Livestock fences draw federal scrutiny along New Mexico border

The director of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture's Office of Agricultural Biosecurity will meet with a committee Friday to discuss fencing needs along the New Mexico-Mexico border. Jeff Witte will join members of the committee from the Border Security Task Force who have been looking at what ranchers and farmers say is an issue badly in need of address. The meeting, as previously announced, is Friday, from 9 to 11 a.m., at the Mimbres Valley Learning Center. It is open to the public. Ranchers and farmers on the border are concerned diseased animals might wander into New Mexico from Mexico, infecting livestock here. Judy Keeler, with family ranches south of Animas and east of Hachita, presented a report at the Border Security Task Force's meeting in March the to illustrate border fencing. While New Mexico has some of the best protections in the United States for livestock, Keeler said, livestock fences are badly needed. "We have to get a fence up along the border to prevent disease from coming up from South of the border," she said. Fences along the border transition from one type to another to another, from bigger, better barriers to lower fences and less-restrictive fences. "What we've got is a hodge-podge of fencing, and it's beginning to show some wear," said Keeler. She and Joe Delk, the latter of the New Mexico Livestock Board, are also to meet with the committee...Las Cruces Sun-News

I'll have more on this Saturday, including pictures.