LMD August 2011

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

MARKET

Digest T

AUGUST 15, 2011 • www. aaalivestock . com

Volume 53 • No. 8

A Greenie’s Manifesto

by Lee Pitts

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NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

by LEE PITTS

Dating Myself

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

irst we had the “service economy” where we were all supposed to make a living providing services to each other.

So we exported our good jobs overseas and imported our cars, toys, food, manufactured goods and the laborers who would actually do the changing of the motel bed sheets. And this our great leaders called “globalization.”

Anyone with half a brain could see how well that idea worked out. (Admittedly, that would still leave our “leaders” in the dark.) The economists plotting our globalized future forgot one thing: that the people needing to be waited on would need jobs to make enough money to require those services.

So, it’s back to the drawing board. Now we are told that we’ll all prosper and create jobs by transitioning from a service economy to a tourist economy.

The Department of Interior (DOI) will create jobs providing meals, lodging and entertainment to all the tourists who will flock to the wild west to see roaming bands of wild horses, packs of wolves and redheaded salamanders. Or whatever.

That’s the plan anyway, as outlined in a report released this summer called The Department of Interior’s Economic Contribu-

Riding Herd

“Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.” tions. Personally I don’t think the “tourist economy” is going to work out any better than the “service economy” did, and for the same reason. Unless you think our salvation is going to be the importation of more Japanese tourists with cameras hanging around their necks.

The rest of us are going to have to earn a living before we can take vacations, and that’s getting harder everyday with the

government getting in our way.

If the feds follow through you can expect fewer cows and more tour buses in our future.

Something’s Missing This report reads like a Greenie’s dream, an Environmentalist’s Manifesto, if you will. It will provide powerful ammunition for the greenies to get rid of the public lands rancher once and for all. The only problem is that

the bullets the folks at DOI are shooting at rural folks are all blanks. It’s a contrived report designed to do one thing and that is to increase the power and scope of the federal government.

According to the Interior Department, they produce the oil and gas, the beef and lamb and the timber harvested on public lands. And we thought they only got in our way! Here’s a sampling lifted directly from the executive summary of the report: “The Department of the Interior plays a substantial role in the U.S. economy, supporting over two million jobs and $363 billion in economic activity for 2010.”

Geez, I thought Exxon, cowboys and rugged guys and gals with chainsaws produced the oil, gas, beef and timber, little did I know that it was actually produced by the professional bureaucrats in Washington in continued on page two

by KAREN BUDD-FALEN

The $206,098,920 Endangered Species Act Settlement Agreements — Is all that paperwork worth it?

The headlines question whether Congress and the President can make an agreement on raising the debt ceiling or will America stop paying military servicemen and social security recipients. I have a solution to the dilemma . . . n July 12, 2011, the Justice Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) announced “an historic agreement” which will require the American taxpayers to pay $206,098,920 to just process the paperwork deciding whether to include over 1,000 plants, bugs, worms, and other assorted creatures on the Endangered Species list. None of this money goes to on-the-ground conservation; this taxpayer funding is just to process petitions filed by only two, out of dozens, of radical environmental groups who think newts and moths are more important than the elderly or our children. The average social security beneficiary makes $21,600 a year and a basic military recruit makes a little over $15,000 per year.

Our elected officials contemplated not paying these Americans while the Justice Department is readily agreeing to spend an average of

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$100,690 per individual species listing and $345,000 per individual proposed critical habitat designation for over 1,053 creatures. And to add insult to injury, the Justice Department has agreed that these two groups “prevailed” in the litigation and will pay their attorney fees in an amount that has not been disclosed. Has America lost its collective mind?

These two settlement agreements are the culmination of what is known as the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) multi-district litigation. This case was formed in 2010 by combining 13 federal court cases filed by either the WildEarth Guardians (“WEG”) or the Center for Biological Diversity (“CBD”) regarding 113 species. On May 10, 2011, the FWS announced its settlement agreement with the WEG with the promise that the agreement would help the continued on page four

he world is changing so fast these days that it’s leaving many old coots like me in the past, and I seem to be having problems communicating with the younger generation. I am ONLY 59 years old but I have to write carefully because I continually date myself by using references that young people can’t relate to. This was pointed out to me by a class of third graders recently who wrote me wonderful individual letters after their teacher had read to them one of my essays. Besides their kind words the little nippers asked questions like, “What’s a beatnik?”

And “What is carbon paper?” They also reminded me that kids today play video games, not marbles.

