LMD April 2018

Riding Herd

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

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

April 15, 2018 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 60 • No. 4

Chasing the Numbers

BY LEE PITTS

There is no better place to heal a broken heart than on the back of a horse.

C

attlemen are faddish folks.

I’ve been in and around the cattle business for 50 years now and I’ve seen a lot of fads come and go. Everything from diethylstilbestrol to beefalo. If fads are good they can become standard operating procedure and improve profit and our quality of life. Artificial insemination, Savory grazing, EPD’s and Certfied Angus Beef are practices and tools that were fad-like when first introduced and they have all done a great deal to improve the quality of the nation’s cowherd and the beef it produces. But if fads are bad, like the trend in the 1980’s and 1990’s to breed leaner and leaner cattle, fads can do costly damage that can take decades to untangle.

Bad Fads

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

There have been three major fads, (perhaps “phases” is a better word) that I’ve witnessed.

Two of the three, because they were taken to extremes, damaged the cow business and we are still paying for them. The first major phase was the influx of continental breeds into this country which occurred at the same time that the medical community was urging everyone to eat lean. That phase lasted 20 years and really hurt our industry, but not as much as the 89 different beef breeds that mongrelized this nation’s

cow herd. Although the vast majority of these continental or exotic breeds were popular in other countries, most did not fit the topography, climate and resources of the American west.

The exotic and lean craze collided and colluded at the same time to help reduce beef consumption by nearly 20 pounds per person. It got so bad that many cattle weren’t even quality graded and were called “No-rolls.” I can remember Hop Dickinson, then CEO of the Hereford Association saying that when the consumer bought a piece of beef in the grocery store she was playing

mealtime Russian roulette and had the same chance of getting an edible piece of beef.

For anyone born since the 1980’s it may be hard to believe that there was a time when Angus cattle didn’t dominate. If I showed you the results of the all breed bull sales I attended back in 70’s and 80’s you might wonder how the Angus breed survived. At bull sales they were out sold by Marchigianas, Romagnolas and Full French Charolais.

There are a handful of Continental breeds that survived and are playing an important role in today’s beef business, but it’s

not because they changed the way we do business, but because they adapted to our way of doing things.

The Years Of The Ears The next major fad was eared cattle. Don’t get me wrong, Brahman based cattle are vitally necessary in our business and there are huge swaths of the U.S. where you simply must have some ear in your cows.

The damage was done when cattle feeders in colder climes started feeding cattle with too much ear. (Hardly any mention was made that Montana Angus cattle when sent to south Texas or to Florida swamps in the middle of summer had just as much difficulty adjusting.) The other loss from the eared revolution came when cattle with too much ear were hung on the rail. Such cattle didn’t do any better at grading choice than many of the continental breeds did.

But we survived and now continued on page two

Don’t Take Parasites to Pasture SOURCE: DROVERS

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lies and worms can lower cattle health, which can lead to major economic damage, so controlling them with insecticides and other management protocols is important.

“The biggest thing on fly control is how it matches up with your management program,” explains Justin Talley, entomologist with Oklahoma State University.

Fly control measures are often implemented when doing other cattle work, such as pregnancy checks, weaning or branding. Prior to turnout on pasture for the spring-summer grazing season is a prime time to plan for fly control too.

Horn flies, found nationwide, are the primary external parasite that causes problems for cattlemen.

In the Southern Plains horn flies can start to show up in heavy numbers by April, depending on the weather, and stay until October. “Not only are horn flies a significant pest, they are a long-season parasite compared to other flies,” Talley explains. “Growing cattle gain an extra 1.5 lb. per week when horn flies are controlled.”

Weaning weights can increase 12 lb. to 15 lb. for calves nursing cows that have had fly control, adds Larry Hawkins, Bayer Animal Health senior technical services veterinarian.

It can amount to quite a few dollars added to the bottom line.

“Most fly control doesn’t cost half of the gains seen in weight, so I think it is worthwhile,” Hawkins says. Fly tags are a good place to start with fly control because they are simple to use. A producer can tag their calves or cows prior to sending them out to grass in the spring and get several months of fly control.

Talley would like to see producers tagging in mid-May or even June to get the best use out of the tag later in the grazing season. Hawkins recommends tagging cattle when 50 to 100 flies are present per animal.

The only problem is tagging might not coincide with when producers are doing other chute-side processes or when field work or haying requires their attention. Cattlemen might need to put tags in earlier, which means they will wear off before the peak fly season.

July and August are the critical months for horn flies. Unfortunately, those hot summer months are not when people typically work cattle, making it difficult to implement some fly control protocols.

If fly tags do lose potency in the late summer there are plenty of options: Oilers or dusters can be used during peak season. They need to be located at mineral sites or water tanks where a producer is sure every animal will walk underneath the oiler or duster for fly protection. “I usually advocate this for producers who are moving cattle in a continued on page four

The Meatless Wonder “Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differed from your own. You may both be wrong.” Dandamis

T

he biggest problem I had when leaving high school was that for four years the FFA had consumed my life and then, suddenly, I had nothing to hold my interest. Collegiate livestock judging filled that void. I liked the competitive nature of it and loved giving reasons. I was good at it, if I do say so myself. So much so that my grandpa thought I should be a lawyer arguing before the Supreme Court, but I objected and appealed his decision on grounds that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life looking for loopholes.

I also loved livestock judging because I got to go places I’d never been: Chicago, Fort Worth, Kansas City, San Francisco, Portland and Denver. It was because of all this traveling that I learned something important about myself: I hated big cities.

I’ll never forget our flight home from Chicago because it was my first time on a 747 and because it was a Playboy Bunny flight where Playboy Bunnies served the first class flyers drinks and dinner. I kid you not. We got fogged out of L.A. and had to circle for a couple hours and while we waited drinks were on the house.

Needless to say, things got a little rambunctious, and the Playboy Bunnies ended up being locked in the cabin with the pilots. I think the Bunnies got permanently grounded after that.

One reason I liked giving reasons so much was I grew up in a house where “the views and opinions expressed were strictly those of management.” Judging was the first time in my life I was allowed to express my opinion and the grown-ups had to listen and not interrupt.

My coach, Bill Jacobs, was only ten years older than I was and our deep

continued on page four

Page 2

Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2018

NUMBERS Brangus, Ultrablacks with a pinch less ear, Beefmaster and Santa Gertrudis are doing a much better job of identifying those cattle that have a better chance of grading Choice. Today we are producing 70 percent Choice, not as good as the 93.6 percent in 1986 but better than the 57.2 percent in 2005.

We are in the midst of what I’d call the next major phase and that’s turning our nation’s cow herd black. This is no longer a fad. The only question is, will the beef cattle industry in America look like the dairy industry where you have one dominant breed responsible for over 90 percent of the cattle?

Do Yourself A Favor There are a few fads currently occurring that promise longrange good for the industry. The first of these is the production of cattle that are more efficient in converting grain based diets into pounds. When I went to college in the early 1970’s we learned that it took ten pounds of feed to produce one pound of beef and everyone thought this was never going to change.

Thanks to Grow-Safe units and forward thinking purebred breeders and test station owners who paid the price to install them, we now know there are cattle out there that can produce one pound of beef with only four pounds of feed. Some are even doing it on nearly three pounds! This is better than what chickens and pigs could do when I was back in school.

This is an example of a very good fad that is becoming standard operating procedure.

There is only one problem.

Cow-calf operators are spending big bucks for range bulls that will improve efficiency for cattle in feedlots while the majority of commercial cattlemen don’t retain ownership and therefore do not directly reap the benefits of these more efficient feedlot cattle. Cattlemen do all this while almost completely ignoring the efficiency of their cows, which would directly impact their bottom line.

According to the USDA Research Center in Clay Center,

continued from page one

the average Angus, Red Angus and Hereford cow in America now weighs over 1,400 pounds.

Like bull producer Kit Pharo says, “The status quo seedstock producers have successfully out-Simmentalled the Simmentals. Unfortunately, as cow size has increased, profitability has decreased. It doesn’t matter how big your cattle are if they’re not profitable.”

I think an overwhelming majority of cattlemen would say that larger cows produce larger calves. But that’s not necessarily so. This has been proven time and again. Way back in 2008 Kris Ringwall of the Dickenson Research Extension Center at Dickenson, North Dakota, turned heads when he showed some statistics he gleaned from the Center’s cattle.

Please note, as the cows got larger their calves got smaller!

That’s the epitome of inefficiency! And yet ranchers at bull sales continue to pay more for bulls with the best weaning and yearling weight EPD’s and highest milk EPD’s. If they breed their own replacements they are producing more inefficient cows with each successive generation. Cattlemen have once again done what they’ve always done... gone to extremes.

The Argument For Small Cows David Lalman, an Oklahoma State University professor gathered similar data from trials in Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He came to the conclusion that for each 100 pounds of additional cow weight only 6 pounds were gained in additional calf weaning weight. He found time and again that those extra six pounds didn’t come close to paying for the extra feed to maintain the larger cow. “Wyoming records have shown that cows weighing 1,300 to 1,400 pounds need 9.5 pounds of forage for every pound of calf weaned while cows weighing 1,000 to 1,100 pounds need 7.6 pounds of forage for every pound of calf weaned.” continued on page four

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April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

Page 3

NUMBERS One bull breeder who has pretty much stood alone these last 30 years in warning us about the dangers of BIG cows is Kit Pharo of Cheyenne Wells, Colorado. He has done for cow size what Alan Savory did for grazing. “We were Herd Quitters when being a Herd Quitter wasn’t cool,” says Pharo.” And he must have been doing something right because he went from selling six bulls a year to 900 bulls scattered amongst five different sales in four states, two in Colorado and one each in Texas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

“Big cows do not fit their environment,” writes Pharo. “Your ranch can only support so much growth, frame and milk. Once you go beyond that level, you will have to provide expensive supplementation to meet the needs of your big, high-maintenance cows. Without heavy supplementation, your weaning weights and conception rates will suffer. Maintenance requirements must be met before any growth or reproduction can take place.

“For the past 40 plus years,” continues Pharo, “the status-quo beef industry has been relentlessly focused on increasing production per cow (weaning weight). Although this has provided some bragging rights, it has been detrimental to ranch profits. As individual weaning weights increase, pounds and profit per acre decrease.

“Since big cows need to eat substantially more than smaller cows just to meet their maintenance requirements, this has forced ranches to destock and/ or to increase supplemental feeding. With the cost of land and feed as high as they are,

continued from page one

it is quickly becoming less and less profitable to own those big, high-maintenance cows. Ask your banker if he thinks you should focus on bragging rights or on profit,” says Pharo.

“Since smaller cows need to eat much less to meet their maintenance requirements and since they are able to wean a higher percentage of their own body weight, they will always produce more total pounds and more total profit than big cows – on the exact same acres.”

Using The Wrong Formula As Scott P. Greiner, Ph.D., Extension Animal Scientist at Virginia Tech has pointed out, in the past we have normally associated what he calls “biological efficiency” with pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed, or pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed per unit of cow weight. But we are missing a very important variable in the equation. Biological efficiency should equal pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed PER UNIT OF ENERGY CONSUMED. (Emphasis ours.)

“The goal,” says Greiner,” should be modest size cows with high reproductive rates and low input costs which produce high-value calves.”

Rory Lewandowski, an educator from Ohio State University, has said, that “cow size measured by mature weight has been increasing since the ‘80s and we have reached a point where that size is negatively impacting upon the profitability of the beef cattle enterprise, specifically the cow/calf operation.

The data being used to support this statement came from herds in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Montana.

“It used to be common to use a 1,000 pound cow as an example when talking about beef cattle nutrition,” says Lewandowski. “It’s now hard to find a beef cow herd with an average cow weight of 1,000 pounds.

Over time, selection for larger calves leads to larger cows. The issue is that bodyweight determines the intake of forages and feedstuffs.”

Kit Pharo says we shouldn’t be surprised “that most of the bulls being sold today were produced by high-maintenance, 5 to 7-frame cows that weigh 1,400 to 1,800 pounds. These cows must be pampered to stay in production. What size and type of replacement females will these bulls produce? Like begets like! If you are concerned about long-term, sustainable profit, then thick, easy-fleshing, low-maintenance, 3 to 4-frame cows that weigh 1,100 to 1,250 pounds are plenty big enough.

