Rep. Jo Ann Emerson Questions USDA Sec. Vilsack on NAIS

Note: Check this YouTube. Representative Emerson understands, yet Sec. Vilsack has received briefings of incorrect data from his staff of thousands of white shirted, arm chair veterinarians. Here is what he doesn’t understand:

1. Livestock producers do not trust USDA or any government enforcements
   on livestock care, marketing or production now or in the future.
2. The USA is a net import nation requiring over $2 billion annually in
   purchases of beef product. Exporting of beef product is not necessary to
   any segment of the economy in the USA.
3. There are less USA cattle and less cattle producers than at any time
   in the last 43 years.
4. There are more veterinarians licensed by the USDA than any time in history.
5. There are more veterinarians on the USDA dole than any time in history.
   There are more veterinarians in offices doing paper work and less in the
   field than any time in history. There are more brick buildings to house USDA
   employed veterinarians than at in any time in history.
6. There is less livestock disease in the USA than any time in history.
7. If USDA employed veterinarians can’t locate a diseased animal, fire a
   thousand of them and the rest will be able to locate sick animals faster.
8. The feared Hoof and Mouth disease was eliminated in the USA in 1929 with
   a small staff of dedicated veterinarians with a small USDA budget. No H & M
   disease has returned to the USA since it was eradicated. Brad Headtel, Ag.Ed@nafaw.org