Now I know what my grandparents felt like when, as a child, I asked them why they went outside to the outhouse when a bathroom would have been much closer?

It’s like I speak a different language than younger folks today whose reading consists primarily of text messages. I realize I’m either going to have to enter the 21st century and acquaint myself with today’s culture, or find another line of work. But there’s nothing I’m still qualified to do, as the oil patch now runs on computers instead of roustabouts, and cowboys ride four wheelers instead of horses.

But just like Hopalong, Tonto, Hoss, and the Lone Ranger, I’ve never even been on an ATV. They’ve taken the word “farmer” out of the FFA and the Colonel out of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now it’s just “KFC” to anyone under the age of 30. I feel like I am outliving my audience as young readers today may know who Darth Vader is but they’ve never heard of Deputy Dawg, Dick Tracy, Elliot Ness, The Duke of Earl, Broadway Joe, Bosley, Buckwheat, Bozo, Bogart, Bullwinkle or Bo Diddley. In their frame of reference Cher never had Sonny, Dale didn’t have to compete for continued on page six

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Livestock Market Digest

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August 15, 2011

A Greenie’s Manifesto

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their white shirts and ties. Or the Forest Service employees I see regularly spending the morning driving from one ranger station to another and in the afternoon driving back home. And the Park Rangers in pickups without any logs or timber of any kind in the bed of their late model pickups.

Tourism was mentioned first in the highlights section of all the great things DOI has done for us. “Americans and foreign visitors made some 439 million visits to Interior-managed lands.

These visits supported over 388,000 jobs and contributed over $47 billion in economic activity.”

Oil and gas was by far the biggest source of income to the DOI but you can tell they don’t like it. Listen to how the DOI grudgingly admits their existence: “Exploitation of oil, gas, coal, hydropower and other minerals on Federal lands supported 1.3 million jobs and $246 billion in economic activity.” Exploitation, did you catch that?

Here are the other sources of income listed in the highlights section: ■ The use of water, timber and other resources produced from federal lands supported about 370,000 jobs and $48 billion in economic activity.

■ Grants and payments that the DOI administers totaled $4.7 billion and supported about 114,000 jobs and $10.2 billion worth of economic contributions.

■ Interior’s support for tribal governments totaled $1.2 billion in economic output and supported about 13,000 jobs in 2010.

■ Youth employment at Interior totaled 21,874 in 2010.

■ Work on the physical infrastructure managed by Interior totaled about $2 billion and contributed about $5.5 billion in economic activity, supporting 41,000 jobs.

■ The $214 million spent on land acquisitions in FY 2010 is estimated to contribute about $440 million in economic activity and support about 3,000 jobs.

(Even if land acquisition creates 3,000 jobs, how many does it destroy?)

Then there were the “valuable services” produced under Interior’s management such as: habitat for a wide variety of species, drinking water, energy security, flood and disease control, scientific information, carbon sequestration, recreation, and culture and enhancing our treasured landscapes.

Whew! Who knew the Department of Interior was such a job creator and economic engine? But did you notice the one thing they left out?

The DOI’s economic summary failed to mention income from grazing or its many benefits in their “highlights”, which is weird when you consider that the BLM oversees 245 million acres of federal lands with livestock grazing occurring on about 160 million acres of that. But you have to look extremely hard to find any

continued from page one

mention of cattle or grazing at all in the report. It’s clear from reading it that cattle, and the folks who run them don’t figure into the future of our nation’s landlord.

The Americanus cowboy According to the DOI the 18,000 grazing permits on 21,000 allotments in the U.S. only created 2,507 direct jobs and each permit only generates a tenth of a worker each! When you add in some related jobs, grazing accounted for one fifth of one percent of all jobs and .64 billion in economic impact.

To say that the models and formulas used to come up with these numbers are suspect is a gross understatement. Here’s just one example: According to the DOI report, OFFSHORE minerals create more direct jobs in New Mexico (5,531) than the issuing of grazing permits (486).

But the last time we looked at an atlas New Mexico was a landlocked state with no offshore oil wells off its nonexistent coast!

When the DOI counted jobs created by tourism they included everyone from the motel maid to the fellow on Main Street who sold film, but when they counted the jobs created by grazing they forgot to include those folks who sell and provide services to ranchers. They also failed to count anyone who worked on a dude ranch or the fact that the wildlife on DOI lands were probably drinking water provided by ranchers. It’s clear that the DOI started with a conclusion they wanted and then fiddled with formulas to support that conclusion. The DOI spends a lot of time in the report talking about invasive species but it’s obvious they think the biggest invasive species of all on the lands they administer is the Americanus cowboy.

