Burley Meeting

At the Burley Convention Center a Farm Bureau meeting of the minds. The Farm Bureau Beef Committee met to discuss issues that affect their bottom line. Minimum wage was top of mind and Chairman Sara Erb, of Blackfoot was pretty decided about saying the even though ag laborers were worth $13-dollars an hour, ranchers… couldn’t afford that.

our laborers are very worth it, we just can't," said Chairman Erb. 

The new State Vet told ranchers on the committee about the mandatory new RF-Id tags. "Yes, the RF-ID tags! We are always worried about extra costs and I think it's a good thing, it's just going to take some time. I think the main thing that scares people is the extra time we have to put forth to implement it, and the extra costs, but it sounds like we will be compensated a bit, that helps," added Erb. 

Wolf trapper Rusty Kramer out of Fairfield gave a wolf depredation and population report: 

"Last year we saw a record wolf harvest, the biggest it's ever been, but the population stayed stagnant," said Kramer. "So you can see they're still not harvesting as many wolves as being reported with pups the next year." 

Kramer says there are 1556 wolves in Idaho, and the government should expand hunting and trapping. The Farm Bureau Beef Committee, addressing pressing issues on the eve of another season.