Even during a drought, with calves at side, they have met their maintenance requirements and are storing up energy in the form of fat. They are ready to re-breed. Cow-calf producers will go broke if they continue to select for the same traits they have always selected for. With calves only worth half what they were worth just three years ago, this has never been more true.”

Do You Have Stayability?

The breed associations are aware of this fad of chasing the biggest numbers. If we’re not careful we could end up with a situation every bit as bad as freezing Brahmans and 3,000 pound bulls with shoulders that look like a Peterbuilt coming at you. So the associations are

now rolling out new EPD’s that address the issue of a more efficient cow.

There are Heifer Pregnancy EPD’s to predict the likelihood of a bull’s daughters to conceive to calve as two-year olds.

The Red Angus breed has Stayability EPDs to predict a cow’s longevity and the likelihood of a sire’s daughters remaining in the herd until six years of age.

The Angus breed has Mature Daughter Weight EPDs which can be used to influence cow size. The Black Angus also have a Cow Energy Value EPD ($EN) and the Red Angus Association now has a Maintenance Energy EPD. We would suggest that to improve your own stay-ability you’d better stop chasing big growth numbers and focus more on your cowherd.

Time has proven Kit Pharo right so you might want to heed his words. “In the last 20 years, nearly 200,000 cow-calf producers have gone out of business. That represents a decline of 20 percent. Most of these operations went under because they did not have enough income to cover their expenses.

I fully expect the next 20 years will be substantially worse than the last 20 years.

“As you might expect,” continues Pharo, “cow-calf producers who are two to four times more profitable than their neighbors are slowly but surely buying out their neighbors.

This allows them to create a business that will support the next generation – and beyond.

Properly done… ranching is a tremendous wealth-building tool.

“We still believe,” continues Pharo, “there will be more op-

portunities for you and your family operation to advance in the next five to ten years than there have been in the last 20 years – but only if you are willing to break away from the status quo, herd-mentality way of thinking. Many (perhaps most) of the upcoming opportunities will come at the expense of those who are unwilling to make a paradigm shift. It is becoming more and more obvious the future belongs to those who are able to successfully transition to a low-input (high-profit) program with efficient, low-maintenance cows.”

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Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2018

Time to Apply for NMSU’s New Mexico Youth Ranch Management Camp

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or six years teenagers have learned the science behind ranching at the New Mexico Youth Ranch Management Camp conducted by New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

Now is the time for youth ages 15 to 19 to apply for a life-changing experience at the June 10 through 15 camp where they will be introduced to the many aspects of running a ranch, from financial statements and marketing strategies to producing quality beef and managing natural resources and wildlife.

Online registration deadline is April 15. Visit nmyrm.nmsu. edu for more information and to register. A total of 30 participants will be invited to this year’s camp with three of the openings reserved for out-of-

state youth.

The camp is held at the CS Cattle Company’s 130,000-acre ranch at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range near Cimarron.

“This location allows our campers to see a real-life working ranch,” said camp director Jack Blandford, NMSU Cooperative Extension Service program director in Luna County. “The CS, a cattle and hunting operation, has been family owned and operated since 1873.”

Collaboration between NMSU Extension specialists, county Extension agents and members of the ranching industry provides an opportunity for youth to learn about the many aspects of ranching.

“We are proud to offer this one-of-a-kind program for the future cattle producers of our

state,” said Jon Boren, NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences associate dean and director of the Extension service.

“What we are finding, from the more than 150 youth who have participated in past ranch camps, is that they have gained a greater appreciation of the science and opportunities in agriculture,” Boren said. “It is also a win-win for our aging agricultural industry with more young people having an interest in going into this type of work.”

During the first four days, the youth compile information necessary to manage a ranch.

The college-level hands-on curriculum includes all things beef, marketing and economics, natural resources and range land management.

At the end of each day, one camper receives the Top Hand

PARASITES rotational system,” Talley says.

Spraying cattle periodically while out on pasture is a possibility for some producers. It requires proper spraying equipment, but can be effective when performed every few weeks.

Talley says you need to pay attention to the weather so the product won’t be impacted by a significant rain event. Always follow the label requirements.

A pour-on fly treatment can be used on cattle that are close to a processing facility and can be run through the chute. “At most you’ll get three months of adequate use,” Talley says. Keep in mind the economic threshold for a second treatment is 200 to 300 flies.

Feed-through products, such as an insect growth regulator (IGR) can be added to mineral during the grazing season.

“The biggest benefit with using IGR feed-through is it controls the immature stage,” Talley says.

The IGR product is consumed from mineral, passed through the animal and depos-

award for their outstanding participation in that day’s activities.

Each evening they are using that day’s information to design their team’s own ranch management plan, which they present on Friday to a panel of judges from the beef industry and NMSU in competition for the coveted team jacket.

“You don’t have to just be in ranching to attend this camp. It offers a wide variety of career avenues,” Blandford said. “I encourage any youth within the age group to apply.”

The camp is sponsored by NMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico Beef Council, New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, Cattlegrowers Foundation Inc. and New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, and several beef industry companies. continued from page one

ited in the manure. The IGR prevents the eggs from growing to term.

One downside of the IGR method is if your neighbors aren’t executing similar control methods‚ there will still be adult flies coming over to bother cattle on your pastures.

“You certainly need to have some treatment on those cattle, such as an ear tag to control adult flies coming from the neighbor,” Talley says.

Still, Hawkins says feedthrough IGR products are good at controlling local fly populations. “If you can kill the homegrown flies in a manure pat before they become adults you’re dollars ahead,” Hawkins says.

Horn flies aren’t the only flies cattlemen need to worry about.

Stable flies and horseflies also cause irritation to cattle.

Stable flies are generally present on the legs of cattle.

The best prevention is to clean up winter feeding sites such as the area surrounding a hay ring or bunk feeders.

“We see stable flies earlier

in the season than horn flies. If you get your spilled hay cleaned up you’re doing a lot to disrupt that stable fly life cycle,” Talley says.

Horseflies are some of the toughest parasites to control because only the females feed and they only do it for short periods of time.

“Even if you just put product on the animal to control horseflies you aren’t really making a dent in the population,” Talley says.

The larval stage for horseflies usually develops in semiaquatic areas, making it difficult to prevent their growth. Many other flies develop in manure or spoiled feed.

Horseflies are important to control, however, because they are responsible for the transmission of anaplasmosis.

“You want to try and repel horseflies and a pyrethroid can somewhat do that,” Talley says.

Spraying every few weeks when horseflies are prevalent is an option, as well as using fly traps.

Early in the grazing season worm control and fly control can go hand-in-hand depending on health programs.

Pour-on dewormers like endectocides are an option to treat cattle for both internal and external parasites.

“My biggest concern with an endectocides is what are you doing with your worm load?

Those are the parasites that are unseen, but cause a lot of problems,” Talley says.

There have been cases where worms have become resistant to a class of dewormer because producers were using a pour-on dewormer as a fly control method.

“Ideally we want to avoid using endectocides just for fly control. They are just an added benefit for getting a bit of early season fly control when controlling worms,” Talley says.

Producers know there are

several benefits to deworming cattle, says Tony Moravec, veterinarian with Merial Animal Health.

Getting rid of internal parasites helps with immunity, which leads to improved feed consumption and conversion.

Because of cattle’s improved immunity, vaccinations overall should work better. Worms are found across much of the country, particularly in high moisture areas. If there are worms present, Moravec says cattle are re-infecting themselves with every bite of grass they eat.

“The focus is treating our cattle, the problem is only 10 percent of the worm population are in the cattle,” Moravec says.

The other 90percent are found in the pasture.

This means the efforts need be on what is happening outside of the cow, along with inside.

“If you can keep your cows clean that will impact the environment around you,” Moravec says.

Dormant worms in the abomasum and overwintering juvenile worms in the ground emerge when conditions are just right.

Moravec recommends treating cows and calves with a dewormer in the spring prior to pasture turnout to help keep the worm infestations down. A long-acting, injectable dewormer is an option to control worms for a longer period of time and cover an entire grazing season.

When cows have improved immunity and feed efficiency, this also benefits the calf at her side and the embryo developing internally, Moravec notes.

“Deworming a cow is the best bang for your buck,” Moravec says.

There are many ways to approach fly and worm control this spring. Choose the methods that work best for your management system.

RIDING HERD continued from page one

friendship was based largely on one thing: I taught him how to shoot pool.

I had grown up shooting pool in my grandpa’s house and had become fairly proficient at it. One time on a judging team trip I introduced Bill to the game and he immediately became infatuated with it, so much so that if a student wanted to reach him after class they knew where to find him: at the pool hall.

In his career Bill judged all the major shows in America and even overseas. It was during a faddish phase where you could judge a class of animals with a tape measure.

As a coach Bill was the kind of a man who let you say what you thought... as long as you agreed with him.

One year, in preparation for a big contest, we were judging bulls and in one class there was a bull who had won all the western shows but I rolled “The Meatless Wonder” to the bottom of the class because as far as I could tell, there wasn’t an ounce of meat on his long, tall frame. He was short an organic compound and had “no acetol”. (Sound it out.) I never bought into the “long and tall” fad, being of the opinion that you couldn’t eat all that empty space underneath an animal.

Lo and behold “The Meatless Wonder” ended up in a judging class at the Cow Palace and I recognized him immediately. (I can’t remember people but I never forget an animal!) I knew they’d start the class with “The Meatless Wonder” but I just couldn’t do it. I wanted to place him dead last but I had to think about the team so I placed him third and my score took a big hit. I ended up placing second in the contest and had I placed him first I would have won the whole thing, but I had my principles!

I ended up with a 48 out of 50 on my reasons for the class so I could only assume the judge hearing my reasons kinda agreed with me. It’s been a source of enjoyment ever since knowing that “The Meatless Wonder’s” real name has never appeared in any popular pedigree. He ended up at the butcher shop within two years, right where he belonged. I’m sure he yielded at least 20 pounds of extremely lean, tasteless hamburger and one very big pile of long, tall bones.. wwwLeePittsbooks.com

April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

Page 5

Is Proposition 65 a Growing Cancer?

BY SHAWN STEVENS, MEATINGPLACE.COM

(The views and opinions expressed in this story are strictly those of the author.)

I

f you ever pass through California, you may notice that there are few places you can visit or products you can purchase which, according to posted warnings, “may expose you to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.” Passed by California voters in 1986, Proposition 65 requires warnings to be placed on any products, including food, which can expose consumers to certain, specified chemicals

exceeding certain established thresholds.

If a product allegedly requiring a warning does not have a warning, plaintiffs lawyers can bring lawsuits against the alleged violators seeking civil penalties and attorneys’ fees. While most companies selling products in California would like to avoid Proposition 65 confrontations with plaintiffs’ lawyers, ensuring compliance has become increasingly difficult because the list of Proposition 65 chemicals requiring warnings has now grown to nearly 1,000.

Although meat products are generally exempt from Proposition 65 requirements because of

federal preemption, most other food products are not so lucky.

In a recent high-profile case, a California Court just ruled last week that because acrylamide is formed during the production of coffee, ready-to-drink coffee can no longer be sold in California retail establishments without a cancer and reproductive toxicity warning. The defendants have until April 10 to file objections to the ruling.

Pure prune juice was also recently targeted because the heat created during the pasteurization process may create acrylamide. Other products falling victim to alleged Proposition 65 violations have included ginger-

Aphis Revises Chronic Wasting Disease Program Standards

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he U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is revising its chronic wasting disease (CWD) program standards to better meet the needs of both animal health officials and the cervid industry. To ensure consistent terminology, APHIS is aligning the language in the program standards with the Code of Federal Regulations.

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), a progressive and fatal brain disease that can affect cervids, including deer, elk and moose. The CWD Herd Certification Program (HCP) provides a national approach to control CWD in farmed cervids. The program is a cooperative effort between APHIS, State animal health and wildlife agencies, and farmed cervid owners. APHIS coordinates with State agencies to encourage cervid owners to certify their herds and comply with the CWD Herd Certification Program Standards to prevent the introduction and spread of CWD. The revisions cover a variety of topics including: adding guidelines for live animal testing in specific situations, clarifying how disease investigations should be handled, aligning with the Code of Federal Regulations’ requirement for mortality testing, simplifying fencing requirements,

adding biosecurity recommendations, and describing the intended approach to update the CWD-susceptible species list.

