LMD Feb 2010

LivestockDigest

LivestockFEBRUARY 15, 2010 • www. aaalivestock . com Volume 52 • No. 2

“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Judgment Day

An ag teacher whoteaches at an inner-city school is attempt-ing to put together a

livestock judging team andhe recently asked me to helphim evaluate the city kids bylistening to them give a setof reasons. Normally Iwould say “no” because Ihave a fear of teenagers andI feel it’s the job of the par-ents and the police to raisethem. I do feel qualified tohelp, however, because Ijudged on an FFA team andjudged three years on mycollegiate team. Mind you, Ididn’t say I was any good. Iwas a terrible judge which isone reason why my judgingcareer at county fairs lastedexactly one show. But Icould give a decent set ofreasons, which was fortunatebecause when you judgedlivestock as bad as I didthere were many opportuni-ties to justify your placings.For those of you who’ve

never judged on a livestockjudging team, a contest iscomposed of several classeswith four animals of similarspecies and kind which areplaced in order of merit byexperts. Then the kids haveto try and place them in cor-rect order and give reasonson some of the classes tojustify their placings.After I listened to four of

the youngsters give theirreasons the ag teacher askedme what I thought and Iproceeded to give the orderin which I placed them.Sir, I place this class of

kids 4-3-2-1 with an easytop, a tight middle pair andan easy bottom. I placed theyoungster dressed in an all-goth outfit, who I think wasa girl, at the top of the classbecause she was the onlyone who knew they wereAngus and that they werebulls. Instead of giving rea-sons from memory like youare supposed to do she readfrom a lengthy manuscript.And because she was a veg-an, and thought comparingthe animals was immoraland judgmental, she reciteda poem she’d written aboutsoybeans being the key toworld peace. I criticized her“poem” for not having anywords that rhymed, butcommended her for trying.

continued on page two

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DigestRiding Herd

by Lee Pitts

Bob Drake could be calledthe “Godfather of theNCBA.” After all, hewas the President of theNational Cattlemen’s

Association (NCA) who wentaround the country stumping forthe merger of the NCA and theBeef Industry Council of theNational Livestock and MeatBoard. This reporter specificallyremembers one heated discus-sion in Reno, Nevada, whenDrake emphatically dismissedpredictions that the mixture ofthe two would prove to be arecipe for disaster. So what doesthe Godfather of the NCBAthink of his Godchild now?One gets the impression he’d

like to take his misbehaving off-spring out behind the woodshedand give it a good thrashing!

The Smell TestAt the recent convention in

San Antonio, where the NCBA(National Cattlemen’s BeefAssociation) unveiled its finalrecommendations for its restruc-turing, Drake told Ron Hays ofthe Oklahoma Farm Networkthat, “There comes a time whenpeople get fed up, the peoplewho actually pay the checkoff.”He spoke of the ill will, of opendisdain for one another, of reallyupset people talking in the hallsbetween sessions, and of the

gotten so bad that the restructur-ing of the NCBA might giveopponents of the checkoff anopportunity to file a lawsuit thatcould end the checkoff. He’stroubled that the NCBA is “justtrying to take care of themselves,while putting in jeopardy anymove to unite the beef industry.”While the NCBA is desperatelytrying to raise the checkoff to $2,Drake thinks there’s a chancethey could lose the first dollar,let alone get the second.Drake wasn’t the only one

concerned about the policy divi-sion of the NCBA getting to betoo “cozy” with checkoff dollarsthat are supposed to be off limitsto any group that lobbies. Theonly way the NCBA and the

Beef Board were able to save thecheckoff in the Supreme Courtwas to say it was a governmentprogram. So how can you haveour government funding lobbyingefforts? Even in morally bankruptWashington, D.C. governmentfinanced lobbying is taboo.One member of the Cattle-

man’s Beef Board from Iowasaid that while at the end of theday the restructuring recom-mended by the GovernanceCommittee might be legal — itdidn’t pass the smell test. Noteven for ranchers who, let’s faceit, are used to getting a whiff ofsome pretty disgusting smells.

Dead On DeliveryAfter documents were

revealed by this newspaper, andAlan Guebert in his Farm andFood File, that showed the dis-cord between the Beef Boardand the NCBA, the GovernanceTask Force of the NCBA knewthey were in trouble if they triedto strong- arm their proposalsthrough. So, on a Friday eve ning,the night before the vote on thereconstruction, and at the sametime state cattlemen’s groupswere meeting to decide if theywould support the reconstruc-tion, the Task Force met andmade some changes. More thanone of those state groups was

“open sores” that exist betweenmany Cattlemen’s Beef Board(CBB) members and the NCBA.“People were trying to be civil,”he said “but imagine what it’slike behind closed doors.”You got a taste of that discord

last month when the Digestrevealed letters sent by the BeefBoard to the NCBA. Well, guesswhat? Even after some details ofthe plan were tweaked at theconvention, the groups are stillnot playing happily together inthe sandbox. Though they’re try-ing their best to put on a happyface, all is not well in the tug ofwar for checkoff dollars betweenthe NCBA and the Beef Board.How bad is it? Bob Drake

now worries that the ill will has

The First Dollar

by KAREN BUDD-FALEN, Budd-Falen Law offices,P.C.,Cheyenne, Wyo.

This is part of a series on the federal governmentpaying environmental groups to sue the federal gov-ernment. This information focuses on taxpayerfunded attorney fees paid to environmental groupsby the U.S. government in the name of protectingthe planet from global warming.

Although the world’s leaders may havebeen in Copenhagen to save the planetfrom global warming, the United Statesfederal government has paid millions in

tax dollars to environmental groups to litigateover global warming already. These cases areNOT about whether global warming is or is nota scientific fact, but over timelines and proce-

dures which seem to be impossible for the fed-eral agencies to comply with. There will neverbe a scientific answer from the courts thatdefinitively determines if global warming is awell designed hoax to slow the U.S. economyor take private property rights. Rather environ-mental groups are filing suits over proceduralfailures in considering whether global warm-ing/climate change exists, and getting paidhandsomely to do it.According to a Climate Change Litigation

Survey by the Congressional Research Servicepublished in April, 2009, although the first caserelated to climate change was filed 19 yearsago, the real environmental litigation, assuming

“It don't take avery big person

to carry agrudge.”

continued on page eleven

continued on page four

Tax Dollars Have Already Decided U.S. Global Warming

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Livestock Market Digest February 15, 2010

leaning towards voting “no” whenthe time came. The NCBA knewfrom the talk in the halls, and therancor displayed at an hour-and-a-half question and answer peri-od about the reconstruction, thatthey had better back off, at leaston one of their most controver-sial recommendations.Previously the Task Force

wanted the Board of Directorsreduced by 90 percent and forthe much smaller Board to havefinal say on all bylaw changesand big decisions. This bold, notso subtle, concentration of pow-er was dead on delivery. It wasjust too much power in thehands of too few people. Those29 board members would basi-cally control the checkoff ANDlobbying for the beef industry.So the Task Force changed theirrecommendation so that the allnew “House of Delegates” wouldhave sole authority to amend thebylaws of the organization. Thethinking was that it’s better tohave the checkoff controlled by250 people, as opposed to 29.As these new changes became

known, the minds of many whowere considering a “no” votewere changed. There were otherconcessions made as well,including...

� Each state would have aminimum of one (1) seat and afull vote in the House of Dele-gates. Votes would be weightedbased on "investment" just asthey are now. (The word “invest-ment” being synonymous withcold hard cash.) There were wor-ries in the days leading up to thevote that states like New Mexi-co, Iowa, North Dakota, Min-nesota, Michigan, Washington,Arizona and others would onlyhave a fraction of a vote.

� The bylaws would contain aprovision for the removal ofboard members in addition toelections.Based on these changes, the

concept of the reconstructionwas passed by a count of 201 to13. Most of the dissenting votesappeared to be Beef Councilmembers who are concernedabout self-determination issuesof the Federation of State BeefCouncils in the future.

The Devil Is In The DetailsMake no mistake . . . this was

only the beginning of theprocess. What the folks in SanAntonio approved was a “con-cept” for the restructuring of theNCBA. Now three work groupswill add in all the details. Onegroup will come up with newbylaws, policies and procedures,another will work out the finan-cial details and a third will workon a transition timeline forimplementing the new structure.These groups will present theirideas what the new structure willlook like and proposed bylawchanges at least 30 days inadvance of the summer meetingthat will be held in Denver July28 to August 1, 2010. Then thewhole plan will be voted up ordown by those in attendance.Needless to say, there remain

many unanswered questions, butalready there is carping and com-plaining by those out of earshot,and some of the very same folkswho voted for the concept in SanAntonio. Many think it gives theNCBA too much power andthose who collect, and are sup-posed to administer the check-off, too little. In the final reportthe House of Delegates wouldhave 250 votes, 106 from affili-ates like state cattlemen’s organ-izations (42.5 percent), 106 BeefCouncils (42.5 percent), and 38product council/allied industry/breed associations and otherorganizations (15 percent). Inother words, a breed associationand a drug company could bethe swing votes.As co-chair of NCBA’s Beef

Association Governance TaskForce, Jan Lyons of Kansas, wasleading the charge for recon-struction. For an hour and 45minutes she tried to answer allquestions and allay everyone’sfears. At times the discussion gotvery heated, according to thosewho were there. But she neverwavered off point. The industryneeded this because we need tocome together and speak withone voice. When she spoke ofgoing from 274 members on theBoard of Directors down to 29she did it in the popular jargonof the day. We would merely be“downsizing.” She said, “Wemust become more integrated,both the business and the organ-ization. We’ve seen enough frag-mentation. We need a broadervision and a stronger voice.”To many folks when those

words are translated it means weneed a more concentrated indus-try. While that may be the realityit doesn’t mean we have to has-ten the day when we look like thepig and poultry industries, espe-cially if that effort is financed byyour beef checkoff dollars.To the criticism that the Fed-

eration of State Beef Councilsneeds to distance themselvesfrom the NCBA, not come clos-er together, Lyons said, “Welooked at that seriously andcame up with the exact opposite.To address issues more fully weneed to be more integrated. Weneed to come together as ateam.” Sounds almost cozy does-n’t it. But one has the same oldnagging feeling that what theNCBA really wants to cozy up tois more of your checkoff dollars.

Firewall or Speed Bump?One of the words heard the

most during the convention was“firewall.” There is supposed tobe one between those who lobbyand those who collect and allo-cate the checkoff. The TaskForce concluded “that whilethere needs to be firewalls main-tained between the checkoff andpolicy efforts, the makeup of theorganization should bring policyand state beef councils closertogether than ever before.” JanLyons said that “we have takenthe firewall to new heights.” Still,that doesn’t mean that while theNCBA was adding bricks to the

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The First Dollar continued from page one

February 15, 2010 “America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

top of the wall, they were alsoburrowing beneath it to gainaccess to the Big Bank of BeefBucks so they can grab yourcheckoff dollars.The question on everyone’s

mind is . . . is all this even legal?Is it in the spirit of the act andthe order that created the check-off in the first place? According toone attendee, “The week wasfilled with meetings on the gover-nance proposal. Every time wewent into a room we got a differ-ent story than we had heard inthe last one, especially in terms ofwhether or not USDA supportedthis concept. I believe the realityis that USDA took no positionbecause this is a concept. Wewere finally told that there was ameeting with USDA where theconcept was laid out. USDA wasasked to submit any comments orconcerns within two weeks. Therewas no response, so that was tak-en as acceptance.”The fact is we don’t know if

it’s legal because the USDA hasto see the reorganization planbefore they can decide. And wewon’t have the plan until July.Then we will get an opinion fromthe USDA and then, possiblyseveral years later, we will get alegal opinion when someone teststhe whole new structure in acourt of law. That’s what check-off proponents at the Beef Boardare afraid of. And rightfully so.All this heated debate raised

the question in San Antonio . . .Is this reorganization reallyworth risking the checkoff for? Itis to someone. To the cashstrapped, nearly-always-brokeNCBA, it is. But maybe not tothe Beef Board who wants tosteer clear of politics and dowhat they are charged withdoing: promote and defend beef.Bob Drake wondered aloud if

some repair work, what he called“a little maintenance,” could nothave been more advantageous tothe industry, rather than a com-plete makeover. “But evidently,he said, “the Task Force lookedat it and came to the conclusionit was necessary to tear it downand start all over from scratch.”We don’t doubt the NCBA

needed to be fixed. We said thatbefore it ever took its firstbreath. But the question we posenow is simply, “Is this really animprovement, or another greedygrab for more cash? We suspectit’s the latter.One of the officers of the

Cattlemen's Beef Board, TomJones of Arkansas, told RonHays of the Oklahoma FarmNetwork that his concern isstrictly about how the restructur-ing of the NCBA would impactthe checkoff. “The Beef Board,he said, “is responsible for theentire dollar — and that theState Beef Councils have to fullycomply with the Beef CheckoffAct and Order for the half of themoney they retain after sendingfifty cents of every dollar to theCBB to be invested on behalf ofstakeholders. ONLY the BeefBoard or these agents of theBeef Board, the State BeefCouncils, can make decisionsabout how to spend checkoffmoney.” He has concerns of

allowing one group to have influ-ence over those decisions whileother groups that have memberswho pay the checkoff do nothave that access. He’s adamantthat non-checkoff people shouldnot gain control of the dollar andadds that the “allocating beefcheckoff funds must be fair to allpayers of the checkoff.”As for the issues raised at the

NCBA Convention he callsthem legitimate potential prob-lems down the road.” He too isworried that they could lead tolawsuits. He stated emphaticallythat, “The Cattlemen’s BeefBoard has the responsibility tomake sure the money is beingused according to the act andthe order. If it’s not, it’s ourresponsibility to go to the USDAand ensure oversight.”

