LMD April 2016

Riding Herd

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

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

April 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 58 • No. 4

Spoiled Rotten

Getting Spoofed T

By Lee Pitts

Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a lot bigger than you think.

F

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

or over 20 years I had the pleasure of being the announcer for Western Video Market, at the time the second largest video auction in the country. As such I had the best seat in the house, on the auction block, where I was witness to the selling of over 400,000 cattle per year. I got to see who was short of cattle and needed to buy, who was off the market, what type of cattle were wanted, whose purebred bulls were popular, what breeds weren’t, what ranchers were trusted to give a fair weigh up and the ones that weren’t. Suffice it to say, I learned a great deal.

I also got a great lesson in how healthy markets work. I remember the night before one of our big sales in Reno right after it was announced that a mad cow had been found in the U.S. We were expecting a wreck the next day. The first ten or eleven lots we sold, or should I say tried to sell, were passed out and we had tens of thousands left to try and market that day and it was obvious the buyers had the upper hand. Then a very interesting thing happened. A consignment of the best cattle we had the opportunity to sell every year came up on the television screens. They were the Murrer cattle from Nevada, and they are as good as any that walk the earth. The buyers tried to sit on their hands but a funny thing

happened: an auction broke out and the cattle sold for more than what the market had been before the Mad Cow made her ugly appearance. The next 20 lots were the heart of our offering and they not only sold, but sold extremely well. One consignment had turned the entire market around and we ended up having a good sale. It was a great example of a competitive and transparent market.

Anyone who sends their cattle to their favorite auction market benefits from the same type of competition we enjoyed

that day in Reno. So we expect that is how the rest of the system works. Sadly, it does not. As transparent, fair and competitive the sale of calves and yearlings is in this country the sale of fat cattle is 180 degrees opposite. It’s a dysfunctional market that gives the packers and retailers the clear upper hand.

Light and Late Ranchers and feeders have been concerned since 1964 when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange first started selling Live Cattle Futures that the

market was rigged against them and is based on faulty formulas. Especially in certain parts of the country and at certain points in tine. The last quarter of 2015 was one of those points in the cycle where the extreme volatility could not simply be explained by the supply and demand of beef. Observers once again pointed their fingers at the CME for contributing to the crash in the cattle market.

Here’s an example of the volatility of which we speak. Randy Blach of Cattle Fax says, “We went from $175 to $120 in a very, very brief period of time.

Markets got very violent and they moved rapidly. In 2013 through 2014 markets went up $28 per hundredweight in one year. Only eight dollars of that came from supply. A year ago, fundamentals put the impact at $12 of the increase resulting from leverage,” says Blach.

What was responsible for the

continued on page two

Major regulatory expansion of ESA listing & critical habitat designations

BY KAREN BUDD-FALEN, CHEYENNE, WYOMING

W

hile private property owners were vehemently protesting the EPA’s expansion of jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and NOAA-Fisheries (collectively FWS) were bit-by-bit expanding the federal government’s overreach on private property rights and federal grazing permits through the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

This expansion is embodied in the release of four separate final rules and two final policies that the FWS admits will result in listing more species and expanding designated critical habitat.

In order to understand the expansiveness of the new policies and regulations, a short discussion of the previous regulations may help. Prior to the Obama Administration changes, a species was listed as threatened or endangered based upon the “best scientific and commercial data available.” With regard to species that are potentially threatened or endangered “throughout a significant portion of its range” but not ALL of the species’ 1

range, only those species within that “significant portion of the range” are listed, not all species throughout the entire range.

Once the listing was completed, the FWS is mandated to designate critical habitat. Critical habitat is generally habitat upon which the species depends for survival. Importantly critical habitat can include both private and/ or federal land and water. Critical habitat is to be based upon the “best scientific and commercial data available” and is to include the “primary constituent elements” (PCEs) for the species. PCEs are the elements the species needs for breeding, feeding and sheltering. Final critical habitat designations are to be published with legal descriptions so that private landowners would know whether their private property or water was within or outside designated boundaries. Critical habitat designations are also made with consideration of the economic impacts. Under the ESA, although the FWS cannot consider the economic impacts of listing a species, all other economic impacts are to be considered when designating critical habitat, and if the continued on page four

o hear Mr. and Mrs. Urban Airhead talk, you’d think farming and ranching are activities we engage in for our own foolish pleasure. They talk about how much water we waste as if we are filling our Olympic-size swimming pools with it. I know I wake up every morning and the first thing I think of is, “How much water I can waste today?”

Why can’t city slickers get it through their thick skulls that we aren’t wasting water but are using it to produce food so they can eat? Is it that hard to grasp that food comes from thirsty plants and animals?

I hear this nonsense all the time from urban friends.

They think we lead a fairy tale existence and have such an idyllic lifestyle not having to punch a clock, as we ride our gentle horses, dismounting only to pick wildflowers. They know nothing about the evil equine who bucked me off in a rock pile and kicked me in the chest before running back to the house leaving me to limp four miles in pointy toe cowboy boots with an undershot heel, thinking, “I haven’t had this much fun since my last colonoscopy. I hope I get to do this again real soon.”

It’s true, we may not have to punch clocks, but we punch cows. This means we have to get up every three hours at night for three months in order to venture into the freezing cold just to strip to the waist and stick an arm up the rear end of a heifer. And whoopee, we get to repeat the chore three hours later. Now that’s my idea of fun, fun, fun!

Because the most dangerous thing most city folks encounter in their daily lives is the kill-or-be-killed possibility of slipping on an organic peanut at Whole Foods, they have no idea of the dangerous things we do so they can feed their faces.

They think our lives are one great big Mountain Oyster Festival with a rodeo and a Reba concert.

Urbanites think we’re continued on page four

www.LeePittsbooks.com

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Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2016

GETTING SPOOFED rest of the decline, after all, people didn’t all of a sudden stop eating beef?

Even though the CME is a big contributor to the NCBA, under pressure from some of its cattle-feeding members, the past President of the NCBA, Phillip Ellis, sent a polite letter voicing some concerns about the extreme volatility in futures markets to Patrick Duffy, Chairman of the Chicago-based CME Group. The CME is the largest futures trading company in the world. In an attempt to put out the brush fire, Duffy showed up at the NCBA convention in San Diego with a fire hose full of happy talk intended to calm CME customers, many of them bleeding profusely from the wallet.

Duffy talked about circuit breakers and hours of operation but danced around the two-ton elephant in the room: high frequency traders. To his credit, Duffy did bring up an issue that is probably the most to blame for the continuing shrinkage in our business: the fact that both the futures and formula prices are based on the price of cash cattle, which are an endangered species in the wilds of cattle country. Duffy told Reuters, “The industry needs to work a little harder to figure out how they’re going to get more liquid in the cash trade.”

According to the USDA, during some periods last year in the panhandle of Texas cash cattle amounted to six percent of the total traded. Often the USDA describes offers for cash cattle as coming in “light” and “late”. During those periods the price for every 94 fat cattle was based on the price of six, usually inferior cattle. The packer’s captive supplies allow them to stay off the market six days a week and then buy a few on Friday to determine the formula price for all their captives, thus allowing the packers to avoid participating in a competitive price discovery system.

Steve Kay, the cerebral editor and publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly brought forth new information we’d not considered about a subject we’ve written a great deal about: beta agonists and the role they play in making markets. Steve wrote, “Their use (beta agonists) demands a narrow marketing window if cattle feeders are to get the full monetary benefits from their use. This narrow window has meant much less flexibility in marketing cattle. Thus, cattle feeders turned to more marketing agreements with packers to guarantee shackle space each week, which means more cattle than ever are priced on formulas.” Faced with fewer and fewer cash cattle Kay asks an interesting question: “But are cattle feeders prepared to stop using beta-agonists to restore the cash market?”

It’s a great question and one I’m sure the NCBA will NOT be discussing with any of its pharmaceutical contributors.

continued from page one

Trying Hard Not To Find Any Answers As a result of NCBA’s letter, the CME and NCBA formed a “working group’ to study the situation. In announcing the formation of the committee its chairman Ed Greiman said, “My goal for this working group is not to find the boogeyman that everyone is looking for, because I don’t know we’ll find it.”

Gee, keep an open mind, would you?

If you need further proof the NCBA won’t be very vigorous in attempting to convince the CME into making meaningful changes listen to NCBA’s Colin Woodall, Vice President of Government Affairs. “Cattle markets have been susceptible to volatile limit price moves without corresponding market news. The result has been decreased confidence for cattlemen using the futures markets as a risk protection tool. This is not an issue for the government to address, but an issue the industry can resolve by working with CME.” In other words, yes we have a problem but there’s no need to call in the cops, this is just a little matter that we can gloss over by having a little sit-down with one of our big cash contributors. Perhaps the NCBA will convince the CME to contribute even more money to the NCBA in the future. Wink, wink.

Some Serious Money One of the issues raised in NCBA’s letter to the CME was high frequency trading (HFT).

To best understand HFT it’s probably best to look at the trillion dollar crash in 2010 now known as the “Flash Crash”. The Dow experienced its biggest intraday decline in history, plunging nearly a thousand points within minutes, only to recover most of its loss by the end of trading that day. A government analysis in 2014 described the Flash Crash as “one of the most turbulent periods in the history of financial markets.”

The post Flash Crash autopsy came to the conclusion that the volatility was caused by high frequency traders using proprietary trading strategies carried out by their computers to move in and out of positions in various markets within fractions of a second.

HFT accounted for approximately 50 percent of trading in equities in 2012.

One of the definitions of a high frequency trader is “someone who transacts more than two trades per second over a rolling 30 day period.” The CME says by that definition there were no high frequency traders involved in the turmoil in the cattle pits.

But you don’t need to be averaging two trades per second to impact markets. All you need is a narrow window of time, leverage and speed.

High-frequency traders move in and out of short-term positions to gain a fraction of a cent in profit on every trade. But they make millions of trades. High continued on page three

April 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

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GETTING SPOOFED frequency traders don’t require huge sums of money because they don’t accumulate positions or hold their positions overnight. According to something called the Sharpe ratio there is a tens-times higher risk/reward ration than traditional buy-andhold strategies. Several European countries have tried to ban high frequency trading and American regulators say that HFT and electronic trading, “pose new types of challenges to the financial system.”

Cattlemen got a good taste of that in the last quarter of 2015.

It’s one thing when computer futures traders get burned because they entered the game voluntarily, but why should cattlemen who don’t play the paper, suffer when futures prices whipsaw the live cattle market?

The reason markets sometimes have huge ups and downs is because traders need volatility to make profits. One story circulating at NCBA’s convention was that when the CME was building its new data center some high frequency traders were trying to buy land right next door so that their computers might get an advantage of perhaps a thousandth of a second. That’s all it takes to whipsaw a market during these turbulent times. They may not make much on one trade but do that a thousand times an hour and soon you’ve made some serious money.

Front Runners Another issue the NCBA requested clarification on was something called spoofing.

continued from page two

Spoofing occurs when a trader uses algorithmic computer programs to manipulate the market by requesting a buy or a sell order that they don’t really intend to follow through on.

It’s illegal after an anti-spoofing statute was included in the Dodd Frank Legislation in 2010.

Spoofers fake an interest in stocks or commodities creating an illusion of optimism or pessimism at the same time they are canceling other offers.

This flurry of front-running activity is intended get other high-frequency traders (suckers) to go long or short based on fake data.

Spoofing can be very profitable. Five years after the Flash Crash the Justice Department charged Navinder Sarao with 22 criminal counts, including the use of spoofing algorithms, to place thousands of orders which he later canceled. The orders amounting to $200 million were fake bets that the market would

fall and were modified 19,000 times before they were finally cancelled.

Sarao was a 36-year-old small time trader operating out of his parent’s house in London when he started his market manipulation in 2009 with commercially available trading software. His trading was at least partially blamed for the Flash Crash.

If a lone wolf using commercially available software (which he altered slightly), can create such a wreck just imagine what a big trading company might accomplish. Sarao was trading the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index but he could just as easily been trading commodities. Even though spoofing is supposedly illegal do you really think the CME is going crack down on high frequency traders when the CME makes money on every algorithmic trade made?

Even the slower high frequency traders are complaining. Richard May and Matthew Wasko filed affidavits alleging

that other spoofers algorithmic trades interfered with their own. Wasko, said that when the spoofer’s orders were flipped “it did not allow us (or our algorithms) time to react to the fact that the stacked orders did not reflect genuine market interest before the aggressive order traded against us. We always want to trade on orders we put in the market, but we cannot do so profitably when the market conditions are distorted such that they do not reflect true demand and supply.”

