LMD Sept 16

Riding Herd

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

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

September 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 58 • No. 9

Living Forever

Self Control R

BY LEE PITTS

If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now & then to make sure it’s still there.

W

hen Ted Cruz attacked “New York values” prior to the Iowa caucuses he was applauded in America’s heartland and cursed in New York. While the comment played well in Des Moines it offended liberal, money grabbers in New York City. Evidently Cruz had not done the math; there are more liberal New Yorkers than there are Iowa corn farmers.

But we all knew what Cruz meant and if you didn’t, you’re about to find out.

Fly-over Country

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

Has anyone else noticed that of the four major candidates now vying for President and Vice President not one lives West of Indiana? Look at a map... that leaves 2/3 of the country not represented. Talk about fly-over country! Who speaks for us? It seems the only two places in the West the candidates know anything about are Hollywood and Silicon Valley and the only thing they know about them is they are great locations for $100,00-a-plate dinners.

Cruz may have been laughed at but he was right. Hillary Clinton represented New York as a Senator from 2001-2009. Sure, she went to Arkansas temporarily to hitch a ride on Bill’s shooting star and ride his coattails all the way to the White House but she got back to New York as

soon as she could.

Of course, Donald Trump is a born and bred New Yorker who before the campaign, seemed to only leave town to put his name on another high rise or cut the ribbon on another golf course.

The candidates on the under card are a lot closer to New York than they are LA. Tim Kaine was Governor and Senator from Virginia, while Mike Pence is a lifelong Hoosier who was elected the 50th Governor of the State of Indiana in 2012, after serving as a Congressman.

We’ve just experienced eight

years of an east-coast-centric administration and no matter who is elected this November we’re guaranteed at least another four more. I don’t know if the West can withstand another flyover President whose definition of the West is George Clooney’s house.

Going Up In Smoke Let’s look at what’s at stake here. Much like Mark Twain’s death, talk of the demise of the public lands rancher has been premature. Yes, they are still alive, but barely. Today, about

22,000 public land ranchers must deal with the four federal agencies that “manage” 609 million acres of public land across the nation. (Some might call it mis-management.) Half of all that public land is concentrated in just 11 Western states.

For comparison purposes, of the 1.9 billion acres in the continental U.S, excluding Alaska, 788 million acres are grazed by livestock on private land.

When we compare the 22,000 public lands ranchers to the 808,110 total number of cow/calf operators in the U.S. they seem like a small minority. The population pool is muddied however when you consider those same public lands ranchers own 120 million deeded acres interspersed with the public land. It becomes a huge Western issue because nearly 40 percent of the Western catcontinued on page two

Rep. Chris Stewart On Need to Abolish Federal Law Enforcement Powers

BY TRACIE SULLIVAN / STGEORGEUTAH.COM

I

f Utah Congressman Chris Stewart has his way the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) could someday lose their law enforcement functions.

Stewart was one of the co-sponsors of the bill proposing the Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act of 2016 that, if passed, will abolish the Forest Service Law Enforcement unit and the Investigations unit within the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the BLM Office of Law Enforcement and Security in the U.S. Department of Interior.

The bill emphasizes the importance of state and local policing of federal lands and requires both the Agriculture and Interior secretaries give grants to the states to fund those needed law enforcement activities.

Chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, Representative Jason Chaffetz, originally introduced the bill in March. Utah Representatives Rob Bishop and Mia Love are also co-sponsors of the legislation. No congressional action has been taken on the proposed legislation so far.

“Federal agencies do not enjoy the same

level of trust and respect as local law enforcement that are deeply rooted in communities,” the lawmakers stated in a collective statement issued upon introducing the bill.

“This legislation will help de-escalate conflicts between law enforcement and local residents while improving transparency and accountability. The BLM and Forest Service will be able to focus on their core missions without the distraction of police functions.”

The Utah lawmakers pointed to reported conflicts between federal land officers and local communities as part of the reason for introducing the bill.

During an exclusive interview with St. George News, Stewart said federal law enforcement officers are now dealing with many issues that should be reserved for local sheriffs who are familiar with the residents and topography of the area.

They’ve heard stories and examples from citizens who, in some cases, have been abused by these officials “I can’t tell you how many sheriffs I’ve talked to who are resentful and angry of federal continued on page four

ecently I read that some babies being born today will be “lucky” enough to live until they are 150 years old!

WHOA! No thank you very much!

In medieval times a peasant could expect to live 25 years and 3,000 years ago most Egyptians died by the time they were 30 because that’s how long their teeth lasted. In that respect they were like gummer cows. Today in America if you reach 65 years of age you can expect to live another 20 years!

I can’t even imagine living for 150 years, can you? By my calculations that’s 18 colonoscopies to look forward to! Uggh!!!

Someone’s gonna live to regret this. Does this mean they’ll have to wait until they’re 125 to get Social Security or a Senior Citizen’s discount on the blue plate special at Margie’s Diner?

Are those “lucky kids” several generations from now going to want to work for their parents for 100 years for starvation wages just so they can inherit the ranch when they turn 120? Will people be trimming shrubs, mowing lawns, bucking hay bales, throwing calves, riding broncs, and checking out groceries when they’re 103?

I can see it all now. Three or four generations will all be crammed into a 900 square foot cracker-box house where family members will need name tags.

At family barbecues GreatGreat-Great grandparents will be boring their younger kin folks with... “Why, I can remember when we read out of things called books and believe it or not, you had to actually drive the car!”

The problem is that our bodies are simply not keeping up with all the technology. Take one look at 85 year olds today with their saggy skin and their criss-cross networks of bulging veins and then imagine that same person 60 years from now!

I’ll be 65 my next birthday and already everything in or on my body is either shrivcontinued on page four

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tle herd and 50 percent of the nation’s sheep flock spend some time on public lands. In 2013, public lands ranching contributed $1.5 billion to the Western economy. Since every dollar generated from agricultural activities is worth four to eight times the value of one “circulated” dollar within the local community, you can begin to see how important the public lands rancher is to the West.

Lost in all the political posturing is the fact that 25 percent of all grazing fees goes to support local schools and road maintenance. Fifty percent goes to pay for range improvements, and 25 percent goes toward paying federal administrative costs, thereby reducing the taxes we’ll have to pay to support all those federal bureaucrats riding around in new trucks. Those numbers don’t even begin to tell the entire story. Public land ranchers spend their time and money taking care of the public lands they graze. Remove them and you’ll soon see an even bigger collection of brand new bureaucrats crawling all over the West.

Western ranch families preserve the land and clean water.

They also control invasive plant species and protect habitat for endangered species. Chart the number of public acres pulled from production and the number of grassland acres scorched every year and even a bumbling bureaucrat should be able to see a cause-and-effect relationship.

Say what you will about cow burps causing global warming, it’s nothing compared to all the smoke being produced by grasslands going up in smoke that could have been prevented by a few cows and ranchers.

It is multi-generational ranchers that are locking up their land with conservation easements that hopefully ensure the land they love will never be chopped up into subdivisions.

With 6,000 acres of open space being lost every day in this country more and more the rancher is the last firebreak, if you will, against the bulldozers.

Finally, it is the rancher who gives the West its unique character in all the world.

Follow The Money Let’s face it, we’re losing the War On The West. Whenever we Westerners sit around big tables in long meetings with government officials we have been “outnumbered, out-lobbied and out-lawyered”. When dealing with the feds you’re lucky if you get a date in court and pay a quarter-million dollars in lawyer fees. Unlucky, and you could end up in jail like the Hammonds, or murdered like LaVoy Finicum.

There are numerous individuals who are fighting for the rights of public land’s ranchers on a daily basis, but an organized assault by a strong national organization has been sorely lacking.

One problem is it’s hard to

continued from page one

tell friend from foe. Take the Public Lands Council (PLC), for example. Their intentions are not always clear. They certainly don’t speak for the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ who gave up on the PLC years ago as a result of the PLC being joined at the hip with the NCBA. Like most all other things in the cattle business these days, the PLC falls under the huge umbrella of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). They even share office space in Washington DC. One of the biggest problems the PLC has in representing Western ranchers is that many NCBA members live east of the Mississippi and feel that Western allotment owners are not paying enough in rent. Then there’s the not-so-secretly held belief that if the public lands ranchers were to disappear, it would be better financially for the ranchers left behind. What they fail to realize is that the feds are coming for them next.

Typical of the way the NCBA/ PLC acts was a deal they made a few years back that would allow Oregon and New Mexico to be sacrificed as pilot states for allotment retirement. Smarter heads in New Mexico were able to kill the initiative only to be sold out at the end of the next year in an omnibus land bill that turned over the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service. As a result agricultural youth were no longer able to access the magnificent property for things like Youth Ranch Management Camp and other 4-H camps.

As with all things the NCBA has their hands in, it’s all about the money. PLC got substantial funding a few years ago by cutting a deal on the Ruby Pipeline, a three billion dollar, 680 mile pipeline project of the El Paso Corporation that stretches from Wyoming to Oregon and crosses through Utah and Nevada.

In their own words here’s how the NCBA was swayed to support the project; “After many long conversations between representatives of the Public Lands Council, NCBA and Ruby Pipeline, which seeks to ensure that the nearly 100-year relationship between the livestock industry and El Paso Corp. continues far into the future, a significant endowment was made with the mission to “protect, enhance and preserve the public lands grazing industry.”

The NCBA/PLC said that while they “were concerned” about similar deals signed between El Paso and the Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association, two radical green groups, that still didn’t deter them from giving their blessing for the project after they got a $15 million dollar endowment from El Paso.

The NCBA/PLC said, “The endowment’s earnings would go toward meeting PLC’s mission to serve the public lands livestock industry.” But when the state of Arizona needed some cash to fight the overrun of continued on page three

September 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 3

SELF CONTROL their state by Mexican wolves, no cash was readily forthcoming from the PLC. Perhaps they should have asked the El Paso Corporation to ask the NCBA/PLC for them.

We Shall See Into this vacuum of public lands leadership a new group has been organized recently for public lands ranchers that’s wholly run by allotment owners. The Range Allotment Owners (RAO) Association has some folks on its Board of Directors who have fought the public lands battle for a long time including Robert Corbell (CA), Tim Erickson (CA), Lorene Bonds (CO), Maxine Korman (MT), Gary Stone (MT), Wayne Hage Jr. (NV), Matt Wood (UT), Chuck Sylvester (WY), and Native Indian-Allotment Representative Carlos Salazar. Its Executive Director is Dr. Angus McIntosh, PhD, who said upon the formation of the group: “We saw a real need for a national organization that will protect the property rights and business interests of allotment owners. RAO will give allotment owners a strong voice that will dominate and control state and federal bureaucrats.

By honoring our statutes, we, not the feds or enviros, will dictate all terms and uses of allotment owners’ property. RAO will be run by us, not the BLM or USFS! “The Association provides a unified voice,” said McIntosh, “for the allotment owners throughout the West, to protect their property rights and business interests against the abuses of rogue bureaucrats and anti-ranching extremists.”

Dr. McIntosh certainly talks a good game but it’s way too early to tell what impact the new group will have.

Irony, Anyone?

I got a chuckle out of Easterners who howled recently when President Barack Obama ignored local and state input, and used the Antiquities Act to unilaterally designate 87,500 acres of lands in Maine as a National Monument, there-by making it off-limits.

Those irate Eastern editorial writers got just a tiny taste of what Obama has been doing to the West for eight years. It was the 22nd time this President has used the Antiquities Act to lock up more land, by far, the most of any President in history. And he is far from done. Of course, those eastern editorial writers didn’t let out a peep when Obama was locking up land in the West fast and furious where the feds already “own” on average 40 percent of the state’s land.

How’s this for irony, about the only people raising a peep in Congress about the deal on Maine’s behalf was the Western Caucus?

The Congressional Western Caucus definitely falls into the category of “friend of the pub-

continued from page two

lic land’s rancher.” It is a caucus within the House of Representatives who promote Western and rural interests in Congress.

Although the Caucus is open to all members of Congress from all political parties, mostly it’s a bunch of Western Republicans.

The Caucus is “dedicated to the principles of multiple use, private property, limited government and local decision-making, while working to sustain a vibrant Western economy and maintaining a commitment to protecting and enhancing the environment for present and future.”

When Obama used the Antiquities Act to lock up that land in Maine, Congressperson

Cynthia Lummis, President of the Western Caucus said, “Obama is not using the Antiquities Act of 1906, he is abusing it. The act was never intended for legacy shopping at the expense of local voices, but the White House continues using it for such. The West has endured midnight monument designations numerous times and our communities understand the frustration felt by Maine citizens and officials today. Congress must take action to end this lame duck ritual and restore good government principles to the designation process.”

