LMD January 2012

LivestockDigest

LivestockJANUARY 15, 2012 • www. aaalivestock . com Volume 54 • No. 1

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

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

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DigestRiding Herd

by Lee Pitts

First it was tech stocksthat crashed bigger thanan old computer runningWindows 7. Then thereal estate bubble burstwhich brought us The

Great Recession. Next the stockmarket bubble was prickedwhich left Investors with ravaged401K’s and at a loss where to puttheir money. They only knewthey wanted something safe andsolid. And tangible. And so theyinvested in commodities and ahost of ag products hit all timehighs. Beef was also a benefici-ary in the flight to commodities.But gold, silver and most oth-

er ag products, except dairy andbeef, have lost some of their lus-ter lately. So the question forcattlemen: is beef in a bubbletoo?

And The Exodus ContinuesTo answer that question we

must first examine why cattlemenin 2011 enjoyed the highest profitper cow ($150 per head) in histo-ry. The easy answer is that ranch-ers are enjoying heady timesbecause there are a lot fewer ofthem. In the last three decadesthe U.S. has lost 42 percent of itscattle producers. And the exoduscontinues. The worst drought inthe history of Texas (that we knowof) has led to the largest ever one-year decline in cow numbers inthe largest cow-owning state in

Arkansas and Oklahoma.On a national basis we saw a

two percent reduction in cows in2011 and due to the high prices,more replacement heifers wentinto feedyards, which means wearen’t rebuilding our infrastruc-ture. Beef production will bedown another four percent in2012. It’s good for those who areleft standing but we are graduallykilling the proverbial goose?

Are They Crazy?Our future fortunes are close-

ly tied to that of our ag cousins,the farmers. In the years from2000-2009 farmers raised 28percent more corn so you’d thinkprices would have stumbled. But,instead, corn prices skyrocketeddue to ethanol. As long as we’regoing to try to raise our energyinstead of drill for it, more andmore corn will be taken from themouths of livestock and pouredinto the tanks of automobiles.Ethanol has definitely caused abubble in farm land as one 74-acre farm in Iowa set a newrecord selling for $20,000 peracre. And a farmer bought it, notsome hedge fund trader. The Federal Reserve Bank of

Chicago said that Iowa farmlandrose a “stunning” 34 percent in12 months through October of2011. The USDA says that dur-ing 2005-2010, the price of farm-land climbed as much as 70 per-

the country. According to DavidAnderson, Texas AgriLife Exten-sion, Texas has seen a 12 percentdecline from the 5 million cowsthe state had at the beginning of2011. Not only is that the biggestdrop in Texas history, Andersonsays it’s likely the largest drop inthe number of cows any state hasever seen. And we’re not evenmentioning the drought relatedlosses in New Mexico, Louisiana,

Is Beef In A Bubble?

by DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakotafamily deemed so dangerous that thelocal sheriff unleashed an unmannedPredator drone to help bring them in.

The Brossart’s alleged crime? Theywouldn’t give back three cows and their calvesthat wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm thissummer.The same aerial vehicles used by the CIA

to track down and assassinate terrorists andmilitants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are nowbeing deployed by cops to spy on Americansin their own backyards.The head of the anti-government Brossart

family are Susan and husband Rodney, wholive with seven of their eight adult children ina compound which includes a house, trailerand two RVs.Daughter Abby allegedly hit an officer

during the arrests, which included brotherAlex, after the family was spied on by a gov-

“If you expect to followthe trail, you must

do your sleepin' in the winter.”

continued on page ten

Meet the North Dakota family of anti-government separatists busted by cops using

a Predator drone . . . after ‘stealing six cows’A SPY PLANE COMES HOME: PRIVACY ADVOCATES FEAR THE USE OF PREDATOR

DRONES ON U.S. CITIZENS GIVES POLICE AGENCIES TOO MUCH POWER

www.LeePittsbooks.com

From Leeuary to Pittstober

Whenever I get themuch-appreciatedfree calendars atthe start of every

year there are a few monthsI’d like to tear out rightthen and there and be donewith them. Sadly, I have togo through the process ofliving through these much-dreaded months.“January” sounds prom-

ising enough but then themonth actually begins andmany folks start the yearwith a hangover. If that’snot a sign of what’s to comeI don’t know what is! Howgood can a month be thatstarts out with a bunch offu-fu flower parades on TV?I’ve always felt Januaryneeds a new name thatmore accurately reflects it’spersonality, something like“Depress-u-ary.” Christmasis over, everyone is grouchybecause they’re back atwork, and my favorite foot-ball teams lose again. Everyyear I’m convinced that ear-ly Alzheimer’s has kicked inbecause I can never remem-ber to write the correct yearon my checks.February isn’t much bet-

ter. I’ve hated it ever since Iwas a kid because of Rejec-tion Day, otherwise knownas Valentine’s Day. I spendthe entire month in confu-sion, not knowing howmany days are in themonth, or when we cele-brate the dead President’sbirthdays. I think we shouldchange our calendar andmake all months exactlyfour weeks long, and thencreate an all new month outof the days left over. Thismonth would be work-free,tax free and free of all stu-pid holidays like NationalSponge Cake Day. We’dcall this new monthLeeuary, Pittstober orPittstember, in honor of itsfounder. And because therewould be no more 29th,30th of 31st of the month,there’s an added bonus:people born on those dayswould have no more birth-days! Adding Pittstober tothe calendar would be averitable Fountain of Youthfor many.March is one of my

favorite months because

ernment drone.Sons Thomas and Jacob were also arrested

in the bust after a 16-hour stand off, whichstemmed from a half dozen stolen cows.The Brossarts are the first known subjects

of the high-flying new surveillance technologythat the federal government has made avail-able to some local sheriffs and police chiefs —all without Congressional approval or searchwarrants.Local authorities say the Brossarts are

known for being armed, anti-government sep-aratists whose sprawling farm is used as acompound. Rodney Brossart, 55, and his wifeSusan live in a house and a trailer and twoRVs with seven of their eight adult children.When the cattle wandered onto the

Brossarts’ land, Sheriff Kelly Janke, whopatrols a county of just 3,000 people, roundedup some sheriff’s deputies and arrested Mr.Brossart for failing to report the stray live-

continued on page three

continued on page two

Livestock Market Digest January 15, 2012

cent in some Midwest states andfarmland in Indiana, Illinois,Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin,rose 17 percent last year, thebiggest rate of increase for anyyear since 1977. Look in anyfarm publication and you’ll rou-tinely see farm ground selling for$10,000 an acre and up.The demand for corn and oth-

er grains has created a situationwhere any ground that can befarmed, will be. Pasture land thatonce housed a cow will nowgrow crops and some rancherswill be trading in their cowboyboots for lace-ups. Couple thatwith what meteorologists arecalling an “extended La Niñaweather pattern” which willagain bring drier than normalconditions to the Southwest, andyou have a beef industry that isshriveling up faster than a set ofsteers with a four percent pencilshrink.

The Hamburger EconomyJust think how much cattle

would be fetching if Americansweren’t cutting back on beef! Inthe last three years beef con-sumption in this country has fall-en by 12 percent. There aremany factors for this declineincluding an aging baby boomerpopulation that is gummingmore soup and salad and lesssteak, a misconception propagat-ed by vegetarians and healthgurus on TV that beef is bad foryou, and a recession that has hitconsumers hard in the pocket-book. Cash-strapped workingfolks are dining less at restau-rants where beef is big. Whateverthe reason, amidst the goodtimes we are currently enjoying,the fact that we are eating lessbeef is an ominous dark cloud.If you look at a chart of U.S.

per capita beef consumptionsince 1980 you’d see that from1980 through 1986 we wereactually increasing our consump-tion. Then it fell off in a straightline down until 1993, increasedfor a few years until 2008 when itwent straight down again.USDA estimates 2011 U.S. percapita beef consumption at 57.4lbs, down 25 percent from 1980.And the trend continues. In2012, USDA predicts, Ameri-cans will eat over three lesspounds of beef on average thanwe did last year.It’s hard to say how much the

reduction in consumption is dueto the recession but retail pricesfor beef rose an average of 10percent in 2011. Consumerswere still buying beef, but itmade up for a bigger share of herfood bill when they went tocheck out. As a result, con-sumers bought fewer steaks andmore ground round. So much sothat Erin Borror, an economistwith the U.S. Meat Export Fed-eration, says we are now living ina “Hamburger Economy.” Thesale of ground beef in dollarterms rose seven percent in 2011and the average retail beef pricein November of 2011 was arecord $5 per pound! The USDAsays that as U.S. beef production

declines again in 2012, beefprices will increase another 5.5percent in 2012, following a ninepercent increase in prices in2011.Americans haven’t lost their

appetite for beef but cattlemenshould be concerned that withless production, and subsequenthigher retail prices, we may bepricing our product beyond theconsumer’s ability to pay.

Welcoming Back Our BeefIf we had to depend on our

domestic market for price stabil-ity there’d be a lot less joy incowtown these days. The onetruly bright spot in the beefeconomy has been our exportsand for the first time in morethan 40 years, the U.S. became anet exporter of beef in 2011. Wesold more than we brought in.And that trend is expected tocontinue in 2012.That’s quite a turnaround

from the years when the fear andhysteria surrounding bovinespongiform encephalitis (BSEaka mad cow disease) turned ourexport market to mush. Rightafter the BSE fiasco the U.S.brought in three billion morepounds of beef than we export-ed, and we’re only now gettingthose markets back. To give youan idea how drastically BSEeffected our beef exports consid-er this: Our exports went from2.5 billion pounds before BSE toless that half a billion billionpounds in 2004. In other words,we lost 80 percent of our exportmarket! Sure, it could happenagain. If not because of BSE butfor some other reason, the pri-mary one being a change in thevalue of the U.S. dollar.The biggest single contribut-

ing factor to record beef prices isthat the value of the U.S. dollaris low in comparison to the cur-rency of our competitors. Thismeans that our beef and otherfoodstuffs are cheaper to buy.Other countries can buy more ofour bounty for less. As a result,beef exports were up 27 percentover a year ago at the end ofSeptember 2011, exports toJapan were 36 percent higherand in South Korea they were 47percent higher than a year ago.And those two account for 31percent of our beef exports.“The key thing is the people

we’re selling our beef to are notin economic trouble. Asian coun-tries make up a good portion ofour buyers and Asia is still on avery strong economic growthpath,” said Rich Nelson, directorof research at Allendale Inc.Should the value of the dollar

rise, which it will at some point,the harder it will be to maintainour export gains. And the exportmarkets are much more impor-tant to rancher’s well being nowthan they were just a few shortyears ago. In 2007 exports tookjust 5 percent of our beef pro-duction whereas today they take10 percent of our domestic pro-duction. Should the politics

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Is Beef In A Bubble? continued from page one

continued on page three

January 15, 2012 “America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

change and a new economic pol-icy arises, built on a stronger dol-lar, it could be enough to burstbeef’s export bubble.Although we still sell 90 per-

cent of our product right here athome, there’s no question thatrancher’s financial success in thefuture will depend more andmore on how much beef we cansell elsewhere in the world asglobal meat consumption isexpected to rise 73 percent by2050. According to USDA’sEconomic Research Service weshould continue to experiencestrong demand for our beef glob-ally due to stronger economicrecovery in Asian countries,comparatively low prices for U.S.beef on the world market, andour higher quality beef that otherworld competitors like Brazil andAustralia can’t match.Adding to our reasons for

optimism, Japan recentlyannounced that they are consid-ering easing the age restrictionsimplemented in 2003 due toBSE and may start acceptingbeef from cattle 30 months andyounger, instead of the 20month requirement now inplace. Cattle-Fax estimates thatif they do so we could sell Japanan additional 160 million poundsof beef in 2012.One implication of all this is

clear: if you aren’t verifying yourcattle with an age and sourceprogram of some type you arelikely leaving dollars on the tableand hurting our chances toexport our way to prosperity. Long term, the future for beef

is bright. According to a FAOreport, World Livestock 2011,

the world in 2050 will be con-suming “two-thirds more animalprotein than it does today.” Inthe past 40 years we experienceda worldwide surge in the produc-tion of beef and other meat pro-teins by increasing the numberof animals we raised. But theFAO says that “it is hard to envi-sion meeting projected demandby keeping twice as many poul-try, 80 percent percent moresmall ruminants, 50 percentmore cattle and 40 percent morepigs, using the same level of nat-ural resources as currently.”Clearly, there is a lot of room

for growth on a worldwide basis.“The average consumption of live-stock protein in Africa is less thana quarter of that in the Americas,Europe and Oceania, and repre-sents just 17 percent of the rec-ommended consumption level forall proteins,” says the FAO.Yes, the world will need more

of our beef in the future butwhether they are able to pay forit is another matter entirely.According to the FAO, 13 per-cent of the world’s population, ornearly 1 billion people, now livesin chronic hunger. This presentsboth an opportunity, a hugechallenge, and great heartache.