Poor guys.

Mr. Sarao now denounces high-frequency traders and “billion-dollar organizations who mass manipulate the market by spoofing,”

A Fake Game What a hoot. Now we have slower high frequency traders wanting the government to do something about faster high frequency traders. Even zanier still... at the NCBA conven-

tion in San Diego Jordan Levi of Arcadia Asset Management announced that in an effort to create price discovery he had conducted a fake fat cattle auction on January 18th, organized with the help of Mike Thoren, the JBS Five Rivers CEO. Levi said that representatives of the four major meat packers participated in the fake auction.

Now, I ask you, do you really think the packers are going to participate in a free and competitive auction for fat cattle with real money, similar to livestock auctions or video sales, when they have the cattle market by the throat and held captive? If you believe that I have a big feedlot in Brooklyn to sell you.

But that’s what they want you to think. The fact is they held a fake auction, with fake bids and fake money as if they were playing a game of Monopoly, which is, of course, exactly what they are doing. Only theirs is a real game of monopoly.

2016 DEBRUYCKER CHAROLAIS BULL SALE RESULTS Lot

13 $33,500.00 159 $20,000.00

173 $14,500.00

44 $13,000.00 165 $11,500.00 107 $10,000.00

HIGH SELLING BULLS

Cliff ReddGreenwood, SC Five Star Charolais Havre, MT Eaton Charolais Lindsay, MT Morley Charolais Sunnyvale, TX & Heath Hyde Sulpher Springs , TX Reich Charolais Belle Fouche, SD Reich Charolais Belle Fouche, SD

Honeyman Charolais Reeder, ND

Sire

JDJ Taurus W65 P/S BHD Zeus X3041 BHD Zeus X3041 DS Mr Big Cigar W20 BHD Zeus X3041 CJC Panoramic Y768 P continued on page thirteen

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Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2016

EXPANSION economic impacts in an area are too great, the area could be excluded as critical habitat as long as the exclusion did not cause extinction of the species.

With regard to the critical habitat designation itself, critical habitat determinations were made in two stages. First, the FWS considers the currently occupied habitat and determine if that habitat (1) contains the PCEs for the species and (2) is sufficient for protection of the species. Second, the FWS looks at the unoccupied habitat for the species and makes the same determinations, i.e., (1) whether areas of unoccupied habitat contain the necessary PCEs and (2) if including this additional land or water as critical habitat was necessary for protection of the species. The FWS then considers whether the economic costs of including some of the areas are so high, that the areas should be excluded from the critical habitat designation. In simplest terms, the FWS would weigh or balance the benefits of designation of certain areas of critical habitat against the regulatory burdens and economic costs of designation, and could exclude discreet areas from a critical habitat designation so long as exclusion did not cause species extinction. This was called the “exclusion analysis.”

Starting with a new 2012 rule and extending to the 2015 rules and policy, those considerations have all changed, and in fact the FWS has admitted that the new rules will result in more land and water being included in critical habitat designations.

The first major change is the inclusion of “the principals of conservation biology” as part of the “best scientific and commercial data available.” Conser-

continued from page one vation biology was not created until the 1980s and has been described by some scientists as “agenda-driven” or “goal-oriented” biology. See: Final Rule, Implementing Changes to the Regulations for Designating Critical Habitat, February 11, 2016.

Second, the new Obama policy has changed regarding a listing species “throughout a significant portion of its range.”

Now rather than listing species within the range where the problem lies, all species throughout the entire range will be listed as threatened or endangered.

See: Final Policy, Interpretation of the Phrase “Significant Portion of its Range,” July 1, 2014.

Third, based upon the principals of conservation biology, including indirect or circumstantial information, critical habitat designations will be greatly expanded. Under the new regulations, the FWS will initially consider designation of both occupied and unoccupied habitat, including habitat with POTENTIAL PCEs. In other words, not only is the FWS considering habitat that is or may be used by the species, the FWS will consider habitat that may develop PCEs sometime in the future. There is no time limit on when such future development of PCEs will occur, or what types of events have to occur so that the habitat will develop PCEs. The FWS will then look outside occupied and unoccupied habitat to decide if the habitat will develop PCEs in the future and should be designated as critical habitat now. The FWS has determined that critical habitat can include temporary or periodic habitat, ephemeral habitat, potential habitat and migratory habitat,

even if that habitat is currently unusable by the species. See: Final Rule, Implementing Changes to Regulations for Designating Critical Habitat, February 11, 2016.

Fourth the FWS has also determined that it will no longer publish the text or legal descriptions or GIS coordinates for critical habitat, rather it will only publish maps of the critical habitat designation. Given the small size of the Federal Register, I do not think this will adequately notify landowners whether their private property is included or excluded from a critical habitat designation.

See: Final Rule, “Revised Implementing Regulations for Requirements to Publish Textual Description of Boundaries of Critical Habitat,” May 1, 2012.

Fifth, the FWS has significantly limited what economic impacts are considered as part of the critical habitat designation. According to a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, although the economic impacts are not to be considered as part of the listing process, once a species was listed, if the FWS could not determine whether the economic impact came from listing OR critical habitat, the cost should be included in the economic analysis. In other words, only those costs that were solely based on listing were excluded from the economic analysis. In contrast, the Ninth Circuit Court took the opposite view and determined that only economic costs that were SOLELY attributable to critical habitat designations were to be included. Rather than requesting the U.S. Supreme Court make a consistent ruling among the courts, the FWS simply recognized this

Santa Gertrudis Breeders International to Provide Genetic Evaluation Services for Mexican Herdbook

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anta Gertrudis Breeders International (SGBI) and Mexico Santa Gertrudis Association have agreed to implement a common genetic evaluation allowing producers of Santa Gertrudis cattle on both sides of the border to evaluate cattle utilizing the same genetic selection tools. SGBI Executive Director John Ford and Mexico Association President Carlos Sellers announced the agreement at a genetic planning meeting March 4 during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Livestock Genetic Services of Woodville, Va. will provide the services needed for the two-association evaluation.

“This is a great opportunity for Santa Gertrudis breeders in the United States and Mexico,” Ford said, following the announcement.

“The ability to evaluate genetics and make sound selection and breeding decisions opens the door for breed growth, not just in the two countries but across North, Central and South America. I look forward to working with the Mexico Santa Gertrudis Association validating animal performance and strengthening the breed’s presence in the commercial sector.”

Sellers echoed Ford’s sentiment. “Providing Mexican cattlemen with identical genetic evaluation tools will allow for the constant measurement of our cattle’s genetic progress with their American counterparts and identify profitable genetics regardless of country. This joint effort will certainly benefit breeders on both sides of the border.”

The Santa Gertrudis Breeders International genetic evaluation is one of the most comprehensive among Bos indicus-influenced breeds. The evaluation has been reviewed by leading animal geneticists and utilizes genotypes collected from the breed’s leading sires and validated on 10K, 20K, 30K and 50K SNP chips. Thousands of ranch phenotypes and scan records collected over a 25-year period serve as the foundation of the genetic evaluation. SGBI is a leader in the adoption and implementation of genetic technology and the association’s database contains more than 4,000 DNA samples genotyped with the GeneSeek Genomic Profiler. The first joint association Santa Gertrudis genetic evaluation is scheduled for release in early July, 2016.

circuit split for almost 15 years.

However, on August 28, 2013, the FWS issued a final rule that determined that the Ninth Circuit Court was “correct,” and regulatorily determined that ONLY economic costs attributable SOLELY to the critical habitat designation would be analyzed. This rule substantially reduces the determination of the cost of critical habitat designation because the FWS can claim that almost all costs are based on the listing of the species because if not for the listing, there would be no need for critical habitat. See: Final Rule, Revisions to the Regulations for Impact Analysis of Critical Habitat, August 28, 2013.

Sixth, the FWS has determined that while completing the economic analysis is mandatory, the consideration of whether habitat should be excluded based on economic considerations is discretionary. In other words, under the new policy, the FWS is no longer required to consider whether areas should be excluded from critical habitat designation based upon economic costs and burdens. See: Final Policy Regarding Implementation of Section 4(b)(2) of the Endangered Species Act, February 11, 2016.

The problem with these new rules is what it means if private property (or federal lands) are designated as critical habitat or the designated habitat only has the potential to develop PCEs. Even if the species is not present in the designated critical habitat, a “take” of a species can occur through “adverse modification of critical habitat.” For private land, that may include stopping stream diversions because the water is needed in downstream critical habitat

RIDING HERD being cruel to animals when we venture into the great outdoors in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Day to balance on the back of a truck to throw hay out that cost $9,000 a truck load. “Boy oh boy, this is more fun than mucking out the barn!”

Sometimes I feel like screaming like a baby lamb in the clutches of an eagle when city people say stuff like, “You’re so lucky to live with nature and getting to enjoy all the cute and fuzzy animals.” I wonder, are they referring to the warm and cuddly wolves who rip baby calves apart, or the pack of town dogs that killed five of my pregnant ewes and made 13 others abort?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we don’t have our enjoyable moments. Like taking the first vacation in 30 years and where do we go? To an industry confab to fill a swag bag full of free cotton gloves and insecticide ear tags. If we’re lucky maybe we’ll get to sit through a three hour seminar to determine our “sustainability”. Later we’ll be treated to an evening of the world’s worst fake cowboy

for a fish species, or that haying practices (such as cutting of invasive species to protect hay fields) are stopped because it will prevent the area from developing PCEs in the future that may support a species. It could include stopping someone from putting on fertilizer or doing other crop management on a farm field because of a concern with runoff into downstream designated habitat. Designation of an area as critical habitat (even if that area does not contain PCEs now) will absolutely require more federal permitting (i.e. section 7 consultation) for things like crop plans, or conservation plans or anything else requiring a federal permit. In fact, one of the new regulations issued by Obama concludes that “adverse modification of critical habitat” can include “alteration of the quantity or quality” of habitat that precludes or “significantly delays” the capacity of the habitat to develop PCEs over time.

See: Final Rule, “Definition of Destruction or Adverse Modification of Critical Habitat,” February 11, 2016.

While the agriculture community raised a huge alarm over the “waters of the U.S.,” the FWS was quietly implementing these new rules, in a piecemeal manner, without a lot of fanfare. Honestly I think these new habitat rules will have as great or greater impact on the private lands and federal land permits as does the Ditch Rule and I would hope that the outcry from the agriculture community, private property advocates, and our Congressional delegations would be as great.

This discussion only includes requirements to which there have been changes in the last four years.

1

continued from page one poetry that doesn’t rhyme.

Look at us, aren’t we spoiled rotten?

One wonders, if we’re having so much fun wasting water and beating on poor defenseless animals why can’t we keep the country kids down on the farm?

They are leaving in droves to live in the city where they don’t have to put up with wolf kills, 14-hour work days, and bureaucrats who don’t produce anything and try to make it as hard as possible for you to produce anything either.

One solution to the farmer and rancher problem would be for all of them to just quit and collect unemployment. That way they wouldn’t waste any water.

My guess is it wouldn’t be long before the 330 million people in this country would be killing each other over a few wild berries and pine nuts. School kids might actually eat their lunch in the cafeteria and vegetarians would give every cent they have for a T-bone steak. They’d annihilate every endangered species and their own pets to put some protein in their diet.

Run for your lives Muffy, Buffy and Fluffy!

April 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

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American Brahman Genetics Are Demanded Internationally

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he 34th Annual International Brahman Sale was a highlight of the American Brahman Breeders Association’s (ABBA) week of activities for Brahman breeders and enthusiasts during the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo in Houston, Texas, March 2 through 4. It was a packed house, March 2, in the sale pavilion in the NRG Center as more than 350 domestic and international guests competitively bid on 12 lots to average $14,916 during the International

Brahman Sale.

“The 2016 International Sale has a world following, for which we are grateful for our International friends and breeders. American Brahman genetics were placed into Mexico, Venezuela, Louisiana and Texas.” says ABBA Executive Vice President Chris Shivers.

The offering consisted of elite breed leading Gray and Red Brahman genetics. Lot 10, VL Elena 4/65 was the high seller. This daughter of VL Rojo Grande 4/95 was bred to VL

Rojo Apache 1/50 and was consigned

by Santa Elena Ranch, Inc., Alfredo and Josefina Muskus of Madisonville, Texas. Centro Genetico Altamira/ Romer Gonzalez from Ortiz, Venezuela purchased this world-class heifer for $27,500.