The Tourist Trap The biggest beneficiaries of this report will be green groups and the biggest losers will be local communities that exist primarily because of public lands ranching. Environmental groups are already attempting to use the report as a mandate to shut down public lands ranching on BLM’s public lands that make up about 13 percent of the total land surface of the United States and more than 40 percent of all land managed by the Federal government. It’s also clear what the DOI wants to do with what’s left of the West after their rural cleansing: they’d turn it into a Nature Disneyland.

It’s also clear that the DOI despises anyone who makes a living in what they call a “consumptive use.” Consumptive use being defined by them as “those activities that consume natural resources (e.g., logging, fishing),” versus non-consumptive use does not deplete the resources (e.g., recreation, tourism).” continued on page four

August 15, 2011

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

The Chicken & The Egg…

BY CAREN COWAN

ne of life’s proverbial questions has been which came first, the chicken or the egg? In the modern day tale, most definitely the egg came first.

Anyone who has followed animal agriculture, agriculture in general, or was a regular watcher of Oprah should be tuned into the Humane Society of the United States’ (HSUS) attacks on animal food production and in particular the efforts to destroy the chicken and egg industries. It is well known that the group got a ballot initiative passed in California that has the potential to eliminate poultry production in that state.

True, this was a scary turn of events, but come on folks, we are talking CALIFORNIA (with all due respect to my friends in that state) and we are talking ballot initiatives. Thankfully New Mexico does not permit ballot initiatives so one might question my ability to speak on them. However, I was reared in Arizona and do have some experience in the field.

The problem with ballot initiatives is the same one we have with everything in the nation.

Nobody really understands what they say or what their impact is.

I will fess up to voting to legalize marijuana . . . when I thought I was voting to reduce sentencing for simple drug possession with no intent to sell. My vote was in hopes that we could reduce costly prison population.

At any rate, after the California win, HSUS has been busily terrorizing the rest of the country with their threats, appearing to make some headway in Ohio and planning on initiatives in Washington and Oregon. You might imagine the pall over the livestock industry on July 7 when the following email hit our boxes: UEP and HSUS to Jointly Seek Federal Legislation: Following a series of exhausting meetings and conference calls between negotiating teams for each, (United Egg Producers’) UEP’s Board of Directors and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) reached an agreement on July 6, 2011 to jointly petition the federal government for federal legislation for the purpose of transitioning the industry from primarily a conventional cage egg production business to enriched colony cage housing over a period of years. UEP and HSUS will work with the Congress with the goal of having the law in place by June 30, 2012 and the transition being fully implemented

by December 31, 2029.

That shocking language was followed by about a page-and-ahalf of excuses for the sell out and assertions that this agreement would not affect the rest of the livestock industry. In a pig’s eye.

The beef industry chatter on animal welfare and the animal rights war went strangely silent.

There wasn’t any blogging; there weren’t any posts on Facebook,

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no Twitters, no outcry about this tremendous “fowl-up.”

The National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA), a group that started with pet owners and now bridges across several animal based groups including livestock and circuses, was all over it via email.

Their messages were mixed with some trying to make lemonade out of the situation and others calling a spade a spade.

There still has been nothing public out on the subject from the beef industry, but the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) have stepped up to the plate issuing a statement that such legislation “would set a dangerous precedent for allowing the federal government to dictate how livestock and poultry producers raise and care for their animals. It would inject the federal government into the marketplace with no measureable benefit to public or animal health and welfare.”

“NPPC is gravely concerned that such a one-size-fits-all approach will take away producers’ freedom to operate in a way

that’s best for their animals, make it difficult to respond to consumer demands, raise retail meat prices and take away consumer choice, devastate niche producers and, at a time of constrained budgets for agriculture, redirect valuable resources from enhancing food safety and maintaining the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture to regulating onfarm production practices for reasons other than public health and welfare,” the statement said.

Predictably those who would see an end to meat consumption took a different perspective. Compassion in World Farming Chief Executive Philip Lymbery said “This new development, whilst not going far enough, is a significant step in the right direction.”

