The fight at the capitol is still ongoing. The original nightmare of a bill in the senate has been tempered down quite substantially from its original form. We are continuing to fight for our farms and we are gaining support from some key Democrats.
The attached link is from the senate ag committee hearing on Monday the 17th. With new science such as genetic resistance, and the damaging effects of the bill being discussed. We still have a long ways to go but we will continue to fight.
https://mnsenate.granicus.com/player/clip/11363?view_id=1&redirect=true&h=624fb5f65684ae346472336da5a09eec
In the video, the Chairman, Senator Putnam, is one of the Democrats that is listening to us. He has setup a meeting with Scott Fier, Brenda Hartkopf (from the elk breeders), as well as the DNR, the author of the bill, and our lobbyist to refine the bill and get everyone to the same table.
Meetings are taking place and many times, such as Monday's hearing, are short notice. We have a meeting setup for next week with the new DNR cervid program coordinator as a meet and greet with him, to get to know him and how he plans to run the DNR's captive cervid program.
Also, If anyone is willing to work with Dr. Scott Wells from the U of M by allowing him to place trail cameras around your perimeter fence, to study what animals are crossing through the fence, ie. raccoons, skunks, fox ect. Please contact Mark Volk at 320-232-3352 and he will get you in touch with Dr. Wells. We as a board support his study and wish to get him more help. So far, Dr. Wells has had cameras on 4 farms. One in WI, and the farms of three of our directors, Mark Volk, Ken Williams, and Deb Holthaus.
If you have any questions, feel free to respond to this email or contact one of our board members and we will answer any questions you may have.
MDFA Board of Directors