Roberto Najera from Mexico was the volume buyer purchasing two lots.

All lots were in high demand with these averages: two pregnant recipients averaged $12,750, three IVF Aspiration/ Flush lots averaged $10,333.33, five

bred females averaged $19,500 and two open heifers averaged $12,500.

After the 12 live lots sold, 10 lots of semen were offered for bid as part of the ABBA Semen Sale. Each year the ABBA offers these elite genetics, many of which are not available for sale anywhere else, to benefit the ABBA Research & Breed Improvement Committee. The semen sold for an impressive average of $215.00 per straw for $10,750.00 to benefit breed research.

Annual Indian Livestock Days on May 11-13 in Albuquerque

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attle production in the Indian Country of northwestern New Mexico is on the increase, with revenue of $125 million in 2015, according to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture annual agricultural statistics.

To help producers continue to improve their herds and profit, New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service hosts the New Mexico Indian Livestock Days annually in Albuquerque.

This year’s conference will be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 11 to 13, at Route 66 Casino Hotel on Interstate 25 west of Albuquerque.

“The participants have asked for more live demonstrations, so this year we have added a second afternoon of three outdoor sessions,” said Kathy Landers, NMSU McKinley County Extension county director. “As always, there is going to be a lot of information for livestock producers.”

The conference registration begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 11. The first series of outdoor programs will be during the afternoon on bull selection, cattle reproduction and calf castration.

“The programs will be repeated so people can attend all three,” said Landers.

The full schedule of presentations will begin at 8 a.m.

Thursday, May 12. Topics during the morning indoor sessions will include developing a livestock association, cost of owning a cow, and updates from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency.

Thursday, beginning at 1 p.m., there will be sessions outdoors and indoors. As on Wednesday, the outdoor sessions will repeat three times.

Topics will include trailer safety and hauling, horse health and horse confirmation.

Indoor sessions will be canning, season extension, soil building and drip irrigation.

Friday, May 13, sessions will begin at 8 a.m. and concluded at 4 p.m. Topics will include rodent control, invasive weeds, brush control, cattle prices, range management, an update from the USDA National Agricultural Statistic Service and a panel of livestock producers sharing success stories.

Registration fee is $75 if received by May 1; after that

date and for walk-ins, the cost is $100. Registration includes lunch on Thursday and Friday.

Register on line at http://indianlivestock.nmsu.edu, or by

mail at NMSU-CES – Northern, 4001 Office Court, Suite 308, Santa Fe, NM 87507.

Special room rates of $69 per night have been secured

at Route 66 Hotel if reserved

by May 1. Call for reservations at 1-866-352-7866 and ask for NM Livestock 2016 group rate.

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Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2016

Downstream From a Slippery EPA In the aftermath of the Gold King spill, the agency is holding itself to a lower standard than polluters.

BY RYAN FLYNN, NEW MEXICO SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT WWW.WSJ.COM

T

he bright yellow water that gushed from Colorado’s Gold King mine and into the Animas River last summer has dissipated, but the environmental disaster continues downstream. An estimated 880,000 pounds of lead and other metals poured out of the Gold King in August when the Environmental Protection Agency fumbled a construction project and blew out the mine’s plug.

This water raced down the Animas River in mountainous Colorado, and then meandered gradually through my state of New Mexico, the territory of the Navajo Nation and Utah, before dumping into Lake Powell. Geography is important here: The slower the flow, the more that heavy metals drop out of the water and into the riverbed.

From the start, the EPA bungled its response to the spill. The first call alerting New Mexico that contaminated water was on its way didn’t even come from the agency. The water-quality manager of the Southern Ute Tribe, who live in Colorado right on the border with New Mexico, contacted my department with a warning on Aug. 6.

The New Mexico Environment Department quickly dispatched technical staff to take advance water samples,

to establish a water-quality baseline.

The Animas River is much more than a kayaking spot or a fishing hole for New Mexicans. The drinking water of eight communities—about 90,000 people— is drawn directly from the river, which also sustains crops and livestock, and supports thousands of people’s livelihoods.

After failing to alert New Mexico promptly, the EPA to a large extent left the states and tribes downstream to fend for themselves. No one from the EPA’s regional office in Dallas showed up in New Mexico for nearly a week, by which time the plume had passed. New Mexico’s representative to the EPA’s Incident Command Center in Colorado reported that she was shut out of closed-door meetings where decisions were made.

When EPA staff did finally arrive in New Mexico on Aug. 9, they were rotated out of the state every few days.

This led to redundant briefings and inconsistent execution. One EPA communications officer arrived in New Mexico with no capability to text, email or dispatch photos from the field.

As the spill wound its way downstream, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy repeatedly went on camera to say that the agency would hold itself to a “higher standard.” Instead it engaged in a careful campaign of minimization and misdirection.

About two weeks after the spill, the EPA released an environmental standard for the Gold King mine sediment

that was an order of magnitude weaker than those applied to other polluters.

The agency used a “recreational” standard and suggested that lead in the soil at 20,000 parts per million would be “safe” for campers and hikers. But in New Mexico people live along the Animas, so a “residential” standard would be more appropriate. During a cleanup of a superfund site in Dallas, in the regional EPA office’s own backyard, the standard for lead in the soil was 500 parts per million.

The EPA released a chart that seemed to show lead levels in the Animas to be near zero. But the chart used a linear, instead of a logarithmic, scale. As any high-school science student can tell you, a linear scale can visually compress data and make it appear close to the zero line. In reality the lead levels had screamed past maximum contaminant levels for drinking water, defined as 15 parts per million.

We advised communities that drew from the river to close their water intakes and rely on emergency backup supplies, which they did.

Even months later, although the yellow water has passed, the EPA’s data show that storms have disturbed contaminated sediment and pushed lead levels back above the tolerance for safe drinking water. The city of Farmington (pop. 45,000) still shuts its water intakes whenever storms or snowmelt increase water turbulence.

Yet the EPA persisted in claiming that the watershed had returned to

“pre-spill” conditions. Such subterfuge made our job of educating the public on the consequences of the spill much more difficult. It seems clear to me that the EPA sacrificed truth on the altar of image management.

Today, New Mexico and Utah continue to work on a comprehensive long-term plan to monitor the Gold King spill’s effects on health, wildlife and agriculture. We have invited the EPA and the state of Colorado many times to join the effort. Both have refused, preferring to pursue a narrow, short-term plan that ignores critical issues such as damage to wildlife and groundwater. As Utah’s assistant director of water monitoring said at the beginning of February, the levels of contamination seen so far could be “the tip of the iceberg.”

Citizens who depend on the Animas River for their drinking water, crops and livelihoods deserve better.

They deserve answers from the EPA, as they would expect from any other polluter.

Under Gov. Susana Martinez’s direction, the New Mexico Environment Department is vigilantly monitoring the water to ensure that lead and other heavy metals from the Gold King mine do not find their way into crops, wildlife, livestock or humans. We urge the EPA and Colorado to wake up, drop the charade of minimizing the disaster, and join us.

Mr. Flynn is New Mexico’s secretary of environment.

County Fears BLM Undercutting Influence of Local Governments WWW.POSTINDEPENDENT.COM

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arfield County, Colorado commissioners wrung their hands in mid March over what they perceive as an effort by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to undercut local government influence in public lands planning.

Among the 244 pages of BLM planning rules changes dubbed “Planning 2.0,” which county staff has yet to wade all the way through, are changes that deteriorate local governments’ priority in public lands

planning, said Fred Jarman, the county’s community development director.

Such an approach undermines the county’s role in planning on items such as the BLM’s Resource Management Plans, and at the same time elevates public input from people well outside Garfield County, he said. The most recent RMP for the Colorado River Valley Field Office of the BLM was completed last summer.

These changes could remove local government from the center of the conversation and re-

place it with an outside advocacy group, which is a shift in the BLM’s philosophy, said Jarman.

Public lands make up 66 percent of Garfield County, and the local economy is dependent upon them, be that through oil and gas development, recreation or grazing, he said.

Jarman told the Post Independent he couldn’t yet give a concrete example of what land uses or policies might be threatened, saying he needs to dig into the planning rule changes further.

It would be like the BLM, while planning land management of a major Colorado River, going to an advocacy group in Vermont for input before going to the local governments, he said.

A letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze from commissioners called the proposed planning rule changes “perhaps one of the most significant substantive federal policy changes facing the West today.”

Under these changes, public comment would have a little more weight than those from local governments, said Commissioner John Martin.

“It would be a national move to do policy in the West for us,” he said.

“We’re not saying that other agencies shouldn’t be at the table. They should, but don’t push away your elected representative government,” said Martin.

The federal government historically has been required to

ensure that its land use policies don’t conflict with those of the local governments. But that too would change under these rules, said Jarman.

Essentially, the burden of keeping federal and local land use policies compatible would be shifted from the BLM onto the county’s shoulders, he told the PI after the commissioners’ meeting.

“Garfield County is concerned with what appears to be a quiet effort by the BLM in Washington, D.C., to erode, if not eliminate existing requirements for the BLM to not only coordinate with local governments but to also ensure their planning efforts are consistent with local plans and regulations,” commissioners wrote to Kornze.

According to the BLM, this “proposed rule would provide the agency flexibility to plan across traditional administrative boundaries. The BLM director would also be provided discretion to determine future RMP boundaries.”

The agency has described the rule changes as moving toward a “landscape-level management approach,” and Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said he fears that means a “one-size fits all approach.”

“While advertised and promoted as simple procedural changes to improve the BLM’s decision making process with added transparency and involvement with local government, we

believe the proposed rules may have the direct opposite effect,” commissioners wrote.

The BLM says it’s trying to become more transparent and available to the general public; “however, I believe this is an administrative play to really knock down congressional law,” said Jankovsky.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 has a lot to say about the federal government coordinating with local governments on public land planning, and the BLM looks to be putting itself above the law, said the commissioner.

The deadline for comments on Planning 2.0 is April 25, but commissioners are requesting 180 extra days to submit comments, saying that the 60-day window they had was not enough to vet the major changes or have sufficient public involvement.

If they’re successful, the new deadline would be Aug. 23.

Commissioners are also requesting additional public hearings on the issue.

Jarman declined to comment on the likelihood of the BLM accepting the extension. But many other local governments across the American West that have the same concerns, and are pushing for more time to produce their comments, he said.

The PI was unable to contact BLM staffers in Washington, who were the only BLM personnel able to comment on the Planning 2.0 initiative.

April 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 7

Rancher awarded $246,500 in shooting of three guard dogs FOR THE CAPITAL PRESS

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jury has awarded a Central Oregon rancher $246,500 from two hunters who shot and killed three Great Pyrenees livestock protection dogs.

Brothers Paul Johnson of Roseburg and Craig Johnson of Bend were previously convicted of killing three Great Pyrenees livestock protection dogs owned by rancher Gordon Clark.

Craig Johnson is a retired

Oregon State Police officer.

The jury awarded Clark $7,500 for the replacement value of the dogs, $100,000 for emotional harm and $139,500 in punitive damages.

Clark, who owns and operates the historic Hay Creek Ranch 11 miles east of Madras, Ore., said he was relieved that the 3 1/2-year ordeal was over.

The shootings, which took place Aug. 27, 2012, happened on a grazing allotment in the Ochoco National Forest that Clark has used for the last 20

Baxter BLACK ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE www.baxterblack.com

The Axis Of Ideal Understanding

I

have developed a way to evaluate when a person reaches the pinnacle of their profession, their prime, so to speak. I call it the “Peak of Practical Intelligence.” It states there is a point in the lifetime of a profession where your dependence on your knowledge derived from Education (ED) equals your dependence on your knowledge gained from Experience (EX).

On the graph at the beginning (graduation) your reliance on ED knowledge is at its zenith and your reliance on EX knowledge is at its nadir. As time passes your knowledge from ED, in relation to your knowledge from EX, will decline as defined by percentile.

Thus the lines on the graph will eventually cross.

ED will equal EX. That point is your personal Axis of Ideal Understanding.

You have reached the Peak of your Practical Intelligence. Thereafter you will rely more on EX than ED. DISCLAIMER: Although I graduated with a DVM, my first “D” grade was in Algebra as a junior in high school.

