U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) has secured $800,000 for three cattle ranchers in Beltrami County who were promised compensation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture but had not received it after more than a month of delays.
When the ranchers, joint owners of a large herd recently diagnosed with tuberculosis, learned of their cattle's disease, they immediately reported it to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service as mandated by the department.
However, the USDA failed to compensate the ranchers.
The ranchers' herd of about 1,000 animals has been quarantined and slated for depopulation since mid-December. Dayton said USDA should have compensated the ranchers quickly, so they could process their infected cattle and repopulate their farms.
Instead, Dayton pointed out, the farmers were told they would need to wait an additional 30-60 days -- losing $1,200 each day on feed -- because of bureaucratic red tape at the APHIS.
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After a call from Dayton expressing the urgency of the situation, APHIS Administrator Ron DeHaven agreed to release the funds from his Administrator's Contingency Fund reserved for emergency disease purposes.
One partial owner estimates the delay has cost him $43,000 in wasted feed so far.