APHIS also outlines factors for determining indemnity and includes a table that outlines possible reductions in herd certification status that states may consider for herd owners that do not submit required mortality surveillance samples or consistently submit unusable testing samples.

The revisions are based on input from internal and external stakeholders, including scientific experts on CWD and TSEs from the United States and Canada, a working group of state and federal animal health and wildlife officials and representatives from the farmed cervid industry. These stakeholders reviewed the program standards, identified sections for revision, and provided options for those revisions.

APHIS issued a summary of the working group’s discussions and recommended changes to the CWD Program Standards at the 2016 United States Animal Health Association meeting. The summary was available for public comment and 35 written comments were received.

This notice is on display in the Federal Register at https:// s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister. gov/2018-06341.pdf.

Members of the public will be able

to view the evaluation and submit comments at http:// www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2018-0011.

The revised program standards will take effect after the 30-day comment period ends, unless members of the public raise significant regulatory issues during the comment period.

APHIS will accept comments until April 30. Comments may be submitted through the following methods: Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www. regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2018-0011.

Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2018-0011, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 207371238.

Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may be viewed at http://www.regulations. go v/# !d o cketDetail;D=A PHIS-2018-0011 or in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 7997039 before coming.

USDA Economists Track 30 years of Farm & Ranch Consolidation

BY JULIE LARSON BRICHER / MEATINGPLACE.COM

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conomists from the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) have published a new report tracing the impact of consolidation on farms specialization and organization over the past three decades.

The report, “Three Decades of Consolidation in U.S. Agriculture,” by James M. MacDonald, Robert A. Hoppe, and Doris Newton, was released in

mid-March.

Using farm-level and census data, the USDA economists reported that livestock production has consolidated significantly since the 1980s, with the exception of beef cow-calf operations.

Livestock has become increasingly specialized as a result, with 37 percent of all livestock produced on farms that had no crop production in 2015, continued on page six

bread cookies (acrylamide), nutrition bars and shakes (lead and cadmium), hash browns (acrylamide), baby food (acrylamide), potato chips (acrylamide), black olives (acrylamide), natural juices (lead), seasoning (lead), chocolate (lead and cadmium), and clams (lead).

To complicate matters, it is not merely the presence of a Proposition 65 chemical in a food product that may trigger a warning requirement. If the “use” of the food product may “expose” a consumer to a chemical, a warning may also arguably be required. Under the regulations, a “consumer product exposure” is defined as “an exposure that results from a person’s acquisition, purchase, storage, consumption, or any reasonably foreseeable use of a consumer product ....” This matters because some chemicals, like acrylamide, may not be present in significant amounts in a food

product when it is first sold, but may be created when the product is cooked to high temperatures in consumers’ homes.

Relatively innocent products like bagels have recently been targeted by Proposition 65 attorneys, presumably because acrylamide may be created when the bagels are cooked in a toaster.

So far this year, there have been nearly 100 notices of alleged violations served by plaintiffs’ lawyers on food companies and retailers. And, the numbers of alleged violations appear to be growing at exponential rates.

Fueled by Proposition 65, plaintiffs’ lawyers continue to troll the California market looking for new targets at incredible expense to food companies and retailers.

While Proposition 65 was originally designed to decrease the risk of cancer, history may show that it has ultimately evolved into a deadly cancer of its own.

Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2018

Can Meat be Considered Medicine?

BY MACK GRAVES / MEATINGPLACE.COM

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

T

alk about a new marketing concept—meat can now be called medicine. Oh, pshaw, you cannot be serious so sayeth John McEnroe. I have no basis for stating that meat can be considered medicine and certainly no scientific evidence to back up such a claim. However, all the hype of fat being bad for you, as we were told for so many years, and now being told that fat is actually good for you auguries that meat might actually be considered medicine or at the very least it could be called a health food.

Put that in your bong and smoke it all you anti-meat activists!

Meat as medicine I am sure would be and probably will be considered such an outlandish statement that it will garner

more than its share of derision from many corners. However, my point is that positioning meat as a health food might just start it on the road to getting rid of its undeserved and unfounded health-damaging reputation.

Meat as a health food may be too far from perception to be seriously considered. However, something just as bizarre needs to infiltrate meat marketing to shock it into the new reality of promotion to those of all persuasions be they the work hard/ play hard Gen Xers or the texting millennials or those ageing Baby Boomers, gumming their way through dinner.

Stay with me on this and let’s just pretend for a moment that we are that fresh faced, bright eyed, new meat marketing manager who doesn’t know it can’t be done and has been recently charged with changing the consumer’s perception of meat.

This new dragon slayer’s task is to move meat’s reputation away from the one of

artery-clogging, heart-attack causing food that no one in their right mind would ever consider consuming unless of course it was a succulent, mouthwatering rib eye steak enjoyed with a glass of Pinot Noir. But I digress.

Where does this person start on their way to a new meat millennium? My suggestion is to sit this person down with a cup of coffee and a copy of Nina Teicholz’s tome, The Big FAT Surprise: Why butter, meat and cheese belong in a healthy diet. Ms. Teicholz skewers the pseudo-science behind the fat is bad for you argument in a very persuasive way. Her recitations on the poorly conceived and executed science that started us all down the “fat is a killer” road can form a foundation for a most compelling new meat marketing message.

This oft quoted book really does provide scientific detail to support the fact that meat is actually good for you. These

facts presented in a consumer friendly marketing manner are the second task of our new meat marketer. The foundation was established by disproving the bad “science” of fat, particularly saturated fat, and a new one has been built in its place with the science of fat is good for you as its basis. Dare I say health food?

Consumers are hungry for a reason to eat beef and not be shamed by doctors, dietitians et al prescribing a pseudo vegan lifestyle with its protein complement of fish, poultry or just 3 ounces of “lean” meat!

But, how is that message conveyed?

That is and has always been the bane of the meat industry. We are considered stodgy, old school and simply not very progressive when compared to our chicken brethren or nearly any other enlightened marketer.

By contrast, any missive from the anti-meat activists is usually disingenuously crafted and

provocatively conveyed.

Almost anything we say is done so defensively and almost instantly derided by our naysayers. But there is nothing more powerful than facts. It is the truth that will set you free—hallelujah!

Our message conveyance, therefore, must be in venues and on those vehicles that our consumers use—social media outlets in all their forms and glory. We need to get with the program. Our dragon slayer has a new meat message to shout from the rooftops, however not everyone can hear rooftop shouts, but everyone hears and sees social media.

I can just hear Ving Rhames of Arby’s commercials fame snarling in defiance, “We have the meats!”

Mack Graves has worked in animal-food proteins for the past 39 years, specializing in corporate strategy, management focus and marketing effectiveness across the protein chain.

Omnibus Bill Includes Manure Reporting Exemption

R

estoring EPA’s exemption for reporting manure emissions and another delay in the requirement for livestock haulers to use electronic logging devices top the list of wins for animal agriculture.

Producer groups representing the beef, pork, milk, sheep, poultry and egg industries applauded passage of the $1.3 trillion spending bill signed into law Friday.

Several provisions in the bill, which funds government through FY 2018, address threats to those industries that producer groups have been working to eliminate.

The bill includes several provisions that represent major victories for U.S. cattle producers, Kevin Kester, president of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a statement to the press.

“First, we were able to kill the notion that our farms and

ranches will be regulated like a toxic Superfund site under the CERCLA law,” he said.

The bill restores a 2008 rule

by EPA exempting agriculture from emissions reporting under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).

That rule was rejected by a federal Circuit Court of Appeals last year, and as many as 200,000 farmers were facing a May 1 deadline for reporting emissions.

“This is fantastic news for hog farmers,” Jim Heimerl, president of the National Pork Producers Council, said in a press release.

The appeals court ruling would have forced livestock farmers to “guesstimate” and report the emissions from manure on their farms and subject them to citizen lawsuits from activist groups, he said.

The reporting was unneces-

sary, impractical and unwanted by federal agencies and emergency response authorities, he said.

Restoring the exemption is one of the most visible and essential demonstrations of support for U.S. farmers, the National Turkey Federation, National Chicken Council, U.S. Poultry and Egg Association and United Egg Producers said in a joint statement.

“Our deep appreciation for this action and bi-partisan cooperation cannot be overstated,” they said.

The bill also includes another delay for livestock haulers for complying with the electronic logging device mandate. The bill pushes the deadline back to Sept. 30, giving the Department of Transportation time to educate livestock haulers on ELDs and industry time to find a solution to the hours of service rules that limit time behind the wheel, the groups said.

Dairy and sheep producers also praised those provisions

and a few specific to their industry.

National Milk Producer Federation claimed a major victory in language that directs FDA to enforce labeling standards affecting plant-based products that imitate dairy, such as soy milk.

“It’s high time that we end blatant disregard for federal labeling standards by marketers of nutritionally inferior imitation dairy products,” Jim Mulhern, NMPF president and CEO, said.

Important provisions for the sheep industry include retention of language directing the Department of Interior and U.S. Forest Service to rely on USDA for the best science on pathogen transmission and risk of contact regarding bighorn sheep before making decisions that impact domestic sheep grazing.

The bill also prevents the termination or closure of research stations, including the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho, and increas-

USDA up from 22 percent in 1996. From 1996-2015, specialization increased dramatically in poultry and hog production, at 52 percent and 31 percent, respectively.

Other highlights from the report include: • Farm production has continued to shift to larger farms. By 2015, 51 percent of the value of U.S. farm production came from farms with at least $1 million in sales, compared to 31 percent in 1991.

• Consolidation in livestock appears to be episodic, with little change over some periods, interspersed with dramatic changes in farm/ industry organization and farm size. Such dramatic shifts have occurred in the last 25 years in U.S. dairy, egg, hog, and turkey production; consolidation has continued to occur in broiler and fed cattle production.

es appropriations for rangeland research, the American Sheep Industry Association stated.

The American Farm Bureau Federation is also pleased with an amendment to the cooperative tax deduction — Section 199A — to restore balance to commodity markets and re-establish fairness between cooperative and non-cooperative farmers.

It also supports the bill’s inclusion of pilot programs related to agricultural risk-coverage payments and broadband service; critical forest management reform regarding wildfire suppression; and funding for a wide array of federal programs within USDA, FDA and other agencies.

The organization is disappointed, however, in the lack of language that would have allowed the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw the 2017 Waters of the U.S. rule to move forward with their efforts to develop a new WOTUS rule.

continued from page five

Bucking the general trend of consolidation in agriculture, cattle cow-calf operations exhibit little consolidation. On a related note, 44 percent of pasture and grazing land (primarily used for cattle) was on ranches with at least 10,000 acres in 2012, down from 51 percent in 1987.

“One of the distinctive features of agriculture is the importance of family farms; even as farm production has shifted to much larger operations, family farms continue to account for nearly 90 percent of agricultural production,” the authors concluded. “That estimate actually understates the role of family businesses in agriculture, because many large nonfamily farms are part of businesses owned and run by families.”

April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

Page 7

Wildfire Funding ‘Fixed.’ What’s Next?

SOURCE: HEALTHY FORESTS, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

A

s part of a $1.3 trillion government spending bill, Congress recently passed a federal wildfire funding “fix,” a package of modest forest management reforms, and a reauthorization of the “Secure Rural Schools” program intended to compensate counties for lost timber revenue.

As a whole it’s the most significant forestry legislation to be signed by a president since the passage of the Bush-era Healthy Forests Restoration Act about 15 years ago.

Does it provide everything we need to confront the full scope of our nation’s forest health crisis? No. Will it restore employment and economic opportunity to our rural timber communities. It won’t. But the omnibus package represents progress. The tide is turning toward better management of our forests.

Conservation and forestry groups have long sought a solution to spiraling wildfire suppression costs. Firefighting now consumes over half of the U.S. Forest Service’s budget. And when suppression costs exceed the agency’s firefighting budget, it is forced to “borrow” money from non-fire accounts to cover the shortfall. The agency has exceeded its budget 13 of the

past 16 years, disrupting the funding, planning and implementation of preventative forest health projects.

