LMD Sept 2014

Page 1

Livestock “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 • www. aaalivestock . com

MARKET

Digest C Volume 56 • No. 9

by Lee Pitts

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

T

Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled. as to why all the headlines seemed to have been written by the same editor. They read more like press releases more than they did any serious scientific study. Were they all headlined the same because Merck-funded professors were busy sending out favorable press releases, or are editors all of a sudden plagiarizing headlines?

You Get What You Pay For The all-clear signal on Zilmax® came courtesy of the Uni-

versity of Nebraska at Lincoln and USDA’s Ag Research Service after conducting a 26-day test on 20 head of heifers. According to Ty Schmidt, assistant professor of animal science at UNL, this was one of “the most extensive tests ever done on Zilmax®.” Twenty head, you must be kidding. (Actually, only ten head were given Zilmax®.) If Schmidt is correct I think it’s a fair question to ask, “Did the FDA give their seal of approval for the feed

additive after tests of less than 20 head?” The 20 head number compares to three different studies on beta agonists conducted by researchers at Kansas State University and Texas Tech that came to far different conclusions. Their first test was done on 79,171 cattle owned by four companies in at least seven feedlots, their second set of observable negative data came from 722,704 animals and the third test looked at 149,636 animals in a single feedlot. All together that’s 951,511 head of cattle. Compared to 20 head! And yet there it was in the headlines . . . “The cattle feed additive Zilmax® has no noticeable detrimental effect on cattle health or well-being.” If you read the actual reports and conclusions of the 20 head trial you might reach a different conclusion than the headline continued on page two

Could Abandoned Homesteads Help Keep the Sage Grouse Off the Endangered Species List? BY BRIAN SEASHOLES, REASON FOUNDATION

hile the most memorable word from the movie The Graduate is famously “plastics”, a key word for keeping the sage grouse off the endangered species list may be “homesteads.” According to an article in the current issue of Progressive Rancher, by a professor and three extension personnel at the University of Nevada, longabandoned homesteads in Nevada may well be the solution to the state’s efforts to conserve the sage grouse more effectively in order to keep it off the endangered species list. Much of the effort to conserve the sage grouse, both in Nevada and elsewhere, is focused on managing livestock that graze in the grouse’s sage brush habitat. Yet, as the article in Progressive Rancher points out:

W

by LEE PITTS

Ten Things To Love About Cows

Piled Higher and Deeper he last time we visited about Zilmax® two of the nation’s biggest meat packers had ceased buying Zilmax®-fed cattle and Merck, the maker, had pulled the feed additive off the market in the U.S. and Canada. This was after crippled and overheated Zilmax®fed animals kept showing up that couldn’t, or wouldn’t, walk to the kill floor. It was as if some cattle were suddenly on to the secret of what happens to them once inside the slaughterhouse. So they sat on their haunches and refused to budge. The last we heard, Merck was trying to put a team of meat scientists together to do a study to prove that Zilmax® was harmless. But Merck’s big study hit a roadblock when the question arose, “Who would buy the Zilmax® fed test cattle when harvested?” Certainly not Tyson or Cargill who had earlier voiced their displeasure with the disposition of Zilmax® cattle and the quality of their meat. Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden I read similar headlines in several weekly livestock newspapers: “Zilmax® Has No Apparent Detrimental Effect on Cattle Health.” Or, “Study Shows No Zilmax® Impacts.” I was shocked because I had staked my writing reputation on two stories I wrote criticizing beta agonists. I was also curious

Riding Herd

“[A]ppropriate livestock grazing management alone does not seem to be appreciably improving the plight of sage-grouse. Better management of sagebrush ecosystems is always paramount for any number of reasons, including sage-grouse, but the ranching industry should become proactive and look at specific vegetation management actions that could directly improve the sage-grouse habitat in shortest supply: mid- and late-summer brood rearing areas. Instead of lamenting what is out of the ranching industry’s control, let’s ask a very important question. If, according to wildlife biologists, the big general bottleneck for increasing sage-grouse numbers at population levels in Nevada is a shortage of lateseason brood habitat, and if numbers were once much higher than they are today, just what has changed in the intervening period? What on the

landscape has changed that may account for the bottleneck and the numerical decline? The answer may be found in one word, homesteads.” According to the article, from the late 1800s to the mid1900s there were hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of small homesteads scattered across large portions of Nevada. These homesteads almost invariably were located on a spring or stream that the owners used to irrigate meadows in order to feed a few livestock and grow hay. The homesteaders also vigorously shot and trapped predators, such as coyotes, ravens and badgers. The result, according to the article, was a higher sage grouse population than exists today and a distinct geography to the grouse’s high quality water-dependent habitat: lots of it in small pockets scattered continued on page four

onsumers don’t make the connection between cows and all the great things they provide. Here’s my top ten list of the things I love most about cows. #1 Hamburgers: Ever since burgers were first introduced at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 Americans have had a hamburger habit. Sixty percent of the beef consumed in this country is in the form of ground beef, and rightfully so. Put a burger between two buns, add some lettuce, tomato, a slice of cheese and you have the perfect meal! Ground beef is also a major ingredient of my all-time favorite form of sustenance: Mexican food. No fish tacos for me, if it’s not beef you can throw it back in the ocean as far as I’m concerned #2 Milk: Any cow that doesn’t give milk is a big Milk Dud. If there’s a better form of beverage than chocolate milk it has never passed my lips. Sure, some folks contend milk is for babies but then they turn right around and put mounds of butter on their baked potato. Gee, I wonder where that came from? PETA people, thinking they’re boycotting cows, eat only oleomargarine but they’re in for a big surprise when they find out that oleo stock also comes from the udder of a cow. Personally, I trust cows more than I do chemists and I was glad to finally read about recent research that said butter is better for you than margarine. I could have told you that. #3 B S: One of the most regenerative powers on earth is manure. What’s more sustainable than a steer that converts grass into a delicious food at the same time it is fertilizing the earth to produce more grass, instead of brush that feed wildfires that kill animals. Cattle truly are “white man’s buffalo” and that’s no B S. #4 Ice Cream: Two words . . . I think that’s all I need to say. #5 Cowboys: Without cows there’d be no cowboys. That means no J. Frank Dobie books, Larry continued on page four

www.LeePittsbooks.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.