The Future of The West Even if you’re not a public

lands cattleman but ranch anywhere in the West you should be very concerned about who wins the upcoming Presidential Election because the winner will probably name four or five Supreme Court Justices and, make no mistake, the Supreme Court is where the future of the West will be decided.

We’re heartened a little that at least one political party didn’t totally forget about us. The 2016 National Republican Party Platform discusses the transfer of public lands back to the state where they belong. “The federal government,” reads the Platform, “owns or controls over 640 million acres of land in the United States, most of

which is in the West. These are public lands, and the public should have access to them for appropriate activities like hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting.” (Please note, they didn’t mention ranching, mining or forestry.)

“Federal ownership or management of land places an economic burden on counties and local communities in terms of lost revenue to pay for things such as schools, police, and emergency services. It is absurd to think that all that acreage must remain under the absentee ownership or management of official Washington.” continued on page four

Page 4

RIDING HERD eled up, doesn’t work or leaks.

I can’t imagine what I’d feel like 75 years from now in the autumn of my life! A significant part of our elderly population already faces the problem that if they hear a leaking faucet it causes them to wet their Depends®. They reach down to straighten their wrinkly socks and realize they aren’t wearing any. Or they sneeze and break their hip. By my rough calculations at 150 years of age people will be working on their fifth set of teeth, their 12th marriage and their tenth ton of bran, prunes and laxatives. You think you spend a lot of time in doctor’s offices now, just wait until you’re 130!

As I understand it, people will live that long in the future because diseases like cancer and heart disease will be wiped out. If you need a new kidney, heart or lung, scientists will just grow you a new one using your stern cells.

Still, I don’t think we’ve thought this one through. This will change all aspects of life and it could wipe out entire industries. If people quit dying I wouldn’t want to be in the mortuary business, for example.

Obit writers will be lonelier than the Maytag repair man. A Dug-

SELF CONTROL The Republicans ask a fair question: “Why is the prospect of transferring much of this property to the states which encompass it such a controversial idea? Since when did the Founding Fathers want the federal govern-

Livestock Market Digest continued from page one

gar will have a cable show about their 250 kids and the Mega Lottery will have a payout over 120 years. Kids will be born on Medicare and AARP will hound you for 70 years, instead of 30! Anyone croaking at 100 will be said to have died young and obituaries will run for three pages, listing all the survivors.

Couples will celebrate their 100th wedding anniversary and IBM will hand out watches to anyone working for them for a century! Classmates will attend their 130th reunion and lie to each other that they don’t look a day over 120.

Those “lucky’ babies being born now can look forward to 90 years of arthritis, Metamucil®, Coumadin®, wobbly knees and broken hips. They’ll be locked up in some geezer camp where they’ll be bar-coded, warehoused and visited once a year. As a ward of the state they’ll awake only for their annual birthday party. There will be 20 candles on each slice of cake and if all the candles are lit on the cake it could start a three alarm fire that could burn the rest home down.

Well, they can hope can’t they? wwwLeePittsbooks.com

continued from page three

ment to be a landlord on this massive scale?”

Amongst all the paralyzing dismay and discontent we’re heartened a little that at least someone in Congress has bothered to read the Constitution.

September 15, 2016

Government to blame for less public access

BY JACK D. JONES MTSTANDARD.COM

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s anticipated from the beginning of the Montana political campaigns, public land access and access to/on federal and state public lands tops the list. It’s also apparent how all the political rhetoric falls far short of addressing the real issue. No, it’s not all about an opened fishing access site along the east Gallatin River.

The issue is larger -- related to the millions of acres of federal and state public lands in Montana the majority of these lands which now approach 65 percent are closed off to the public and who closed them.

These public lands are closed off by the very agencies who work for us on OUR land: the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. When you examine a closed road adjacent to large blocks of public land, you see an expensive metal closure adorned with a sign “closed to protect the resource.” What is the specific resource and documented justification? No one knows.

These agencies consider us, the public, destructive if we use our own land for lawful purposes such as hunting, fishing access and just plain walking. More and more acres of our land are closed off every

year for nonsense reasons. It all started with the interagency travel map. The bureaucrats in all their wisdom realized if a few road closures are necessary, then even more and more would be better for the agency, not us. Then the maps increased from $4 to nearly $20 -- more government wisdom at work, less and less access on an “access map.” Over the years how many acres have they opened with new roads?

They don’t want to talk about it.

The smoke screen still exists: “they will transfer federal lands to Montana to sell.”

“They” must be a political opponent. A review of the public land laws of BLM and USFS will solve that debate. These lands are held in public ownership for present and future generations. Only the U.S. Congress can change the public land laws that are then subject to presidential signature.

Case closed. The legend on the interagency map would be far shorter if they showed us where we can go.

Selling public lands? Perhaps the Governor and Land Board should tell us why they sold 68,060 acres of OUR state lands after a few spent 12 years getting access to 5.2 million acres with over half of those lands closed off now.

Nothing received in land in return and all sold below full market value. A rip-off. The

CHRIS STEWART

Advertise to Cattleman in the Livestock Market Digest Call 505-243-9515

officials, not just the BLM, who are coming in and taking on law enforcement responsibilities that the sheriff should be doing.

And they’ve heard stories and examples from citizens who, in some cases, have been abused by these officials.”

Federal News Radio located in Washington state quotes the National President of the Federal Enforcement Officers Association, Nate Catura, stating that while the sheriffs’ concerns may be valid, the issues between federal, state and local law enforcement are not as prevalent as some would argue.

“It’s just pandering to a very small minority group of people that are just anti-government,” Catura said. “They just hate the federal government. They want as little interference with the federal government as possible, and they see that the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service are causing problems for them in their local areas. Except that probably 85 percent of the United States doesn’t have any problem. It’s just in Utah and Nevada and probably a small part in Oregon.”

Catura also maintains state and local officers lack the spe-

focus should be on agencies responsible for our lands and who is the real villain? No, the problem is not funding; the problem is a waste of the public funding they already have.

Purposeful management of our public lands falls far short of what is necessary and required. When I look at what has happened at Georgetown Lake is a good example. Piney Point has become Clear Cut Point and no plans for more new sites such as on Rainbow Bay or anywhere else.

Years ago reforestation was a common practice when we had qualified rangers with degrees in the professional field at the helm; it’s not that way anymore. No plan for any reforestation at Clear Cut Point.

Yes, adaptable species spruce and fir replanted seven years ago would be six feet tall by now. Spraying for bugs turned out to be a boondoggle and selective cutting with available firewood is unheard of by the USFS. Doing nothing seems to be the landmark of agencies these days.

Do we need some changes and soon? Perhaps a good question to ask to the “all-talk do-nothing politicians.” Check out your favorite hunting area soon; I already found mine recently closed off with no public road planned.

Jack D. Jones of Butte worked as a wildlife biologist in Montana for 36 years with the Bureau of Land Management.

continued from page three

cialized expertise and training needed to patrol federal lands.

Stewart doesn’t agree and believes the law enforcement arm of the federal government is doing more harm than good.

“So if we take away that law enforcement capability it takes away the problem and allows them (federal officials) to do what they’re good at and what they should be doing and that’s managing the land, managing the forests, managing the wildlife,” Stewart said. “It allows the sheriff to do what they’re trained to do, what they’re good at and that’s protecting our citizens and law enforcement.

There shouldn’t be an overlap between the two.

The Utah Sheriffs and Western Sheriffs associations both actively support the bill arguing there are “aggressive and over reactive federal land agents,” who often overstep their authority.

This is a huge concern for the Utah congressman who argued there is a lack of accountability when it comes to the actions of federal law enforcement officers.

Many of these times we can’t identify who these officials are.

“There is a reason local sher-

iffs are elected,” Stewart said. “If they’re hassling you, or if their deputies are hassling you, you can go hold them accountable.

Federal officials, that’s not the case. Many of these times we can’t identify who these officials are and if you do they’re just not as responsive because they work for the federal government.”

Stewart introduced a similar bill two years ago called the Regulatory Agency De-militarization (RAD) Act of 2014.

The bill stemmed from the trend of federal regulatory agencies developing SWAT-like law enforcement teams. Examples of these include the Department of Education, Department of Federal Trade Commission and Department of Environmental Protection.

RAD died in committee but had it passed it would have prohibited federal agencies, other than those tasked with enforcing federal law such as the FBI, from purchasing machine guns, grenades and other weaponry regulated under the National Firearms Act. It also would have repealed the arrest and firearm authority granted to Offices of Inspectors General in the 2002 Homeland Security Act.

September 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Brazil Opens to U.S. Beef Exports, Clears Hurdle to Export Beef to U.S. SOURCE: USDA

T

he U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reached agreement with Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply to allow access for U.S. beef and beef products to the Brazilian market for the first time since 2003. Brazil’s action reflects the United States’ negligible risk classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and aligns Brazil’s regulations to the OIE’s scientific international animal health guidelines.

“After many years of diligently working to regain access to the Brazilian market, the United States welcomes the news that Brazil has removed all barriers to U.S. beef and beef product exports,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We are pleased that Brazil, a major agricultural producing and trading country, has aligned with science-based international standards, and we encourage other nations to do the same. Since last year alone, USDA has eliminated BSE-related restrictions in 16 countries, regaining market access for U.S. beef and pumping hundreds-of-millions of dollars into the American economy.

“The Brazilian market offers excellent long-term potential for U.S. beef exporters. The United States looks forward to providing Brazil’s 200-million-plus consumers, and growing middle class, with high-quality American beef and beef products,” Vilsack said.

Both countries will immediately begin updating their administrative procedures in order to allow trade to resume. U.S. companies will need to complete Brazil’s regular facilities registration process.

In a separate decision, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) also recently determined that Brazil’s food safety system governing meat products remains equivalent to that of the United States and that fresh (chilled or frozen) beef can be safely imported from Brazil. Following a multi-year science based review consistent with U.S. food safety regulations for countries that export meat, poultry and egg products to the U.S., FSIS is amending the list of eligible countries and products authorized for export to the United States to allow fresh (chilled or frozen) beef from Brazil.

The Brazilian agreement is just the latest example of USDA’s ongoing efforts to knock down barriers to U.S. exports. In 2016 alone, these efforts have led to the reopening of the Saudi Arabian and Peruvian markets for U.S. beef, the South Korean market for U.S. poultry, and the South African market for U.S. poultry, pork and beef. In 2015, U.S. beef exports reached $6.3 billion thanks to aggressive efforts by USDA to eliminate BSE-related restrictions in 16 countries since January 2015, gaining additional market access for U.S. beef in Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guatemala, Iraq, Lebanon, Macau, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Saint Lucia,

Singapore, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam and, now, Brazil.

The past seven years have represented the strongest period in history for American agricultural exports, with international sales of U.S. farm and food products totaling $911.4 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2015.

Since 2009, USDA has worked to strengthen and support American agriculture, an industry that supports one in 11 American jobs, provides American consumers with more than 80 percent of the food we consume, ensures that Americans spend less of their paychecks at the grocery store than most people in other countries, and supports markets for homegrown renewable energy and materials.

USDA has also provided $5.6 billion in disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; expanded risk management tools with products like Whole Farm Revenue Protection; and helped farm businesses grow with $36 billion in farm credit.

The Department has engaged its resources to support a strong next generation of farmers and ranchers by improving access to land and capital; building new markets and market opportunities; and extending new conservation opportunities. USDA has developed new markets for rural-made products, including more than 2,500 biobased products through USDA’s BioPreferred program; and invested $64 billion in infrastructure and community facilities to help improve the quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/results.

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Drovers Announces 3rd Annual Cowboy College for Feedlot Crews

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eedlot managers and crews from across the nation will gather Sept. 7-8 for the third annual Drovers Feedlot Cowboy College. Held at the United Wireless Arena in Dodge City, Kansas, this educational event is designed specifically for feedlot crews and targeted toward working cowboys, hospital crews, feedlot managers and others involved in the day-to-day care and welfare of America’s fed cattle. As an added benefit, all participants will be BQA certified by the conclusion of the conference.

Drovers Feedlot Cowboy College brings together worldclass expertise and knowledge from industry leaders. Hosted by world renowned veterinarians Dan Thomson, Mike Apley and Tom Noffsinger, Drovers Feedlot Cowboy College will focus on improving animal welfare, best management practices and technology for cattle health and performance, low-stress cattle handling techniques and much more.

