This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Civil rights and Medicaid expansion bills may dominate the headlines, but the House finished Thursday what has been weeks of on-and-off debate over "cow sharing."
Legislation finally passed HB104 by a 61-11 vote, and was sent to the Senate — with some members mooing during the vote. It aims to solve the weighty matter of whether co-owners of cows should be able to share the raw milk they produce.
Rep. Marc Roberts, R-Santaquin, said that under current law, if he co-owns a cow with a friend or family member "and it's on my property, I can milk the cow. I can drink the milk." The co-owner could come over and milk the cow, "but can't drink the [raw] milk."
The other owner can take the manure, he said.
His bill seeks to allow them to share the raw milk. It had a committee hearing early in the session, but it ran into opposition from big dairy owners, the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and others who worried whether food safety rules would be followed. It led to weeks of negotiations and re-hearings.
Roberts' bill now limits cow-sharing to no more than two cows, five goats or five sheep. He said that will help ensure that any cow sharing is only for small operations that produce milk for owners' own use, and presents little threat to public health.
"A lot of people are trying to be self-reliant," he said, but now break the law when they share both a cow and its raw milk.
— Lee Davidson