South Dakota lawmakers convene their 2017 session January 10 in Pierre. The top priority for the State Cattlemen’s Association is getting the necessary funding in place for the new Animal Disease and Diagnostic Research Laboratory At SDSU. Cattlemen’s President Larry Stomprud says one of the major problems with funding the facility is the current status of the state’s economy.

Stomprud says several questions have to be answered in order for the funding to go forward for the facility which is badly needed.

Stomprud says that Lab is important not only for agriculture but for the entire region.