Dr. Thomson currently serves as the Jones Professor of Production medicine and Epidemiology at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He is also host of the popular television show “DocTalk with Dr. Dan Thomson.” Dr. Apley, from Kansas State University, is well-known for his work with veterinarians and feedlots throughout the U.S. regarding the use of pharmaceutical drugs in food animals. He currently serves on the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. Dr. Noffsinger is an international consulting expert who works with feedlots and ranchers around the world on implementing low-stress animal handling.

“Cowboys from across America have said Cowboy College is a great investment in their business and their future,” said Drovers Editor Greg Henderson. Cowboy Colleges were established to create a two-day “immersion” program for feedlot crews of all degrees of experience. The knowledge shared will enhance the quality, welfare, productivity and ultimately profitability of these feedlots. Having all participants BQA certified by the conclusion of the conference adds to consumer’s confidence that these producers have invested in their role in providing a safe and quality beef product.

Elite sponsors of the 2016 Feedlot Cowboy College include AgriClear and Boehringer Ingelheim; premium sponsors of the event include Animal Health International, Bayer, Merial and Merck Animal Health; supporting event sponsor includes Zinpro.

For more information or to register for the event, visit www.

DroversCowboyCollege.com

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Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2016

Western Nonprofit is Changing the Face of BLM PHIL TAYLOR, WWW.EENEWS.NET

A

Colorado-based nonprofit has grown to have significant influence on the Bureau of Land Management, the nation’s largest landlord.

The Conservation Lands Foundation, founded in 2007, aims to “protect, restore and expand” BLM’s system of national monuments, conservation areas, wilderness and other protected landscapes.

The goal is to elevate conservation within BLM’s multiple-use mission and bring recognition to its prized but lesser-known landscapes.

The group’s modest size — with 18 full-time employees and a budget of less than $5 million, it’s small compared with other national conservation groups — belies its influence in Washington, D.C., and across the West.

“They’ve been one of the most effective advocacy groups that I’ve ever worked with,” said Bob Abbey, who was BLM’s director from 2009 to 2012 and before that served two years as a founding board member at CLF. The Durango-based organization has played a prominent role in President Obama’s decisions to designate roughly 4 million acres of national monuments, most of them on BLM’s turf. It’s helped launch and sustain dozens of “friends” groups across the West to help the cash-strapped BLM maintain and restore its protected lands.

And it’s been a key driver of BLM’s ongoing effort to rebrand its National Conservation Lands — pitching them as a more rugged and less touristy alternative to the National Park System.

BLM is quietly rolling out a “Look and Feel Modernization Initiative” that includes thousands of new welcome signs,

spiffy new web pages and flashy brochures. The CLF-backed initiative seeks to brand BLM’s conservation lands as “parts of a whole — a unified collection of nationally significant lands where people can experience the West as it once was,” said CLF spokesman Dave Welz.

With its sole focus on BLM lands, CLF occupies a unique niche within the conservation community, said former Inte-

ber ($1.5 million); and Utahbased philanthropist and CLF board member Jennifer Speers ($750,000).

Despite its location in southwest Colorado, CLF is believed to have major clout in D.C. Its national monuments campaign helps shape the agendas of like-minded conservation groups.

“Its all-star board of directors is a powerhouse of talent

Critics said CLF’s work distracts BLM from promoting more traditional uses on federal lands — namely drilling and mining. rior Deputy Secretary David Hayes.

“Unlike the National Park Service and other higher-profile land management agencies, the BLM traditionally has not had an outside group dedicated to the conservation side of its mission,” Hayes said.

Critics said CLF’s work distracts BLM from promoting more traditional uses on federal lands — namely drilling and mining.

“There’s been an effort by the environmental lobby for years to turn BLM into another National Park Service,” said Kathleen Sgamma, vice president for government and public affairs for the Western Energy Alliance. “The fact that [CLF] is doing things like helping BLM brand certain types of lands raises eyebrows.”

Sgamma said BLM is “ceding too much” to one special interest group.

Abbey said CLF provides an important counterweight to extractive interests that lobby Congress heavily and have historically driven BLM’s multiple-use agenda.

“What got shortchanged over the years was conservation,” Abbey said. “The Conservation Lands Foundation has been instrumental in raising awareness that conservation is a legitimate component of BLM’s multiple-use mission -- and in some cases is the best use of public lands.”

An ‘all-star board’ CLF’s work has been buoyed by donations from deep-pocketed foundations and board members, including billionaire philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss.

Revenues have risen more than fivefold since 2008 — from $1.2 million to $6.5 million last year, according to the group’s federal tax forms.

Wyss has donated more than $5 million to CLF since 2011. Other top donors in 2013 and 2014 include the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ($945,000); Tiffany and Co. and its chairman, Michael Kowalski, a CLF board mem-

and experience,” Hayes said.

Original board members include the late Stewart Udall, who was Interior secretary during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations; Clinton administration Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and his Chief of Staff Anne Shields; longtime conservationist Ed Norton; and writer and producer Dayton Duncan.

The board also includes Wyss Foundation President Molly McUsic, former Wilderness Society President Bill Meadows and former National Trust for Historic Preservation President Dick Moe. Recent additions to the board include former Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), lobbyist and former aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Kai Anderson, and Wyss Vice President Chris Killingsworth.

CLF will soon have new leadership. Brian O’Donnell, who has served as CLF’s executive director since its founding, said he plans to step down at the end of the year.

White House access on monuments CLF has shaped BLM’s agenda in several ways, according to the minutes of its October 2014 board meeting in San Francisco.

The minutes offer an unusually candid look into the group’s campaign strategies, its concerns over personnel shifts within the Obama administration, and its access to top Interior and White House officials.

Notably, they point to CLF’s success gaining permanent protections for BLM lands.

CLF’s list of prospective national monuments has included California’s Berryessa Snow Mountain and the Southern California desert, Colorado’s Browns Canyon, Nevada’s Basin and Range, and Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds — all of which now enjoy permanent protections.

Two outstanding landscapes on CLF’s monument list — Utah’s Cedar Mesa, part of a

larger Bears Ears monument proposal, and Nevada’s Gold Butte — are both on the White House’s radar for protections before Obama leaves office.

CLF total revenue 2008-2015 Millions of dollars “CLF staff feel as though we are currently well positioned to secure designation for most if not all of these areas before the end of President Obama’s second term,” the fall 2014 minutes said.

The minutes also point to concerns over key Obama officials.

“Struggles with Secretary Jewell,” reads one section of the 2014 minutes, referring to Interior head Sally Jewell. “She is not being a strong advocate for the Antiquities Act, but continues to show gradual improvement.”

CLF’s board at the time feared that the departure of former Obama environment adviser John Podesta could drain the administration’s monuments momentum.

According to the minutes, Moe and O’Donnell were scheduled to meet with Mike Boots, who was then the acting chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which vets monument proposals for the president.

CLF staffer Ryan Bidwell and Moe were also scheduled to meet with Jewell’s Chief of Staff Tommy Beaudreau, and O’Donnell was to meet with Jewell “in the near future,” the minutes indicate.

CLF has also likely had the ear of Michael Degnan, its former monuments campaigner who now works for CEQ. The minutes provide insight into the administration’s monuments leanings.

“The administration has more interest in Cedar Mesa than the nearby Greater Canyonlands proposed monument due largely to the tribal leadership of the effort,” they said.

The minutes also discuss a need to help BLM fill key leadership posts.

Ann Morgan, a former National Wildlife Federation official in Colorado, “could be convinced to replace Carl Rountree,” BLM’s assistant director overseeing the conservation lands, who was slated to retire at the end of the year, the minutes said. Park Service staff, the minutes read, “should be looked at” for BLM job openings.

Critics called that inappropriate meddling.

The minutes “indicate that their goal is to move BLM away from their congressionally mandated multiple-use policy and replace it with a ‘conservation first’ policy,” said Laura Skaer, executive director of the American Exploration & Mining Association.

The group’s message has gotten to the Oval Office as it

ramps up its monuments push.

Obama has come close to meeting CLF’s goal of protecting 20 new monuments and 4 million acres.

CLF’s monuments budget has risen from $495,000 in 2013 to just under $1 million in 2014 and $1.6 million in 2015, according to its 990 forms and its latest annual report.

“That growth did not occur to the exclusion or to the diminishment of the other very important parts of the organization’s mission,” Norton said.

CLF employs one staffer in D.C., Meghan Kissell, its national monuments campaign communications director, and has one lobbyist, Peter Umhofer of E2 Strategies LLC. Duncan called the monument campaign a resounding success. In spite of Obama’s roots as a lawmaker from Illinois, a state largely bereft of federal lands, he’s protected more lands under the Antiquities Act than any other president except Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

“This was not second nature to him,” Duncan said. “I’d like to hope our foundation played a role in keeping these issues in front of the administration and getting them to the president.”

Growth and influence CLF’s roots date back to the Clinton administration.

Clinton in 1996 designated BLM’s first national monument -- the 1.7-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah — and later designated 13 more BLM monuments covering 3.5 million acres in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Montana.

With the help of the nonprofit Conservation Lands Foundation, the Bureau of Land Management last year began unveiling a major rebranding effort that includes new signs, web pages, maps and kiosk displays.

The “Look and Feel Modernization Initiative” aims to “promote a recognizable and consistent BLM brand,” according to the agency’s newly released National Sign Guidebook.

The initiative focuses heavily on BLM’s National Conservation Lands, a collection of 32 million acres of national monuments, conservation areas, wilderness and other protected landscapes that BLM manages with a heavier focus on recreation than the rest of the agency’s 250 million acres. The initiative seeks to portray BLM’s conservation lands as part of a larger system, similar to national parks, forests and wildlife refuges.

BLM said it has updated about 6,000 of 8,000 signs it plans to refurbish, mostly at national monuments and conservation areas, at a cost of roughly $1 million, and plans to finish continued on page seven

September 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

WESTERN NONPROFIT the rest this year. The signs use a new NCL “wordmark” developed by the marketing firm Interbrand with funding from CLF. That wordmark, whose highlighted “A” and “V” suggest a trail marker or a pair of tents, also appears on BLM’s revamped web pages alongside BLM’s logo, vivid landscape photographs and interactive maps. Web page headers feature green accent bars and topographical lines that hint at rugged, untamed landscapes.

The old and new web pages for BLM’s Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, for example, illustrate the stark differences.

Similar topographic lines are being incorporated into BLM’s press releases and internal guidance.

The branding harks back to the National Park Service’s move in 1977 to transition all its park brochures to a “Unigrid” system created by designer Massimo Vignelli. The now-iconic brochures, topped by a black bar and white Helvetica type, give NPS “a strong corporate identity” and serve to “visually bind our diverse organization together,” NPS said in a 1998 publication.

BLM’s new signage standards will eventually be adapted to all BLM signs on public lands and used in other informational products, it said.

BLM’s state offices have each been assigned unique landscape illustrations to adorn non-NCL signs in their states.

The illustrations — developed

by BLM’s Information and Publishing Services Section at its National Operations Center in Denver — feature columbine flowers and aspen trees for Colorado, a pair of pronghorns for New Mexico, and wild horses and sage grouse for Nevada, for example.

That laid the foundation for Babbitt to establish within BLM a National Landscape Conservation System, a new division “to conserve, protect and restore special areas and unique resources.”

BLM’s NLCS — now known as the National Conservation Lands — today contains 32 million acres of national monuments, conservation areas, wilderness, wilderness study areas, wild and scenic rivers, and other protected sites, and has its own assistant director and budget.

But Babbitt feared the NLCS — which he created by secretarial order — would gather dust under the George W. Bush administration or possibly be dismantled.

“He considered it one of the most important parts of his legacy,” Norton said. “He was very eager that that continue.”

CLF was founded, in part, to ensure NLCS was managed and viewed similar to national parks, forests and wildlife refuges. One of its first campaigns was to lobby Congress to make NLCS permanent, which law-

continued from page six

makers did by passing the 2009 omnibus public lands bill.

In recent years, CLF has pushed back against proposals in Congress to defund NLCS. House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) has urged appropriators to ax funding for the program, calling it “a duplicative office that imposes another layer of bureaucratic, centralized and unnecessary management.”

With the help of the nonprofit Conservation Lands Foundation, the Bureau of Land Management last year began unveiling a major rebranding.

Congress this year is funding the system at roughly $37 million, about $10 million below the administration’s request.