Red Flags In WashingtonAlready complaints are being

raised by other groups that havebeen shut out of the entireprocess. Groups like R-CALFand the Organization for Com-petitive Markets who now, itcould be argued, have more sym-pathetic friends in Washington,DC and the USDA than theNCBA. They’ve already raisedred flags in DC over the recon-struction.“The Beef Checkoff Program

shouldn’t be controlled by apolitically motivated entity suchas the NCBA,” said R-CALF’sBill Bullard. “We’re hopeful theCBB folks will look out for theinterests of actual cattle produc-ers, and we certainly hope theywill stand their ground and refuseto be intimidated into granting

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even more control to NCBA.”Amidst all this discussion

about reconstruction is the debateabout an increase in the checkoff.The NCBA officially supports anincrease, while R-CALF is reallyadamant about not raising theamount of the assessment. “Ifgenuine producers aren’t allowedto participate in the process andin the direction of the program,then there will be great, greatopposition to any increase in theassessment fee.”Bob Drake said “we need to

get our act together and getstraightened out before we askfor an increase in the checkoff.His biggest fear is that enough illwill may develop from the pursuitof this change in the makeup ofNCBA that any hope of unitingthe industry to pursue a vote on

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raising the beef checkoff fromone dollar to perhaps two dollarswill be gone for a very long time.”“If we continue down this

road,” said Drake, “we’ll have acheckoff vote . . . but it won’t beon the second dollar. It will beon the first dollar.”


climate change exists has blos-somed in the last six years. Obvi-ously one of the first statutesthat shows up on court docketsheets is the Clean Air Act(CWA). The seminal caseregarding whether the Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA)can regulate carbon dioxide as agreenhouse gas was started as apetition for rulemaking filed bythe Center for Biological Diver-sity (CBD) and other environ-mental groups. Eventually theU.S. Supreme Court ruled thatthe EPA only had to considerwhether greenhouse gases

(GHG) such as CO2 were airpollutants; the court did notmandate that they were or werenot. Even though 19 years later

the Obama Administration stillhas not issued a final determina-tion with regard to whetherGHG are an “endangerment”under the Clean Air Act, envi-ronmental groups have been“winning” attorneys fees for liti-gating over GHG since. In theCalifornia litigation regardingthe Delta Smelt (the 6-inch min-now that has so adverselyimpacted California’s Central

Valley farmers), the federal courtrejected a biological opinionbecause it “failed to consider” cli-mate change data. The environ-mental groups and the federalgovernment have agreed to“negotiate” how much in tax pay-er dollars the environmentalgroups will be paid for those cas-es. These negotiations with yourtax dollars will take place outsideof any public process or reviewand will unlikely be ratified bythe federal court. The amount ofmoney requested by the environ-mental groups and the hourlyfees charged by EarthjusticeLegal Foundation and NaturalResources Defense Councilattorneys will never be revealedto the public. In one of thesecases, the federal governmentsimply decided not to fight themerits of the case and the envi-ronmental groups will still bepaid for suing the government.According to the Congres-

sional Research Service, theCBD seems to have “spearhead-ed” the effort to use the Endan-gered Species Act (ESA) toenforce its global warmingbeliefs. The CBD has a list of350 species it believes should belisted and critical habitat desig-nated under the ESA to protectthem from GHG and globalwarming. Just between Arizona,California, the District ofColumbia, Georgia, New Mexi-co, and Washington, the CBDhas amassed $6,709,467 in attor-neys fees all paid by the taxpay-ers. The vast majority of thesecases were suits over the failureof the federal government to“timely” respond to CBD’s ESAlisting petitions. As with theGHG Clean Air Act litigation,the environmental groups arenot asking the federal court todecide whether a species is sci-

entifically threatened or endan-gered or whether GHG adverse-ly impacts the species; the major-ity litigation is only over thetiming of the federal govern-ments’ decisions or the processused to make the decisions.Once a species is listed under

the ESA, the Sierra Club andother environmental groups thenuse the National EnvironmentalPolicy Act (NEPA) process tofurther their view of globalwarming. NEPA is a proceduralstatute — it does not mandatethe outcome of a federalagency’s decision. However,environmental groups use litiga-tion under NEPA to claim thatthe federal agencies are not“considering” things like whethera power plant operating withWyoming coal in Kentuckywould emit GHG that impactspolar bears in Alaska. That is nota far-fetched example. Alreadythe CBD, Natural ResourcesDefense Council and othershave mounted this type of litiga-tion in both the California Fed-eral District Court and the Dis-trict of Columbia FederalDistrict Court. The outcome ofthese cases, and the attorneysfees that may be awarded or set-tled by environmental groupsand the government, is yetunknown.Attorney fees awards to envi-

ronmental groups to continue tosue the federal government is bigbusiness and is likely to get big-ger with environmental groupsfervor to use procedural errors byfederal agencies to push theglobal warming agenda. Themanipulation of the federalcourts to force federal agenciesinto “giving up” and making sub-stantive decisions supportingenvironmental litigation tactics isnot new, but it is certainly prof-

itable for environmental groups.According to Western LegacyAlliance’s research, in only 18 ofthe 50 states, 13 environmentalgroups have amassed total attor-ney fees payments of 30 milliondollars plus extracting anotherfour million dollars from busi-nesses all based upon paymentsfrom federal attorney fee-shiftingstatutes. Additionally these and other

environmental groups were“awarded” over $500,000 in“donations” based upon settle-ment agreements. The vastmajority of these cases are ESAcases and there are more ofthose to come. Recently theWildEarth Guardians filed a sin-gle petition to list 206 speciesunder the ESA and the CBD hasfiled a petition to list 225 morespecies. According to the CBD’s web-

site, this is an exercise in “strate-gic, creative litigation.” There isabsolutely no way that the U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS)can make a “scientific” findingon all of those 431 species withinthe 90-day time frame mandatedby the ESA, making federal dis-trict court litigation (and thepayment of attorneys fees)inevitable and profitable.The world’s governments may

discuss global warming inCopenhagen, but it is alreadybeing enforced in the UnitedStates, not based on scientificdiscoveries and data, but basedupon procedural statutes andpayment of millions of dollars inattorney fees. Western LegacyAlliance is poised and preparedto continue to bring these tacticsto light. I can feel the cool-downalready.For further information, con-

tact Western Legacy Alliance atwww.westernlegacyalliance.org.

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“Most people just don’t get it,” said Ron,bemoaning the urban politicians thatcontinue to whittle away at fundingfor county fairs and the ag extension

service. “It’s all about the kids learning real life.”To their misfortune, urban children have much

less opportunity to connect with real life. They lookat some farm kid working on his show steer everyday for months. It is beyond their comprehension.“Why”, they think, ‘Would anyone want to wastetheir time in such a mindless pursuit?’ and then theywhip out their Game Boy and fall into a trance.Thank goodness there are some politicians, cor-

porations and influential associations that DO getit. As farmers and livestock raisers continue todecline in numbers, it is even more critical thatparents, county agents, ag teachers, 4H leaders,scientists and teachers instill in the next genera-tions the realities of life that farming depends on.Does America want to become a net importer offood in 50 years?I appreciate Mrs. Obama’s garden, Whole

Foods specialty markets, organic and natural pro-ducers. They have a niche market. But who isgoing to feed the other 99 percent of our burgeon-ing population, much less a hungry third world?Those kids, our kids who are fitting steers, doing

chores, picking apples, showing hogs, driving the

grain truck, learning to weld, riding pens, irrigatingstrawberries, managing a pasture, hosing the milkroom, stacking hay and learning to read the sky areassimilating the mountain of knowledge that ittakes to make dirt and rain into food.Farm kids start learning the land and the live-

stock when they are old enough to carry a bucket.When they help with the daily chores they arepracticing. It’s like taking piano lessons or tennislessons except what farm kids learn has a muchmore profound objective; feeding us all.Our culture expends a great deal of effort on

future NBA stars, astronauts, environmentallawyers, doctors, and political science majors. Butfor every 100 rock stars, Rhoads scholars and Heis-man trophy winners our country produces, we bet-ter make sure we spend enough to train at leasttwo future farmers, so the rest of them can eat.That is the essence of the county fair.Beneath all the fun, auctions, and show ribbons,

the serious business of learning how to make a liv-ing off the land continues like an underground riv-er.The list of ‘essential professions’ is a short one.

That’s the reality of real life. Farm kids hold ourfuture in their hands. They are in training to feedthe world. And fair board members and countyagents get it.

CountyFairs, Why?BaxterBLACK

O N T H E E D G E O F C O M M O N S E N S E

U.S. Global Warming continued from page one

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Cows that become pregnantearly in the breeding season,calve early in the calving season,and their calves are older andheavier at weaning. Over condi-tioned cows, especially if theextra condition was fed on, iswasting money. Under condi-tioned cows are risky becausetheir performance can be veryinconsistent. Proper conditionedcows are the goal. It’s likeGoldilocks and the porridgebeing too hot, too cold, or justright. Let’s refresh the condition

scoring system. The most com-mon system used is the one tonine condition scoring system. Acondition score one cow is verythin and emaciated. A conditionscore 9 cow is very fat and obese.Very seldom do we see theextreme body condition scores.Most cows are between a condi-tion score 3 and 7. There are six areas on the ani-

mal that we visually access theamount of condition (fat): thebrisket, ribs, back, hooks (hiparea), pins, and tailhead area. Acondition score three cow willhave no fat in the brisket, overthe ribs and back, or in thehooks, pins, and tailhead area. Infact, she will have a crease in herhind quarter where she has hadto start to mobilize muscle tissueto meet maintenance energyneeds. The condition score three

cow, as she is viewed from therear, appears pointed becauseyou can easily see her spinusprocess, hip and pin bones. Acondition score five cow willhave a “smoother” appearancebecause she has fat in the areasdescribed previously. You cannotsee the fore-ribs, but can see the12th and 13th ribs in a conditionscore five cow. A condition scoresix cow will have fat in thebrisket, you will not see the 12thor 13th ribs, and there will betwo small ponds of fat on bothsides of the tailhead. Sometimes inexperienced

condition scorers will catch cowsin the chute and hand palpatethem to train the touch to a visu-ally image. It is critical that whencondition scoring cows that youevaluate condition and not mus-cle or hair. “Seeing” through thehair can be difficult in the winter. Cow body condition is a

much better gage of your nutri-tion program as compared tocow weight. When you observecows daily, it is more difficult todetect changes in conditionscore. Many times before yourealize a change in condition,cows have actually lost morecondition than you would like.Producers need to be disciplined

to make sure they are not under-estimating condition changes sothat appropriate action can betaken. If you would like to havenew ranch-hands learn aboutcondition scoring beef cows orbrush-up on this tool, go throughour learning modules Body Con-dition Scoring Your Beef CowHerd [http://beef.unl.edu/ learn-ing/condition1a.shtml], A Guideto Condition Scoring Beef Cows[http://beef.unl.edu/learning/condition2.shtml], and Using BodyCondition Score to Manage theNutritional Program [http://beef.unl.edu/learning/condition3a.shtml]. For spring-calving cows, man-

age cows to calve in a conditionscore 5. For first-calf-heifers,manage them to calve in a condi-tion score 6. The extra conditionis warranted for the youngfemales because they are stillgrowing, lactating for the firsttime, and trying to get ready fortheir next pregnancy. Even if youdo everything right with thesefemales, their postpartum inter-val is at least 15 days longercompared to a mature cow. Cows will gain and loose con-

dition throughout the year. Ifthey are doing a good job of rais-ing their calf, they will likely bethin at weaning. In drought con-ditions, cows raising a calf will bethin. In most conditions, thincows should bounce back in con-dition 45 to 60 days after wean-ing. If mature cows are alwaysthin and need you to feed themto get them back in conditionbefore calving, check the genet-ics. Something doesn’t match upwith the feed resources. Cowsize and milk production are thebiggest challenges from a nutri-tional standpoint. May be one orboth of these characteristicsdon’t match your feed resources. Condition scoring cows at

weaning seems logical. Pay par-ticular attention to youngfemales weaning their first calf— they are the ones that are like-ly to be thin. Don’t separatethem off yet, watch them tomake sure they begin to regaincondition after the nutrientdemand for lactation has beenremoved. Mature cows that arethin at weaning should bounceback in condition if they are thinat weaning by 60 days post-weaning. These are what I term“elastic” cows, they are thin atweaning but then, like a rubberband when stretched and thestress relieved, return to an

acceptable condition once thecalf is weaned. Condition scorespring-calving cows again about90 days prior to calving. This isyour last opportunity to get cowsin the right condition beforecalving. Trying to add conditionto cows after calving is like tryingto push water uphill. The dietwill need to be fairly dense inenergy and cows that get highenergy diets after calving, tend tomilk more and calves seem to getmilk scours. If you need to feed thin cows

prior to calving to get them backinto condition, in the 1996Nutrient Requirements for BeefCattle there is a table that, basedon cow weight and conditionscore, has the energy required tomove a cow from a lower bodycondition to the next highestcondition. In the learning mod-ule URL given above, there isanother learning module titled“Using Body Condition Score toManage the Nutrition Program.”You can learn how to use the1996 NRC table and there is anexample of designing a diet.[Jan-uary 11th, 2010]

Source: Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Sci-ence, Animal Science, University of Nebraska,Lincoln, NE

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ody condition at calving, especially for spring-calving cows,not only impacts how cows perform at calving, but alsoinfluences performance during the next breeding season.How cows perform during the breeding season impacts

profit potential in the cow/calf enterprise in regards to pregnancyrate and when in the breeding season they become pregnant.

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by LYNNE FINNERTY, editor ofFBNews, the newspaper of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

With the U.S. facingdeep economic turmoiland unemploymenthovering around 10

percent, it might seem as ifthere’s little to be optimisticabout. Agriculture, however, hashelped fortify the economy whenit needed it most, as other sec-tors such as U.S. automobilemanufacturing, real estate andconstruction have contractedand shed workers.

Funny thing, how agricultureoften is overshadowed by seem-ingly more exciting industries,like, say, derivatives trading, butturns out to be the old reliablewhen other endeavors fail. Justlike the tortoise and the hare inAesop’s fable, farmers and ranch-ers keep plodding along, produc-ing food, fiber and fuel stocks.To contrast two industries in

particular, auto manufacturingand agriculture, let’s zoom in onthe state of Michigan, home tothe big U.S. automakers andattendant industries like autoparts manufacturing. With thedecline in the automakers’ for-tunes, the state’s unemploymentrate has risen to the highest inthe nation, 14.6 percent.On the bright side, agriculture

in Michigan contributes $71.3billion to the state’s economy, anincrease of $16.3 billion since1997. That’s right — an increase.Production agriculture, food pro-cessing and related businessesemploy more than 1 millionMichigan residents — jobs forwhich they probably are extra-thankful as they see so many oftheir friends, family and neigh-bors being laid off.U.S. agriculture has main-

tained a trade surplus for the last47 years straight. Farming andranching was one of only foursegments of the national econo-my with a trade surplus in 2009.This isn’t to say that agricul-

ture hasn’t taken its lumps.USDA estimates farm income tobe down 34.5 percent in 2009compared to 2008. That’s largelydue to less demand both in the

U.S. and overseas because of theglobal recession.However, given productive

soil, a supply of workers, reliableinputs, limited regulations and,of course, a couple inches ofrain, farmers will keep farming,ranchers will keep ranching andAmerican agriculture will remaina bulwark against severe down-turns in other sectors.Over the last two years there

have been several news storiesabout recession-proof jobs —things like health care and edu-cation. Agriculture isn’t reces-sion proof, but we’ve got to eat!There will always be a demandfor food grown and packagedhere in America.Our elected leaders should

take note of the role agriculturehas played in shoring up the U.S.economy while ensuring a safe,plentiful food supply. Theyshould steer clear of policies thatshrink our capacity to producefood, such as the cap-and-tradeclimate bill passed by the Houselast year, which would move 59million acres out of agricultureinto trees. And they shouldapprove policies that increaseour ability to sell U.S. farm prod-ucts around the world, such asthe pending trade deals withColombia, Panama and SouthKorea.Good ole U.S. agriculture

may not seem as exciting asmaking millions flipping houses.But it’s an economic powerhousethat, if we don’t turn our backson it, will employ many of ourcitizens and feed much of theworld for decades to come.