In college while attempting to pass the “pre-vet” requirements I received a “D” two semesters running in the 4-hour Physics classes and an “F” in the required 5-hour Calculus and Trigonometry course.

The “F” was changed to a

“D minus” by a sympathetic graduate student.

In veterinary school I promptly earned an “F” in Physiological Chemistry in which I repeated the final exam and escaped with a “D”.

As a senior in vet school we were required to write a Senior Paper as part of our senior grade. I chose as my subject “The Anatomy of Five Non-Domestic Animals.” The faculty members on the committee did not approve of my topic selection; “Stupid, juvenile, frivolous and useless” were the printable criticisms, I recall. “Do one on Collie Eye or Bog Spavin…” they suggested. I resisted.

They threatened if I didn’t choose a more serious subject they would guarantee me a “D”!

My senior paper included the anatomy of the elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, rhinoceros and the blue whale. I got a “D”. But I know that a giraffe has cloven hooves and both the blue whale and elephant have internal testicles.

And though I have long passed my Peak of Practical Intelligence, I have used tidbits of anatomical knowledge more often than I have calculated the cosine of someone’s polygon.

Suffice it to say, if any of my scientific readers negatively evaluate my Axis theorem, fire away, you can’t scare me with a “D!”

years.

“It was about 9:30 in the morning and my herder was routinely moving about 1,060 ewes from one camp to another,” Clark said. “Suddenly someone opened fire and started killing the dogs.”

He said the area was posted and the dogs all had collars that gave his contact information and an explanation of the work they were doing.

“My herder had no idea what was happening, except that someone was shooting at them.

He was scared because bullets were ricocheting all around him,” Clark said. “The sheep were fleeing away from the shooters. He called my camp tender about 3 o’clock and said someone is shooting our dogs.”

The camp tender went to the scene and called Clark, who then called the Crook County Sheriff’s Office.

Not to be confused with herding dogs that are trained to follow the commands of their master, Great Pyrenees work independently. At about seven to eight weeks the pups are

put in a sheep pen, where they stay without any other dogs for two to three months. From the sheep pen, they go out with the herder and begin a working life.

The value of a trained guard dog is about $2,500.

The Johnson brothers, who deputies identified as the shooters, were bow hunting in an area where grazing sheep, guard dogs and campers have co-existed for decades, Clark said. In addition to their bow hunting equipment they carried a .223-caliber rifle and a Glock pistol.

They first denied they knew anything about seeing sheep, then said they thought the dogs were chasing elk and finally claimed they thought their lives were in danger, according to Clark.

Clark had nothing but praise for the Crook County Sheriff’s Office and his attorney.

“Deputy David Bottoms and attorney Greg Lynch were unstoppable,” Clark said. “In the beginning, the Johnson brothers were only given probation, a year-long ban from hunting, $500 fine, 80 hours community

ELM

service and a forfeit of firearms,” Clark said. “Had Deputy Bottoms not continued to gather hard evidence in the face of all the false testimony, we wouldn’t have the brothers’ footprints that were mingled with the sheep prints and the bullets that matched their rifle.”

Lynch, Clark’s attorney, also praised the sheriff’s office and said he did not think the defendants would appeal.

“The trial judge did a superb job in addressing all legal issues in the case during the pre-trial phase and again at trial in motions for summary judgment . . . and in finalizing the jury instructions,” Lynch said. “In addition, to avoid execution on the judgment pending an appeal, the defendants would have to post a special bond which would guarantee payment of the judgment after a failed appeal, something I would love to see them do but (is) very unlikely.”

Efforts to reach the lawyers for the Johnsons were unsuccessful.

“It has been emotionally draining for me and especially for my Peruvian herder,” Clark said. “The sad thing is the loss of those particular people-friendly dogs that you could walk up to and pet. In the 20 years we’ve worked our allotment, the dogs and campers have happily mingled and the campers loved it.

To see the dogs so senselessly slaughtered, however, goes beyond the value as a working animal.”

Clark said he plans to donate money left over after litigation costs to the Crook County Spay Neuter Investment Project Inc.

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Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

It’s All Relative Until it is Your Relative Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 6:00 PM MST Animas High School Auditorium, Animas, NM

BY SUE KRENTZ

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hank you for letting me speak tonight. My message is from many families and friends all over the UNITED STATES. We have the right to be free and safe in our own homes and on our own land. Secure the border.

Since we lost Rob (six years this Easter) just in Arizona alone over 15 other people have been killed in incidents with illegals. The perpetrators, even though they have had past criminal records or involved in criminal activities, when arrested, serve very little time in jail nor are they ever deported back to their country like the law says.

I have met many of the family members of these victims at the Candle Light Memorial for Stolen Lives in Phoenix, Arizona the first Sunday in November. I wonder at times how did I get here? I have a few friends and one thing we share is our husbands have been murdered because the border is not safe and secure.

The Arizona victims span all age groups, ethnic groups, genders and religious affiliations. Brian Terry, for example, is just one of the many law enforcement agents who have been killed in the line of duty. These families have one message — enforce the laws on the books. If individuals had been stopped at the border maybe their loved one would have not died.

The Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association’s Restore Our Border (ROB) plan was not to create new laws, but to pinpoint the laws we have and to show how to enforce them. Article 4 Section 4, of our Constitution says the federal government is to protect the states and people from invasion both foreign and domestic. The 18-point plan was a starting point of solutions to secure the border.

We are here to discuss safety and security. As we all drove here we locked our home and car with the expectation to return finding them safe and secure. Your expectation of the same safety extends to the property line between you and your neighbor.

Both have agreed to respect each other’s property by ringing the doorbell to request permission to enter.

The expectation continues when you travel farther away from home.

You rent a hotel room where you expect your belongings to remain safe and secure. Safety and security are defined by lines or specific points of entry such as parking spaces, property lines, and room keys. All exist to identify your space from others.

These defined lines include the borders between cities, counties, states and countries. If America was no different than any other country we would not experience the relentless push to enter our country from all other parts of the world. We have been generous by providing aide to

other countries and by establishing a legal process to enter our own.

Each of us would expect to obtain a passport to enter France, so we know a legal process exists to enter any nation regardless of the distance or geography between nations. We expect the leaders of every nation to protect its citizens. All citizens support their governments by paying taxes for protection and services. The phrase “to protect and serve” is painted on police cars. Safety and security is necessary to provide protection from potential threats which are not limited to property but include crops, health, criminal activity and any other threat to the safety of society.

Ronald Reagan stated, “We must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

Just as our own homes can be overrun by termites unless we control the ground conditions, any society can be overwhelmed by the number of people entering without regulation. The existing system will collapse. Not today, not tomorrow but inevitably the citizens paying for services will be outnumbered by the population that is not supporting the system.

We are in the midst of a flood of humanity moving to overwhelm peaceful societies. This movement has reached historic proportions. The new refugees are not the usual women and children fleeing an enemy, they include men of working age that have left their own society to deliberately overwhelm another.

Families worldwide work to improve the living standard for the next generations. But rather than working to provide a better life for the next generation as usual, we are witnessing brutal mob behavior. Not all, but large numbers of these groups have demonstrated that they have no intent to assimilate into the community. They have come to disrupt and destroy the society that has offered them safe haven. Our safety and security continues to be at risk. There is no safety or security in any community when the law is not enforced, particularly at the border.

Early on we saw the threat to our safety and security. We talked about environmental conditions; herd health conditions how it was impacting our business and personal safety.

We asked for help and no one came.

We requested a secure border; we were told the border was safe. Asking for help we were described as being racist and inhumane. We contacted the CDC as diseases such as TB and other human diseases returned to our country where large populations were not vaccinated.

Families in border communities have learned that they cannot expect

April 15, 2016

safety or security. Yes, we do have border patrol but sometimes it takes hours to get to where you are from where they are. Yes it has improved … is it perfect no. We are not talking about the legal points of entry but the illegal points of entry across miles of mountains and valleys that are dangerous and treacherous. We need solutions like Rotor craft, better communications, and maybe even a change in the rules of engagement. But it needs to be constant all along the border. Not different just because you are in New Mexico with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals which is more conservative versus the 9th which Arizona is in and is more liberal. I point out federal courts because the illegals have to be handled in federal courts because it is not the jurisdiction of local county or state courts.

We find ourselves that we are expendable and so too, our loved ones.

When you have lost a family member to disease or natural causes you have closure. When you lose that person by a violent act of murder it tears away a part of you. You remain injured and isolated. You cannot heal as the wound is newly raw with each incident reporting the same criminal behavior.

This same behavior that continues to put you, me and other family members at risk. You face derision and are often told to ‘get over it’, which is impossible. You learn you must live with a painful loss through silent suffering.

Asking for help has caused everyone to turn from us and run the other way, so now we yell “FIRE!” Even though we talked about many of the issues we never touched on

health care. One can research how health care in rural communities has been affected — forcing hospitals to close and face serious financial conditions. In my community, I come from generations of Kimble’s and Krentz’s that have been born and raised here.

And now we have no maternity ward here.

Our hospital has closed and the only thing we will have is a Quick Care and an Emergency Room this summer. But it is not like a hospital.

We will have to go to a bigger community to receive needed medical care.

And this is an indirect result of the federal government not reimbursing our hospitals for the care of the illegals.

The world is witnessing a human crisis that is putting us all at risk from a lack of security. The current wave of human movement intends to inflict harm on all that we hold dear. We wrote the ROB plan to establish a viable process to Restore Our Border.

Just as M.A.D.D., Susan G. Kolman, and Amber Alerts were started with the loss of a family member, the families of Kate Steinle, Brian Terry and Rob Krentz realize that ‘everything is relative until it’s your relative.’ We are demanding the right to live free and safe on our own land and in our own homes. Secure the border for your families as it is too late for mine.

Sue (Kimble) Krentz was born and raised in Douglas, Arizona. She graduated from Cochise College in 1974. She married Rob and moved to the Krentz Ranch East of Douglas in 1977. She is very active in her local and state CowBelles.

BY FRANK KRENTZ

getting caught on the northern side.

Knowing that the Arizona desert can be dangerous to cross we would make sure there would be border patrol on the way to help them. I can remember a time in 1999 when I saw two different groups of people crossing the ranch that numbered larger than 100.

We used to approach these people as Christians to make sure there were no injuries and tell them that Border Patrol would be there shortly to help them. We would always do this even after we have had our houses broken into, vehicles stolen, trash left in the country and waters broken. There have been many times when we would go and check storage tanks that we spent a week’s worth of time to make full be drained because illegals would break waterlines or floats to get a drink of water and draining thousands of gallons of water out on the ground.

And we would still try our best to get these people help.

After losing my father all of that changed. Now we don’t go near these people. Not knowing what the situation holds we don’t put ourselves in a position that would get us into trouble. The people that we see now are not the large groups of people fleeing but small groups packing drugs. There have been pictures taken of some of these small groups who are armed as well.

I was told once by a US Congressman that the people along the border have become “NUMB” to the whole border issue. They have gotten used to the idea that this is the new normal if they want to live here. I wouldn’t say that we have become “NUMB” but we have become resilient; that

Thank you everyone for traveling to Animas to be with us here tonight.

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lmost six years ago, one morning my cousin, my uncle, my father and myself sat down for breakfast and talked about what we were going to do for the day. When we finished my cousin and I went to move cows while my father went to check a motor, and my uncle went to check other waters on the ranch.

That was the last time I saw my father.

Rob Krentz was on his way to check the motor when he called his brother on the cell phone and said there was someone walking across the pasture and was going to see what was going on.

Friends and neighbors came to help us look for my father when we couldn’t get a hold of him for hours.

A neighbor called the sheriff’s search and rescue team and they started looking. The news came in late that night that they had found my father.

Rob was a great and caring man; helpful to others and dedicated to the way of life that he loved. He worked to help others, volunteering his time to help the local school, his community and friends and family.

To understand where I am coming from you need to know the people that live in this area. Most of the people in this part of the world have had at least one incident that involved problems with people trespassing across the southern border illegally. When I was younger we would see people crossing the border and knew that they were running from problems worse than

continued on page nine

April 15, 2016

RELATIVE we want to live in this part of the world, that many of the families here have been here for many years and generations and hope to have many more on this part of the world they have carved out for themselves.

People who aren’t from here get shocked when I tell them the problems we face on a daily basis.