But from the outset, CLF’s core focus has been to provide grants, training and networking to local, nonprofit friends groups that advocate for protecting BLM’s conservation lands across the West, Norton said. Roughly half of CLF’s $4 million in program expenses went to that aim in 2015.

“We wanted them to be knitted together so they felt part of a common goal,” Norton said.

CLF each year hosts a friends group “rendezvous” to share training and strategies. The inaugural gathering in Tucson, Ariz., in 2008 drew 12 groups, but today’s rendezvous events attract roughly 50 groups, Norton said.

The board picked O’Donnell, a longtime conservationist who had previously led Trout Unlimited’s public lands program, as its first executive director, Norton said.

O’Donnell, 45, hails from Massachusetts but has spent roughly the past two decades in the West. He’s also worked for the Wilderness Society, where he led campaigns that resulted in the congressional designations of the Black Rock Desert and Sloan Canyon national conservation areas and dozens of new legislated wilderness areas in Nevada.

CLF’s growth has been “steady and organic,” Norton said, and has been consistent

with the expansion of its friends group network.

Last year, 63 friends groups mobilized roughly 2,800 volunteers to donate 53,000 hours of labor at 355 restoration projects, O’Donnell said. They rebuilt 212 miles of trails, closed 44 miles of illegal roads, shored up 122 miles of riverbanks and reintroduced native plants on 17,000 acres, according to CLF.

What’s in a name?

Babbitt in an interview last fall with the Southern Utah Oral History Project described CLF as a “friendly, sometimes critical, observer” of BLM that quietly intervenes in key management decisions.

Among its first tasks: change the NLCS name.

CLF conducted surveys and focus groups on NLCS, which, it turns out, many believed involved landscaping. It didn’t help that NLCS also stands for Major League Baseball’s National League Championship Series.

“To Bruce’s chagrin, he probably gave it the worst name,” Norton said. “People associated ‘landscape’ with gardening.”

The name NLCS “barely registered” with the people CLF consulted, O’Donnell said.

At CLF’s urging, BLM in 2013 issued an instruction memorandum urging employees to use the name National Conservation Lands in hopes that it would resonate more strongly with the public. It even banned employees from using the acronym NCL. Another big step was branding those lands to the public.

CLF in 2012 hired the marketing firm Interbrand — which had previously done work with U.S. EPA on its Energy Star certification — to design a new “wordmark” for BLM’s conservation lands. BLM largely adopted the firm’s design and is now printing it on its new signs, web pages, kiosks and other materials.

The wordmark and branding effort is part of BLM’s “Look and Feel Modernization Initiative,” which began last year with the installation of a new sign for the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico.

BLM in 2014 told CLF it has “several millions of dollars” to roll out the new branding initiative, according to CLF board meeting minutes. To date, BLM has updated about 6,000 out of 8,000 NCL signs at a cost of about $900,000, the agency said.

“The new design standards are intended to enhance the consistency, quality and visual appeal of signs; improve interpretive information; and increase the understanding of the public lands and the BLM’s role in managing them,” said BLM spokesman Craig Leff.

CLF’s original board of directors at Durango, Colo.’s Strater Hotel. At front and center is the late Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. Photo courtesy of CLF.

Page 7

Feeding Quality Forum Challenges Norms

BY MIRANDA REIMAN

I

f you think you have the cattle feeding business all figured out, you’re probably mistaken.

That’s according to speakers at the Feeding Quality Forum in Grand Island, Neb., and Amarillo, Texas, in late August. The experts addressed what they “used to know” that’s no longer so.

“After decades of slow change, the North American cattle and beef industries are undergoing rapid transition,” said Pete Anderson, director of research for Midwest PMS, at the event that drew more than 200 at the two locations.

In the last 25 years, the use of expected progeny differences (EPDs) have allowed Angus birth-weight trends to remain flat while growth continued upward, Anderson noted.

Quality improved at the same time, but that had to mean more than just grading Choice.

“The difference between Choice and Select is no longer the distinction of quality; it’s between Choice and the branded programs,” he said.

Cattlemen on this continent are best positioned to exploit that shift if they can maintain their recent focus.

“North America must stay in and dominate the world high-quality beef market,” Anderson said. “Exports are key.”

Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, also noted the significance of the U.S. as the leading source of corn-fed, high-quality beef.

But he warned that the rest of the world is catching up: “We’ll see the shift, more grain being fed and more focus on marbling and quality than before. That differentiation will be diminished.”

The market analyst made those comments as part of his overview of global factors affecting U.S. agricultural markets this year.

World-wide corn, soybean and wheat yields will be strong, he said, predicting 547 million metric tons for the combined harvest.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s bearish on prices.

“It’s not as bad as we thought this time around.

This time, we not only have big crops, but we also have big demand,” he said.

Weather challenges abroad and strong export demand explain part of the picture. If corn price dips below $3.25/ bushel, feeders should lock in prices, Basse said. However, he did not recommend hedging fed cattle.

“As we think about [Chicago Mercantile Exchange] futures, they’re too cheap relative to our modeling. The fourth quarter, we think it’s about $10 too cheap, relative to where the market should be today,” he said.

During the past few years of “expensive” corn, economists predicted carcass weights would tail off as feeders struggled to cut feed costs.

That didn’t happen, said Robbi Pritchard, South Dakota State University animal scientist.

He addressed the question, “When are your cattle done,” though of course there is no set answer. He said the old rule was to sell finished cattle before their feed-togain ratio tanked.

“Energetic inefficiency is not what it used to be,” Pritchard said, noting genetics and technology have changed. Big cattle are not automatically inefficient cattle, but they do require differcontinued on page ten

Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

It’s all monuments this month

P

resident Obama has either expanded or designated 24 national monuments – including two in New Mexico - more than any of his predecessors. This has led to much speculation on when and where he will act next. A spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council says what he has done so far is good, but “what he does next is how we measure whether his legacy is great or not.” And as recently as last month Interior Secretary Jewell noted there “are a number of places” around the country where support for preservation is building. “Congress has an opportunity to act,” Jewell said.

“The President is watching and has an opportunity to act if Congress does not. And that’s all I’m going to say.”

Several new things have happened in Utah since my last report on the proposed 1.9 million acre Bears Ears national monument. The Utah Wildlife Board has written Interior Secretary Jewell in opposition to the monument. The letter says the designation would impact hunting, fishing and trapping and put at risk thriving populations of wildlife including elk, deer and bighorn sheep. “It is imperative that the state of Utah manage its wildlife resources if we are to continue seeing the robust wildlife populations and high-quality wildlife recreation the area is known for,” the letter says. In the letter, board members contend the abundance of wildlife and recreational opportunities in the area is due to the collaboration of state officials and sportsmen organi-

zations. Board chairman John Bair writes in the letter that a change in management practices would “threaten the progress we as a state have made in restoring and enhancing wildlife populations found there, and impair wildlife related recreational use and enjoyment” of the area.

Utah Congressman Chris Stewart thinks the decision is already made. He says Utahns are largely in opposition to the monument, but their opinions won’t matter. Stewart believes the President has already made up his mind. “I think they’ve made the decision already,” Stewart said, “and they’re just going through the motions of coming out here to Utah and listening to folks.” That “going through the motions” will certainly ring true to the citizens of Dona Ana County in New Mexico. That is where the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Monument was opposed by the Dona Ana County Sheriff, the village of Hatch, the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Dona Ana Soil & Water District, the Mesilla Valley Sportsmen Alliance and many more local entities. But Secretary Jewell held her listening session, the enviros bussed in people from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and El Paso, and presto! We had a new monument.

Finally, Robert Redford has weighed in with an Op-Ed in support of the Bears Ears. Redford argues in favor of the monument because of his “strong sense of connection” to the land and the opportunity to celebrate “human relationships to

the land.”

It appears the Sundance Kid is trying to pull the wool over our eyes while robbing folks of their access to these lands. The whole purpose of a national monument and similar designations is to limit access by humans. The public will have less access than what they currently enjoy. As far as human relationships to the land, the proper word here would be separate, not celebrate.

Let’s now turn to Nevada, where Senator Harry Reid and assorted enviros are promoting the Gold Butte national monument. The proposal would take up 350,000 acres in southern Nevada, and just happens to include Cliven Bundy’s allotment. That’s the same Bundy who is currently in jail over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge takeover and his 2014 standoff with the Nevada BLM. At a recent press conference Senator Reid was confident the monument would be designated, saying “it is going to happen before the first of the year.” How can that be? Secretary Jewell hasn’t held a listening session there. All of which demonstrates what a farce those sessions are.

In 2015, President Obama designated the Basin and Range national monument in Nevada. Nevada has also hosted the “Best In The Desert Race” for the last twenty years. This is a 648- mile race from Las Vegas to Reno which includes cars, trucks, utility vehicles and motorcycles. Now, however, 38 miles of that race is within the boundary of the Basin and Range national monument.

And sure enough, the eviros have challenged the permit for the race. One of their concerns is “fugitive dust” caused by the racers. “As fugitive dust settles and is deposited, sometimes far away from its origin, it coats plants and soils that can change plant communities and have ecosystem effects.”

Imagine that. All this time I thought we just had dust in the West. Now I find out some of those particles are also fugitives.

BLM has issued the permit, so the race can go on. However, there are some restrictions.

Racers may not go over 35 miles per hour and they may not pass another racer during the 38 miles within the monument. I guess at 36 mph too many of those nasty fugitives would be unleashed upon an unsuspecting plant community.

Only on federal land and in government policy would you ever find a “race” with a speed limit and where you couldn’t pass other participants.

This settles one question though: we’ll never host the Olympic games in a national monument.

Till next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

September 15, 2016

California Wildfires: Experts Weigh Wildlife Impact

BY JAMES ROGERS FOXNEWS.COM

A

s authorities in California battle devastating wildfires across the state, experts are weighing the infernos’ effects on wildlife.

The weeks-long Soberanes Fire near Big Sur, for example, has been burning through areas of sagebrush, an important animal habitat. “[Sagebrush destruction] greatly affects the wildlife that depends on it,” a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management told FoxNews.com.

Sagebrush provides food and shelter to more than 300 species, such as sage grouse, the sagebrush lizard and various songbirds, she added.

The spokeswoman noted that when sagebrush is destroyed, invasive weeds often take over. “It can take up to 40 or 50 years for sagebrush to grow back,” she said.

The Soberanes Fire, which has been burning since July 22, has spread across 79,000 acres and is 60 percent contained, Cal Fire said Thursday evening.

California’s rich natural environment means that wildfires are tearing through multiple ecosystems.

In Southern California, firefighters are attempting to control the Blue Cut Fire north of San Bernardino that

has reportedly burned dozens of buildings and forced more than 82,000 people to evacuate their homes.

The inferno that started out Tuesday as a small patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass had scorched 35,969 acres and was 22 percent contained by Thursday, according to Cal Fire.

“A fire of that size might take out focused resources [for animals] such as springs or riparian woodlands, that are already rare in that environment,” Thomas Scott, a natural resource specialist at the University of California, told FoxNews.com.

Riparian woodland that adjoins a river or stream can be a rich habitat for wildlife, and is an important part of an area’s ecosystem.

“This is an area that doesn’t have a lot of woodland -- it’s largely a transition zone between mountain and desert,” Scott explained. “In these mountain transitions there are a lot of plant species that are only found in certain areas.”

The area, for example, is home to the rare San Bernardino Mountains Monkeyflower.

The Blue Cut fire came after several steady weeks of major fires in drought-ravaged California, even though the full force of the tradicontinued on page eleven

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Livestock Market Digest

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MUST SEE! Union Co, NM – at the confluence of the Pinabetes/ Tramperos Creeks, year round live water, beautiful country w/ super improvements & livestock watering facilities, 4,650 deeded +/-, 3,357 State Lease +/-, one irr. well with ¼ mi. pivot sprinkler for supplemental feed, excellent access via pvmt. & all-weather roads. PRICE REDUCED CONSIDERABLY! SOUTH CONCHOS RANCH – San Miguel Co., NM – 9,135 total ac.+/-, 2,106 ac. +/- “FREE USE”, 6,670 ac. +- deeded, 320 ac. +/- BLM, 40 ac. +/- State, well improved, homes, barns, pens, watered by subs & mills at shallow depth just off pvmt., on co. road, addtl. ranch land available adj. property.

JUST OUT OF CLAYTON, NM - 2,685 ac. +/-, 2 homes, bunk house & roping arena, training arena, horse stalls & runs, well managed & watered, all-weather road.

QUAY CO., NM – Box Canyon Ranch – well improved & watered, 2,400 ac. deeded, 80 ac. State Lease, excellent access from I-40.