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Forest Service and BLM announce grazing fee

The Federal grazing fee for 2010 will be$1.35 per animal unit month (AUM) forfederal lands administered by the Bureauof Land Management (BLM) and $1.35

per head month (HM) for lands managed bythe U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The grazingfee for 2010 is the same as it was in 2009. An AUM or HM — treated as equivalent

measures for fee purposes — is the occupancyand use of federal lands by one cow and hercalf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for amonth. The newly calculated grazing fee, deter-mined by a congressional formula and effectiveon March 1, applies to nearly 18,000 grazingpermits and leases administered by the BLMand more than 8,000 permits administered bythe USFS. The formula used for calculating the grazing

fee, which was established by Congress in the1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act(PRIA), has continued under a presidentialExecutive Order issued in 1986. Under thatorder, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35per AUM, and any increase or decrease cannotexceed 25 percent of the previous year’s level. The annually determined grazing fee is com-

puted by using a 1966 base value of $1.23 perAUM/HM for livestock grazing on federal

lands in Western states. The figure is then cal-culated according to three factors — currentprivate grazing land lease rates, beef cattleprices, and the cost of livestock production. Ineffect, the fee rises, falls, or stays the samebased on market conditions, with livestockoperators paying more when conditions are bet-ter and less when conditions have declined. The $1.35 per AUM/HM grazing fee applies

to 16 Western states on federal lands adminis-tered by the BLM and the USFS. The statesare Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho,Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, NewMexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon,South Dakota, Utah, Washington, andWyoming. The USFS applies different grazingfees to national grasslands and to lands underits management in the eastern and midwesternstates and parts of Texas. The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Depart-

ment of the Interior, manages more land — 253million surface acres — than any other Federalagency. Most of this public land is located in 12Western states, including Alaska. The USFS, an agency of the U.S. Depart-

ment of Agriculture, manages 193 million acresof Federal lands in 44 states, Puerto Rico, andthe Virgin Islands.

Agriculture is Bright Spot in a Bad Economy

Lee Pitts

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Published data sets andresearch reports continueto demonstrate the hugerole that costs — especially

feed costs — play in determiningcowherd profitability. Produc-tion measures like weaning per-cent and weights do, of course,directly impact the bottom line.But multi-year analyses fromacross the country consistentlyshow that variation in feedexpense is the predominant eco-nomic differential between high-and low-profit producers.In a paper published earlier

this year, ag economists fromKansas State University made anobservation that really puts thisin perspective, “ . . . even thoughreturns are highly variable overtime due to hard-to-managemacro economic factors, thevariability across producers at apoint in time is even larger.” Didyou catch that? Over the past 30years, average returns abovetotal costs ranged $190 from thebest year to the worst. But with-in a given year, they saw differ-ences in net returns between themost and least profitable one-third of producers of over $370!Two other interesting points:

The relationship between feedcosts and calf selling weight wasvery weak; additional dollarsspent on feed did not necessarilytranslate into additional poundsof weaned calf.However, the data clearly

showed that operations with rela-tively more of their costs as feed(that is, a greater percentage ofall expenditures went for feedrather than other inputs) weremore profitable. So what are thetake-home messages here?

� It is possible to managecow/calf operations profitably,regardless of the cattle cycle,weather, markets, or other exter-nal factors;

� Controlling costs, especiallyfeed costs, is key;

� Adequate nutrition is asound investment;

� Feed dollars need to bespent on inputs that will yield apositive return.More importantly, how do we

apply this information? Assum-ing the basic premise that anyfeeding program being consid-ered will meet the nutritionalrequirements of the herd, a sum-mary of management goals couldsimply be: Use feed that costsless, Find ways to feed less, and,Manage to waste less.

Get the most out of grazing opportunitiesIt is almost always more eco-

nomical to let cows harvest theirown forage, rather than make,store, and feed hay. Cost-con-scious operators are alert toexpanded grazing opportunities,whether that involves more acres(i.e., crop residues or currentlyunused areas) or an extendedgrazing season (i.e., stockpilingor plant diversity) .Managed grazing distribution,

using supplement placement,temporary fencing, and evenherding, sometimes has a place

in improving utilization of pas-tures. Of course, these changescan bring costs of their own,which need to be measuredagainst potential savings in har-vested feed use.In many cases, the most effec-

tive tool for improving utilizationof grazed forage is protein sup-plementation. When cows are onlate-season or dormant pastureor crop aftermath, a shortage ofrumen-available crude protein(nitrogen) effectively restrictsoverall intake. When that need ismet, animals are able to take insignificantly more feed, basicallyincreasing the yield of nutrientsfrom that field.

Optimize utilization(digestion) of the dietThe buzzword of the moment

seems to be “efficiency,” andwith good reason. With the needto meet cowherd nutritionalrequirements with the least pos-sible investment, anything thatallows the animal to get moregood out of what she is alreadyeating has real value.On a forage-based diet, the

most important thing we can doto help feed efficiency is makesure the rumen microbes have allthe nutrients they require avail-able at all times. Typically that isbest accomplished through limit-ed supplementation with degrad-able protein and an appropriate(sugar or soluble fiber) energysource. And at least someresearch shows value in ongoingor frequent availability of thatsupplement, rather than large,less-frequent doses. The goal isto have as many microbes active-ly fermenting feed as possible, tomaximize the release of nutrientsthat the cow can use.There are also a growing num-

ber of feed additives availablethat are designed to enhanceefficiency. Each needs to be eval-uated on the basis of available

research, experience, cost, andexpected level of return.

Reduce wasteFor many operations, this is

the area offering the greatestpotential for reducing feed cost.With hay, losses occur making,moving, storing and feeding thisresource. The value of properhandling is emphasized when weremember some basic geometry.In a 6-foot round bale, 35 per-cent of the hay is contained inthe outer 6 inches, and an addi-tional 15 percent in the next 6inches. Annual hay usage can besignificantly reduced if bales arestored to minimize water andweathering damage, and offeredto the animals in feeders. Recentresearch shows wastage can varysignificantly with type of feederas well, with cone and ring feed-ers being most effective an mini-mizing losses. Hay waste canalso be reduced when liquid sup-plement is used to treat the baleprior to feeding, especially withcoarse and low-quality forages.Supplement ‘waste’ is more

commonly looked on as shrink— the difference between vol-ume purchased and volume fed— and it is often overlooked.Bulk commodities may appear tobe an economic purchase, buttheir true cost can be significant-ly elevated by storage and han-dling losses. As an example, sup-pose 6 tons of DDGs werepurchased for $200/ton, then fedto a group of 120 stocker calvesat a rate of 5 lb/head/day, andthis feed lasted 16 days. Usingsome simple math:Bought: 6 X 2000 = 12000 lb

Used: 120 X 5 X 16 = 9600 lbWasted 12000 - 9600 = 2400 lbShrink: 2400/12000 = 20%

Actual Cost: $200 / (100%-20%)= $250/tonExercises such as this can

help cattlemen identify areaswhere they can find ways toreduce the size of their criticalinvestment in cowherd nutrition.

Source: Dr. Cathy Bandyk, Quality Liquid Feeds

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Of all the taxes in the U.S. taxsystem, the estate tax prob-ably does the most damageto output and income per

dollar of revenue raised.The high rates discourage sav-

ing and investment at the margin,while the base amount that isexempted from the tax reducesthe average tax rate and tax rev-enues. A tax with a large differ-ence between its average andmarginal rates does far more dam-age per dollar of revenue raisedthan a lower rate on a broaderbase, says Stephen J. Entin, Presi-dent and Executive Director ofthe Institute for Research on theEconomics of Taxation.If estate tax rates revert to

pre-2001 levels:� Private sector output and

labor compensation would becut by $183 billion and $122 bil-lion, respectively.

� Gross domestic product(GDP) would eventually be

reduced by $183 billion.� By contrast, repealing the

estate tax entirely would boostlabor income by $79 billion andadd $119 billion to GDP.Furthermore, the loss in

GDP, wages and other incomereduces other tax collections bymore than the estate tax bringsin — resulting in a net revenuedecrease from having the tax,explains Entin. One source ofloss comes from giving assets toone’s heirs over many years priorto death. Indeed, Professor B.Douglas Bernheim of StanfordUniversity estimates that estatetax avoidance by giving assets tochildren, most of whom are inlower income tax brackets thantheir parents, costs more inincome tax revenue on the earn-ings of the assets than the estatetax picks up.

Source: Stephen Entin, “The High Marginal Costof the Estate Tax,” National Center for PolicyAnalysis, Brief Analysis No. 688, Jan. 28, 2010.

Economic and fiscaleffects of the estate tax

Focus on feed costs


from CONSUMER FREEDOM

There are only two thingscertain in life, as the sayinggoes, and a byproduct ofone of them requires non-

profit organizations to file paper-work with the Internal RevenueService (IRS). So now that thedeceptively named “HumaneSociety” of the United States(HSUS) has submitted its “Form990” for 2008, we thought it wastime to take a close look. The taxfiling itself is a bit more detailedthan ones in the past, thanks tosome new IRS rules. And moredetail equals a clearer picture ofexactly what HSUS is doing —and what it’s not doing — withall its money.HSUS reported spending

almost $20 million on “cam-paigns, legislation, and litigation”— enough to worry any livestockproducer, farmer or hunter look-ing to keep their chosen lifestylealive. The group collected over$86 million in contributions, andspent more than $24 million onfundraising, including $4 millionon professional fundraisers.Think about it: 28 cents of everydollar contributed to HSUS goesback out the door to raise moremoney. HSUS even paid a single“lockbox” company more than

$4.2 million to count andprocess its cash hauls. We won’tcomment on that company’scurious “ALF” initials (for Ari-zona Lockbox & Fulfillment).The bottom line is the same

as it ever was: HSUS rakes inmillions from unsuspectingAmericans who may confuse theanimal rights group with anunaffiliated local humane socie-ty. And with all this cash flyingaround, it’s no surprise that 41HSUS employees made at least$100,000 last year. All told,HSUS paid out over $30.9 mil-lion in salaries, wages, and otheremployee compensation.HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle

earned more than $250,000 insalary and benefits in 2008. Wewouldn’t begrudge him a largesalary, of course: He runs an ani-mal-rights business “charity,”after all.But the real trouble lies in

where most HSUS moneydoesn’t go: to pet shelters. Incontrast with the group’s extrava-gant spending on people, HSUS’stotal grant allocation was lessthan $4.7 million. And of that,almost half went to a politicalcampaign committee called “Cal-ifornians for Humane Farms,”the main lobbying organizationresponsible for California’s

“Proposition 2” ballot initiative.For all the cute pictures of

puppies and kitties on HSUSparaphernalia, you’d think itwould operate a pet shelter, or atleast give a substantial portion ofits money to one. But HSUS haslobbying to do, a PETA-inspiredagenda to push, meat eaters tostigmatize, and livestockproucers and farmers to put outto pasture. Lobbying? Oh, yes.HSUS takes four full pages todetail its lobbying activities onthe state and federal levels.With all the politicking going

on, the animals — rememberthem? — seem to get lost in theshuffle. We added up the totals,and HSUS gave only a littlemore than $450,000 — that’sjust half of one percent of itstotal budget — in grants toorganizations providing hands-on care to dogs and cats. That’sless than 11 percent of what itpaid “ALF” (see above) just tocount its money.We’re musing today about

HSUS’s next big self-marketingblitz, and some new slogans itmight want to use. Our favorite?“HSUS: Feed the lawyers, savethe fundraisers, screw the pets.”

Source: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/h/4062-unpacking-the-hsus-gravy-train

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Creating a climate of fraud

If we’re serious about restoringscience to its rightful place,the head of the U.N.’s panelon climate change should

step down. Evidence shows hequarterbacked a deliberate andpremeditated fraud, saysInvestor’s Business Daily (IBD).The U.N.’s Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change hasbeen forced to back off its now-discredited claim that theHimalayan glaciers would soondisappear. But it’s not true, thepanel’s vice chairman, Jean-Pascalvan Ypersele, told the BBC, thatit was simply a “human mistake.”

� The panel’s chairman, Dr.Rajendra K. Pachauri, who wasforced to admit the claim had nobasis in observable scientific fact,said its inclusion was merely a“poor application” of IPCC pro-cedures, acting as if the originalsource of the claim, Indian scien-tist Dr. Syed Hasnain, was atotal stranger.

� In fact, as ChristopherBooker of the London Telegraphpoints out, Dr. Hasnain “has forthe past two years been workingas a senior employee of theEnergy and Resources Institute(TERI), the Delhi-based compa-ny of which Dr. Pachauri wasdirector-general.”So after the 2007 assessment

that included Hasnain’s claim,Pachauri was impressed enoughto hire him as an employee.Pachauri should have been famil-iar with both his work and thefact the claim had not been peer-reviewed, and aware that it hadbeen challenged by reputablegeologists, says IBD.

Before the 2007 report waspublished, Hasnain’s claim waschallenged by another of its leadauthors, Austrian glaciologist Dr.Georg Kaser.He described Hasnain’s pre-

diction of glaciers vanishing by2035 as “so wrong that it is noteven worth dismissing.”So why was it included in the

2007 IPCC assessment? In aninterview with the London DailyMail recently, Dr. Murari Lal,the coordinating lead author ofthe chapter on Asia, gave a dis-turbing answer, says IBD. “Itrelated to several countries in theregion and their water sources,”

he said. “We thought that if wecan highlight it, it will impactpolicymakers and politicians andencourage them to take someconcrete action.”In other words, the motive

was political, not scientific, incontradiction to the IPCC mis-sion statement that says its roleis “to assess on a comprehensive,objective, open and transparentbasis, scientific, technical andsocioeconomic information —the IPCC reports should be neu-tral with respect to policy.”