A Slow LeakRanchers have enjoyed a “per-

fect storm” of events that con-spired to give them the paydaythey are now enjoying. Not onlydid we export more beef but theamount of beef we brought intothis country in 2011 is expectedto be 11 percent less than 2010.According to reports from U.S.Customs, imports from Australia

were down 25.7 percent andimports from Canada were down21.7 percent, and keep in mind,these two countries alone rou-tinely are responsible for 60 per-cent of total U.S. beef imports.The amount of Mexican beefbrought into the country as aresult of a sick peso, drought andsofter beef demand in Mexico,however, were up 51 percentfrom a year ago.Imports of beef from Central

American countries were also up30 percent compared to last year.Overall, imports of fresh/ frozenbeef are down 12.2 percent froma year ago and Brazilian beefimports through October weredown 51 percent from a year ago.Brazil is trying to regain moreaccess to the U.S. fresh/frozenbeef markets and are expected todo so sometime in 2012.The good news is that as a

result of all the factors we’vementioned, ranchers are expect-ed to reap a profit of $160 percow this year. That’s up tenbucks over last year. But withcalves routinely fetching $800that hardly seems like enoughprofit, for this market could easi-ly fall that far in a correctionwithout crashing. The biggestdanger is that during these headytimes cattlemen will let theircosts get away from them andnot be able to adjust when themarket suffers a pull back.Which, we’d remind everyone, italways does.

The Lesson of BubblesIs beef in a bubble?Of course it is, but all bubbles

don’t go “pop”! Sure, there is thepossibility some factor or inci-dent we haven’t mentioned, oreven thought about, will dramat-

ically burst beef’s bubble; likeanother health scare like BSE ora shift in the political climateand a subsequent escalating dol-lar. The price of beef could evenget so high that its theoreticallypossible that the President willfreeze it’s price, like Nixon did.But we are reminded that all

bubbles don’t explode. Some justdrift away or slowly leak their airuntil they disappear. This posesperhaps an even greater dangerfor the long term if ranchersrelax and cease to be the effi-cient and tightfisted managersthey’ve had to be to have sur-vived this long. Or that we as anindustry become too complacentand fail to combat the forcesthat would make cattlemen con-tract producers; serfs on theirown land like the poultry and

pork producers. That, we’d sug-gest is happening right now.Whenever we do suffer a cor-

rection in this market we’dremind everyone that when thereal estate bubble burst thosepeople who owned their ownhouses outright, or had a lot ofequity and planned to stay inthem, didn’t lose one red cent.Even the tech stocks rebounded,just as surely as stocks will oneday to their former highs. This then is the lesson of bub-

bles: don’t get too caught up inall the hoopla and start believingthat we’ll never see another poorday in this business, never relaxyour vigilance, or get too com-fortable with cushy times. Thenperhaps you too won’t leak outof the landscape when beef’sbubble bursts.

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stock.They also took away his

daughter, Abby, after sheallegedly hit an officer duringthe arrest.When cops returned to col-

lect the lost cattle, three ofBrossart’s sons — Alex, Jacoband Thomas — confrontedSheriff Janke with rifles andshotguns and would not allowofficers on the farm.That’s when the sheriff

summoned a $154 millionMQ-9 Predator B drone fromnearby Grand Forks AirForce Base, where it waspatrolling the U.S.-Canadaborder for the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security.Using a handheld device

that picked up the video cam-era footage from the spyplane, Sheriff Janke was ableto watch the movements ofeveryone on the farm.During a 16-hour standoff,

the sheriff and his deputieswaited until they could seethe remaining Brossarts putdown their weapons. Then,dressed in SWAT gear, theystormed the compound andarrested the three Brossartsons. No shots were fired.Susan Brossart, the matri-

arch of the clan, was laterarrested, as well.Police also recovered the

cattle, valued at $6,000.

Is Beef In A Bubble? continued from page two

Predator Drone continued from page one

continued on page four


were expected to double, toaround half of all new cementused in the United States.Because of looser environmentalstandards and practices in Chi-na, is it not clear whether therule would have reduced emis-sions at all.The cement rule is only one of

more than 10 new EPA regula-tions scheduled to go into effectover the next three years.Described as the EPA’s “trainwreck,” each of the rules carries amultibillion-dollar price tag, willcost hundreds of thousands ofjobs and could result in the lossof 8 percent of the U.S.’s currentelectricity generating capacity.The cement rule is not the

most consequential of the “trainwreck” rules. It is, however, thefirst of these rules to be reviewedon the merits by a federal court.Several of the other new rulesare also currently being chal-lenged in the federal courts.EPA’s procedural errors in thesecases make the defects in thePortland Cement challenge looklike hair-splitting by comparison.Hopefully the court’s decisionmay serve as an indication ofwhat is to come once EPA’srecent overreach is finally subjectto judicial scrutiny.Following the requirements of

the Administrative ProceduresAct can be tedious. But it is nev-ertheless fundamentally impor-tant. Democracy is incompatiblewith granting an agency arbitrarypower, subject only to its ownclaims to be pursuing publicsafety. As the court noted inoverturning the cement rule,“reasoned decision-making is nota dispensable part of the admin-istrative machine that can beblithely discarded even in pursuitof a laudable regulatory goal.”The EPA badly needs to bereminded of this fact.

Josiah Neeley is an analyst with the Anne andTobin Armstrong Center on Energy & the Envi-ronment at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

They face several felonycharges and have repeatedly notshown up for court after posting$250,000 bail.U.S. Customs and Border

Protection agents fly eight Pred-ator remote-controlled aircraft topatrol the American borders withCanada and Mexico, searchingfor smugglers and illegal immi-grants.But increasingly, the federal

government and local policeagencies are using those dronesto spy on criminal suspects inAmerica with sophisticated high-resolution cameras, heat sensorsand radar. All of it comes with-out a warrant.Allowing local sheriffs and

police chiefs access to spy planeshappened without public discus-sion or the approval of Congress.And it has privacy advocates cry-ing foul, saying the unregulateduse of the drones is intrusive.

“There is no question that thiscould become something thatpeople will regret,” former RepJane Harman, a Democrat, toldthe Los Angles Times.The sheriff says that might not

have been possible without theintelligence from the Predators.“We don’t have to go in guns

blazing. We can take our timeand methodically plan out whatour approach should be,’ SheriffJanke told the Times.All of the surveillance

occurred without a search war-rant because the Supreme Courthas long ruled that anything visi-ble from the air, even if it’s onprivate property, can be subjectto police spying.However, privacy experts say

that predator drones, which cansilently fly for 20 hours nonstop,dramatically surpasses the spyingpower that any police helicopteror airplane can achieve.

guised as wilderness study areas,roadless tracts or places wheretravel should be managed. Butwater distribution was an impor-tant key to range managementand periods of drought camewhen nature provided nothing. Iput a tank on a truck and hauledwater to get my cattle to staywhere they had forage. All formsof wildlife immediately left theirtracks in the dust around thosedrinking troughs. This was anaspect that was being overlookedby the environmental communitywho wanted us off the forest.Passionate, they ranted andraved and condemned us with-out clues to what we accom-plished with our daily chores.We had a story to tell; but

who would listen? It could onlycome from someone who hadwalked in our shoes.Limited success came from

by JOSIAH NEELEY, http://dailycaller.com

The U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) isin the midst of a regulatoryspree of unprecedented

proportions. Claiming that it isacting in support of publichealth, the EPA has brushedaside procedural requirementsand due process concerns toenact a slew of new environmen-tal regulations set to go intoeffect over the next three years.

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FROM THE PHOTO of his hand-tooled cover to the very last story, Lee’s newest book, A Handmade Life, is pure Pitts. In the tradition of Dirt Roads and God’s Country, Lee’s latest will entertain and inspire. Destined to be a classic.

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CHARLIE MCCARTY, Trouble in a Green Pickup

Today’s treads are leading usinto a shame in which wemight abandon books,newspapers and magazines

as methods of communication.Their limitless storehouse ofknowledge can be accessed atany time of the day or night andwith no need for batteries orelectric connections.My affection for the printed

word got its roots during a1940’s childhood, passing longwinter evenings under a kerosenelamp, by a wood fire in a log cab-in in west New Mexico. I quicklydeveloped a dislike for fictionand a preference for the authorwho could inform and entertainin the same paragraph. Somesadness accompanied our joywhen we got our first T.V. Wouldthis mean I’d no longer find timefor my evening reading? But I

wanted more detail on a sched-ule I could fit between othertasks and in a form I could carrywherever I went.As soon as I started running a

ranch on national forest land Iwas subjected to experiencesthat shouldn’t happen in Ameri-ca — brutal intimidation tocoerce us into placing permanentimprovements on land we wouldnever own. Forest Rangers andtheir assistants were using us aspawns to gain the favor of higherranking bureaucrats as they com-peted for advancement in jobsand pay scale. Congressmen,governors and presidents helpedthemselves through periods ofsagging popularity by attackingpublic land ranchers. More votesand a strong political mood wasentrenched in the theory thatour removal would be good forthe environment.The banning of mechanized

equipment kept coming up, dis-

Federal court slaps down lawless EPA

Frustrations of Telling a Rancher’s Story

continued on page five

Predator Drone continued from page three

In mid-December, however, theEPA’s disregard for due processcame back to haunt it when afederal court threw out newrestrictions on the manufactureand storage of cement.In a unanimous ruling, a three-

judge panel for the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the District ofColumbia found that the EPA’sactions in adopting the regulationwere “arbitrary and capricious,” inthat it had failed to give adequatenotice to manufacturers.EPA’s proposal would have

set emissions standards for themanufacture and storage of Port-land Cement, a type of cementproduced in domestic kilns. Theindustry currently employsaround 17,000 Americans atmore than 100 facilities in 36states. According to the PortlandCement Association, whichbrought the legal challenge tothe new rule, the proposedrestrictions could result in theclosure of as many as 18 plantsand cost 15,000 jobs.EPA attempted to excuse its

procedural errors, arguing thatimmediate adoption of therestrictions was necessary to pro-tect public health. Traceamounts of mercury are emittedduring the cement productionprocess. And at certain levels ofexposure, mercury is a well-known neuro-toxin. The EPA’snew mercury standard, however,is two to three times more strin-gent than those provided by theWorld Health Organization andthe Food and Drug Administra-tion, and the emissions fromU.S. cement kilns are a minutefraction of the global depositionof mercury affecting the U.S.population.Ironically, the cement rule

would not have reduced emis-sions so much as moved theirlocation. China is a majorexporter of cement to the UnitedStates, and under the new ruleimports of cement from China

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publishing letters to editors. Iwas quoted in a national newspa-per. That resulted in hate mailsuggesting I should be shot orhanged. Then a Ted Turner tele-vision crew offered to let me saywhat I wanted in a well-publi-cized documentary. They shotmy picture with a convex lensaimed upward from my beltbuckle to expound images of mydental imperfections, and pre-sented ranchers as an obstacle totheir goals of protecting the envi-ronment. The film portrayed thelocal forest ranger in a favorablelight leading him to break a writ-ten contract, and helping aneighbor who was also a ForestService employee to lay apipeline from a spring on myside of the fence into his privateland, eliminating water to takeaway the use of a key pasture.Every day brought new chal-

lenges and false informationfrom a politician, a bureaucrat oran environmental organization.It wasn’t just a rancher’s fight.The multiple use concepts ofmanaging public lands wereunder attack. They destroyed thelogging industry and turned theirguns on hunting, camping, woodhauling, and recreation.I had answers and arguments

but no way to convey mythoughts to any audience. Mypersonal experiences would fill abook but with no literary trainingand limited ability I started whatappeared to be an overwhelmingtask, using what I had, a papernotebook, a ballpoint pen and apatient wife who typed countlessrevisions. We started a projectthat consumed our spare timefor years. Our foes gainedground. Neighbors sold out andquit the business. It becameobvious my work stood littlechance to get into print in timeto cure any problems.Too impatient to endure the

flood of rejection slips encoun-tered by most beginning authors,I elected to self-publish. Withnothing but yellow pages toguide me I connected with apublisher who can only bedescribed as expensive, indiffer-ent, incompetent and slow. Acolor snapshot to guide, theymade three false tries before pro-ducing a front cover design in ashade of green that resembled aForest Service pickup. Then theyprinted a run of books that leftout all the photographs. Withtime rushing by, new develop-ments happening every day andthe things I had written becom-ing stale I rejected their workand demanded they get it right.My argument against wolves wasmore emphatic if the readercould see photos of their carnageand shelters for kids at theschool bus stops. Then the pub-lisher’s promise to help with pro-motion was lame and ineffective.By now the topics I wanted to

cover had expanded into twobooks. My second, Fightin’ ‘em toHelp ‘em came through a differ-ent publisher. All went well andI’ve been happy to recommendthem to other fledgling authors.

My marketing strategy beganwith preaching to the choir. Freeadvertising in the form of newsarticles or book reviews wasabsolutely necessary. I gavedozens of books to area newspa-pers, magazines, and tradeorganizations who claimed to besympathetic to our cause. But

these staffs were all too busy todig into the depths of a book.They may have also been awareof the futility of trying to spreadinformation through printedword. I must have offended onewho published regular bookreviews because they took myname off their mailing list. Ireceived neither the remainingissues of my subscription nor anymore requests for renewal ofdues and contributions.It was time to be self-critical.