LINCOLN/SOCORRO., NM - 37.65 sections +/- Central NM ranch w/good, useable improvements & water, some irrigation w/2 pivot sprinklers, on pvmt. w/all-weather road, 13,322 ac.+/Deeded, 8,457 ac. +/- BLM Lease, 2,320 ac. +/- State Lease.

FOR SALE OR LEASE - 30,000 HD. FEED YARD – Southeast Texas Panhandle, close to Texas & Kansas packers. Call or email for details!!!!

ARGENTINA….PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS on 176,000 ac. +/- (WE CAN DIVIDE into tracts of 1,500 acres or more) of choice land which can be cleared for soybeans & corn, some cleared & seeded to improved grasses for grazing of thousands of mother cows, some still in the brush waiting to be cleared.

CAPITAN GAP 80 ACRES - NE of Capitan, NM, south of the Capitan Gap & joins the Forest w/the village of Lincoln being just a few miles away. One elk permit is allowed. Good access & electricity close. Scenic!

ELK MEADOW – 31.249 beautiful acres in a pristine area on Hwy. 120 near Angel Fire, NM in Colfax Co.

LOGAN, NM – Great opportunity to own a combination concrete/ trucking/feed supply store located on hwy. 54 in a large ranching/ farming area of demand & in close proximity to Ute lake adjacent to Logan.

MINE CANYON ROAD (paved) – Quay Co., NM – 1,063 ac. +/- native grass, well watered w/a good set of pens, located between Ute Lake & Hwy. 54.

TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY – Union Co., NM - Check our website for the Cowen/Vandiver roads 480, the Hwy. 102/ Cowen roads 320 & the Rancho Pequenio all located in very close proximity one to the other, price to sell, owners motivated!

AIRPORT DRIVE – Tucumcari, NM – Choice 160 ac. +/-, on pvmt. w/beautiful home, roping arena, steel pens & 139.5 ac. +/- of water rights.

CLAYTON, NM – 2600 sq. ft. home, 4 bdrm., 2 bath, 2 living areas, located on 20 ac. +/- in Mountain View Estates, on city water.

SUPER GRAIN & CATTLE COMBINATION – Union Co., NM well improved w/15 circles, state-of-the-art working pens, homes, barns, hwy. & all-weather road frontage, divided into 3 different farms in close proximity of each other – can divide.

TUCUMCARI, NM AREA – 4 irr. farms totaling 1,022.22 deeded ac. +/- with 887.21 ac. +/- of Arch Hurley Water Rights (one farm w/a modern 2 bdrm. – 1 bath home, w/a metal roof, barn & shop) together with 1,063 addtl. deeded ac. +/- of native grass (good set of livestock pens & well-watered). All one-owner, all on pvmt., can be bought together or separately.

FT. SUMNER VALLEY – beautiful home on 20 irr. ac., 3 bdrm/2 bath country home, nice combination apartment/horse barn w/2 bdrms., one bathroom/washroom & three enclosed stalls w/ breezeway, currently in alfalfa, ditch irrigated.

PONTOTOC/COAL CO., OK – three good, solid ranches just out of Ada in close proximity, one to the other (one owner -779 ac. +/-, 1,370 ac. +/-, 974 ac. +/-), good, useable improvements, on pvmt. or good all-weather roads. Seller very motivated to buy or trade for ranch or farmland properties between Dallas & Houston, TX. Area!

Please view our websites for details on these properties, choice TX, NM & CO ranches (large & small), choice ranches in the high rainfall areas of OK, irr./dryland/CRP & commercial properties. We need your listings on any types of ag properties in TX., NM, OK & CO.

GATO MOUNTAIN RANCH – High desert recreation hunting ranch with excellent improve-

GATO MOUNTAIN RANCH – High desert deer, recreation ranchWell with excellent improvements. includes ments.

Wildlife includes elk, mule bearhunting and lion. suited as a corporateWildlife retreat with elk, mule deer, bear and Well suited as a corporate retreat with accommodations for at least 34 lease people.acres 389 accommodations forlion. at least 34 people.

389 deeded acres along with 2,602 BLM deeded acres along with 2,602 BLM lease acres with a grazing permit for 33 AU’s.

Numerous horseback and with a grazing permit for 33 AU’s. Numerous horseback and ATV trails. Owners willing to ATV split the deeded acreage. to information www.ranchesnm.com. trails.

Owners willing to splitFor the more deededinformation acreage. Forgo more go to www.ranchesnm.com.

Price:$2,800,000.00 $2,800,000.00 Price: FUSON RANCH – 280 acres located under the face of the Capitan Mountains southwest of Ar-

FUSON – 280 acres locatedCounty. under theAccess face of the Capitanand Mountains of Arabela, NMresidence, in historic abela, RANCH NM in historic Lincoln is gated locked.southwest Improved with one Lincoln County. Access gated and barn. locked.Water Improved with one residence, shop and small barn. Waterat maintenance shop isand small is provided by one maintenance well. View additional information iswww.ranchesnm.com. provided by one well. View additional information at www.ranchesnm.com.

Price:$400,000.00 $400,000.00 $349,500.00 $349,500.00 Price: FLORES CANYON RANCH 3,290 acres located of Mountains. the Sacramento FLORES CANYON RANCH – 3,290–total acrestotal located in the foothillsinofthe the foothills Sacramento Access is gatMountains. Access is gated and locked from U.S. Highway 70 between San Patricio and Glened and locked from U.S. Highway 70 between San Patricio and Glencoe. The Rio Ruidoso River traverses a portion coe. The Rio Ruidoso River traverses a portion of the property. Excellent wildlife habitat, fantasoftictheviews property.

ExcellentBlanca wildlifePeak habitat,and fantastic views of Sierra Blancarange.

Peak and the Capitan Mountain range. of Sierra the Capitan Mountain Improvements all constructed Improvements all constructed since 2008.

Watered by two wells and pipelines.

Price: $3,000,000.00 to include since 2008. Watered by two wells and pipelines. Price: $3,000,000.00 to include livestock and livestock and equipment. more information to www.ranchesnm.com. equipment.

For moreFor information go togowww.ranchesnm.com.

Scott McNally, Qualifying Broker Bar M Real Estate, LLC P.O. Box 428, Roswell, NM 88202 Office: 575-622-5867 Cell: 575-420-1237

Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

The View

g•u•i•d•e

angus

Bradley 3 Ranch Ltd. www.bradley3ranch.com

Annual Bull Sale: February 11, 2017

at the Ranch NE of Estelline, TX Ranch-Raised ANGUS Bulls for Ranchers Since 1955

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HEREFORD

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Cañones Route P.O. Abiquiu, N.M. 87510

FOR SALE AT THE FARM

MANUEL SALAZAR P.O. Box 867 Española, N.M. 87532

575/638-5434

Wendt Ranches Partners LLC.

Santa Gertrudis Cattle Polled and Horned HERD ESTABLISHED 1953

Call: 979/240-5311 • 979/240-5312 Fax: 979/323-1212 5475 FM 457, Bay City, Texas 77414 wendtranches@hotmail.com

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FROM THE BACK SIDE

There Are No Heroes In Washington

SANTA GERTRUDIS

BEEFMASTER

September 15, 2016

Wanted: Ranch to lease in south central New Mexico.

200 to 400 cow capacity year around with good improvements and good water.

Three to five year lease with the option to buy.

Wanting to relocate from southern Colorado.

Stroh Ranch/Dave Stroh 719-738-3111 719-568-5570 cell

BY BARRY DENTON

I

will confess that I stole the title from the cowboy comedian Curt Brummet, formerly of eastern New Mexico and now residing in west Texas. However, I do not think anyone could have said it any better.

The very antithesis of common sense and decency have to be the latest inhabitants of the government in Washington, DC. If you will notice since 2008 there has been the anti-rancher and farmer brigade. It seems that when the rancher has to deal with a federal agency that they are not there to help the rancher anymore. I am certain their official job description is to cause you grief.

Remember the time not too long ago when those federal agents were very willing to help you? Anything that the rancher has been doing that works and makes good common sense cannot be done anymore according to them. I hear horror stories from ranchers that lease grazing land from the different government agencies.

Obviously, the bias stems from overzealous members of the extreme environmental mentality that have infiltrated the government agencies. If you do not think that is the case I refer you to last year’s chemical spill by the Environmental Protection Agency into the Animas River from the Gold King Mine in Colorado. New Mexico State Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said the EPA did not notify his office about the spill they caused until 24 hours later. He did say the initial response from the agency was “cavalier and irresponsible”. Now we know that the state of New Mexico is suing Colorado over this disaster that was created by the EPA. The federal government should have been doing everything they could to help the states in this matter. What has become of the farmers that depend on this water?

Remember the Cerro Grande forest fire in 2000 that was start-

ed by the United States Forest Service with an alleged controlled burn? The government loves to give you a multitude of rules to follow, but when they screw up it is no big deal. They may burn your house down or pollute your water, but they do not seem to care.

Stop and think about the creators of these rules. The pencil pushers that set policy are normally city dwellers that have already ruined where they live.

They think they have to protect rural lands from the inhabitants that have lived on the land and made it work for 250 years or more. This does not make any sense.

I am not telling you anything new here, but we do have an election coming up. This may be the most important election in our lifetime. Not only do we have to worry about who becomes our chief executive, but we also have to worry about new Supreme Court nominees.

Lately the Supreme Court tends to dictate what is law and the United States Congress sits idly by and does nothing about it.

Keep in mind that the Republicans have the largest majority in the U.S. Congress in over 60 years. They are the only ones that have the power to change a law if the Supreme Court hands down a bad decision. This is why we have a system of checks and balances in our government.

However, we appear to have a US Congress full of milksops that are too afraid to reverse the courts poor decisions. Congress can change any poor court decision by making new law.

I cannot remember the last time they did that in my lifetime. Their argument might be that the President might not sign their law. The Congress also has the power to override the President’s veto. I know that there was never a veto override during the Obama Administration. I am curious if we actually still have a Congress or not, considering their lack of effectiveness.

Let’s move on to who be-

comes President. Yes, it is a vital decision. On the one hand, many people will vote for Mrs. Clinton just because we have never had a woman President before. Before Barack Obama we had never had a black President before and look where that got us. Just because we have not had one before doesn’t mean that we need one.

How many of you have not had a heart attack before? You probably do not need one of those either. Some folks will like Mrs. Clinton because of her long history in politics. Many folks will dislike her for the same reason.

When it comes to Mr. Trump he is more accomplished than anyone that has held the office in the past and anyone that he ran against in the Republican primary. Mr. Trump is also a Washington outsider who has irritated the elite political establishment.

He has enemies that are trying to destroy him from all sides. If he prevails it will be a remarkable endeavor.

It will come down to whatever the majority wants, more of the same or a change in a new direction. In my humble opinion I was hoping we could get rid of nearly anyone that is currently in office and start out with a new batch.

The odds of getting some government officials that are better than what we have would be pretty high. Most of the Congress is up for election as well. Let’s not return any incumbents because they got us into this mess.

If you are in a state where you don’t have to show ID to vote then get the names off the gravestones and vote as many times as you can on election day.

This tactic is very familiar to the politician types, so just ask them how it works if you are confused.

Remember, the only true adversary the working person has is the politician.

Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the writer. They are not the views of this publication or the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association or the New Mexico Wool Growers, Inc. None of these groups make political endorsements or make campaign donations

Turner Sells Oklahoma Ranch

T

ed Turner has sold his 43,000 acre Oklahoma ranch, known as Bluestem Ranch, to the Osage Nation. More than 300 Osage citizens gathered in late August to celebrate the purchase, a $74 million deal, which had been in the works since last year.

Comprised of cross timbers and tallgrass prairie, the Bluestem Ranch is managed for bison grazing, which has proven to be very conducive to quality wildlife management. Blue-

stem’s primary species are whitetail deer, wild turkey and bobwhite quail. Waterfowl hunting and fishing are also popular.

The Osage Nation once owned nearly 1.5 million acres before the land was divided and distributed among individual tribe members in the early 1990s. Tribal holdings had decreased to less than 5 percent of the original Osage Reservation by the time Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear took office in 2014.

September 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Greens’ Massive Lawsuit Aims to Force FWS Deadline Deal

BY CORBIN HIAR, EENEWS.NET

T

he Center for Biological Diversity(CBD) threatened legal action against the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) in late August to jump-start the stalled Endangered Species Act status reviews of 417 imperiled species — a move that could set the stage for another major legal settlement between the conservation group and the agency.

