Highlight of my day was a phone call with a Montana Department of Livestock agent.
He called me first thing this morning, claiming I’m breaking the law. How? By selling beef and pork shares under custom-exempt rules and billing customers based on hanging weight. “That means you’re selling uninspected meat,” he said.
I asked him to point me to the specific law that controls how I price my products. He paused. “Uh, I… I don’t know. I just know it’s there.”
“Alright,” I said. “I’ve got my browser open. Give me the annotated code, and I’ll look it up.”
“It’s, uh… Look, you're billing by weight which means you’re selling meat, not live animals. That’s against the law.”
“No,” I replied. “I sell shares of live animals over a year before processing. Show me the law that says I can’t set my prices based on the weight the butcher reports to me and the animal's owner on processing day.”
“Listen, I don’t write the laws—I just enforce them!” he insisted.
“Fair enough,” I said. “But I’ve seen you guys try to enforce rules that aren’t in the books. I've read these laws top to bottom, and I don't remember reading anything about which metrics producers are required to follow when setting prices. Just cite the code so I can check it out.”
Silence, and then: “My supervisor will follow up with you."
“Great. Tell him to email me so I can loop my attorney in on the conversation.”
Dude hung up on me.
Have you done your public service and bullied a bureaucrat today?
