LMD April 2010

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

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL APRIL 15, 2010 •

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MARKET

Digest Volume 52 • No. 4

Dear Tom W

by Lee Pitts

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

hen the respected ag journalist Alan Guebert and the Digest broke the story about the Cattlemen’s Beef Board’s letters of displeasure to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) regarding their reorganization, and subsequent heist of even more checkoff dollars, we were underwhelmed by the response. It seemed like there was none. Zip, zero, nada, nothing. Heck, I’ve written stories about snails in Bruneau, Idaho, that got more rise out of readers than this story did. This caused me to wonder: Where is the outrage?

When the NCBA was formed in the merger, cattlemen from across the country were angry.

Enough so that 40 ranchers got on a plane in California and paid their own way to San Antonio to try to stop it. At that time we were only talking about the possibility of the NCBA getting control of your beef bucks. In this case we have years of cold hard evidence, and recent posturings show the group’s lust for even more. Do ranchers not care? Is the whole process just too complicated to understand?

Or have ranchers resigned themselves to the fact that the NCBA will eventually get their hands on

“Don't judge folks by their relatives.”

the money anyway? The answers to those questions are yes, yes and yes.

Ranchers already have enough to worry about, like survival. And according to the NCBA, a poll in 2006 found that only about 2 percent of producers were concerned about NCBA’s involvement with the checkoff. And yes, the process is complicated . . . probably on purpose. Finally, a lot of steam went out of the opposition when the Supreme Court ruled that the checkoff was a government program. Still, it seems like we

shouldn’t just roll over and play dead while the NCBA robs the checkoff bank in plain daylight.

A Little History At NCBA’s annual convention this past January their Board voted 94 percent to develop a new governance structure. We constantly hear this 94 percent figure, supposedly showing widespread industry support for the reorganization. But it was like a bunch of panhandlers seeing someone drop a wad of hundred dollar bills on the floor and then voting amongst themselves

whether or not they should pocket the money! Of course the NCBA would vote to give themselves more power and money!

When have they done otherwise?

And, quite frankly, they could use the cash.

On March 18, the USDA was sent a letter that indicates not everyone is fond of NCBA’s sneaky plan. The American Farm Bureau Federation, Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), National Farmers Union, National Livestock Producers Association, National Milk Producers Federation, and the US Cattleman’s Association jointly signed a letter addressed to The Honorable Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary, in which they displayed the disgust that all ranchers should be feeling right now.

After pronouncing their proper support for the checkoff, the groups lashed into the NCBA and asked the checkoff Sheriff, the USDA, to step in and stop this heist.

“Our organizations, said the letter, “have grave concerns that the ongoing governance changes being considered by the NCBA will further erode the separation between the checkoff side (the Federation of State Beef Councils) and the policy side (NCBA) of the organization. We also believe the new governance continued on page two

Rancher’s Murder Brings Focus To Border War

by CAREN COWAN

he brutal murder of Rob Krentz, 58, Douglas, Arizona, on March 27, 2010, has finally brought strong light to the fact that there is, and has been, a guerilla war going on along the Mexican border of the United States for years.

Krentz, father of three and grandfather of two, was doing routine ranch work the morning he apparently spotted an illegal alien in need of aid. He radioed family on the band used by ranchers in the area, asking for someone to call the Border Patrol for assistance. His body, slumped in his still-running Polaris ATV, along with his mortally injured dog, was finally located over 12 hours later. Many authorities, including the Arizona Attorney General’s office, agree that the murder was by a member of a drug cartel who was tracked back to the Mexican border.

While some have speculated that this was a tragic, but isolated incident or that it was a million-to-one chance encounter that led to the killing, both are far from the truth. Krentz, his

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Riding Herd

family and his neighbors across southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have faced this risk every moment of their lives for the past several years.

In better times, illegal immigrants would walk through border ranches in seek of work. If there wasn’t work available, ranchers usually provided food and water to the traveler before he went on his way. Over the past 20 years that has changed.

Illegal aliens from around the world have streamed across the porous border in droves, littering the landscape; damaging or destroying private property, including water; threatening the lives of locals; and often feeding this nation’s insatiable need for illegal drugs. Leaders of these groups return to Mexico with money and guns that result from the drug transactions only to start the cycle over.

The past several years there has been increased attention paid to the problem, with Governor Bill Richardson declaring a state of emergency and sending National Guard troops continued on page fifteen

by LEE PITTS

Not-So-Great Moments In History an you imagine how America’s past would have been altered had all the rules, regulations and political correctness that exist today been present throughout our nation’s history? Henry Ford never would have mass produced a single car if he had to meet CAFE emission standards, Johnny Appleseed would have been arrested and forced to pay a heavy fine for spreading an invasive species, and John Audubon might never have painted all those pretty bird pictures if, as an avid hunter, he had not been allowed to shoot an endangered species now and then.

What? You thought he was able to get such detail in his pictures just by watching them fly by?

We wouldn’t even be the good old US of A if our founders had to put up with all the nonsense that deadlocks our country today. The patriots dumping tea into Boston Harbor would have been arrested for polluting and I’m quite sure they did not have a permit to meet in a public place. Paul Revere would have been thrown in jail for disturbing the peace and PETA would have protested that he mistreated his horse.

The Declaration of Independence would have been held up in committee by Congress and the National Organization for Women would have howled like a lovelorn coyote because not a single woman was asked to sign the document. George Washington would never have been a General, or our first President, because he’d have been in the hoosegow for chopping down that cherry tree without a permit.

Instead of becoming the Father of our Country he’d have rotted away in a federal penitentiary, being turned into a hardened criminal at taxpayer’s expense.

Alaska and Hawaii would not be part of us, as in U.S., Louisiana would be owned

by France today, heaven forbid, and the Saints would

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continued on page thirteen

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Livestock Market Digest

Page 2

April 15, 2010

Dear Tom

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structure will move the checkoff towards more exclusivity rather than inclusively.”

In the first part of their letter the groups explained how the checkoff came into being and how it works. At first glance this seems ridiculous because the Ag Secretary, of all people, should know this stuff. At least we’d hope so. But this part of the letter wasn’t written for the sake of the Honorable Secretary. The groups knew their letter would be circulated widely and they also know that the process by which your checkoff dollars are spent is highly complicated.

Their explanation was for you.

So, a little background. The Beef Promotion and Research Act was authorized in the 1985 Farm Bill and became effective in 1986. Of the approximate $76 million collected annually, state beef councils expend approximately $35 million of that total.

“The checkoff program,” read the letter, “is administered by the 106-member Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board.

The Beef Board members are nominated by a group of membership organizations who represent various segments and political viewpoints within the cattle and beef industry such as cattle producers, dairy farmers, importers and veal producers. In fact, beef checkoff assessments collected from dairy breeds are approximately 20 percent of total domestic assessments.

Importer assessments represent approximately 9 percent of total assessments.”

“As constructed currently, The Beef Board administers the Order, approves budgets and elects 10 members to a Beef Promotion Operating Committee.

The other 10 members are elected by the state beef councils.

This committee of 20 members is responsible for developing budgets, awarding contracts and approving projects for beef promotion and research activities that are funded by the Beef Board.”

“The Federation of State Beef Councils board members are comprised largely of beef producers who represent the 45 state beef councils. The Councils collect the $1 beef checkoff and send 50 cents of each dollar to the Beef Board.”

Okay, enough with the details. The important thing to remember is that the law that created the checkoff only allows for the allocation of checkoff funds to the Beef Board and to the Federation of State Beef Councils. If you only remember one thing from this story remember this: “The proposed structure of allowing NCBA to play a role in the distribution seems beyond the spirit of the Act and Order.”

In other words, what the NCBA is attempting to pull off is illegal and Vilsack should know it.

Firewall Flames Out There is supposedly a firewall between groups that lobby Con-

continued from page one

gressmen and groups that administer the checkoff and the reason is clear. You shouldn’t use taxes, (checkoff dollars) to lobby Congressmen. If such commingling of funds were allowed there’d be all sorts of shenanigans. Okay, let’s just say even more than there are now. Congress would pass a slew of taxes if they knew they’d be the eventual beneficiaries.

When the merger took place that created the NCBA we warned that the strength of the firewall was being weakened considerably. And groups that sent the letter agreed. “This firewall is already mistrusted by many producers because checkoff programs are often managed by NCBA staff, in the same offices as, staff who manage a major beef policy’s trade association. In fact, of the 45 state beef councils, 18 share some level of staff with the NCBA affiliate.”

The new governing body that the NCBA hopes to establish, NCBA’s House of Delegates, will be made up of folks from both the policy/membership organizations and the Federation of state beef councils. If this isn’t mixing politics with checkoff dollars we don’t know what is. Now here’s the crux of the matter: The Federation members will have about 42 percent of the votes in the House of Delegates (106 of the 250 total votes) compared to about 58 percent of the votes being controlled by policy and allied industry members. See how easy that was for the NCBA to just take control of your checkoff dollars?

If the governance structure is approved by the USDA, Federation members (checkoff people) will be allowed to participate fully in discussing and voting on policy issues. And vice versa. Policy members (NCBA’ers) will be able to vote on Federation matters, and remember, under the new structure they will have 58 percent of the vote. “This means policy members,” read the letter, “will determine where Federation funds will be spent and appears to undermine any firewall between policy and checkoff finances. While some argue that the new governance will continue to provide an “accounting firewall”, we believe the firewall should also include a separation of the decision-making between policy and checkoff.”

That sound you hear is the firewall being breached.

Reading The Small Print If the NCBA gets their way the checkoff you finally voted for (after three tries) will not look anything like the structure you approved in 1985. For example: ■ An all new 29-member NCBA Board of Directors will be elected by the House of Delegates, a body controlled by policy members of NCBA. ■ The nominating committee, under the new structure, will be comprised of members who will be selected by groups within

April 15, 2010

Dear Tom NCBA. As a result, the ninemember Nominating Committee will be comprised of at least five members who are current or former policy representatives on NCBA’s Board of Directors or House of Delegates. The policy members of NCBA will dictate who is nominated to serve on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee. “NCBA’s control of this important nomination process will result in a significant conflict of interest given the Operating Committee’s important role in determining which contractors receive Beef Board program funding.”

The NCBA countered in a letter of their own to Vilsack that the leaders would not necessarily be those who were nominated by the committee, that people could be nominated from the floor. Let’s get real here. I’ve watched groups like this nominate slates of officers for years and I’ve NEVER seen someone nominated from the floor be successful in gaining an office. Have you? The NCBA knows this ■ Talk about mixing business with pleasure . . . Federation members, whose travel expenses are paid for with checkoff funds, will be involved in developing policies for the NCBA, a group that lobbies. In the words of the

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

continued from page two

letter writers, “This appears to violate the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order since checkoff dollars will be used to develop policy positions of one industry association and many of those policies will then be used for lobbying purposes.”

In theory, and probably in practice, the directors of the new governing body “will not be required to ensure the Federation budget provides funding for programs which will help the entire beef industry and the producers who pay the checkoff.

This will result in a significant conflict of interest since the Federation is required to fund programs which benefit all producers, but the NCBA Board is only required to ensure the financial well-being of NCBA. This builtin conflict of interest causes trepidation among producers who pay the checkoff, but choose not to belong to NCBA. This will likely result in producer dissatisfaction with the beef checkoff.”

■ The opposition group is also concerned that a change in the governance could set a precedent for all the other checkoff programs. “There are currently 18 active research and promotion programs for agricultural products. These programs are overseen by the Ag Marketing

Gelbvieh Juniors Announce 2010 Summer Shows merican Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) members will have the opportunity to participate in three AGJA shows this summer. Two regional shows and the annual AGJA Classic-the National Junior Gelbvieh Show, will provide the opportunity for AGJA members to exhibit some of the best Gelbvieh and Balancer animals in the breed while building youth development and leadership skills.

The AGJA Western Regional show, hosted by the Minnesota Gelbvieh Junior Association, will be held June 11-13 at the Freeborn County Fairgrounds in Albert Lea, Minn.

The Heart of America Gelbvieh Junior Association will host the AGJA Eastern Regional show June 18-20 at the Warren County Fairgrounds, Warrenton, Mo. Both regional shows will feature Gelbvieh and Balancer female and bred and owned bull shows. Each show will also include leadership and skillbuilding contests such as showmanship, photography, poster design, Gelbvieh quiz bowl, and team fitting.

Finally, Gelbvieh enthusiasts will gather in Bryan-College Station, Texas for the 2010 AGJA Lone Star Classic July 5-10. The AGJA Classic is the largest national junior Gelbvieh show in the United States. The weeklong event, hosted by the Texas Gelbvieh Junior Association, will feature shows for owned as well

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as bred and owned Gelbvieh and Balancer females, bred and owned Gelbvieh and Balancer bulls, and Gelbvieh-influenced market steers. Additionally, several contests including sales talk, carcass evaluation, showmanship, impromptu speaking, quiz bowl, creative writing, livestock judging, herdsmanship, and more, will be offered.

“Participating in regional and national level shows provides an excellent opportunity for young Gelbvieh breeders to enhance their breeding programs through exposure in competitive shows and contests. Just as importantly, the networking opportunities provided at these events create lasting connections not only in the Gelbvieh breed, but within the beef industry as well,” says Dana Stewart, American Gelbvieh Association Director of Member Services and AGJA Advisor. “I would encourage anyone who has an interest in exhibiting cattle or in the Gelbvieh breed to attend any of our shows.”

For more about these shows, information on joining the American Gelbvieh Junior Association, or to request a free copy of the AGJA’s “Showing Cattle: What you need to know to be successful” brochure, please contact Dana Stewart, AGJA Advisor, at 303/465-2333 or at danas@gelbvieh.org.

Show schedules and details will be available in the coming weeks at www.gelbvieh.org.

Service of USDA. In every program EXCEPT the beef checkoff, the checkoff boards that USDA appoints have complete control over the expenditure of the funds. In the case of the beef checkoff, NCBA currently controls the budgeting and spending of a large portion of checkoff funds. That control will become stronger if USDA allows NCBA’s new governance structure to be implemented. We urge you to look into NCBA’s new governance structure and work with us to ensure the beef checkoff program is accountable to the all producers who invest in it.”

The Four Percent Solution What really galls us is that the NCBA goes around acting like they are the only organization representing beef producers in this country and that they speak for every one of them. They are constantly stating that we need to speak with one voice: THEIRS! While NCBA claims about 30,000 members, there are about 750,000 producers in the United States who pay into the checkoff. If my math is right this means that just 4 percent of those involved in ranching will not only be lobbying for their own political persuasion, but they will also be developing and spending your checkoff dollars.

If you had known this would you have voted for the checkoff to begin with?

We don’t know how many of NCBA’s 30,000 members made a conscious decision to join the NCBA, or how many were forced to join when they fed a pen of cattle or became a member of their state association. But

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let’s say that they have 30,000 members and every one of them supports the new takeover of your checkoff dollars (highly unlikely). That 4 percent will control the promotion and politics of the entire beef business.

The National Milk Producers Federation, on the other hand, using the same logic as the NCBA, represents dairy and they contribute 20 percent of all checkoff dollars. That’s five times as much as the NCBA represents! And we haven’t even talked about the number of Farm Bureau members who raise beef. The LMA represents folks who market a majority of the cattle in this country and collect most of the checkoff dollars, but they have never tried to grab the checkoff for themselves. And we haven’t even mentioned R CALF yet.

The NCBA says they are changing their governance structure to better serve all the cattle ranchers, farmers, and feeders of America. (How do you expand representation by making their Board smaller?) They also contend they have the interests of the checkoff at heart. But if USDA doesn’t squash this idea, and NCBA goes forward, they have to know that the changed checkoff they’d control would once again be challenged. Only this time, after all the monkeying the NCBA did with it, they’d stand a good chance of not only losing the checkoff in the court of public opinion, but also in the big one in Washington, D.C. where they wear robes and whose word is final.

You can bet your last beef buck on it.

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 4

April 15, 2010

Forty-two million tax dollars and counting . . .

WE HAVE TO STOP THE MILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS FUNDING OUR OWN DEMISE! This is part of a multi-part series of research regarding the attorney fees litigation gravy train discovered by radical environmental groups using taxpayer dollars. adical environmental groups have hit private property owners, businesses and public lands users in the pocketbook for years; it is time to level the playing field.