The species listed in the notice of intent to sue were all flagged for ESA protection

by CBD and other nonprofits over the past eight years. They include coastal flatwoods crayfish, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, panhandle lilies and hundreds of other species.

After 90-day reviews, FWS found that all of the conservation groups’ ESA petitions presented “substantial scientific or commercial information” that the animals or plants should be added to the endangered or threatened species lists. But the agency then failed to com-

plete more rigorous 12-month reviews of the imperiled species to determine whether listing is not warranted, warranted or warranted but precluded by other priorities.

“You are in violation of the law and have abrogated your duty to ensure that protection of endangered species occurs in a timely manner thereby avoiding further decline and increased risk of extinction,” CBD said in today’s notice.

The notice calls for FWS to “make the required 12-month findings for these 417 species or contact us to develop a legally binding timeline for making these findings within the next sixty days.” It was sent to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell; FWS Director Dan Ashe; and Gary Frazer, the service’s assistant director for endangered species.

The legal maneuver comes as CBD, WildEarth Guardians and FWS are reaching the end of a pair of landmark settlements that set listing decision deadlines over

FEEDING QUALITY ent management.

“We have to feed to higher growth potential or they won’t grade,” he said.

Yet, adding days on feed and carcass weight creates challenges from the packing plant to the consumer.

“The high school kid who can eat a 16-ounce steak can’t afford to buy it,” he joked. “What’s my definition of done supposed to be? When I make the most money, or when I create the right product?”

Indeed, the cattle of the 1950s are drastically different than those of this century, but they’re still valued on equations developed more than 50 years ago and based on data from 162 head, said Ty Lawrence, West Texas A&M meat scientist.

“Those five loads of cattle determine what we now use as the USDA yield grade equation,” he said. Data shows that the yield

six years for 251 species that the agency had determined warranted ESA protection but were not high priorities for listing.

Those “sue and settle” deals, as conservative critics have described them, also limited the number of lawsuits that the conservation groups could file against FWS (E&ENews PM, Sept. 9, 2011).

CBD argues that its latest litigation threat is needed both to protect the species included in the notice and to force the agency to reconsider its listing process.

“Delayed protection can be deadly for species already on the brink of extinction,” said Noah Greenwald, the group’s endangered species director.

“The service needs a systematic plan with binding commitments to consider protection of all U.S. plants and animals that may warrant protection. The list may be long, but it’s not infinite — this is a problem that could be tackled with sufficient resources and political will.” continued from page seven

equation could benefit from tweaking to more accurately predict cutability.

“We have revised the guidelines of how to feed cattle seven times, but have never revised how we estimate red meat yield,” he said, referencing the Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle.

Robin Falkner, managing veterinarian with Zoetis beef technical services, said that’s not the only part of the cattle business that deserves a second look.

“Just because we’ve been doing something for 100 years, doesn’t mean it’s right,” he said.

Getting prepared for the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) is simply a good chance to evaluate details like transportation and placement protocols and pen size.

“Health solutions don’t come in a bottle, aqueous solutions do,” said the veterinarian, chal-

lenging the group to think creatively. “Stockmen offer management solutions.”

So do educators.

Larry Corah, former Kansas State University (K-State) animal scientist and long-time Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) vice president, received the forum’s Industry Achievement Award during a lunch program.

“A branding iron is designed to leave a mark, and through his career, Dr. Larry Corah has left his mark on the cattle feeding industry,” said CAB vice president of supply Mark McCully, at the Amarillo meeting. McCully presented his mentor with branding irons featuring the CAB logo and K-State’s “Flying K.” The meetings were co-sponsored by Zoetis, Roto-mix, Feedlot magazine, Micronutrients and CAB. To view presentations and summary information, visit www.feedingqualityforum.com.

American Gelbvieh Association Relocates Headquarters Office

T

he American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) is pleased to announce the relocation of its headquarters office to Broomfield, Colorado. This relocation took place the first week in August.

The AGA’s new and current physical and mailing address is 350 Interlocken Blvd., Suite 200, Broomfield, Colorado 80021. The new location is just two miles from the old location on Dover Street in Westminster, Colorado.

The relocation was made possible by a strategically planned sale of the Westminster office building.

“Leadership at the American Gelbvieh Association continues to make sound financial and business decisions. The relocation of the AGA headquarters reduces overhead costs and allows the AGA to capitalize on a smart

investment made when the building at 10900 Dover Street was purchased back in 1991. A strong financial position for the AGA is key to flourishing in a rapidly changing, competitive environment,” said Myron Edelman, AGA executive director. “Together with the American Gelbvieh Foundation, the AGA will be able to strictly manage the financial asset of the building sale principle to ensure the longterm financial security for a bright future at the AGA,” he continued.

The American Gelbvieh Association is a progressive beef cattle breed association representing 1,000 members and approximately 40,000 cows assessed annually in a performance-oriented total herd reporting system for the advancement of Gelbvieh, Balancer and Gelbvieh-influenced genetics.

Page 11

WILDFIRES tional fire season has yet to arrive.

Experts in Northern California also have been assessing the fires’ impact, which varies dramatically from area to area, according to Rick Macedo, chief of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Habitat Conservation Planning Branch.

The effects of the Clayton Fire, for example, which is in Oak woodland northwest of Sacramento, will be very different from last year’s nearby Valley Fire that spread across 76,000 acres, he explained.

“In Oak woodland, the fire goes through the grasses,” he said, noting that thick trunks also help woodland trees survive. “After the fire goes through, you will see things like creeks flow with more water because some of the vegetation has been taken up by the fire.”

The feeding habitat for many animals can actually improve after a woodland fire as younger, more nutritious shrubs emerge from the burned soil the following spring, according to Macedo.

However, the Valley Fire, which occurred in a higher elevation, cooler, coniferous forest, caused much more long-term damage. “The fire ‘crowned’ in the trees, burning canopies,” Macedo said.

“In the coniferous forest the trees are less resilient -there will be no acorn production because the trees are dead and there’s limited nesting for birds.”

Set against this backdrop, it could take a decade

Advertise to Cattleman in the Livestock Market Digest!

continued from page eight

for some plant species to return, limiting the food available for animals.

“The first animals you would expect to reoccupy the burned area will be birds that can fly in and out, and small mammals like mice,” Macedo added. “The slowest group to return is the carnivores like foxes and mountain lions -- they need the small mammals to provide them with food.”

No data is available on the number of animals expected to perish in California’s wildfires, although studies of other fires indicate that many animals were able to escape the infernos. Researchers, for example, were surprised that a fire at Yellowstone National Park in 1988 did not take a higher toll on wildlife.

A U.S. Forest Service report on the 2013 Rim Fire in California’s Stanislaus National Forest found that many bats and birds flew away from danger, and small animals like lizards, snakes and gophers escaped into burrows or unburned areas. Many of the forest’s population of California mule deer were at higher elevations when the fire occurred, so were saved.

However, squirrels and wood rats may not have been as fortunate, the report said, noting that some skunk, coyote and bear probably died in the fire.

A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking the Clayton Fire, which spread across 3,929 acres Friday. Cal Fire says that the blaze is 65 percent contained.

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2016

Advancing with Beefmaster Advancers

BY JERALYN NOVAK

S

omewhere in Texas between San Antonio and Laredo, there is an impressive cattle operation. Just off southbound interstate 35 outside of Moore, Texas, Rancho Dos Vidas sits surrounded by mesquite trees and cactus. The picture perfect image of a South Texas ranch, bustling with wildlife. Most of the ranch visitors are seeking the exciting dove and deer hunts, however on my visit I was seeking the beautiful cattle.

Rancho Dos Vidas and its ranch manager, Lane Roberson, are focused on producing profitable and high quality cattle.

When Roberson isn’t guiding hunts, he is working cattle. The cattle found on this 4,000 acre

ranch are primarily Beefmaster and Red Angus cross. Roberson and ranch owner, Don Mullins, began their crossbred program back in 2008. The two of them, along with the help of Jim Banner of Southern Livestock Standard, were seeking a cross that would be hardy enough for the South Texas ranch, while also being moderate in size and encompassing good milk production. Banner suggested crossing Beefmaster with Red Angus and that is when the successful cattle program began. The ranch had their first Beefmaster X Red Angus calf crop in the fall of 2009 and they knew as soon as the calves hit the ground that this cross was something great.

When their first calf crop were just mere newborns, the

crossbred program offered by Beefmaster Breeders United (BBU) was brand new and not yet on the ranch’s radar. However, as more successful Beefmaster crossbred calves hit the ground Roberson saw an advantage in registering the cattle in BBU’s crossbred program, Beefmaster Advancer. From the beginning of their crossbreeding program, Rancho Dos Vidas had used purebred, registered Red Angus bulls and purebred, registered Beefmaster females; so it only made since to add more value to the cattle and register them as Beefmaster Advancers.

The BBU Board of Directors approved the registration of Beefmaster Advancer cattle on March 28, 2009 in Columbus, Texas. Beefmaster Advancer

cattle, by definition, are animals of fifty percent (50%) or more registered Beefmaster breeding and fifty percent (50%) or less of other registered and DNA genotyped non-Beefmaster beef cattle breeding. These animals may be certified in BBU provided they are produced from breeding of one of the following: 1. Known registered Beefmaster sire mated to a DNA genotyped, registered dam from another breed association.

2. Known registered Beefmaster dam mated to a DNA genotyped, registered sire from another breed association.

3. A known progeny of a 50% - 74% Beefmaster Advancer and a known registered Beefmaster sire or dam.

4. Known progeny from animals recorded in the Beefmaster Advancer Program meeting all Association requirements for registration that are 50-87%

Beefmaster breeding.

Rancho Dos Vidas has been on the forefront of the Beefmaster Advancer program and, with no pun intended, are advancing their cattle breeding program through utilizing Beefmaster Advancers. Advancing with Beefmaster Advancers!

“Plain and simple fact, anytime you can crossbreed you are ahead with heterosis,” said Roberson. “It’s the increased hybrid vigor and increased gains that are hard to beat with straight bred cattle.”

According to Roberson, the Beefmaster and Red Angus cross has produced him stronger offspring and the female offspring hit puberty earlier.

He says they typically can start breeding these crossbred females at 11-13 months, have a calf on the ground by 24 months continued on page thirteen

Baxter BLACK O N T H E E D G E O F C O M M O N S E N S E www.baxterblack.com

Cow Thoughts

T

he ol’ cow thought to herself, ‘I sure hate standin’ in line. Even if it’s just once a year it’s not somethin’ I look forward to.

‘Oh, great. Here comes that yay hoo with a hot shot.

Where’d they pick him up?

Must be refugee from the hayin’ crew.

‘The weather’s nice. Thank goodness for that! I’ve stood in this alley in the hot sun and in blizzards. You’d think these fools would plan their preg checkin’ when the weather’s decent.

‘Keep movin’, Molly. I know she’s worried. Losin’ her teeth. ‘Course I’m no spring chicken either and that bout with the eye infection didn’t improve my looks any.

‘Okay, kid! I’m movin’ up!

It’s not easy in all this goop.

They should’a had you shovel the alley but I suspect that would’a been beyond your learning skills!

“Uh, oh. I can hear the squeeze chute clangin’. I been through it enough times I know it doesn’t hurt but just the sound of it makes me nervous. I wonder if that lady will still be there.

‘Alright, Molly. Go on.

You’re gonna do okay.

‘Bred. Good. She’s bred.

Anybody could’a told that by lookin’ but they’ve got Doc here to make it official. She’s gettin’ her shots but they’re cutting her off to the right.

Not stayin’ with the big bunch.

Dental problems, no doubt.

‘Whoa! Sorry, kid! I wasn’t ready for that! But I’m in the chute. Ya happy now?

‘By gosh, the lady is still settin’ on that barrel where she was last year writin’ in her notebook. She looks cold. Oooh! Speakin’ of cold!

Thanks, Doc! I really needed that! I fell like I just got rear-ended by an army tank!

‘Bred, he says. I should hope so! I didn’t stand out there all spring with that bunch of slobberin’ yearlin’ bulls for nothin’! I know my job!

‘Jeez! I wish there was a better way to check my teeth without you hamhanded Vikings stickin’ your fingers up my nose!

Try that on for size! Dang, I missed him.

‘Ump! Agh! Where did that lunatic learn to give shots? Bet he makes a mean fondue.

‘So, the big boss is givin’ me the once over. He’s lookin’ at my eye. It’s cloudy, but no pain. He’s squattin’ down to check it. Now he’s puffin’ a little powder in it. Now, for sure I can’t see!