Was I coming across as a radical

crackpot? All the feedback frompeople who read it was positive.A reluctant buyer who pro-claimed “I don’t have time toread,” came back with “So true.The dang thing kept me up allnight!” Others thought I’d writ-ten a good outline for a movie. Adentist squelched my concernthat it may only interest ranch-ers. He picked up on an eventwhen I’d hired bulldozers to

build stock tanks. This involvedrangers from two U.S. ForestService districts. One was tellingme I had two days to move dirtwhile the other demanded I waita few years while he wrote aranch management plan. Thedentist asked, “Why didn’t youput a bullet in both their heads?”Success in selling came

through personal contact when Iset up stands at rodeos andcounty fairs. The best single dayof brisk sales happened whenCongressman Steve Pierce came

to Silver City for a rally opposingthe Forest Service plan to closeforest roads. I was given thechance to go before the crowdand present him a copy. In a fewmoments at the microphone Irelated how an assistant supervi-sor had fired me from a jobmaintaining campgrounds, myfirst employment after highschool. There had been an inci-dent in which a scantily-dressedtwo-year-old girl was dangerouslyclose to walking into a patch ofpoison ivy. Her mother didn’tknow what it was and forcefullysuggested there should be a signthere to warn her. But this For-est Service official tore my signto bits, threw it into the offend-ing weeds, screamed “Pick it up!”and proclaimed “Poison ivy is anatural hazard of the outdoors!”They have to deal with it if theycome out here! We can’t toleratean employee who clutters theforest with home-made signs!”It did my ego no harm when

the next day’s newspaper ran afront page photo of me on thestage with the congressman.The U.S. Forest Service holds

a strong track record for destroy-ing anyone who opposes them. Iwrote the book expecting imme-diate retaliation. That may come

but their fire fighters and retiredemployees have been steady cus-tomers who relay a strong resent-ment for their policies.Yet, the time came when I

had to face reality. Not enoughpeople had read my book tobring any lasting effect. Time wasrunning out on the publishingcontract and this work would dieon the vine without reaching thepeople I wanted. My best chanceto reach a sympathetic audiencemight be at the state conventionsfor Farm Bureau and the CattleGrowers. Some might pass it onto their city cousins.Several days of watching hun-

dreds of potential customerspass by my table without giving asecond glance brought the real-ization my methods were obso-lete. They carried laptops andplayed with smart-phones, get-ting their information off theinternet. My information can beread on a Kindle device but I’venever held one in my hands.Some of these people have car-ried resentment for books sinceboring assignments during theirschool days.So what began as a project to

help save our way of life may bemore of an obituary, a record ofwhat caused us to leave.

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Thanks to the dauntlessefforts of a small band ofbeef-loving volunteers inSouth Dakota, lucky Wheel

of Fortune contestants this wintermay be heading home with themeans to purchase $1,000 eachin T-Bones, Sirloins and burgers.Beginning January 9, $1,000

in Beef Bucks — pre-paid checksand or VISA® debit card for pur-chasing beef at restaurants orgrocery stores — will appear asone of the gift tags on the color-ful carnival wheel that contest-ants spin for prizes during thepopular nationally syndicatedprogram. Landing a spot forBeef Bucks on the infamousWheel of Fortune was an effort intenacity and dedication for thepeople who direct Beef Bucks,Inc., the non-profit South Dako-ta-based organization whose pri-mary purpose is to promote beefand educate consumers on beefnutrition and cooking.“We were pretty excited when

we received the call in Augustfrom the people at Wheel of For-tune,” said Bob Montross, beefproducer, farmer and one of the

eight Beef Bucks, Inc. directors.“They told us that our BeefBucks had been selected as oneof the gift tags contestants canwin. We knew then that we hadmade the big time.”Bob said the effort to get Beef

Bucks accepted as one of the gifttags began almost two years agoas he watched an episode of thelongest-running syndicated gameshow in U.S. television history. “Ithought, ‘If we could get BeefBucks as a prize on Wheel of For-tune, we could be promoting beefto millions across the country’,”recalls Bob. Several persuasivephone calls and e-mails later,Bob was supplying the Wheel ofFortune producers with both theofficial Beef Bucks logo to beplaced on the large wheel and acommitment to provide $1,000worth of the beef-buying curren-cy for any contestant who landson the Beef Bucks tag on up tothree separate shows.Getting Beef Bucks on Wheel

of Fortune is certainly a coup forthis organization that began in1997 in the small South Dakotatown of De Smet. However,

those who know the peopleinvolved with Beef Bucks,including Bob and his wife Nan-cy, are not surprised. “Bob andNancy Montross are the‘Ambassadors of Beef’,” saidTom Daschle, former U.S. Sena-tor and Senate Majority Leaderfrom South Dakota. “No oneanywhere has ever done a betterjob of promoting beef. I amthrilled, but certainly not sur-prised, that Wheel of Fortune isnow part of their efforts. I fullyexpect that some President,some day, will include BeefBucks in their ‘State of theUnion’ message, too.”Senator Daschle said he has

personally experienced Bob andNancy’s dedicated efforts to pro-mote the beef industry in manyways, “including attending eventson their South Dakota farm, lis-tening to them speak passionate-ly about the industry they love,receiving telephone calls fromearly morning to late at night,and, of course, using Beef Bucksmyself!” While serving as Sena-tor, Daschle also submittedrecipes that are included in two

Beef Bucks Recipe Collections.To date, Beef Bucks, Inc. has

sold more than $1 million worthof its beef-only checks andreloadable VISA debit cardswhich are backed by two finan-cial institutions. The Beef Buckshave been used, said Nancy, inmore than 40 states. The organi-zation also has a web site(www.beefbucks.org), a blog, adedicated phone number (1-888-640 MEAT), and a continuingdesire to sell the product theylove to raise. “We wanted to havea convenient and fun method of

purchasing beef at the retail leveland something that could be giv-en easily as gifts,” she explains.“Beef Bucks have done just that.”

And now, the idea that beganamong fellow beef producers andbeef industry people in cowboycountry will be broadcast acrossthe country — and beyond. Bobsays they’ve been told that thefirst show to be aired in Januaryhas already been taped, butthey’ll have to wait until January9 to see if any lucky player getsto take home the $1,000 in BeefBucks during that first program.

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R_H

by BILL HORN, Director of FederalAffairs, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance

In a controversial new policy,the Obama Administrationplans to broaden the reach ofthe already far reaching federal

Endangered Species Act (ESA).The new policy will make it eas-

ier to list more species of fish andwildlife as “endangered or threat-ened” and more broadly imposethe ESA’s many restrictions.Greater limitations on fishing

and hunting, wildlife manage-ment, and public land access area likely result.The proposed policy, released

recently by the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service (FWS) and theNational Marine Fisheries Serv-ice (NMFS), see www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-09/pdf/2011-31782.pdf, which newlyinterprets an old statutory termin the ESA: “a significant portionof its range,” or SPR for short.Under the new interpretation,

if a species is endangered orthreatened in its SPR, it will belisted (and subject to the fullrange of ESA restrictions) inALL areas where it is found evenif not endangered or threatenedin those other areas. The policyadmits “we recognize this inter-pretation may lead to applicationof the protections of the Act inareas in which a species is notcurrently endangered or threat-ened with extinction, and insome circumstances may lead tothe expenditure of resourceswithout concomitant conserva-tion benefits.”Furthermore, those federal

agencies admit that “applicationof the draft policy would result inthe Services listing and protectingthroughout their ranges speciesthat previously we would nothave listed, or would have listedin only portions of their ranges.”Previously the SPR term had

been regarded as a restriction ondetermining the existence ofendangered or threatenedspecies and the geographic scopeof related ESA restrictions. Infact, when the original ESA wassigned into law in 1973, that wasprecisely the meaning ascribedto SPR: “the term ‘significantportion of its range’ is used . . .to provide the Secretary with theauthority to protect a [fish orwildlife] population [not thewhole species] unique to someportion of the country.” The pro-posed Obama policy turns this

intent on its head and recastsSPR as the basis for expandingspecies listings and the on-the-ground effect of such listings.What does this mean to

anglers and hunters?U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is

worried that it gives the anti-angling, anti-hunting animalrights lobby more ammunition toattack our community. For exam-ple, activists have been pushinghard to put sage grouse on the listof endangered or threatenedspecies. If they can show that thegrouse are “threatened” in onearea (and it’s a “significant por-tion of its range”), then all of thegrouse could be listed – andmade off limits to hunting every-where. Anglers could face similarrestrictions – get a species listedbecause it is in trouble in onearea, then it’s off-limits every-where because “this interpreta-tion may lead to application ofthe protections [and restrictions]of the Act in areas in which aspecies is not currently endan-gered or threatened.”Besides these threats — plain-

ly stated in the proposed policy— new rounds of litigationimpacting a wide variety of fishand wildlife species are almostguaranteed. The policy opinesthat “Congressional intentregarding the SPR phrase isunclear” and admits that courtrulings interpreting the phrase arealso inconsistent. The USFWSand NMFS are plowing ahead totwist and broaden the meaning ofthis phrase which will spawn liti-gation, create more costs to tax-payers, and open more opportu-nities for activists, includingactivist judges, to call the shotson fish and wildlife management.Broader federal power, more

regulations, hostility to statemanagement of fish and wildlife,and a determination to spendmore federal money (even wherepublic benefits aren’t clear) havebeen hallmarks of the ObamaAdministration. Reinterpretingthe ESA as part of its continuingfederal power grab is just par forthe course.USSA has carefully read 20

pages of Federal Register fineprint and will be re-reading itagain to see if there are any oth-er buried regulatory “gotchas.”Public comments can be filed byFebruary 7, 2012, and you canbe sure we will be registering ourstrong opposition.

Where’s the Beef? It’s on Wheel of Fortune

Obama Administration Grabs for Broader Powers

www.halesangus.com

www.virdenproducts.com


ELTON ROBINSON, southwestfarmpress.com

Atsunami of new demand,particularly from China andIndia, should keep com-modity prices and producer

profitability strong over the nextdecade, according to MichaelDwyer, director of global policyanalysis for the USDA’s ForeignAgricultural Service, speaking atthe USA Rice Outlook Confer-ence, in Austin, Texas.While Dwyer stopped short of

saying that agriculture hadentered a sort of “golden age” ofprofitability, he noted agriculturecontinues as one of the brightspots in the struggling globaleconomy these days.Dwyer says that one factor

that could impact his fairly bull-ish outlook is a 25 percentchance that a financial catastro-phe in Europe could triggeranother global recession in thenext couple of years.“If that happens, the value of

the euro will fall, the dollar willrise and commodity prices willfall. What we’re worried aboutfor China is a hard landing. Chi-na’s economy is starting to slowdown. One third of all new con-struction in Shanghai is empty.This is the first sign of a realestate bubble.”Other factors to keep an eye

on the coming years, accordingto Dwyer.

� Demand driven by globaleconomic growth and the riseof the middle class in develop-ing countries: “The demandtheme will affect every commod-ity, not just rice, and not justAmerican rice. Studies show thatwhen there is a dollar increase inincome, consumers in China,India, Latin America and South-east Asia will spend 20 cents to40 cents of that increase onfood. This has a tremendousimpact on global food demand.Prices have to rise as a rationingdevice.”

� The value of the dollar:“When the dollar goes up, com-modity prices go down. Whenthe dollar goes down, commodi-ty prices go up. Over the next 10years, we expect the dollar to fallby another 14 percent. If that’strue, it’s going to continue to putupward pressure on commodityprices.”

� Global biofuels produc-tion: Dwyer noted that if moreland goes into feedstock for bio-fuels, “it means it’s coming outof land for other crops. All com-modities are getting a price spikefrom what is happening in biofu-el production. In other words,there is a substitution factor. Butwhat if there is a breakthroughon a technology where suddenlythe cost of producing biofueldrops to 50 cent to 75 cents. Itwould definitely impair demandfor corn feedstock.”

� Trade and trade liberal-ization: “Many countries aresigning free trade agreements.These agreements have effective-

ly lowered the levels of protec-tion, so that production happensin the countries that have a com-parative advantage. As a low costproducer in many crops, we willbe the big winner in trade liberal-ization. World trade is up over150 percent since 2000. Importshave gone up in almost everycountry, as have exports.”

� Policy errors by govern-ment: Never underestimate theability of government to makemistakes, Dwyer says. “Lookwhat happened to rice pricesback in 2008-09. There wasn’treally a rice shortage. That pricespike should not have happened.But it did because a number ofrice countries started banning

rice exports to keep the price ofrice low to their domestic con-stituency. All it did was shiftthose price pressures into theglobal market.”The result was a crisis of confi-

dence, according to Dwyer. “Wehave spent the last 30 or 40 yearstrying to convince the rest of theworld that you can rely on aworld trading system for themost basic human needs. Whenwe had a crisis in 2008-09, coun-tries basically adopted the law ofthe jungle, every man for himself.It sent a powerful negative signalto importers around the worldthat maybe we can’t trust theglobal trading system. I’d love totell you that it’s never going to

happen again, but we saw it lastyear with Russian wheat.”

� Energy prices: “At the endof the day, if you really want toknow where food prices aregoing to go, look at oil prices,because they’re going in thesame direction. Those two sec-tors are linked at the hip.”Dwyer noted that the Chi-

nese middle class will also putpressure on energy prices. “As itsmiddle class grows, they’ll pur-chase more cars, which willrequire more energy. The samefactors that are affecting agricul-ture are affecting energy prices.”

� Biotechnology develop-ment: “With demand buildingaround the world, we have to do

one of two things, put a lot moreland into production or increaseyields. One way to get yields upis through biotechnology.The problem is that accept-

ance of biotechnology is not uni-versal.”