Radical environmental groups freely admit that they are using federal court litigation as a hammer and sword to force their personal agendas on the American taxpayers, private property owners, and public land users, by eliminating businesses and land uses. This litigation of which they so proudly boast is being funded by American taxpayers using loopholes and friendly settlement agreements, in just 19 states and D.C. for over $42 million and counting in taxpayer funding. This has to stop!

According to Kieran Suckling director of the Center for Biological Diversity (“CBD”) in a High

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Country News article in 2009: “They [law suits] are one tool in a larger campaign, but we use lawsuits to help shift the balance of power from industry and government agencies, toward protecting endangered species. That plays out on many levels. At the simplest, by obtaining an injunction to shut down logging or prevent the filling of a dam. The Forest Service needs our agreement to get back to work, and we are in the position of being able to powerfully negotiate the terms or releasing the injunction.

New injunctions, new species listings and new bad press take a terrible toll on agency morale.

When we stop the same timber sale three or four times running, the timber planners want to tear their hair out. They feel like their careers are being mocked and destroyed — and they are.

So they become more willing to play by our rules and at least get something done. Psychological warfare is a very underappreciated aspect of environmental campaigning.”

Destroying peoples’ morale?

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Making up their own radical rules? Not once does the CBD director mention that they are spending any money or time on environmental health and protection! Is funding psychological warfare where America’s already deficit spending should go?

And what about the latest from WildEarth campaign Guardians (“WEG”)? They have launched a “BioBlitz” and are filing lawsuits/formal petitions against the United States to mark the 36th year anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. In their words, “Given the disappointment of Copenhagen, we’re pressing the federal government to recognize a variety of species that will go extinct if we continue to procrastinate on climate change action . . . The Endangered Species Act [ESA] is an important approach to forcing cuts to greenhouse gas emissions when our political leaders lack the will to do so.”

Using an unrelated federal law as a covert tool to enforce their personal agenda because they cannot prove their “scientific” allegations? Using the courts when the question is really one for Congress? And just like the CBD, there is not one mention of the WEG doing any work themselves on species conservation or environmental protection.

The magazine Chicago just printed an article called “True Grit” about Jon Marvel (who is proud to be a Vietnam draft dodger) — and Western Watersheds Project. Unlike the movie starring John Wayne, Mr. Marvel and Western Watersheds Project is no friend of the West or cowboys, ranchers or farmers. On Western Watersheds’ Project website their policy memoran-

dums state:

Policy Memo #1: “To Do: Get all cows off public lands ASAP”.

Policy Memo #2: “To Do: Get all cows and sheep off public lands ASAP”.

Just in the federal court in Idaho, this “to do” list has cost the American taxpayer $1,150,528 in funding paid to WWP and its lawyers between 2001 and July 17, 2009.

Since then, who knows how much more has been paid?

This abuse of American taxpayer dollars, the federal laws and the courts cannot continue. In just nine years, ten environmental groups filed at least 3000 court cases, the vast majority of which dealt with allegations that the federal government did not follow the proper procedure. Litigation such as this does not challenge whether there is scientific merit or reality to their environmental agenda, but whether procedural time frames were met.

For example, with regard to the ESA, this litigation does not challenge whether a plant, insect or animal is, in reality, declining in numbers and needs human intervention to survive. Rather, the litigation is based upon deadlines imposed by Congress that the federal government cannot practically meet. These suits include every type of species imaginable from worms to insects, cave bugs to invertebrates. If a radical-enviro group requests something be listed and the federal government fails to respond in 90 days, the group files litigation and gets attorneys fees — even if it ultimately turns

out that the species is not being harmed.

At present, there are 1,967 species on the threatened and endangered species list; 98 species on proposed endangered/proposed threatened; and 249 more candidate species for listing. Those do not count the ones now being included on the CBD’s or WEG’s petitions.

Although the ESA was originally passed with the idea that important species would be listed, a recovery plan developed, then the species would be taken off the list, only 21 species have been removed from the list. And now WEG, CBD and other radical groups have pledged to petition to add more species to the list and reap millions of attorneys fees for their efforts. Again, there is no indication that one single dollar of American taxpayer dollars given to these environmental groups have gone to on-theground activities; the money just funds more litigation against the taxpayers. If these groups were really worried about these species, wouldn’t the “BioBlitz” be about the on the ground projects to help plants and animals?

Wouldn’t CBD be using science and facts to come up with solutions rather than mocking and destroying American workers?

Forty-two million dollars and counting in taxpayer money going to radical groups. Maybe instead of calling it “BioBlitz,” we should call it “EnviroCash.”

Please contact Western Legacy Alliance today to add your support and put an end to this abuse.

Western Legacy Alliance (“WLA”) is committed to the fight to reform this system to stop taxpayer money from funding the elimination of property rights, the lock up of public lands, the loss of jobs and the destruction of the environment. Please join the Western Legacy Alliance in demanding reform.

Western Legacy Alliance can be reached at P.O. Box 162, Moreland, ID 83256, www.westernlegacyalliance.org; westernlegacyalliance@gmail.com; or at: 208/206-7309.

Western Legacy Alliance Research Spurs Congressional Action on Exposing Taxpayer Funded Lawsuit Racket of Radical Environmentalists I am/our organization is committed to protecting the open spaces, private property, private businesses and ensuring the responsible use of public lands.

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April 15, 2010

Page 5

Corporate Environmentalism is Generating Big Green WANT TO KNOW HOW YOUR CHARITABLE DONATIONS REALLY WORK?

by STEFANIE SMALLHOUSE, Arizona Farm Bureau Second Vice President

his is the time of year when the dining room table is buried in paper. We pore over receipts, notes scribbled on the checkbook, cancelled checks, deposit records, and of course our charitable donations. According to Giving USA, Americans contributed a total of $307.7 billion to charity in 2008. For those donations going to environmental organizations to save anything and everything, have you ever wondered what you get for your donated dollar?

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I suggest the last time you hung up your shower towel at the Holiday Inn instead of dropping it on the floor (this is code for don’t waste precious water on providing me with another fresh towel since theoretically I was clean when I dried off anyway) resulted in a more genuine investment for the environment than the check you wrote to Big Green.

Your donation to one of the big corporate environmental groups Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, or Natural Resource Defense Council to name a few most likely went to pay for litigation or buying land, but what was the on-the-ground result for conserving anything?

How did the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl benefit from your generous donation? How was your dollar used to stop erosion along Arizona’s river ways, or improve water quality along the Colorado River?

In 2008, $758 million was donated to The Nature Conservancy, $43 million to the Sierra Club, and $108 million to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The NRDC

prides itself on “defeating, blocking, and freezing” through litigation any action that it deems harmful to the earth. But I was unable to find any on-the-ground work that they are doing to actively conserve natural resources. Apparently this organization is the self-appointed legal for Mother representation Nature and that’s it.

The self-appointed realtor happens to be The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Unfortunately, Mother Nature is hard to pin down, so not only does the sales commission go to TNC, but so does all the profit. For example TNC currently has land for sale along the San Pedro River in southeast Arizona acquired as 2,156 acres of contiguous farm land and now subdivided by TNC into five parcels with the option of splitting further into 10. This land could have remained unfragmented and seeded with native grasses, but instead has been left to a hostile takeover by invasive woody plants that use significantly more water than farm land.

Other large expanses of land have either been donated to the

organization to take advantage of tax credits or sold to TNC for less than appraised value and then in turn flipped to the federal government for more than appraised value. This organization is in the business of nationalizing private land for a profit, while shrinking the tax base for our schools and community infrastructures.

Purchasing agricultural land, beautiful landscapes, and waterways facing no eminent threat of destruction should not exactly qualify for saving anything. To other environmental groups this is considered to be focusing on “sub-national targets.” These targets generate revenue directly for the non-profit and would be very valuable on a carbon offset market. This is the same carbon market that would be created following passage of a cap and trade taxation system fiercely lobbied for by these same groups.

This type of focus results in what is called “leakage” in environmental language. A specific action stopped in one area only shifts or leaks the same action into other areas, but is in no way diminished. It does not result in any on the ground conservation work. I know of a few old mine reclamation sites that could sure use some of Nature Conservancy’s $758 million annual revenue for re-seeding and erosion control. Of course those pieces of land are neither profitable for flipping nor for carbon credits.

It’s no wonder that the spec-

trum of environmental groups ranging from land baron organizations like TNC to small potato radical organizations like the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) are eating their own.

CBD is trying to change policy on a national level to send us back to the 17th century, while TNC is subdividing farm land,

For those agricultural producers that continue to raise food and fiber despite the constant onslaught of Big Green’s environmental activism there are several valuable institutions and organizations that work to further the research and development of conservation practices applied on the land. Contributions to the natural resource and agriculture research arm of the University of Arizona for programs that develop low water use crops, irrigation management,

Maybe your donation would be better spent going toward your local education tax credit to make up for the loss in property tax base to the school. and the Sierra Club in return for corporate cash is providing its stamp of approval on cleaning products sold as “green” chemicals to flush down your toilet.

Where are your conservation dollars in all of this? Despite their differences, all of them are successfully using your donations for systematically dismantling roads, dams, logging, mining, ranching, farming, fishing, and manufacturing throughout the United States forcing industry to move across international boundaries and oceans unregulated; All the while increasing the costs of agriculture production by those few left in this country.

Remember that shrinking tax base I mentioned before? Maybe your donation would be better spent going toward your local education tax credit to make up for the loss in property tax base to the school.

rangeland management, and other conservation technologies offers clear and direct results for conservation minded citizens.

Arizona Farm Bureau’s Educational Farming Company educates our next generation of citizens about how their food is grown using wise management of our water and soil resources.

Contact your local Natural Resource Conservation District and find out how you can further resource conservation in your area. That gives your charitable donation real sustainability!

Editor’s Note: Stefanie Smallhouse is married to a fifth-generation farmer and rancher in Southern Arizona. She previously worked for a federal land management agency as a wildlife biologist, and is currently working to further conservation of Arizona’s natural resources through the locally led efforts of Arizona landowners.

n a d t S n t e o c m k e e c r a l S p a e l es R 2 May 12, 2010

May 13, 2010

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Livestock Market Digest

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‘Go veggie to save the planet’ UN, EU plans debunked

by LEWIS PAGE / The Register–UK

et more United Nations analysis of the measures necessary to combat climate change has come under fire from scientists.

This time, rather than the (in)famous 2007 assessment report from the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the criticism is levelled at a 2006 report called Livestock’s Long Shadow issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. This document states that the widespread eating of meat and dairy products is a serious threat to the environment.

According to the UN, in fact, livestock actually results in the emission of more greenhouse gases than transport does. The executive summary of Livestock’s Long Shadow states that: The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO² equivalent. This is a higher share than transport.

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This analysis has been a big factor in persuading concerned citizens around the world that going veggie is important in order to save the planet. No less an ecological expert than Sir Paul McCartney, in alliance with Dr Rajendra Pachauri of the IPCC and the European Parliament, has lately exhorted the citizens of the world to veg it up under the slogan “Less Meat = Less Heat.”

Eating less meat is “as obvious as recycling or hybrid cars,” McCartney told the EU parliament last December. He urged European lawmakers to “encourage, guide, inform and help people in making a relatively easy decision,” and hoped that people would think of the children.

“It can be done and it should be done for our children who will inherit this planet,” said Sir Paul.

But there’s a big problem here, according to Californian agricultural air-quality boffin Frank Mitloehner. The UN report is based on dodgy num-

bers. He says that the authors of Livestock’s Long Shadow calculated the livestock emissions including everything they could think of — those resulting from growing feeds, from animals’ burping and farting, from the various industrial processes involved in producing and delivering meat and dairy products.

By contrast, when assessing transport they included only the greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels burned while driving, making no allowance for the huge carbon-equivalences involved in building and maintaining roads, railways, cars, trains, and planes.

It’s a classic apples-andbeefsteaks comparison “This lopsided analysis is a classical apples-and-oranges* analogy that truly confused the issue,” says Mitloehner, who presented a report countering Livestock’s Long Shadow at a chemistry conference in San Francisco recently.

The prof says that in the U.S., the true picture is that transportation accounts for 26 per cent of greenhouse emissions

April 15, 2010 and cattle and pig farming just three per cent. It makes little sense therefore for wealthy westerners to become vegans, vegetarians or partial vegetarians as a means of countering climate change, as the emissions reductions would be minimal at best.

In poor nations without much in the way of transport, farming accounts for a larger percentage of emissions, but this is a larger percentage of a low overall total.

Many people in the developing world are beginning to eat more meat and dairy, a trend deplored by green activists. Mitloehner, however, argues that the populations concerned are often severely malnourished under their present diet and it would be unfair to tell them they have to stay mostly vegetarian. A better plan, he argues, would be to encourage more efficient animal farming techniques as developed in the rich world.

In summary, ecologically it makes a lot more sense to worry about poor folk getting cars and trucks and buses and trains (and factories to make them and

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Bootnote: *Or in this case presumably an apples-and-steaks or oranges-and-cheese comparison.

Net value of U.S. beef trade positive in ‘09 DROVERS NEWS SOURCE

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roads and rails to drive them on) than it does to fret over them eating some meat. And stopping them having meat is even more unfair than cutting off their access to transport.

Likewise in the case of wealthy westerners, our meat eating is not a significant factor in our carbon emissions (much like our flying and our IT, in fact). It is things much less simple to do without — washing, health care, ordinary transport and industry — which are actually the main sources of CO².

“Producing less meat and milk will only mean more hunger in poor countries,” Mitloehner says.

“The developed world should focus on increasing efficient meat production in developing countries where growing populations need more nutritious food.

In developing countries, we should adopt more efficient, Western-style farming practices to make more food with less greenhouse gas production.”

very so often it is helpful to take a rather broad view of the value of imported and exported products to gain a better understanding of the international trade relationships of the U.S. cattle/beef industry. The total value of imports and exports, say analysts at the Livestock Marketing Information Center, can be estimated from the summation of the dollar values of key trade categories, including 1) live animals (feeder, slaughter and breeding cattle); 2) meat (beef and veal); 3) hides; 4) beef tallow and greases; and 5) variety meats.

As expected, the slowdown in the global economy and unfavorable trade conditions during 2009 impacted the dollar value of U.S. beef industry exports, which declined some from 2008.

In 2009, the combined value of beef, cattle and beef product exports totaled $4.43 billion versus $5.67 billion in 2008 and $2.60 billion in 2004.

Compared to 2008, export values for 2009 were nearly 22 percent or $1.24 million lower, but still rather impressive when compared to prior BSEimpacted years. Export values posted yearly losses in every category as economic conditions weighted heavily on export demand. The export value for hides and skins at $797.8 million in 2009 was 40 percent or $502 million lower than in 2008, while the value of variety meats at $494.3 million was $318 million less in 2009 than in 2008. Of note,

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the export value for beef and veal was only about eight percent less than in 2008, but nearly 29 percent higher than 2007’s.

In 2009, the combined value of U.S. beef, cattle, etc., imports declined rather significantly from 2008’s mostly due to a decline in the value of imported live cattle and calves. The total value of beef, beef product and cattle imports was $3.93 billion in 2009, about $820 million or nearly 17 percent less than 2008’s and the smallest annual import value since 2003. The value of beef and veal at $2.47 billion was 11 percent or $297 million smaller than 2008’s, while the value of live cattle and calves declined in 2009 to $1.32 billion versus $1.79 billion in 2008.

On a value basis, the U.S. maintained its status as a cattle/beef product net exporter in 2009, a situation that was regained finally in 2008 following BSE related trade problems that began in late 2003. In other words, the U.S. exported more beef/veal, beef products, and live cattle on a value basis than it imported in 2009. In 2009, when all categories are accounted for, after posting a net export value of positive $2.3 billion in 2003, and a negative net export value of nearly $200 million in 2007; net export value was positive by over $500 million in 2009. Although the net export value for 2009 was less than in 2008, the ability to remain a net exporter on a dollar value despite the global economic situation in 2009 reflects rather well on the position of U.S. beef industry products within the world marketplace.

Cabela’s Targeted by National Animal Rights Group ne of the nation’s largest anti-hunting groups, Defenders of Wildlife, have taken aim at Cabela’s Inc. with a misguided and misleading public relations campaign designed to raise money to fund its efforts against outdoor sports.

According to an action alert posted by Defenders, the group accused Cabela’s of sponsoring three so-called “wolf-killing competitions” in Idaho. The group also attacked Cabela’s for the decision by the local paper in Sidney, Nebraska to not run an inflammatory ad against Cabela’s that Defenders had produced. It then went on to solicit funds to run the ad in other papers throughout the state.