The wildfire funding fix in the spending bill is complex.

And it’s more complicated than the idea of allowing federal land agencies to access emergency disaster funds to cover shortfalls, as has been proposed in the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. Congress opted to end fire borrowing by adjusting arbitrary budget “caps” that are intended to keep government spending under control. It works by adjusting the funding caps to better accommodate firefighting needs during intense fire seasons.

The Federal Forest Resource Coalition reports the legislation provides a new disaster cap allocation for wildfire starting in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 at $2.25 billion, which increases to $2.95 billion in FY 2027. In addition, the legislation freezes the wildfire suppression line item at the Forest Service at the FY15 level to stop the slow migration of non-fire funding to the fire programs at the beginning of each fiscal year. This budget cap doesn’t comes into effect in FY 2020. For FY 2018 and 2019, the bill provides $1.946 billion in fire suppression funding, to be allocated to the Department of Interior and the Forest Service. If this funding, which is

$500 million above the current 10-year average, proves insufficient, the Congress will have to provide additional emergency spending.

Whenever we meet with Forest Service personnel, the wildfire funding problem is constantly cited as a primary barrier to improving management of federal lands. We’re pleased this issue has finally been addressed.

Yet a “budget fix” alone isn’t going to bring firefighting spending under control. We need to dramatically increase management activities to restore forest health. Taxpayers save $6 to $8 for every $1 spent on preventative forest management.

Fortunately the spending bill included some modest forest management reforms to help “treat the disease” of forest neglect, not just the symptoms.

We continue to support solutions such as the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017 that provides a number of tools to effectively ease agency analysis paralysis and obstructive litigation.

But the spending bill does provide some much needed changes. Among many provisions it improves the game-changing Good Neighbor Authority law, which allows states to conduct forest management activities on federal lands, by allowing the repair and reconstruction of forest roads on GNA projects.

It creates a new 3,000-acre “categorical exclusion,” aimed at expediting “Wildfire Resiliency Projects.” It improves the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to allow the creation of fuel-breaks and fire-breaks. It also streamlines vegetation management around power lines, a particular cause of devastation in California.

It also offers a fix to the socalled “Cottonwood decision” that threatens forest projects throughout the West, by clarifying that federal land agencies are not required to re-consult with federal fish and wildlife agencies at a programmatic (forest plan) level when new critical habitat is designated or a new species is listed under the Endangered

Species Act. Turning around decades of federal forest un-management won’t happen overnight. It took several years of work and negotiation, not to mention thousands of your phone calls and emails, to get Washington DC to pay attention to problems on its own forest lands. We are expecting another severe wildfire season and there’s at least 80 million acres of federal forests that needed treatment yesterday. Litigation continues to threaten forest projects, and it still takes too long for the land agencies to implement them.

More needs to be done, and we can’t afford to wait another 15 years before Congress decides to act again.

What is a Healthy Forest? Agrilife Extension Offers Publications the historic range of variability. Change can be determined for Wildfire Preparation, Safety using techniques such as perSOURCE: HEALTHY FORESTS, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

W

hat is a healthy forest?

Regardless of how people view forests, the health of these forests is vital.

But what is a healthy forest?

Healthy compared to what?

By what criteria? There are many definitions and concepts because how one views forest health is a reflection of personal values.

In urban forests or in campgrounds, agents of change, like disease, fire, insects and weather damage are often undesirable. They put our facilities as well as visitors at some level of risk. However, in wilderness areas these same elements are considered desired components of a functioning ecosystem. It is our use or objective in managing the forest that determines how we view these agents of change as desirable or undesirable.

In searching for defining elements of a healthy forest, we might consider a forest unhealthy if it loses the ability to maintain or replace its unique species or functions. One way scientists have assessed whether a system is unhealthy is by comparing current conditions with the normal range of dynamics the system has experienced through the past.

This concept is referred to as

manent monitoring plots, fire history analyses, old historical photo records or studies of pollen and charcoal layers in bogs or lakes. These various pieces of information are then integrated with our understanding of the dynamics of the ecosystem.

The ability of the forest to sustain itself ecologically and provide what society wants and needs is what defines a healthy forest. Maintaining the balance between forest sustainability and production of goods and services is the challenge for owners and managers of the state’s forests.

Ecological: A healthy forest maintains its unique species and processes, while maintaining its basic structure, composition and function.

Social: A healthy forest has the ability to accommodate current and future needs of people for values, products and services.

These components are inextricably linked. Forests cannot meet social needs without possessing the sustained capacity to grow, reproduce, recycle nutrients, and carry out other ecological functions.

Note: Thanks to the Idaho Forest Products Commission for providing this article.

P

reparing for wildfire response ahead of time is one of the most important steps a landowner, whether they are major ranching operations or small property owners, can take.

With the wildfire season really heating up, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is offering several fact sheets to help homeowners prepare for and mitigate wildfire damages.

“We are going to have fire,” said Dr. Tim Steffens, AgriLife Extension range management specialist in Canyon. “But we can better manage fuel loads, the continuity of fuels and defensible space to make fighting the wildfires easier.”

In just one week, Texas A&M Forest Service responded to more than 25 fires for about 30,000 acres across Texas. The majority of those acres burned were in the High Plains, including fires of 4,480 acres, 2,976 acres and 400 acres in Potter County, 300 acres in Randall County and 15,682 in Oldham, Hartley and Moore counties.

But the fires were not limited to that region, as the dry areas stretch throughout the central and western parts of the state.

Other fires included 400 acres inside the city limits of Monahans, 458 acres near Brownwood, 2,500 acres near Levelland and 614 acres near Matador.

Two publications covering wildfire behavior and emergency responses that can help protect property and lives when wildfire occurs were recently released by Steffens; Dr. Morgan Russell, AgriLife Extension range specialist, San Angelo; and Kathryn Radicke, a graduate research assistant at Texas Tech University.

Wildfire Behavior and Emergency Response and Safeguard-

ing Against Wildfire were added to the AgriLife Extension Bookstore, https://www.agrilifebookstore.org, under the search term “wildfire.” Russell also has a Wildfire Ready Checklist fact sheet to help landowners develop a profile specific to their property.

Steffens said last year’s fires might have scared some peocontinued on page eight

Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2018

Justices Wary of Upending Rule That Could Affect Water Law

BY AMANDA REILLY, E&E NEWS REPORTER

S

upreme Court justices seemed reluctant to completely upend a decades-old rule for interpreting fractured high court decisions in a case that could have implications for water law.

The Marks rule states that in Supreme Court cases for which no opinion receives a majority, lower courts should follow whichever opinion represents the “narrowest grounds.” It’s named for the 1977 Supreme Court opinion in which it was created.

At oral arguments, justices from both the court’s liberal and conservative wings appeared to agree that it would be difficult to find something better.

“I think law is part art and part science,” Justice Stephen Breyer said. “If you ask me to write something better than Marks, I don’t know what to say.”

The issue of fractured opinions arose this morning in the context of Hughes v. United States, a criminal sentencing case currently in front of the court.

The plaintiff, Erik Hughes, is appealing a circuit court’s decision to not grant a reduced sentence for drugs and weapons possession crimes. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based its decision on a 4-1-4 opinion that the Supreme Court issued in 2011 on whether defendants are eligible for retroactive sentencing relief.

Hughes asked justices to either reconsider the sentencing issues that were at play in the 2011 case Freeman v. United States or give the lower courts guidance on interpreting fractured decisions. Hughes argued that Marks does not work in instances where justices issue opinions that are different from but not narrower than each other.

PREPARATION ple away from the idea of conducting prescribed burns on their property, but others have learned they are a tool.

“You can have a say about how big and intense the fire is and where it will be on your property with a prescribed fire,” he said. “The more we have prescribed burning, the better we can manage fuel loads and it will make fighting the wildfires easier.”

“Prescribed burning and grazing are two important processes and tools to manage volatile fuel loads in fire-dominated ecosystems, such as the Panhandle,” Russell said. “The best way to prepare for fire is to incorporate fire into a ranch management plan, like you would drought or a grazing rotation.”

The publications provide information to help landowners increase the fire resistance of buildings, develop defensible spaces, and manage fuel loads and fuel breaks.

When wildfire is a threat, one fact sheet offers these steps:

Some experts have called on the court to take the opportunity to completely abandon the Marks “narrowest grounds” test in favor of a simple majority rule.

But Justice Samuel Alito said that while the narrowest-grounds test could “certainly benefit from some clarification,” abandoning it could have “profound” impacts.

“Marks has been the law for 40 years,” he said. “For better or worse, it has had a big effect, I think, on what we have understood to be the jurisprudence of this court.”

Clean Water Act litigants have been paying close attention to how the Supreme Court approaches the case because its decision it may affect how lower courts interpret the infamously muddy 2006 Clean Water Act case Rapanos v. United States.

In Rapanos, which involved a Michigan landowner’s efforts to develop property that was designated a wetland, the Supreme Court vacated lower court decisions that the federal government had jurisdiction over the wetlands at issue. But justices failed to come to an agreement on the rationale.

Joined by the court’s conservative wing, the late Justice Antonin Scalia issued a plurality opinion — meaning it did not receive five votes — arguing that the Clean Water Act only applied to “navigable waters” connected by a surface flow at least part of the year.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the other hand, issued a concurring opinion stating that waters must have a “significant nexus” to navigable rivers and seas, including through biological or chemical connections.

Applying Marks, lower courts have since stated that Kennedy’s significant nexus test may be used to establish the scope of the Clean Water Act. Both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations also relied on Kencontinued from page seven

• Plan ahead to help keep calm, think clearly, and act decisively and correctly in the face of rapidly changing conditions.

• Use news coverage, scanners, telephones and mass alerts to stay informed regarding fire front locations, weather conditions and forecasts, and rate of fire spread to plan well in advance based on current and potential fire behavior.

• Prepare for escape that may be required on short notice.

• Follow instructions of professional fire-fighting personnel quickly and accurately.

• Identify escape routes and safety zones, and make them known to others well before the fire approaches.

• Give clear instructions and ensure they are understood, particularly regarding evacuation procedures, routes and rallying points.

For a complete list of wildfire-related documents concerning preparation, mitigation and recovery, go to: http://texashelp. tamu.edu/004-natural/fires.php.

nedy’s opinion in guidance documents and rules. Those include the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which aimed to clarify which wetlands and streams receive automatic protection under the Clean Water Act. Despite the potentially big stakes for water law, the Rapanos case came up only briefly in arguments when Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that the Supreme Court issues “a lot of divided decisions” and asked if the “Marks problem” was real outside the context of the 2011 sentencing case.

Rachel Kovner, assistant to the solicitor general in the Justice Department, noted that “this same issue comes up” in Rapanos but said the lower courts’ difficulties were best highlighted by the 2011 decision in Freeman v. United States.

She urged justices to leave the rule in place but to instruct courts, when they are having trouble deciding which opinion is narrowest in a specific case, to run the facts of that case through

the multiple opinions issued by the Supreme Court (E&E News PM, February 22, 2018).

Kennedy, who wrote the concurring opinion in Rapanos, was mostly quiet throughout arguments. He asked Kovner one question: whether overruling Marks would be “disruptive.”

Kovner replied that it would, adding, “We believe Marks is the correct rule.”

There’s a twist, though. Legal experts say that if the Supreme Court upholds Marks, it could make it harder for the Trump administration to defend its plans to replace the Obama-era Clean Water Rule with a version based on Scalia’s opinion. Such a rule would likely cover fewer bodies of water (Greenwire, February 6, 2018).

The best outcome, according to Justice Elena Kagan, is for the high court to issue opinions that gain the support of at least five justices.

“The question is, what is the second best?” Kagan said. “Ev-

erything else is going to have some kind of problem attached to it.”

She warned that getting rid of Marks and leaving lower courts “on their own” to muddle through fractured Supreme Court decisions would lead to “chaos.”

“Why vote for chaos?” she asked.

To be sure, the court could ignore the Marks question altogether by just replacing or clarifying the ruling in Freeman.