� Land expansion: To satisfydemand for food and fiber,increased production will comefrom both yield advances andmore land coming into produc-tion, Dwyer says. The latterwon’t happen unless producersbelieve that high prices are in forthe long run. “In our view that isexactly what is going to happen.Much of the new growth willcome from South America andthe former Soviet Union.”

Are we entering a ‘golden age’ for agriculture?

www.bradley3ranch.com


with industry, pointing to itsefforts leading to last week’sannouncement by SmithfieldFoods Inc., the world’s largestpork producer, that it will stopconfining pregnant sows in smallmetal crates by 2017.Berman owns the Washing-

ton-based public relations firmBerman and Co., which runs the Center for Consumer Free-dom. That group operatesHumaneWatch, which has keptup a steady stream of attacks onHSUS since it launched early in2010.

The Humane Society of theUnited States says it’sunder attack by a newgroup that’s trying to starve

it of funding by urging donors tosend money to local animal shel-ters instead.The society has long been a

thorn in the side of some in agri-culture with its undercover inves-tigations and campaigns againstanimal cruelty. It claims the newgroup is the brainchild of conser-vative public relations executiveRick Berman, who spearheadedan earlier campaign against it,and that it’s supported by bigagricultural interests.Berman won’t say who’s fund-

ing the Humane Society for Shel-ter Pets.The new group announced

itself with full-page ads in USAToday, the Los Angeles Times,Chicago Tribune and New YorkTimes. They show a sad-eyed dogand ask, “Please help shelter pets

by donating locally, not toHSUS,” and direct people toHumaneForPets.com, where theycan find links to local shelters andmore information.Wayne Pacelle, president and

CEO of the HSUS, said he’s cer-tain that agribusiness concernsare behind the campaign becausehe’s heard that Berman made therounds of major trade groupsseeking support for it.The HSUS has long cam-

paigned for more humane condi-tions for farm animals, opposingthe use of cramped cages forpregnant sows and egg-layinghens and the slaughter of horsesfor food. It lobbies Congress andstate legislatures and frequentlylaunches ballot initiatives toachieve its goals.Jeff Douglas, co-director of

the Humane Society for ShelterPets, said his organization wasformed simply to educate peoplewho want to donate money to

shelters. He said about 650 shel-ters have expressed support forhis group.“People think that when they

give to national organizations likethe Humane Society of the Unit-ed States that the money is beingreturned to localities, but thereality is only about a penny ofevery dollar raised by theHumane Society of the UnitedStates is returned (to local shel-ters),” Douglas said.Pacelle said that’s misleading

because shelters aren’t hisgroup’s main mission — it’s ananimal welfare advocacy group.But he also said the society hasgiven $43 million in grants toother animal welfare groups overthe past four years alone, helpsrescue thousands of animalsevery year and provides trainingand services to local shelters andrescue groups. HSUS donorsunderstand its role, he said.

It’s easy to confuse animal pro-

tection groups and sheltersbecause their names often containthe terms “humane society” or“society for the prevention of cruel-ty.” Usually, they’re independent.Although Douglas said his

group only wants to help shelters,the dispute highlights the deeprift between HSUS and thosewho contend its long-term goal isto reduce meat consumption.Pacelle denies his group is

anti-meat, saying it includeseveryone from livestock produc-ers to vegetarians. He saidHSUS has a history of working

Will be April 21, 2012

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Humane Society targeted by local-shelter campaign

Twenty-eight U.S. senators have added theirvoices in protest to proposed regulations limit-ing youth farm work.The senators have joined 70 U.S. House mem-

bers asking U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis towithdraw proposed new rules that would forbidyouths under age 16 from operating tractors onoperations other than their own family farms.“The traditions and the work ethic associated

with growing up on a family farm are worth preserv-ing,” said the president of the American FarmBureau Federation, Bob Stallman.

The rules have been proposed in part because of afinding by the National Safety Council that agricul-ture is the most dangerous occupation in the U.S. andthat young people are particularly at risk. The depart-ment also could set conditions for outdoor work insummer heat, which could cover detasseling done incornfields in July. The rules also would put morerestrictions on work with livestock and chemicals.Migrant farm interests have said as many as

400,000 migrant children are at risk in farm labor.

Traditional crop and livestock agriculture interestshave said the number affected on Midwesternfarms is far smaller, and they have protested therules changes.U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS)., and Ben

Nelson (D-NE) said in the letter that proposedchanges to the Fair Labor Standards Act “fail totake into account the history and practices ofAmerican agriculture.”The statement from the group said that “until

recently, farms jointly owned and operated by mul-tiple family members had discretion over theresponsibilities they gave their children on the farm.But the proposed rule change would do away withthat freedom and extend the parental exemption tofarms owned solely by a parent.”Midwest farm groups say it is common for sib-

lings to jointly own and operate farms and forextended family and neighbors to participate inagricultural production, and argue that the pro-posed rule would make it impossible for youths towork on the farms of relatives or neighbors.

Senators: Cancel proposal to restrict youth farm work

ners Family Farmers.“In our area, we get 7-9 inches

of precipitation if we’re lucky,”Collin said in a statement.“Groundwater levels are drop-ping dramatically because of lackof recharge. Water for my familyand other family farmers is atrisk, even though we are the sen-ior users.”Under laws dating back to

1945, the state allows some wellsto be drilled without a permit, aslong as water usage is held to5,000 gallons per day. Theyinclude livestock watering, smallindustrial uses, domestic use ornoncommercial watering of asmall lawn or garden.But in 2005, Attorney General

Rob McKenna issued an opinionthat barred the state from limit-ing the amount of water thatranchers draw daily for their live-stock. Critics immediatelyargued it opens the state’s waterresources to unlimited use bylarge dairies and feedlots.Justices Charles Wiggins and

Debra Stephens and Chief Jus-tice Barbara Madsen dissentedfrom the majority opinion Thurs-day, concluding that the 1945Legislature never intended thelaw would allow Easterday to usebetween 450,000 and 600,000gallons of water per day “with noinquiry whatsoever into whetherexisting rights may be impairedor the public welfare may beharmed.”Rather, the Legislature enact-

ed an “ambitious statute that isnow being read to produce aresult contrary to legislativeintent,” Wiggins wrote.Rachael Paschal Osborn, staff

attorney for the Center for Envi-ronmental Law & Policy, said shewas disappointed with the ruling.“We’re going to be asking the

Legislature to put some kind oflimitation on the amount ofwater that can be used without apermit, because this is complete-ly unworkable in terms ofresource management,” she said.The state Department of Ecol-

ogy estimates the average feedlotcow consumes as much as 20 gal-lons of water per day. At 30,000cows, that’s enough water tonearly fill an Olympic-size swim-ming pool each day.Easterday said he would con-

tinue to track all water usage atthe feedlot — not just livestockwatering — and turn that intothe state to help monitor theoverall water supply.

Court: No limit for livestockexempt well water

by SHANNON DININNY, Associated Press

The Washington stateSupreme Court ruled in lateDecember that state lawdoes not limit the amount

of groundwater that can betapped for livestock from a per-mit-exempt well, upholdingefforts by one of the Northwest’slargest cattle feedlots to water30,000 head of cattle in ruraleastern Washington.The decision likely leaves it to

lawmakers to determine if anychanges need to be made to thestate’s law governing permit-exempt wells, whose uses includelivestock watering and smalllawns and gardens.Easterday Ranches Inc. oper-

ates a 30,000-head feedlot nearPasco and built a second,30,000-head feedlot north ofPasco near the rural FranklinCounty town of Eltopia.Neighbors of the latter feed-

lot, collectively known as FiveCorners Family Farmers, andenvironmental groups immedi-ately filed suit to stop the feedlotfrom drawing groundwater forthe animals. They contend thatpumping water for that manycattle will deplete the aquifer inthe arid region.The feedlot is surrounded by

dryland farms of wheat that arenot irrigated. Most homesteads,some operating for generations,rely on deep underground wellsas their only water supply.Easterday Ranches Inc. con-

tended that the state law thatallows certain wells to be exemptfrom permit does not limit theamount of water to be pumpedfor livestock.Last year, a Franklin County

Superior Court judge dismissedthe lawsuit, and the neighborsappealed. The Supreme Courtupheld the lower court’s ruling ina split 6-3 decision Thursday.Cody Easterday said in a tele-

phone interview that the rulingproves the company has done allthe right things from the start.“It’s unfortunate that we had

to be dragged through this mess,but we had our facts straightfrom the beginning and this justaffirms that we knew what wewere doing,” he said.A proliferation of dairies, chick-

en farms and feedlots are pumpinggroundwater with no concern forsustainability of the resource, saidScott Collin, treasurer of Five Cor-

www.aces.nmsu.edu


by MARK GROSSI, The Fresno Bee

They’re an ecological oddcouple: cows and blunt-nosed leopard lizards. Andtheir relationship just keeps

getting better.The pairing is playing out at

Pixley National Wildlife Refugein southern Tulare County, whereheavy rainfall last winter madegrasses grow thicker this year.

Normally that would make lifemiserable for the endangered lizard.The swift little creature gets hungup in thick grasses and becomes aneasy target for predators.But ranchers buy grazing leas-

es from federal officials and bringcows to the refuge. In shortorder, the hungry cows munchthat grass problem away.“These grasses are not native

to the San Joaquin Valley,” saidbiology professor David Ger-mano of the California State Uni-versity, Bakersfield. “The littlecritters aren’t adapted to thegrasses, so grazing is very impor-tant in years after big rainfall.”Blunt-nosed leopard lizards

are getting help in their naturalhabitat in the Pixley WildlifeRefuge by cows grazing off thickgrasses, making it easier for thelizards to dodge predators. Butsome biologists and environmen-talists say that cattle grazing dam-ages streams and causes erosion.It’s a successful but unlikely

marriage of farming and nature.Along with cities, road buildingand row crops, uncontrolled cat-tle grazing was among the rea-sons the lizard almost wentextinct in the Valley.

But managed grazing — fencingcows in areas and moving them

after they eat a lot of the grass —has become a tool of choice forhelping endangered animals andeven plants in the southern andwestern parts of the Valley.The animals and plants

evolved in a desert setting overthousands of years, and they needroom to live.Thick grasslands have devel-

oped over many decades sinceEuropean settlers came to theValley, bringing crops and vegeta-tion with them, scientists say.Scientists and land managers

in the Valley have realized graz-ing cows would be a useful line ofdefense against grassland over-growth.“We may still have some of

these plants and animals only

because the land is being grazedby cattle,” said Bryan Cypher, aBakersfield-based ecologist whoworks for the Endangered SpeciesRecovery Program at CaliforniaState University, Stanislaus. “It’sthe best option we have for deal-ing with nonnative grasses.”But it’s not a popular

approach with all biologists andenvironmentalists, who say thatcattle grazing damages streamsand causes erosion that harmsendangered species. Such uncon-trolled grazing has proven to bedestructive in California mead-ows and wetlands.There is a stigma attached to

cattle grazing, especially in thepristine meadows of the SierraNevada.

The Valley these days is hardlypristine, Cypher says. In theregion’s arid southern and west-ern areas, wetlands are limited.Grazing does not create a lot ofproblems here if cows are proper-ly managed, scientists say.Grazing clearly works at the

Pixley refuge, according to sur-veys done by the EndangeredSpecies Recovery Program. Thelatest survey in August concludedthe lizard population is “robust.”Federal officials at Pixley

refuge said they lease about5,000 refuge acres to cattleranchers between November andApril each year.Nick Stanley, deputy project

leader, said the grazing createsconditions that help not only theblunt-nosed leopard lizard butalso two other protected species,

the Tipton kangaroo rat and theSan Joaquin kit fox.Grazing is much better than

other options for thinning thegrass, which would include burn-ing, pesticides or mowing.Burning would create too much

smoke in the Valley’s polluted air.Paying for pesticides or mowingmakes little financial sense com-pared to grazing leases, which cre-ate a small income stream for thefederal government.The modest monthly fees are

usually several dollars per animal.Grazing also helps revive vege-

tation that had been declining asgrassland conditions spread overthe past century.Said Stanley, “We’re finding

that grazing helps the nativebunch grasses, like iodine bushand coyote bush.”