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The charges by Defenders are grossly misleading. Cabela’s did not sponsor any “wolf-killing” events. Rather, it provided $150 worth of products as a donation to the Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife-Idaho organization. That group organized and conducted three local predator hunts in 2009. The hunts complied with all state and federal laws. Additionally, all available information indicates that no wolves were killed during the hunts.

Cabela’s has been a long-time supporter of legal hunting and fishing and has worked closely with state and federal wildlife agencies to conserve wildlife populations. They are renowned in the business world as a leader in

conservation programs and ethic.

By contrast, Defenders has been one of the leaders in an effort to keep the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population on the Endangered Species List despite the recovery of their population and reasonable management plans designed by state officials.

“Defenders of Wildlife is attempting to tarnish the reputation of one of the most wildlife conscious companies in the world,” said Bud Pidgeon, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance president and CEO. “Sportsmen should show their support by visiting a local Cabela’s and let them know that you appreciate their efforts and are not fooled by the antis’ propaganda.”

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

April 15, 2010

Is stocking rate so important? electing the correct stocking rate for a pasture may be the most difficult, but also the most important, decision a manager can make.

The problem would be greatly simplified if forage yields from pastures were the same year after year or fluctuated only between narrow limits. It is this unpredictability of forage yield that causes the difficulty. Hitting the magic 50 percent use of annual forage production is the goal, but what happens when the degree of use is consistently above 50 percent for 3-5 years?

We know that plant responses to grazing are conditioned by past history, as well as environmental conditions; however, at the end of the season, it is stocking rate that will ultimately determine the potential forage production for several years into the future.

This year’s stocking rate, the choice of the manager, will directly affect next year’s forage production, plant community, livestock production, and economic return from the pasture.

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How much can the stocking rate affect forage production?

A number of research studies across the country have been conducted to measure the effects of stocking rate on forage production. Several of these studies have been conducted in the Kansas Flint Hills, where drought is not much of a concern, and near Hays, where precipitation is more variable. The results from these studies, regardless of where or when they were conducted, are remarkably similar. After 3-5 years, heavy grazing (the annual removal of 60 percent or more of the production of the primary forage species) resulted in less forage production in the pasture the following year compared to a moderately grazed pasture (the annual removal of 40-50 percent of the production of the primary forage species).

Over a 25-year period, repeated heavy grazing resulted in a 20 percent decline in forage production while moderate grazing had no effect on forage production potential. It is important to note the difference between heavy grazing and moderate grazing is a mere 10 percent greater degree of use of the primary forage plants within the plant community. As would be expected due to selectivity of cattle, the most important productive and preferred forage species are the first to decline in production and number.

Why does this reduction in the primary forage species occur?

Heavy grazing affects more than just the defoliation of the primary forage plants. The effects of heavy grazing manifest themselves over time, reducing the amount of mulch and increasing the amount of bare ground exposed to direct sunlight.

Ground cover, or mulch, has a moderating effect on soil moisture and temperature. Soil organisms are most active and efficient when the soil is moist and the temperature is between 86°–95°F. Soil exposed to direct sunlight is hotter than ambient air temperature and can reach levels lethal to these organisms.

As the number of soil organisms is depleted or their activity slows, so does the availability of nutrients, the second most important limiting factor to forage production on rangelands.

Soil moisture, which is the most important limiting factor to forage production, is also affected by grazing intensity. Adequate mulch levels increase the rate of rainfall infiltration. One study conducted at Hays, Kansas, by J.L. Launchbaugh, showed infiltration rates of 0.73 and 1.19 inches per hour for heavy and moderate grazing systems, respectively. Run-off also increases as the amount of bare ground increases. The impact of a raindrop on bare soil looks like a

micro-bomb, dislodging fine soil particles that seal the surface of the soil, resulting in less infiltration and moisture available to plants for forage production during the growing season. Mulch is a critical component in minimizing evaporation, moderating soil temperatures, and getting precipitation through the soil surface and into the soil profile where it is available for plant growth.

Removing more than 50 percent of the annual production of the primary forage species reduces the amount of mulch available to protect the soil surface.

How does a reduction in forage quantity affect animal performance and the potential for economic return?

Both forage quality and quantity are factors in individual and per acre animal performance. Average individual animal gains of steers over a 7-year study at Hays, Kansas, by Launchbaugh, using high, moderate, and light stocking rates was 122, 188, and 217 pounds of gain per steer, respectively, during the summer grazing period. As would be expected, animal gain per acre was highest under the high stocking rate at 61 pounds of gain per acre while moderate stocking showed gains of 55 pounds per acre and light stocking produced 43 pounds of gain per acre. The bigger point to be made was the rate of gain was not sustainable: within 3-5 years there were significant changes in the plant community and the amount of bare ground increased resulting in less forage production and forage availability in the heavy stocked pastures. The heavily grazed pastures also had higher annual fluctuations in forage production during the study.

Another study, conducted by Jim Gerrish in Missouri, measured the nutrient quality of the available forage at heavy, moderate, and light stocking rates.

Nutrient density per pound of forage consumed was highest in the heavily stocked pastures due

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to young plant material having a higher nutrient density than older plant material. However, the gains per individual animal were once again lowest in the heavily stocked pastures and highest in the lightly stocked pastures. Gerrish attributed the poor individual animal performance of the heavily stocked pastures to the lack of forage quantity rather than quality. The amount of forage available to the grazing animal was inadequate to meet their requirements for body maintenance and growth. Conversely, forage quantity was not limited in the lightly stocked pastures, and the animals through selective grazing could meet their requirements for maintenance and optimum gain. The moderately stocked pastures produced individual animal gains higher than the high stocking rate pastures and had higher gains per acre than the low stocking rate pastures. Gerrish concluded that moderate stocking rates produced the best combination of forage quality and quantity for individual animal performance and gains per acre, making the moderate stocking rate the best for sustained economic returns to the manager.

How do we know when pastures are being moderately grazed?

What gets measured gets managed, so begin by measuring how much is grown, how much is grazed, and how much is left.

Stocking rates are unique to each individual pasture so there is not a standard average for a particular county or area. A couple of wellplaced grazing exclusion cages, a yard stick, and a camera are all that are needed to determine the degree of use within a pasture.

Designing and implementing an annual monitoring plan to measure and record forage production and degree of utilization within a specific pasture is crucial to maintaining adequate mulch levels, healthy belowground root systems and microbial populations, forage production, and animal performance. With measured information, managers can make timely adjustments in stocking rate decisions that will maintain productive native rangelands well into the future. If you would like assistance in monitoring your pastures, contact your local NRCS office.

Source: R. Dwayne Rice, Rangeland Management Specialist, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Lincoln, KS.

NMSU hosts Southwest Indian Livestock Days May 11-12 he Southwest Indian Livestock Days is an opportunity for the 6,611 Native American agricultural operators in the state to learn the latest regarding care of their livestock.

For the second year in a row, the two-day event will be held at the Route 66 Casino & Hotel on I-40 at Exit 140 west of Albuquerque. A full slate of programs will be presented on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 11-12, beginning at 8 a.m. each day.

The event is coordinated by New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences’ Cooperative Extension Service, the University of Arizona, and the livestock days planning committee, with representatives from NMSU’s Tribal Extension and Rural Agricultural Improvement and Public Affairs Project (RAIPAP), Laguna Pueblo Natural Resources, Montano Cattle Association, and Sedillo Cattle Association.

“Over the years, several Laguna livestock producers indicated they wanted to host the Indian Livestock Days. Historically the event is held every other year at different locations in northwestern New Mexico. Because of the success of last year’s New Mexico Indian Livestock Days, we decided to bring the Southwest conference to the Route 66 Casino and Hotel,” said Kathy Landers, McKinley

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County Extension agriculture agent, who has coordinated the event with the help of other extension agents for the past 17 years.

“The Laguna livestock producers have a lot of information and experience to share with other Native American livestock producers. I’m excited about the program as a whole because there were numerous producers on the planning committee and they were very active in helping plan and develop this event.”

Current issues in livestock production will be presented by Ron Parker of the New Mexico Livestock Board and Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association.

John M. Romero of the Sedillo Cattle Association will discuss how to put a livestock association together. Phillip Bravo of the Hualapai Nation will discuss feral horse management.

David Melton, president of Sacred Power Corporation, will discuss solar power, and Maggie Porter of the Southwest Indian Poly-technical Institute, will discuss geospatial information technologies.

The registration fee is $50 for two days, or $30 for one day. The deadline for program registration is April 25. To register, contact the McKinley County Extension office at 505/863-3432 or from outside the Gallup area call toll free at 866/863-3443.

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 8

April 15, 2010

Santa The Right Mix Gertrudis:

by CALLIE GNATKOWSKI-GIBSON

ommercial and purebred producers alike have found success with Santa Gertrudis cattle, which combine the strengths of the Shorthorn and Brahman breeds. Developed in south Texas on the King Ranch, the breed brings the hardiness and disease resistance of Brahman cattle together with the milk production and carcass traits of the Shorthorn breed to produce healthy, fast growing cattle that do well wherever they go.

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The breed has been a good fit for the Cundiff family, who raise commercial Santa Gertrudis cattle near Lindrith on the And So Forth Ranch and the XP Bar Cattle Company. “Some people prefer a shorter ear on their cattle, some markets are difficult, but we’ve stayed with the Santa Gertrudis over the years and I’m not sorry,” said Johnny Cundiff, who runs the ranch with his son, Johnny Jr. They were first exposed to the cattle at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, he said. “We were very impressed with the cattle.

We liked the Brahman / Shorthorn cross, the Shorthorn brings milk production and the Brahman helps them get out and hustle for feed.”

Johnny and his wife, Jo, talked to Dr. Roland Sanchez of Red Doc Farms in Belen about the cattle. In 1996, the Cundiffs bought two bulls and five heifers from the Sanchezes, and have grown from there.

Johnny and Jo got into the cattle business when they took over her father’s ranch near Lin-

drith. “He was always trying to increase the milk production in his Hereford herd,” Johnny said.

“When I learned about the Santa Gertrudis, I said, they have already discovered the wheel, there’s no reason for us to reinvent it.”

Hardiness is one of the breed’s biggest strengths, Johnny said. “When we first started out, we heard that Santa Gertrudis weren’t mountain cattle and wouldn’t succeed. Our cattle run at a 7,300 foot elevation, and have adapted well. They winter good, and even in dry weather do really well. The last several years have been pretty droughty, and they’re doing just fine.”

He also cites their calving ease. “We use a bull with a 69- to 70-pound birthweight, and haven’t had to pull a calf in four or five years,” he explained. “By November, the calves will weigh 550-600 pounds. Because of the strength and quantity of the mothers’ milk, the calves grow quickly.”

“A lot of ranchers use bigger bulls, and are constantly checking

on and worrying about their cows during calving season,” he continued. “The snow is belly high on my cows right now. We start calving the first of March, and I don’t worry. They have their calves, and they bring them in.”

A gentle disposition is another breed strength. “They are good cows, easy to work with and mild tempered. They are good mothers and take good care of their calves,” he explained. “When they get out, we’ve never had to chase them down. Usually, they come home or go to other cows. We buy a bull every three years, and have never had any problems. They have all been very gentle.”

Johnny also likes the cattle’s disease resistance. “They are not disease prone, the only thing we give them is the 7-way vaccination. We don’t have to worry about pinkeye or a lot of the diseases other ranchers have to deal with.”

Johnny has been marketing some cattle as beef, and has found a growing market. “There has been a lot of talk that a longer ear makes the meet tough, but that’s a bunch of hooey,” he said. “The cattle are not fat producers, and the meet is lean, good and tender.”

Originally, he said, the Cun-

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n 1996 Horacio Lopez retired from Kirtland Air Force base. He and his wife, Sandra, decided to devote all of their time to the cattle. They purchased heifers from Red Doc Farm and bull from the late Tweet Kimball — and the Lopez’ were in the purebred business. They were a little hesitant when they found out that Samson, the bull they bought from Tweet, weighed 2,300 pounds. They were nervous that their heifers would not be able to survive breeding season. Tweet and Dr. Roland Sanchez assured them that the weight would not be a problem so off they went with red cattle in their trailer.

Once they arrived in Puerto de Luna they caused quite a stir. Neighbors came by and told them that they were going to have huge calves off those red cattle and that they were going to have to pull every one of them. Horacio assured them not to worry that these “red cows” would not have any trouble calving. His neighbors left laughing and asked Sandra to keep their number and to call them if Horacio needed any help during calving season. The Lopez’s had the last laugh in that one. The cows had no problem calving. In fact

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continued on page eleven continued on page nine

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The Right Mix diffs just got the meat processed at San Juan Meats in Kirkland, for themselves. “As people tried it, they liked it and started asking for it,” Johnny said. “The word spread, and now we have quite a few people wanting beef. I can make as much money processing cattle and selling them as beef as I can selling cattle at the sale barn, and we haven’t had any trouble getting rid of it.”

Johnny uses Cool Fuel, a feed made of ground coconut, in place of corn to fatten his cattle.

Produced in Australia, the feed kind of sweetens the meat, and builds muscle, not fat, he said.

“When I was feeding grain, it just went in one end of the cattle and out the other, the yard was full of

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

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his start from Creasy Farms in Tennessee, who were right down the road from his family’s place.

“We bought a few, and have grown from there,” Darrell said.

The Pitchfords market their purebred Santa Gertrudis to both purebred and commercial producers in a variety of ways.

They sell heifers, cow/calf pairs, bull calves and bulls to breeders.

“Whatever people are looking for, we try to meet that need,” he noted. “We sell some cattle private treaty here at the ranch, hold a production sale in May, and go to five or six other sales with our cattle throughout the year.”

Embryo transfer and artificial

insemination are important tools the Pitchfords use on their operation. Semen sales are also a big part of the business. “We sell a lot of semen into Mexico and across the United States, and

recently sent a shipment to Australia,” Darrell said.

Santa Gertrudis cattle are easy to maintain, according to

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Cool Fuel is 98 percent usable by the animal.

It is cheaper per pound to feed.

ravens and crows. Cool Fuel is 98 percent usable by the animal.

It is cheaper per pound to feed, and we get more out of it.”

He has also had success marketing heifers to neighboring ranchers. “They’re nice, big, good-looking cows and heifers. I have gotten lots of compliments, and a lot of people who have bought heifers have come back wanting more.”

The Cundiffs run their cattle on a seven-section U.S. Forest Service (USFS) grazing permit in the summer. “We have to rotate pastures fairly often in the summer, and the cows get in that habit,” he continued. “They’re always standing at the gate ready to move when it’s time, and I’ve never had any trouble getting my cows off of the forest. They’re not dumb cattle.”

“For us, up here, Santa Gertrudis work very well,” Johnny concluded. “I grew up around cattle, but was always cussing them because I was always having to put them out of somewhere.

Since I started with this breed, I have learned a lot about cattle.”

A Family Affair Darrell and Shana Pitchford, of Pitchford Cattle Company and Pitchford Cattle Service in Athens, Texas, both grew up participating in the junior programs of the Santa Gertrudis Breeders International (SGBI) and have a long history with the breed. Today, the Pitchfords raise purebred Santa Gertrudis cattle on their operation east of Dallas, near Tyler, Texas.

Darrell has owned and showed Santa Gertrudis cattle for 31 years, since he was nine years old. He said he saw the cattle at a show, really liked the way they looked, and wanted to show some of his own. He got

• Cowherd efficiency • Feedlot efficiency • Industry efficiency 1) How does the commercial cowman introduce efficiency into his cowherd?

2) How does the feedlot manager increase feed efficiency in his yard?

3) How does the beef industry address the efficiency issue in an effective and practical way?

Actually it’s pretty simple . . . ± Add Santa Gertrudis influence. ± It’s true – adding Santa Gertrudis genetics is the best way to simply and effectively increase your efficiency. ± Feedlot performance, carcass data and DNA research confirm it.

Livestock Market Digest

Page 10

April 15, 2010

Now is the time for replacement heifers

The recent drought and severe winter has been brutal and devastated lots of good herds, both commercial and purebred. If you are ready to restock, now is the time to add uniformity and top quality to your herd.

Our Santa Gertrudis registered herd has been built on performance, no pets allowed. Females are fertile, good milkers with sound udders, and top quality.

Our heifers will make an excellent foundation for your purebred or Star 5 herd.

These virgin heifers are for sale private treaty at our ranch, give us a call.

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“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

April 15, 2010

The Right Mix

continued from page nine

Darrell. “They are real easy keepers, and disease resistant. Their fertility is good, they will calve every eleven months.”