Source: Editorial, “United Nations’ ClimateChief Must Go,” Investor’s Business Daily, Jan-uary 28, 2010.

More guns, less crime in ‘09

Americans went on bingesbuying guns and ammuni-tion in late 2008 and early2009, worried that a radi-

cal leftist president and Democ-rat-dominated Congress wouldviolate their Second-Amendmentrights to keep and bear arms.The effects? Less murder, rob-bery, rape and property crime,according to report releasedrecently by Federal Bureau ofInvestigations (FBI).The gun-buying started short-

ly before, and then took off after,President Barack Obama’s elec-tion, says the American Thinker:

� The Toronto Star reported a15 percent increase of 108,000more FBI background checks inOctober 2008 than during thesame month in 2007.

� In November 2008, thenumber of FBI background

checks on applicants buyingguns spiked 42 percent from theprevious year.

� The FBI performed 12.7million background checks in2008, compared to 11.2 millionin 2007, a 13 percent increase.More evidence of rampant

gun-buying in the states, accord-ing to the American Thinker:

� Through June 2009, theTexas Department of PublicSafety received a monthly aver-age of 12,700 applications forconcealed handgun licenses, up46 percent from the average in2007.

� In liberal Massachusetts,gun permits surged 15 percentover the last two years (afterfalling several years before that).

Source: Joe Gimenez, “More Guns, Less Crimein ‘09,” American Thinker, December 30, 2009.

Unpacking the HSUS Gravy Train


Anew paper from Councilfor Agricultural Scienceand Technology (CAST)assesses the current read-

ings and charts the criticalcourse under the title AgriculturalProductivity Strategies for theFuture: Addressing U.S. and Glob-al Challenges.

Numerous factors are con-verging to create ‘the perfectstorm’ for global food and agri-culture, conclude the authors ofCAST’s newest Issue Paper,Agricultural Productivity Strategiesfor the Future: Addressing U.S.and Global Challenges. Prepared as an update of

CAST’s first publication writtenin 1973 by Dr. Norman E. Bor-laug (Agricultural Science and thePublic, CAST Paper No. 1), thenewly released paper is dedicatedto Dr. Borlaug and features aPreface written by him shortlybefore his death in September2009. Dr. Borlaug, credited withsaving more lives than any otherperson who has ever livedthrough his development of high-yielding grains, was a lifelong pro-moter and advocate for CAST.The authors of the current

paper address:� future demands facing agri-

culture;� the relationship of bioenergy

and bioproducts to agriculture;� major U.S. agricultural pro-

ductivity;� major issues facing agricul-

tural productivity in other parts

of the world;� strategies to meet future

food needs; and� examples of research areas

that could enable the next‘Green Revolution’.Dr. Gale Buchanan, former

USDA Under Secretary forResearch, Education, and Eco-

nomics and former CAST Presi-dent, chairs the task force ofnotable scientists, researchers,and government leaders whodrew from an extensive pool ofliterature as well as from theirown broad experience andinsight in preparing the new doc-ument.Dr. Buchanan said: “We need

to end the three-decade-longpattern of living beyond ourmeans; importing more than weexport, borrowing more than welend, spending more than weearn, and consuming more thanwe produce. We are most con-cerned about the apparent lackof commitment by the UnitedStates and other countries tomake the research and educationexpenditures needed to addressthe problems affecting our sur-vival on this planet. Complacen-cy is unwarranted at this time ofunprecedented challenges.”Dr. John Bonner, CAST

Executive Vice President/CEO,concludes: “CAST is pleased tocontribute this excellent, frankassessment of where we are andwhere we need to be to establishand sustain the health and abun-

dance of world agriculture. Wealso are honored that the paperincludes Dr. Borlaug’s lastknown published work, in whichhe summarises both today’s chal-lenges and CAST’s mission: ‘Youhave to be able to communicate.Research information must beapplied in order to meet humanneeds.’”

You can download the full report free ofcharge at: http://www.cast-science.org/dis-playProductDetails.asp?idProduct=168

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Poweshiek County sheriff’s deputies arrestedtwo men recently in con-nection with the stab-

bing of 17 cattle at a Montezu-ma, Iowa, sale barn recently.Robert Edward Fults, 20,

and Jamey Leroy Christoffer-son, 22, both of Montezuma,were each charged with 17counts of livestock abuse. Themen also face burglarycharges from unrelated crimesin Montezuma. A citizen’s tipto the sheriff’s office putdeputies on Fults’ andChristofferson’s trails.Deputies searched separate

residences occupied by Fultsand Christofferson beforemaking the arrests. “We had abreak in the case and movedquickly on it,” PoweshiekCounty Chief DeputyLawrence McNaul said.McNaul said neither suspectwould speak with police.Workers at the Montezu-

ma Sales Co. sale barn foundthe cattle with stab wounds

the morning of January 6. Thewounds were severe enoughthat all 17 animals requiredveterinary treatment andthree were euthanized. Detec-tives quickly ruled out insur-ance fraud or possible cultactivity in the investigation.The grisly crime rattled thecommunity of 1,400 abouthalfway between Des Moinesand Iowa City.The incident raised ques-

tions about the security oflivestock at sale and cattlebarns. The Coalition to Sup-port Iowa’s Farmers offered a$2,000 reward for leads in thecase, and it was unknownwhether the prize would beclaimed in connection withthe arrests.“I could have never even

conceived of something likethis happening,” said CarlFenner, a Grinnell cattlemanand president of thePoweshiek County Cattle-man’s Association. “I don’tknow how you protect yourselffrom somebody who wants todo something so strange.”

Arrests made in 17 cattle stabbings

Perfect storm forming for global food, agriculture

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“We need to end the three-decade-long pattern of living beyond our means; importing more than we export,

borrowing more than we lend, spending more than we earn, and consuming more than we produce."


by CHRIS HURT, ExtensionEconomist, Purdue University

The cattle industry should beon the mend in 2010. Avail-able supplies of beef willdrop in the U.S. as produc-

tion declines and exportsincrease. Demand will be betterat home as the U.S. economycontinues to climb back from thedepths of the recession.The beef herd continues to

drop slowly. Beef cow numberson January 1 were estimated at31.4 million head, down anotherone percent from last year. Overthe past four years the beef cowherd has dropped five percent.Dairy cow numbers were downthree percent in 2009 as herdreductions resulted from largefinancial losses.The number of heifers being

retained by beef cow producersis down two percent, indicatingthat beef cow numbers will con-tinue their slow decline throughthis year. On the other hand,milk cow replacement heiferswere up two percent. Does thismean milk cow numbers will risethis year? Probably not — it isjust a reflection that moderndairy production requires a high-er replacement rate. During the past decade the

beef cow herd dropped by 2.1million cows, or about seven per-cent. Regionally, however, thelocation of beef cows was fairlystable during the last decade withsome shift to the Southern Plains.The Eastern Corn Belt, as anexample, had four percent of thenation’s beef cows in both 2000and 2010. The Western Corn Belt

has maintained about ten percentof the beef cows, while the South-ern Plains increased from 24 per-cent to 25 percent.Beef production and the

amount of beef available per per-son in the U.S. will decline in2010. With smaller cow num-bers, the 2010 calf crop is esti-mated to be down one to twopercent and will be the founda-

tion for smaller production.USDA currently expects beefexports to rebound by ten per-cent in 2010. If so, this will meanbeef exports at 2.0 billionpounds will have reached 81 per-cent of the pre-BSE record set in2003.Trade improvements and pop-

ulation growth in the U.S. meanthat per capita availability ofbeef will be down about threepercent in 2010. In addition,pork availability per capita isexpected to be down four per-cent. When chicken and turkeyare included, there will be aboutone percent less meat and poul-try per person in the U.S.Cattle prices were under

severe downside pressure in2009, primarily due to the reces-sion. Looking back at 2009, beefavailability per person in theU.S. was down two percent, yetfinished cattle prices dropped byten percent, representing about$9 per live hundredweight. Low-er supply and sharply lowerprices represent the devastatingimpact of the very weak demand.The degree to which demand

improves this year depends onthe extent of the 2010 U.S. andworld economic recovery. TheU.S. economy has been in mod-est recovery since the summer of2009. The expectation for 2010

is for the slow recovery to contin-ue, but with unemployment con-tinuing to remain high. Giventhat the weak economy had suchnegative impacts on cattle pricesin 2009; it may be possible foreven modest economic recovery,in the range of three percent, tohave a surprisingly strong impacton rebounding cattle prices.In 2009, Nebraska finished

steers averaged only about $83per hundredweight. For 2010,that number is expected to becloser to $90 for the year. Pricesare expected to reach the low$90s by early this spring andthen trade in the high $80s tolow $90s in the summer. Assum-ing continued improvement inthe economy as the year pro-gresses, prices in the fall couldbe in the very low $90s. Calf prices finally began mov-

ing higher this fall. Oklahomasteer calves weighting 550-600pounds averaged $109 per hun-dredweight in the final quarter ofthe year, about $4 higher than inthe fall of 2008. Strengtheningfinished cattle prices and moder-ation in feed prices should keepcalf prices moving upward in2010, perhaps pushing thesesame calves to the $115 to $120range in the second-half of 2010.This year is expected to be

one of healing for a batteredbeef industry as smaller suppliesand recovering incomes swingcattle prices upward. As theheadlines indicate, a slow eco-nomic recovery is probable, butnot yet assured. Thus, most cat-tle producers will approach thisyear both with optimism, butalso with caution. It is also clearthat their bankers feel the sameway.

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One popular solution toglobal warming is toturn trees and grassinto transport fuel, thus

reducing our reliance on fossilfuels such as gasoline. But astudy published in the Octo-ber issue of Science finds thatadvanced “cellulosic” biofuelscould emit more greenhousegas during the next fewdecades than burning gasolinewill, says Reason.

� Running a computermodel that links global eco-nomic and huge biogeochem-istry data, Marine BiologicalLaboratory Researcher JerryMelillo and his colleaguesprojected that growing energycrops will require cuttingdown a lot of forest, which

releases extra carbon dioxideinto the atmosphere.

� In addition, energy cropswill need to be doused withnitrogen fertilizer; which givesoff an even more potentgreenhouse gas, nitrous oxide.

� By the end of the 21stcentury, the amount of landdevoted to biofuels may begreater than the total areacurrently used to grow foodcrops.“In the near term, I think,

irrespective of how you goabout the cellulosic biofuelsprogram, you are going tohave greenhouse gas emis-sions exacerbating the climatechange problem,” says Melillo.

Source: Ronald Bailey, “Biofuel Bust,” Rea-son Magazine, February 2010 Issue.

Biofuel Bust

Beef industry hopeful for 2010 recovery

This year is expected to be one of healing for a battered beef industry as smaller

supplies and recovering incomes swing cattle prices upward.


Input from ranchers, based onknowledge and experience,can be a valuable tool in landmanagement decisions,

according to a recent study pub-lished by Colorado State Univer-sity (CSU).On a large part of the United

States’ over 770 million acres ofrangelands, site-specific data andlong-term ecological monitoringdoes not exist. According to thestudy, rancher knowledge mayprovide insight into ecosystemprocesses, sustainable manage-ment practices and interactionsbetween human and naturalcommunities.

For this study, Knowledge InPractice, Documenting RancherLocal Knowledge in Northwest-ern Colorado, graduate studentCorrine Noel Knapp, and associ-ate professor Maria E. Fernan-des-Gimenez interviewed 26ranchers in one watershed innorthwest Colorado.Ranchers interviewed had a

broad understanding of range-land ecology including knowl-edge of plant growth and repro-duction, animal behavior,vegetation change, and ecosys-tem responses to disturbances.In addition, ranchers have site-specific applied knowledge,which is often absent from thescientific literatureTo make decisions, ranchers

balance multiple factors. On thelands they manage, this includesbalancing knowledge of differentlandscapes, including their pro-ductivity, nutrient content, andpast management history, tomake stocking decisions accord-ing to the study. On a regionalscale, this includes understand-ing patterns of change such asthe increase in exurban develop-ment.Ranchers are continually

assessing the health and produc-tivity of their landscapes.Because ranchers develop anduse indicators in specific places,they may provide insight into themost meaningful, sensitive, andefficient site specific indicatorsof rangeland health.A real risk, according to the

study, is the loss of this accumu-lated information. In the past,knowledge was passed from gen-eration to generation. Today,many young people are not con-tinuing in the ranching business,and ranches are being sold tonew owners or for non-ranchingpurposes, and knowledge of theland is disappearing. Sharing information and

working together could benefitall parties — landowners, landmanagement agencies, and sci-entists, the research concluded.Increased dialogue may expandour knowledge of sustainable

management by highlightingboth unique and overlappingcontributions of each knowledgetype and suggesting specificresearch questions and manage-ment needs ripe for collaborativeknowledge creation and problemsolving. Rancher knowledgemust be understood in the con-text of working landscapes; how-ever, this need not be a barrier tousing it as an information sourceto understand rangeland ecosys-tems if ranchers and scientistsclearly communicate about thecontext and purpose of specifictypes of knowledge.

The detailed study can be found at: http://www2.allenpress.com/pdf/RAMA-62.6fnl.pdf

She also told me that having allbulls in the class was sexist. I hadto cut her off after 15 minutes.Although I don’t think thisyoung lady has a career ahead ofher in judging livestock profes-sionally, she could do very well asthe President for the NationalOrganization for Women.I placed the young slacker

teenager in second placealthough he referred to me as“dude” no less than 37 times. Ifound it disconcerting that theyoung juvenile delinquent wascovered in tattoos, listened to hisiPod the entire time he was givinghis reasons, and his board shortswere ready to fall off at any

minute. He referenced severalterror movies and said the num-ber three bull was, I believe,“kickin.” He called the scrawniestbull “phat” and his “two danglythings between his legs were rad.”He used more automotive termsthan livestock ones, referring tothe bulls “gearbox” several times.I think his time would be betterspent on the ag mechanics team.I put the “valley girl” in third

place because it pained me tolook at all her body piercings.Especially the big silver globe inthe middle of her tongue thatbounced up and down like a bas-ketball when she talked. I criti-cized her for placing the classbackwards, for chewing gumthroughout her reasons, for usingthe terms “awesome” and “glam”excessively, and for taking a call

on her cell phone while she wasgiving reasons. The number 2 bullwas her fave because “he lookedlike he had big steaks, a fluffy tail,and soft leather.” She alsoobserved that the bull kicked real-ly good but placed him downwhen he went to the bathroomright in front of her. G-R-O-S-S!Finally, I rolled the arrogant

kid with the expensive sunglasseson top of his head to the bottombecause he tried to text the gothgirl to get her reasons. He actedlike he knew more than I did,which was quite possible, but I didnot appreciate it when he tried tobribe me for a better score. Comeon dude, just 20 bucks? Surely I’mworth more than that! I predictthis kid has an awesome future asa lobbyist or a politician, but as alivestock judge? No way, bro.

