SALEM — Oregon’s statewide brand inspection program could be eliminated in less than three years under a bill that supporters say will improve its accountability.

Under Senate Bill 1019, county governments would be authorized to take over brand inspection duties, which verify livestock transactions to prevent theft, if the state program is repealed in 2028.

“The sunset is a critical component and allows enough time to correct problems burdening the brand department and the producers it was designed to serve,” said Zach Fidler, a cattleman from Redmond, Ore.

The brand inspection program would automatically end in January 2028 under the proposal, which means lawmakers would have to proactively extend or remove the sunset to keep it operational.

Fidler and other proponents argue that SB 1019 would hopefully improve the program’s financial management and prevent it from again operating at a deficit, as it has recently.

“We don’t want to repeat that in a few years,” said John Teixeira, a Deschutes County cattleman who supports the bill.

Apart from the potential repeal, the bill would hike brand inspection fees from $1.35 to $1.75 per head and raise the brand activation fee from $100 to either $150 or $200 under alternative versions of the proposal.

“We do need to increase those fees to make the program solvent,” said Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, the bill’s chief sponsor.

Eliminating the statewide brand inspection program would be feasible, as Texas has more cattle than Oregon but leaves such duties up to county governments, Nash said.

The proposal would also exempt the dairy industry from participating in brand inspections, as those cows are now commonly equipped with electronic ear tags for identification instead, he said.

“Theft was the main reason we set up the brand inspection program to begin with, but that is not something that the dairy industry needs at this time,” Nash said during a recent legislative hearing.

Nash has also sponsored another proposal, Senate Bill 986, which would appropriate $1.2 million from the general fund to shore up the brand inspection program’s finances.

“They are bleeding out about $40,000 a month right now,” he said.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program and is neutral on the bill, can otherwise begin charging cattlemen for time and mileage in addition to the regular fees, said Lisa Hansen, the agency’s director.

“We can use that to bring the program into alignment in the longer term,” she said.

While the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association supports the $1.2 million appropriation, the group opposes Nash’s other proposal for several reasons.

The group believes the brand renewal fee should also be increased to strengthen the program’s finances and doesn’t think the statewide program should be threatened with repeal, said Matt McElligott, OCA’s president.

The statewide system works well and centralizes data compared to having 36 separate county programs, which may lead to higher costs for ranchers, McElligott said.

The OCA also objects to exempting dairy cattle from brand inspection, as the system is meant to ensure traceability and food safety and not just guard against theft, he said.

“Dairy cattle are beef. Lactating or not, they end up in the food supply system,” McElligott said.

Dairy producers often use artificial insemination to breed certain cows with dairy genetics while impregnating others with beef genetics to sell their offspring for meat, he said.

Excluding these crossbreed cattle from brand inspection further undermines the program’s finances, McElligott said. “It drives the program more and more in debt.”