Another strength of the breed is their performance in crossbreeding programs. “Their hybrid vigor is very good,” he explained.

“Producers who start using Santa Gertrudis genetics will wean calves that weigh 100 to150 pounds over their previous weights. Their gainability is also very good, they will gain over four pounds a day in the feedlot.”

He also cites their disposition.

“Santa Gertrudis are gentle, and the best mother breed. They take good care of their babies and protect them. Every breed’s disposition depends on how you treat them, our cattle have good, gentle disposition. We don’t keep any that cause any problems.”

Calving ease is another strength of the breed, Darrell pointed out. “You always have one that comes backwards or turned around, but overall they do really well.”

It’s a family operation, including Darrell and Shana and their kids, Casey, 11, who also shows through the SGBI junior programs, and Gracey, 7, who is ready to get started.

The Pitchfords show 20 to 30 of their own cattle at 18 to19

shows a year including the New Mexico State Fair. They recently showed the Reserve National Champion Bull and Champion Female at the SGBI National Show in Fort Worth. In addition, they run Pitchford Cattle Service, where they break, train and show cattle for other producers.

They handle Santa Gertrudis and Angus cattle. “We do most of our advertising at shows, we try to promote and sell what we have back home,” he noted.

The family is very active in the SGBI. Casey is involved in Junior programs, and Darrell serves on the Board of Directors and as Breed Standards Chairman. He also serves as First Vice President of the Premier Association, a state affiliate of the SGBI. The Pitchfords cattle run on coastal Bermuda grass, where you can run one cow to every three or four acres as long as you get some rain, he said. The area has gotten good moisture, including about a foot of snow in mid-February — definitely not a typical occurrence. “It should be a great spring,” Darrell concluded. “It has been really dry the last couple of years, and we need a break. If we don’t have grass, we can’t have these cows. It makes life a whole lot easier when we get a little moisture.”

Family of the Year the cattle carried themselves.

When it came to weaning time, they were excited with their size of their cattle. Any fears of long ears not being able to survive in the harsh winter conditions went out the window.

The Lopez’s knew that they found a breed of cattle that would work for them. They knew that they needed to create some type of market for their bull calves if they ever expected to stay in the cattle business. So they decided to breed for traits that they knew commercial breeders in their area would want. Ease of calving, low birth weights, moderate frame, and great conversion rates is what their buyers wanted. It started out slow but they created their market and over time Moon Valley Ranch was the place where commercial breeders went to buy bulls in Santa Rosa Area.

It seems simple, raise bulls and sell them; but talk to any cattleman, raising bulls is easy, selling them consistently year after year is the hard part. The Lopez’s were able to do this.

They sold commercial breeders bulls and replacement heifers.

What seems like an easy task to someone from outside of the cattle industry, insiders know how hard it is to actually accomplish.

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Not only did they sell bulls, the Lopez’s were the leaders in the area for local kids in providing show heifers to compete in their county fair. Sandra is the family’s official cattle breaker, feeder, and washer. She really loves working with the show cattle and teaches the kids how to show their animals. She spends time grooming and talking to the heifers. Horacio drives the cattle to the show, but Sandra is there making sure the paperwork is done and that the heifers are ready. Not only do they help young kids who would not have otherwise had the opportunity to show cattle, but they found a way to bring in buyers to the local county fair.

Most importantly throughout all of their numerous accomplishments Horacio and Sandra never forgot where they came

from and their family. There are twelve Lopez siblings and Horacio happens to be number two out of the bunch. Even the smallest of family dinners is an event where a good time is had by all. It seems like you cannot talk about Horacio and Sandra without mentioning their four daughters, Denise, Catharine, Angela, and Terese.

Horacio said that he wanted a herd where he could have great cattle that were functional, able to survive the winters in Puerto de Luna, and where he could sit at window and count his cattle.

Sandra and Horacio have accomplished that and much more. Together they have found ways to take an unknown breed and prove to commercial breeders that their cattle make sense.

This is why the Moon Valley Ranch, Horacio and Sandra Lopez and Family are the 2009 Rocky Mountain Santa Gertrudis Family of the Year.

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Large Animal Vet Med; a Global View ypically smaller, more rural communities have no veterinarian, or at least none that will take a calving call or a horse colic emergency.

Veterinary schools, veterinary associations, concerned farmers and isolated ranchers continue their search for new veterinarians interested in practicing Food Animal and Equine medicine.

While we are searching in our front yard it is possible that the answer is sneaking up behind us.

If we look to our fellow professionals in human medicine, it is not uncommon to find yourself being examined and treated by a foreign-born physician. They may have graduated in their native country and/or received a degree in the U.S. Of the 22,500 doctorates in the natural sciences and engineering awarded by the U.S. universities in 2007, more than half were foreign-born! According to statistics, 60 percent remain in the U.S. to work.

The majority come from Asian lineage. Are they smarter than us? Better spellers? Genetically more able to understand Physics, Calculus, Pathology or the Krebs Cycle? Probably not. I would just say they are more motivated.

To our own social credit, Americans have realized money isn’t everything. Family time, sharing, enjoying life, and dependence on government, corporations or unions as a security blanket, have now become our Nirvana. Unfortunately, even if we graduated twice as many veterinarians in the U.S. and Canada, it would still not reduce our spiraling inability to attract new homegrown DVMs to Large Animal practice. As is oft repeated by veterinary

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students as to why large animal practice is to be avoided, “The work is too hard and the pay is not enough.” And, we cannot blame them for wanting to “have a life!” So we have to look elsewhere.

How about organizing a group of selected national universities to teach and graduate veterinarians licensed to practice Large Animal Only (equine and food animal). We actively recruit globally using the same strict scholastic prerequisites but with no out-of-state or out-of-country financial penalties or restrictions. We would also legislate that no LADVM from this program would be allowed to pursue a further graduate degree within five years of graduation.

You may ask why I think foreign graduates would even be interested? Because they know that on a level playing field they have a 50 percent chance of being accepted . . . and they like competition and they WILL graduate. Is it too soon to be considering such an “almost un-American” concept? The Irish and Chinese came and built our railroads. The Germans built our bomb. The Mexicans are building our skyscrapers. The Japanese came here and made our cars better. Dr. Sudesna Bose was Grandpa Tommy’s Parkinson’s doctor.

They did not think that the work was too hard and the pay too little.

I can’t say if it’s too soon, but the next time you’ve got a wounded horse or a C-section in the middle of the night, and the nearest capable Large Animal Veterinarian is two hours away, you might give it some thought.

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 12

Anger at beef import delay

by NICOLA BERKOVIC / The Australian

he U.S. and the European Union have reacted with concern and surprise to the Rudd government’s (Australian) decision to delay for at least two years the importation of beef from countries exposed to mad cow disease.

Officials from the two major trading partners responded strongly yesterday to Agriculture Minister Tony Burke’s decision to order a full risk analysis of beef imports from countries where bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been reported.

The review is aimed at calming community fears over the lifting last week of a blanket ban on beef imports from countries that have had the disease.

US embassy agricultural counsellor Grant Pettrie said his nation was both “surprised and concerned” about the decision, declaring that US beef was rigorously tested and completely safe.

Mr. Pettrie said US ambassador Jeff Bleich would raise the issue in a meeting with Mr. Burke.

“US beef is safe,” Mr. Pettrie said. “Our testing regime is very rigorous.”

He said the US had only had three cases of BSE, the most

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recent being four years ago.

European Union delegation spokesman Roger Camilleri said Australia’s decision sent the “wrong signals” on protectionism as world trade ministers tried to conclude the Doha Round of free trade talks. “We’re very surprised at the decision and it does give us some areas for concern,” he said.

Mr. Camilleri said the EU was surprised because the science was “very clear” that its beef posed no health risk to Australia.

Both EU and US officials could not comment on the

prospect of a complaint to the World Trade Organisation about the two-year review. Mr. Burke said recently that the review would not put Australia in breach of its trade obligations.

The initial decision to lift the ban on beef imports from BSE countries followed a threat by meat exporters, including Canada, to go to the WTO over unfair trade barriers.

The diplomatic tension came as Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler vowed to introduce new labelling laws to ensure consumers were informed

April 15, 2010 about the origins of beef and beef products.

He ordered a Food Standards Australia New Zealand review of

products, which will not be covered by the two-year review.

Importation of these products from countries exposed to BSE

The initial decision to lift the ban on beef imports from BSE countries followed a threat by meat exporters, including Canada, to go to the WTO over unfair trade barriers. labelling standards and said he would seek an agreement from industry about a new labelling system for beef products, including meat pies.

Liberal MP Bill Heffernan said a Senate inquiry would look at processed and canned beef

will be able to resume, subject to approval from FSANZ. Independent senator Nick Xenophon said the government’s two-year risk analysis should also cover processed and canned beef products such as Bovril and oxtail soup.

Program Brings Veterans, Ranchers Together orses for Heroes — Cowboy UP!, a Santa Fe, N.M. based program that uses horses and horseback riding to help treat soldiers returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, started working with its first group of soldiers March 20.

“We are proud to support the Horses for Heroes Program, and look forward to playing a bigger role as the program grows,” said Bert Ancell, New Mexico Cattle Growers Association (NMCGA) President, Bell Ranch. The NMCGA voted to support the program at its recent annual meeting.

Program founder and former Green Beret Rick Iannucci started out with a pilot program last year. “I saw a big need — soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are coming home in droves, and there are few outlets to help them,” he said. “We take regular people, send them over to Iraq and Afghanistan and train them how to fight. Then, we bring them home, sometimes without even a thank you, and expect them to

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turn it off and reintegrate automatically. It’s not happening.”

Today’s veterans see an average of 1,500 days of combat, and go directly into combat when they land on the ground. In World War II, soldiers saw an average of 120 days of combat, and Vietnam Veterans saw an average of 240–260 days of combat.

Horses for Heroes — Cowboy UP! is staffed and operated by volunteers, many who are veterans themselves. Participants will learn to work with, care for, train and ride horses, work cattle, and experience the camaraderie of working with other veterans and ranchers. “Our program provides the veterans with the opportunity to recuperate, recreate and reintegrate into society and into our ranching community and cowboy culture,” Iannucci said.

Currently, ranchers including Mike Hobbs, Express UU Bar Ranch, Cimarron; Steve Price, Bonanza Creek Ranch, Santa Fe; Henry McKinley, Staple Cross Ranch, Santa Fe; Christina Savitsky, Pecos Bar X Ranch,

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Pecos; and Bob Frost, Caprock Creek Ranch, San Jon are involved in the program.

“Those serving in the armed forces are making enormous sacrifices, every day, to keep our families and country safe,” Ancell said. “As an organization and as individuals, we are glad to do all we can to help soldiers when they return home.”

The Horses for Heroes — Cowboy UP! program is the only program of this type nationally that is endorsed by the Military

Order of the Purple Heart, according to Iannucci. “We want to show people what is possible, not what is probable,” he said.

Anyone interested in becoming a program partner can contact Horses For Heroes — Cowboy UP! through the website at www.horsesforheroes.org or www. horsesforheroes.blogspot.org. The program depends on donations, and hay, saddles and good working ranch horses are always needed. Online contributions can also be made through the websites.

Adding value to Your calves

by CLAY WRIGHT

ick up any livestock-related publication these days and you’ll probably find an article on adding value to your calf crop. Subjects might include selecting bulls to optimize desirable characteristics in your calves, preconditioning for 30-45 days, implementing age and source verification, managing shrink, presentation at marketing, targeting niche markets, etc. These and many other management practices have the potential to add to your bottom line. Consider spending some time evaluating changes you might make to your operation in the coming year.

Not all enhancements involve cutting edge technology or new market development. Sometimes just “taking care of business” can be an enhancement all by itself.

For instance, one of the simplest, low-tech and often overlooked practices is getting more calves born earlier in the calving season. During the suckling phase, a calf typically gains about two pounds per day; so, for each additional day of age, a calf will weigh about two pounds more at weaning. How significant can this be?

For ease of figuring, assume an 84-day calving season, with 100 calves equally distributed in four 21-day periods. What if you were able to move your calving distribution from 25 percent in each period to 40-20-20-10? You are actually shifting 45 calves into an earlier period, making them an average of 21 days older at weaning. This means an additional 1,890 pounds of calf in the wean-

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ing pen. Most people would agree an increased saleable weight of nearly a ton is very significant!

Of course, the reality of change in your operation depends on how your calving distribution looks now. Assuming that there is room for improvement, how do you begin to shift?

This is where the “taking care of business” factor comes in. You must focus on the primary aspects of management that most affect the timing of conception in your herd.

Nutrition: ■ To minimize the time to first estrus, the cows should have a body condition score of at least 5.5 at calving.

■ Maintain a body condition score 5 or better through the breeding season to minimize the number of services required for conception.

■ Make sure the bulls are in at least a body condition score 6 at turn-out.

Health: ■ Work with your veterinarian to plan and implement a preventative health program for cows and bulls, especially against reproductive diseases.

■ Have a veterinarian conduct a breeding soundness examination of your bulls before the breeding season.

■ Observe bulls during the breeding season to ensure that they remain willing and able to service the cows.

■ Rotate in fresh bulls as needed and address physical problems that may arise.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

State Agents Accept Environmentalist Petition To Control Waters n a potentially devastating move for rural New Mexico and the agriculture industry in particular, at their March 2010 meeting the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) accepted a petition that could lead to the blanket designation of some 1,450 miles of running streams and dry creek beds as well as lakes and wetlands within Wilderness Areas as Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW). The vote was solidly split between urban and rural representatives, with the rural contingent opposed to accepting the petition.

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This was the third rendition of the petition by the New Mexico Environment Dept. (NMED), the New Mexico Game & Fish Department (NMDGF) and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department (NMEMNRD) since the WildEarth Guardians, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, the New

statement by the acting Chairman of the Commission, NMED employee Carlos Romero, that the only duty of the Commission in regard to this petition was to set a date for hearing rather than critically review and ensure that the interests of all New Mexicans are being protected.”

The WildEarth Guardians make no bones on their website that their goal is to permanently curtail or eliminate activities like road-building, logging, off-road vehicle use and livestock grazing.

Mexico Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club, first petitioned the WQCC for ONRW designation in late 2006 — then trying to designate all waters within roadless areas within U.S. Forest Service lands in New Mexico.

That action was followed by a 2008 Earth Day proclamation by Governor Bill Richardson claiming that more than 5,000 miles of streams should receive the ONRW designation, according to Bert Ancell, New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association President, Bell Ranch.

“The petition and the fact that it was accepted by the WQCC is troubling on many levels,” Ancell said. “Most disturbing is that the Commission didn’t follow its’ own guidance in determining whether or not the petition met the prescribed scientific criteria for such designation.

“Equally troubling was a

Vigorous objection, complete with substantial documentation illuminating the fact the petition was deficient in scientific basis, was provided by a wide variety of rural and agricultural groups including the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association (NMCGA); the New Mexico Wool Growers, Inc. (NMWGI); the New Mexico Federal Lands Council (NMFLC), the Northern New Mexico Stockmen’s Association (NNMSA), the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau (NMFLB), and the New Mexico Acequia Association and Commission as well as representatives of Rio Arriba County, Otero County, and a Sandoval County ditch association and private citizens.

A basic question regarding how many miles of perennial streams are covered by the petition went unanswered, noted

Riding Herd continued from page one not have won the Super Bowl because we’d still be waiting for United Nations approval to invade a foreign country: The Midwest. The Wilderness Society would never have stood for our scouting the wilderness.

Had NAFTA been in place America would, along with neighbors to the North and South, been just a part of the United Provinces of Mexico. Our soccer and curling teams might be better but can you imagine our cuisine or our language? Cod tacos, eh?

Thomas Jefferson wouldn’t have sent Lewis and Clark on their epic journey without a Porta Potty every 100 yards and can you imagine the reaction of the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife when they heard that Lewis and Clark had picked wildflowers and shot wolves? Animal rightists would never have stood for the mountain men, who were so instrumental in discovering unknown parts of this continent, to trap beavers. PETA would have thrown paint on Jeremiah Johnson for wearing fur.

California would still be speaking Spanish, (even more than they already do) if those

Caren Cowan, NMCGA Executive Director, Albuquerque. “The petition that was provided to the public on the NMED website stated that there were 700 miles of perennial streams. However, one WQCC commissioner who questioned the basis of the petition stated that his material covered 900 miles of these streams.

When we asked for clarification on that point, we were completely ignored.”