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Arizona Cattle Growers’ Assoc. Winter MeetingAgendaFEBRUARY 15, 2012Arizona State Land Department, 1616 W. Adams St., Phoenix, AZ 85007

� 9:00-9:30 a.m. Registration

� 9:30-9:45 a.m. Welcome: AndyGroseta, ACGA President andPatrick Bray, ACGA EVP

� 9:45-10:45 a.m. Steve Spangle,Field Supervisor, US Fish &Wildlife Service

� 10:45-11:00 a.m. Break

� 11:00-11:45 a.m. Tax IssuesUpdate, Kevin McCarthy, President, Arizona Tax ResearchAssociation

� 11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Lunch

MOVE TO CAPITOL

� 1:30-2:30 p.m. Water Update,David Brown, Brown & Brown Law Offices

� 2:30-3:30 p.m. Legislative Update,Patrick Bray, Bas Aja & Legislators

� 5:30 p.m. Reception at HyattHotel (122 N. 2nd St., Downtown Phoenix)

� 6:00 p.m. The Cattlemen’s Centennial Dinner – FeaturingScott Baxter Photography

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

� 8:30 a.m. ACGA Board Meeting

Managed grazing in Tulare County helps Valley lizard


Riding Herd CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

Spring and daylight savings time start, no esti-mated taxes are due and March Madness bas-ketball is on TV. Oh, and I almost forgot, (like Iusually do) it also marks the anniversary ofwhen I married my wonderful wife. But thegood times don’t last because March is fol-lowed by April when we are reminded thatwe’re really just working for the IRS. The onlyholidays of note are Easter, when we don’t getany presents, and Earth Day, when environ-mentalists wring their hands, whine, and actholier than thou.After April the rest of the year is filled with

months that only get better and better, buildingtowards the crescendo known as December. InMay we finally get to start keeping some of themoney we make instead of sending it all to thecrooks in Washington, D.C, the cold weather isfinally behind us, the lambs and yearlings aresold, fishing season opens and there are noexpensive holidays like Valentines Day, Christ-mas, wedding anniversary or birthdays that Ihave to remember. How much better can it get?Plenty, for summer is about to start.I suppose it’s a carryover from my childhood

when school let out for the summer in June, butjust the mere mention of the month brings asmile to my face. In July we celebrate the sec-

ond best holiday by getting to legally lightincendiary devices. What more could you askfor in a holiday? And then in August there isour county fair when everyone overindulges incarnival food, over-the-hill country musicsingers, pig races and PRCA rodeo.September is the month when kids go back

to school so we are now safe to walk down thesidewalk without being run over by some juve-nile delinquent on a skateboard. Autumn andbull sales begin and the stores decorate forChristmas. Then in October we get to eat bagsof chocolate candy that were left over fromHalloween. And in November we celebrate ournation’s heritage by pigging out on good foodand watching the Dallas Cowboys play.Finally December, my favorite month, rolls

around when we celebrate two important birth-days, that of Jesus and followed 24 hours laterby my own. Even though I always get comboChristmas/birthday presents you can’t wash thesmile off my face all month because people arein a festive mood and the NFR is on televisionfor ten whole days. The only thing that couldpossibly make December any better is if,instead of being followed by the 31 day depres-sion known as January, it was instead succeed-ed by Leeuary of Pittstember.

on a triangular nosepiece at thefront of the applicator and placesit around the testicles of thenewborn calf, lamb or goat.Once both testicles are withinthe loop, the operator simplyreleases a small thumb tab tosecure the band firmly in place.The process of tightening theband around the testicles toreach proper compression is veryquick and simple and requires nocutting of the banding material. “The bands are specially for-

mulated to withstand and main-tain the high tension needed forconsistent results,” Callicratesays. “The correct formulationand curing of the rubber gives itthe elasticity, strength and mem-ory for fail-proof application.”Like the Callicrate Bander®,

the Callicrate ‘WEE’ Bander™ ismade in the USA using the high-est quality materials. It is essen-tially maintenance free. Five loopsare included with each ‘WEE’Bander. Additional loops can bepurchased in bags of 25 or 100.For more information, visit

www.callicratebanders.com orcall 1/800-858-5974.

The U.S. company knownfor inventing the premierehigh-tension banding cas-tration tool on the market

is now introducing a lighter,sleeker version designed to bringthe same humane, user-friendlytechnique to newborn calves,sheep and goats.No-Bull Enterprises is unveil-

ing the next generation of innova-tion in bloodless castration withthe Callicrate ‘WEE’ Bander™,an instrument crafted from surgi-cal quality, corrosion resistantstainless steel. It is designed toinsure proper ligation with everyapplication — the key to effectivehumane castration and a signa-ture feature of the Callicrate Ban-der® which has been manufac-tured and distributed worldwidesince 1991 with more than50,000 units sold.Achieving adequate tightness

is the single most essential com-ponent in reducing stress duringbanding, according to animal

welfare experts like ColoradoState University animal scienceprofessor Temple Grandin.“Previously, the only banding

option available for the smalleranimals was the green elastratorring,” says inventor Mike Calli-crate, owner of No Bull Enterpris-es, based in St. Francis, Kansas.“We used the same simple tech-nology, but combined it with ameans of attaining proper ten-sion, resulting in a complete liga-tion. In replacing the elastratorrings, which lack sufficient ten-sion and are considered the moststressful method of castratingyoung animals, the ‘WEE’ Ban-der™ also provides an alternativeto castration with a knife, which isprobably the second most stress-ful method you can use.”Studies of high tension band-

ing have demonstrated that thecomplete negation of blood flowtriggers a natural analgesic effectthat blocks pain while minimiz-ing swelling and related compli-

cations.“While in New Zealand test-

ing our high tension bandingtechnology, I castrated a set oflambs with veterinarian JohnSouthworth,” Callicrate says. “Allof the lambs receiving the elas-trator rings showed extreme dis-comfort,” Callicrate continues.“They were rolling around bleat-ing and kicking. The lambs withthe high-tension Callicratebands, both newborn and largerin size, were comfortable andback suckling their mothers rightaway. We checked on the lambsfrequently. The lambs with elas-trator rings were still showingsigns of pain 24 hours later. Thehigh-tension banded lambs werelying around comfortably andnursing, similar to what wewould expect to see based on ourresults with cattle.”Those findings are consistent

with research at the University ofCalifornia-Davis, which showedhigh tension banding generated

a more localized immuneresponse with no discernabledepression in appetite or rate ofgain when used on young bulls.“The stress of using an elastra-

tor ring, which lacks sufficienttension to block pain, doesn’tmeet the public’s heightenedstandards for humane animaltreatment,” Callicrate says. Byinsuring proper application ofthe band, the Callicrate ‘WEE’Bander™ measures up to theincreasingly rigorous worldwideemphasis on animal care andwell-being.Not only is the Callicrate

method for high-tension bandingthe most stress-free castrationmethod for the animal, it’s alsoeasiest for the person performingthe operation.With the Callicrate Bander®,

band application is mechanicallyassisted to insure consistent resultsevery time. The ‘WEE’ Bander™ iseven lighter weight, just as fast,effective and bloodless, butrequires no manual cutting orcrimping of the rubber loop.The process works like this:

the operator loads a rubber loop

Humane Castrator for Newborn Livestock Introduced

Back in 1993 a group ofPortales farmers, business-men and educators cametogether to create the first

agricultural exposition in thestate of New Mexico. Twentyyears later the event is goingstrong and still the only event ofits kind in the state.The 2012 New Mexico Ag

Expo, sponsored by PlateauWireless and Dairy Farmers ofAmerica runs Feb. 21-22 at theRoosevelt County Fairgrounds inPortales.The New Mexico Ag Expo

was conceived by Barry Barkley,an employee of C&S Oil, Inc, inPortales, N.M. Barkley had par-ticipated in similar shows inTulare, Calif. He approachedGary Wiley, a member of Roo-sevelt County Board of Econom-ic Development and DallanSanders, who was serving asexecutive director at the time,about having an annual agricul-ture trade show in Portales.

A steering committee wasformed in 1992. Some of themembers included: Sanders,Barkley, Wiley, Floyd McAlister,Chase Gentry, RandyMcCasland, Bud Strong, NancyGentry and Winston Cox.The first show was held

March 4-5, 1993, at the Roo-sevelt County Fairgrounds.There were 75 exhibitors at thefirst two-day show. The Roo-sevelt County Chamber and theNew Mexico State UniversityExtension Service along with astrong working committee thatmeets year-round have been thebackbone of the event.The Expo experienced steady

growth to start and as the dairyindustry was built up in easternNew Mexico the event boomed.In its 20th year the Expo will

have the new Roosevelt CountyEvents Center in which to houseexhibitors. In addition, the Tum-bleweed Classic Winter StockDog Trial will be held in con-

junction with the Expo.“Technologies in agriculture

have changed drastically over thelast 20 years,” said 2012 AgExpo Chairman Patrick Kircherwho is also the Roosevelt CountyExtension Agent. “Our goal withthe Ag Expo has always been tohelp our farmers and rancherskeep up with those changes bothfrom a business standpoint andan education standpoint. I thinkwe’ve done that pretty well.”

There is no admission to the grounds or anyof the events during the two-day run of theExpo. The show will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22. For applica-tions or more information about vendorbooths or attendance call 800/635-8036,email the Expo at [email protected] visit the all-new website at http://www.nmagexpo.com.

New Mexico Ag Expo celebrates 20 years in 2012

Land O’Lakes has generouslycontinued its financial con-tribution to the non-profitorganization Farm Safety 4

Just Kids. The farmer-ownedcooperative is best known for itsdairy-based food products.“Land O’Lakes donation

allows us to make a difference inthe lives of rural children,” saidDave Schweitz, executive directorof Farm Safety 4 Just Kids. “Andit really exemplifies their commit-ment to the importance of teach-ing farm safety to our youth.”Farm Safety 4 Just Kids was

created in 1987 by MarilynAdams after the death of her 11-year-old son. The organization

works to raise awareness aboutthe health and safety hazardsthat are an inherent part of therural environment in which chil-dren live, work, and play. Nineoutreach coordinators and mem-bers from more than 120 chap-ters in the United States andCanada conduct safety andhealth programs within theircommunities. Thanks to the sup-port of agri-business sponsorslike Land O’Lakes, Farm Safety4 Just Kids is able to providetheir volunteers with up to dateand pertinent safety educationand demonstration resources.For more information visit

www.fs4jk.org.

Land O’Lakes continues sponsorshipof Farm Safety 4 Just Kids

www.lhbrandingirons.com


In today’s world, it is unusualfor a person to spend 40 yearsin a single career, much lessin a single position. New

Mexico State University reportsthat only three employees haveworked continuously for the LasCruces campus for 40 years ormore. This month, a fourth individ-

ual, Calvin Bailey, will join theirranks. When the ranch manager

position came open at NMSU’sCollege Ranch in late 1971, Bai-ley, who had recently graduatedfrom the university, knew thejob was right for him. So didBobby Rankin, an animal sci-ence faculty member and therecently appointed supervisor ofthe facility.“The position was offered and

I took it,” Bailey said recently.“My wife and I moved out herein 1971, the day after Christ-mas.”“Calvin was raised on a ranch

and got a degree in animal sci-ence,” said Rankin, who retiredin 2000 after a 39-year careerthat included 14 as departmenthead of Animal and Range Sci-ences. “You know a lot of thingsthat need to be done on a place,having grown up ranching, thatyou don’t have to learn or asksomebody else about, so itworked out wonderfully inCalvin’s case.” Rankin was quick to give

credit to a second member of theBailey team. “There was an extrabonus to hiring Calvin Bailey inthat job, because his new wife,Debbie, came with him,” he said.Part of that had to do with thedelicious meals she would fix forthe ranch crew. “It was easy to recruit college

students and graduate studentsto come out and help with thebranding and the calving andsome with fencing simplybecause of Debbie. So I give hera lot of credit for Calvin’s suc-cess in managing the ranch won-derfully for this length of time.We couldn’t have done better onthat selection.”The facility, now called the

Chihuahuan Desert RangelandResearch Center, has beenowned and operated by NMSUsince 1927. The universityassumed ownership of the60,000-acre property through anact of Congress mandating thatit be maintained it in a way thatbenefits the people of New Mex-ico. The property is locatednorth of Las Cruces. Accordingto Bailey, it includes about halfof the Doña Ana Mountains,and stretches east-west from theJornada Experimental Range tothe Rio Grande. When the Baileys moved into

the ranch house 40 years ago,Gerald Thomas was NMSU’spresident; nine other presidentshave served since then. Therehave been five deans of the Col-lege of Agricultural, Consumerand Environmental Sciences,

and five heads of the Depart-ment of Animal and Range Sci-ences, the unit under whose aus-pices the ranch operates. Calvin and Debbie raised two

children on the ranch, Scott andRebecca. Now in their 30s, bothhave advanced degrees and areengaged in successful careers.Debbie, who was a stay-at-homemom while the children wereyoung, works as a nutritionist forthe New Mexico Department ofHealth.Amid the changes, some

things have remained constant.As with any farm or ranch, thework never ends. “My duties asforeman out here include thetypical management of the ranchfrom day to day, anywhere frombuilding fence to working on cor-rals and tending to livestock —cattle mainly,” Bailey said. As the facility’s name sug-

gests, research is a big part ofwhat happens at the CDRRC.Significant work has been doneover the years on developing cat-tle that are more suited to theharsh Southwest environment, aswell as on understanding theChihuahuan Desert rangeland,how to maintain it and how it isimpacted by livestock. Baileysaid around 130 cows are on theranch now. Most are Brangus, aheat-tolerant breed that is five-eighths Angus and three-eighthsBrahman.“Calvin has been a part of

almost every animal or range sci-ence paper that’s been written atthe College Ranch,” said MiltThomas, professor of animal andrange sciences who specializes incattle breeding and genetics.Thomas has worked with Baileysince arriving at NMSU in 1997.He stressed how much he bene-fitted, from his earliest time atthe ranch, from Bailey’s knowl-edge of the area, ranching andthis ranch in particular. His com-prehensive knowledge of the cat-tle at the ranch, their lineage aswell as their individual behaviors,have been invaluable. Thomassaid Bailey’s observations havesupplied a major portion of thedata in various scientific investi-gations.Thomas also applauded how

Bailey has guided the many stu-dents and others who haveworked at the ranch over theyears. “Calvin has trained a greatnumber of people at the collegeranch,” he said.Bailey received a President’s

Star Performance Award fromNMSU President Jay Gogue in2002. Thomas said everyone whowrote support letters for thataward emphasized how muchthey had learned from him. “He just has that uncanny

ability to teach,” Thomas said.“Not only did he train the stu-dents, I think most of the facultyaround here would agree that hementored a lot of us, too.”Bailey has lots of stories of his

time at the ranch. Key charactersinclude a cantankerous horse

one of his hired hands kept get-ting thrown off of that was laterreassigned to a brood mare role,and an ornery Charolais bull thatflipped Rankin over a corralfence during a weaning opera-tion. The faculty members who

have worked with Bailey havestories, too. Current CDRRC director

Derek Bailey (no relation) callsCalvin “an absolute guru” on cat-tle and on the terrain at theranch. He marvels at Calvin’s

clairvoyance in terms of knowingwhere to find specific cattle insome of the huge pasture areas.Derek also appreciates how

“calm and cool and resourceful”Calvin is in emergency situa-tions. He told about an incidentwhere his horse spooked in atrailer and all of the horses end-ed up in a tangle on the floor.This was a very dangerous situa-tion for the horses, and certainlyfor anyone trying to get the hors-es back up, but Calvin jumpedright in and started separatingthem. Between the two Baileys,the situation was resolved with-out injury to horses or people. Calvin Bailey says he has

been working extra hard recent-

ly. Last week’s snowstorm sawsingle-digit temperatures andextra vigilance was necessary toensure the livestock stayed safeand healthy. In particular, Baileyneeded to make sure there wasaccessible water in all of thestock tanks. He repeatedly need-ed to knock holes through theice so the cattle and horses coulddrink. Checking all of the tanksin the various pastures entailsmore than 50 miles of driving. Bailey wasn’t complaining,

however — the scenery on theranch was more beautiful thanever, with snow covering every-thing from the desert vegetationin the foreground to the moun-tains in the distance.

