Democrats Trying To Reduce The Cattle Industry

Stimulus may bolster dairy industry
FALLING MILK PRICES: Initial effort to pay farmers to retire cows fizzles
By MARC HELLER
TIMES WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009
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WASHINGTON — A stimulus package may be a lifeline for the nation's economy, but it could be a death sentence for a lot of cows.
Lawmakers are looking for ways to use the forthcoming stimulus bill to help dairy farmers, and the number one priority is to dampen milk supplies and prop up prices. Translation: reduce the nation's dairy herd.
Exactly how Congress will accomplish that remains uncertain. An initial effort to use stimulus money to pay farmers to retire cows failed when House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., objected on the grounds that it violated a promise not to include earmarks in the bill, said Rep. Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
Taking milk cows out of production as a way to control milk (for more go http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090115/NEWS02/301159967/0/FRONTPAGE)