WLJ - Vol. 91, No. 25

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“The Industry’s Largest Weekly Circulation”

The National Livestock Weekly

March 26, 2012 • Vol. 91, No. 25

A Crow Publication

website: www.wlj.net • email: editorial@wlj.net • advertising@wlj.net • circulation@wlj.net

INSIDE WLJ OREGON WOLF BILL DIES — A bill that would have allowed Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials to control problem wolves failed to make it to the Senate, effectively killing the bill and allowing wolf depredation of livestock to continue unchecked in Oregon’s northeast corner. Page 4 PAYMENTS LOOPHOLE — Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and Tim Johnson, D-SD, introduced legislation that would cap payments an individual farmer could receive. The move would close what they consider long-abused and well-documented loopholes in the farm payment program. Page 6 ACTIVISTS OFFER CASH — Managers of the scenic Valles Caldera National Preserve near Los Alamos, NM, have turned down an offer of $35,000 from Santa Fe-based group WildEarth Guardians to keep stocking rates at zero. Local cattlemen have welcomed the decision, but activists are frustrated. Page 9

Ranchers question legality of Montana bison move Sixty-four bison from Yellowstone National Park were shipped almost 500 miles to northeast Montana’s Fort Peck Reservation last week under a controversial relocation initiative meant to repopulate parts of the West with the animals. A recently signed agreement between the state of Montana and Fort Peck Indian Reservation prompted landowners to try and stop the movement, to no avail. District Court Judge John McKeon disregarded their request for a temporary restraining order to stop the move. Helena, MT, attorney Cory Swanson said moving the animals without public notice following

years of controversy was a “sneak attack.” Swanson said they would be asking the judge for an order to send the animals back to the Yellowstone area. The bison slated for the move were loaded on a truck last week, just days after Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) signed a contract which outlined the protocol for transferring the bison from the Turner Ranch near Bozeman onto Fort Peck Reservation. But missing from the plans was any type of public notice that, according to landowners and ranchers, is required. The transfer came in the middle of a snowstorm and with no prior public announcement as state and trib-

INDEX Beef Bits .................................. P-3 Sale Reports .......................... P-11 Markets.................................. Markets .................................. P-22 Classifieds ............................. P-24 Sale Calendar ........................ P-27

During the 2011 Montana Legislature, the Montana Stockgrowers Association worked hard to pass SB 212, which requires the state to adopt a management plan before bison are transplanted anywhere in Montana. Despite the legislation, officials moved 64 bison from Yellowstone National Park to Montana’s Fort Peck Reservation last week.

Spring fever hits markets

Time Sensitive Priority Handling

NEWS:

passed last year that required officials to come up with a statewide bison management plan before moving the animals. “They just seem to think they are above the law,” Ripley said. “They’re going to have a lot of problems with damage to private property that they could have addressed prior to translocation.” Gov. Brian Schweitzer aide Mike Volesky said the new law requires a management plan specific to transferred bison, not a statewide plan. To the ire of many ranchers, the move is drawing support from Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “This transfer marks a See Bison on page 10

Rural Californians to pay $150 per home for fire fee

FIRES COST RANCHERS — A recent range fire near Yuma, CO, quickly scorched 24,000 acres. It appears the fire started near a downed power line blown over during high winds. Approximately 24,000 acres of half grass/crop fields on private lands were burned, along with cattle. Page 28

LIVE STEERS DRESSED STEERS CME FEEDER $203.23 $153.45 $127.37 WEEK ENDING: 3-26-12

al officials sought to avoid a courtroom battle with ranchers worried about bison competing with cattle for grazing space. In addition to the grazing concerns, brucellosis is also at the top of the discussions and ranchers say it is just a matter of time before the bison demolish fences and ruin pastures. According to reports, the animals were captured leaving the park during their winter migration and tested extensively to make sure they were free of brucellosis. State Sen. Rick Ripley, a Wolf Creek Republican and plaintiff in the landowners’ lawsuit, said the move was in defiance of a law

