Bill Allowing Lay People To Conduct Pregnancy Checks Moves To Oregon House

Late last week, by a 26-2 vote the Oregon Senate advanced legislation allowing an individual to verify cattle pregnancy even if they don’t hold a valid license issued by the Oregon State Veterinary Medical Examining Board.  That legislation, Senate Bill 1539, has moved to the state House, where a hearing was held Tuesday afternoon.

During that hearing before the House Committee On Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association President Diana Wirth told lawmakers veterinarians on the east side of this state are in a critically short status.

Rural Oregon Is Struggling To Find Veterinarians

“For the first time in our history, Klamath made the “high status” priority list on the USDA website. And so the issues for us are very, very real when it comes to timely preg checking of animals to identify issues such as Trichomoniasis, which if not done in a timely fashion, preg checking, can create catastrophic losses for our producers.”

Wirth added that the Baker/Union County area had 16 veterinarians 10-15 years ago.  Now, that number is down to five.

However, not everyone supports SB1539.

“We've heard from proponents of the bill that allowing lay individuals to evaluate pregnancy and cattle would free up veterinarians to perform other important livestock services," said Glenn Kolb, Executive Director of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association.  "To be on the farm is pretty important. Actually, to establish a veterinarian client-patient relationship, federal statutes, and Oregon statutes, they must make timely and appropriate visits to the farm. to be able to provide services, which include pregnancy evaluation, but also prescription drug medications when needed and treat any animals.”

Kolb went on to say removing veterinarians would disrupt the partnership with producers, and result in few options into the future.

Click Here to learn more about SB1539.

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