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Riding Herd continued from page one

Study Says Ranchers’ Knowledge, Experience Valuable

Rancher knowledge must be understood in the context of working

landscapes . . .


For cattle producers lookingfor ways to improve theircattle’s performance, Beef-master genetics can be a

good tool. The breed was devel-oped by Tom Lasater in the early1930s by crossing Hereford,Shorthorn and Brahman cattleand focusing on what are nowknown as the six essentials —disposition, fertility, weight, con-formation, milk production andhardiness.The Beefmaster breed of cat-

tle is a multipurpose breed thatis full of convenience traits,according to Dr. TommyPerkins, Executive Vice Presi-dent, Beefmaster Breeders Unit-ed. “Beefmaster females, pure-bred or percentage, will adddisease tolerance, insect toler-ance, heat tolerance, longevity,docility, calving ease, maternalabilities and hardiness. Whenused in a crossbreeding program,

Beefmasters will add growth andefficiency in all phases of theproduction chain. This addedgrowth and efficiency will putdollars in your pocket at thecow-calf level and all the waythrough the feedlot phase, givingyou the best of both worlds. Youget all the convenience traits inthe female along with a cross-bred, high performing calf withexcellent carcass traits.”For purebred and commercial

producers alike, Beefmastersarea good fit. Their hardiness,disease resistance and a fewextra pounds at weaning timecan make a big difference in thatall-important bottom line.

From Arizona:Arizona producers Jeff and

Sarah Mattox, of the BelmontRanch, like the breed’s self-suffi-ciency. “The best thing aboutBeefmasters is that they takecare of themselves,” Jeff said.“They do so much better in ourconditions than any other breedthat I have seen.”Jeff and Sarah got into the

Beefmaster business about 16years ago wanting to improvetheir cattle’s performance. Theirresults after buying a Beefmasterbull convinced them to stay withthe breed. “To make the ranchprofitable, we needed to makethe cattle more productive,” heexplained.Located 40 miles west of

Phoenix and 30 miles south ofWickenburg, the ranch is in thehot, dry, Sonoran Desert. “Thisarea gets an average of eightinches of rain a year. We havegotten a total of eight inches inthe past three years,” heexplained. “Beefmasters do wellin the very worst conditions, andour ranch is in the worst condi-tions. I tell people that if theircountry is any worse than ours,they don’t have any business inthe cattle business.”

Those harsh conditions are agood marketing tool, Jeff said.“Because of their background, Ican guarantee that our bulls willperform in any conditions.”Today, the Mattox family pro-

duces purebred Beefmaster bullsand heifers for sale as breedingstock. Most cattle are sold pri-vate treaty, although they haveattended some bull sales. “We’vesold bulls to ranchers in NewMexico, Utah, and all over Ari-zona,” Jeff said. “Our customers are almost

exclusively commercial opera-tors, Beefmasters are a goodcross on anything,” he contin-ued. “We have bull buyers whorun almost all Corriente cowsbecause of their rough country,and some who use them on bigBrangus cows.”Hardiness is another strength

of the breed. “Our country isvery rocky, and in some cases thecattle feed five miles from water.Even in the summertime theBeefmasters travel like nothingelse I’ve ever seen. When condi-tions are bad, and everyone else’scattle are dropping off, our cattlestill look good.”He also likes the breed’s

strong maternal instincts. “Thecows calve easy — we haveheifers calving at 19 to 20months old with no problems.The calves are born small, andthe cows take care of thosecalves. They are protective moth-ers, too, we are in lion country.”A good disposition is another

important quality to Jeff. “We canwork everything we have, eventhe bulls, on foot. One thing buy-ers like about our bulls is thatthey are so easy to handle.”“Beefmasters are just far and

away the best breed there is forthis part of the country,” Jeffconcluded. “We sell bulls guaran-teed to work in any situation.”

To Oklahoma: Beefmasters are also a good fit

for the Tapp family, of BoiseCity, Okla. Bob Ed Tapp, hiswife, Mary Ruth, and their chil-

dren Kenny Bob, Lelayne andJoshua, raise commercial Beef-master cattle on the ranch thathas been in the family since 1957.The Tapps first learned about

the breed when Bob Ed’s father,who worked for Matador CattleCompany, bought some Beef-master bulls for that ranch. “Lat-er, he and my uncle boughtsome Beefmaster bulls fromWatt Casey in Texas to use onour cattle. We bought a ranch insoutheastern New Mexico, andused Beefmasters there. When Imoved back up here and tookover from my grandfather, wekept using the Beefmasters.” This fall marked the Tapps’

thirty-third buying bulls from theCasey family. “We are reallypleased with the cattle. Theirmilk production is good, theirmothering ability is good, wehave no problems with them.” A gentle disposition is one of

the breed’s best traits, accordingto Bob Ed. “You can make anybull mad if you get them hotenough, but overall, the cattlehave a very gentle disposition.When we go to Casey’s to look atbulls, there are between 40 and50 short two year old bulls in thepen. You are out there walkingaround with them, looking atthem, and they’re so gentle thatsometimes you almost have topush them out of the way.”He also cites their calving

ease. “We don’t have calvingproblems. I can’t remember thelast time I had to pull a calf. Weturn our heifers out in the pas-ture to calve, and see them everyday or so but don’t go looking forthem.”The Tapp Ranch is located in

the mesa country, north of theCimarron River at about a 3,500foot elevation. “The cattle dowell, we have a mix of rocky andsandy country. The cows seem tobe good foragers and goodmothers. The bulls come from alower elevation, but adjust well,”Bob Ed explained.

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B E E F M A S T E R S :Focused on Performance

The Beefmaster breed of cattle is a multipurpose breed that is full of convenience traits, according to Dr. Tommy Perkins, Exec. Vice President, Beefmaster Breeders United.

“Beefmaster females, purebred or percentage, will add disease tolerance, insect tolerance, heat tolerance, longevity, docility, calving ease, maternal abilities and hardiness.

by CALLIE GNATKOWSKI-

GIBSON

continued on page thirteen


The Tapps calve year round,with a majority of their calvesborn in the spring, and go tomarket with weaner calves in thefall. Even with the current mar-ket preference for black calves,Bob Ed remains satisfied withthe results he gets with Beefmas-ters. “We get enough of a gainon our calves that we make it up.Our calves wean between 50 and100 pounds heavier than calvesof other breeds.”Bob Ed and Mary Ruth took

the ranch over from his grandfa-ther 25 years ago, and haveraised their family there. “Thekids are very involved in the day-to-day business of the ranch, andare old enough now that theycan do it,” he noted.

To New Mexico:Larry Benedict and his fam-

ily raise commercial Beefmastercattle on their ranch 30 milesnorth of Roswell. “Beefmastersfit our country really well. Some

years, it can be really toughcountry. They get along okaywhen things are bad, and do wellwhen things are good.”Larry bought his first Beef-

masters in 1995 from BobMahone. “I put them on myHereford cows, and was reallypleased with the results. Mygrandparents had raised Here-fords since time began, so mak-ing the change was hard forthem at first. Once you see thecalves, they kind of sell them-selves.” Calving ease is one breed

characteristic Larry really likes.“When we had straight Here-fords, we were always pullingcalves. By switching to Beefmas-ters, we have practically eliminat-ed that,” he said. “I am not saying it is com-

pletely foolproof,” he continued.“Our heifers calve on their own,out in the pasture. We mightlose one occasionally, but restpick up, move back into the herd

within three days and go back towork.”He also credits the breed for

their ability to adapt. “It impress-es me that these cattle can rangefrom Colorado to South Texas,adapt to whatever their sur-roundings are, and do well.” A gentle disposition is anoth-

er important trait, according toLarry. “The cattle are nice andgentle, we don’t keep any thatare silly. That’s just asking fortrouble, and life is too short forthat.”Beefmasters are also good

mothers, he pointed out. “Theyare very protective mothers.We’ve never had trouble withcoyotes, the cows just won’t

allow that to be a problem.”The Benedicts run their cattle

on grass pasture, feeding supple-mental cake when needed. Theywinter their calves on wheat, andsell them in the spring as feedercalves, usually sending them tothe Texas panhandle. “We aretickled with the calves. It’s ablack cattle market right now,but my preference is the Beef-masters. I don’t intend to changeany time soon,” he explained.“I like the Brahman influence,

I think it helps the cattle do a lit-tle better here,” Larry said. “Theytravel well, it’s a long waybetween waters when the dirttanks dry up. They may not fiteveryone, but for our deal they

work.”“Lasater hit the nail on the

head when he developed thesecattle,” he continued. “They are agood cross on any type of cows,and don’t need any special treat-ment.”Since he started raising Beef-

masters, Larry has purchasedbulls from Tom Cooper andWatt Casey. “I’m no expert, butthe people I’ve met and dealtwith within this breed are firstrate. It says a lot for the breedthat these families have beenraising them for as long as theyhave through good times andbad and are still in business. Thecattle must have worked forthem, too. “

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How regressive is a price on carbon?

Under either a cap-and-trade program that limitscarbon emissions or a car-bon tax that imposes an

outright tax on these emissions,the poor may be among thehardest hit. Because they spenda greater share of their incomeon energy than higher-incomefamilies, households in the low-est fifth of the income distribu-tion could shoulder a relativeburden that is 1.4 to 4 timeshigher than that of households inthe top fifth of the income distri-bution, according to a study byCorbett Grainger and CharlesKolstad, conducted for theNational Bureau of EconomicResearch (NBER).Previous research already sug-

gests that a carbon tax wouldprobably be regressive. TheNBER study further bolsters thisconclusion with several keypoints:First, by linking the amount

of carbon emissions from eachindustry to consumer expendi-tures by income group, theauthors show that consumptiondifferences explain the regressiv-ity of a carbon tax:

� Assuming a levy of $15 perton of carbon dioxide, which isin the range of current proposalsin Congress, the authors calcu-late that the one-fifth of house-holds at the bottom of theincome distribution would spendan extra $325 a year.

� That’s less than a third ofwhat the one-fifth of householdsat the top of the income distribu-tion would pay annually.

� However, households in thelow-income group earn only one-tenth as much as those in thehigh-income group on average,so their burden relative toincome would be almost fourtimes higher.The second key point is that

calculations by household under-state how regressive a price oncarbon would really be:

� That’s because householdsin the highest income quintile

are much larger — averaging 3.1persons — than those in the low-est quintile, which average only1.8 persons.

� Accounting for those differ-ences (and for economies ofscale in household consump-tion), the authors calculate thatthe real impact of a carbon taxon a person in the lowest incomequintile would be nearly fivetimes more burdensome than forsomeone in the top income quin-tile.

� Using lifetime income inthis calculation, the burdenwould be 2.2 times greater.

Source: Laurent Belsie, “How Regressive is aPrice on Carbon?” NEBR Digest, January 2010;based upon: Corbett A. Grainger and CharlesD. Kolstad, “Who Pays a Price on Carbon?”National Bureau of Economic Research, Work-ing Paper No. 15239, August 2009.

Bovine TB ConfirmedIn South Dakota

AYankton County cattleherd has been found posi-tive for bovine tuberculo-sis (TB) after a 3-year-old

cow from the herd was con-firmed to be infected with thedisease. State Veterinarian Dr. Dustin

Oedekoven said the herd hasbeen quarantined for additionaltesting. “At this time, there isonly one confirmed case, but weare taking all of the necessaryprecautions,” Dr. Oedekovensaid.Herds that have had contact

with the affected herd, or pur-chased animals from that herd,are being tested by state and fed-eral animal health officials. Thepositive test presents no risk tofood safety.Dr. Oedekoven said South

Dakota remains a TB AccreditedFree state and has been since1982. The finding of a singleaffected beef herd will not auto-matically impact the TB-free sta-tus of the state.

Source: S. Dak. Stock Growers’ Association


by GEORGE WUERTHNER

Another livestock industrypropaganda piece recentlyappeared in Time maga-zine by Lisa Abend titled

“How Grass fed Beef Can SaveThe Planet.” The basic premiseof the article is that factory farm-ing is bad, so grass-fed or free-range beef is good for the planetand even human health. Grass-fed beef is the latest fad withpeople who have little scientifictraining, and thus are easilyduped by pseudo-scientificsounding pronouncements.While there are some live-

stock operators who are promot-ing grass-fed beef, many of theadvocates are well-meaning peo-ple who are vulnerable to any-thing that has the word “natural”in it. Just because raising cows infactory farms on grains is bad forthe Earth, does not mean thatcows grazing on pasture or hayare better for the Earth.The assumption of many peo-

ple is that less industrializedmakes it better to consume.Some of the “natural” folkseschew city water treated withchemicals, for instance, and pre-fer “natural” water sources. Yetmany natural water sources havemany unhealthy things in them.Arsenic, for instance, is oftenfound at naturally high levels inwater at levels that are a healthrisk to drink. One needs to becareful about assuming that any-thing more “natural” is automati-cally safer, healthier, and betterfor humans and the planet.I do not want to contend that

industrialized livestock produc-tion is good. There are hugeproblems with factory-raisedmeat. Cattle raised on grain tendto be given more hormones, andgrain production generallyrequires heavy pesticide and fer-tilizer use, as well as fossil fuelsto operate machinery. But justbecause a cow grazes in a pas-ture, does not mean it is “green”or that eating grass-fed beef is

environmentally beneficial.Indeed, as a generalization,

almost all the negatives associat-ed with Confined Animal Feed-ing Operations (CAFO) existwith grass-fed beef. And grass-fed livestock has many uniqueimpacts not shared by their fac-tory-raised counterparts thatmay be more environmentallydestructive. The assumption thatgrass-fed beef is “healthier” isbased more upon wishful think-ing than reality.