Spring fever or March Madness is upon us and the summer-like temperatures have exacerbated the symptoms. Farmers are not immune, as sightings of corn planters were reported throughout the Midwest and few seem worried about an April cold snap. “It looks like a lot of eastern Corn Belt farmers are hoping to have some early-harvested corn to use in capturing old-crop premiums before the main harvest season gets underway.Things could get exciting in the markets if there would happen to be widespread frost in late April,” according to Bob Wisner, Iowa State University. Fed cattle started the week off slow with little movement, but activity picked up in the north on Wednesday. In the Southern Plains, live sales traded steady at $126. In Nebraska, live sales traded $1 higher from $127-128 with dressed sales steady to $2 higher from $202-204. In Colorado, live sales traded $.50-1 higher than the previous week, from $127127.50. Western Corn Belt trade was steady to $1 higher from $126-128 with dressed sales mostly $1 higher and the bulk of sales were at $203. USDA reported 12,000 head of cattle sold in Texas/Oklahoma at $126 live, 25,000 head of cattle sold in Kansas for $126-127 live, 21,000 head of cattle sold in Ne-

braska for $2.02-2.04 dressed and $127-128 live, 5,000 head of cattle sold in Colorado for $127-127.50 live, and 11,000 head of cattle sold in Iowa for $127 live and $2.022.04 dressed. Overall slaughter is down, credited to tight supplies and higher carcass weights. Heifer slaughter is down notably as producers are beginning to hang on to valuable replacement heifers. Year-to-date beef production is down 3.7 percent. The average dressed weight for slaughter steers for the week ending on March 3 was 850 pounds, down four pounds from the week before, but up 21 pounds from the same time last year. Packer margins remain in the red, with final numbers for the week averaging around 610,000. “Our demand analysis suggesting any production level over 618,000 would exert selling pressure on beef cutout values has proven to be correct. Production under this level should begin to lend support to the product. Production the previous week was estimated at 619,000, down from 631,000 head the previous week and 619,000 head last year. Beef production year to date was down 3.7 percent from the prior year,” according to Andy Gottschalk with Hedgers Edge.com. See Markets on page 23

Rural Californians are all fired up over a new fee. The state claims the fee is needed to continue providing fire protection to rural residents. Opponents are calling foul, however, saying it is an illegal and unfair tax that will do more harm than good. In July 2011, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill X1 29 into law. The law imposes a $150 “fire fee” on rural residents. The fee applies to anyone owning one or more “habitable structures” within the state’s State Responsibility Area (SRA). Funds from the fee go to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire). Though permanent regulations have not yet started, emergency regulations—signed by Brown in late January 2012—are currently being implemented. Following the 180-day life of the emergency regulations, a 45-day public comment period will begin.

Fee vs. tax “The California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) believes it’s a tax,” said Kevin Kester, president of CCA and a rancher from Parkfield, CA, of the fee. A taxation watchdog group in California, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, is preparing for a lawsuit if the law is not

withdrawn before becoming permanent. In the association’s official letter of objection, filed in December 2011 with California Office of Administrative Law and the State Board of Forestry, the group outlined their two key points: the fire fee is a tax; and as a tax, it failed to receive a two-thirds vote in the legislature as required. When asked about the likelihood of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s threatened litigation, Kester stated he fully anticipates it will come to that. “It appears this regulation will continue into a permanent form and I fully anticipate legal action. It’s my understanding that when the first billing or invoice is sent to people, [the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association] will act.” The law itself includes mention of potential challenge as a tax. It cites California Proposition 26 which was passed by voters in 2010 as a source of potential “legal challenges.” It is estimated 800,000 to 850,000 Californians will be affected by the new law. The $150 fee would apply only for the first residence, with discounted fees being assessed for each additional habitable structure owned. A $35 discount is also in place See CA fire fee on page 19

CAFO inspections from the air The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) increasing surveillance flights over feedlots in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa are generating a controversial buzz among ranchers and cattle producers who chafe at what they perceive as an invasion of privacy that easily could be abused. EPA has been taking aerial photographs of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in those Region 7 states in recent years as a means to more effectively monitor harmful discharges of pollutants into waterways, EPA officials say. EPA hosted a public informational meeting to explain the inspection program, manure stockpiling, winter feeding areas and nutrient management plans on March 13 at West Point, NE. About 125 people showed up. Kristen Hassebrook, Nebraska Cattlemen’s natural resources and environmental studies director, says many sheriffs in the four states have been contacted by livestock feeders concerned about aircraft flying low over their operations. Hassebrook says EPA contends the flyovers reduce the amount of time visiting feedlots. However, the flights with pilots and EPA photographers accrue additional costs and lead to more inspections each year, she says. “Perhaps they’re more efficient in targeting people, but they’re certainly not using less tax dollars. State environmental departments do the same thing,” Hassebrook says. “Everyone’s gut reaction is it’s just another example of an agenda that’s almost anti-ag. When we hear the government is flying over our property, See Flyover on page 20


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