Of the justices, Justice Sonia Sotomayor — who wrote the concurrence in the 2011 case — seemed most interested in the sentencing issues that were at play then. She asked several questions of the attorneys for both Hughes and the government.

Sitting next to Sotomayor on the dais, Breyer was clear about where he stands.

“I think we’ve done all right with Marks. Leave it alone,” he said.

Livestock Market Digest

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April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

Page 9

The Deadly Truth Most Don’t Know About Mountain Lions University of Alberta study finds mountain lions may be eating more than previously believed

SOURCE: NONTYPICAL.ORG

M

ountain lions, the largest members of the cat family in North America, may be heartier eaters than some researchers originally estimated.

“One of the most interesting things we found was how much more prey they kill in summer,” said Kyle Knopff, lead author of a three-year Canadian mountain lion study that was recently published in the Journal of Wildlife Management. “Just how focused they become on young of the year ungulates was surprising.”

GPS aids study Knopff is basing his conclusions on data collected from more than 1,500 kill sites while tracking 54 cougars with GPS collars. The collars allowed the University of Alberta researchers, including his wife Aliah, to move in quickly after a kill to identify what was taken and by which lion.

In the journal article Knopff writes that some previous studies “may have failed to identify higher kill rates for large carnivores in summer because methods in those studies did not permit researchers

to locate many neonates or because sample size was too small.”

The use of GPS collars enabled Knopff and his colleagues to collect more data.

As a result, he found that mountain lions killed more deer, elk and moose during the summer by focusing on juveniles and actually killed fewer animals in winter. The information contradicts previous studies conducted in Idaho.

“The Idaho estimates differed from our summer estimates by as much as 365 percent in terms of frequency of killing and 538 percent in terms of prey biomass,” Knopff wrote. “Because kill rate fundamentally influences the effect predators have on their prey, the discrepancy between studies represents a substantial difference in the capacity for cougars to impact ungulates.”

Built to kill The study was conducted over 10 years in west-central Alberta, including the Bow Valley, Jasper National Park, portions of Banff National Park and in Clearwater County east of Banff. The terrain of the study area was a mixture of lodgepole

pine and spruce forests at elevations ranging from 2,500 to 9,300 feet. The mountain lions’ prey included deer, elk, bighorn sheep, coyotes, feral horses, beaver and porcupines.

Cougars aren’t easy creatures to study.

The secretive animals range widely to hunt - 250 to 600 square miles for males, 60 to 125 square miles for females.

Adult male cougars can weigh 140 to 165 pounds. One male cougar in Knopff’s study tipped the scales at 180 pounds and primarily fed on moose and feral horses. Females typically weigh around 100 pounds. From nose to tail the big cats can measure 6.5 to 10 feet long. The average lifespan for a male is 8 to 10 years, 12 to 14 for females.

Great leapers and sprinters, cougars kill by latching onto their prey with their front claws and powerful forelegs and then biting the windpipe or spine along the neck with their large canine teeth. For smaller prey, lions may crush the animal’s skull. On rare occasions lions have been known to attack humans.

“Our kill rate estimates indicate that adult cougars are highly effective preda-

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TURKEY TRACK RANCH – First time offering of one of the largest ranches in the southwest, comprised of over 253,000 acres to include 37,000 deeded acres. Some mineral included. Price Reduced: $17,500,000 BLACK DOG RANCH – Central NM, near Corona in Lincoln County. Comprised of 314 deeded acres with nice new of remodeled improvements. Good elk, mule deer and turkey hunting. Comes with elk tags.

Price: $565,000 DOUBLE L RANCH – Central NM, 10 miles west of Carrizozo, NM. 12,000 total acres; 175 AUYL, BLM Section 3 grazing permit; Water provided by 3 wells and buried pipeline. Improvements include house and pens. Price Reduced: $1,150,000 X T RANCH – Southeastern NM cattle ranch 40 miles northwest of Roswell, NM on the Chaves/Lincoln County line. Good grass ranch with gently rolling grass covered hills. 8,000 total acres, 200 AUYL grazing capacity. Partitioned into four pastures watered by 2 wells with pipelines. Call for brochure. Price: $1,750,000 SOUTH BROWN LAKE RANCH – Nicely improved cattle ranch located northwest of Roswell, NM. 5,735 total acres to include 960 acres deeded. 164 A.U. yearlong grazing capacity. Modern residence, bunkhouse, shop and feed barn. Three wells and buried pipeline. Excellent grass country. Price: $1,300,000 L-X RANCH – Southeastern NM just ten minutes from Roswell, NM with paved gated and locked access.

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Price: $900,000

tors, killing at rates at the upper end of those recorded for wolves in both frequency and biomass,” Knopff wrote.

In one prey encounter they studied, Knopff said a cougar brought down a feral horse less than 30 yards from where it attacked.

“I think our study showed they are very efficient predators,” he said.

Because of their adaptability, cougars are found from the Yukon to the Andes of South America, a larger range than any other big mammal in the Americas.

Study findings In studying cougar kill sites, the recontinued on page eleven

SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY On the Plaza

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Qualifying Broker

505-507-2915 cell 505-838-0095 fax

116 Plaza PO Box 1903 Socorro, NM 87801 www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com

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WE NEED LISTINGS ON ALL TYPES OF their individual, undivided ownership of 6,423.45 AG PROPERTIES LARGE OR SMALL! ac. +/- w/undivided ownership ranging from 38

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■ SOUTH CONCHAS RANCH – San Miguel Co., NM - 9,135 ac. +/- (6,670 +/- deeded, 320 +/- BLM, 40 +/- State Lease, 2,106 +/- “FREE USE”) well improved, just off pvmt. on co. road., two neighboring ranches may be added for additional acreage!

■ ARROYO LARGO – 22,850 ac. +/- located in Lincoln, Chaves & DeBaca Counties, NM, well improved w/two homes, working pens & fences, well-watered by wells & pipelines, open rolling country w/numerous draws & arroyos provide for year-round cow/calf operation or seasonal yearling operation.

■ RANCHO AL OESTE DE LA MONTANA – located on the West face of Tucumcari Mountain – Tucumcari, NM, 560 ac. +/- deeded land w/80 ac. +/- NM State Lease, outstanding views & location greatly enhances the beauty of the 3 bdrm., 2 bath home w/large unattached garage & large barn.

■ OTERO CO., NM – 120 scenic ac. +/- on the Rio Penasco is surrounded by Lincoln National Forest lands covered in Pines & opening up to a grass covered meadow along 3,300 feet +/- of the Rio Penasco. This property is an ideal location to build a legacy mountain getaway home.

■ GREAT STARTER RANCH – Quay Co., NM – well improved & watered, 2,400 ac. +/-deeded, 80 ac. +/- State Lease, excellent access from I-40.

■ OPORTUNITY TO OWN A PIECE OF AN OLD WEST RANCH – Guadalupe Co., NM - There are multiple owners of the Frontier Ranch consisting of

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Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

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When Wildland Fire Fighting Started and How It Has Progressed

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Evolution of Wildland Fire Fighting (Part 1)

BY RALPH POPE, SILVER CITY, NEW MEXICO

www.kaddatzequipment.com • 254/582-3000

AAALivestockMarket Digest@gmail.com

April 15, 2018

Paleontological studies indicate that fire has played a role in the development of plant communities on the North America continent for as long as vegetation has existed on the continent. Many archeological studies indicate that wildfires were a threat to humans while also being used as a tool that benefited humans on the North America continent long before European man arrived.

The movement of European migrants to North America brought an increase in the role fire played in people’s live; thus, an increase in the role fire played in the plant communities that occupied the continent. As the North American continent was explored and occupied by settlers, fire was increasingly used for many purposes across the landscape.

This increase in the use of fire also meant wildfires became a greater threat to people’s wellbeing.

Government did not initially play a role in either the use of, or suppression of, fires during the initial years of rapid movement of people to the east coast of North America, but that soon changed. As people started to build and crowd into cities it became obvious that a coordinated effort to suppress unwanted fires in the communities was needed. This effort was led by local governments who started organizing firefighting forces and accumulating equipment to battle unwanted fires in their communities. While the creation of local fire departments that protected the towns and cities in the East occurred, no real organized efforts to suppress wildland fires in the lightly populated or un-inhabited wildlands of the West would not take place for many years.

Many “Forest Fires” and “Prairie Fires” were documented throughout early to mid1800’s as the public domain lands were being explored and settled. Due to no governmental entity tracking and managing the on-the-ground activities on the public domain lands, wildfires were left to run their course. It was the excessive harvesting of forage and timber from the public domain that led to the substantial decrease in wildfires in the late 1880’s and early 1900’s.

The mass cutting of timber on the public domain lands during the 1800’s led to setting aside of the “Forest Reserves” and other highly valued lands (i.e.

Yellowstone National Park) in the West during the latter years of the 1800’s. The passage of the Forest Reserve

Act of 1891, Organic Act of 1897 and the Transfer Act of 1905 established the US Forest Service as the first actual on-the -ground federal agency with a mission to manage vast “Reserved” lands in the West.

Prior to these acts the Department of Interior’s, General Land Office oversaw the “Public Domain” lands, which were for the most part being managed as lands open to almost un-restricted use. During the un-restricted use period of the public domain lands, wildfires were suppressed by the local users of the land if these individuals were capable to suppress the wildfire and felt there was a need to do so.

In 1910 the US Forest Service was still in its infancy and was deeply involved in its efforts to stop the unregulated use of the newly designated

Wildfires were suppressed by the local users of the land if these individuals were capable to suppress the wildfire and felt there was a need to do so.

“National Forest” lands. Forest Rangers had been hired from the local areas and an elite group of professional foresters were in place as Forest Supervisors in the headquarters of the newly created National Forest. It was during the late summer of 1910 that the Forest Service would experience an event that sparked the modern wildfire fighting era that still exist today.

The following quote from the back cover of the book The Big Burn by Timothy Egan captures the event that is credited by many for initiating the US Forest Service’s ongoing role as the nation’s leading federal wildland firefighting agency: On the afternoon of August 20,1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forest of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men – college boys, day workers, immigrants from mining camps – to fight the fire.

But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them.

The Big Burn was a onetime

event that resulted in the destruction of millions of acres of forested landscapes, the total annihilations of several small communities, the destruction of an untold amount of property, and the death of many people. The predictable response to this event was to call for increased prevention and suppression of wildland fires.

While fighting forest fires was already part of the mission of the Forest Service the big burn brought firefighting to the forefront of the agency and made it a high priority for not only the US Forest Service, but for many other state and federal agencies.

The Big Burn also prompted major battles over funding and questioned the real mission of the US Forest Service. The Big Burn forced the politicians in Washington DC to reassess and reaffirm the mission of the newly created Forest Service.

The Forest Service had been created to stop the exploitation of the once public domain lands that had been set aside as Forest Reserves/National Forest. Big business and large investors were not happy with their un-inhibited access to the timber and grazing lands in the West being taken away. John Muir and like-minded preservationist had been hard at work trying to end the exploitation of the public domain lands by what they considered to be big corporations and foreign investors. The Forest Service found itself pitted against both opposing powerful entities and has remain the primary agency that has dealt with their concerns.

Following the Big Burn, the resource use battles started to subside, and the public started to recognize and accept the Forest Service as a legitimate and creditable land management agency. The Forest Service mission was focused on encouraging the management and proper use of the National Forest lands by the local citizens. A livestock grazing permit process and timber sale regulations were put in place and the Forest Service took control of the management of the plant communities and ecosystem that made up the National Forest. The Forest Service also established and managed their own research branch that addressed not only the production of timber and forage but also was deeply involved in all aspects of wildland fire.

Early-on the Forest Service also looked to the “Land Grant” universities to provide research and new knowledge that would play a key role in the evolving management of the National Forests and other wildlands located in the West. The decontinued on page eleven

April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

EVOLUTION velopment of various land and resource management related programs at these universities provided highly trained and skilled employees that kept the Forest Service on the leading edge of managing the nation’s natural resources.

The events of 1910 and the political battles of the following years initiated many of the policies and procedures that would be followed by the Forest Service long into the future.