If you are planning on selling bulls this spring,

or next spring . . .You better be placing your ad in the Livestock Market

Digest! The most likely bull buyers for spring 2012 will come from where it has rained.

Contact MICHAEL WRIGHT at:[email protected] or

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The Livestock Market Digest has readers across the nation, and a great number of those readers are in California, Orgeon, Washington, Montana and Wyoming!

Ranch manager completing 40 years at NMSU’s Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center


by JOE BARRETT, The Wall StreetJournal

Kevin Moon heard a strangenoise heading his way oneOctober night.

It took a team of cowboys tocapture the elusive Ninja Cow ofPlattsmouth, Neb. She fell off acattle truck three months ago,and now she’s a local celebrity.WSJ’s Joe Barrett reports.“It sounded like hoofs on the

pavement, and by the time Icould focus on it, all I could seewas the rear end of whatever itwas,” says Mr. Moon, a 51-year-old computer programmer. Hethought it was probably a horse,

but soon there was physical evi-dence to the contrary: cow pies,making a virtual pasture of histiny yard.For months, this city of 6,500,

where the Platte River spills intothe Missouri just south of Oma-ha, was abuzz with sightings ofthe mysterious black beast. Sheturned up in backyards, wan-dered occasionally down MainStreet and seemed particularlyfond of a tennis court — all thewhile eluding increasingly craftyschemes to capture her.Officials believe she had

escaped from a cattle truck infront of City Hall on Sept. 15.They tried to lure the cow withfeed, but she wouldn’t come.They tried to trap her in a fenceby the water tower, but she wasscared off. Some residents —hoping to turn her into ham-burger — tried nabbing her withbiscuits and a rope, but she

didn’t fall for that, either.A frustrated police officer,

after a series of late-night calls,named her the Ninja Cow, andan urban legend was born. Face-book groups sprang up to followher. School kids put up postersto save her. The Omaha World-Herald, the state’s biggest news-paper, milked the story, chroni-cling her adventures in half adozen articles. An editorial car-toon showed a child asking Santafor a Ninja Cow action figure.Officials are talking about hold-ing a Ninja Cow Day next yearin the recently spruced up down-town.Terry Grell, who led the team

of cowboys that captured the so-called Ninja Cow in Plattsmouth,Neb., shows off his roping skills.Still, for months, no one could

catch her, despite worries thatshe’d be hit by a car — to thedetriment of both her and it.Conflicts between homeown-

ers and wild animals are com-mon. But farm animals run amokcan cause their own problems.Feral pigs, for instance, havebecome a real hazard. Cows thatwander off are usually docileenough to be captured easily.But just this month, officials inMilford, Conn., after severalfailed attempts, tranquilized acow named Wanda that hadbeen living since July in a 15-acrecity nature preserve, says RickGeorge, director of the city’s ani-mal-control department.In Plattsmouth, complaints

about the cow came in to thepolice department almost night-ly, but officials figured there waslittle they could do but chase her

away.Then Mr. Moon’s girlfriend,

Cindy Claassen, a 51-year-oldmassage therapist, took her con-cerns to a city council meetinglast month. Mr. Moon hadrecently hit a deer that did$1,800 in damage to his car.“That was a small deer, and thisthing is like 1,500 pounds,” shesays.Police Chief Steve Rathman

didn’t want to shoot at the cowbecause somebody might gethurt. “This isn’t something theyteach at the police academy,” hesaid over lunch at the CountryBar and Grill, where the wait-resses had been joking aboutoffering a Ninja Burger Special.There was no shortage of peo-

ple willing to help. Terry Grell, a55-year-old contractor, was oneof those who called in.“If you’re interested in getting

this cow caught, you can give mea call,” said Mr. Grell, who sayshe learned roping years ago froman old cowboy he met whileworking at a feed lot. “But thatanswering machine was probablyfull of people that thought theycould catch it.”Animal Control Officer Sue

Baker ended up turning to cattleranchers John and JessicaVallery.One night late last month,

Ms. Baker spotted the cow nearthe tennis court she had beenfrequenting. Mr. Vallery rushedover and began walking the cowtoward the gate. Just then, apassing driver jumped out of hiscar to help. “He came runningtoward the cow, screaming andwaving his arms,” Ms. Bakersays.The cow vanished into the

woods yet again. Volunteer fire-fighters used an infrared camerabut couldn’t find her.The next day, the Vallerys

brought Tasha, a show cow fromtheir farm, to the tennis court inhopes of luring Ninja Cowinside. Ms. Baker played cowsounds on her laptop, gettingTasha to low. Eventually, NinjaCow responded, but she steeredclear of the trap.That weekend, there were no

sightings of Ninja Cow. “Thatwas very unusual for her,” Ms.Baker says. She worried that

someone had shot or capturedthe animal for money. At aslaughterhouse, she could havefetched more than $1,000.But then on Monday morn-

ing, a deputy radioed Ms. Bakerto say he’d found the cow — andher new calf.That night, Ms. Baker and the

Vallerys caught the calf andlured Ninja Cow into a tempo-rary pen they had set up in aclearing behind a trailer court.When the Vellerys shut the gate,“she freaked out,” Ms. Bakersays. The cow knocked over twosections of the pen, nearly top-pling Ms. Vallery and draggingparts of it 12 feet away.The next day, Chief Rathman

issued orders to shoot the cow ifshe seemed likely to harm any-one. “I didn’t take the actionlightly,” he says.Within an hour, Ms. Baker

had one last hope.With the help of a veterinari-

an, she got in touch with Mr.Grell and two of his buddies.“They are the John Waynes ofour time,” she says. “Real old-school cowboys.”Mr. Grell and his friends set

off the next morning, two onhorseback and one on foot. “Itisn’t like rodeo team roping,where the faster you go the bet-ter it is,” Mr. Grell says. “Theslower and easier you go, thefaster it is.”The team followed Ninja Cow

for miles over rough terrain,across snow and ice. Each timethey came to a clearing wherethey might rope her, she wouldscamper back into trees.“I wouldn’t say she was wild,

but she was really smart,” saysNeil Johnson, 52, who joinedMr. Grell on his trusty horseBooger.Ultimately, Mr. Grell chased

the cow down a hill. Mr. Johnsonwas waiting at the bottom torope her.Now, Ninja Cow, a fairly

young Black Angus, is starting tocalm down in Mr. Grell’s smallpasture. Unfortunately, NinjaCow’s calf was sold before hecaught the mother.“The first few days she was

throwing herself at the fence,”Mr. Grell says. “Now, she eatsright out of my hand.”

For advertising contact,

MICHAELWRIGHT

505/243-9515, ext. [email protected]

Michael brings with him four generations of the range

livestock industry and a keen awareness of the issuesfacing ranchers and rural

economies today.

January 17-18, 2012Roswell Convention Center

Roswell, N.M.

www.swbs.nmsu.edu

An educational forum tailored for beef producers in the Southwest.

The Southwest Beef Symposium is a joint effort between the

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Call for info: 505/927-7935Register Online: swbs.nmsu.edu

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Western Legacy Alliance Research SpursCongressional Action on ExposingTaxpayer Funded Lawsuit Racket of Radical Environmentalists

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I am/our organization is committed to protecting the open spaces, private property, private businesses and ensuring the responsible use of public lands. Please list me/my organization as a member of the Western Legacy Alliance.

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by MICHAEL FIELDING,www.meatingplace.com

The World Society for theProtection of Animals(WSPA) has launched aglobal campaign to raise

public awareness of what ithas identified as better animalwelfare, environmental sus-tainability and the economy.The group is urging people

to sign a letter to place thetopic of animal welfare on theagenda at the United NationsConference on SustainableDevelopment next June.Rio+20, occurring 20 years

after the precedent-setting

1992 “Earth Summit,” willfocus on mobilizing participa-tion by businesses and cat-alyzing a global transition to a“green economy.” WSPA islobbying the UN and nationalgovernments for the inclusionof animal welfare in the con-ference negotiations.At each preparatory ses-

sion of the UNCSD in therun-up to Rio+20, WSPAplans to deliver evidence that“high-welfare farming is aviable, environmentallyfriendly alternative to inten-sive production methods,”according to a statementreleased by the group.

Animal welfare group targets United Nations

‘Ninja Cow’ Had an Excuse forUdderly Unbovine BehaviorBut the People of Plattsmouth, Nebraska Have Milked the Story for All It’s Worth

www.swbs.nmsu.edu


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nebraska Governor DaveHeineman criticized awell-known animal advo-cacy group recently, say-

ing he would fight any efforts byits lobbyists to push legislationthat could hinder Nebraska’sagricultural industry. The Humane Society of the

United States (HSUS) openedan office in Omaha last year. Agroup spokesman has said thenew office and state issues direc-tor in Nebraska were intended tohelp small farmers gain access tomarkets traditionally dominatedby larger operations.But Heineman, a Republican,

said he did not trust the group’sintentions. “I don’t think there’s any

question the Humane Society ofthe United States is interested ina very left-leaning political agen-

da,” Heineman told reporters ina conference call. He added: “If they want to

come to Nebraska, we’re going tofight them every step of the way.” Some rural lawmakers and

agriculture groups have voicedconcern that the Humane Socie-ty of the United States may tryto push for stricter livestock reg-ulations or a statewide animal-welfare ballot initiative. Thegroup has introduced 44 ballotissues nationwide since 1990,including a successful effort inMissouri last year to place limitson puppy mills. HSUS met with the Nebraska

Farmers Union over the week-end to discuss their agriculturalinterests. Joe Maxwell, the Humane

Society’s rural development andoutreach director, said group lead-ers would be happy to meet withHeineman to discuss their agen-

da. Maxwell said the group has 11million members nationwide,including 51,000 in Nebraska.“We’re uncertain what his

base for distrust is,” saidMaxwell, a pig farmer and for-mer Democratic lieutenant gov-ernor in Missouri. “We’re work-ing for the good of independentfarmers.”Heineman made the com-

ments in response to a questionabout a $100,000 state grantthat Attorney General Jon Brun-ing awarded to a new farmingcoalition, We Support Agricul-ture. The coalition was createdto highlight the positive aspectsof farming.Some Democratic lawmakers

have said they have no problemswith the group, but questionedwhether it was appropriate toaward state money from an envi-ronmental fund. The moneycomes from settlements withstate regulators over environ-mental violations.

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New and used tractors, equipment, and parts. Salvage yard, combines, tractors, hay equipment andall types of equipment parts.ORDER PARTS ONLINE.

BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIEDOG PROBLEMS? Don’t risk having to do itover again with ineffectiveproducts. Rozol Prairie Dog Bait is a restricted-usepesticide approved for useby state certified applicatorson blacktailed prairie dogs

in CO, KS, ND, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX and WY.Made with food-grade winter wheat, a preferredfood source, to ensure quick rodent acceptanceand control. No pre-baiting required. Proven inuniversity trials on over 11,000 burrows to provideover 94% control in a single application. For usein-burrow only. It is the responsibility of the userto read and follow all label directions. Protect yourrange and pastureland from damage with Rozol.

