Ag Department Keeps Budget Request The Same

Cheyenne, Wy – The Department of Agriculture presented its budget request today (Thursday) to the legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee. But even with the brucellosis and mad cow issues hanging overhead,the department did not increase its request.
Department of Ag Director John Etchepare says he discussed with his staff whether they needed to adjust their request to handle brucellosis and mad cow. But he thinks if you've done your budgeting properly, you've left room to for these types of occurrences. Meanwhile, ranchers across the state will soon need to pay for brucellosis testing on cattle to be sold for breeding purposes. Etchepare says there's a push to introduce legislation to defray the costs of that testing.