The WQCC also ignored a Memorial carried by Representative Debbie Rodella, Espanola and passed by the 2009 New Mexico Legislature and signed

by Governor Richardson “to cancel or suspend the outstanding national resource waters designation process. . . ,” pointed out Don L. (Bebo) Lee, NMFLC President, Alamogordo.

“This sweeping designation in an attempt to control water in New Mexico has been the subject of numerous legislative hearings,” Lee said. “But the Legislature continues to be ignored by the state agencies involved, and apparently the WQCC.” The WQCC is made up of the heads (or their designees) of several state agencies, including the NMED, NMDGF and NMEMNRD, all of whom are appointed by the Governor. The public members on the Commission are also appointed by the Governor, which certainly appears to be a conflict of interest and due process testified Mike Nivison, a former Otero County Commissioner and mayor of Cloudcroft.

Ernest Torres, La Jara, requested that the petitioning agency heads recuse themselves from the vote on the petition. Only Tod Stevenson, NMDGF Director, heeded the request.

An ONRW is a designation under the federal Clean Water Act aimed at protecting the

migrating to the Golden State had not been allowed to cut firewood in a forest, shoot wolves and bears, or go to the bathroom on public land. Westward Ho! would have been Western Halt! because the US Humane Society and the Hollywood community would have stopped the immigrants in their tracks for abusing the oxen, horses and mules that pulled their wagons on their way west. The 49’ers would have been thrown in jail for creating a Superfund site, even though the money from the gold in California and the silver in Nevada helped pay for the Civil War which ended slavery. We’d all be homebodies today, still living in the original colonies, because railroads would never have been allowed to chop down forests for railroad ties, or to hire nonunion Chinese and immigrant Irishmen without OSHA breathing down their necks.

Remember that glorious moment when astronaut Armstrong stepped out from his spacecraft, taking one giant leap for mankind?

Well, that was before global warming. Al Gore would have said Armstrong’s historic leap would create a huge carbon footprint and our space program never would have got off the ground.

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nation’s most pristine surface waters by prohibiting any reduction of water quality from the time the designation is approved.

“The WildEarth Guardians make no bones on their website that their goal is to permanently

and all of the activities mentioned by the WildEarth Guardians, with the exception of livestock grazing, are already prohibited, Cooper continued.

The WQCC set a hearing on the petition in mid-September,

“This sweeping designation in an attempt to control water in New Mexico has been the subject of numerous legislative hearings.” curtail or eliminate activities like road-building, logging, off-road vehicle use and livestock grazing,” said Jim Cooper, NMWGI President, Arabella. “Once this campaign succeeds in New Mexico they clearly state that they intend to implement the same strategy in other western states.”

Another interesting aspect to the petition is that under the Wilderness Act of 1964, congressionally delegated Wilderness Areas are “. . . untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain . . .”

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anticipating that the hearing will last several days. At the hearing, sponsoring agencies will put on their case for the designation, all funded by New Mexican taxpayers, while citizens and their representative groups will be forced to raise tens of thousands of dollars to hire attorneys and expert witnesses in an attempt to persuade the Commission that the state environmental and wildlife agencies have no basis for their petition.

For more info. on this issue, please visit www.nmagriculture.org .

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 14

Too much grade?

by MIRANDA REIMAN / Black Ink

“Too much fun — what’s that mean?

It’s like too much money; there’s no such thing.

It’s like a girl too pretty, with too much class; Being too lucky, or a car too fast.

No matter what they say I’ve done, well I ain’t never had too much fun.” ountry music fans know that comes from a song popular in the mid-1990s, but it seems the lyrics could be altered to fit today’s beef business:

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“Too much quality — what’s that mean?

It’s like too much money; there’s no such thing.

It’s like a bull too good, or too much hay; Neighbors too friendly, calves bringing too much pay.

No matter what the other cattle made, well I ain’t never seen too much grade.”

It was just three years ago when industry experts were pointing to a 30-year decline in beef quality. Barely more than half of the cattle were grading USDA Choice, but today the picture is much different. Improvements in genetics, ration changes and better feeding conditions all led to a

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rise in quality to where Choice cattle made up 60 percent of the total last spring. Recent weeks find that nationwide number closer to 65 percent.

That seems like happy news for an industry that seemed to be spinning its wheels, actually losing ground in the consumer acceptance arena. But now that the quality surge appears steady and strong, rather than just an anomaly in the data or a seasonal spike, some wonder if it’s too much of a good thing.

Don’t be fooled. Few other businesses can get by with the mentality that mostly Choice is good enough. At the implement dealer, getting an acceptable product just over half the time wouldn’t sit well with you. What if your coveralls or rubber boots met your expectations 6 out of 10 times you bought them? You wouldn’t choose that brand again.

That’s no different than picking beef as your protein source.

You may feel an allegiance, a duty, to have a steak or burger when you dine out, but millions of consumers only connect to the flavor, juiciness and tenderness.

Surely 65 percent Choice isn’t too much of good thing in their eyes.

Evaluating the economics might leave you puzzled then.

The Choice/Select spread has slipped from its record levels of a

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few years ago, and producers selling on a grid might get discouraged.

Take a closer look and you’ll find the reason for a lower price spread between Choice and Select: That ratio typically just includes low Choice, perhaps only a couple of marbling flecks better than Select. That’s because nearly all of the premium Choice beef has gone into branded products.

There’s a larger and more stable premium out there for higher Choice and Prime brands. And study after study has proven that it doesn’t cost any more to aim for quality.

Plus, market signals need time to adjust. Cow numbers are shrinking and all of these consumers that have developed a taste for Choice and better beef are going to continue craving it.

The result? An increased premium, especially if your neighbor decides he’s put too much quality in his herd.

As the economy continues to recover, pent-up consumer demand should drive up the incentive for hitting quality marks.

Some years you might actually get too much rain. Although the green pastures are appreciated, if you can’t get hay put up or the wet weather causes problems with mud and sickness you might think, “Enough is enough.” When you’re trying to build your herd numbers, too many male calves can be a challenge, or too much “attitude” in a cow. But too much grade?

That’s just a myth.

April 15, 2010

Composite seedstock can simplify crossbreeding any beef herds are too small to implement standard crossbreeding systems. Using composite cattle might be an advantage to smaller-scale producers who have single-sire herds because it can simplify for them the use of breed combinations for their production environments.

A composite is a hybrid breed made up of at least two component breeds, explained Brett Barham, Ph.D., an Extension livestock specialist for the University of Arkansas. Its design retains heterosis in future generations without a complicated crossbreeding program, and producers can maintain the genetic composition as they would with a pure breed.

Employing composite seedstock provides a dependable strategy to maintaining uniformity without sacrificing production potential as you do with the inbreeding and linebreeding necessary to produce purebred animals.

“Once producers establish a composite, and random (closedherd) mating occurs among cattle with a similar breed makeup, the resulting heterosis should be constant,” Barham said. “The main disadvantage of using composite breeds is the lack of extensive performance data to compare individuals.”

The seedstock sector rapidly is mitigating that drawback, said Bob Hough, Ph.D., executive

M

vice president for the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF). For example, NALF maintains pedigree and performance records for its Lim Flex® (Limousin and Angus or Red Angus) hybrid seedstock just as it does for its fullblood and purebred animals.

In fact, NALF conducts its semiannual International Limousin Genetic Evaluation in cooperation with Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI) to help overcome any shortfall in performance data for the Lim Flex population.

“The improved hereditary ties to Angus seedstock make genetic predictions for Lim Flex animals the most timely and reliable of any for Angus-influenced composite seedstock,” she stated.

“No other multibreed genetic evaluation in the world more thoroughly incorporates performance information from two populations of animals as does AGI’s work for NALF.” Accurately described seedstock resources are paramount to the success of a crossbreeding program, Hough added.

“Our more accurate accounting for past and present-day Angus genetics not only enhances predictions for Lim Flex animals but also for our purebreds and fullbloods,” he said, “so our hybrid seedstock offer the advantages of accurate genetic predictions, heterosis and breed complementarity in one package.”

Managing Weak Calves

by DR. CHARLES L. STOLTENOW, North Dakota State University Extension Veterinarian

eak born calves can be caused by a number of different infectious and non-infectious conditions. This spring the most probable cause of weak calves will be related to physical condition of the cow. The thinner the cow or heifer, the more likely the occurrence of weak calves.

That’s only the first hurdle. The second will be the immune status of the calf during the early days of its life.

Neonatal calves depend on the cow for all physical and mental development prior to calving. All muscle tissue, nerve fibers, and energy reserves present in the calf are dependent on the nutritional status of the cow. Cold weather and snow have significantly increased the protein and energy requirements of the cow.

The best cure for weak calves is prevention.

Cows and heifers in good condition (body condition score of 5 or 6) have stronger calves than cows and heifers in thin condition (body condition score of 3 or 4).

These calves stand quicker and nurse sooner.

Cows and heifers in good condition also produce more colostrum than cows and heifers in thin condition. For adequate production of muscle, nervous tissue, and energy reserves in the calves, cows and heifers need adequate protein and energy in their diet.

Whether or not a calf is born weak, all calves require colostrum soon after calving to have a fighting chance of survival. Colostrum, the first milk from the dam, is high in immunoglobulins or antibodies.

Calves are born with a limited immune sys-

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tem and are dependant on their mothers to supply antibodies needed during the first six weeks of life.

A calf needs to consume about 5-6 percent of its body weight within the first six hours of life and again before 12 hours of life. For an 80pound calf this is approximately 2 quarts of colostrum per feeding. Why is this important?

Because the calf’s digestive tract undergoes “intestinal closure.” Specialized absorptive cells in the calf’s gut are sloughed and the transport of antibodies from inside the gut to the circulatory system inside the calf is no longer possible.

Since the calf cannot produce its own antibodies until about four to six weeks of age, it is totally dependant on antibodies derived from the colostrum for protection in its early life.

What do you do if there is no source of colostrum for the calf, such as the cow or heifer dies, or the colostrum leaked out of the udder before the calf was born? Cow-calf producers should have a source of colostrum identified before going into the calving season. Colostrum can be stored by freezing. Colostrum can be obtained from late-term cows or heifers which have a stillborn calf, from heavy producing cows (but make sure its calf receives adequate colostrum before taking any), from some dairy farms, and colostrum supplements which can provide substantial doses of antibodies to newborn calves are available from veterinarians and veterinary outlets.

Whatever the colostrum source, the same time constraints are in effect. The colostrum should be consumed within the first 6-12 hours of life of the calf. The key to assuring adequate colostrum for your calf crop is being prepared.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

April 15, 2010

Rancher’s Murder

continued from page one

to the New Mexico border in 2005. Work on a highly controversial fence has started across the more than 2,000 miles of the border. Unfortunately there has been no uniform and consistent effort over the expanse of the border. As more attention is paid to one area, the traffic simply moves down the border to a less secure portion.

Those who don’t live with the problem day in and day out have attempted to minimize the problem calling for human rights considerations for the illegals and open corridors for sometimes non-existent wildlife.

Sadly enough, it was Krentz’ wife, Sue, who was the voice for what is now clearly a national problem. Unfortunately it is she and her family who are suffering the consequences of her pleas falling on deaf ears.

The problems with control of the border are staggering and simply unbelievable in this age of

Scott Landco.

1301 Front St. Dimmitt, TX 79027

Ranch & Farm Real Estate

technology and instant gratification. There are those who lay the blame on the shoulders of the Border Patrol. Yet the men and women who have taken up this duty don’t even have the most of basic of equipment, like maps and binoculars.

Instead of patrolling the border that is the width of a fence, they are stationed tens of miles from the border, heading back to home-bases on routine shifts.

Not only are there no cell towers or sometimes even land lines to stations in the border region, there is no radio communication between Border Patrol sectors.

This must change immediately. Properly trained and equipped individuals representing law enforcement agencies at every level must be communicating with the solid mission of securing the border.

The New Mexico Congressional delegation including Senators Tom Udall and Jeff Binga-

This ad is just a small sample of the properties that we currently have for sale. Please check our website: scottlandcompany.com and give us a call!

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

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

READY TO RANCH and DEVELOP (wind energy, comm., res.) Potter Co., TX – 4,872.8 acres of beautiful ranch country four miles north of loop 335, Amarillo, TX, pavement on four sides. Well watered by pumps powered by solar energy (state-of-the- art). Deer, quail and dove.

EASTERN N.M.: Approx. 30 sections mostly deeded some BLM and State, employee housing and two sets of steel pens, county maintained, all weather road. Your cows will think they are in Florida!

PREMIER RANCH FOR SALE 12,000 acres, Terrell County, Texas.

Southwest of Sheffield, southeast of Fort Stockton. Excellent hunting ranch, mainly deer (whitetail and mule) and turkey. New hunter’s lodge and walk-in freezer. Surface rights only; no minerals. Principals only. $400/acre, cash.

billkalil@juno.com • 432/683-0990 • 432/349-8448

Buena Vista REALTY

VIEW THE WEBSITE FOR FULL PICTURES AND DETAILS ON THESE AND OTHER LISTINGS: WWW.BUENAVISTA-NM.COM

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

What a Place! Only 320 acres but really improved. 2 brick homes, several large barns, well-watered with 2 wells. Excellent turf, very accessible. Horse friendly.

Very Nice Smaller Ranch – Has brick 3 bedroom, 2 bath home plus a smaller hand house, shop building, hay barn, livestock scales, large steel pens with some feed bunks, working chutes, overhead bulk feed storage, outside fencing (mostly new 5-wire steel post), 1141 acres of excellent turf, and 2 pastures cross-fenced with drinkers. In all, this is a great opportunity for someone.

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

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

man, as well as Congressman Harry Teague, led the battle for sanity on the border by calling for forward operating bases at the border to offer protection. Members of the news media have called the border situation the most under-reported story in the country.

Rob Krentz was a kind and quiet man who wanted nothing more from life than the ability to live on and care for the land, raising a family and livestock just as his forefathers did. He would not necessarily be pleased with the attention he is getting in death.

But those who knew and loved him are determined that his loss will not be in vain.

Page 15

T HE L I V E S T O C K M A R K E T D I G E S T

Real Estate

GUIDE TO PLACE YOUR LISTINGS HERE, PLEASE CALL DEBBIE CISNEROS AT 505/332-3675 OR EMAIL: DEBBIE@AAALIVESTOCK.COM

Livestock Market Digest

Page 16

Cattle Ranch For Sale

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ocated in Southeastern New Mexico approximately 25 miles west of Jal, N.M. along and on both sides of N.M. State Hwy. 128 situated in both Eddy and Lea Counties. 28,666 total acres with 2,250 deeded. BLM grazing permit for 370 AUYL. Eleven pastures and traps. No cattle since March, excellent grass. Headquarters with residence, shop, hay barn and shipping pens with scales. Price: $985,000

Bar M

Contact: Scott McNally, Qualifying Broker, 575/622-5867

REAL ESTATE

www.ranchesnm.com

P.O. BOX 4 28 • ROSWELL, N EW MEXIC O 88202

April 15, 2010

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate

GUIDE THANKS! to these progressive ranch realtors who have a super selection of properties available in their “Sunday suits” after the wet winter.

Please call on these folks for all your real estate needs.

WAHOO RANCH:– Approximately 41,376 acres: 12,000 deeded, 6,984 BLM, 912 state, 40 uncontrolled and 21,440 forest. Beautiful cattle ranch located on the east slope of the Black Range Mountains north of Winston, N.M., on State Road 52. Three hours from either Albuquerque or El Paso.The ranch is bounded on the east by the Alamosa Creek Valley and on the west by the Wahoo Mountains ranging in elevation from 6,000' to 8,796'. There are 5 houses/cabins, 3 sets of working corrals (2 with scales) and numerous shops and outbuildings. It is very well watered with many wells, springs, dirt tanks and pipelines. The topography and vegetation is a combination of grass covered hills (primarily gramma grasses), with many cedar, piñon and live oak covered canyons as well as the forested Wahoo Mountains. There are plentiful elk and deer as well as antelope, turkey, bear, mountain lion and javelina (49 elk tags in 2008). Absolutely one of the nicest combination cattle/hunting ranches to be found in the SW. Price reduced to $7,500,000.

