Livestock “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL AUGUST 15, 2014 • www. aaalivestock . com
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Digest S Volume 56 • No. 8
by Lee Pitts
T
The Greatest Cattlemen Of Our Time
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
Don’t look for Zietsman’s book to become a college text as he has little regard for academics, although he almost became one. Zietsman was a Bonsma student at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and after he graduated with high honors he turned down an invitation to join
Everyone has a photographic memory. Some are just out of film.
image of a functionally efficient animal and bred and selected towards that relying to a large degree on visual appraisal. Lasater said he couldn’t care less what an animal looks like. I came to understand,” says Zietsman, “that Lasater’s approach, relying on nature to do the selection, is infallible.”
A Rancher’s Resume
his staff. Zietsman had his sights set on becoming a rancher like his father and uncles. It was probably for the best, says Zietsman today, “Although I was greatly influenced by Bonsma’s thinking, I became aware that there were some serious flaws in his approach to breeding. Bonsma was influential in initiating the “frame-scoring” era of the 1970s and 1980s. Fat became a dirty word and “lean and efficient”, slab-sided bulls were winning show prizes and perform-
ance classes. Concurrent with this there arose the need to select for larger scrotums in an effort to counter the hormonal imballance resulting from high frame scores.” Still, he considers Bonsma and Tom Lasater “the greatest cattlemen of our time.” But the more Zietsman learned the hard way from running his own cows, the less he agreed with Bonsma, and the more he saw what a true genius Tom Lasater was. “Bonsma had in his mind’s eye an
Zietsman has a great pedigree. Growing up, his father and his two uncles ran over 10,000 head of cattle on tropical veld in Zimbabwe. “This was at a time” says Zietsman, “when the scale was not in use, supplementary feed not commercially available and weekly dipping in plunge dips was compulsory by law.” After spending three years in research Zietsman returned to the family ranch in 1975 as manager. Later he acquired his own property and the longer he continued on page two
Montana Water Woes Part 4 – Flaws in the Compact BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
ontana State Senator Verdell Jackson (Republican, Kalispell) is the offreservation representative for the area north of Flathead Lake, with 16 years in the legislature. He served on the Clark Fork River Basin task force and is also very concerned about the impacts of the proposed Compact on all of western Montana. He feels that the Compact (between the Flathead Reservation tribes and the State of Montana regarding federal reserved water rights) needs to be revised before it is passed by the legislature. Senator Jackson brings a lot of experience in these issues to the debate. “I was in the House of Representatives until I termed out after 8 years. I will be in the Senate for another year. I retired from the State of Alaska Department of Education where I was the rural school
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by LEE PITTS
Sign Language
A Voice From The Veld he veld is a flat, open area in southern Africa covered in grass and low scrub. In many ways it is like Australia’s outback and parts of the American West. Once a generation a voice arises from this veld that radically alters the livestock landscape. In my lifetime two of these voices were Jan Bonsma and Allan Savory. Bonsma was a visiting professor at Texas A&M University in the 1960s when he literally wrote the book on cattle breeding; a 94-page cowboy classic. Of course, Savory is the man who changed the way the world looks at cattle grazing. The name of the next fellow from the veld you might want to pay attention to is Johann Zietsman. He, too, has written a book and his publisher, Paul Butler, says Man, Cattle and Veld (www.profitableranching.com) could be the most important book about cattle breeding ever written. And he may not be just bragging.
Riding Herd
specialist and worked with the Eskimos, Aleuts, and several different tribes in rural Alaska for many years. I spent a lot of time with various Indian tribes in Alaska and helped transfer their schools from federal control to local control. I understand some of these issues,” says Jackson. “When I came to Montana I went into the fields of natural resources, business and labor, and energy. Having been on the Natural Resources Committee in the Senate, I’ve done a lot of research in state water law. That background has helped me in my effort to make sure the Compact is fair and equitable to everyone involved.” Most people haven’t read the Compact because of its length (1400 pages). “This Compact will affect most of my Senate district, which goes from the east side of Flathead Lake to the bottom of the lake at Polson, and on the west side down past Lakeside. About ¾ of the
shore of Flathead Lake is in my district, which goes about 20 miles north of the lake as well,” he says. “I started studying the offreservation water rights (which affect 11 counties), looking at the water abstracts that are made out to the federal government in trust to the Tribes. It gives three parties, the federal government, the tribe and the state (if the state—Fish, Wildlife and Parks—has Murphy rights) the right to make a call for water when there is low flow. The Murphy rights are based on survival of fish. The Compact water rights are based on a robust stream or river, and not just on survival of fish, so the Compact rights are much higher than they would be if based on the low flow. There are more than 1000 pages of abstracts, but they’ve never been analyzed to be able to tell irrigators whether they would have water or not,” continued on page fourteen
igns these days work as well as an eight term Congress person. If a sign says wet paint, people touch it, and how often do you see an abandoned couch beneath a “No Dumping” sign? If your “No Trespassing” sign isn’t stolen, it only serves as an invitation to party and picnic on your private property. “No Hunting” signs only remind hunters to clean their gun in anticipation of hunting season, and if they see a big buck on your property there isn’t a sign in the world that will keep them off of it. Let’s be honest, who amongst us when they see a 65 miles per hour speed limit sign doesn’t drive 68 or 69 just to see what we can get away with? In every restaurant that has a sign that says, “No shoes, no shirt, no service” you’re bound to see diners wearing tank tops and flip-flops because none of us like to be told what we can, or can’t, do. Some people see a “No Parking” sign and their reaction is, “Well, we’ll just see about that, won’t we now? No one is going to tell me where to park!” Part of the reason that signs don’t seem as effective any more is because they are written poorly and convey the wrong image. For example, I’ve seen signs in rest rooms of several restaurants that read, “Employees must wash your hands.” I am perfectly capable of washing my own hands, thank you very much. Those signs along the road that tell what services are available at the next exit can really be confusing. One in our area says “Hospital Camping Next Exit”, which makes visitors wonder how good medical care is in our neck of the woods. Years ago the Readers Digest told of a sign in a church that read, “The bowl to the rear of the church that says, “For the Sick,” is for monetary contributions only.” And a sign out front of another church that listed the week’s sermon and special messages said, “Do you know what hell is? Come and hear our organist.” Some signs are funny but I’m not sure they were meant continued on page five
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