One of the presumed bene-fits of grass-fed meat is the ideathat somehow livestock fed grassreduces global warming gases.Research suggests that livestock,particularly cows, are a majorsource of greenhouse gases(GHG) that are warming theplanet. One recent UN reportfinds that as much as 18 percentof the GHG are from livestock— more than all transportationand/or industry sources of GHG.Others put the figure even high-er. No matter which studies areused, there is little dispute thatcattle are a major contributor toglobal warming.Fermentation in the animal’s

rumen generates huge quantitiesof gas — between 30-50 liters perhour in adult cattle. So those pro-ponents of grass-fed beef startwith the simplistic assumptionthat since cattle evolved to eatgrass, such a diet must be superi-or to grain-fed factory raised ani-mals. Yet grass is a poor substi-tute for grains in terms of caloricenergy per pound of feed. As aconsequence, a grass-fed cow’srumen bacteria must work longerbreaking down and digestinggrass in order to extract the sameenergy content found in grain —all the while the bacteria in its

rumen are emitting great quanti-ties of methane. Researcher, Nathan Pelletier

of Nova Scotia has found thatGHG are 50 percent higher ingrass-fed beef. If somehow magi-cally we could convert all factorygrown cattle to free range grass-fed animals, our global warmingsituation would be greatly accel-erated.Beyond the GHG issue, free

ranging cattle present other prob-lems that CAFO raised animals

do not. For instance, one of themajor consequences of havingcattle roaming the range is soilcompaction. There’s not a singlestudy that demonstrates that hav-ing a thousand pound cow tram-ple soil is good for the land.Soil compaction reduces

water penetration, creating morerun-off and erosion. Becausewater cannot percolate into thesoil easily, soil compaction fromcattle creates more arid condi-tions — a significant problem inthe already arid West, but alsoan issue in the East since thesoils are often moister for alonger period of time. Moist soilsare more easily compacted.Sometimes the influence of

pasture grazing is long lasting.One study in North Carolinafound that stream insect biotawere still significantly different instreams heavily impacted byagriculture 50 years after agricul-tural use had ceased comparedto control streams. Soil com-paction also reduces the space inthe top active layer of soil wheremost soil microbes live, reducingsoil fertility. Free ranging cattle trample

riparian areas, the thin greenlines where 70-80 percent of allwestern wildlife utilize for homesand food. According to the EPAlivestock is the major source ofpollution and riparian damage inthe West. But that doesn’t leteastern cows off the hook sincetrampling of riparian areas alsooccurs in the East, though withless biological impact since fewerspecies are solely dependent onthis habitat. Cattle, of course, release a lot

of manure on the soil. A typical1,100 pound cow releases 92pounds of manure a day as com-pared to a typical person apound of feces. Most of thatexcrement is left on the landwhere it washes into streams andadds to nutrient loading as wellas the spread of disease like E.coli bacteria. In fact, livestockmanure is a major source ofwater-borne disease and pollu-tion throughout the country.To put this into perspective,

consider that state of Vermonthas approximately 150,000 cows,most of whom excrete theirwaste either directly on pastures

or if collected from barns it is lat-er spread on fields. In eithercase, most of this waste winds upon the land without further treat-ment. This is the same as permit-ting a city of nearly 14 millionpeople to spread their humanwaste on the land!It has been asserted without

good evidence that grass-fedbeef cattle produce less E. coli,Campylobacter, Salmonella, andother dangerous pathogens. Yetall of these diseases have beenrepeatedly isolated from bothgrass and grain-fed livestock. Outbreaks of diseases like E.

coli have been traced back topastured animals. Notably, theE. coli spinach outbreak in Cali-fornia in 2006 was isolated frompastured cattle. And there areother examples.By contrast CAFO opera-

tions, because of their scale andability to collect and processmanure in a treatment plant, canpotentially be less polluting over-all compared to grass-fed beef —though admittedly this is notcommon practice as yet.There are disease issues for

wildlife as well. For example,grass-fed animals carry diseasethat can harm native species.Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)or Mad Cow disease is thought tohave originated with domesticlivestock and later transferred toelk and deer. And foot andmouth disease transmitted fromcattle has been shown to infectbison. Brucellosis, another dis-ease originating with domesticcattle, has created a huge contro-versy in Montana, where bisoninfected with the disease arekilled when they wander fromYellowstone National Park.Free range cattle are also prob-

lematic for other reasons as well.Take predators. Most grass-fedcattle are vulnerable to predators,and it is the presence of “freerange livestock” that leads to con-flicts and the eventual slaughterof everything from wolves to coy-otes both as preventative or inretaliation for predation.On western rangelands where

livestock are often let loose onpublic lands, even the mere pres-ence of cows socially displacesnative herbivores like elk thatsimply won’t graze in the sameplace as cows. Since there are noempty niches, these native herbi-vores are displaced into lowerquality habitat. Thus even“predator friendly” beef is morehype than reality.One of the big problems with

grain-fed livestock operations isthe huge amount of land that isused to produce grain. Approxi-mately 80-90 million acres ofland in the US are used to growcorn alone. That is 80-90 millionacres of once native prairie thatis now growing a mono crop at atremendous loss of biodiversity.As bad as that plant commu-

nity conversion may be for natu-ral process, and native species,grass-fed beef generally dine oneither pasture or hay — both ofwhich consist of exotic grassesthat are planted at the expenseof native plants. In most states,the biggest single factor in thedestruction of native plant com-munities has been their conver-

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The surrounding story is notone that you may be usedto seeing in a livestock pub-lication. The inaccuracies

are so many that it would takedays of research to refute it —but the research is out there andmost, if not all, of the numbersare not supported by science.The notion that 18 percent of

the world’s greenhouse gases(GHG) is indeed from a 2006United Nation’s report calledLivestock’s Long Shadow. WhatMr. Wuetherner fails to note isthat the number is for underdeveloped counties — where fewof the population has cars or thehuge number of air, water andother environmental quality reg-ulations that those in the UnitedStates (US) must comply with.Thus, there is little but livestockto emit gases.The UN report’s estimate for

livestock’s contribution to GHGemissions (18 percent) is a globalestimate, and not applicable to

the United States or other devel-oped countries.According to the U.S. Envi-

ronmental Protection Agency(EPA), the entire U.S. agricul-ture sector accounts for only six(6) percent of annual U.S. GHGemission. Of this, livestock pro-duction is estimated to accountfor 2.8 percent of total U.S.emissions.However, this is just a tiny

piece of the anti-cattle, anti-agriculture sentiment that isbombarding the public everyday. The beauty of this piece (ifthere is such a thing) is that itdemonstrates the serious needfor the beef industry to standunited. Marketing opportunitiesabound for the wide variety ofbeef that is available from com-modity to branded to grass-fedto organic.The beef industry cannot

afford to divide ourselves byniche. The industry also mustunderstand rules of engagementand engage.

Or . . . You Can’t Feed The Aligator To Avoid it

Grass-Fed Beef Won’t Save the Planet GEORGE WUERTHNER is the editor of Welfare Ranching — The Subsidized Destruction of the

American West as well as a contributor to Fatal Harvest about

Industrialized Agriculture, and a soon-to-be-published book

on Factory Farming

continued on page fifteen

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Class war: How public servants became our masters

Government employeeshave turned themselvesinto a coddled class thatlives better than its pri-

vate-sector counterpart, and withmore impunity. In effect, thepublic’s servants have becomeour masters, says Steven Green-hut, a columnists with theOrange County Register.There was a time when gov-

ernment work offered lowersalaries than comparable jobs inthe private sector but more secu-rity and somewhat better bene-fits. These days, governmentworkers fare better than private-sector workers in almost everyarea — pay, benefits, time off,and job security:According to a 2007 analysis

of data from the U.S. Bureau ofLabor Statistics by the AsburyPark Press, the average federalworker made $59,864 in 2005,compared with the average salaryof $40,505 in the private sector.Across comparable jobs, the

federal government paid highersalaries than the private sectorthree times out of four, thepaper found.The Obama administration

has extended the hiring bingestarted by President Bush:The executive branch employ-

ment (excluding the Postal Serv-ice and the Defense Depart-ment) slated to grow by 2percent in 2010 — and morethan 15 percent if you counttemporary Census workers.The average federal salary

(including benefits) is set togrow from $72,800 in 2008 to$75,419 in 2010, CBS reported.But the real action isn’t in

what government employees arebeing paid today; it’s in whatthey’re being promised fortomorrow, says Greenhut:Public pensions have swollen

to unrecognizable proportionsduring the last decade.In June 2005, BusinessWeek

reported that more than 14 mil-lion public servants and 6 millionretirees are owed $2.37 trillionby more than 2,000 differentstates, cities and agencies, num-bers that have risen since then.State and local pension pay-

outs, the magazine found, hadincreased 50 percent in just fiveyears.People who are supposed to

serve the public have becomeprivileged elite that exploit politi-cal power for financial gain andspecial perks. It is a two-tier sys-tem in which the rulers are mak-ing steady gains at the expense ofthe ruled. The predictable results:Higher taxes, eroded public serv-ices, unsustainable levels of debt,and massive roadblocks toreforming even the poorest per-forming agencies and school sys-tems. If this system is left to growunchecked, we will end up with apale imitation of the free societyenvisioned by the Founders, saysGreenhut.

Source: Steven Greenhut, “Class War: How PublicServants Became our Masters,” Reason, Feb. 2010.

Call Debbie at 505/332-3675,

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sion to hay or pasture. Indeed,across the country more than130 million acres have been con-verted to hay and pasture. To putthis into perspective, the entirefootprint of all urbanization anddeveloped land in the entire USis about 60 million acres. In asense one could argue that grass-fed cows have destroyed farmore of the native plant coverthan all the cities, highways, fac-tories, Wal-Mart parking lots,etc. combined. No small impact.Whatever the exact figure maybe, there is no denying that a lotof native plant communities havebeen converted to hay or pas-ture.Even cattle grazing on native

grasslands are not immune fromjudgment. One can’t be puttingthe majority of native grassesinto the belly of exotic animalslike cattle which are then export-ed from the system withoutimpacting the ecosystem. Everyblade of grass going into a cow’sbelly is that much less forage fornative animals, from grasshop-pers to elk.There are far more ecological

problems I could list for grass-fed beef, but suffice to say cattleproduction of any kind is notenvironmentally friendly.The further irony of grass-fed

beef is that consumption of beefproducts is not healthy despiteclaims to the contrary. Theremay be less fat in grass-fed beef,but the differences are not signif-icant enough to warrant theclaim that beef consumption is“healthy.” There is a huge body

of literature about the contribu-tion of red meat to major healthproblems including breast, colon,stomach, bladder, and prostatecancer. The other dietary relatedmalady is the strong linkbetween red meat consumptionand heart disease.Another health claim is that

grass-fed beef has more omega-3fats which are considered impor-tant for lowering health attackrisks. However, the differentbetween grain-fed and grass-fedis so small as to be insignificant,not to mention there are manyother non-beef sources for this.Fish, walnuts, beans, flaxseeds,winter squash and olive oil areonly some of the foods that l pro-vide concentrated sources ofomega-3 fats. Arguing that eat-ing grass-fed beef is necessary orhealthier grain-fed beef is likeclaiming it is better to smoke afiltered cigarette instead of anon-filtered one. The health ben-efits are minor if they make a dif-ference at all.There may be ethical reasons

to prefer grass-fed animals overthe often inhumane treatmentgiven to factory-farmed animals.But even that rationale seemshollow to me. If one is that con-cerned with ethical issues, oneshould consider whether keepingany animals captive for slaughteris really ethical.Beef consumption, whether

grass-fed or grain-fed animals isneither healthy for the planet norfor humans. Reducing or elimi-nating red meat — whether grassor grain fed — from one’s diet isone of the easiest way to “save”the planet.

Source: newwest.net

Grass-fed Beefcontinued from page fourteen


by CHRISTOPHER BOOKER / telegraph.co.uk

So swine flu — eventuallyfound to be only a tenth asvirulent as ordinary flu —passes into history as yet

another massive scare. Hypedout of all proportion by drugcompanies and the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO),this fooled our endlessly gulliblepoliticians into spending £1 bil-lion on vaccines which turnedout not to be needed. Thus,quite predictably, did the swineflu panic follow the classic pat-tern of so many other scaresbefore it, as Dr. Richard Northand I analysed in our book onthe phenomenon, Scared ToDeath. Tracing the history ofmany examples, we showed howthe most damaging point in anyscare, from BSE and salmonella

in eggs to the Millennium Bug,comes when governments fall forthe hype, needlessly costing usall billions of pounds.With perfect timing, the

European Parliament recentlyshelled out 70,000 euros on apropaganda exercise at Olympia,designed to turn children into“active EU citizens”. I was alert-ed to this shameless PR stunt byGawain Towler, press officer forthe group in the Brussels parlia-ment which includes the UKIndependence Party.The EU’s interactive game,

dubbed “Crisis Point”, askedchildren to imagine that theywere an MEP or a EuropeanCommissioner faced with adeadly new disease, XtremeDrug Resistant TB, which hadsent Europe into meltdown. Theplayers were told they had just aday to choose from a range ofstrategies to save their fellowEuropean citizens from disaster.Clicking the buttons, Towlersoon saw the point. If nationalgovernments were allowed totake unilateral action, the screenshowed that millions would die.But if the EU was allowed toassume control, it would be pos-sible to reduce the number ofdeaths to only a few dozen.This is what North and I

dubbed “the beneficial crisis”,whereby the EU has repeatedlyused some panic over health,energy, finance or terrorism tojustify seizing more power fromnational governments. A glaringinstance was the Belgian dioxinspanic of 1999, which gave Brus-sels the excuse to take over frommember states all power to regu-

late on food safety. No soonerhad it done so than the hysteriaover dioxins in Belgian chickens,which led to losses of £1 billion,was found to have been com-pletely baseless. But once again,the EU had succeeded in the onething it is really good at — suck-ing ever more power to the cen-tre, in order then, corruptly andvery inefficiently, to misuse it.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/com-men t / c o l umn i s t s / c h r i s t o phe r book -er/7006043/Swine-flu-was-a-textbook-case-of-a-scare.html

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Record high beef production for December

Commercial red meat pro-duction for the UnitedStates totaled 4.15 billionpounds in December,

down slightly from the 4.16 bil-lion pounds produced in Decem-ber 2008, the USDA said in itsLivestock Slaughter Report.Beef production, at 2.13 bil-

lion pounds, was two percentabove the previous year. Cattleslaughter totaled 2.75 millionhead, up three percent fromDecember 2008, the USDAreported. The average live weightwas down seven pounds from theprevious year, at 1,296 pounds.Veal production totaled 13.1 mil-lion pounds, two percent belowDecember a year ago.Calf slaughter totaled 92,300

head, down two percent fromDecember 2008. The averagelive weight was down five poundsfrom last year, at 240 pounds.