They ask why don’t you move away from there? It is hard for some people to know what 100 years of working in one place can look like. I am fifth generation on the ranch and feel a sense of pride of what I am doing raising livestock for our nation.

Being out in the country and working in a business sector that is less than one percent of the country are able to do.

As our guests leave

Livestock Market Digest

Page 9

continued from page eight here today I would like you to take with you the gratitude from me and my friends and family for hearing what we are going through. To go back and say that there is a problem that needs more attention than what is given to it.

Finally, that we work hard to stay in this country that we live in and we want to be able to continue to live and work free of fear of what would happen if we were to leave our house to go to work.

Frank Krentz is the middle son of Rob and Sue. After graduating from New Mexico State Univerity with his Master’s in Agriculture Business he moved back to the family ranch. He stays very involved with local and state natural resource conservation districts and cattle grower associations.

Speakers for the Animas meeting were ranchers Sue Krentz and her son Frank, Tricia Elbrock and her son Bunch Swift, Lawrence Hurt, and Ed Ashurst; veterinarian Dr. Gary Thrasher, and school superintendent Loren Chushman.

Frustration with the lack of security along the Mexican border brought over 600 people to Animas, NM, on March 10, 2016. The meeting called Washington home to hear from constituents. Congressman Steve Pearce along with representatives from Senators Tom Udall, John McCain and Martin Heinrich & Congresswoman Martha McSally; numerous county and state elected officials, and state and federal agencies were on hand to hear the from NM & AZ residents who live & work along the border.

Hillary Clinton says U.S.-Mexico border is now secure

BY STEPHEN DINAN THE WASHINGTON TIMES

D

emocratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said recently that the southwest border is secure enough that the government should now turn its attention to trying to legalize illegal immigrants.

In an interview with KTAR radio in Phoenix, Mrs. Clinton said improvements under President George W. Bush and President Obama, including several hundred miles of fencing, have cut net illegal immigration from Mexico to zero.

“Now I think it’s time to turn our attention to comprehensive immigration reform,” she said, using the term immigrant rights advocates use for legislation to legalize the 11 million illegal immigrants now in the country.

Her evaluation of the border stands in stark contrast to Republican presidential candidates who say the border is not secure, pointing to increasing seizures of drugs and to the renewed surge of Central American illegal immigrants.

But Mrs. Clinton said they’re ignoring how bad it used to be during her husband’s administration.

“I think we’ve done a really good job securing the border and I think those that say we haven’t are not paying attention to everything that was done for the last 15 years under both President Bush and President Obama,” she told KTAR. “We have increased dramatically the number of border security officers, we have added physical obstructions like fences in many places, and in fact the immigration from Mexico has dropped considerably. It’s just not happening any more.”

The numbers back up some of Mrs. Clinton’s claims.

Border Patrol apprehensions, which are a rough measure of the flow of illegal immigrants, peaked at more than 1.6 million in 1999, when President Clinton was still in office. They’ve dropped dramatically since, to about 337,000 in 2015.

Also, the flow of new immigrants — both legal and illegal — from Mexico is so low that it’s offset by those returning home, gaining legal status here or dying.

But the number of Central Americans attempting the illegal crossing has surged over the last three years,

leading some experts to say the border problems have shifted, not gone away.

Border Patrol agents say the new illegal immigrants are drawn by the chance to take advantage of lax enforcement of immigration laws within the U.S., which gives them the opportunity to disappear into the shadows with the 11 million other illegal immigrants already here.

Mrs. Clinton, who will face voters in the Democratic primary in Arizona, has come under fire from some Hispanic activists for having voted as a senator for the Secure Fence Act, which called for building 700 miles of double-tier fencing along the southwest border.

“I voted to secure the border when I was in the Senate. I think we accomplished a lot of that work.

Obviously we always have to be vigilant,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Congress rescinded the fence mandate in 2007, leaving it up to the Homeland Security Department to decide how much fencing to build. The department ended up with about 350 miles of pedestrian fencing, and another 300 miles of barriers designed to stop vehicles, but that are easily bypassed by those on foot.

Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

The View FROM THE BACK SIDE

The Big Gather

BY BARRY DENTON

N

ot too many years ago there was this big friendly fella around town that everyone liked. Jonah was a hit at coffee shops, the feed store, and the liars’ bench.

The man had an infectious laugh, loved to poke fun, and was consistently as good natured as you could get. I would guess him at about six foot tall and probably weighed upwards of 350 pounds. The man’s appearance was always kind of sloppy, and atop his head was a sweat stained cowboy hat that had seen better days.

Jonah was a true desert cowboy and wore his long handles all year long. I suspect every western town has one of these colorful characters. The truth is that on occasion he would go out and work on some big job, then come home until he ran out of money.

No one really knew what Jonah did when he went out of town, but when he returned his pockets were full. If you needed money he would loan it to you, or if your business needed an infusion of cash Jonah would do that too. Many of the town folks would always owe this guy so he was treated pretty well at the store, the saddle shop, and the café etc.

Jonah did not have a family, so his family was his town. I did not know him to ever have an enemy, but what Jonah did have was a cow herd.

Remember, I told you that Jonah’s family was the townspeople. When roundup time came he invited everyone in town to help with the roundup. For cowboys, he would have store keepers, bankers, dentists, funeral directors, and anyone else that would be willing to help out. It got to be quite the social event as the men went to work cattle and all the ladies went to prepare a big meal at the end of the day.

Inevitably someone would bring a guitar and fiddle and there would be a big dance after the meal. Needless to say was that it was great fun for all, unless he hired you as a serious cowboy to actually gather some cattle.

You have to understand that Jonah had one of the worst leases from the Bureau of Land Management. He got the lease for a song as none of his ranching neighbors would touch it. It was very mountainous which was rocky and hard to ride in. The lower part was desert where scarcely a cactus grew.

I don’t remember how many acres it took to support a cow, but the ones it did support never looked real good and were kind of wild eyed. Part of the reason for the wild eye and the high heads is that Jonah only ever had one

roundup per year, and he had one cowboy hired to ride over one hundred square miles of lease land. The regular cowboy was much like the cattle as he never saw another human except about once a year.

For those of you that are not familiar with the cattle business, most ranchers keep checking their cattle on a regular basis so they get used to humans. Also, they normally have two roundups during the year, one in the spring and one in the fall.

There happened to be six of us cowboys hired at this year’s roundup and then we had the town folk too. The drill was that the cowboys would start gathering up in the mountains about three days before the towns people came. There were a couple of large traps at the base of the mountain if you could get your cattle there. Mostly we roped and tied cattle to trees and led them to the traps the next day.

It was slow and annoying work.

By the time the townspeople came the cattle would be better broke to handle. Then we would line the townspeople up on both sides of the desert and take the cattle to the shipping pens with great fanfare. The townspeople liked to whoop and holler so those cattle we just got settled down would become wild again. I will say that the stampede to the shipping pens was always entertaining as a few always got bucked off and hurt. It was much more like running the bulls in Pamplona, Spain than it was like a normal ranch.

When the cattle did get into the shipping pens before dinner Jonah would stand up on this little platform and give a speech. He would tell everyone what good cowboys they were and give an updated report on the injured. During the next week if you went to do some business in town half of the business owners would be banged up and proud of it.

They loved to tell stories of the great roundup.

However, this year was a little different.

Jonah was kind of a sloppy guy and never really paid much attention to detail. His shipping pens were wired together and never very good. The trouble was that with his type of crazy cattle you needed good pens to hold them.

Just as he was crawling up on the little platform to give his speech the portable microphone he was carrying screeched. That is all the cattle needed, they hit the fence on the opposite side from Jonah and of course down it went. Cattle stampeded back to the mountains and you were not going to stop them.

Jonah was a little disappointed and just said “Aw we’ll just get’em next year, let’s eat!”

April 15, 2016

Real Estate Guide

Bottari Realty 775/752-3040 Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY

I

SCOTT MCNALLY www.ranchesnm.com 575/622-5867 575/420-1237

www.bottarirealty.com

Ranch Sales & Appraisals

Terrell Land

and Livestock Co. 575-447-6041

Fallon-Cortese Land

NEW MEXICO P.O. Box 447 Fort Sumner, NM 88119

Tye Terrell, selling ranches since 1972

We know New Mexico and New Mexico needs.

575.355.2855 office 575.355.7611 fax 575.760.3818 cell

tyecterrell@yahoo.com Los Lunas, NM

nick@ranchseller.com www.ranchseller.com

bakercityrealty__1x2.5 4/6/15 11:45 AM Page 1

HeAdquArters West Ltd. ST. JOHN’S OFFICE: TRAEGEN KNIGHT

P.O. Box 1980 St. John’s, AZ 85936 www.headquarterswest.com 928/524-3740 Fax 928/563-7004 Cell 602/228-3494 info@headquarterswest.com

Filling your real estate needs in Arizona

Filling Your Real Estate Needs in Oregon Andrew Bryan, Principal/Broker Office 541-523-5871 Cell 208-484-5835 andrew@bakercityrealty.com www.bakercityrealty.com

521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130

575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax

Buena Vista Realty

Qualifying Broker: A.H. (Jack) Merrick 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com

News With A View & A Whole Lot More...

THE most effective advertising medium in ranching today!

f you have livestock, a product or service that stockmen and their families need, they will find out about it quickly if you advertise in the Digest. Digest readers know value when they see it and they respond rapidly to a good offer.

Before you plan your advertising budget, think hard about how to stretch your dollars and where they are spent the most efficiently. Are you paying more to reach fewer qualified potential customers than you woud receive in the Digest?

The Digest’s circulation is concentrated in the most important livestock producing states:

Bar M Real Estate

Paul Bottari, Broker

Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington and Texas. The Digest caters to the most active readers in the livestock world - who ARE the buyers and sellers of livestock, the ones who show up and speak up. It is the ONLY place to get Lee Pitt’s perspective on the world and how we are going to thrive into the future.

To plan your advertising, contact Caren Cowan at: caren@aaalivestock.com or 505/243-9515, ext. 21

Paul Stout Qualifying Broker

FEATURED PROPERTY 300 Marshall, Grady

Enjoy small town living with room for a few horses. Three bedroom, two bath home with covered horse stalls and pens, village water. $65,000

3879 State Road 209, Broadview, NM 88112

Office 575 456-2000 • Cell 575 760-5461

www.bigmesarealty.com

April 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 11

Missouri Land Sales

139 Acres - 7 AC stocked lake; hunting retreat. Beautiful 2 BR, 1 BA log cabin. Only 35+ miles northeast of Springfield. MLS# 60031816.

82.4 Acres M/L - Horse Lover’s Dream (joins Mark Twain National Forest). Spring fed pond stocked with bass. 4 BR, 1 BA, older home (rented), pasture (rented). 24 miles north of Mt. Grove. MLS# 60034710.

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

PAUL McGILLIARD

Cell: 417/839-5096 1-800/743-0336 MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORS SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

174 acres M/L. Cattle, horses, hunting retreat. Live water year round spring-crawdad creek. 30+ ac open, more land could be opened with brush hogging. Good fencing, 2 miles from S&H fish pay fishing ponds. 8 miles east of Ava on Hwy. 76. MLS# 60029427 GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY CLOSE TO SPRINGFIELD. El Rancho Truck Plaza. MLS #1402704; Midwest Truck Stop MLS #1402703; Greenfield Trading Post MLS # 1402700. Owner retiring. Go to murney.com, enter MLS #, CHECK THEM OUT!!!

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

• 240 acres, Recreation, hunting and fishing. Nice apartment, 25 miles from Dallas Court House. $3250 Per acre.

• 270 acre, Mitchell County, Texas ranch. Investors dream; excellent cash flow.

Rock formation being crushed and sold; wind turbans, some minerals. Irrigation water developed, crop & cattle, modest improvements. Just off I-20.

Price reduced to $1.6 Million.

• 40 acre, 2 homes, nice barn, corral, 30 miles out of Dallas. $415,000.

New Mexico Properties For Sale...

FLORES CANYON RANCH: Located between San Patricio and Glencoe, New Mexico in the Hondo Valley. 3,630 total acres to include 680 acres of NM State Lease all under fence. The property extends south of U.S. Highway to include the Rio Ruidoso River. Turnkey sale to include livestock, small bison herd and equipment.

Nice improvments with two wells and pipeline. Elk, mule deer and barbary sheep.

Price: $4,000,000 TOLAND RANCH: Small ranch property located near Cedarvale, NM in Torrance County. Just 15 minutes from the Cibola National Forest and the Gallinas Mountains.

