09/23/2017
ABGA members will receive an email as well via the office. Copy the letter below and send it to your congressman by Oct 1 to make an impact on the goat industry.
Chairman Pat Roberts
September 5, 2017
Senate Agriculture Committee
109 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1605
Dear Chairman Roberts:
The American Goat Federation (AGF) acts as an advocate for the nation’s farm families and individuals who produce America’s goat products and provide America’s goat services. I am one of 152,000 goat producers and 81,000 sheep producers in the United States represented by AGF. Of all ruminants, goats are the most efficient in converting low quality forage into high quality protein for human consumption. Goat meat is one of the most consumed red meats in the world. America’s goat producers face an extreme disadvantage in the domestic market due to the combination of the strong U.S. Dollar, fractured U.S. marketing availability, and no restrictions on imported meat. It is our hope that, as you work on the Farm Bill, you will consider the following priorities of our industry:
Establish a Goat Industry Improvement Center with $5M in funding.
U.S. Goat producers suffer from lack of industry infrastructure, including well developed markets, educational programs, access to science and research, and relationships with sister species. Infrastructure programs in other livestock industries have provided enormous benefit in the improvement of genetics, production efficiency, food safety and marketing channels. The creation of industry infrastructure is critical to our ability to compete with imported goat products. A small business development sector within the Center would provide assistance in creating, growing and integrating businesses thereby building both the goat production units as well as the local communities in which the 152,000 goat producers are located.
Increase Availability of Pharmaceuticals for Goats and Sheep
U.S. producers, lacking access to new pharmaceuticals, are at a competitive disadvantage. At the same time, consumers do not receive any protection because more than half of the imported goat meat products contain pharmaceuticals that are not currently listed in the United States. Both the sheep and goat industry would benefit from having increased access to the following three major areas: anthelmintics (dewormers), antibiotics, and vaccines. For instance, Australian goat producers, which are the largest exporter of goat meat into the US, have twice the number of approved dewormers at their disposal. Similarly, a limited number of antibiotics and vaccines are approved for goats in the US. These approved antibiotics are not as effective in treating various diseases, such as foot rot and respiratory disease as those available for other species.
Currently, extra-label drug use is the route by which most operations have access to the drugs. Most vaccines being worked on are for sheep use, which means goat producers will still need to use them as extra label. Also, newer vaccines are being developed for parasitism in other countries but nothing on the horizon for goats in the US. Please support all efforts to increase access to these tools.
Continuation of USDA/APHIS Wildlife Service
Predators cost the goat industry roughly $20 million in lost production annually. Every dollar spent on predation management returns three dollars in livestock value saved. Predator management also supports abundant wildlife, hunting, and recreation activities on private and federal land. We ask that the Farm Bill continue and increase the livestock protection efforts of Wildlife Services.
Maintain USSES and Support the merger of the USSES and the ADRU
Please support the unique research provided by the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station (USSES) located in Idaho and the Animal Disease Research Unit (ADRU) co-located at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. It is vital to the goat industry that this station continues its traditional work in not only food-animal research and animal health but also rangeland systems. Additionally, genomic research and objectively measured breeding values are foundational to advancing goat production. This area of research is currently non-existent in goats and is desperately needed to break through the barriers of phenotypic selection.
Continue Scrapie Eradication in Sheep and Goats
Please continue all programs within USDA that support full eradication of Scrapie in sheep and goats to allow our industry to compete internationally.
Support Continuation of Multiple Use of Public Lands
The current Forest Planning rules exceed the intent of Congress to manage the nation’s forests. “Single species viability” cannot be allowed to supersede all legal obligations for multiple uses of federal lands. This guidance is based on flawed science and has led to a number of domestic goat producers being removed from their allotments. Species viability, as implemented by the administration, ignores historical habitat and enforces non-natural restraints on rangelands. Most importantly, this leads to a loss of grazing of domestic livestock. Prior to any decision involving the proposed removal of grazing allotments in preference to bighorn sheep habitat, we ask that the administration require sound-science and consultation with ARS. We ask that such a decision be found scientifically warranted, that alternative equal allotment(s) be offered and NEPA waived to minimize harm to livestock producers. Domestic goats and bighorns have co-existed in many of the same areas for decades without significant impact to bighorn herds.
We ask for your support in the additional areas:
Support De-listing the grizzly bear and all species of wolves under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and return management of these species to the state governments.
The populations of these species have returned to appropriate levels and continued federal protection under the ESA is no longer warranted. The current lack of state management of these species threatens the viability of the livestock and the greater wildlife ecosystem, including bighorn sheep, in these habitat areas, hampering our ability in the West to provide domestic food and recreation.
Endorse and support a more workable, less cumbersome H-2A program.
The American Sheep and Goat industries have a long history of a reliable, consistent and legal workforce. Ranchers depend on the H-2A program to help care for a large portion of the livestock in the United States. To meet those needs, the industry has largely participated in temporary visa programs (in various forms) since the 1950’s. As a result, producers employ a legal labor force with an estimated 8 American jobs created/supported by each foreign worker employed.
Increased regulation with ambiguous policies and enforcement has made the H-2A program overly burdensome and logistically impossible for employers. In the 2015 re-write of the guest worker program, over half the pages of regulations were aimed directly at producers, even though we are only a small percent of total H-2A employees in the United States.
We thank you for your consideration of these issues and commit to working with your administration to ensure that your goals, and the goals of America’s goat producers, are met. Our future and the viability of our rural communities depend on it.
If you would like to receive further details or information on other issues, please contact Anita Dahnke, the Executive Director at the American Goat Federation: 765-430-2075 or [email protected].
Respectfully,
PRODUCER NAME