Cooperation with the various state governments dealing with the prevention and suppression of wildland fires became established with the passage of the Weeks Law in March 1911, provisions for the collection and use of cooperative fund for the improvement of the nation’s National Forest was established in the Cooperative Funds Act of June 1914, and the Forest Service was given the authority to collect funds from the purchasers of National Forest timber for the purpose of brush disposal in the Act of August 1916.

In the years following 1910 the Forest Service evolved into a highly respected federal agency. Even though there were many political battles that led to the formation of the Forest Service, for many years following 1910 the Forest Service kept itself free from being over-run by political influences and the corruption of political correctness. It was not until the 1980’s when the radical environmental movement swept through the nation that the Forest Service start getting embroiled in politics and the need for being politically correct.

For many years, due to the Forest Service’s mission to protect and conserve the nation’s watersheds and to provide a continuous supply of timber, the protection of and appropriated use of native vegetation became the top priority of the Forest Service. This meant that the various plant communities that made up the National Forests were managed by people who had degrees in Forestry, Soil Science, Watershed Management, or Rangeland Management. These people were also the ones who provided the leadership and knowledge base for the firefighting role of the Forest Service. These professional employees were trained and held qualifications as wildland firefighters even though their main responsibilities were to manage the various other programs within the Forest Service.

These professional employees became the reserve fire fighters that were modelized when a wildfire grew past the level that the initial attack firefighters could handle.

While the Forest Service was able to develop the nation’s, if not the worlds, premier fire prevention and suppression program over the years, most of the individuals employed in the primary fire prevention and suppression positions were not trained in, nor did they have much experience in, managing plant communities or ecosystems. Until recently, wildland

continued from page ten

firefighting was considered a seasonal task that occurred during the spring and summer when the vegetation was prone to be burn. Until recently, all but the upper level fire prevention and suppression positions were seasonal technician positions. It is fair to say that while the Forest Service past wildland firefighting capabilities were second to none, the Forest Service primary wildland fire fighting personnel were not professional vegetation management employees and should not have been tasked with managing the plant communities and ecosystems that makeup the nation’s National Forest as occurs today.

Where Does the Concept of Healthy Ecosystems Fit into Past and Current Fire Management?

It is very disingenuous for the non-governmental environmental organizations and the state and federal government land management agency leaders to claim that past vegetation management practices

Until recently, wildland firefighting was considered a seasonal task that occurred during the spring and summer when the vegetation was prone to be burn. and excessive wildfire suppression is the leading cause of the current rapid increase in catastrophic wildfires. If anything, the abandonment of years of research and the well tested science-based management of the National Forest and other state and federal ecosystems has led to the accumulation of fuels and the huge increase of mega wildfires that are now becoming the new norm.

Past rangeland management and the grazing of livestock did manage and substantially reduce the level of accumulated herbaceous fuels. Timber management and the harvesting of woody biomass did manage and reduce the level of accumulated woody fuels in the past where it was allowed to occur.

The herbaceous and woody biomass management activities of the past provided a means to remove wildland fuels in a very controlled, orderly and safe manner and could be increased or decreased based on current climatic conditions. Livestock grazing, and the harvesting of wood products returned substantial revenue to the Forest Service that was used to finance the reduction of fuels in the past. The ability for federal and state land management agencies to generate funding

to finance critical work, as use to occur, is a radical change from the huge financial burden that is now being place on the American Taxpayer today.

Prescribed burning that involves the well planned and managed use of fire was funded and carried out as a tool of timber, rangeland, watershed, and wildlife management. In the past these management ignited fires were analyzed as part of the vegetation management plans that were developed by the professional vegetation managers. These plans provided clear goals and objectives for the burn which were ensured to occur through very specific burn prescriptions.

National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) analysis was completed and the affected forest users along with the public had an opportunity to comment on and influence the use of management ignited fire. This level of outside agency input and involvement no long exist for most acres burned on federal lands today.

The rampant environmental litigation of the 1980’s and 1990’s totally devastated the harvesting of timber and greatly impacted the grazing of livestock. Shutting down the harvesting of the nation’s natural resources from federal and state land was the goal of the radical environmental community. This goal was accomplished through their filing of numerous lawsuits. The litigation filed by the radical environmental community has resulted in the abandonment of the years of research and the science-based management of federal and state-owned lands. In addition to litigation, the designation of large tracts of land as “Wilderness” in the 1970’s and 1980’s removed fuel and biomass management from large areas that now serve as places for wildfires to start and grow into catastrophic events.

What is not recognized by most people who care about the federal and state lands is this litigation and designation of Wilderness has not only halted the harvesting of federal natural resources but has also led to the destruction of many unique and irreplaceable ecosystems. The rampant litigation filed by the radical environmental community has set the management of federal and state lands and resources back to where they were in the late 1800’s. The result of the rampant environmental litigation has led to a rash of catastrophic wildfires that have destroyed the plant communities and ecosystems on millions of acres across the West. The only difference between what was occurring in the late 1800’s and now is the destruction of large expanses of plant communities and ecosystems in the past was due to exploitation of the natural resources and now is due to the exploitation of political power and the control of the public lands. Both circumstance have yield the greedy participants large sums of money and power.

Page 11

Jauer Dependable Genetics 41st Annual Angus Bred Female & Bull Sale Results

J

auer Dependable Genetics had another successful production sale on January 27th in Hinton, Iowa.

The weather was nice and buyers came from 10 states to purchase cattle.

Sale Results: 164 head, gross - $436,350 26 spring bred cows, avg. - $2,562 10 fall bred cows, avg. - $2,605 100 commercial heifers, avg. - $2,021 28 two year old & mature bulls, avg. - $5,059 Volume Buyers 7 bred cows - David Lickteig, Fremont, NE 3 fall pairs - Shelly Valentin, Glenvil, NE 6 bulls - Robert Ellsworth, Ft. Thompson, South Dakota 32 commercial heifers - George Gersema - Meridian, Idaho High sellers: Spring bred cow – lot 3, Jauer Storm 9013 2520 $3,500 sold to KVK Land and Cattle in Missouri Fall bred cow w/calf - Lot 46, Jauer 1036 Nite Wat 144 4263 $2,800 sold to C & J Harpenau Cattle in Iowa Commercial heifer – lot 128 $2,750 sold to Andrew & Kayla Smidt in Nebraska Two year old bull – lot 163, Jauer Mitchell 8118 676 $12,500 sold to Bobby Ellsworth in South Dakota Cattle sold into 10 states - IA, CO, ID, KS, MN, MO, NE, OK, SD, & WI

LIONS searchers publicized a couple of interesting details. One is that that female mountain lions with kittens kill more deer; the other is that adult male lions kill larger but fewer animals.

“We had one male cougar kill 18 moose in less than a year,” Knopff said.

Based on the Canadian data, the cougars killed on average .8 ungulates (mainly whitetail deer and moose) a week, an average of about 18 pounds a day. That statistic varied widely, though, based on the individual - from a low of .24 ungulates to a high of 1.38, or 18 to 41 pounds a day.

Those ungulates targeted tended to be young of the year or adults with yearlings, largely because they were easier to subdue.

Deer made up more than 75 percent of the diet for adult female lions in winter and summer. Adult males had a more varied diet, concentrating on moose (36 percent) in the summer and deer (44 percent) in the winter. All told, adult males targeted large ungulates for 62 percent of their diet. Subadult lions also ate more deer than other species, but like human teenagers they also varied their diet more opportunistically than adults.

On average, adult males killed an estimated 10,300 pounds of biomass annually compared to 9,400 pounds killed by females with young kittens.

Humans vs. cougars Aliah Knopff said her portion of the study focused more on cougar-human interactions

continued from page nine

and the lion’s habitat selection.

She said that as people have continued to build in more remote areas, cougars have had to adapt.

“These are actually quite adaptable carnivores,” she said, from changing their movements to become more nocturnal and avoid humans, to finding undisturbed islands within development to live in such as along pipelines or well sites. The same can’t be said for many other carnivores.

These more urban lions are mainly limited by human tolerance, she said. The people in rural Alberta who were interviewed for the study valued cougars highly, but not if they were killing pets or livestock.

“That’s the challenge for cougar conservation when the backyard is becoming more overlapping,” she said.

Lion hunting is allowed in many Western states, including Montana and Wyoming.

Hunters track and tree the big cats with hounds. Cougar kills are carefully regulated by state wildlife agencies.

Knopff writes that the Canadian study could be used by game managers to better calculate mountain lions’ take of game animals and in turn reduce lion numbers to benefit deer, elk and moose populations. For example, hunting female cougars could reduce the number of deer taken in a specific area.

But such management can also produce unpredictable outcomes, he added. A lion population that is younger may lead to increased confrontations with humans.

Page 12

I Was Only Trying to Help

I

t is a wonder that some vet students don’t get discouraged. I don’t mean from the grueling hours of study, the four years without sleep or the daunting specter of trying to cram ten metric tons of knowledge into a six-ounce brain.

No, I mean when the student first begins to realize that despite all their skill, mental prowess and cow savvy, even the lowliest animal can reduce you to bumbling klutz.

Livestock Market Digest

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

Young Bruce was an enthusiastic vet student who spent his holidays and summers at Dr. Lionel’s clinic. He showed up one fine afternoon during spring break and asked Doc if he could go on call with him.

Bruce dressed in his finest and sporting a new straw hat. He was anxious to observe and assist, if Doc needed it.

Off they went to check on a horse with the vague complaint of bein’ touchy about the head. They arrived at the address on the outskirts of town. The owner, a lady, explained as they walked around

the back of the house that they’d had the horse a month and wondered if he had an ear infection.

Standing ankle deep in the sprouting pigweed was a scruffy little stallion. He stood 13 hands and maybe weighed 800 lbs. He was tethered on a 25-foot rope and had mowed weeds in a fifty-foot circle.

“He’s an Adopt-A-Horse,” she said. They’d named him Sparky.

Bruce, eager to help, untied the tether. Doc gathered his thermometer and stethoscope and stood visiting with the

April 15, 2018

owner. They watched Bruce gently work his way up the rope. The horse eyed him like a prisoner watches the hangman. Just as Bruce was reaching for the halter the stallion took a savage bite at him! His teeth locked onto the new Resistol and jerked it off his head!

Sparky reared and pawed.

Bruce fell back. Sparky wheeled and raced toward the back fence. “It’s only an acre lot,” the lady said encouragingly. Bruce caught the rope at the twenty-foot mark and was catapulted to his feet! He hung on as they coursed around, between and through the truck camper up on blocks, the boat covered with blue plastic, the tilting hay pile, aluminum storage shed, old appliances, sheep wire, pile of posts and collection of ancient farm implements. Sparky was finally yanked to a halt when his rope

tangled in the remains of an old pickup bed.

Bruce staggered from the bone yard streaked and tattered. He lost his glasses and his straw hat looked like a regurgitated cud.

While Doc was prescribing a treatment she could put in the feed, the owner asked, “Since you’re here could you put my dog to sleep?” Doc agreed and returned from his vet truck with the euthanasia solution to find Bruce, trying to regain his lost dignity, holding the dog in his arms.

The lady explained her reasons and said goodbye to the dog then remarked, “and another thing, every time I picked up that dog it peed on me.”

As she spoke Bruce felt the warmth soaking down the front of his shirt. www.baxterblack.com

USDA Announces More Local Control for School Meal Operations

U

.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Steve Censky in early March announced two new efforts to provide states and school districts with additional flexibility and support to operate more efficient school meal programs. Censky made the announcement during a speech at the School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

Child Nutrition Hiring Flexibility Rule In 2015, USDA established education and training requirements for nutrition professionals as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. While this strengthened many school meal programs, some small school districts faced challenges finding qualified applicants to direct their local food service operation.

Today’s proposal would provide much-needed relief for school districts with less than 2,500 students, allowing them more flexibility in the hiring of new school nutrition program directors.

“Small and rural school districts will no longer have to overlook qualified food service professionals because of one-size-fits-all standards that don’t meet their needs,” said Censky. “We trust our local partners to hire talented school nutrition program directors who will manage the meal service in a way that protects the health and well-being of students.”

USDA is providing a 60-day public comment period and will then develop a final rule that responds to the needs of partners and stakeholders.

