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Idaho Elk Farms Look for Expansion to Include Deer
Elk farmers are on a hunt of sorts in Boise.
Not for fresh game, but for passage of a bill that would allow them to add mule deer, whitetail deer and moose to their farms. Right now, only elk are allowed. The bill also would require the state Department of Agriculture to oversee testing for chronic wasting disease.
For elk farmers, the benefits are twofold. They say the bill would allow the game-farm industry to capture a share of the venison market and keep the disease risks down through testing.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials, though, are concerned. They say the bill could encourage the spread of disease by allowing the confinement of large numbers of wild animals.
So far, the opposition's aim at shooting the bill down has been poor.
The bill has passed in the House of Representatives, and the Senate Agriculture Committee approved it Tuesday with a 6-2 vote. The game-farm bill will face another bullet when the Senate votes on it in the next couple of weeks.
Rep. Mack Shirley is carrying the bill. The Rexburg Republican said some hunters are concerned about penned animals contracting chronic wasting disease, escaping and infecting wild animals.
But, Shirley said, agriculture department officials told him there has never been a case of chronic wasting disease found in penned animals.
"It's not a problem," he said. "We control it better than Fish and Game can with their wild herds by far."
Gary Queen, president of the Idaho Elk Breeders Association, supports the bill.
"This is a proactive bill for disease control," he said.
The bill follows guidelines for chronic waste disease that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recommended, Queen said.
Under the bill, there are two layers of disease testing. One is mandatory and the other is voluntary.
Testing of all slaughtered animals for the disease is required.
The Department of Agriculture already tests elk. Elk farmers say having one agency oversee the testing keeps the process streamlined.
Under the voluntary portion of the test, farmers can apply for permission to ship animals out-of-state after five years of satisfactory testing.
Queen said no one is more eager to avoid disease than those who raise elk for a living.
"This is our livelihood," he said.
But the Department of Fish and Game is worried, said Steve Barton, assistant to the agency's director. He said the risk of disease increases when large numbers of wild animals such as deer are confined in a small area.
Tom Van Witbeck, who raises elk near Rigby, does not plan to add deer or moose to his farm because of the bill.
He said elk farmers take great caution in testing animals. With tons of venison shipped from abroad, he said it's the industry that has much potential for growth.
"We would like to recapture some of that market," Van Witbeck said.
When the bill was originally written, it would have required hunters to pay for deer that escaped and were shot. That portion was deleted.
Shirley said if an elk-farm animal escapes and is shot, the hunter will not have to pay for it.
"You own the animal," Shirley said. "You own the liability."
''It's not a problem. We control it better than Fish and Game can with their wild herds by far."
R-Rexburg on chronic wasting disease in penned animals
By the numbers
Idaho has 80 elk ranches with a total of 5,000 head of elk.
The United States imports 2 million pounds of venison a year from New Zealand and Australia, and Idaho elk ranchers want a share of the market.
Idaho elk ranching history
In the 1950s, Yellowstone National Park became overpopulated with elk. The National Park Service sold elk to the public for ranching instead of having sportsmen go into Yellowstone for hunting.
Source: Idaho Elk Breeders Association
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