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www.smartcross.org • [email protected]

“I prefer to buy all Continental-British cross cattle. As I see cattle come in the feedlot, there is a big advantage to Gelbvieh cross cattle for their cutability and performance. Color doesn’t make as much of a difference in the feedyard, its conversion and average daily gain that drive price and Gelbvieh cross cattle are outstanding in that regard.”

Bill Sleigh, manager of Hays Feeders, Hays, Kan.

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HITCHINGS530/251-5471708-980 Center Rd.Susanville, CA 96130

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SHOW CATTLEBREEDING STOCKEMBRYOS • SEMEN

RANGE-READY BULLS

by DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer / Tulsa World

Aveterinary toxicologist tes-tified recently in federalcourt in Tulsa that some233,000 tons of dry

manure are deposited by cattlein the Illinois River watershedbasin per year. The trial stems from the

state’s suing poultry companiesover environmental damagesthey allegedly have caused. Thecompanies continued presentingtheir witnesses in early January.The testimony of Billy R. Clay

underscored the positions hetook in his November 2008expert report, in which he notedthat cattle manure is depositeddirectly to the land surface in thewatershed while poultry manureis allowed to undergo drying andfermentation before it is avail-

able for land application as fertil-izer or exported.Clay, called to the witness

stand by the defense, found in hisreport that poultry litter has a“long history of safe usage,” thatthere are a variety of benefitsassociated with its use as a fertil-izer, and that its application ishighly regulated in the watershed.During its presentation, the

state introduced expert testimo-ny from witnesses who assertedthat the chemical composition ofpoultry waste — including itshigh concentrations of phospho-rus, copper, zinc and arsenic —is distinct from that of cattlewaste in the area.Clay’s report claims that of

the phosphorus in livestock andwildlife manure produced in thewatershed, cattle contributeabout 46 percent of the totalthat is deposited in the relevant

area while poultry litter availablefor application represents onlyabout 35 percent of that total.On cross-examination, the

state attacked Clay’s figures andthe methods he used to arrive atthose numbers. Clay defendedhis conclusions and said, “Wefelt comfortable about the meth-ods we used and the approachwe took.”Earlier, defense witness

Steven P. Larson, a hydrologist,told the court that the groundwater sampling data he analyzedshowed no significant relation-ship between items such as phos-phorus, copper, zinc and theexistence or density of poultryhouses in the area.The state is suing 11 poultry

companies in U.S. DistrictCourt in Tulsa, claiming that thecompanies are legally responsiblefor the handling and disposal ofpoultry waste in the Illinois Riverwatershed in eastern Oklahoma.

In the nine quarter-centuryperiods since the Americanrepublic was founded in 1789,the one with highest econom-

ic growth and job creation wasthe period from 1983 through2007. Particularly remarkable —there were just four quarters (outof 100) of negative economicgrowth in that entire interval,says Richard W. Rahn, a SeniorFellow at the Cato Institute andChairman of the Institute forGlobal Economic Growth.

� That period of time wascharacterized by a reduction ingovernment spending from 23.5percent of GDP to 20 percent(the low point was 18.4 percentin 2000), and a reduction in mar-ginal tax rates.

� Despite the reduction in taxrates, tax revenues both inabsolute terms and as a percent-age of GDP grew in the 1983-2007 period because of theimproved work and investmentincentives.

� As a result, the deficit fellfrom 6 percent of GDP in 1983to just 1.2 percent in 2007.

For many years (until 1983),the Federal Reserve implicitly fol-lowed the Taylor Rule (a formulathat provides central bankers withinformation about whether theyare creating too much or too littlemoney) to guide monetary policy,which gave the U.S. both a fallingand relatively stable rate of infla-tion, says Rahn.During that golden quarter-

century, both the presidency andCongress switched parties a cou-ple of times. Thus, it should bepolitically possible to go back tothe policies that gave us thegolden quarter.Most people understand that

if the government is growingfaster than the economy (as ithas been for the past two years)disaster ultimately will occur, butif the economy and the privatesector grow faster than the gov-ernment, as they did from 1983-2007, almost everyone can be farbetter off, says Rahn.As noted, the golden quarter

was characterized by a long-termtrend toward lower tax rates. Thecurrent Congress and adminis-

tration have been enacting taxincreases and proposing manymore, which will only cause moreeconomic misery. Many taxrates, particularly on capital,such as the capital gains tax andcorporate income tax, are wellabove their revenue and welfare-maximizing rates and should bereduced, not increased, saysRahn.

Source: Richard W. Rahn, “Recouping the gold-en quarter,” Washington Times, Jan. 27, 2010.

Boise wolf advocate has used a public recordsrequest to get the names of hunters whoreported killing a wolf in Idaho and postedall 122 names on a Web site.

Rick Hobson also bought an ad in the IdahoStatesman that directed people to the Web site.Hobson says his intention in getting the names

from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game wasnot to cause the hunters to be targeted for harass-ment by wolf hunt opponents. But he says hunterswho bagged wolves have by default inserted them-selves into the debate.“They’re paying for the privilege to use a resource

that belongs to all of us,” Hobson told the newspa-per. “They’ve made a conscious decision to do some-thing that other people in this state disapprove of.”Robert Millage of Kamiah is the state's first suc-

cessful wolf hunter. He said he’s been dealing withharassment since he killed a wolf last Septemberon the opening day of the season.“I’m glad it was me if it saves someone else from

dealing with it,” he said. “A lot of people that I’venever met took it upon themselves to go to my

defense. (It was) a humbling experience.”Successful wolf hunters are required to report a

kill within 24 hours to Idaho Fish and Game.Agency spokesman Ed Mitchell said officials had

no choice but to release the names, and that theagency has received a few complaints. “We under-stand the concerns, but under state law, and uponrequest, we have to give up the names,” he said.Mitchell said the agency plans to add a dis-

claimer in the next hunting rules booklet warninghunters their names could be released.Millage said his name appearing on a list won’t

stop him from future wolf hunts.“They think if they put people’s names out there

and stop a few people from hunting, they feel likethey’ve won,” Millage said.The newspaper reported that hunters put Hob-

son’s name, address and other information on a pro-hunting Web site. That information was laterremoved and Hobson said no one has contacted him.On another Web site for Montana, a list of

hunters in that state who killed a wolf in 2009 hasbeen set up.

The Golden Quarter

Wolf advocate lists hunters’ names

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Poultry Defense — Blame Cattle


Cattle Ranch For Sale

Located in Southeastern New Mexico approximately25 miles west of Jal, N.M. along and on both sides

of N.M. State Hwy. 128 situated in both Eddy and LeaCounties. 28,666 total acres with 2,250 deeded. BLMgrazing permit for 370 AUYL. Eleven pastures andtraps. No cattle since March, excellent grass. Headquar-ters with residence, shop, hay barn and shipping penswith scales. Price: $1,100,000

Contact: Scott McNally, Qualifying Broker, 575/622-5867www.ranchesnm.com

Bar MREAL ESTATE

P.O. BOX 428 • ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO 88202NEVADA RANCHES and FARMS

Bottari RealtyPAUL D. BOTTARI, BROKER

www.bottarirealty.com • [email protected]

Ofc.: 775/752-3040Res: 775/752-3809 • Fax: 775/752-3021

Out West Realty Network Affiliate

This should be a great investment property ideal for a 1031 exchange!Deeded sheep base in Elko Co: 10,960 deeded acres plus a 29 percent publicBLM permit in the mountains just northeast of Elko. Fifty percent of the mineral rights in-cluded. Good summer spring and summer range for sheep or cattle. Annual lease income,plus inexpensive ag taxes. Price: $1,425,800.

Dawley Creek Ranch — located in one of the most beautiful ranchingvalleys of the West: Ruby Valley: Set at the foot of the majestic Ruby Mountainswith approx. 1,100 acres of lush meadows and good private pasture. This ranch has approx.6,000 deeded acres. Approx. 700 acres are currently being cut for meadow hay plus two110 acre piviots with alfalfa/orchard grass hay. This ranch runs approx. 500 pair plus heifersand bulls year long and around 30 head of horses. No water fights in this case as the waterdoesn’t run off the ranch but rather fills a snow water lake called Franklin Lake. This ranchhas been a target for conservation easements. Priced at $4,500,000. And contingent uponbeing able to complete a 1031 exchange into another acceptable property.

Waddy Creek Ranch: located in a remote Nevada ranching valley called Charlestonwhich sits at the foot of the Jarbidge Wilderness which is part of the Humboldt NationalForest. The ranch is bounded on two sides by forest. There is no power in the valley butthere is land line phone. Two creeks provide irrigation water for approx. 138 acres of his-toric meadow. This property has Quaken aspen groves and is quite beautiful. Access ison a county road. There is a BLM grazing permit attached to the ranch for 71 head. Price:$500,000. Terms considered.

Indian Creek Ranch:White Pine County, Nevada. This is a great property for a hunteras it is surrounded by public lands and has plentiful mule deer, antelope and elk. Thereis a large spring arising on high ground that could provide pressure for hydro power, orgravity flow domestic or irrigation water. This is an old historic ranch base and can providesummer pasture for cattle or horses and includes approx. 200 acres in three separateparcels. Piñon pine and Utah juniper plus some cottonwood, willows and Quaken aspen.Very scenic. Approx. ½ mile off county maintained road. Price: $425,000.

Ph: 505/835-1422 • C: 505/440-8297505/865-5500

BettyHouston

VIEW ALL MY LISTINGS ON YOU-TUBE

www.socorronmproperty.com

Residential Commercial Land

LOOKING TO SELL YOUR FARM, RANCH, OR RURAL HOME?Call me today. As a fellow farm owner and operator, I understand the unique challenges faced by agriculture and am here to help you in meeting your goals,

whether buying or selling.

PAUL STOUT, QUALIFYING BROKER 3352 State Road 209, Broadview, NM 88112

O: 575/357-2060 • C: 575/760-5461F: 575/357-2050 • [email protected]

www.firstalternativerealty.com

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TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

Joe Priest Real Estate1205 N. Hwy 175, Seagoville, TX 75159

972/287-4548 • 214/676-69731-800/671-4548www.joepriest.com

[email protected]

• 503 Ac. So. Navarro Co., Texas. It’s got it all. $1,950/ac.

• 632-acre CATTLE and HUNTING,N.E. Texas ranch, elaboratehome, one-mile highway frontage.OWNER FINANCE at $2,200/ac.

• 274 acres in the shadow of Dallas.Secluded lakes, trees,excellent grass. Hunting and fishing, dream home sites.$3,850/ac.

• 126 ac. jewel on Red River,Tex. – Nice river frontage, irrigation well, excellent soils forcrops, nursery stock, cattle grazing, you name it! $3,250/ac.

• 1,700-acre classic N.E. Texascattle and hunting ranch. $2,750/ac. Some mineral production.

• Texas Jewel, 7,000 ac. –1,000 per ac., run cow to 10 ac.

• 126 ac. – Red River Co., Tex.Home, barns, pipe fence. $225,000.

Idaho-OregonCall 208/345-3163 for catalog.

KNIPE

LAND CO.

RANCHESFARMSCOM’L.

Established1944

��

1002 Koenigheim, San Angelo, TX 76903 • www.llptexasranchland.com • [email protected]

LEE, LEE & PUCKITTASSOCIATES INC.

KEVIN C. REED

Office: 325/655-6989Cell: 915/491-9053

RanchersServing

Ranchers

Texas andNew Mexico

RANCHSALES &APPRAISALS

PAUL McGILLIARDCell: 417/839-5096 • 1-800/743-0336

MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORSSPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

5 Acres – Log home. Price Decrease: 3,800sq. ft. log home, 6 br, 4 BA on 6 acres m/l. 35x 68 bunkhouse/classroom heated & 1 BA. 1/2mile from Gasconade River & Wetstone Creek.Many possibilities for this property. MountainGrove schools. Asking $170,000. MLS#814022

483 Acres, Hunter Mania: Nature at his best.Dont miss out on this one. Live water (twocreeks). 70+ acres open in bottom hayfields andupland grazing. Lots of timber (marketable andyoung) for the best hunting and fishing (TableRock, Taney Como and Bull Shoals Lake) Reallycute 3-bd., 1-ba stone home. Secluded yes, buteasy access to Forsyth-Branson, Ozark andSpringfield. Property joins National Forest.MLS#908571

90 Acres: Just north of Phillipsburg off I-44. 80 percent open, pond and a well. Buildyour dream home and enjoy. MLS#910997

See all my listings at: pmcgilliard.murney.comSouthern Plains

Land CompanyOklahoma & Texas Real EstateRanches, Farms, Commercial

Kalin Flournoy, Associate��+-��%%'�*�"(��+++��%)( �&$�"�!$'��$��%#

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SOLD

Wild West Properties, L.L.C.

THE GOLDEN RULE ISN’T JUST A RULE; IT’S A WAY OF LIFE.

