The Colorado livestock industry can breathe a sigh of relief. The Denver Post reports Colorado’s Supreme Court has ruled that a proposed husbandry referendum, Initiative 16, is invalid since it conflicts with the state’s single subject requirement.

Had Initiative 16 passed, it would have equated raising farm animals and even fishing to animal cruelty. The end result would place onerous legal requirements on cattle ranchers or raising of animals for food production eventually destroying the state’s meat industry. Furthermore, practices used in breeding and animal husbandry under the proposed law would have also been equated to acts of rape.

Not only did livestock and other farm animal-related groups sue to stop the measure, but even Colorado Governor Jared Polis came out publicly against Initiative 16, rightly, saying it would hurt the state and destroy jobs. Unfortunately, the effort to place a similar measure on the ballot in Oregon, Initiative 13, is ongoing. Hopefully, Oregon’s husbandry ballot initiative will suffer the same fate as Colorado’s or be rejected if it is decided by state voters.