Matthew Lysiak
A source told The Epoch Times they believe the arrests are meant to send a message to anyone who dares to compete with the larger animal care service providers.
The two Pennsylvania men charged and detained earlier in April for conducting ultrasounds on cows and horses without proper credentials remain behind bars 18 days after their initial arrest, provoking outrage from family members and the local farming community who are all demanding their immediate release.
Attorney Robert Barnes, who is representing both men, announced on social media that the Commonwealth Court denied an emergency petition for the men’s release after a hearing on April 29.
“Pennsylvania is out of control. The @PAStateDept demanded these two men remain illegally imprisoned, and the Commonwealth Court judge (who issued the first illegal imprisonment order) continues their illegal imprisonment. To the Supreme Court next!” Mr. Barnes wrote.
Rusty Herr, 43, of Christiana, Pennsylvania, was booked at the Lancaster County Prison on April 11, while Ethan Wentworth, 33, of Airville, Pennsylvania, was sent to the York County Prison on April 10, following a complaint of practicing veterinary medicine without a license.
Mr. Herr and Mr. Wentworth are listed as operating partners of NoBull Solutions LLC, “an all encompassing reproductive management business dedicated to dairy farmers to help them meet and exceed the reproduction goals within their herd,” according to the company’s Facebook page.
Dairy farmer Ben Masemore, who is acting as a spokesman for Mr. Herr and Mr. Wentworth, told The Epoch Times that both men were serving 30-day sentences without bail for using ultrasound for reproductive services such as pregnancy checks, which he said was business as usual on dairy farms.
“I’ve talked to several farmers and professionals here and not a single one thinks what they do is veterinary care,” said Mr. Masemore. “This whole thing is just ridiculous.”
Local Farmers on Their Side
A source who has done business with the company told The Epoch Times that they believe the arrests were intended to send a message to anyone who dares to compete with the larger animal care service providers.
“Look, they were very good at what they did and could do so at an affordable, fair price,” said the source, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from state authorities. “A lot of the so-called competitors who have become accustomed to overcharging weren’t so pleased about that and they made that clear, so this is what you get and now everyone knows what it is all about.”
“The community is firmly behind them,” the source said, referring to Mr. Herr and Mr. Wentworth, “but this is a sensitive issue because if they could come after these two guys who had a great reputation, they can go after any one of us.”
Kevin Robbins, who has a working relationship with the company, told The Epoch Times that the arrest came as a “shock to everyone” and that he could personally testify to the character of both men, calling them “stand-up people.”
Anger over the duo’s plight even inspired what appeared to be an artificial intelligence-generated song titled “The Ballad of Ethan and Rusty,“ which purports to tell ”the true story of two men from Pennsylvania, USA, who found themselves in an extraordinary situation.”
The song’s lyrics read in part, “Just simple farmers loving the land, but now they are in prison…Helping farms near and far but the law came knocking and their dreams fell hard.”
A GiveSendGo page set up to help pay for their legal costs says the two men were detained illegally “without due process, and being denied bail” for performing ultrasound scans on dairy cows and horses without a veterinary license.
The page, which had raised $18,855 by Monday afternoon, added that Mr. Wentworth was allegedly misled by authorities ahead of his arrest.
After being instructed by authorities to go to a courthouse to pay a fine, Mr. Wentworth was instead “kidnapped, denied the right to speak to an attorney or to call his family, and seven days later has still not seen a judge,” the fundraising page claimed. “Ethan’s pregnant wife and three young children are distraught and desperate to reach their husband and father, who is the sole breadwinner for their family.”
“Ethan and Rusty’s families need them to come home, and small dairy and horse farms throughout Lancaster, York and Berks counties depend on these men to help them breed their herds,” the fundraising page said. “Without their services, many of these farmers will not be able to afford the expensive veterinary services that the huge corporate farms can buy, causing even more of our small dairy farms to go out of business.”
Big Ag Versus Small Farms
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told The Epoch Times in a previous report that an alliance between “Big Ag” and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has created a monopoly and brought small, independent farmers to the brink of extinction.
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“The deck is definitely stacked,” Mr. Massie previously told the publication. “Eighty-five percent of meat comes from four companies, and this monopoly exists as a result of government regulatory policy. There is an incestuous relationship between these large companies and the Department of Agriculture.”
In January, the alleged failures to adhere to the government’s regulatory policy led to Miller’s Organic Farm, a popular Amish farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, being the subject of an armed raid by officials on suspicion of selling “illegal milk,” among other products. The Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture filed a lawsuit on April 9 against the farm’s owner, Amos Miller, alleging that he had violated Pennsylvania’s Milk Sanitation Law by operating without government-mandated permits.
The farm had initially been ordered to halt all sales of its dairy products until a court ruling on April 12 permitted Mr. Miller to sell his goods anywhere in the world except in the state where he resides.
The Pennsylvania state authorities refused to comment on the detention of Mr. Herr and Mr. Wentworth, claiming they couldn’t confirm or deny an investigation due to confidentiality statutes.