SAN JUAN RANCH: Located 10 miles south of Deming off Hwy. 11 (Columbus Hwy) approximately 26,964 total acres consisting of 3,964± deeded, 3,800± state lease, 14,360± BLM and 4,840± Uncontrolled. The allotment is for 216 head (AUYL). There are 278± acres of ground water irrigation rights (not currently being farmed) as well as 9 solar powered stock wells and metal storage tanks and approx. 6½ miles pipeline. The ranch begins on the north end at the beautiful Mahoney Park high up in the Florida mountains and runs 5½ miles down the mountains to their south end. It continues another 7½ miles south across their foothills and onto the flats. The ranch has a very diverse landscape with plentiful wildlife including quail, dove, rabbits, deer and ibex. Lots of potential and a good buy at $1,200,000.

Properties

and Equities

CALIFORNIA RANCHES FOR SALE Crane Creek Ranch: Tehama County, 556 acres. Two small homes, winter range. West of Red Bluff.

Priced at $975,000.

Wilson Ranch: Modoc County, 487 acres, house, barn, summer range. Surprise Valley, Calif. Priced at $950,000.

Willow Springs Ranch: Shasta County, 1,470 acres, barn, two homes, Cottonwood Creek frontage. Make offer.

Pasture Ranch: Modoc County, 427 acres, nice home, 400 acres irrigated.

2.5 miles Pit River frontage, priced at $1,600,000.

Fisher Ranch: Modoc County, 2,808 acres, 465 irrigated, USFS and BLM permits, older nice home, 200 cows included. Priced at 2,999,000.

Hooker Creek Ranch: Tehama County, 1,023 acres, winter range, large ponds, recreation, electric, well, septic, telephone. Priced at $1,095,000.

19855 S. Main St. P.O. Box 1020 Cottonwood, CA 96022 Office: 530/347-9455 Fax: 530/347-4640 homeranchr@aol.com

R.G. DAVIS, BROKER

Rubicon Ranch: Tehama County, 2,082 acres, Hunting Ranch, pigs, deer, quail dove. Ponds and creek. Priced at $1,350,000.

Spring Meadow Ranch: Shasta County, 160 acres, water rights, 50 acres irrigated, large home, swimming pool, barn, shop. Priced at $699,000.

Trinity River Ranch: Trinity County, 117 acres, 5,000 ft. Trinity River frontage, excellent trout fishing.

Priced at $665,000.

Kelley Ranch: Modoc County, 658 acres, 156 acres irrigated, three houses, barn, shop. Priced at $900,000 Paskenta Ranch: Tehama County, 487 acres, house, corrals, barns. Approx.

200 acres, class one soil. New well, nursery-orchard. Priced at $1,795,000 Horse Ranch: Tehama County. 26+ acres, 14 acres irrigated, house, corrals, 120x200 covered arena. 140 ft. cutting arena, 16-stall barn, Cottonwood Creek frontage. Priced at $1,350,000

“EAGER SELLERS”

FARM PORTION UNDER AGREEMENT

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

46-ACRE FARM located in San Miguel. Full EBID irrigation and supplemental well. Bounded by Highway 28 on the east, County Road B-041 on the south and County Road B-010 on the west. Priced at $14,000/acre – $644,000.

225 – 250 AU’s - 850 DEEDED (650 irrigated) – 1-1/2 MILE RIVER - NICE MEADOWS – MODEST IMPROVEMENTS WITH GREAT WORKING FACILITIES – CLOSE TO TOWN and SCHOOLS - $1,800,000 – WANT OFFER -CAN ADD CUSTOM HOME AND 80 ACRES – GREAT STOCKER OPERATION – LYMAN – RAE @ 208-761-9553

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

50.47-ACRE FARM: Located on Afton Road south of La Mesa, N.M. Paved road frontage, full EBID (surface water) plus a supplemental irrigation well with cement ditches. Priced at $14,500/acre — $731,815.

BEAUTIFUL 143.81-ACRE NORTH VALLEY FARM located in Las Cruces, N.M. next to the Rio Grande River. Great views of the Organ Mountains. Cement ditches, 2 irrigation wells and EBID. Two older houses and shed sold “as is”.

Priced at $13,212/acre — $1,900,000. Will consider dividing.

OTHER FARMS FOR SALE: In Doña Ana County. All located near Las Cruces, N.M. 8, 11, and 27.5 acres. $15,000/acre to $17,000/acre. All have EBID (surface water rights from the Rio Grande River) and several have supplemental irrigation wells. If you are interested in farm land in Doña Ana County, give me a call.

DAN DELANEY R E A L E S T AT E , L L C 318 W. Amador Ave. • Las Cruces, N.M. 88005 (O) 575/647-5041 • (C) 575/644-0776 nmlandman@zianet.com • www.zianet.com/nmlandman

LIFESTYLE RANCH 55 MILES TO BOISE – 2,213 DEEDED ACRES PLUS STATE AND BLM – DROP DEAD PRIVATE – 2 MILES MAJOR STREAM – BEHIND LOCKED GATE – COMFORTABLE IMPROVEMENTS – ELK, DEER, TURKEY, CHUKAR, HUNS, QUAIL, WATERFOWL - BEAR, LION AND VARMINT – TROUT and BASS PONDS - $1,400,000 – WANT OFFER – TURKEY CREEK LIFESTYLE – 320 DEEDED ACRES (105 irrigated) COMFORTABLE IMPROVEMENTS – SPECTACULAR VIEWS – BORDERS FEDERAL LANDS – ELK, DEER, TURKEY – ONLY MINUTES TO SOME OF THE FINEST YEAR LONG FISHING IN THE NORTHWEST – STEELHEAD, STURGEN, TROUT, BASS, CRAPPY AND MORE - $690,000 – WANT OFFER – POSY -RAE @ 208-761-9553 LIFESTYLE/INCOME – POSSIBLY THE FINEST WILDLIFE VARIETY/QUANITY AVAILABLE – 1,160 DEEDED ACRES (180 irrigated) – 2-1/2 MILES RIVER – 2 BASS PONDS – PLENTIFUL QUAIL, CHUKAR, DOVE, PHEASANT, WATERFOWL, DEER and AND VARMINTS - EXCELLENT IMPROVEMENTS – COW/CALF AND/OR STOCKER OPERATION FOR INCOME /TAX ADVANTAGE - $1,900,000 – LANDRETH

AGRILANDS Real Estate www.agrilandsrealestate.com Vale, Oregon • 541/473-3100 • jack@fmtcblue.com

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

April 15, 2010

Page 17

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$665,000

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24 SECTIONS, NEW MEXICO STATE LEASE GOOD WATER SYSTEM GOOD FACILITIES AND FENCES NICE HEADQUARTERS READY FOR YOUR CATTLE

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PALMILLO DRAW

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Livestock on the Internet!

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www.aaalivestock.com News • Issues Features • Products Real Estate • Services

Idaho-Oregon Call 208/345-3163 for catalog.

KNIPE

Affordable Ranches In Southeast New Mexico

Call: BErry Lucas

575/361-7980

LAND CO.

RANCHES FARMS COM’L. Established 1944

5 Acres – Log home. Price Decrease: 3,800 sq. ft. log home, 6 br, 4 BA on 6 acres m/l. 35 x 68 bunkhouse/classroom heated and 1 BA. 1/2 mile from Gasconade River and Wetstone Creek. Many possibilities for this property.

Mountain Grove schools. Asking $170,000. MLS#814022 483 Acres, Hunter Mania: Nature at his best. Dont miss out on this one. Live water (two creeks). 70+ acres open in bottom hayfields and upland grazing. Lots of timber (marketable and young) for the best hunting and fishing (Table Rock, Taney Como and Bull Shoals Lake) Really cute 3-bd., 1-ba stone home. Secluded yes, but easy access to ForsythBranson, Ozark and Springfield. Property joins National Forest. MLS#908571 90 Acres: Just north of Phillipsburg off I-44. 80 percent open, pond and a well. Build your dream home and enjoy.

MLS#910997 See all my listings at: pmcgilliard.murney.com

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

MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORS SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

I have been advertising with the Livestock Market Digest for over 20 years. I continue ls, because I get return cal nt me est inv at gre a d an on my advertising dollars. Prices are reasonable.

Debbie Cisneros is very personable. She goes out of her way to help me with my advertising needs — more than any other ad rep.

— Thank you — PAUL McGILLIARD

W.I.N. REALTY Thanks our Sellers & Buyers for your Listings & Closings of these New Mexico Ranches in 2009-2010: • /P Ranch – Quay Co., approx. 10.000 ac. • Walking 5 – DeBaca Co., approx.12,000 ac.

• West Camp – DeBaca Co., approx. 10,000

For the best selection of Ranches and Farms in the Southwest checkout our website!

WWW. A Z R A N C H R E A L E S TAT E . COM ▼▼▼

We have one-acre horse properties right on up to high-production, high-yield Ranches and Farms!

WE HAVE AGENTS SCATTERED OUT ALL ACROSS TWO STATES TO SERVE YOU! MAIN OFFICE: 40070 W. Hwy 84 P.O. Box 1, Stanfield, AZ 85172 Toll-Free: 866/424-9173 • F: 520/424-3843

JIM OLSON Designated Broker – Arizona Qualifying Broker – New Mexico

www.azranchrealestate.com www.nmranchrealestate.com

▼▼▼

FEATURED LISTING: TINAJA RANCH – NEW MEXICO DREAM RANCH

Wild West Properties, L.L.C.

7400 Gila Rd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87109

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

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

Extraordinary 39,000 Deeded Acre Hunting Ranch 474-Acre Hunting Paradise near Luna, NM (under contract) 66-Acre MRGCD irrigated farm south of Veguita, NM 145-Head Cattle Ranch near Magdalena, NM 2,800-Acre Cattle Ranch near Quemado, NM (pending offer)

SOLD

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

RANDY J. WOOD, Qualifiying Broker • O: 505/980-8019 • F: 505/823-2262 Email: rjwood5@comcast.net • www.wildwestproperties.com

Live on a beautiful scenic small ranch, minutes from Raton, NM, near Tinaja Peak and close to I-25. It’s one hour from Angel Fire Ski Resort, and only 15 miles from the NRA Whittington Center Headquarters and the Raton Airport, which can handle private jets. New race track and casino to open this year in Raton. Mountain views and privacy, 702 acres, large historic 4,800 sq. ft. home with all the amenities (must see to believe). New barn, shop with 2 bedroom guest apartment, working arena, round pen, etc. Good grass for horses and livestock, and hunting for antelope. Rugged canyons offer additional hunting for elk, deer and bear. Brochure available. Asking price: $1,950,000.

Co-exclusive listing with Charles S. Middleton and Son.

Listing and selling for ranchers the past 33 years .

Licensed in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma

MYRL GOODWIN (C) 806/570-7171 • (O) 806/655-7171 6101 W. Country Club Rd., Canyon, TX 79015

Livestock Market Digest

Page 18

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

INTEREST RATES AS LOW AS 3%. PAYMENTS SCHEDULED ON 25 YEARS

JOE STUBBLEFIELD & ASSOCIATES 13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX 806/622-3482 • cell 806/674-2062 Drew Perez Assocs.

Nara Visa, NM • 806/392-1788

PAUL STOUT, QUALIFYING BROKER 3352 State Road 209, Broadview, NM 88112 O: 575/357-2060 • C: 575/760-5461 F: 575/357-2050 • paul@firstalternativerealty.com

To list your properties here, please contact Debbie Cisneros at 505/332-3675 or debbie@aaalivestock.com

www.firstalternativerealty.com

April 15, 2010

NEW LISTING: Approx. 60 ac farm located close to Carlsbad, N.M. Lazerlevelled in ’08 and planted in alfalfa. 55ac of CID water rights. Cement ditches with metal head gates. Approximately 5-6 cuttings yearly.

La Paloma Ranch: 10 miles SW of Carlsbad, N.M. 604-head BLM ranch has a mixture of flats and hills. Good road access but still a horseback ranch. 54 sections of state, BLM and private. Projected water sales for next year of $100K+. Priced at an affordable $3,150 au. Good headquarters, scales and covered working chute.

Crooked Creek Ranch: Well maintained 585 BLM permitted SE New Mexico ranch. A working ranch with good headquarters, improvements.

Located 25 miles SW of Hope, N.M. Well watered with lots of storage. Good improvements. Four-BR home, roping arena, and large barns. Part of ranch has controlled access for hunting and could be developed as another source of income. Affordably priced at $3,168 a cow unit. Co-listed with Dave Kern, Kern Land, Inc., Clovis NM.

New Mexico HomeR anch Realty Joe Cox, Qualifying Broker • 130 Cougar Rd., Carlsbad, NM 88220 O: 575/981-2427 • www.nmhomeranch.com • jjcox@pvtn.net

TEXAS and OKLAHOMA FARMS and RANCHES

HAY RANCH FOR SALE IN EASTERN UTAH • 1,139 acres total • 715 acres under pivots or wheel lines • Produces 3,000-ton alfalfa hay/year • Nice house + 3-bedroom trailer house + 2-bedroom bunk house • Excellent set of corrals • Excellent water rights

• Cuts 3-4 crops of high-quality alfalfa hay per year • Heated shop + Large machine shed + Storage and outbuildings • 30,000 bushel grain storage • Complete set of good farming equipment except baler • Some goose hunting in the winter

Priced at $3,000,000 for this turnkey operation. If serious, call for terms.

Would like to do a 1031 exchange. Motivated Seller BWP. 970/878-4331 evenings or leave message

• 503 Ac. So. Navarro Co., Texas.

It’s got it all. $1,950/ac.

• 632-acre CATTLE and HUNTING, N.E. Texas ranch, elaborate home, one-mile highway frontage.

OWNER FINANCE at $2,200/ac.

• 274 acres in the shadow of Dallas.

Secluded lakes, trees, excellent grass. Hunting and fishing, dream home sites. $3,850/ac.

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

• 1,700-acre classic N.E. Texas cattle and hunting ranch. $2,750/ac.

Some mineral production.

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

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

Joe Priest Real Estate 1205 N. Hwy 175, Seagoville, TX 75159

972/287-4548 • 214/676-6973 1-800/671-4548

KEVIN C. REED Ranchers Serving Ranchers Texas and New Mexico

LEE, LEE & PUCKITT

NEVADA RANCHES and FARMS

www.joepriest.com joepriestre@earthlink.com

ASSOCIATES INC.

RANCH SALES & APPRAISALS Office: 325/655-6989 Cell: 915/491-9053

1002 Koenigheim, San Angelo, TX 76903 • www.llptexasranchland.com • llp@wcc.net

Spring Sheep Range: This should be a Great Investment property, ideal for a 1031 Exchange! Deeded Sheep Base in Elko, Co.: 10,716 deeded acres plus a 29% public BLM permit in the mountains just northeast of Elko. Fifty percent of the mineral rights included. Good spring and summer range for sheep and cattle. Annual lease income, plus inexpensive Ag taxes.

Price: $1,393,080.

Dawley Creek Ranch: Located in one of the most beautiful ranching valleys of the West “Ruby Valley”. Set at the foot of the Majestic Ruby Mountains with approx. 1,100 acres of lush meadows and good private pasture. This ranch has approx. 6,000 deeded acres. Approx. 700 acres are currently being cut for meadow hay plus 200 acres under pivots with Alfalfa/Orchard Grass hay. This ranch runs approx. 500 pair plus heifers and bulls year long, and around 30 head of horses. No water fights in this case as the water doesn’t run off the ranch, but rather fills a Snow Water lake called Franklin Lake. This ranch has been a target for Conservation easements. Contingent upon being able to complete a 1031 exchange into another acceptable property.

Waddy Creek Ranch: Located in a remote Nevada Ranching Valley called Charleston which sits at the foot of the Jarbridge Wilderness which is part of the Humboldt National Forest. The ranch is bounded on two sides by Forest. There is no power in the Valley, but there is land line phone. Two creeks provide irrigation water for approx .138 acres of historic meadow. This property has quaking aspen groves and is quite beautiful. Access is on a County Road.

There is a BLM grazing permit attached to the ranch for 71 head.

Price: Reduced to $450,000.

Out West Realty Network Affiliate

Indian Creek Ranch: White Pine County, Nevada. This is a great property for a hunter as it is surrounded by Public Lands and has plentiful mule deer, antelope and elk. There is a large spring arising on high ground that could provide pressure for hydro power, or gravity flow domestic or irrigation water. This is an old historic ranch base and can provide summer pasture for cattle or horses and includes approx. 200 acres in three separate parcels. Piñon pine and Utah juniper plus some cottonwood, willows and quaking aspen. Very scenic. Approx. 1/2 mile off county-maintained road. Price $425,000.

