Steve Watkins: “I would say to the chairman, as he knows, due to this year's budget numbers, funding was not appropriated for two…”

“I would say to the chairman, as he knows, due to this year's budget numbers, funding was not appropriated for two additional projects I had requested for the State of Oklahoma. I believe these projects are vital not only for Oklahoma but also for several States in the surrounding area. The first request called for something that the gentleman is familiar with, the concern for research funding for shipping fever, a severe respiratory disease to cattle often contracted during the transportation to market. Shipping fever is the major cause of clinical disease and death loss of stock and feed lot cattle in Oklahoma and the southwestern States, including New Mexico. Nationwide, this disease results in economic losses to producers of an estimated $1 billion. The Shipping Fever Research Project is a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional, multistate project that complements ongoing research in several universities. The second request, this was from last week when I went down to research a USDA project in my area, the second is funding of a USDA special grant for OSU to conduct research focusing on developing vegetable production systems for the market areas in the Dallas, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and St. Louis regions.”