Comprised of 1,440 deeded acres situated in two noncontiguous tracts separated

by State Highway 42. The north tract is fenced with one water well equipped with an electric submersible pump. A portion of the south tract is not fenced and there is no developed source of water, but several earthen tanks. Excellent grassland.

Price: $432,000 FUSON RANCH: 280 deeded acres nestled under Capitan Peak just southwest of Arabela, NM. Secluded with locked access. Improvements are comprised of a modern modular 1950 square foot home along with a maintenance shop and small barn. Water is provided by one well. Electric service is provided to the improvements.

Private country living with all the amenities. Price: $400,000

Bar M

Real Estate

160 acres grass - Great 2 bdrm 2 bth home - new shed bldg.- everything is A-1 excellent cond. Near Causey, NM. 10 acres w/ 5 bdrm 4 bth home, approx 40 x 100 metal barn - concrete floor & wired, electric motor on 14 ft large door. 4 car detached garage, private well , septic system East of Portales, NM on pavement NM 88, nice view.

80 acre irrig farm uses 2 small pivots, 1 parcel Alfalfa, 1 parcel in wheat, has a decent home and workshop barn, on pavement east of Portales, NM. 2.8 ac west of Portales, NM with 3 bdrm 2 bth home has been home to small animals, chickens and room to raise the kids. This home has just had kitchen and den - living area nicely remodeled and is on Co-op water, vacant and ready for new owner.

Scott McNally, Qualifying Roswell, NM 88202 Office: 575-622-5867 • Cell: 575-420-1237

www.ranchesnm.

Scott Land co.

Ranch & Farm Real Estate

Joe Priest Real Estate

1-800/671-4548

joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

521 West Second St. Portales, NM 88130 575-226-0671 www.buenavista-nm.com

BAR M REAL ESTATE

CONTACT

• 37 acres, Dallas Co, horse barn with apartment inside.

Just off I20 & Mesquite, air port. $399,000.

Phoenix • Tucson • Sonoita • Cottonwood • St. Johns Designated Brokers • Con A. Englehorn, AZ • SAM HUBBELL, NM

Tom Hardesty Sam Hubbell 520-609-2456

1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott – Broker Krystal M. Nelson, CO/NM Qualifying Broker 800-933-9698 day/eve. www.scottlandcompany.com • www.texascrp.com

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

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

JUST LISTED! Please call for details on 176,000 ac. +/- of choice land in Argentina (beautiful land cleared for soybeans & corn, some cleared & seeded to improved grasses for grazing of thousands of mother cows, some still in the brush waiting to be cleared).

JUST LISTED! 11.2 choice sections +/-, in the heart of Central New Mexico’s open, rolling grama grass country, good improvements & water, cow/calf country w/summer grazing of yearlings certainly an option, two mi. of hwy. frontage.

JUST OUT OF CLAYTON, NM - 2,685 ac. +/-, 2 homes, bunk house & roping arena, other improvements, well managed, excellent grass.

CLOUDCROFT, NM - Otero Co. – ¾ miles of the Rio Penasco – 139 ac. +/- deeded, 160 ac. +/- State Lease, 290.27 acre feet of water rights, 2 cabins, excellent grazing, elevation from 7-7500 ft., good access off of paved road.

QUAY CO., NM – Box Canyon Ranch – well improved & watered, 2,400 ac. deeded, 80 ac. State Lease, excellent access from I40.

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

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

UNION CO., NM – Pinabetes/Tramperos Creeks Ranch – super country w/super improvements & livestock watering facilities, 4,650 deeded, 3,357 State Lease, one irr. well with ¼ mi. pivot sprinkler for supplemental feed, excellent access via pvmt. & all weather roads.

SOUTH CONCHOS RANCH – San Miguel Co., NM – 9,135 total ac.+/-, 2,106 ac. +/- “FREE USE”, 6,670 ac. +- deeded, 320 ac. +/- BLM, 40 ac. +/- State, well improved, homes, barns, pens, watered by subs & mills at shallow depth just off pvmt., on co. road.

STATE OF THE ART – Clayton, NM area, 1,600 deeded ac. +/-, plus 80 ac. +/- State lease, home, barn & pens in excellent condition, all weather county road.

CUCHARAS RIVER RANCH, NORTH – Huerfano Co.,CO - buy this well located, choice, grama/western wheat grass ranch & develop the really scenic parts of the ranch for residential subdivisions w/10, 20, 40, 100 acre tracts. 12, 088 deeded ac. +/-, addtl. perks, hunting, fishing, recreation w/a large lake on the ranch together w/ the Cucharas River & Sand Creek. PRICE REDUCED! FT. SUMNER VALLEY – beautiful home on 20 irr. ac., 3 bdrm/2 bath country home, nice combination apartment/horse barn w/2 bdrms., one bathroom/washroom & three enclosed stalls w/breezeway, currently in alfalfa, ditch irrigated.

HIGH RAINFALL! ADA OK. AREA - 3,120 ac. +/- of choice grassland w/houses, barns & steel pens, lays in 3 tracts, will divide!

Trade for ranch and/or farmland in the area between Dallas & Houston & East.

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

SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY 116 PLAZA 101 Bosquecito Road

To place your Real Estate listings, contact RANDY SUMMERS at 505/243-9515 or at randy@ aaalivestock.com

Peaceful and panoramic view describes this location. A 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on 3.1 acres of upland near the Rio Grande River. Close to Bosque del Apache Refuge with birds landing in the hayfields and deer and elk frequent the neighboring fields.

SWMLS #839689 $224,000

Call 505/507-2915 • Fax: 575/838-0095 P.O. Box 1903, Socorro, NM 87801 Don Brown, Qualifying Broker dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

angus

Bradley 3 Ranch Ltd. www.bradley3ranch.com

g•u•i•d•e BEEFMASTER

Annual Bull Sale: February 11, 2017

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

M.L. Bradley 806/888-1062 Fax: 806/888-1010 • Cell: 940/585-6471

SANTA GERTRUDIS

Dan Wendt S

BRANGUS

S

S

Santa Gertrudis Cattle Polled and Horned HERD ESTABLISHED 1953

S

Call: 979/245-5100 • Fax 979/244-4383 5473 FM 457, Bay City, Texas 77414 dwendt@1skyconnect.net

RED ANGUS

R.L. Robbs 520/384-3654 4995 Arzberger Rd. Willcox, Arizona 85643 Willcox, AZ

A SOURCE FOR PROVEN SUPERIOR RED ANGUS GENETICS 14298 N. Atkins Rd., Lodi, CA 95240

Phone: 575/638-5434 HEREFORD

209/727-3335

Phillips Registered Polled Herefords Bulls & Heifers

FOR SALE AT THE FARM

Cañones Route P.O. Abiquiu, N.M. 87510 MANUEL SALAZAR P.O. Box 867 Española, N.M. 87532

575/638-5434

CLASSIFIEDS BULLS ANGUS CHAROLAIS SIM ANGUS HEREFORD

A large selection of two-year-olds, performance records, range-raised and range ready, fertility tested, all virgin. Quality to compare anywhere!

PAT GRISWOLD CATTLE CO Goldthwaite, Texas

817/946-8320 mobile

KADDATZ

Auctioneering and Farm Equipment Sales New and used tractors, equipment, and parts. Salvage yard, combines, tractors, hay equipment and all types of equipment parts.

ORDER PARTS ONLINE.

www.kaddatzequipment.com • 254/582-3000

RED ANGUS

Spring & Yearlings For Sale CECIL FELKINS • 209/274-4338 Email: CWCOWBOY@ATT.NET 5500 BUENA VISTA RD. IONE, CA 95640

Two foolish comments from Interior’s boss and ranching on the Mexican border

Jewels from Jewell

S

ecretary of Interior Sally Jewell recently visited Burns, Oregon to visit with Malheur Wildlife Refuge employees, local officials and community members about the recently concluded 41-day standoff at the refuge.

During one of the meetings Secretary Jewell said, “Well, this is land that belongs to all Americans.”

I’m so tired of hearing that.

Do you think you are part owner of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge? Just go claim your share.

You’ll end up behind bars just like the Bundys.

“This land belongs to all Americans” is a bromide that should be put to rest. The feds control ingress and egress. You don’t. The feds can sell or trade it. You can’t. The feds dictate the allowed uses. You don’t. One can only conclude the feds “own” it, not all Americans. The land is controlled by a political entity and managed for political purposes. Through the political process you may attempt to have influence over the land, but you certainly don’t own it.

While speaking at the Harney County courthouse, and acknowledging that support for the Bundy’s politics has increased, in part, because the feds haven’t countered it, Secretary Jewell said, “The federal government is not about marketing and sound bites. We’re in the forever business.”

Really? If the feds are not about marketing or sound bites, then why has Secretary Jewell requested $3.2 million in next years’ budget for her “communications” apparatus? And that is just for the Office of the Secretary. To that you should add the media budgets for the Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, BLM, BOR, BIA, etc. Millions spent every year to market the department’s programs, including plenty sound bites.

And forever? Try every four years, from one Presidential election until the next.

Parks & people The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports that after nearly 60 years of working together, the National Park Service has declined to renew their contract with Carlsbad Caverns-Guadalupe Mountains

Nat’l Search for Colorado Department of Agriculture Conservation Services Division Director

T

he Colorado Department of Agriculture has posted a job announcement for a Division Director position that will focus the Division’s efforts on coordinating, collaborating and cooperating with federal and state agencies in order to develop and implement positive relationships with Colorado farmers and ranchers particularly in public land use and range management. The Division also assists private landowners in conservation practices.

This position is a member of the Senior Management team, reporting directly to the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner. The Division Director will represent the Colorado Department of Agriculture and its mission in the development of policies and implementation of proposals that will protect and enhance the state’s agriculture land as well as assist Colorado farmers and ranchers.

This person will lead the Department in federal land use and planning, and conservation and natural resources issues that impact agriculture. The position supervises division employees and oversees the budget, policies and goals of the division’s programs providing management and oversight. The purpose and programs of the Division also includes administrative and financial support to the 76 conservation districts; and oversight and administration of the noxious weed, bio-control (insectary), groundwater, chemigation, and weed free forage programs.

The position will be located in Broomfield, Colorado. For a complete job description and to learn more about the application process, visit https://www.governmentjobs. com/careers/colorado/jobs/1363041/ cda-conservation-services-division-director.

April 15, 2016 Association. That Association has donated more than $3.5 million to the parks during that period.

Clearing the shelves and packing their inventory, Dorry Batchelder, one of 11 full-time employees, said she loved the caverns, and tears welling up in her eyes said, “I really love this job.” The board chair of the association, Steve West, said they had run a bookstore at the Carlsbad Caverns Nation Park since 1957 and at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park since the 70s. West claims the Park Service has not been fair in its dealings with the association, citing poor communications and working conditions. “Maybe the next people that come in, they’ll treat with a little bit of decency and respect,” he said.

Why bring this up here? Because this is a prime example of how the National Park Service treats a local community and its citizenry. And because New Mexico’s two U.S. Senators have sponsored legislation that has transferred 95,000 acres in northern New Mexico (The Valles Caldera) to the National Park Service. Unfortunately, the locals there, over time, can look forward to the same kind of treatment.

Border ranching An excellent meeting was recently held in Animas, New Mexico. Titled “Calling Washington Home to the Border”, presentations were given about what it is like to live and ranch on the border with Mexico. Included were presentations on the murder of rancher Rob Krentz, the recent kidnapping of a worker while on the Gray Ranch, and problems with break-ins, theft, water lines destroyed and fences cut. All exacerbated by the Border Patrol policy to interdict miles north of the border rather than deploy on the border itself.

Also hanging over these folks is the issue of federal land use designations. Recall the Wilderness Act prohibits motorized vehicles and mechanized equipment. National Monuments prevent off-road travel and the construction of new roads.

Both designations, needless to say, create great impediments to the Border Patrol and other law enforcement.

There are seven Wilderness Study Areas totaling 145,000 acres right there in the boot heel or close by on the border. Senators Udall and Heinrich have introduced legislation to designate thousands of acres of border Wilderness in Doña Ana County. When their legislation failed to move they successfully pushed President Obama to designate a huge National Monument. Will they do the same in Luna and Hidalgo County, further hamstringing the Border Patrol and other law enforcement?

