Missouri lawmakers have opted not to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill that would have shifted regulation of deer ranches to the Missouri Agriculture Department and created new incentives for the dairy industry.
The Senate did vote to override the veto, but the override fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed in a House vote late last Wednesday.
The legislation would have classified captive deer as “livestock” — like cattle and pigs — rather than as “wildlife.”
The intent was to shift regulatory responsibilities from the Missouri Department of Conservation to the agriculture agency. That could have avoided proposed conservation regulations banning the importation of deer and requiring double fencing for new deer ranching permits.
Nixon vetoed the bill because he said it would “mess with 80 years of success” in regulating wildlife by the conservation agency. He described Missouri’s roughly 200 deer-breeding operations and 45 hunting preserves as a “narrow commercial interest.”
The conservation agency has defended its newly proposed restrictions as a means of preventing the spread of disease through Missouri’s 1.3 million wild deer.
Rep. Chris Kelly, a Columbia Democrat who opposed the legislation, denounced it as “an attack on our deer herd.”
The push to override the veto was led by Missouri’s dairy industry, which supported other provisions in the bill. Missouri has 1,233 licensed dairy farms, one-third fewer than a decade ago.
“If we don’t take incredibly swift action to do everything we can, we’re going to lose our dairy industry in the state,” said Rep. Casey Guernsey, a Republican from Bethany who is a former dairy farmer.
The legislation would have authorized state subsidies for dairy farmers’ premiums in a new federal insurance program that is designed to minimize financial losses by paying farmers when the margin between milk prices and their feed costs dips below certain thresholds.
It also would have authorized 80 college scholarships of up to $5,000 each for students who get internships at dairy farms and agree to work in Missouri agriculture after graduation.