Counterpoint: Deer farms are the remedy, not the disease

In response to "Minnesota's wild deer are being threatened by 'farms' " (Opinion Exchange, Aug. 27), a more accurate title would have been "Disease spreading from the 'wild herd' threatens Minnesota's deer farms."

The author states, "The obvious way to stop the spread of [chronic wasting disease] is to ban deer farming in Minnesota" and "CWD spreads primarily — maybe exclusively — from captive deer in these farms into the wild herd."

Yet, when one looks at the epidemiological reports on current infected deer farms in Minnesota, where the movement of animals is traced back to all related farms, it shows a "dead-end" of an infection source.

Deer farms in Minnesota have conducted mandatory testing since 2004, involving several generations of deer. These farms have obviously been infected from an outside source, most likely from a contaminated feed source brought into the farm from outside the fence where the wild herd wanders through grain and hay fields unchecked, and untested in much of the state.

These farms are nothing more than "canaries in the coal mine" — they show an infection in an area because they test 100% of their animals for CWD. The state agencies usually don't test in an area, or test very little, until a farm becomes positive. Is this the "chicken or egg" effect?

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data from 2012 showed that wild deer had four times the infection rate of CWD than did deer on farms. So, where is the real problem?

The article seems to advocate for the turnover of deer farms to the DNR. Yet prior to 2002, the DNR did manage deer farms. Their management was poor, lacking any record keeping and little physical inspections of facilities or animals. The deer industry was properly transferred to the Board of Animal Health which is staffed by veterinarians who have expertise in animal disease issues.

The article also states that "whitetail deer are obviously not livestock." But how does one classify any species as "livestock"? Deer farming is not new. It can be traced back to George Washington who raised fallow deer at Mount Vernon. Deer farming was also promoted by one of the greatest conservationists of all time, President Teddy Roosevelt. His Ag Department promoted deer farming in "Farmers Bulletin #330" in 1908 stating:

"The raising of venison for market is as legitimate a business as the growing of beef and mutton, and State laws, when prohibitory, as many of them are, should be so modified as to encourage the industry. Furthermore, deer and elk may be raised to advantage in forests and on rough, brushy ground unfitted for either agriculture or stock raising, thus utilizing for profit much land that is now waste."

The article seems to agree with the DNR's goal to "slow the spread." Yet we as an industry feel that is a poor endgame. We, as an industry, would rather try to fix CWD and have been working with researchers on a genetic resistance testing program, much as the sheep industry did with similar disease, scrapie, and virtually eliminated it. The DNR has criticized genetic resistance in testimony at the capitol, saying it wouldn't work, but it has been recently redeemed by the University of Alberta stating that it was a very viable and valuable option.

The earlier article's author speaks about a "buyout" of the deer industry, saying the USDA pays "about $2,900 per deer." Actually, the USDA has had a program for many years to remove "diseased livestock" from the landscape, not just deer. The amount is $3,000 per animal to aid farmers suffering financial loses. This amount was never determined to be the actual true value of these animals, and its payment does not limit a producer from re-establishing a herd.

A full "buyout" would shut down an industry and make the facilities and equipment on these farms basically worthless. Any farmer knows that the actual livestock on a farm is just a fraction of the cost of his business. The real cost of buying-out an industry would be four or five times the cost the article speaks of.

Why does there seem to be a need to eliminate the only one group trying to fix CWD — deer farmers, through breeding and developing genetically resistant deer, which could also save the wild herd through controlled releases?