Wisconsin Ag Department clarifies controversial registration law

See, this is good. Thirteen hundred (and I bet it is way more than that) objected to registering. A hundred and fifty or more ticked off people showed up at the pubic hearing the other day.

Now if we could get more people to show up at the State house in every state.

Snap...wake up.

Wisconsin Radio Network

Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 12:00 AM

By Jim Dick

A number of farmers in the state will not have their licenses pulled May first after all.

It's the law but about thirteen hundred farmers objected to registering their herds by May first. The Ag Department's Donna Gilson says they've now cleared up a number of misconceptions.

Namely, livestock will not be given identification numbers. It's just a premises registration where farmers tell the department what kind of livestock they have so they know what diseases they're susceptible to. Where they're located and where the farmer can be reached in an emergency.

Gilson says the registration would have been helpful during the search for pseudo rabies in Clark County because with that registration list one quick phone call could have told the pig farmers in the area what was going on and testing could have been conducted within a day.

As it was, Ag department agents spent four days driving up and down roads looking for unregistered pig farms to test for the virus.

No one's license will be pulled May first and the department is now working with farmers to make the new law work with minimal impact on farmers.