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To place your Digest Classified ad here, contact MICHAEL WRIGHT at [email protected] or by phone at 505/243-9515, ext. 30

Gov. takes on Humane SocietyForest Owners Applaud SupremeCourt on Forest Roads OrderCourt moves closer toward review of Ninth Circuit Reversal of 35-Year Clean Water Precedent

David P. Tenny, Presidentand CEO of the NationalAlliance of Forest Owners(NAFO) released the fol-

lowing statement, after the U.S.Supreme Court issued an orderasking the Solicitor General forthe views of the federal govern-ment on two petitions challeng-ing the Ninth Circuit Court ofAppeals’ ruling that forest roadsare “point sources” requiring anindustrial discharge permit underthe Clean Water Act (CWA):“We applaud the Supreme

Court for scrutinizing the NinthCircuit’s decision to disregardEPA’s 35 years of success regu-lating forest management as anonpoint source under CleanWater Act. The Court is hearingnot only the voice of forest own-ers and managers across thecountry but also Attorneys Gen-eral from 26 states who joined abrief supporting EPA’s historicapproach. The policy and legalimportance of this case is clear.“For nearly four decades, the

EPA has cooperated with thestates under established CleanWater Act authority to build anetwork of Best ManagementPractices providing flexible andeffective water quality protectionduring forestry operations. Thishas been a Clean Water Act suc-cess story. The Ninth Circuit’sdecision threatens to upend this

progress by replacing an efficientand flexible system that pro-motes clean water with a costlyand inflexible permit require-ment that invites additional liti-gation. In the end the Ninth Cir-cuit’s decision hurts forestowners and forests alike.“While this is a significant first

step, there is no guarantee thatthe Supreme Court will hear thecase and reverse the Ninth Cir-cuit Court’s overstep. It does,however, provide the Administra-tion and the Solicitor General anopportunity to submit to theSupreme Court a clear andunambiguous defense of EPA’slongstanding and legally appro-priate approach to regulating for-est roads as nonpoint sources.”NAFO is an organization of

private forest owners committedto advancing federal policies thatpromote the economic and envi-ronmental benefits of privately-owned forests at the national lev-el. NAFO membershipencompasses more than 79 mil-lion acres of private forestland in47 states. Working forests in theU.S. support 2.5 million jobs. Tosee the full economic impact ofAmerica’s working forests, visitwww.nafoalliance.org/economic-impact-report.

SOURCE National Alliance of Forest Owners

Ready, Set, Trap U.S. SPORTSMEN’S ALLIANCE

Trapping continues to be a hot topic insome regions, and a target for anti-trap-ping organizations everywhere. The robustfur markets in some regions of the country

today are proof that trapping is here to stay fora long, long time. Trapping is definitely animportant hobby, outdoors pursuit, and vitaltool for wildlife managers.If you need more reason to get outdoors, or

want to improve the odds of survival for somepopular and huntable animal species like rab-bits, waterfowl, or wild turkeys, then take uptrapping.Traps can also help take and control problem

species, like beavers, that inflict millions of dol-

lars of damage to property or crops each year.These damages range from ruined timber, toflooded crops, to holes dug in dikes and dams.Then there’s the growing problem of missingpets — with coyotes being the culprits.For example, one damage control specialist

in Illinois recently reported that he had requeststo trap and check the stomach contents of coy-otes that were thought to have eaten pet dogsand prized cats in one region. In one case acoyote apparently ate a cat that was wearing acustom diamond encrusted collar.There’s also the “smelly” issue of skunks.

continued on page fourteen

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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/[email protected]

www.zianet.com/nmlandman

Southwest New Mexico Farms and Ranches

“If you are interested in farm land in Doña Ana County or ranches in Southwest New Mexico, give me a call.”

UNDER CONTRACT

UNDER CONTRACT

MAHONEY PARK: Just 10 miles southeast of Deming, N.M. The property consists of approx. 800 acresDeeded, 560 acres State Lease, and 900 acres BLM. This historic property is located high up in theFlorida Mountains and features a park like setting, covered in deep grasses with plentiful oak andjuniper covered canyons. The cattle allotment would be approx. 30 head (AUYL). Wildlife includesdeer, ibex, javalina, quail and dove. This rare jewel would make a great little ranch with views and ahome site second to none. Price reduced to $550,000.

SAN JUAN RANCH: Located 15 miles south of Deming, N.M. east of Highway 11 (Columbus Highway)on CR-11. Approximately 24,064 acres consisting of approximately 2684 acres Deeded, 3240 StateLease, 13,460 BLM, and 4,680 uncontrolled. The cattle allotment would be approx. 183 head(AUYL). There are 6 solar powered stock wells with metal storage tanks and approximately 6-1/2miles pipeline. The ranch has a very diverse landscape consisting of high mountain peaks, deep ju-niper & oak covered canyons, mountain foothills and desert grasslands. There is plentiful wildlifeincluding deer, ibex, javalina, quail and dove. A truly great buy! Price reduced to $550,000.

26.47-ACRE FARM for sale off Shalem Colony Road. Borders the Rio Grande river. 13.55 acres EBIDsurface water rights / 26 acres primary & supplemental ground water rights. Priced at $380,000

177 ACRE FARM BETWEEN LAS CRUCES N.M AND EL PASO TEXAS: Hwy. 28 frontage with 132 acres ir-rigated, 45 acres sandhills, full EBID (surface water) plus a supplemental irrigation well, cementditches and large equipment warehouse. Priced at $1,629,000.

50.8-ACRE FARM: Located on Afton Road south of La Mesa, N.M. Paved road frontage, full EBID (sur-face water) plus a supplemental irrigation well with cement ditches. Priced at $12,000/acre.

63.59 ACRE FARM: - Borders the Rio Grande river. 49.44 acres of EBID irrigation and 63.5 acres ofground water (18" well) and cement ditches. From La Mesa, N.M. go south on Hwy 28, then easton Dawson Road to the end. Priced at $12,000/acre - $763,080.

Missouri Land Sales� Horse Training / Boarding Facility: New, state-of-the-art, 220x60horse facility with 20 stalls, back to back, offset with bull pen at end ofthe barn. Two large pipe outside paddocks. 3-4 BR, 3 BA, 2,000+ sq. ft.home. All on 18+ acres. Just 5 miles north of I-44 Bois D’Arc exit. MLS#1017424. Call Paul for your private showing.� 838± Acre Ranch: Never been offered for sale before. Exceptional,highly improved, all continuous ranch, 1/2 mile off Hwy. 13 at Bollvar.Lovely ranch home and mobile home and guest entertainment house. Bigshop, hay barn and possible 8-stall horse barn. 250/cow/calf graze the 700 acre m/l lush pastures serviced by3.5 miles of water lines and 23 frost-free waterers. 3+ acres m/l spring-fed stocked lake. This ranch has it all.MLS#1109960� 483 Ac., Hunter Mania: Nature at her best. Don’t miss out on this one. Live water (two creeks). 70+ acresopen in bottom hayfields and upland grazing. Lots of timber (marketable and young) for the best hunting and fishing(Table Rock, Taney Como and Bull Shoals Lake) Really cute 3-bd., 1-ba stone home. Secluded yes, but easy accessto Forsyth-Branson, Ozark and Springfield. Property joins Nat’l. Forest. MLS#908571

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

PAUL McGILLIARDCell: 417/839-5096

1-800/743-0336MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORSSPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

W-R RANCH29,767 ACRES

20 MILES NORTHEAST OF ROSWELL, N.M.

Call forPrice

CHARLES BENNETTUnited Country / Vista Nueva, Inc.575/356-5616 • www.vista-nueva.com

� 5,315 Deeded Acres� 23,525 State Lease Acres

� 927 BLM Acres� 500 Animal Units Year Long

� Good water; windmill and submergible tanks

� Good fences; 4-strand barbwire

At their December 2011 meeting, the Ari-zona Game & Fish Commission (Commis-sion) voted 3-1 to continue both its finan-cial and infrastructure support of Mexicanwolf conservation in the state, but voted

not to support the release of any new wolves untilthe federal government completes certain criticalplanning measures. Previously, all initial releases ofcaptive Mexican wolves in the U.S. have occurredin Arizona with the concurrence and support of theGame and Fish Department. Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, director of the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service’s Southwest region, appearedbefore the Commission to discuss Mexican wolfconservation and answer the Commission’s ques-tions. After more than an hour of hearing public com-

ments, Commission Chairman Robbie Woodhouseinvited retired Game & Fish Endangered SpeciesCoordinator Terry Johnson to provide input basedon Johnson’s 28-year career and extensive involve-ment in Arizona’s wolf program from the begin-ning. “After hearing from a wide range of interested

Arizona’s Game & Fish Commission affirms wolf conservation support, objects to new wolf releases until planning occurs

TO PLACE YOUR REAL ESTATE LISTINGS HERE, call MICHAEL WRIGHT at 505/243-9515, ext. 30,

or email [email protected]

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate GUIDEconstituents, I invited Mr. Johnson to provide hisopinion after being a part of the Mexican wolf rein-troduction program in Arizona since its inception,”says Chairman Woodhouse. “At the conclusion ofthe agenda item, two things were certain: passionfor wolves on all sides runs very deep, and theGame & Fish Commission will continue to strong-ly support Mexican wolf conservation in the state,including by providing financial resources.” The Mexican wolf reintroduction program has

been operating on a recovery plan from 1982. Twoefforts to revise the recovery plan have beenattempted in the past, and currently a new team isbeing convened to prepare a new recovery plan.Planning measures requested by the Commissioninclude completion of a Mexican wolf recoveryplan, environmental impact statement and the10(j) nonessential population rule for endangeredspecies. The last initial release of wolves took place in

2008. Since the wolf reintroduction effort began in1998, 19 initial releases have taken place withGame & Fish’s support (not including transloca-tion of wolves).

High School SeniorMegan Skiles fromBowie, Arizona won tophonors at the inauguralBeef Promotion Pre-

pared Speech Contest sponsoredin part by the Beef Checkoff andAmerican National Cattle-Women, Inc. The competitionwas hosted at the Arizona Mid-Winter FFA Career Develop-ment Event, December 2, 2012at the Arizona State UniversityPolytechnic campus in Mesa. High School students from

across the state composed anddelivered five to seven minutespeeches centered on currentbeef industry issues. Topicsranged from marketing beef in atechnical world to implementingscience-based research to build astrong and profitable beef cattleherd to feed a growing world.Contestants were scored on thecontent and composition of theirspeech manuscripts, voice, stagepresence and power of expres-sion. They were also judged on

Arizona youth passionately tell the “Beef” storyFFA STUDENTS FROM ACROSS THE STATE COMPETE IN BEEF PROMOTION PREPARED SPEECH CONTEST

their ability to accurately answerquestions related to their con-tent and the overall effect oftheir beef messages. Skiles, the daughter of

Michael and Kristin Skilesreceives a $1,000 cash prize anda trip to the annual cattle indus-try convention to be held inNashville the first week in Feb-ruary. At this event the SanSimon high school student willdeliver her speech to conven-tion attendees. When askedwhy she entered the Beef Pro-motion speaking contest Skilessaid: “I entered this contestbecause I’ve competed innumerous public speaking con-tests before and really enjoy it. Ialso loved being able to speakand promote a subject I have apassion for.”Second place honors and a

$500 cash prize went to ToriSummey, from Cave Creek,Ariz. Summey attends ParadiseValley high school and is thedaughter of Dutch and Sandy

Summey. Third place honors anda $250 cash prize went to AliciaSmith, from Safford, Arizona.Smith attends Safford highschool and is the daughter ofRoyce and Jackie Smith. Fourthplace honors and a $125 cashprize went to Brooke Griggeory,from Gilbert, Arizona. Griggeoryattends Campo Verde highschool and is the daughter ofCharlotte and Bill Hegel, andWayne Griggeory.

Anyone who has ever had adog sprayed by a skunk wantstrapping of the black andwhite creatures to beginimmediately! It is also a factthat trapping helps preventrabies and other threats topublic health and safetybrought on by a sharp rise infurbearer populations.These include diseases

spread by — or contracted by— foxes and raccoons. Thereare far more of these nuisancecritters out in the fields andforests than the average citi-zen realizes. All you need todo to get a fractional estimateof the local population is look

on and along the highways forroad kill animals. You’ll proba-bly see lots of raccoons, somefoxes and a few coyotes, andin some places beavers, andthe occasional bobcat. Rac-coons have become very com-mon in some areas and havecaused homeowner problemsby raiding bird feeders, trashcans, and pet food dishes.The good news is that trap-

ping supplies today are gener-ally inexpensive and so aremany resident trapping licens-es. Fur prices, however,remain generally low partlybecause of the weak econo-my. With high gas prices ontop of those, there may becritters and opportunities foryou and for your traps.

Ready, Set, Trapcontinued from page thirteen

paulmcgilliard.murny.com

www.vista-nueva.com

www.zianet.com/nmlandman

Your source for moderately-framed,maternally-efficient,

grass-type Angus genetics

� 60 Bred Cows � 25 Bred Heifers� 5 Herd Bulls � 20 Bred Commercial Cows

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31059 Juniper Ave., Hinton, IA 51024www.jauerangus.com

• ROGER: Ph 712/947-4357 • KURT: Ph 712/947-4338

• DOUG: [email protected] • INTERNET: www.LiveAuctions.tv

35th Annual Angus Bred Female

and Bull SaleJanuary 28, 2012 • 12:30pmAt the Ranch, Hinton, IA

Featuring:


In collaboration with theAmerican Association ofBovine Practitioners (AABP),AgriLabs is offering an award

to two veterinarians — one beefand one dairy — to encourageand fund recent graduates intheir post-graduate continuingeducation efforts. Named as atribute to Bruce Wren, D.V.M.,each award will provide $5,000for professional-developmenttraining so these practitionersmay better serve their producer-clients. Completed applicationsare due July 15, 2012, and thepresentations will be made at theannual AABP Awards Banquet.“The gap between the number

of veterinarians available to servedairy and beef producers, andthe actual need is increasing atan alarming rate,” says SteveSchram, AgriLabs President andCEO. “The grants will encouragethese veterinarians to remain inlarge animal medicine by provid-ing a significant resource for self-directed professional develop-ment.”

