they are trying to pass a law up there that will make what I did today illegal...giving those shots to the cows." He told me that there was a bill in the State Senate that, if passed would require that licensed veterinarians provide the kinds of shots that we were administering. That sounded totally asinine to me. Farming and ranching is an operation of thin margins as it is. Farmers and Rangers have always been responsible for taking care of their herd's needs; adding this kind of regulation and extra necessary cost, would be devastating.

I did some research and found State Senate bill SB 452. Among other things this bill, seems to want to amend the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act, so looked like my bill. It turns out that there is a lot of controversy surrounding SB 452; so much so, that I found it difficult to ascertain what exactly the bill and does not do. Indeed, after reading as much as I could and talking to a few people, I'm still not 100 percent sure.

I spoke with the office of Rep. Don Armes (District 63). Rep Armes was sponsoring the house side of the bill. His office told me that the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners did want to prohibit farmers and rangers from administering their own vaccines.

Deciding it might be prudent to talk the other side, I spoke with Cathy Kirkpatrick, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. She told me that the Board already has enough on their plate, and has no interest in prohibiting what farmers/rangers and their hired hands and helpers have always done with their own livestock.

Apparently they are looking regulate people who are not apart of a farmers/ranger’s daily operation, and are hired to perform what amounts to dental surgery on horses. I can’t speak to whether or not that is a good idea but certainly it seems a far cry from that to giving cows their shots. Since Dir. Kirkpatrick seemed like a very nice person, I will take her at her word when she says that they are not trying to add heartache and unneeded extra regulation to farmers/ranchers and their hired hands and volunteers; which is good, because I really enjoy working with cattle.

SB 452 has had its title striped and is back in committee, so its current state is somewhat hard to ascertain. When I find out more about what exactly this bill aims to accomplish I will be sure to write another post about it. Until then, please to enjoy the pictures from this weekend…









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