Wisconsin Agriculture Regulators Propose Massive Fee Increases for Livestock Industry

By Rich Kremer

Wisconsin livestock markets, dealers and truckers would see massive fee increases under a rule change proposed by state agriculture regulators.

Some fees would increase by nearly 1,700 percent, and a Republican state lawmaker says the Legislature can’t block the proposed changes because of a July ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

The fee increases proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, or DATCP, would affect auction barns, livestock dealers and truckers who transport animals like cows and pigs.

The license fee for what the department calls “Animal Market Class A” would change from $420 to $7,430. A late fee for those markets would also increase by nearly 1,700 percent by shifting from the current price of $84 to $1,486. The registration fee paid by about 1,000 truckers transporting livestock in the state would increase 517 percent, from the current price of $60 to $370.

According to the scope statement for the proposed department rule, the fees haven’t been increased since 2009 and the department “no longer has adequate revenue to recover costs.” DATCP said it has also had to reallocate funding due to “decreased federal funding” for other programs.

Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation issues call to action

The fee increases would go into effect July 1, 2027, when DATCP estimates the animal market, dealer and trucker registration programs would face a deficit of more than $1.1 million. 

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation has raised the alarm and is urging farmers, dealers, truckers and auction house owners to attend DATCP public hearings scheduled in September or submit written comments about how the new fee structure would impact their businesses.

Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation Government Relations Director Jason Mugnaini told WPR the state agency is “now shifting the entire cost of the program” onto the livestock industry by way of the fee increases. 

“These are businesses that operate to ensure that our supply chain is consistent, traceable and of high quality,” Mugnaini said. “These fee increases will unavoidably be passed down to farmers. That is the way that this will go. They will transfer these costs onto the people who are selling animals in those markets and who are paying to have animals transported.”

He said the Farm Bureau also worries that farmers living in border communities will ship their animals to be sold in other states, which have far lower fees.

The DATCP rule proposal states that livestock market licenses in places like Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois range from $50 to $300, making Wisconsin’s proposed $7,430 market license a notable outlier.