WALL — Legislation aimed at reducing damage to cotton crops by limiting white-tailed deer in fields was signed into law in May by Gov. Rick Perry. Since becoming law, the measure has already proven to be a win-win for both farmers and ranchers in the Concho Valley, said state Rep. Drew Darby.
The new law allows the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to immediately issue permits to control the deer. The deer can be harvested year-round, provided the carcass is not wasted. The farmer must work with meat processors to save the venison. In turn, the meat is donated to Meals for the Elderly and other charities.
“Deer were costing farmers a lot of money. They could not take care of the problem because of our game laws. It made sense to me that with the right set of rules and common sense, we could bring some order to the problem,” Darby told me. “The farmers’ cash crop is his cotton. The ranchers’ cash crop is the deer.”
What has happened is the farmer, who has fields neighboring a rancher’s pasture, have both come to terms by sharing the cost of building high fences, thereby keeping the deer in the pastures and not in the cotton patch, he said.
During the annual meeting of Tom Green County Farm Bureau here last week, President Greg Mastchek publicly thanked Darby, a Republican from San Angelo, for writing and pushing legislation to allow cotton farmers a legal way of dealing with deer that nibble their crops away during the dry times of summer.
Mastchek said the deer problem was first discussed at the Tom Green County Farm Bureau meeting in 2006 and presented as a resolution. Like all resolutions approved at the grassroots level, this one went to the Texas Farm Bureau state convention and finally to the Texas Legislature this spring via Darby.
Every county Farm Bureau in Texas comes up with its own issues that will be submitted to the state convention in December for consideration in the policy book.
In the Farm Bureau policy development meeting at St. Ambrose Parish Hall in Wall, 10 miles southeast of San Angelo, Gary McGehee of Mertzon introduced two new resolutions that will go to the state convention this year. One deals with extending the milege zone for volunteer fire departments. A second resolution addresses support of term limits for state and national officials.
The Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau’s policy book is the official guide for the year. It is adopted from resolutions that start at the grassroots level by county; issues that become national are introduced to the Washington, D.C.-based American Farm Bureau Federation at the annual convention in January.
Thursday’s activities began at 6 p.m. with a barbecue meal and entertainment by the Original Havlak Polka Band, followed by presentation of scholarship awards and the general business session. More than 600 folks attended.
The Tom Green County Farm Bureau, headquartered at 2575 W. Loop 306 in San Angelo, represents more than 3,000 member families in Tom Green, Schleicher, Sutton, Crockett and Irion counties.
Jerry Lackey writes about agriculture. Contact him at jlackey@wcc.net or 325-949-2291
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Governor Rick Perry
Governor Rick Perry
Governor Rick Perry