West Virginia senate to wrestle with who should oversee deer farming

The full senate of West Virginia is preparing to debate whether the state Department of Agriculture should oversee operations at deer farms, according to West Virginia Metro News.

The state senate finance committee earlier this week passed the bill, which proposes pulling the responsibility away from the Department of Natural Resources.

"The biggest thing we're trying to accomplish is the slaughter and sale of our animals for venison product on the open market," deer farm owner Jack Oliver in Marion County told the publication. "Last year alone I sold $12,000 worth of semen out of my bucks. We sell breeding stock. We sell antlers. We sell semen out of our animals, we sell urine out of our animals. There are endless amounts of ways to make money."

But the rules do not permit the sale of meat to restaurants as venison.

The Register Herald reports Frank Jezioro, director of the Department of Natural Resources, said earlier this month that the department he leads should oversee deer farms.

He said one of the biggest threats to the industry is disease, which would cause significant damage to the wild deer industry, which is valued at $250 million.