Child Nutrition Food Crediting Request for Information To support states’ efforts to improve program integrity, USDA also rolled out a suite of customizable resources to help local school districts improve the accuracy of their school meal application processes. These resources include support for online applications, evidenced-based materials, and best practices to simplify the process for families and ensure that eligible children receive free and reduced-priced meals.

“USDA’s goal to do right and feed everyone starts with our children,” said Censky. “We are committed to giving states and school districts more tools and options to build a bright, self-sufficient future for America’s children through well-managed school meal programs.”

As part of this package, USDA is offering guidance to help schools utilize its award-winning, open-source online school meal application model. USDA developed the application with input from local food service professionals. The customer-friendly design of the model is intended to increase the integrity of the application process by reducing common mistakes families make when applying for free or reduced-priced school meals.

“These tools are the benchmark for future innovation and give schools 21st century resources and strategies to run efficient food service operations, now and into the future,” Censky said. “Schools can ensure the proper use of funds for feeding students in need, protecting the taxpayer dollar through high integrity pro-

grams.”

USDA invites software developers in private industry to join schools in delivering customer service by helping them tailor their own applications.

The announcement is the latest in a series of recent USDA actions to expand flexibility and ease challenges for partners and stakeholders who help feed our nation’s children. Other actions include: • Publishing the School Meal Flexibility Rule, which provides local food service professionals the flexibility they need to serve wholesome, nutritious, and tasty meals in schools across the nation.

• Releasing “The Food Buying Guide,” a mobile app that puts critical information at the fingertips of food service professionals and makes it easier for them to plan wholesome, nutritious, and tasty school meals.

• Selecting Kansas State University to direct the Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, which will help improve food safety across all of USDA’s child nutrition programs.

• Inviting the public to submit ideas on food crediting, the system that defines how each food item contributes to meal requirements under the National School Lunch Program and other federal child nutrition programs.

About 100,000 schools and institutions feed 30 million children through the National School Lunch Program and nearly 15 million children through the School Breakfast Program. Many of these children receive their meals at no cost or for a reduced price according to income-based eligibility.

Dairy Targeted in February, Fish in March - Meat May Be Next

BY HANNAH THOMPSON, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR THE ANIMAL AGRICULTURE ALLIANCE / MEATINGPLACE.COM

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

A

s if our country’s dairy producers don’t have enough stress with the current economic situation of the industry, they also had to deal with being the primary target of extreme animal rights activist groups throughout the month of February. Now is the time for the meat industry to review the tactics used against dairy and prepare for its turn in the cross-

hairs.

The primary group declaring war on dairy in February was Direct Action Everywhere (DXE). This name should be very familiar if you regularly follow this blog, but for those who need a refresher, Direct Action Everywhere is a network of activists across the country organized into chapters. It describes itself as “a platform, not an organization.” DXE believes in animal liberation and offering animals rights equal to humans. They work to advance that goal through direct action (protests, breaking into farms, stealing animals, disrupting events, etc.). DXE is most active in Berkeley, California and Denver, Colorado.

DXE conducted a series of activities targeting dairy farmers and processors throughout February, culminating in its “Day of Action” at the end of the month.

On that day, a group of around 100 protestors gathered at a grocery store in Berkeley – the activists claim that they “took over” the store.

In addition to gathering outside, protestors entered the store and placed milk cartons on the dairy shelf showing “missing” calves. While this group was at the grocery store, another small group trespassed on a farm and livestreamed their unauthorized visit. The “Day of Action” was only one stunt out of several held during the month – activists affiliated

with DXE also recorded a visit to a university dairy farm and visited a dairy processor demanding a list of farms in the area.

DXE has announced that its March “Day of Action” will focus on fish, but beef, pork, egg and poultry producers should be aware that their day in the spotlight is certainly coming.

Now is the time to review security procedures on farms and plants, including ensuring that any and all staff know how to handle an unexpected visitor or protest. I also encourage you to reach out to your major customers (restaurants, retailers and foodservice brands), as they will find themselves in the crosshairs as well.

April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

Page 13

Texas Sale to Highlight Performance Data

P

erformance tested sheep will once again hold a piece of prime time at this year’s Texas Sheep and Goat Expo.

This is the fourth year for the Expo, presented by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and will be the second year the event will conclude with a sale of performance tested animals.

All sheep and goats on the sale will be required to enter the ring with performance data, either from centralized ram performance testing, or through the National Sheep Improvement Program.

In addition to rams, this year’s sale will feature pens of two or three ewe lambs or yearlings.

Dr. Reid Redden, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service state sheep and goat specialist and event organizer, says they expect a dozen or two sheep from each breed type.

“We had a good sale last year and expect an even better response this year,” says Redden.

“This is a performance-based sale designed to increase the awareness and understanding of genetic selection via performance testing.”

Redden, who also serves as NSIP Chairman, says sale organizers were pleased with last year’s maiden voyage.

“We had about 20 rams, mostly Rambouillet and Katahdin. The Katahdins with top EBVs brought around $1,000 each. Their excellent Estimated Breeding Values (EBV) for

parasite resistance and lambing rates made them popular with Texas ranchers. The Rambouillets brought an average of $600700, with all rams with EBVs selling, unlike some of those without.”

Redden explains the NSIP system of EBVs is a more robust technology than the centralized ram testing, providing buyers and breeders with more information. Unlike the centralized ram test, NSIP measures reproductive traits and parasite resistance. It also tracks pre-weaning traits, not just post-weaning traits.

“We encourage using the NSIP EBVs because they are more comprehensive,” says Redden, though he is glad to see producers using data from either system. Performance testing and data has been slow to take hold in Texas, compared with other parts of the country.

“It’s great to see the increased interest in sheep with performance information,” says NSIP Program Director Rusty Burgett. “Using this kind of data is a way to get better performance on the same inputs getting more from less.”

Redden and the AgriLife team hope the sale will help spark interest in the trend.

“The primary goal of the sale is to promote awareness of performance testing, as it is a proven method to improve the genetic potential of livestock, especially for hard-to-measure traits,” says Redden, who adds

AgriLife’s mission is not to promote individual breeders. “We just want to get rams and ewes with performance data in front of producers.”

He says producers at last year’s sale paid close attention, but some are still not sure how it all works. In selecting breeding stock, he says buyers should first identify the traits they need to improve, then look for animals with above average numbers in those areas.

In addition to data provided at the sale, NSIP provides an online search engine to help with selection decisions.

“The searchable database has been a tremendous asset to helping people choose breeding stock fine-tuned to meet their specific needs,” says Burgett.

“It’s a great way to filter through the thousands of animals that are on NSIP to find those that will help reach individual production goals. Everyone’s sheep, markets, and goals are different and this tool embraces that diversity while allowing the technology to help you select the type of sheep you want.”

The Texas Sheep and Goat Expo is billed as the state’s premier sheep and goat educational event, providing the perfect opportunity to introduce sheep producers to new technologies.

Nearly 350 people attended last year’s Expo, with more than 80 percent commenting in a post-expo survey that they expected to adopt at least one new management practice learned

there. More than 70 percent said they anticipated an economic benefit from their participation.

The 2018 Expo is scheduled for August 17-18 at the First Community Spur Arena in San Angelo, Texas. The performance sale will take place around 3 p.m. on August 18, immediately after the close of the Expo.

Tying education to performance sales is an approach that has worked well for NSIP in recent years. The Center of the Nation Sale, held each July in Spencer, Iowa, has earned a reputation as the premier event for learning about the latest in breeding data technologies and for buying/selling the results.

“Combining education sessions with sales is a great way to learn a new skill, then immediately put it into practice,” says Burgett. “It’s also a great networking opportunity and gives producers one-on-one access to industry educators and profes-

! w o N e b i r c s b u

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Grow awareness and increase usage of American Lamb among chefs and consumers.

Promote and strengthen American Lamb’s Value Proposition.

Improve the quality and consistency of American Lamb.

Support industry efforts to increase domestic supplies of lamb.

Collaborate and communicate with industry partners and stakeholders to expand efforts to address the first four strategies.

“Using these core strategies, the ALB will create budgets and annual work plans to achieve the goals and initiatives set by the Long Range Plan. America’s lamb producers are excited about the work we’ll be doing over the next several years to increase the demand not just for lamb, but specifically for American Lamb,” Percival says.

The Long Range Plan identifies key trends and opportunities in today’s marketing climate. Global demand growth, interest in buying local and production practices, changing consumer preferences, nutrition perceptions of lamb, as well as the price and perceived value of American Lamb all influenced the five core strategies outlined in the Long Range Plan.

“We trust that other stakeholders and allied industry partners will seek opportunities to align their plans with this plan and find ways to support the industry-wide objectives.

We all benefit when we focus our efforts to build demand for American Lamb,” Percival says.

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American Lamb Board Establishes Goal of 2 Percent Demand Growth Yearly enver, Colo. – The American Lamb Board (ALB) has approved a new long range plan for 2018-2022 to focus the work of the checkoff and its stakeholders in the areas of promotion, information and research over the next five years – and it boldly sets a demand growth goal.

The strategic objective of the plan is to increase demand for American Lamb by 2 percent annually over the next five years, for a total demand growth of 10 percent. Per capita consumption of lamb in the U.S. has remained steady over the past ten years at approximately one pound per person per year with nearly 20 percent of lamb consumption occurring during the spring holidays. Urban shoppers are the most likely to consume lamb with the highest consumption occurring on the East and West Coasts. In 2015, lamb demand was up 7 percent compared to 2014 and increased again in 2016 by 2.5 percent.

“The future holds tremendous promise for our industry which produces a unique, flavorful, tender and nutritious protein that meets the changing needs and preferences of consumers,” says Jim Percival, Xenia, Ohio, ALB chairman. “Improving the quality and consistency of our products to ensuring consumers have a great eating experience every time, increasing our industry’s productivity and stabilizing our prices are all critical to the success of creating demand for American Lamb.”

ALB is committed to Five Core Strategies outlined in the Long Range Plan that aim to increase the demand for American Lamb.

sionals, something that doesn’t happen every day.”

Last year, NSIP added a second sale to highlight Eastern U.S. sheep. The second annual Eastern NSIP Sheep Sale is scheduled for August 11 in Wooster, Ohio. The 13th Center of the Nation Sale will be held July 28.

“All of these sales offer opportunities for producers to buy sheep that are at the top of their breed, with the data to prove it,” says Redden. “That’s how we will continue to grow the U.S. sheep industry, and make lamb and wool production more profitable.”

Those wanting to place sheep on the Texas sale should contact Redden at 325-6534576 or reid.redden@ag.tamu. edu by May 1.

Breeders interested in the Center of the Nation Sale or the NSIP Eastern Sale should contact Burgett at 515-708-8850 or info@nsip.org.

S

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Livestock Market Digest

April 15, 2018

The Omnibus Appropriations Bill Means More Spending and More Regulation

Congress has passed the bipartisan Omnibus spending bill and if you are affected by federal environmental policies, the news is not good.

The bill contains 2,232 pages – equivalent to the length of two bibles – and the text was not released until the night before the vote. That gave Members of Congress seven waking hours to read the bill.

President Trump’s budget proposed cutting $54 billion from nondefense discretionary spending. This bill increases nondefense discretionary spending by $63 billion, and that’s a total of $117 billion more than the President requested.

Compared to last year, the Park Service budget was increased by $270 million, the US Fish and Wildlife Service budget is a + $75 million, the BLM received an increase of $79 million, and the Forest Service received a total (nonfire) appropriation of $3.054 billion, which is a whopping $627 million increase over the previous year’s budget. And EPA received an increase of $763 million. The bill also increased the funding for land acquisition by $25 million.

The Republicans had attached approximately 80 riders on environmental policy to

the bill. This included items like delisting the wolf in Wyoming and the Midwest, prohibiting protections for the sage grouse, the lesser prairie chicken and the Preble’s jumping mouse. Among these riders were language on the Waters of the U.S. rule, and the prohibition of using funds to limit hunting and shooting on federal lands and to prohibit funds to be used for legal fees under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. There were also provisions on livestock grazing and NEPA and making available vacant grazing allotments.

At the very last minute, all of these riders were dropped from the bill, even though many of them had appeared in previous budget bills. Why? Republican leadership stated they feared losing the support of their more conservative members and so had to court Democrat votes to pass the bill. The riders were dropped to make it more attractive to the Democrats. Yes, we were nothing more than trading fodder to get the bill passed.

