In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays continues his conversation with Jara Settles, General Counsel of the Livestock Marketing Association, about key policy priorities impacting livestock markets and the producers they serve. LMA represents more than 80 percent of regularly selling livestock markets across the U.S., and Settles says transportation regulations remain one of the most pressing issues facing the industry.
Settles explains that livestock auction markets sit squarely in the middle of every transaction, meaning trucking rules have a direct impact on both markets and producers. “Onerous or overburdensome regulations in the trucking space are extremely impactful and very much felt by our markets and then also by the producers that they serve,” she said, noting that animals must be hauled to the market and then hauled away after the sale.
She emphasized that livestock haulers operate under unique conditions that warrant special consideration. “Livestock haulers are a special breed. They require special training, they require special equipment,” Settles said. Because they are hauling live animals, she added, “they have to go slower, they have to drive more carefully because of what they’re hauling,” and those realities should be reflected in hours-of-service and electronic logging device rules.
Settles says LMA has made progress pushing for flexibility, including support for the Haulers of Livestock and Poultry Act. “We’ve been electronic logging device exempt since 2017 — it’s going great. Let’s just make that a codified rule,” she said. She also pointed to COVID-era emergency exemptions that worked well, arguing, “Let’s just go ahead and put that into the rule book and allow those livestock haulers to make professional and livestock-welfare-minded decisions on their own.”
The conversation also turned to market ownership rules that limit who can invest in processing capacity. Settles said outdated regulations from the 1950s prevent auction barn owners from investing in packing facilities, even though they may be best positioned to do so. “We’re always going to be of the perspective that more participants in the marketplace is good — competition, we like it,” she said. Calling the issue a bipartisan priority, Settles added, “The entire barnyard is behind it. It seems like a no-brainer to get it done.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