Taking a different approach is Congressman Pearce, who has introduced H.R. 6478, the Luna and Hidalgo Counties Wilderness Study Area Release Act of 2015. This legislation would return these lands to multiple use and therefore provide reasonable access to the Border Patrol. This legislation, combined with some policy changes at the Border Patrol, could actually bring some relief to these folks. Let’s bring them back into the United States and not abandon them to a no man’s land where the Mexican drug cartels rule.

A mouse, a bird The feds have designated 22 square miles of critical habitat within Colfax, Mora, Otero, Sandoval and Socorro counties in New Mexico; Las Animas, Archuleta and La Plata counties in Colorado; and Greenlee and Apache counties in Arizona, to protect the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. This will affect management along 170 miles of streams and the adjoining upland, with the Forest Service already fencing cattle off of streams in the Santa Fe and Lincoln forests in New Mexico.

The feds have also published a finding that there was “substantial information” the Southwestern willow flycatcher is not a subspecies, and that delisting the bird is warranted, based on “information related to taxonomic status.”

In plain English, it was a mistake to list it in the first place.

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

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

April 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 13

Environmentalists Wield Powerful ESA to Kill Jobs

BY RON ARNOLD

“Another one gone,” began the Lost Coast Outpost’s report in late January.

A

.A. “Red” Emmerson, chairman of Sierra Pacific Industries, announced the permanent closure of its sawmill on the Samoa Peninsula in Arcata, California, resulting in the loss of 123 jobs. Emmerson cited reduced harvests from federal forests and regulatory burdens as the primary reason for the closure.

The shutdown of the last mill on the once-bustling Humboldt Bay was just the timber industry’s latest loss in a long and steady decline resulting from endless pressure from environmentalists and from U.S. Forest Service complicity.

In early 2015, the North Coast Journal reported the 131-yearold Korbel sawmill would close its doors in Humboldt County, California, putting 106 people out of work. In 2012, the Pulp and Paperworkers’ Resource Council released its 119-page “Mill Curtailments & Closures From 1990 to December 2012” report, which shows more than 1,700 nationwide mill closures had occurred in only 20 years.

Continuing Spotted Owl Fallout The closed mills and lost jobs are due primarily to a 1991 court ruling, in which a group of local environmentalists, the Seattle Audubon Society, convinced a court protecting the spotted owl was more important than the robust logging industry in Washington State, Oregon, and California.

The ruling proved so devastating because U.S. District Court Judge William L. Dwyer granted the Seattle Audubon’s demands to use the “regional biogeography” principle promoted by a federal “Spotted Owl Task Force,” which stated, “The duty to maintain viable populations of existing vertebrate species requires planning for the entire

biological community—not for one species alone. It is distinct from the duty, under the Endangered Species Act, to save a listed species from extinction.”

This decision was especially problematic because the “entire biological community” of the three-state area was not even known. Within five years of Dwyer’s ruling, 187 mills had been shuttered, wiping out 22,654 logging-related jobs throughout the three states, and the toll taken on the industry has continued to expand ever since.

Killing Navajo Jobs The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is a radical environmental legal action group that’s known for frequently suing to block commercial, industrial, and personal activities in an effort to “save the environment,” regardless of who gets hurt.

One of the group’s leaders and co-founders, Kieran Suckling, was a well-known activist in the 1980s and has been linked to vandalism and sabotage group Earth First!

From its inception, CBD has sought ways to permanently stop natural resource use, and with the help of environmental attorneys, CBD has successfully weaponized the Endangered Species Act (ESA) against ranchers, loggers, miners, and human activity in general. ESA was written in a way that theoretically allows it to halt virtually any activity or state or local law deemed to be harmful to plants or animals considered to be in danger of extinction, and CBD has taken advantage of the law’s vague and broad language to force extreme action against private industry and private property owners.

Even Native Americans, who are commonly thought of as America’s original keepers of nature, are not immune to CBD’s wrath. In 2015, CBD joined a federal lawsuit brought to block essential expansion of the Navajo Mine, located just south of Farmington, New Mexico. The mine is situated on the Nava-

jo Nation’s reservation and is owned by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Navajo Nation’s tribal government. NTEC had been granted a federal permit to expand the mine in March 2012.

The mine had been established for the sole purpose of providing coal to the five-unit Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP), located nearby. FCPP provides electricity to residents in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Combined, FCPP and the mine bring in $40 million in annual revenue to the impoverished Navajo Nation, as well as provide 800 jobs.

The Center for Biological Diversity argues the mine and associated power plant are responsible for the mercury found in the muscle tissue of the endangered Colorado pikeminnow fish. To fight the mine’s expansion, CBD helped organize a coalition of co-plaintiffs to bring suit against the Navajo Nation—including small local groups, such as the Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and the San Juan Citizens Alliance, and the very influential and wealthy Sierra Club.

Attacks Continue The legal attack spearheaded by CBD secured a Colorado federal judge’s order to nullify the expansion permit. This decision was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit after NTEC lost its appeal for a stay on the lower court’s ruling. Having halted the expansion, CBD has worked to close the mine until a new environmental review of public health and environmental risks from the mine expansion can be conducted.

The Navajo Nation’s sovereignty claims, its agreement to undertake an environmental review, and signed agreements it has made with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fight regional haze—by clos-

SALE RESULTS VOLUME BUYERS 50 Bulls Crawford Cattle 43 Bulls UC Cattle Co 30 Bulls Wellman Ranch 25 Bulls Cervi Cattle Co 22 Bulls Ensign Ranch 21 Bulls Frank Bengoa 20 Bulls Coldwater Ranch

continued from page three

Nevada Nevada Montana Colorado Utah Nevada Utah

BULLS SOLD TO 21 STATES, & CANADA AR, CO, FL, ID, IL, KY, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OR, SC, SD, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY, & CANADA 79 Long Yearling Bulls @ $6,326.58 522 Yearling Bulls @ $5,102.91 Overall @ 601 Bulls @ $5,262.98

ing three of the plant’s five units and installing emission controls on the remaining two plants— has kept the mine open. This could change in the near future, as CBD has once again threatened to sue to halt operations.

Even the sovereignty that comes with being a federally recognized tribe on an established reservation is no protection against a weaponized Endangered Species Act. Ron Arnold is executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise and a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute.

He is the author of eight books, a researcher and editor of ten books, and columnist for the Washington Examiner. His pioneering work on exposing the left’s funding, displayed in the Undue Influence website, led to invitations to testify before congressional committees, resulting in a congressional investigation into the left’s funding irregularities.

Arnold’s weekly Washington Examiner columns have been cited as authoritative in U.S. Senate hearings and the Congressional Record.

Page 14

Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2016

Sheep Organization President Worries About New FDA Rules Washington State Sheep Producers’ president and Lamont, Wash., veterinarian Jill Swannack says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new Veterinary Feed Directive leaves sheep producers struggling without adequate options to prevent abortions in sheep.

BY MATTHEW WEAVER, CAPITAL PRESS

T

he federal Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) new rules for antibiotics will leave sheep producers without a key drug used to prevent abortions in their animals, the president of the Washington State Sheep Producers says.

Sheep producers typically feed chloratetracycline to prevent abortions in ewes before

lambing, said Jill Swannack, president of the sheep producers organization and a veterinarian and rancher in Lamont, Wash.

Sheep producers now can go to feed stores to buy the product and mix it into rations. But the new rule, effective Jan. 1, 2017, says users of antibiotics in livestock feed or water have to follow label directions. The drug is labeled only for cattle use.

It’s generally been accepted that ranchers or veterinarians could use the drugs for medically necessary cases beyond their labeled use in sheep, swine and other minor species not listed on the label, Swannack said.

The new rule is called the Veterinary Feed Directive. It requires ranchers to establish

NLFA Seeking Nominees for American Lamb Board Positions

U

SDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking nominations for the American Lamb Board. Any producer, feeder, or first handler within the U.S. who owns or purchases lambs may be considered for nomination.

There are four vacancies on the board this year: two producers, one feeder, and one first-handler position.

The deadline for nominations for these positions is May 16.

The National Lamb Feeders Association is certified to submit nominations in two categories: feeders and first handlers.

The feeder representative whose term expires this year is Dale Thorne (Michigan).

Greg Ahart (California) holds the first handler position, which also expires this year. Both Thorne and Ahart are eligible to serve another term.

Industry members interested in a nomination for either the feeder or first handler position should contact

the National Lamb Feeders Association, info@nlfa-sheep. org to obtain the required forms. Nominees must fill out a background information form AD-755 and sign the Agreement to serve. The forms may be requested from NLFA or downloaded from the USDA web site: www. ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/research-promotion/ lamb.

Producers interested in having their name put forward as a nominee for the American Lamb Board should contact the American Sheep Industry Association before May 6 to complete the required forms. Contact Peter at porwick@sheepusa.org or Mary at mary@sheepusa. org for details.

Due to an earlier resignation from the American Lamb Board, one additional first handler position is also open.

Nominations for this vacancy are due to AMS by April 15.

Please contact NLFA immediately for more information about this vacancy.

a relationship with a veterinarian to get a prescription for the antibiotics. The new guidelines also require a veterinarian to engage with the farmer to have “sufficient knowledge” of an animal through examinations or visits to the facility where it is managed to make judgments about the animal’s health.

The FDA says the changes are necessary to make sure the drugs “are used judiciously and only when appropriate for specific animal health purposes.”

The concern is that overuse of the drugs could result in disease-causing bacteria becoming resistant to them, according to the agency.

“It’s basically been unofficial at the FDA that they’re not going to pursue these things, they understood they were happen-

ing and they were going to turn a blind eye,” Swannack said.

Now the FDA will enforce the rule, banning the additional uses beyond those allowed on the label.

After the change, there won’t be labeled products for sheep at the dosage necessary to control abortions, Swannack said.

“The only thing you can do is get the whole flock in and give injections every several days, and that’s not practical for large producers,” she said. “It’s not practical animal welfare-wise, to bring these pregnant sheep in every couple days and give injections.”

The change will also affect the swine industry for small producers and 4-H and FFA hogs.

Products exist for them, Swannack said, but the FDA requires

a valid veterinarian-client-producer relationship to obtain a prescription. The new requirements will also be cost-prohibitive, Swannack said.

The industry hopes to obtain USDA funding for drug research for minor species. But even if included, drugs won’t be available in time for the change Jan. 1.

“That’s a long-term fix, we hope,” Swannack said. “It’s not profitable for the drug manufacturers to make labels for minor species — they don’t sell enough of the drugs to go through the regulatory process.”

The U.S. sheep industry has discussed streamlining ways to develop reciprocity with drugs approved for other countries with major sheep industries, Swannack said.

Lots of Lambs – NSIP Helps Lamb Production

“I

f you keep better records, you will produce a better product,” says Dale Thorne, of Thorne Farms near Hanover, Michigan.

A member of the American Lamb Board, which developed the Industry Roadmap advocating use of the National Sheep Improvement Program for breeding selection, Thorne has seen first-hand the benefits of data-based decisions.

A move as simple as buying rams based on EBVs from NSIP flocks has dramatically increased his lambing rate, and provided the framework for breeding for targeted traits.

A self-titled “refugee from the hog business” Thorne grew up in the heart of Iowa and worked his way through Iowa State University shearing sheep.

He set out on a career in feed sales, but soon decided production agriculture was the way to go. When the pork industry bottomed out in the late 1990s, he saw his profits disappear. New to farming and heavily in debt, he knew he had to make a change.

Thorne turned back to his roots.

He bought 600 short-mouthed Rambouillet ewes from Wyoming. “And I woke up in a hurry,” says Thorne. The sheep were off the Western Range, a very different environment from southern Michigan.

“They didn’t know what a barn was. They spooked if you made eye contact with them.” But they were solid breeding ewes, and they gave Thorne his start.

By 2001 Thorne had added Polypay rams to his flock, and in 2005, he discovered NSIP. “I kept hearing about the program and the use of data for breeding selection,” explains Thorne. He understood the concept from the beef and swine end of livestock production, and was intrigued.

Convinced it was the way to go, he bought twelve NSIP Polypay rams from a well-known breeder in Nebraska.

“They were the sorriest looking lot of rams I’d ever seen,” Thorne says now with a chuckle. But they had impressive numbers.

Thorne had purchased the rams with a focus on the Maternal Index, a weighted composite number that factors in growth and fertility characteristics.