There are a few positives in the bill for Ag producers. One is a provision that exempts livestock haulers from the Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) regulations until September 30, 2018; another section would relieve livestock producers from

ELM

A PRAC? The Chairman and ranking minority member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) have penned a piece they call “A Bipartisan Solution To Our National Parks.” They inform us the Park Service has an $11 billion dollar maintenance backlog for infrastructure and exactly what that infrastructure entails: 5,500 miles of paved roads, 1,700 bridges and tunnels, more than 17,000 miles of trails, and nearly 1,300 campgrounds.

The NPS maintains more than 24,000 buildings (including over 500 visitor centers), 425 park lodges and hotel buildings, and 3,870 housing units all lit by more than 500 electrical systems. All of this is underFARMINGTON

Omnimonster

the emissions reporting requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA); and another fixes the so-called “grain glitch” caused by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. One can’t help but note that none of those receiving relief had a direct link to federal lands.

The bill is hot off the press as I write this and I’m sure more issues will come to light. For instance, in 2009 the Office of Personnel Management issued a rule making it easier to conduct a Reduction-In-Force (RIF) of federal employees. This bill has a provision that overturns that rule. In other words, this Congress is not only refusing the President’s proposals to cut budgets, they are also making it harder for him to layoff federal employees.

I don’t look forward to “discovering” what else is in this bill.

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girded by 1,000 miles of water pipelines serving 1,500 water systems, 1,800 wastewater systems and 3,700 restrooms.

They then propose a “bipartisan” solution to fix this backlog. “Part of the solution is the creation of a dedicated fund that would draw a stable revenue stream from energy leases the federal government owns, as has been proposed in the President’s FY2019 budget.

While some may object to using oil and gas leasing revenues to promote conservation, this isn’t a new idea. It has been a longstanding policy and priority of the United States to be good stewards of the revenues created by energy production to further conservation efforts.

In fact, this is a similar type of funding method used in the Land and Water Conservation Fund”, say the Congressman.

Things are always “bipartisan” when it comes to increasing spending, but I say wait a minute, there are questions to be answered and alternatives to be considered.

Over the same amount of time this maintenance backlog was accruing, how much was spent for land acquisition? Where would the backlog stand if all the money for land acquisition had been spent on maintenance? And how much of that $11 billion is attribut-

ed to these new acquisitions?

Shouldn’t there be a tradeoff here? No moneys for acquisition until the backlog is met?

After all, lands that have a high priority for acquisition could still be acquired by exchange.

Further, we know there are many Parks that aren’t really deserving of that designation.

They are only there because a particular Rep. or Senator was in a powerful enough position to have them so designated.

We have a BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission) to address this issue for military bases. Isn’t it time we have a PRAC to review our national parks and monuments?

Congress should consider both of the above prior to establishing a permanent fund to increase spending for our park system. No additional land acquisitions until the backlog is completed and establish a Park Realignment and Closure Commission to carefully review each existing national park and monument.

Dilly, dilly.

Until 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

Apply Now for the NLFA Leadership School

A

pplications are now available for the 2018 Howard Wyman Sheep Industry Leadership School, presented by the National Lamb Feeders Association. This year’s school is scheduled for July 8-11 in Sioux Falls, S.D. “We’re excited to bring the leadership school back to South Dakota this year,” said NLFA President Bob Harlan, a sheep producer from Kaycee, Wyo. “This year, we plan to bring the school back to its foundation, combining educational programs with case studies to engage participants in addressing industry challenges.”

Attendees will also be tasked with seeking solutions to current industry challenges through a series of case studies.

“One aspect of being a good leader is critical thinking, and we’ll ask the leadership school participants to apply their critical thinking skills to develop creative solutions to challenges our industry is facing,” stated Harlan.

“It will also be an opportunity for current industry leaders to gain a new perspective from future leaders.”

The application deadline

is April 30. Applications are available on the NLFA website at http://www.nlfa-sheep. org/leadership.html.

For more information, contact the NLFA office at 605-2240224 or lambfeeders@outlook.com.

April 15, 2018

Livestock Market Digest

Page 15

FDA Report on Antibiotics Sold for Use in “Food-Producing Animals”

BY DR. RICHARD RAYMOND, FORMER UNDERSECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE FOR FOOD SAFETY / MEATINGPLACE.COM (The views and opinions expressed here are strictly those of the author.)

T

he report has been out for a couple of months, but I am just not seeing the press that it should have generated. Is that because the never-ever, organic, cage free and anti-CAFO groups have nothing to crow about?

For the very first time since FDA started tracking sales in 2009, there was a drop; and not a small one either.

The sales of medically important antibiotics, those used in both human and animal health, dropped 14 percent!

Pipestone Lamb and Wool Facility Tour, June 4th, 2018

T

he Pipestone Lamb and Wool Program, dedicated to changing sheep production to make it more profitable for producers, is excited to offer an idea filled sheep facility tour. The Pipestone Lamb and Wool program offers this tour every other year and this will be the sixth tour offered.

The purpose of the tour is to give producers an opportunity to see various types of sheep facilities, including the latest innovations in sheep buildings, handling systems, feeding systems and facility layout.

The tour will be a full day, visiting four Lamb and Wool producers with new and remodeled facilities. All of these operations have devised their buildings and feeding systems to reduce labor and enable them to run larger numbers of ewes with the same labor. Tour participants will see lambing barns, hoop barns, remodeled buildings along with various feeding systems designed to reduce labor and minimize feed waste. In addition, this will be an opportunity to hear the philosophy of sheep production from successful sheep producers.

Visit our website www. pipestonesheep.com for registration information and to view pictures of tour locations. Registration forms and additional information about our facility tour are available on our web page or individuals can contact the Pipestone Lamb and Wool Management Program, Minnesota West Community and Technical College, P.O. Box 250; Pipestone, MN 56164, (800) 6582330, philip.berg@mnwest. edu or laurie.johnson@mnwest.edu.

Shouldn’t there be a headline or two about this change?

And this was for the year 2016, not 2017 when Guidance 213 went into effect.

And also, for the first time, sales by species were recorded; with a few surprises, for me at least.

Cattle accounted for the bulk of medically important sales at 43 percent, 37 percent for swine, nine percent for turkeys, six percent for chickens and four percent unknown (probably pets and horses).

Sales of not medically important antibiotics — those that are never used in human medicine — accounted for 40 percent of total sales. Again.

And these not important antibiotics are included when the

anti-ag crowd says 80 percent of all antibiotic sales are to healthy animals and we will all die because of it.

Of the medically important sales, tetracyclines were a whopping 70 percent but only account for less than 5 percent of human medicine sales.

Two of the most important classes of antibiotics used in human health, the cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, combined accounted for less than 1 percent of animal sales thanks to FDA restrictions.

Penicillin and macrolide sales dropped 10 percent and 12 percent respectively. That is very good news and should help keep the proposed Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) and

its supporters on the back burners.

Of the three largest used classes in humans, besides the fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins, turkeys used the most penicillin, swine the most macrolides and cattle the most sulfa.

The pigs surprised me. I knew macrolides were used extensively in fed cattle to reduce liver abscesses, but would someone please inform me as to their use in hogs?

A couple of worrisome points did come out, however.

Only four percent of sales were injectables. Water additives sold were at 23 percent and feed additives were 72 percent.

Over the counter (OTC) sales were 96 percent and only 4 percent were prescription only.

Those who, in the past, have been defending animal ag’s extensive use of antibiotics by saying that all antibiotics used for animal health in the United States are always with a prescription from, and under the direct supervision of, a veterinarian need only to look at these statistics to understand why some just don’t trust big ag.

As of last Jan. 1, these last statistics must change, at least for the feed additives.

Last two questions: • Can someone please advise me as to why antibiotics for animals are mostly OTC while antibiotics for humans are almost never OTC? • And why did the FDA not include water additives in Guidance 213?

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Livestock Market Digest’s

Annual Fall Marketing Edition

ADVERTISING DEADLINE: August 1

Page 16

Livestock Market Digest

The View Musings

BY BARRY DENTON

E

very time I ride up TR’s Hill at our ranch I have to take the time to sit and reflect for a few minutes. First off TR was one of my great horses that I buried up here in a place of honor.

The hill is one of the high spots on the ranch that has a 360 degree view. If you look to the north you can see the San Francisco Peaks, Mount Union is to the south, Granite Mountain is to the east, and Tonto Mountain is to the west. Needless to say, I live in a small high desert valley complete with oak brush, sage, and cactus.

Also, from TR’s Hill I can see a herd of about 30 mule deer grazing among the horses. The mule deer are a great source of entertainment as they think they have a pretty good deal. The mule deer drink, eat, lick salt, and sleep with the pasture horses. No hunting has ever been allowed on the ranch, so the deer feel pretty comfortable.

There is a good sized hawk that just landed at the top of a giant live oak, adjacent to me. The hawk is my shadow many times when I am riding across the ranch. It’s not that he likes me so much, but the rodents we might scare up as I ride through the tall grass. Every once in awhile he will swoop down and grab one!

We are so used to each other that I fail to mention the hawk to guests that might be riding with me. Pretty soon, they think it is quite unusual being stalked by a hawk.

On the other side of TR’s Hill is a pasture full of cattle who have their own routine which they have worked out in perfect organization. We have longhorns mixed with English type cattle because of our local abundance of mountain lion. One thing about longhorns is that they are like policemen and are very dutiful in protecting the herd. Many times I have seen the longhorns running full out after a coyote or other predator. They take their job seriously.

I can look a long way from the top of this hill on a clear day and I can only see one structure off in the distance that does not belong to this ranch. Neighbors are great to have especially at some distance.

Sitting still on a ranch does not happen very often, but today was my day. I had read the headlines before I started out this morning, but really had not thought about them since.

The first one that I read was that as a direct result of a smear campaign, Alabama had elected its first democrat senator in over 20 years. The bottom line is that the smear worked.

The next thing that I read was about the New York senator Kirsten Gillinbrand claiming that our President had made a lewd remark about her and tried to illustrate it by twisting his words.

Funny how the senator is alright taking his campaign donations, but can’t stand it when he tells his side of the negotiation.

Finally, I read about the famous fashion photographer Bruce Weber of Vogue fame who is accused of sexually harassing a 28 year old model from one of his shoots. Keep in mind that the 28 year old model is a man and that 71 year old Mr. Weber is gay.

Since when can’t a 28 year old male fight off a 71 year old male?

Have you ever heard of headlines that are more ridiculous?

This is what the media thinks is important in America today.

Let’s analyze this for a moment.

We have military actions going on continuously across the globe that make a difference in many people’s lives. Our stock market and economy are soaring to new heights and then the market falls back depending on if you are talking tax cuts that will help everyone or tariffs on foreign goods.

We are finally getting ISIS under control and reducing their ability to attack more everyday which makes the entire world safer.

April 15, 2018 Over government regulation is starting to disappear. Funny, how the FAKE NEWS, does not report any positive breakthroughs that our President makes. I think we all understand how the media works against the citizens instead of being a watch dog for us.

Over the past several years I have been moderately involved with politics, Arizona government, and local issues. I have tried to help livestock and ranchers causes that were unjust. I was able to do much of this behind the scenes which suited me just fine. One thing that I have learned is that you have to be involved to some degree or this crazy world will just swallow you up.

Many people know of my interest in politics and have approached me to run for some public office. I have always flatly refused because what good is a man that has spent his life outdoors going to do in an office?

Besides, our best people are not involved with politics. They are usually doing something that is related to actual work. Yes, the best people are the ones that earn a living.

I know lots of politicians on both sides of the aisle, maybe hundreds of them, but I can count on my hands the ones that I like or trust. Truly, some of our worst citizens hold public office.

That is quite a statement for an optimist, but it is truthful. Do I think we can get good people elected to office once again? Yes, I do, but it will take lots of good hardworking people to change it.

After all those thoughts I realize that I am still sitting on my horse and looking down on my peaceful ranch where we work hard, make a living, treat people right, and try to live in harmony with those animals and humans around us. Now if we can just get the rest of the world to do the same?