Developing the Innovative Award“We found that after gradua-

tion, there really weren’t manyindustry-sponsored awards orprofessional-development oppor-tunities for veterinarians until

they had spent many years inpractice,” says Dr. M. Gatz Rid-dell, AABP executive vice presi-dent and member of that plan-ning committee. “Yet, the yearsafter graduation are a key timewhen veterinarians not only gainexperience, but also are likely todecide whether to continue inherd-side practice or move intoother career paths. The AgriLabs$5,000 awards will be vital inhelping veterinarians gain moreexperience in individual animaland herd production medicine,helping them bring value to theirproducer-clients for years tocome.”

Create Your AwardThe grant process allows

applicants to determine how bestthey want to use the $5,000grant from AgriLabs and judgingwill be based on three primarycriteria:1) The applicants’ profession-

al-development plan, whichdescribes the skills/knowledgethey would like to improve tobecome a more valuable resourcefor their producer-clients.2) How the $5,000 will be uti-

lized to fulfill the professional-development plan.3) Letters of reference from

three individuals (including atleast one producer and one vet-

erinarian) who have first-handknowledge of the applicant’spractice experience and educa-tional interest.“What is especially exciting

about the AgriLabs Dr. Wrenawards are the variety of theplans, programs and educationalgoals that applicants have sub-mitted as a means of improvingtheir skills and becoming moreeffective in bovine medicine,"says Riddell. “The professionaldevelopment plans funded bythe $5,000 grants from AgriLabshave included participation intechnical and business-orientedshort courses, advanced educa-tional training, and mentoringopportunities with an exemplaryveterinarian. While each appli-cant's background, experienceand future direction will differ,the AgriLabs awards will benefitparticipating veterinarians, theirproducers and the industry atlarge.”

To ApplyA full description of AgriLabs

Dr. Bruce Wren ContinuingEducation Awards and a link tothe application forms are avail-able at www.AgriLabs.com/scholarships. The applicationmay be completed online and allmaterials postmarked on orbefore July 15, 2012.

January 2012

5-22 – National Western StockShow, Denver, CO13-Feb. 4 – Fort Worth Stock Show& Rodeo, Ft. Worth, TX17-18 – Southwest BeefSymposium, Roswell NM20 – Manford F1 Sale, Willcox, AZ25-28 – American Sheep IndustryAssn. Annual Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ28 – Jauer Dependable Genetics35th Annual Bred Heifer & Bull Sale,Hinton, IA

February 2012

1-4 – NCBA Annual Meeting,Nashville, TN11 – Bradley 3 Ranch Bull Sale,Memphis, TX11 – Best in the West Brangus Bull& Commercial Heifer ReplacementSale, Marana, AZ24 – Pot of Gold Bull Sale, Olathe, CO

24 – Hubbell Ranch Annual BullSale, Belen, NM25 – 21st Annual Roswell BrangusSale, Roswell, NM

March 2012

3 – N.M. Angus & HerefordAssociation Sale, Roswell, NM6 – Wedel Red Angus Bull & HeiferSale, Leoti, KS10 – Porter Angus Ranch AnnualBull & Heifer Sale, Mule Creek, NM16 – Tucumcari Bull Test,Tucumcari, NM17 – Hale Angus Farms Bull &Female Sale, Canyon, TX17 – Four States Ag Expo All BreedsBull & Heifer Sale, Cortez, CO19 – Black Angus “Ready for Work”Bull Sale, Belen, NM27 – Manzano Angus Ranches BullSale, Estancia, NM

April 2012

10 – Three Mile Hill Ranch YearlingAngus Bull Sale, Animas, NM21 – 30th Annual NMS Cattle &Horse Sale, Las Cruces, NM14 – Texas Shorthorn AssociationState Sale, Eastland, TX

To post your events in the calendar, pleaseemail date and location to [email protected]. Deadline is the 15th of the monthprevious, mailing date is the 8th of the month.

Like many of you, I receive all kinds of newsstories, jokes, blogs, etc. Last week threeitems came my way that stimulated a pre-dictable knee-jerk response. ‘Why?’ I asked

myself, ‘can’t I be more generous and examine theopposite side of view.’ So I will.The first item was, “In France, eating animals

becomes legal obligation.” The government isdecreeing to school, colleges, nursing homes, chil-dren’s hospitals and prisons that they must servemeat as their main source of protein. Taking theside of Verona the Vegan I would say, “Meat is badfor you. Even a sip of chicken broth can upset thesystem of the strongest vegan’s digestive tract! Towalk by a Pizza Hut can give some of us a rash. Atrue vegan couldn’t even catch a whiff of tuna sal-ad! We’d all be forced to wear Asian Flu masks!“At a table where everyone is ordering brisket

and ribs our vegan minority representative wouldlook around and quietly say, ‘Oh . . . I guess I’ll havethe cole slaw.’ It is imperative that we not lose the‘martyred’ image. Think of the sacrifice it takes tolive on a diet of protein from soybeans, carbs frombrownies, and vitamin B from organic chemicals.“We suffer on your behalf and proselytize like

recovering smokers! France must be stopped!”Item #2 said, “Humane Society of the U.S. still

stiffing nation’s Pet Shelters! The Humanewatch.orgshows how little the HSUS gives to Pet Sheltersacross the country!” In response, as their spokesmanI might say, “Of course we don’t donate much toPet Shelters! Where would you get such an outra-geous idea! Probably those pictures of yearning andabused puppies you see in our commercials. Obvi-

ously it’s to attract attention, but our lawyers say itwould be hard to prove deceptive advertising. Theobject, of course, is money. Speaking of which,there is not enough in our budget to support petshelters. By gosh, it takes more than a third of yourdonations to run these ads featuring yearning andabused puppies that we make to encourage you tosend in more money!“You just don’t know! A quarter of all you send is

squirreled away, invested, you know. Youcan’texpect us to spend that money on yearning abusedpets . . . that’s our pension. Lawyers are expensive!It takes a lot of cash to sue people. Plus CEO’s andofficers need to make a little. So I hope you can see,we simply don’t have the money to throw around.”Item #3, a notice from Department of Interior

about designating additional miles of river and reclas-sification of “Endangered” to the Loach Minnow. Response from a member of LLLC (Loach

Lovers LC); “I am shocked that anyone couldobject to increasing protection for a fish, that Iadmit I have never seen and virtually nobody hasever heard of. But think of the benefits; restrictionof recreational use of rivers, prevention of access tothe public, limiting grazing, timber and mining,anything that might encourage people to live there.“As you know, LLLC derives hundreds of thou-

sands of dollars by litigating nuisance law suits withthe government who, in turn supports us by set-tling out of court. What a deal! Love the Loach?You bet your spotted owl. How stupid do youthink we are?!”THE END. Presented on behalf of the Misun-

derstood.

Takingthe OtherSide

AABP Calls for Applications for the 3rd Annual AgriLabs Grants to a Beef and a Dairy Veterinarian

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

Calendar ofEVENTS

www.baxterblack.com

www.jauerangus.com


by RITA JANE GABBETT, www.meatingplace.com

Beef Products Inc. has lostabout 25 percent of itsbusiness and has had tocut production to four

days a week from five asMcDonald’s, Taco Bell andBurger King have all stoppedbuying its lean ground beef prod-uct treated with ammoniumhydroxide to kill pathogens,according to the Argus Leader.The newspaper quoted CEO

Eldon Roth as saying hours havebeen reduced, but no workershave been laid off and that saleshave started to stabilize for BPI,

which has never had an illnesstraced to its products.

BPI officials could not beimmediately reached for comment.The company has been

praised for its safety record andits innovative pathogen interven-tion. However, media coverageand a widely viewed video bycelebrity chef Jamie Oliver —which innaccurately portrays theprocess as pouring householdammonia on ground beef —have hurt public perception ofthe process.

Reaction“It is unfortunate that an irre-

sponsible segment like Jamie

Oliver’s continues to have ramifi-cations in the public arena andhopefully our Meat Myth Crush-ers video will help set the recordstraight,” American Meat Insti-tute spokeswoman Janet Rileytold Meatingplace in reaction tothe ramifications for BPI out-lined in the Argus Leader story.In October, AMI produced a

video as part of its Meat MythCrusher series specfically tocounter the Jamie Oliver video.The video titled “Myth: OrdinaryHousehold Ammonia is Used toMake Some Hamburger” explainsthe ammonia gas pathogen inter-vention that BPI uses.Jim Marsden, regent’s distin-

guished professor at KansasState University, and a food safe-ty blogger for Meatingplace, alsoreacted to the article with sup-port for BPI’s process.“BPI took the lead in develop-

ing a process that controls dan-gerous pathogens in beef. Theircommitment to food safety andthe fact that their products havebeen widely used by ground beefprocessors have contributed tothe progress the industry hasmade in controlling E. coliO157:H7,” he told Meating-place. “The problem is that anytechnology used to kill bacteriacan be portrayed as ‘bad’ byactivist groups. I think many ofthese groups have an anti-meatagenda and oppose everythingthe industry does to make itsproducts safer.”

This sale offers you some of the highest quality Brangus in the Southwest! The “good doing” kind.

BUY DIRECT FROM BRANGUS BREEDERS! NO HIGH-PRICED COMMISSION

MEN TO RUN THE PRICE UP!

AT ROSWELL LIVESTOCK AUCTIONROSWELL, N.M. • 575/622-5580

Cattle may be viewed Friday, Feb. 24, 2012at Roswell Livestock Auction

Gayland Townsend . . . 580/443-5777, MOB. 580/380-1606 Troy Floyd . . . . . . . . . . . . 575/734-7005Bill Morrison . . . . . . . . . . 575/482-3254, MOB. 575/760-7263Joe Lack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575/267-1016Larry Parker . . . . . . . . . . . 520/845-2315, MOB. 520/845-2411

TO RECEIVE A CATALOG CONTACT: Bill Morrison: 575/482-3254 • C: 575/760-7263

To Consign Top Females Contact: Gayland Townsend: 580/443-5777 • C: 580/380-1606

Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 10 a.m.

Brangus and Angus Plus Bulls• Most with EPDs• Registered and Commercial• Fertility- , TB-, and Brucellosis-tested• These bulls have been bred and raised under Southwest range conditions.• Most bulls rock-footed• Trich-tested to go anywhere

Females. . .• Registered Open Heifers • Registered Bred Heifers and Bred Cows• Bred Cows and Pairs: 3- to 7-yrs.-old• Bred Heifers: Coming 2-yr.-olds• Open Yearling Heifers

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

Roswell Brangus Bull

& Female Sale21st Annual

Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 10 a.m.

BPI cuts production as fast food giantsdrop its ground beef product: report

Groups urge Congress to reject

HSUS-UEP dealby ROD SMITH, Feedstuffs

Eight groups representinglivestock and poultry pro-ducers have urged Con-gress to reject the agree-

ment on hen housing reached byThe Humane Society of theUnited States (HSUS) and theUnited Egg Producers (UEP).In a letter to House Agricul-

ture Committee chair FrankLucas (R OK) and ranking mem-ber Rep. Collin Peterson (DMN), the groups said the agree-ment would impose “costly andunnecessary animal rights man-dates” on the U.S. egg industry.The groups said the agreement’sprescriptive nature would ensurethat “Congress will be in the eggbusiness for years to come” byrequiring all egg producers toadopt specific hen housing stan-dards.The agreement calls for egg

producers to transition from con-ventional cage housing — inwhich 95 percent of all eggs areproduced today — to “enriched”colony cages by 2029, with thetransition enforced by federallegislation in the form of anamendment to the U.S. EggProducts Inspection Act. Theamendment is to be jointlysought by HSUS and UEP.In the letter, the eight groups

said implementation would costthe egg industry nearly $10 bil-lion, and the added costs wouldmean fewer jobs.They also said the agreement

would increase prices and limitchoice for consumers.They said legislatively man-

dated standards would be “anunconscionable federal over-reach,” especially at a time whenCongress needs to “unshackle”the economy from governmentregulations. Moreover, they said,“our gravest concern” is that thelegislation would be a precedentthat “could leach into all cornersof animal farming.”They noted that the European

Union’s experience with an indus-try-wide transition from conven-tional cages to colonies has causeddecreased production and higherproduction costs and has “costconsumers and farmers alike.”The letter was signed by the

Egg Farmers of America, Ameri-can Farm Bureau Federation,National Farmers Union, Ameri-can Sheep Industry Assn.,National Cattlemen’s BeefAssn., National Milk Producers’Federation, National Pork Pro-ducers’ Council and NationalTurkey Federation.Egg Farmers of America was

established by about a dozen eggproducers to oppose the agree-ment. The group originally repre-sented about 50 million to 60million hens — about 20 percentof the national flock — but anumber of its members are notactive, and only two wereinvolved in the letter, accordingto Feedstuffs sources.

LMD January 2012

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Transcript of LMD January 2012