









Dinis told the committee that his farm is the largest producer of milk in the state, and his cows' milk is the highest quality in the state, backed by somatic cell counts. Somatic cells are white blood cells in the cow's milk and are an indicator of infections or bacteria. Federal standards set a maximum of 350,000 cells per milliliter of raw milk; Dinis testified that his cows' somatic cell counts are generally around 80,000 cells per milliliter. "If you ask any producer, that's an extremely ridiculously low count," Dinis said. Another Morgan County farmer, Mary Kraft, said her farm, with 5,300 milking cows, trims the tails. She said she does not do tail docking simply because she's never done it in 30 years of milking cows, although she indicated that she was impressed by Dinis' results. She also said her cows have higher somatic cell counts when their tails aren't trimmed.

To comply with federal standards, dairies in Colorado trim the "switch" of the tail, which Dinis said raises safety issues for workers. Switches, the end of the tail, must be trimmed four to five times per year per cow, and can accumulate manure and other debris. Dinis' employees, who are trained by licensed veterinarians in the practice, perform tail-docking when the cow is in its infancy, a procedure he likened to circumcision. "We found, on our farm, banding is a safe and humane alternative to trimming," he told the committee. Proper and consistent banding negates blood flow, triggering a pain-blocking effect, Dinis said, citing HSUS Colorado Agriculture Council member Mike Callicrate, who not only supports the practice but developed a bander for it.


During her questions, Rep. Joann Ginal (D-Fort Collins) asked Dinis to compare the pain felt by cows during banding to how humans perceive pain. She also drew gasps from some in the audience when she asked Dinis whether he viewed his cows as "living, feeling, breathing animals" or as property. 




Dinis said after he testified that he blames himself and the dairy industry for not becoming more active on the issue. "People in this industry have caved [to animal rights groups' pressure] in hopes that these groups would go away and leave us alone. These groups are hell-bent on regulating our industry. They don't trust us. We've done a poor job" of educating consumers on this issue, he said.



Veterinarian Dr. Tom Parks of Yuma County, who runs Sun Prairie Beef, testified in favor of HB 1231 and on behalf of HSUS Colorado. He said a band takes four to eight weeks to remove the tail, and it causes the cow considerable pain. He also explained that cows use their tails to swat flies and to communicate with each other. Parks, who has worked in New Zealand where tail docking originated, said cows' tails have nerve endings, but that the animals "are good at hiding pain." He noted that most of the European Union countries have banned the practice, although he said it is still legal in New Zealand.


Other witnesses claimed that tail docking legislation is a slippery slope that could lead to more regulation. Garrett DeVries of Gill said he moved from California to Colorado to escape growing regulatory pressure for the dairy industry, and fears that Colorado would head down that same path, one that could cost the state jobs and farms. Half the dairies in California would leave if they could, he said. California banned tail docking in 2009, but no witness could say for sure whether it had cost the state farms or jobs.

Tarry said she believes tail docking is on the rise in Colorado, rather than a dwindling practice. However, out of 125 dairy farms in the state, according to witnesses less than a handful are believed to do tail docking. Tarry also told the committee that she had tried to involve the agriculture industry in dialogue, but that they had refused. Some of the agriculture industry witnesses said much the same about HSUS, and said they had not been informed about the bill until last December. Lebsock is a first-term legislator who was elected in November; HSUS has been working nationally to ban tail docking since at least 2009.

Tarry said she believed passage of HB 1231 would not further harm the relationship between the agriculture industry and HSUS. If the bill does not pass, Lebsock has said the proponents would seek a ballot initiative. Proponents testified that they believed it would pass, although admitting that there has not been any polling in the state that shows public opposition to tail docking.


Those who violate the law under HB 1231 could be assessed a $500 fine. The bill doesn't make a violation a criminal charge, and that led to questions about just who would enforce the law. Lebsock told the committee it would be up to local law enforcement to investigate alleged violations. He also said he did not believe any farmer would be fined as a result of HB 1231 because they would simply stop doing it once tail docking was banned in state law.


Following the testimony, McCann postponed action on the bill because two Republicans were absent and had previously stated they wanted to vote on it. The committee is made up of six Democrats and five Republicans. Sources say that Rep. Dave Young (D-Greeley) could be the swing vote.