Give me a call or see our website for the following properties:

RANDY J. WOOD, Qualifiying Broker • O: 505/980-8019 • F: 505/823-2262Email: [email protected] • www.wildwestproperties.com

Extraordinary 39,000Deeded Acre HuntingRanch 474-Acre Hunting Paradise near Luna, NM (under contract)66-Acre MRGCD irrigated farm south of Veguita, NM145-Head Cattle Ranch near Magdalena, NM2,800-Acre Cattle Ranchnear Quemado, NM(pending offer)

9,400-Acre Ranch next to Capitan, NM 14-Acre MRGCD irrigated farm near Las Nutrias, NM 190-Acre Irrigated Horse Ranch near Ruidoso, NM 500-Head Cattle Ranch near Trinidad, CO. 3,200-Acre Ranch near Marquez, New Mexico

7400 Gila Rd. NEAlbuquerque, NM 87109

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate GUIDE


1,350 -1,400 AU’s YEAR ROUND – WINTER RANGE – 11,750DEEDED PLUS BLM and STATE LEASES - ONE CONTIGUOUSBLOCK - LOW OVERHEAD – GOOD IMPROVEMENTS – 10 MINUTES TO TOWN and SCHOOLS -$6,000,000 – CAN CUT TO 1,000 HD AND REDUCE PRICE! – P BAR

225 – 250 AU’s - 850 DEEDED (650 irrigated) – 1-1/2 MILERIVER - NICE MEADOWS – MODEST IMPROVEMENTS WITHGREAT WORKING FACILITIES – CLOSE TO TOWN and

SCHOOLS - $1,800,000 – WANT OFFER -CAN ADD CUSTOMHOME AND 80 ACRES – GREAT STOCKER OPERATION –

LYMAN – RAE @ 208-761-9553

LIFESTYLE RANCH 55 MILES TO BOISE – 2,213 DEEDEDACRES PLUS STATE AND BLM – DROP DEAD PRIVATE – 2 MILES MAJOR STREAM – BEHIND LOCKED GATE – COMFORTABLE IMPROVEMENTS – ELK, DEER, TURKEY,CHUKAR, HUNS, QUAIL, WATERFOWL - BEAR, LION

AND VARMINT – TROUT and BASS PONDS - $1,400,000 –WANT OFFER – TURKEY CREEK

LIFESTYLE – 320 DEEDED ACRES (105 irrigated) - COMFORTABLE IMPROVEMENTS – SPECTACULAR VIEWS –

BORDERS FEDERAL LANDS – ELK, DEER, TURKEY – ONLY MINUTES TO SOME OF THE FINEST YEAR LONG FISHING IN THE NORTHWEST – STEELHEAD, STURGEN,TROUT, BASS, CRAPPY AND MORE - $690,000 – WANT OFFER – POSY -RAE @ 208-761-9553

LIFESTYLE/INCOME – POSSIBLY THE FINEST WILDLIFE VARIETY/QUANITY AVAILABLE – 1,160 DEEDED ACRES (180 irrigated) – 2-1/2 MILES RIVER – 2 BASS PONDS –PLENTIFUL QUAIL, CHUKAR, DOVE, PHEASANT, WATER-FOWL, DEER and AND VARMINTS - EXCELLENT IMPROVE-MENTS – COW/CALF AND/OR STOCKER OPERATION FORINCOME /TAX ADVANTAGE - $1,900,000 – LANDRETH

AGRILANDS Real Estatewww.agrilandsrealestate.com

Vale, Oregon • 541/473-3100 • [email protected]

“EAGER SELLERS”

Qualified Broker: A.H. (Jack) MerrickSales Agents: Charles May, Koletta Hays, Kercida Merrick

GIVE US A CALL OR STOP BY. LET US WORK FOR YOU!

What a Place! Only 320 acres but really improved.2 brick homes, several large barns, well-wateredwith 2 wells. Excellent turf, very accessible. Horsefriendly.Very Nice Smaller Ranch – Has brick 3 bedroom,2 bath home plus a smaller hand house, shop build-ing, hay barn, livestock scales, large steel pens withsome feed bunks, working chutes, overhead bulkfeed storage, outside fencing (mostly new 5-wiresteel post), 1141 acres of excellent turf, and 2 pas-tures cross-fenced with drinkers. In all, this is a greatopportunity for someone.

Buena VistaREALTY521 W. 2nd, Portales, NM 88130 • 575/226-0671 • Fax 575/226-0672

VIEW THE WEBSITE FOR FULL PICTURESAND DETAILS ON THESE AND OTHER

LISTINGS: WWW.BUENAVISTA-NM.COM

D A N D E L A N E YR E A L E S T A T E , L L C

318 W. Amador Ave. • Las Cruces, N.M. 88005(O) 575/647-5041 • (C) 575/644-0776

[email protected] • www.zianet.com/nmlandman

WAHOO RANCH:– Approximately 39,976 acres: 10,600 deeded, 6,984 BLM, 912 state, 40 uncontrolledand 21,440 forest. Beautiful cattle ranch located on the east slope of the Black Range Mountains northof Winston, N.M., on State Road 52. Three hours from either Albuquerque or El Paso.The ranch isbounded on the east by the Alamosa Creek Valley and on the west by the Wahoo Mountains rangingin elevation from 6,000' to 8,796'. There are 5 houses/cabins, 3 sets of working corrals (2 with scales)and numerous shops and outbuildings. It is very well watered with many wells, springs, dirt tanksand pipelines. The topography and vegetation is a combination of grass covered hills (primarilygramma grasses), with many cedar, piñon and live oak covered canyons as well as the forested WahooMountains. There are plentiful elk and deer as well as antelope, turkey, bear, mountain lion and javelina(49 elk tags in 2008). Absolutely one of the nicest combination cattle/hunting ranches to be found inthe SW. Price reduced to $8,500,000.

SAN JUAN RANCH: Located 10 miles south of Deming off Hwy. 11 (Columbus Hwy) approximately26,964 total acres consisting of 3,964± deeded, 3,800± state lease, 14,360± BLM and 4,840± Uncontrolled.The allotment is for 216 head (AUYL). There are 278± acres of ground water irrigation rights (not cur-rently being farmed) as well as 9 solar powered stock wells and metal storage tanks and approx. 6½miles pipeline. The ranch begins on the north end at the beautiful Mahoney Park high up in the Floridamountains and runs 5½ miles down the mountains to their south end. It continues another 7½ milessouth across their foothills and onto the flats. The ranch has a very diverse landscape with plentifulwildlife including quail, dove, rabbits, deer and ibex. Lots of potential and a good buy at $1,200,000.

REDROCK CANYON RANCH: Located in Redrock, N.M. Approx. 7,268 total acres consisting of 1,908±private, 1,040± state, 4,320± BLM, 120-head grazing permit and 24 acres of farm land. 3½ miles of theGila river runs thru the middle of the ranch. Deer, javalina, quail and great fishing. Topography consistsof large hills and mesas, bi-sected by the cottonwood lined Gila River Valley. Very well fenced and wa-tered. Priced Reduced to $1,900,000

212 ACRE FARM BETWEEN LAS CRUCES, N.M. AND EL PASO, TEXAS:Hwy. 28 frontage with 132 acres ir-rigated, 80 acres sandhills, full EBID (surface water) plus a supplemental irrigation well, cement ditchesand large equipment warehouse. Reasonably priced at $2,000,000.

118.8 ACRE FARM: Located on Afton Road south of La Mesa, N.M. Paved road frontage, full EBID (sur-face water) plus 2 supplemental irrigation wells with cement ditches. Will divide into 2 tracts — 50.47acres and 68.32 acres. Priced at $14,500/acre — $1,722,600.

BEAUTIFUL 143.81-ACRE NORTH VALLEY FARM located in Las Cruces, N.M. next to the Rio GrandeRiver. Great views of the Organ Mountains. Cement ditches, 2 irrigation wells and EBID. Two olderhouses and shed sold “as is”. Priced at $13,212/acre — $1,900,000. Will consider dividing.

OTHER FARMS FOR SALE: In Doña Ana County. All located near Las Cruces, N.M. 8, 11, 14, and 27.5acres. $11,111/acre to $17,000/acre. All have EBID (surface water rights from the Rio Grande River)and several have supplemental irrigation wells. If you are interested in farm land in Doña Ana County,give me a call.

Scottand co.Ranch & Farm Real Estate

Ben G. Scott, Krystal M. Nelson–Brokers 800/933-9698 day/night • www.scottlandcompany.com

This ad is just a small sample of the properties that we currently havefor sale. Please check our website:

scottlandcompany.com and give us a call!

We need your listings both largeand small, all types of ag properties(ESPECIALLY CRP).

RITA BLANCA RANCH – DallamCo., TX. – 4,055 acres, 4 circles,375 acres CRP, good fencing,pens and water. Priced to sell.

S. WICHITA RIVER RANCH –ABUNDUNT DEER, QUAIL,DOVE & TURKEY – 12-1/4 section ranch, fronts on two hwys.,466 ac. in farmland, hunting facilities, new set of steel pens.

L1301 Front St.Dimmitt, TX79027 Tenney’s 4U Land & Real Estate

4520 West Airport Rd.Willcox, Arizona [email protected]

Office 520/384-2834 Cell 520/906-7335Fax 520/384-6396

J.L. (JIM) TENNEY

41 Acres: Irrigation well with new Submersible pumping system that produces260 GPM, concrete water distribution system, just 6 miles NW of Willcox in Stew-art District, great location with all utilities and nice views ¾-mile from paved Rd.$240,000 with Owner financing. Additional acreage available.

100 Acres: New 30'x60'x17', concrete-floored, open front, sheet metal barn,very high producing irrigation well (tested over 2,000 GPM) new pump andelectric motor in place, domestic well with submersible pump and pressure sys-tem, electric, phone & new septic system ready for your new home. Abundanceof water ready to put in to farming. $275,000.

640 AC + 600 AC State Lease in livestock grazing. This property lies alongBirch Road, a main paved road that connects Hwy. 191 and Kansas SettlementRoad, the 2 main southern routes, in Sulfur Springs Valley. $1,120,000

2,240 Acres, 10 wells, all videoed showing water depths and condition of wells.Paved road to corner of property, on Bell Ranch Road. 2 miles North of Hwy181. In a farming area with Pat Hills as backdrop. Well located for developmentproperty or re-development as farm and/or dairy. Has annual governmentcrop payments and can be leased out for grazing to keep taxes to a min-imum. $5,600,000.

Our family trains roping and barrel horses, so the cattle we have are Corriente Cattle we use for training our horses. My primary business is brokering real estate.

RIAD PROPERTIESA L T U R A S • C A L I F O R N I AT Website: triadproperties.net

[email protected] Knoch, Broker

530/233-1993Fax: 530/233-5193

KELLY CREEK RANCH: This reputation Oregon ranch has 2,400 deeded acres, freewater with 1869 water rights, large flood irrigated meadows, and no irrigation wells.Improvements include three homes, three hay barns, three horse barns, two sets ofcorrals, with scales, feed lot with 450' of fence line bunk space and miscellaneousother buildings. Water fowl, deer, and many other wildlife species are abundant onthe ranch. This is an easy operating ranch with one hired man. Price quick sale reduced from $3,750,000 to $2,995,000

1,360 ACRES, near Ravendale, Calif. Develop this property into a hay ranch. Excellent area for irrigation wells.

Two older homes plus outbuildings. Priced at: $600,000 ��


rights Web sites indicated toleaders in the animal rightsmovement that the religiousright was a potential ally andresource contributor.

HSUS launches Animals and ReligionprogramThe Humane Society of the

United States (HSUS) launcheda new Animals and Religion pro-gram at the end of September2007, hosted on its Web site athttp://www.HSUS.org/religion.HSUS’s Animals and Religionprogram, funded at $400,000 ayear, aims to persuade faith com-munities to take a series of smallsteps toward “animal welfare,”like offering a vegetarian entreeat a fellowship meal or insistingthat the coffee cake set out onSundays is made with free-rangeeggs.HSUS also is seeking to enlist

religious leaders in its politicalcampaigns. In California, thegroup is pushing a ballot meas-ure to ban certain confinementsystems for farm animals. Pro-motional advertisements for thecampaign show photos of hensin crowded cages with the cap-tion, “Is This Faithful Steward-ship of God’s Creatures?”HSUS’s Animals and Religion

Web site gives various U.S. reli-gions’ opinions about animals.According to the site, Seventh-day Adventists present a healthmessage that recommends vege-tarianism and expects abstinencefrom pork, shellfish and otherfoods proscribed as “unclean” inLeviticus 11. Additionally, thesite quotes a section from theUnited States Conference ofCatholic Bishops 2003 Agricul-tural Pastoral, “Catholic teachingabout the stewardship of cre-ation leads us to question certainfarming practices, such as theoperation of massive confinedanimal feeding operations. Webelieve that these operationsshould be carefully regulated andmonitored so that environmentalrisks are minimized and animalsare treated as creatures of God.”

Campaigns not fully embracedSome religious sectors are

showing backlash against therecent trend in animal rightsextremist campaigns, arguing thephrase “animal rights” subvertsGod’s plan for man to exertdominion over the rest of cre-ation. For example, EvangelicalCommentator Charles Colsonsuggested in a November radiobroadcast animal-rights activismimplies that “humans are . . . just one of many living acci-dents roaming the planet.” In thebroadcast, Colson said Chris-tians must treat animalshumanely, but that doesn’t meangranting them the legal right tolive in bigger cages.The goals of the vegan-driven

animal rights activists, if realized,could devastate farmers, ranch-ers and the rural communitiesthat rely upon them. History hasproven that America’s religiouscommunities can greatly influ-ence social causes in the nation.

by PHILIP LOBO, CommunicationsDirector, Animal Agriculture Alliance

The animal rights movement,often characterized as asecular, liberal cause, isworking with increasing

intensity to appeal to religiousorganizations. For example, theLos Angeles Times published aNov. 6, 2007 article titled “Forall of God’s creatures; Activistsfor animals are finding a recep-tive audience in the faith com-munity, including on the reli-gious right.”According to the Times, ani-

mal rights activists have beenlecturing in Quaker meeting-houses and Episcopal churches,

setting up Web sites that postScripture alongside recipes forvegan soup and using biblicallanguage to promote political ini-tiatives, such as laws mandatinglarger crates for gestating pigs.The Best Friends Animal

Society, an animal rights groupbased in Utah, hosted a summitNov. 7, 2007 in Washington,D.C., to collect 1 million signa-tures on “A Religious Proclama-tion for Animal Compassion”from people of all faiths commit-ted to making the world a kinderplace for animals.Of the five “calls to action” in

the proclamation, No. 2 calledupon people of faith to reducemeat consumption, refuse to

wear fur, buy from local farmsand actively support those whoencourage humane treatment ofanimals. According to theproclamation, “. . . the increasingcommercialization and com-moditization of animals for thepurpose of human consumptionand comfort causes untold suf-fering upon animals each year infactory farms, the commercialfishing industry and the furtrade.” At press time, the BestFriends Animal and Religionteam boasted 7,435 signaturesfor the proclamation, and theyplan to reach more than 2,000churches, mosques, synagogues,temples and faith organizationsby the end of 2008 in prepara-

tion for the 2009 Summit of Ani-mals and Religion.

Animal rights, evangelismand higher educationKaren Swallow Prior, an asso-

ciate professor of English at Lib-erty University — a fundamen-talist Baptist institution foundedby the late Rev. Jerry Falwell —recently wrote an editorial forthe university’s journal declaringanimal welfare an evangelicalconcern. According to Prior, theevangelical hero of the late 18thand 19th centuries, WilliamWiberforce, pushed for laws toprotect animals from human cru-elty. The Los Angeles Times com-mented that buzz on animal

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Animal Rights Groups exploit religion

LMD Feb 2010

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