Lamoile Ranch at the foot of the Rubies. 138+ acres with two gravity flow pivots for irrigation; modern manufactured home; second manufactured home, cabin, large shop and separate barn. A 25% ownership in larger adjoining parcel on the mountain. Truly a unique property!

Home Ranch in O’Neil Basin: Beautiful ranch with two creeks and adjoining BLM permits in northeastern Elko Co. This ranch consists of approx. 887 deeded acres with around 500 acres irrigated. Good improvements with larger two-story ranch house, a cookhouse with two bedrooms and a bunkhouse with three bedrooms. Nice horse barn, a calving barn, corrals and scales. Price: $1,675,000.

Blois Ranch: South of Wells. This 160 acre has a two-story home with 3 bedrooms and two baths and a large barn. Power. Could be made into nice small ranch property. Priced to sell at $225,000.

Mason Mountain Ranch: Great summer ranch with 3,700 deeded acres plus small BLM permit. Located approx. 75 miles north of Elko. Runs approx. 300 pair for the summer. Approx. 89 acres of meadows irrigated with water stored in reservoir/fishing hole which also acts as Red Band Trout hatchery. Home and outbuildings for a good cow camp. Phone, but no power. Price: $1,575,000.

Bottari Realty

PAUL D. BOTTARI, BROKER

www.bottarirealty.com • paul@bottarirealty.com Ofc.: 775/752-3040 • Res: 775/752-3809 • Fax: 775/752-3021

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April 15, 2010

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

Page 19

Ranches FORSale Southeast New Mexico Ranch: 13,397 deeded acres plus 7,393 acres of New Mexico State Lease. The terrain is fairly level to gently sloping and sometimes undulating. Soils range from sandy loam to sandy, with some sand hill country. Over the years, the owners have continued to improve this property with many miles of new fencing, additional water facilities and substantial brush clearing. The headquarter improvements are well maintained and the property shows pride of ownership. Improvements consists of an attractive owner’s home, guest house, barns, shop, horse pens, shipping pens, roping arena and other outbuildings. This working cattle ranch is set up and ready to operate. The property is priced at $2,500,000, or approximately $186 per deeded acre.

Eastern New Mexico Ranch: This is a low overhead operating cattle ranch comprised of approximately 70,000 deeded acres and 9,000 acres of leased and free use land. The property is northeast of Roswell, New Mexico and has historically been stocked with around 1,600 animal units. The terrain is rolling and sloping hills draining to huge flats. The ranch is principally watered by large dirt tanks, but several water wells are available. Don’t expect to see stylish improvements or scenic views, but if you are in the market for a no frills working cattle ranch, you will have to look long and hard to match this deal at an asking price of $110 per deeded acre.

Texas Panhandle Ranch: 71,059 acres located northwest of Amarillo, Texas. The centerpiece of the ranch is approximately 29 miles of the scenic Canadian River, which essentially runs through the center of the property. The terrain varies dramatically from elevated mesas descending to deep canyons and wide fertile creek bottoms. The property is extremely well improved and very well watered by the river, springs, creeks, and many water wells. Major improvements include a 7,000 square foot owner’s home, 4,500 foot paved landing strip, hand houses, dog kennels, and many extras. The ranch offers some of the best mule deer, whitetail, turkey and quail hunting to be found.

Two state record deer have been harvested in recent years, and elk are now coming down the river out of New Mexico. This property has a colorful history and a carefully planned Conservation Easement is in place. This ranch has it all. $475 per acre.

Eastern Plains of Colorado: 37,140 deeded acres with four sections of Colorado State Lease. This ranch has been owned by the same family for almost 60 years. The ranch is approximately 90 miles east of Colorado Springs. The terrain is open rolling, well sodded, native prairie country. The ranch has adequate headquarter improvements and is watered by live creek water, wells, an extensive waterline network and earthen ponds. This is a rancher’s ranch, priced to fit a rancher’s pocketbook at $245 per deeded acre. The property is rated at 1,000+ A.U. The Colorado State Lease will be assigned subject to approval of the CSLB. Northeast New Mexico River Ranch: 10,005 deeded acres along with 1,320 acres of leased land.

This unique, highly improved ranch features approximately 6-7 miles of Canadian River Canyon Country. Numerous structural improvements include over 30 miles of high game fence, landing strip, 15,000 square foot office/airplane hanger, along with numerous other structural improvements. The structural improvements offer a huge depreciation schedule, and everything is in place for the sportsman. $495 per deeded acre.

East-Central New Mexico Cattle Ranch: 60,400 deeded acres with approximately 6,000 acres of leased and free use land. The ranch is located near Santa Rosa and historical stocking rates indicate a carrying capacity of 1,200–1,300 animal units. The ranch has a rolling to hilly terrain with a small amount of canyon country. The property is watered by natural lakes, submersible wells, windmills and an extensive waterline network. Improvements include a nearly new Spanish style hacienda, two camps and several good sets of livestock pens. This ranch is realistically priced at $285 per deeded acre.

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—— O F F E R E D E X C L U S I V E L Y B Y ——

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 20

and mature cow size.

Genetic Tools: DNA Assisted Selection and Dollar Value Indexes

by MANNY ENCINIAS, Extension Livestock Specialist, NMSU-Clayton Livestock Research Center, Clayton, N.M.

n the down side of the cattle market, the U.S. cattle industry is witnessing the impact proven genetics have on the value of commercial and registered cattle. For most cow-calf operations in the Southwest, bull selection provides the greatest opportunity to make positive genetic improvements in a cowherd and improve long-term profitability of the ranch. Bull selection decisions have multiple, long-term impacts to an operation, making it one of the most important producer decisions made. Effective selection of new sires requires thoughtful planning and preparation as bull

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buying opportunities near. Never in the history of the beef industry have producers had as many selection tools to aid in them in these decisions. The crux of the situation is to gain an understanding on how to appropriately use the available tools to make genetic improvements to meet an individual ranch’s goals.

Expected Progeny Differences For years, producers have had expected progeny differences (EPD) at their disposal to aid in making selection decisions.

Expected progeny differences are genetic prediction tools that can be used to estimate and compare the genetic merit of future progeny (calves) for a given trait. Readily available on registered cattle, EPD are computed with actual individual animal data submitted to respective breed associations and provide a current representation of the pedigree for a given trait.

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attlemen’s TOO BOX To use EPD correctly, producers should remember the following key words (rules) when using EPD: estimate, compare, future, and within breed. These values are not absolute, but rather a deviation from a base value determined within a specific breed. An EPD is not a static value, as more data from progeny are recorded by a breed association the value will change, and the accuracy of the EPD estimate will increase. An EPD value for an individual animal has no meaning until it is used to compare to another animal(s) EPD of the same trait. The difference between the two EPD values is a prediction of the performance difference between the future progeny of the animals in question. Most EPD are expressed in the same units as

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the trait being compared. For example birth weight, weaning weight, and yearling weight are expressed in pounds, where carcass traits such as back fat and ribeye area are expressed in inches and inches square, respectively. It is critical that EPD be used to make only within breed comparisons. The only way to compare EPD of bulls from different breeds is to use the across-breed EPD adjustments published annually in by the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF).

Initially EPD were calculated for birth weight, weaning weight, and yearling weight. Today, as more performance data on a multitude of traits are being routinely submitted to breed associations, EPD are calculated for an ever-expanding list of growth, maternal, carcass, and ultrasound traits. At first glance, the vast amount of information is simply overwhelming. However, the expanded list of EPD allows a producer the opportunity to simultaneously select for multiple traits.

Dollar Value Indexes In an effort to simplify multitrait selection and translate individual EPD values into economically relevant traits (ERT), numerous breed associations have developed dollar value ($Value) indexes targeting production systems with maternal, terminal, and pre-identified endpoint goals. Dollar values for each index are expressed in dollars per head and their use and application follows the same rules as EPD. Currently, $Value indexes are calculated within individual breed associations for Angus, Hereford, Gelbvieh, Limousin, and Simmental.

The following are examples of common $Value Indexes (and respective definitions) available to aid producers in multi-trait selection (Sources: American Angus Association and American Hereford Association/Hereford World).

Maternal ■ Angus

Cow Energy Value ($EN) assesses the differences in cow energy requirements (maintenance and lactation) as an expected annual dollar savings difference in daughters of sires.

A larger value is more favorable when comparing two animals (more dollars saved on feed energy expenses).

Weaned Calf Value ($W) is the expected average difference in future progeny for pre-weaning growth. This value includes both revenue and cost adjustments associated with differences in birth weight, weaning direct growth, maternal milk,

■ Hereford

Baldie Maternal Index (BMI$) is a maternally focused index that is geared to service any commercial program with British-cross cows with a progeny harvest endpoint directed toward Certified Hereford Beef (CHB). The index is places emphasis on calving ease, fertility, weaning weight, and intramuscular fat (IMF).

Calving Ease Index (CEZ$) is a general purpose index that focuses on bulls that can be used on heifers and future progeny marketed through CHB. This index places significant emphasis on calving ease and maternal calving ease and minimal emphasis on growth and carcass traits.

Terminal ■ Angus

Feedlot Value ($F) is the expected average difference in future progeny performance for post-weaning performance compared to progeny of other sires.

This value accounts for not only the estimated difference in the dollar value of weight gain, but is adjusted for the cost of achieving that gain.

Grid Value ($G) is the expected average difference in future progeny performance for carcass grid merit compared to progeny of other sires. This value combines quality grade and yield grade attributes, and is calculated with carcass EPD, ultrasound EPD or both.

Beef Value ($B) is the expected average difference in future progeny performance for postweaning and carcass value compared to the progeny of other sires. This value combines the contributions of $F and $G and is not designed to be driven by one factor such as quality, red meat yield, or weight. Instead, it is a result of the application of industry-relevant market value to Angus genetics for both feedlot performance and carcass merit.

■ Hereford

Certified Hereford Beef Index (CHB$) is a terminal sire index for Hereford sired progeny directed toward the CHB program. The index emphasizes increased calving ease, weaning weight, and yearling weight, ribeye area, intramuscular fat. This is the only (Hereford) $Value index that does not place any emphasis on fertility.

Pre-Identified Endpoint ■ Angus

Quality Grade ($QG) represents the quality grade segment of the economic advantage found in $G, and is intended for the specialized user wanting to place more emphasis on improving quality grade. The carcass marbling EPD and ultrasound derived percent intramuscular fat EPD contribute to this value.

Yield Grade ($YG) represents the yield grade segment of the economic advantage found continued on page twenty-one

April 15, 2010

Cattlemen’s Toolbox in $G and is intended for the specialized user wanting to place more emphasis on improving yield grade. It provides a multitrait approach to encompass ribeye, fat thickness, and weight into an economic value for red meat yield.

In the process of identifying the appropriateness of using $Value Indexes as a selection tool it is critical to define the current genetic and production level of a producer’s herd, followed by identifying ERT specific to the genetic improvement goals of a specific operation.

Once these factors have been defined, the selection of an appropriate $Value index that encompasses the indentified ERT can be selected. Dollar Value Indexes should be used in addition to other selection tools and compliment the criteria preestablished and defined for an individual operation. Producers are encouraged not to use $Values as the sole selection tool.

DNA Assisted Selection

Page 21

continued from page twenty

All Breeds To list your herd here, please contact Debbie Cisneros: 505/332-3675, or email: debbie@aaalivestock.com Jeff Schmidt Performance-Tested 509/488-2158 Bulls, Spring & Fall

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Horned and Polled cattle are available. Our percentages are tailored to meet the needs of the commercial cattleman who need more ear with a 3/4 Brahman bull or just a little ear with a 3/16 Brahman bull. We currently have a good selection of Yearling and Two-Year-Old Bulls Available.

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that uniquely identifies a specific location on a genome. This location can be within a gene or near a gene and can be used to identify a specific allele. An allele can be thought of as a functional possibility (i.e. hide color has two possible alleles: red and black). The DNA marker is simply a “tag” that identifies a specific individual sequence of DNA which describes a functional possibility (trait). This “tag” allows the inheritance of the specific sequence of DNA to be tracked from parent to progeny. The most commonly used DNA markers used today are single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; pronounced snip), which are the simplest form of DNA markers (describing a single nucleotide or base pair change).

Single nucleotide polymorphism techniques accurately determine the functional possibility for simple traits, like hide color, horn status, parentage and simple disease traits (i.e. Athrogryposis Multiplex (AM), Neuropathic Hydrocephalus (NH), Tibial Hemimelia (TH), etc.), because of the previously noted facts that these types of traits are controlled by a single gene and have no environmental influence. The same technology is used for complex traits. However, more obstacles and challenges are experienced due to the genetic complexity (i.e. multiple genes and associated interactions between genes and the environment) of these traits.

While the DNA marker profiles explain more of the genetic variation for a variety of traits than ever before, current marker profiles still do not account for the largest percentage of genetic variation within any one trait because they explain only the genetic variation for the specific marker(s). This scenario has been a point of contention in practical settings when comparing EPD and marker profiles for individual animals. It has been a common occurrence for current marker profiles to contradict EPD data. What data is correct?

In fact both are correct, but each is the result of a different evaluation. Recall an EPD describes the net effect for all genes an animal has for a trait, whereas, a marker profile describes a subset of genes for a trait. Optimistically, as the technology evolves to define a larger array of markers (tags) for traits linked to ERT the net result should yield improvements.

Today’s beef producer is faced with many of the same challenges as decades past. It is apparent however, that with improvements to traditional and emerging selection tools today’s producer has greater opportunities to more accurately elicit genetic improvements in their cowherd.

Recognizing the intended uses and limitations of these selection tools is critical if they are to be effectively incorporated into selection schemes for bulls and females.

S

The adoption of new technologies and selection tools has increased the rate of genetic improvement throughout the historical course of the beef industry. In recent years, the advent of DNA-based technology has given beef producers a revolutionary selection tool with evolving capabilities. Conceptually, having a selection tool with the ability to evaluate the genetic makeup of cattle at the gene level within DNA will improve the rate of selection accuracy for desired traits. Though the technology is rapidly evolving, currently available commercialized DNA-based tools have limitations. The limitations of these tools are hampered by current technology and the nature of the traits of importance to cattle producers.

Traits of importance to cattle producers are commonly classified as simple or complex. Simple traits are usually affected by one gene, which is responsible for the exhibited appearance or performance (i.e. hide color).

Furthermore, simple traits are typically either/or scenarios (i.e. horned or polled, carriers or noncarriers, etc.), and the environment (i.e. nutrition, climate, implants, etc.) has little to no effect on the expression of the trait. On the contrary, complex traits (i.e. birth weight, weaning weight, milk ability, marbling, tenderness, etc.) are controlled by multiple genes and form intricate interactions with other genes and the environment, which ultimately impact the expression of the trait. Unfortunately, almost all ERT in the beef industry are complex.

Current technologies used to build relationships between genes and traits of importance to cattle producers utilize DNA marker assisted selection. A DNA marker is simply a sequence of nucleotides (which are the building blocks of DNA)

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 22

April 15, 2010

Young SD ranch couple use social media to urge farmer-ranchers to speak up (against HSUS & PETA)

by MIKKEL PATE

tacy and Troy Hadrick of Vale, S.D., take the stage as quintessential young Dakota ranchers — except they’re talkers.

They say young farmer-rancher types like them have been too trusting of others to use the Internet and social media to fight back against groups they consider anti-animal agriculture.

They urge farmers to tell their own stories, rather than have their industry twisted by journalists with hidden agendas.

S

The Hadricks spoke to North Dakota State University Ag Day students in March in a program titled “The Real Enemies of Agriculture.”

In their talk, the Hadricks take aim at groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), but also at farmers and ranchers themselves for failing to tell their own story.

The Hadricks’ biography is probably a lot like the NDSU students who attended the program — perhaps a decade

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removed from the classroom.

Both are from ranches in western South Dakota. Both went to South Dakota State University.

After graduating from college in 1999 — she in ag economics and ag business, he in animal science — the couple returned to the family Angus ranch operated

by Stacy’s father and uncle — Ed and Rich Blair — in western South Dakota. Troy worked on the ranch. Stacy became a Meade County, S.D., extension educator. They live about four miles north of Bear Butte, a bowl-shaped solitary mountain east of Sturgis, S.D., a sacred site to Plains tribes and a northeast gateway to the Black Hills.

Meet the media The Hadricks say their mindset changed about storytelling in March 2002, when the Blair Ranch hosted a nationally known writer named Michael Pollan.