Like many commercial sheep producers, he wanted to increase his lambing rate.

“It costs the same to house and support a ewe no matter how many lambs she drops,” says Thorne.

“So it makes sense to get the most out of her.” Along with breeding for lambing rate, Thorne takes advantage of the Polypay flexibility to produce lambs off-season (to capitalize on market premiums) and on an accelerated schedule.

He knew there was validity in selecting for the lambing EBVs, but was still shocked by the results.

“By the time the first progeny were mature threeyear-old ewes, my lambing rate had increased from an average of 1.8 lambs per ewe to 2.1. That’s a .3 lamb increase – in one generation.”

His weaning rate increased by the same amount, and both numbers have held steady for his 1,000 ewe flock.

“If you don’t start with a big number, you can’t

finish with a big number,” says Thorne.

The Next Step With a healthy lambing rate firmly entrenched in his operation, Thorne is now turning to NSIP EBVs to tweak production. “We want a better weaning rate,” he explains. Forty to forty-five percent of his ewes are dropping triplets, but only 25 percent are weaning triplets. Too often the third lamb relies on human assistance in Thorne’s newly built nursery.

And, as Thorne says, “There’s not much profit in orphan lambs.” Milk replacer, medicine, heated facilities, not to mention labor, take a deep cut.

To increase the weaning rate, Thorne is using milk production and weaning weight EBVs in his breeding program. He buys his rams sight unseen from John Anderson of Lambshire Polypays of Wayne County, Ohio, and has asked for animals from the “second tier” of lambing numbers. “If the number of lambs born drops a few hundredths, that’s OK, if we can get the number of lambs weaned to go up.”

The scenario highlights the true benefit of NSIP EBVs – the ability to target production goals for each individualized operation.

“You set your own target,” says Thorne. “It’s not the same as the next guy. I can pick what I need for my situation.”

Along with lambs for meat, including feeding 90 pound lambs to a hungry Mid-Eastern ethnic market in nearby Detroit, Thorne produces around 250 replacement ewe lambs a year, and raises 1,000 acres in corn and hay. Nearly 18,000 bales of hay feed a suburban hobby horse market. His son, Luke, has been part of the operation for around six years, and son, Cody, has just joined up, bringing with him 200 of his own ewes.

“They’re even more into the data,” says Thorne, remarking the boys grew up in a computerized culture. “They’re used to immediate answers. If a question comes up in conversation, they Google it to get the answer.”

And so will their banker. “Margins are tighter than ever and they’re not just interested in your checkbook balance. They want to see production data.”

“It used to be if you farmed, you worked hard and you would succeed,” adds Thorne, “but now you have to work at the numbers as much as the physical labor.”

For Thorne it’s a matter of learning to trust the data – sometimes “untraining” the experienced eye – like his experience with his first load of rams.

“If I had depended on sight, I probably wouldn’t have bought those rams,” he says. “I would have picked something big and well-muscled. But they were exactly what I needed and proved to be successful beyond my expectations. It can be hard to put data against experience and change doing what you’ve always done. But that’s what needs to happen. That’s how you make progress.”

For more information about using EBVs in your flock, visit www.nsip.org and get your copy of the NSIP Ram Buying Guide.

April 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 15

Drug-resistant Genes Spread Through Environment, Not Meat Products First study to track antibiotic resistance in beef production suggests researchers and policy-makers need to switch focus to combat drug-resistant bugs SOURCE: ELIFE

I

n the first study to track antibiotic resistance in intensively-farmed beef, scientists discovered a “startling” lack of resistance genes in meat.

Meanwhile, in soil and faeces samples from cattle pens they found genes resistant to a powerful “last resort” class of antibiotics called carpabemens that aren’t used in the livestock industry. These genes may have jumped from humans or companion animals to livestock, or could even be present at low levels in the wider environment.

Together, the results published in eLife suggest researchers and policy-makers need to switch focus to combat the growing problem of drug-resistant bugs. A current focus for policy-makers is to reduce antibiotic use in livestock to curb the spread of drug-resistant bugs. The team urges that traffic from humans to animals, and back to humans via the environment, should be a new focus for research.

“Our findings clearly show that the spread of resistance is not a one-way street from animals to humans and that, as new evidence emerges, we need to shift focus ,” says lead author Noelle Noyes from the Microbial Ecology Group at Colorado State University.

The lack of resistance genes in post-slaughter meat samples was a big surprise for the scientists, forcing them to rethink the view that it is only antibiotic use that increases resistance.

“While we expected to find fewer bacteria and thus resistance genes, the absence of resistance genes in these samples was still a bit startling,” says co-principal investigator Paul Morley from Colorado State University.

Strict, technology-driven food safety measures prevent pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 entering the food supply chain.

They include high heat, steam, organic acids and cutting off parts of the carcass at risk of harbouring pathogens.

“Our findings suggest the gauntlet of measures to kill pathogens also protects the consumer from antimicrobial resistance genes because they, too, are unable to survive,” says co principal investigator Keith Belk.

“We need to expand our thinking in this area, and develop new and improved methods to better understand how antibiotic use drives a complex network of genetic modifications within entire microbial communities,” he says.

Environmental routes of exposure are much harder to trace and have been largely overlooked by researchers and policy-makers. While many of

us never step foot on working farms, we are physically connected to agriculture via wastewater run-off and windborne particulates. The scientists suggest investigating wind patterns and water flow to see if, and how, resistant bacteria may be disseminated, and how far.

“We may find that such dissemination is very limited geographically, or we may find that resistant bacteria can travel long distances if they find the right currents or the right waterways. In either case, this would be very important information from a public health perspec-

tive,” says Noyes.

The researchers collected samples from 1,741 commercial cattle. The study started in feedlots, where intensively farmed cattle are moved after grazing.

A feedlot consists of outdoor pens where cattle are fattened during their final months of life. Samples were also taken during slaughter and from market-ready products. No previous studies have tracked antimicrobial use and resistance right through the beef production process. The team found no resistance genes to any bacteria in market-ready beef products.

They did discover changes to antibiotic resistance genes in the guts of cattle during their time in the feedlot. The changes could be due to the use of antibiotics in feedlots but could also result from adjusting to a high-energy diet or from the cattle’s maturation from adolescent to adult.

The diversity of genes in their ‘resistome’ decreased. A resistome is the collection of antibiotic resistance genes in a given environment, be it the gut of a cow or a sample of soil or water.

The decrease could present an opportunity to suppress it fur-

ther during the feeding period and move towards the lowest risk possible.

“The next challenge is to identify what is really driving the change we saw and to determine whether these drivers need to be modified and, if so, how,” says Noyes.

“Any changes need to be balanced with the ability of agriculture to produce enough safe, affordable food for a rapidly changing population. What concerns us most is ensuring that rational, science-driven discussion drives progress,” she says.

G N I S I T R E V D A T S E B N E R E TH T S E W N I E VALU CK INDUSTRY! O T S E V LI

Call Ron Archer today at 505/865-6011 or email archerron@aol.com

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Page 16

Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2016

Safer, More Efficient & Profitable Cattle Working with Custom Equipment From custom alleys and “no corner” tubs to four-way diverters, custom equipment is enabling farmers and ranchers to work according to their needs and layout

E

very rancher or farmer works cattle a little differently depending on a variety of factors from herd size, type, and age to equipment/facility layout and budget, yet too often standard equipment does not accommodate these needs.

As a result, a growing number of farmers and ranchers are looking into a new category of custom cattle working equipment that will not only accommodate these needs but also enable safer, more efficient and profitable operation.

Custom equipment, such as alleys and gates, is practically required due to the unique way each farm and ranch is laid out. Such equipment can save many thousands of dollars, for instance, when adapting alley length, doors, or sides to allow the use of existing barns, pens or facilities, which is a vital consideration particularly for part-time ranchers.

From custom alleys and “no corner” tubs to four-way diverters, such custom equipment is enabling farmers and ranchers to work according to their needs and layout with greater efficiency.

Fortunately, the equipment is not only being made durable enough to withstand long-term use, but also is enabling safer operation for the cattle and ranch help.

Custom Alleys Alleys and adjustable alleys are critical for efficiently directing cattle, yet traditional 20’ long units are often too inflexible to suit the needs of farmers and ranchers, who may need custom lengths or door configurations to accommodate their existing facilities.

On a recent university field services project, a custom adjustable alley was chosen over a traditional 20’ unit, according to the project’s supervisor.

An adjustable alley was required to run a large number of cattle through to a weighing station at one of their facilities. They already had a tub and squeeze chute set on a concrete pad, and did not want to tear it up and make adjustments to extend the existing pad and building.

Instead, the project supervisor turned to a custom 15’6” adjustable alley from GoBob Pipe and Steel, a national supplier of standard and custom Cattle Flow™ cattle working equipment. To accommodate the needs of farmers and ranchers, the equipment supplier has constructed alleys from 12’ to 53’ in length, and provides options for the number of doors, door dimensions and placement, as well as side heights.

Since there was no more room in that location, the equipment supplier built the adjustable alley to fit where it needed to go. This

saved many thousands of dollars in adjustment costs. With it, the university can run cattle from 2,000 lbs. herd bulls down to 200 lbs. calves by adjusting the side with its bulldog jack.

According to the project supervisor, the custom equipment supplier built the adjustable alley with two 6’ escape doors, and two small palpation doors for touch and inspection.

At the project supervisor’s request, the equipment vendor also cut the siding down to 3’ on the non-working side so cattle can see better out of the alleyway, as they found this helps cattle stay calmer and flow through easier.

Custom Crowding Tubs Crowding tubs are required to get a group of cattle to walk single file into an alley or squeeze chute for working, such as for shots or de-worming.

The problem with traditional tubs, however, is that most have a single gate, which when it swings closed leaves a large pie-shaped corner in the tub, where invariably a cow will stick her nose and refuse to move. This brings cattle working to a standstill until the cow is coaxed, prodded, or “hot-shotted” along, or the whole

group is released from the tub and brought back through.

So called “cornerless” tubs with two gates, an outside gate and inside gate to push cattle from the tub, have been developed in an attempt to resolve this issue. Yet problems remain with the two “cornerless” tub designs currently on the market.

In one design, if the inside gate pivots toward the center of the tub, it will fully close but leaves a smaller pie shaped corner where cows can get stuck and back up the cattle working process. In the other design, if the inside gate pivots at the exit point, it hits the tub’s sidewall, will not fully close, and will not fully push cows from the tub.

Instead, custom equipment from a company like GoBob takes a unique approach with its no corner tub design. Using a design with three gates of different sizes that rotate and close in sequence when the head gate is closed, this eliminates the tub corner and allows complete gate closure. This drives cattle from the tub into the alley without stoppage, allowing for better cattle flow and safer, more efficient operation.

Furthermore, with the swing of a gate, the no corner tub design has two exit points, while a typical tub has just one. This allows for more efficient sorting of which cattle are worked, further improving work efficiency.

In contrast to typical bolt-together lightweight tubs, the no corner tub’s welded design also allows it to be delivered in one piece with no required assembly and virtually no maintenance.

One large ranch manager in Arizona recently found that a custom no corner tub has helped improve the flow of cattle through his facilities to the point where the bottleneck is no longer the crowding tub but the squeeze chute.

Custom Diverters Efficient cattle sorting of mamas from calves and steers of different ages is key to profitable cattle working, yet to achieve this smaller producers cannot afford costly equipment, such as portable sorters which can cost up to $20,000.

“Up to 90 percent of cattle production is done by producers with 40 head of cattle or less like me, and efficient sorting with diverters can be just as important

to small operators as big ones,” says Brian Freking, an Oklahoma State University livestock specialist, who also raises about 40 Chiangus cattle on his own Cowlington, Okla. farm.

After a lifetime of working with cattle, Freking contacted GoBob with suggested modifications to the company’s two-way cattle diverter, which could help smaller producers like him sort cattle more safely and efficiently in the alley. This resulted in the creation of a four-way diverter that retails for about $1,000, one of which Freking now uses on his own farm.

“In the diverter design, on the left and right are hinged gates that are shut at the start but have the ability to open up,” explains Freking. “In my case, I’ve got it set to sort left, right, or straight ahead in the alley, which saves me about 15-20 minutes for every hour I’m working cattle.”

“Having the operator safely sort cattle from outside the alley with a four-way diverter, rather than having to get inside the alley to sort is safer for the operator and cattle, and can make a big difference to small operators,” concludes Freking.