‘Well, I be durned. I believe he patted me on the head!

‘Okay, I’m goin’.

‘Boy, I’m glad that’s over.

‘Naw, he couldn’t have.

Patted me on the head, I mean. Must’a been my imagination.’ www.baxterblack.com

September 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Beefmaster Selection Indices Developed to Increase Profitability

B

eefmaster Breeders United (BBU) is pleased to announce the development and release of their Terminal ($T) and Maternal ($M) Indices. Commercial cattlemen now have the most powerful Beefmaster selection tools at their fingertips. The release of $T Terminal Index and $M Maternal Index now allows commercial cattlemen to target their bull selections to achieve specific production goals.

These indices were developed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specifically working with Dr. Matt Spangler, Associate Professor of Animal Science/Extension Beef Genetics Specialist, and Animal Breeding and Genetics graduate student Katie Ochsner.

“These two economic indices allow users of Beefmaster genetics to select seedstock based on their genetic potential for profit and alleviate the cumbersome nature of sorting through scores of individual EPDs,” said Dr. Spangler. “Producers should clearly define their production goals and use the index that best fits them. Use of the incorrect index could lead to undesired responses given the two objectives (terminal vs maternal) emphasize different traits.”

The $T index is designed to assist buyers in selecting range bulls that will excel in

live performance, feedyard and value adding, grid driving carcass traits. $T is the ideal tool for the retained ownership rancher or commercial cow herds that are aligned with supply chains that demand added performance, efficiency and carcass merit.

The $M index goes to the heart of what every commercial cattleman demands in today’s market.

The Beefmaster maternal index is best explained as the dollar profit per cow exposed due to calf weaning weight accounting for costs associated with cow maintenance. The beefindustry has realized the value of Beefmaster influenced heterosis and $M is another tool that will help ranchers leverage heterosis to produce more productive replacement females.

It is important for ranchers to know the difference between these two indices. $T will help cattlemen select for high performing, fast growing genetics that by their very nature tend to be large, faster growing animals. $M should be used if a rancher is producing replacement females and is concerned with fertility, cow maintenance and associated costs, while adding weaning weight to the calf crop.

Cattle producers can access and review index values on the Beefmaster animal search database.

ADVANCING and are ready to breed back at 24 months. This cross of Beefmaster and Red Angus provides Roberson with the ideal mother cow that has superior milk production, clean underlines and is range hardy.

“With these Beefmaster Advancers their fertility is higher and they get rebred quicker. The Beefmaster cow and these Beefmaster crossbred cattle bring a lot to the table for today’s market,” said Roberson.

Not only does the ranch see an increase in maternal attributes, these crossbred calves weigh on average 80 lbs., more per head than the straight bred cattle raised in the past by Rancho Dos Vidas. The combination of solid maternal performance and weight gain performance has been the perfect cattle cross for Rancho Dos Vidas in the pasture and also in the sale ring.

Rancho Dos Vidas has been named Grand Champion Female two years in a row with their Beefmaster Advancer cow/

Ride ’em, cowboy!

The bruising sport of rodeo holds lessons for America’s conservatives SOURCE: THE ECONOMIST

T

o the crowds at the Cody Stampede—a four-day rodeo that draws thousands to Wyoming over the Independence Day weekend—the bull-rider Bryce Barrios is just a name among many, drawing cheers with a confident, prizewinning ride on a bucking, wheeling animal weighing three-quarters of a ton. Among fellow bull-riders Mr. Barrios, a 21-year-old Texan who looks like a schoolboy once he doffs his helmet and armoured vest, means a bit more.

He was named national Rookie of the Year in 2015: a hint that, just maybe, he will leave the pack of perhaps 600 cowboys who eke out a living on the circuit into the world of champions competing for six-figure purses.

To devotees of rodeo, young cowboys like Mr. Barrios mean something more precious. They see them as guardians of the gritty-yet-chivalrous values of an older America. Among those waiting in the earth-floored, dung-scented arena to greet the bull-riders on July 3rd is Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, a wiry, genial Republican who as an orthopaedic surgeon spent years patching up rodeo-battered cowboys. “They’re young, they consider themselves bulletproof,” explains Dr. Barrasso fondly. He recalls a popular belt buckle that says: “Wyoming Is What America Was”. In the senator’s telling, that America was built on “independence, resilience and self-reliance.”

Mr. Barrios politely tells the senator that this was his second Wyoming rodeo of the day, and that he and two colleagues are now driving eight hours to Denver, there to catch a flight

continued from page twelve

calf pairs at one of most prestigious sales in the South. Each year the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo hosts the All Breeds Bull and Heifer Sale that features purebred bulls and commercial heifers consigned by premier Texas ranches. In 2013 and 2014, Rancho Dos Vidas won the top honor at the All Breeds Sale and are vying for another top award in 2016.

The ranch also won Reserve Champion Females at the 2015 National E6 Commercial Replacement Female Sale in Columbus, Texas. Success in the pasture is what really matters to Rancho Dos Vidas, but taking home these honors just verifies that this crossbreeding program is one of the best.

Before the awards, Roberson always knew that as a whole the Beefmaster and Red Angus cross produced a very solid set of cattle. These red hided cattle are even solid in a cattle industry dominated by the black hide.

It is predicted that red hided

Page 13

cattle will grow in popularity over the coming years because the cattle market is flooded with black hided cattle. The cattle industry currently lacks the needed heterosis in order to produce heavier weights and high quality replacement females. However, a program like Beefmaster Advancer is introducing this needed heterosis by producing crossbred cattle that outperform and outweigh other cattle.

“I love this cross and there is nothing I would change, it produces a very high quality female.

Such a high quality female that our ranch cannot keep up with the demand for our crossbred females,” said Roberson.

When asked what final thoughts he had, Roberson simply said it is the combination of heterosis, fertility, udder quality and moderate frame size that makes the cow/calf producer more money. The crossbreeding at Rancho Dos Vidas is profitable and “crossing with Beefmaster takes it to that next level”.

to a contest in Arizona (not all bull-riders are cautious drivers, he admits). Cody is a profitable stop: second place earns Mr. Barrios $6,674.30 in prize money. Brought up on a ranch, he missed a season after breaking his leg at 18. All around him men sport alarming splints and braces, strapped to elbows and knees. Rodeo doctors sometimes meet competitors asking for dislocated shoulders to be popped back in for the second time that day. Medical notes are littered with the acronym AMA, as cowboys head to the next event Against Medical Advice.

As rodeo announcer, Boyd Polhamus guides the Cody Stampede on horseback from the arena floor. Interviewed between shows, he says the sport “takes us back to the values we had as a nation in 1880.” Mr. Polhamus paints a romantic portrait of a West “that believed a handshake was as good as a contract, when faith was practised openly.” The announcer is proud that rodeo scorns the allshall-have-prizes culture: many competitors are thrown off almost at once, or fail to lasso their steer. “If they win, they’ve earned it,” he rumbles.

On duty as Miss Rodeo America, Katherine Merck rides round the arena in sequinned white boots, an embroidered blue shirt and red cowboy hat.

But she must also work, herding steers after roping events. She thinks it matters that cowboys pay their own entry fees for each event ($250 is typical) and mostly walk away with nothing: it makes for “less of an entitlement culture.”

Elsewhere in this election season, nostalgia for a simpler America has led to resentful

politics, and charges that someone has stolen the country’s greatness. In contrast, rodeo folk sound both exceedingly conservative and pretty upbeat about the future. It probably helps that partisan confrontations hardly trouble such one-party towns as Cody (in the 2012 presidential elections the county of which Cody is the seat gave Mitt Romney, the Republican, 76.4 percent of the vote). Only faint echoes of divisive subjects intrude on the holiday weekend. Among the celebratory parade floats is one that not only salutes the armed forces but—startlingly—recreates a military funeral, complete with a flag-draped coffin, mourning comrades and an honour guard who fire loud funeral volleys as they trundle down Cody’s main street.

Most important, rodeo is a tradition that has adapted to survive. Go back a generation or two, and competitors were typically ranchers’ children or hired hands. Now many come up through high school and college rodeo teams, with eyes not just on glory but on scholarships awarded to rodeo-athletes who may never work on a farm (Miss Rodeo America is at law school). The industry is “far more aware” of animal welfare, with rules requiring a veterinarian at every professional rodeo, says Del Nose, a former champion and rodeo coach at Northwest College, near Cody.

With a good roping horse now costing $50,000-60,000, rodeo cowboys have ever more reason to care for animals, adds Mr. Nose’s wife and business partner, Becky. continued on page fifteen

Page 14

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2016

USDA to Purchase Cheese for Food Banks & Families in Need to Assist Dairy Producers Will Also Extend Margin Protection Program for Dairy Enrollment Deadline

T

he U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced plans in late August to purchase approximately 11 million pounds of cheese from private inventories to assist food banks and pantries across the nation, while reducing a cheese surplus that is at its highest level in 30 years.

The purchase, valued at $20 million, will be provided to families in need across the country through USDA nutrition assistance programs, while assisting the stalled marketplace for dairy producers whose revenues have dropped 35 percent over the past two years.

“We understand that the nation’s dairy producers are experiencing challenges due to market conditions and that food banks continue to see strong demand for assistance,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This commodity purchase is part of a robust, com-

prehensive safety net that will help reduce a cheese surplus that is at a 30-year high while, at the same time, moving a high-protein food to the tables of those most in need. USDA will continue to look for ways within its authorities to tackle food insecurity and provide for added stability in the marketplace.”

USDA received requests from Congress, the National Farmers Union, the American Farm Bureau and the National Milk Producers Federation to make an immediate dairy purchase. Section 32 of the Agriculture Act of 1935 authorizes USDA to utilize fiscal year 2016 funds to purchase surplus food to benefit food banks and families in need through its nutrition assistance programs.

USDA also announced that it will extend the deadline for dairy producers to enroll in the Margin Protection Program (MPP) for Dairy to Dec. 16,

2016, from the previous deadline of Sept. 30. This voluntary dairy safety net program, established by the 2014 Farm Bill, provides financial assistance to participating dairy producers when the margin – the difference between the price of milk and feed costs – falls below the coverage level selected by the producer. A USDA web tool, available at www.fsa.usda.gov/mpptool, allows dairy producers to calculate levels of coverage available from MPP based on price projections.

On Aug. 4, USDA announced approximately $11.2 million in financial assistance to U.S. dairy producers enrolled in MPP-Dairy, the largest payment since the program began in 2014.

“By supporting a strong farm safety net, expanding credit options and growing domestic and foreign markets, USDA is committed to help-

ing America’s dairy operations remain successful,” said Vilsack.

While USDA projects dairy prices to increase throughout the rest of the year, many factors including low world market prices, increased milk supplies and inventories, and slower demand have contributed to the sluggish marketplace for dairy producers.

USDA will continue to monitor market conditions in the coming months and evaluate additional actions, if necessary, later this fall.

Since 2009, USDA has worked to strengthen and support American agriculture, an industry that supports one in 11 American jobs, provides American consumers with more than 80 percent of the food we consume, ensures that Americans spend less of their paychecks at the grocery store than most people in other countries, and supports mar-

kets for homegrown renewable energy and materials. USDA has also provided $5.6 billion in disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; expanded risk management tools with products like Whole Farm Revenue Protection; and helped farm businesses grow with $36 billion in farm credit. The Department has engaged its resources to support a strong next generation of farmers and ranchers by improving access to land and capital; building new markets and market opportunities; and extending new conservation opportunities. USDA has developed new markets for rural-made products, including more than 2,500 biobased products through USDA’s BioPreferred program; and invested $64 billion in infrastructure and community facilities to help improve the quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/ results.

Polypay Association Takes on Parasite Study

I

nternal parasites are one of the greatest threats to sheep in the United States.

“There’s nothing more discouraging than finding two or three dead sheep every morning,” says Brett Pharo, Back Acre Farm in Rapid City, Michigan, and president of the American Polypay Sheep Association.

“It just makes you want to quit.”

Those interested in producing sheep only for meat have found some success in turning to hair sheep breeds like St. Croix, Barbados Blackbelly, and Katadin, known for parasite resistance. But for the wool producer, options are limited to a sometimes expensive, and in-

creasingly ineffective, array of deworming products.

“Like any organism, the worms eventually develop a resistance to the products,” says Pharo. “There are fewer and fewer on the market that treat the problem successfully.”

With the help of an American Sheep Industry Let’s Grow grant, the APSA is exploring a third option. Over the next three years, the group will study the impact of quantitative genetics on parasite resistance.