Pollan told the family he wanted to write the story of a steer from “birth to steak.” Troy says Pollan ate meals with the family and “told me how he wanted to write this article, about the great things we do in the beef industry, and teach people how a steak gets on a plate.”

Pollan’s “Power Steer” story was published March 31, 2002, in the New York Times, but it was far from what the Hadricks expected. The story emphasized how “we abuse our livestock, that we’re polluting the air and

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that we pollute the water,” Troy says, and that “the food that I grow and that you people grow is making people sick.” “Other than calling me a ‘muscular post of a man,’ most of it was garbage,” Troy says.

The problem was one of emphasis.

For example, the Blairs and Hadricks had told Pollan how they sometimes struggle during calving season to keep calves alive, bringing them into the kitchen or even the bathtub.

“He wrote that calving season was ‘a succession of sub-zero nights, yanking breeched babies from their bellowing mothers.’ It was like we lined them all up and just started jerking calves from them for fun,” Troy says.

Pollan focused on the growth implants, how the cattle are “standing in their own filth” and of the overwhelming odors. Pollan telephoned the family after the story was published, saying, “I suppose you’re mad at me” — making contact, but not apologizing. Troy says Pollan acknowledged to one of the Blairs that “sometimes you have to sensationalize to write a good story.”

The Hadricks wrote a protest letter to the editor of the New York Times and got about “about three sentences” of it published.

Reaction to the story was surprising.

Troy says the Monday after the story appeared there was a drop in cash and futures prices.

The family got a call from someone wanting to buy the steer in the story — now only three weeks away from being finished, to take them to a refuge in upstate New York to “live out their natural life.” Another person called tell the family they’d “rot in hell” for their work.

The Hadricks say they spent about two years reeling from the Pollan experience. Then they started talking about their industry. After giving a speech in 2006, the Hadricks decided to form “Advocates for Agriculture” and went on the public speaking circuit. Traveling and talking has become a bigger part of their lives.

And the worst is . . .

Last year, they spoke about 20 times in more than a dozen states. This year, they’d already done 10 speeches by the end of March. They had just returned from the California Farm Bureau convention.

In their standard talk, the Hadricks offer a litany of horror stories about “anti-agriculture” groups, including: ■ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The group has an online museum,” which draws comparisons between lynching of blacks in the 1930s with techniques in a cattle slaughter. PETA targets children on its Web site to post how they “saved animals and

how they became vegetarian.”

PETA posts statistics, including that vegetarians consume some 3,000 gallons of water a year, while meat eaters consume about 4,000 gallons.

■ The Sierra Club. The group would restrict how the government would accept bids on federal lands and would “force the government to accept” a competing bid “if it’s used for anything other than grazing.”

They say the Sierra Club doesn’t consider a farm or ranch “sustainable” unless you “buy and sell everything as local as possible” and avoid risk management and forward-contracting, or fail to pay even part-time workers for vacation time and full benefits.

■ Humane Society of the United States. HSUS has a $100 million annual budget and is intent on eliminating value for animals and ultimately replacing meat and animal-based foods in the diet with plant-based foods.

“This is their roadmap,” Troy says. “Don’t tell me they’re not a ‘vegan’ organization,” he says, referring to those who don’t consume animal flesh, animal products, and often honey, in their diets and, in some cases, yeast products.

■ Animal Liberation Front.

This group uses intimidation and that states the use of animals as “a source of food, clothing, entertainment or scientific knowledge is immoral and should be prevented by any means necessary.”

■ I-29ers for Quality of Life. This group is based in Moody County, S.D., and opposes development of largescale dairies. The group falsely claimed that two, 7,000-cow dairies would produce “more waste each day than the entire city of Sioux Falls, S.D.,” a city of 125,000 people.

But those aren’t the worst.

Partly for dramatic effect, Troy and Stacy say the “worst enemy” of agriculture is the farmers and ranchers who stand idly by, not responding and simply dismissing critics as “a bunch of kooks.”

Thanks to the Internet, speaking up is getting easier, the Hadricks say.

Early this year, Troy discovered that the Casella family that owns the Yellow Tail brand had given a $100,000 donation to the HSUS organization.

On Feb. 3, Troy posted a 54second YouTube video, titled: “Yellow Tail is now Yellow Fail.

It shows himself, standing in a pen of Angus bulls, pouring out a bottle of Yellow Tail wine into the ground to protest the Australian winemaker’s support of what he and others consider an anti-animal agriculture organization. He linked the video to the Yellow Tail page.

The first day, there were more than 500 comments. Two days later, there were 4,000 comments. Farmers, pet owners, hunters, fishermen and the general public weighed in.

Troy says the Casella family saw the video. By Feb. 18, the continued on page twenty-three

April 15, 2010

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

AVMA Briefs Congress On Importance Of Antibiotics from THECATTLESITE NEWS DESK

he nation’s largest veterinary association briefed Congress on late March on the uses of antibiotics and how they help protect animal health, providing in-depth scientific information on the necessity of antibiotic use for preventing and treating disease in companion animals and livestock.

Two educational sessions were held by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) with honorary hosts Representative Kurt Schrader, DVM, (Oregon) and Senator John Ensign, DVM, (Nevada), the only veterinarians serving in Congress.

The discussions allowed congressional staffers to learn about when and how veterinarians utilise antibiotics to keep both food supply animals and household pets disease-free.

Speaking at the briefings as an expert in livestock medicine, Dr. Lloyd Keck, a worldwide animal health consultant to the poultry industry and former AVMA Congressional Science Fellow, dispelled arguments related to human antibiotic-resistance risks.

Dr. Keck said: “Antibiotics are necessary for veterinarians to

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protect the health and well-being of animals. Benefits to animals and people outweigh the current risk associated with bacterial resistance. Going forward, we need to let good sense and good science guide this issue.”

Dr. Rene Carlson, former Wisconsin Veterinarian of the Year and past-vice president of the AVMA, explained the indispensable role that antibiotics play in treating various ailments that affect household pets and the process that veterinarians use to determine whether or not to use antibiotics.

He said: “Whenever I consider using an antibiotic in any of my patients, I always look at four outcomes. First, will it successfully treat a diagnosed medical condition? The second outcome is prevention of an infection in a high-risk patient because of a particular injury or procedure.

Third, I look at a decreased likelihood for development of a resistant infection or organism.

And finally, I am concerned with the protection of the health of the animal and its owners who come in contact with it.

“The principles of antimicrobial use are the same whether for companion animals or food animals.

Meat traceback bill introduced Legislation calls for following the production line from NEWS REPORTS / WWW. CATTLEBUSINESSWEEKLY.COM

enator Jon Tester (DMT) introduced a bill last week calling for a major revamp in the USDA’s protocol for tracing contaminated meat back to the source to protect public health and hold “the right people accountable when something goes wrong.”

Roughly 73,000 Americans are sickened annually by E. coli, 2,000 are hospitalized and 60 are killed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical costs associated with E. coli exceed $405 million a year.

Currently when USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finds a harmful pathogen, such as Salmonella or E. coli O157:H7, in ground beef, they are not required to look up the supply chain to see where the contaminated beef may have originated, failing to find who is producing unclean meat.

Tester’s bill, the Meat Safety and Accountability Act, would require the FSIS to “design and implement — using its existing budget — an initiative to trace tainted meat

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back to the original source of contamination.”

John Munsell, a former Miles City butcher and advocate for reforming food safety laws Helped write Tester’s Meat Safety and Accountability Act. Eight years ago, a USDA inspector found E. coli in beef at Munsell’s family meat processing plant, Montana Quality Foods. Munsell told the USDA the contaminated beef came from the slaughterer ConAgra Beef Co., but under existing food safety laws, the government's investigation stopped at Munsell’s plant.

Federal regulators said they couldn’t positively trace the bacteria back to ConAgra despite records offered by Munsell.

Munsell recalled 270 pounds of hamburger. Months later, ConAgra Beef was caught in an 18 million pound meat recall, one of the nation’s largest.

“This bill puts more common sense and fairness into the equation as our food travels through the supply chain to the kitchen table,” Sen. Tester said in a statement. “This bill will make our food safer to eat by ramping up accountability.”

The difficulty comes when owners of the animals don’t consult with a veterinarian or comply with the veterinarian’s instructions.”

The briefings were part of the AVMA’s continued efforts to educate Congress about the complex and crucial nature of treating America’s animals — and how the health of those animals impacts human health, whether through the food supply or through direct contact with pets.

The AVMA is strongly opposed to H.R. 1549 and S. 619, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA). The AVMA’s scientific experts have twice testified before Congress that broad-based antibiotic bans, such as PAMTA, would have adverse effects on animal and public health.

The AVMA continues to emphasise the importance of judicious use of antibiotics.

Dr Ashley Shelton, assistant director of the AVMA’s Governmental Relations Division, said: “Antibiotics are a vital part of the veterinarian’s toolkit. There are very few drugs available for treating animal disease, and the AVMA believes that antibiotics should be used judiciously and in the best interest of animal health and public health.”

Speaking last week, Rep. Schrader reaffirmed the role of veterinary medicine in protecting public health and the safety of America’s food supply.

He said: “America has the safest food in the world.

Advanced animal husbandry, 21st century technology, sanitation, appropriate veterinary and medicinal therapy allow us to compete on a global scale while assuring the health of our livestock and poultry.”

Speak Up! continued from page twenty-two

family had issued a statement that in the future they wouldn’t donate to HSUS again, or any other animal rights organization.

The company also got its name taken off the HSUS Web site.

More recently, the Pilot Travel Centers, L.L.C. got a backlash when that company made a more modest donation to HSUS. Similar pressure from Internet messages prevailed, and the company announced it would not repeat the donation.

“In the last month, HSUS has lost five corporate sponsors,” Troy says. “How long does it take you to put up a Facebook comment?”

Stacy says that if the children of farmers and ranchers are to have “the same opportunities as we have,” farmers need to be more vocal and active. And farmers need to stick together as “team agriculture” and not bash competing commodity groups or animal species, Stacy says.

Page 23

What to make of the Pollan/Schlosser agreement with Wendy’s? profit opportunity for Wendy’s? On the other hand, s a food politics com- how can I lash out at a masmenter, I get paid to sive buyer for making a sourchave strong opinions on ing choice that could spark a the issues of the day. stampede of cattle from feedBut this one’s got me flum- lots to farm fields? moxed. First, fast-food giant Then this news really gave Wendy’s rolls out me whiplash: Eric its new “pasture and Schlosser How can I lash on a bun” burger, Michael Pollan, out at a massive made with “100 buyer for making a the movement’s percent grass-fed sourcing choice that leading thinkers, beef.” That sort of have inked a deal could spark a thing always to promote the leaves me cold. stampede of cattle “pasture on a from feedlots to Of course, I want bun.” They’ll be farm fields? mega-corporafilming a series of tions like Wendy’s commercials for to make more responsible buy- Wendy’s — and appearing at a ing decisions. But what I really string of events nationwide. want to see are new food The authors of Fast Food economies that retain food Nation and The Omnivore’s dollars within communities, Dilemma want us to hop in our and don’t siphon them to dis- cars and head to the nearest tant shareholders.

Wendy’s drive-through? Does Do we really want thirty not compute! I’m stuck on this years of food-system activism one, and seeking reader guidto amount to just another ance.

by TOM PHILPOTT, www.GRIST.org

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Page 24

April 15, 2010

New environmental rules may cripple struggling dairy industry he New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has proposed new regulations for New Mexico’s dairies that could deal a crippling blow to dairies across the state, according to Alva Carter Jr., Portales, Dairy Industry Group for a Clean Environment (DIGCE) Chairman .

Dairies already are struggling with low milk prices resulting in financial losses and dairy closures. NMED’s proposed regulations would substantially increase environmental compliance costs for New Mexico’s dairies, yet NMED’s proposal does not reflect the best science available for environmental protection within the dairy industry.

The dairy industry has advocated for dairy rules to address what dairy farmers have seen as arbitrary permit requirements imposed in the past. In 2007, the DIGCE was formed to discuss clarifications to the regulations.

DIGCE’s objective is a set of regulations that establish predictable requirements to protect ground water that allow dairies to plan for the future. Ultimately, the dairy industry achieved pas-

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sage of legislation in 2009, Senate Bill 206, which amended the Water Quality Act to require NMED to adopt new regulations for dairies.

While DIGCE recognizes that ground water protection is vital, the methods required for ground water protection under new regulations must be proven, using sound science, to be effective and achievable within the industry. The legislation established an advisory committee of experts to advise NMED on the science of ground water protection for dairies and the best reasonable and proven methods feasible for the dairy industry. NMED, however, developed its own set of draft of regulations and conducted a series of public meetings on that draft before the advisory committee was formed. NMED then rejected most of the advice given by the industry experts on the advisory committee. Consequently, the regulations recently proposed by NMED have changed very little, in substance, from its very first draft.

NMED’s proposed regulations would impose strict new requirements for new dairies that

are more stringent than regulations adopted by any other state without establishing the necessary scientific foundation. Many dairies would be required to install expensive double-liner systems for wastewater impoundments similar to those required for hazardous wastes, even though no state has ever required them for dairies. Clay liners, allowed under recent regulations adopted in neighboring states, would be banned in New Mexico. The rules would impose onesize-fits-all requirements such as expensive water meters and devices on irrigation wells that are not compatible with centerpivot sprinklers. NMED proposes that dairies employ storm water control requirements adopted by the City of Albuquerque for its residential areas.

While many of NMED’s proposed requirements have never before been required even for new dairies, NMED also proposes to require existing dairies to upgrade to meet the requirements for new dairies if any ground water quality standards are exceeded in monitoring wells located at the dairies. No evi-

dence that any drinking water well could be impacted is required before the new requirements are imposed. Most dairies are located in agricultural areas where shallow ground water has been impacted by several decades of human activity, including farming, and where only deeper, clean aquifers are used for drinking water. Indeed, NMED has identified septic systems as the largest polluter of ground water in New Mexico, with dairies responsible for less than 3 percent of ground water impacts. NMED estimates that 57 percent of existing dairies are located in areas where monitoring wells shallow ground water has been impacted by nitrates.

Under NMED’s proposal, these dairies would be required to upgrade to the same requirements as new dairies on a strict schedule. NMED’s proposal would not even allow a dairy operator to demonstrate that other sources are responsible for ground water contamination that would force costly upgrades, many of which would not be necessary and would not improve ground water quality.

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While there is evidence that ground water has been impacted by nitrates discharged from dairies, the ground water impacts typically are localized to shallow ground water around the dairy sites and have not been shown to impact drinking water wells.

Dairymen rely upon aquifers underlying their dairies to supply drinking water for their families and their livestock, and would not jeopardize their own health or livelihood. Dairy discharges have not adversely impacted any public drinking water systems in New Mexico. While NMED warns of the risks of “blue baby syndrome” associated with high nitrate levels in drinking water, the New Mexico Health Department reports there have been no reported deaths due to blue baby syndrome in New Mexico since at least 1979, well before expansion of the dairy industry in New Mexico.

NMED has done no study on the economic impact of the proposed regulations on the New Mexico dairy industry, nor has it even estimated the cost for New Mexico dairies to comply with the new rules. Data compiled by a New Mexico State University researcher shows that New Mexico dairies on average already spend over $250,000 per year on environmental compliance costs.

These costs could increase dramatically under NMED’s proposed rules. Testimony filed by NMED on March 8 in support of its proposed rule emphasize that many of the rules are needed to save agency staff time and resources. Nevertheless, NMED claims that permit applications under the new rules will take at least one year to process, rather than the 120 days now provided.

Faced with the current low milk prices and unable to obtain new bank financing as a result of the ongoing economic crisis, the new requirements proposed by NMED could be a death knell for many dairies. If these regulations are adopted as proposed, they could result in closure of up to half of New Mexico’s existing dairies who cannot afford to meet all of the new requirements.

New Mexico’s economy already is struggling, as evidenced by state and local government budget cuts. The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission will start its hearings on NMED’s rules proposals on April 13 in Santa Fe. If you are concerned with the potentially devastating impacts NMED’s proposed rules could have, now is the time to make your voice heard. Public testimony will be taken during the hearing in Santa Fe, or letters of concern and comments can be addressed to: Water Quality Control Commission, c/o Joyce Medina, WQCC Administrator, 1190 St. Francis Drive, P.O. Box 5469, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502 In addition you can call Governor Richardson at 505/476-2200 and tell him “Don’t regulate our dairy industry out of the state!”

Additional information on NMED’s rule proposal is available at: www.nmenv.state.nm.us.