Using the National Sheep Improvement Program’s system of Estimated Breeding Values, the study sets three main goals: increase the number of

Polypay sheep with FEC (fecal egg count) EBVs, increase the DNA database on Polypay sires with FEC EBVs, and increase the number of commercial rams with FEC EBVs available to commercial operations across the U.S. “In other words, we want to give them a large pool to buy from,” says Jerry Sorensen, one of the study instigators.

“Small producer groups have experimented with this approach,” says Christopher Schauer, director of the North Dakota State University Hettinger Research Extension Center and Polypay breeder. “Now we want to take that small group

success and make it a national effort. It’s especially important to producers in the eastern and southern states, but we’re all in this together. Just because I don’t have a parasite problem because I’m in North Dakota doesn’t mean I don’t have sheep with resistance that could benefit those who do.”

John Anderson, of Lambshire Polypays in Shreve, Ohio is one of those producers who has experimented with genetic selection for parasite resistance.

He has customers wanting to improve parasite resistance within their flocks, particularly those to the south and east.

“I’ve been doing it since 2009, before NSIP, and I’ve been able to make some progress,” says Anderson. “It helps to now have an EBV, and will help even more to have a national effort.”

Like Anderson, Pharo says he stopped treating lambs 10 years ago and relies on genetic selection to control parasites.

“I’ve been able to make headway toward genetic parasite resistance, but being able to select for fecal egg count EBVs will speed up and quantify the process.”

“We can get there with wool sheep,” continues Anderson.

“If they can do it in Australia and New Zealand, we can do it here.” In New Zealand, it is possible to select rams that shed 60 to 70 percent fewer parasite eggs than historical averages.

Being part of the solution The APSA hopes to increase the number of FEC data submissions from fewer than 200 from two or three producers to

3,000 from more than 10 producers over the course of the three-year study. The increase in numbers will improve the accuracy of the database as well as the breeding stock selection pool. To entice producer participation, the APSA will instruct producers on proper collection and shipping methods, as well as defraying the cost of sample submission, by covering the cost of up to 100 samples per producer.

Participating producers must have at least one contemporary group that meets the study criteria. Contemporary groups need to consist of at least ten lambs from each of at least two sires that have grazed together for at least 45 days.

“We hope to be able to identify the resistant genetic lines with this study,” says Schauer.

“We also hope to eventually identify the genetic marker for what we know is a heritable trait.”

Along with fecal egg samples, participating producers must agree to submit a DNA blood card on every lamb’s sire.

The NDSU Hettinger Research Extension Center has agreed to store the cards for further research. “We don’t have the funds in this part of the project for that research,” explains Schauer. “But we hope to get there some day.” Others in the industry have expressed interest in using the samples for genetic research on other heritable traits as well. “It will provide us with an incredible information source down the road.” continued on page fifteen

September 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 15

By JIM OLSON

Breezy Cox Wild Legend

I

n the decade of the Great Depression, rodeo made its final jump from the old days of Wild West show type performances into becoming a “professional” sport, more like what we have today. The men who helped make that transformation were just as tough and wild as their predecessors.

They were “old-time” cowboys.

It was not until a generation or two later that we saw an abundance of cowboy athletes in the sport who made rodeo a career.

One of those old-time cowboy throwbacks, who rodeoed during the transformation period, was none other than Lionel Bert Cox. Breezy to his friends.

Cox was born near Sonora, Texas on April 29, 1900. His parents, George W. and Julia A. Cox, moved the family west to New Mexico a couple years after Breezy’s birth. The family ranched and raised good horses. Not much is known about his formative years other than he spent most of his youth in New Mexico and Arizona.

Breezy bursts onto the rodeo scene in a big way by the 1920s however. The Calgary Stampede reports he won the bronc riding there in 1925 and the following year also won the calf roping title. Bronc riding and calf roping were events Breezy was known for in the early years, but he also competed in bull dogging and later in team roping.

Besides being a well-known rodeo hand, Breezy was known as a practical joker and a wild individual who liked his fun.

Author, Walt Coburn, once quoted Breezy’s “war cry” when he came into town for a rodeo as being, “I’m old man Cox’s boy—Breezy. Wild like a coyote. Stink like a monkey cage.

COWBOY

Bred to buck By custom, Cody’s holiday parades are watched by Wyoming grandees from the roof of the Irma Hotel, built by William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, the scout, soldier and impresario.

This year the swells on the Irma include former Vice-President Dick Cheney, once a congressman for Wyoming. His 16-yearold granddaughter competes in rodeo barrel races, a timed horseback charge around three oil drums. Mr. Cheney approves of rodeo culture, which teaches his granddaughter to be responsible and look after animals, and to withstand “intense” competition. “I like the people she hangs out with,” he says.

The competition is growing more intense. Another bigwig on the Irma roof is Jerry Nel-

Cowboy’s in town!”

Coburn (who also knew Cox) wrote of a time when cowboys tricked Breezy into eating his own hat, with milk and syrup on it. And about another time when Breezy disguised himself (as a joke) and spent the weekend giving out dark hints about “Breezy Cox’s” involvement in a bank holdup in New Mexico.

Coburn wrote that it was a joke (he thought). However, a May 7, 1931 article in the Saguache Crescent reports, “Breezy Cox, cowboy and rodeo promoter, who has ridden at the Ski-Hi Stampede and is well-known throughout the valley, is being held in Duncan, Ariz., in connection with investigations of a bank robbery at Tularosa, N.M. The arrest was made Saturday after the sheriff of Silver City, N.M. had pursued for several days the car in which he was riding. Cox had been under suspicion since the day when the chase for the robbers started.” He was later acquitted of the charges, but rumors circulated the rest of his life about his “bank robber” days.

Rodeo historian, Willard Porter wrote, “There are lots of stories about Breezy. Some may stretch the truth a bit but, after all, that’s one of the things that old cowboys were made for: prompting incidents that could be exaggerated later by storytellers.” Porter also wrote, “Breezy was fun to travel with.

He told a good story, played more than a couple of practical jokes in his day and would take a drink now and then. He liked to have fun and he liked to see people happy” Ed Echols another old-time rodeo hand and one-time sheriff of Pima County, Arizona said of Breezy, “He was a typcontinued from page thirteen

son, an oil man with a sideline in breeding champion horses and bulls for professional rodeos. Decades ago broncs might be saddle-horses that proved too mean to ride. Now animals are bred to buck. Mr. Nelson has even cloned horses, though he murmurs: “I’m not sure what God makes of that.” The result is that rather than rodeo dumbing-down to stay popular, animals are harder to ride each year.

The future is not cloudless. “I see ticket sales going up, but the number of events going down,” says Mr. Nelson. Smaller events are especially vulnerable. But by being willing to change and focusing on what really matters, an American tradition is surviving. There is a lesson there for conservatives everywhere.

ical old-time cowboy, who was also good enough to rodeo.”

After winning many championships in the game of rodeo and being one of the men who participated as rodeo made its transformation mentioned above, Breezy became involved in horse racing. About 1940, Cox got into horse racing in Arizona and participated in the sport until his death in 1960.

He was no less animated in horse racing than in rodeo. An Arizona racing reporter, Bernie Roth, wrote, “Breezy was fined by the Rillito racing stewards at Tucson. He was sitting on his old lead-pony mule when his horse came by in the lead.

Breezy took after him, hollering loudly, and beat the second place horse to the finish line.

The stewards did not like that a bit and fined him $50.”

The Arizona Republic, Saturday, January 23, 1960 carried this obituary. “Breezy Cox, of Rodeo Fame, Dies in Tucson.

Funeral services for Lionel Bert Cox, 59, one-time world’s

champion all-around rodeo cowboy, will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Buckeye Funeral Home. The Rev. Leroy Crosley will officiate. Burial will be in Louis B. Hazelton Cemetery.

Mr. Cox, who performed in rodeos throughout the country for many years, died of a heart attack in Tucson Thursday, January 21, 1960. He was known on the rodeo circuit as “Breezy Cox”. Born in Sonora, Texas, Mr. Cox came to Arizona in 1915. He had been living in Pinetop the past several years and before that had lived in Buckeye and Solomon. After suffering a broken leg in a rodeo four years ago, he retired from rodeo competition and operated a string of race horses.”

The legendary Lionel Bert “Breezy” Cox was posthumously inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1982. He will always be remembered as a “wild one” who liked to have fun and rodeo.

POLYPAY

continued from page fourteen

Pharo sees the breed association as an important figure in improving the economics of an industry that takes advantage of grazing as a feed source. “This will give commercial producers an option to look at, and select by, reliable data. Despite deworming and pasture control efforts, producers experience a significant amount of death and gain loss. This could make a big difference in the future of our industry.”

Schauer agrees the APSA has a role to play. “The breed associations were the first

Serving Arizona &o New Mexic

producer working groups, so it makes sense for them to take on this role,” says Schauer. “They can provide more service than just animal registration, they can make change happen within a breed. They work to make sheep fit the commercial sheep industry’s needs, while making the breeding stock more marketable for the breeder. This new program fits that mission.”

The study also fits broader industry-wide goals.

“We certainly want to thank ASI and the Let’s Grow

Program for backing this effort,” says Schauer. “Their approach toward producer driven, industry oriented work is making a difference.”

Polypay producers interested in participating in the study should contact the APSA or Schauer for further information. “The growth of this industry will depend on grazing non-tillable lands,” says Pharo, “and that means fighting parasites. We have a chance to help address that challenge, and find a sustainable solution to the problem.”

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Page 16

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2016

Stanford Scientists Find ‘Water Windfall’ Beneath California’s Central Valley

BY KER THAN / STANDFORD NEWS

C

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ter than previously estimated, Stanford scientists have found.

Accessing this water in an economically feasible way and safeguarding it from possible contamination from oil and gas

activities, however, will be challenging.

The discovery of a vast quantity of groundwater under California’s Central Valley is tempered by the need to protect it

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from contamination, especially by oil and gas extraction.

“It’s not often that you find a ‘water windfall,’ but we just did,” said study co-author Robert Jackson, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor at Stanford. “There’s far more fresh water and usable water than we expected.”

The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of June 27, highlights the need to better characterize and protect deep groundwater aquifers not only in California but in other parched regions as well.

“Our findings are relevant to a lot of other places where there are water shortages, including Texas, China and Australia,” said study co-author Mary Kang, a postdoctoral associate at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.

A fresh look at groundwater Previous estimates of groundwater in California are based on data that are decades old and only extend to a maximum depth of 1,000 feet, and often less. Until now, little was known about the amount and quality of water in deeper aquifers.

“Water a thousand feet down used to be too expensive to use,” said Jackson, who is also a senior fellow at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute for Energy. “Today it’s used widely.

We need to protect all of our good quality water.”

Times are different now. California is in the midst of its fifth year of severe drought, and in 2014 Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in the state. To meet its surface water needs, the state is increasingly turning to groundwater supplies.

In the new study, Jackson and Kang used data from 938 oil and gas pools and more than 35,000 oil and gas wells to characterize both shallow and deep groundwater sources in eight California counties.

The researchers concluded that when deeper sources of

groundwater are factored in, the amount of usable groundwater in the Central Valley increases to 2,700 cubic kilometers – or almost triple the state’s current estimates.

Complications to consider While this is good news for California, the findings also raise some concerns. First, much of the water is 1,000 to 3,000 feet underground, so pumping it will be more expensive. Without proper studies, tapping these deeper aquifers might also exacerbate the ground subsidence – the gradual sinking of the land – that is already happening throughout the Central Valley.

Groundwater pumping from shallow aquifers has already caused some regions to drop by tens of feet.

Furthermore, some of the deep aquifer water is also brinier – higher in salt concentration – than shallower water, so desalination or other treatment will be required before it can be used for agriculture or for drinking.

Another concern the Stanford scientists uncovered is that oil and gas drilling activities are occurring directly into as much as 30 percent of the sites where the deep groundwater resources are located. For example, in Kern County, where the core of California’s oil and gas industry is centered near the city of Bakersfield, one in every six cases of oil and gas activities was occurring directly into freshwater aquifers. For useable water – water that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems drinkable if treated – the number was one in three.

Jackson and Kang stress that just because a company has hydraulically fractured or used some other chemical treatment near an aquifer doesn’t mean that the water is ruined.

“What we are saying is that no one is monitoring deep aquifers. No one’s following them through time to see how and if the water quality is changing,” Kang said. “We might need to use this water in a decade, so it’s definitely worth protecting.”