The Farm Sanctuary was much more expansive, calling the agreement “an historic compromise between HSUS and UEP” and saying, “The UEP agreement is particularly important in that it calls for federal legislation. This will be the first nationwide law to address the welfare of animals on farms, and

it could lead to other federal legislation addressing farmed animal welfare in the future, a possibility that has other industry groups concerned.”

“Change occurs through the adoption of new laws and policies, like the HSUS/UEP agreement . . . we are beginning to see positive signs. Still, there is an awful long way to go, and it is absolutely crucial that we keep pushing for improvements. Stay tuned to help enact the HSUS/UEP measure in Washington, DC, in the near future.

In the meantime, you can vote with your dollars every day by choosing to eat plant foods instead of animal foods.”

I realize that this is a free country and it is UEP’s right to make such a decision . . . but it is equally the right of the rest of us to disagree with it. Those defending UEP’s unholy alliance claim that it was a well-thought out decision . . . that it would keep there from being more attacks and ballot initiatives. At least from the outside looking in, it appears that UEP could have done what they must feel they need to in Congress without HSUS’s participation.

It seems to me that this deal

Page 3 with the devil would make it nearly impossible for UEP to work with the rest of the industry on anything. When you sleep with the enemy, your friends don’t generally want climb into bed too.

That brings focus to another rub. Over the past few months you may have seen media about the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA). This is a new group that has come together to put the face of the rancher and farmer back on food production.

According to their website at http://usfraonline.org , their mission is to: ■ Enhance consumer trust in the U.S. food production system.

We want consumers to know that America’s farmers and ranchers share their values. We are committed to answering Americans’ questions about how we raise our food — while being stewards of the environment, responsibly caring for our animals and maintaining strong businesses and communities.· ■ Maintain and enhance the freedom of U.S. farmers and ranchers to operate in a responsible manner. In particular, the continued on page four

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 4

A Greenie’s Manifesto They fail to consider that you have to clean up after tourists who despoil our national parks and treasures. And that they often set forests ablaze.

The Interior Department praises and celebrates what they call the “birth” of “ecosystem services and their economic value.” According to them the DOI “uses ecosystem service concepts to integrate conservation with human well-being, with conservation being at the core of Interior’s mission to protect America’s natural resources and heritage, honor cultures and tribal communities, and supply energy to power the future.” Again, no mention of cattle and grazing despite the fact that grazing is administered on two thirds of BLM lands. Clearly the DOI favors motel maids, park rangers and environmentalists over cattlemen.

Cows Or Curators?

Like a team of hazmat employees cleaning up a chemical spill, the DOI plans to make us all rich by cleaning up the mess made by consumptive users and resource extractors. “It has been estimated,” reads the report, “that for each $1 million spent on ecosystem recovery up to about 30 jobs could be supported. Ecosystem recovery will

continued from page two

improve the natural capital that draws people to Federal lands.”

Better yet, in the eyes of the DOI, “These jobs can be categorized as “green jobs”, and include positions that work directly in the field, such as physical scientists (geology, biology, forestry, etc.), park rangers, and fire fighters, as well as positions that communicate the importance of environmental conservation to the public, such as natural resource educators, museum curators, and positions that create interpretation material, such as maps and environmental education curriculum.

“With over 44 percent of Interior’s workforce estimated to be engaged in green jobs, as compared to 1.5 percent to 2 percent of private sector jobs, the Department offers expertise for the burgeoning green economy.”

I’m not casting aspersions at the thousands of small towns that exist in the West’s outback, but I fail to envision busloads of tourists visiting Pie Town, New Mexico, or Deeth, Nevada.

(Unless it’s for the chicken fried steak.) But the DOI sees tourism as being the salvation to small towns that dot the western landscape. They brag, “More than 4,000 communities with a combined population of 22 million are just a half hour drive

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from BLM managed public lands. Almost 58 million visitor days were estimated for FY 2010, including almost 30 million camping and picnicking visits, over two million non-motorized boating trips, over six million interpretation and education visits.” They continue, “The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s land and wildlife protection mandates create substantial recreation and tourism opportunities, which in turn support jobs for hundreds of thousands of Americans.”

It’s also clear that the DOI sees those of you who live in the sticks as hicks who need upgrading. They claim that in these rural areas that “40 percent of all workers have no formal education beyond high school.” As if that’s going to be helped by a tourist economy that relies on illegal aliens to wash dishes and clean toilets.

At Taxpayer’s Expense Nowhere in the report do they mention ranching families who are making significant contributions to our western state’s budgets and welfare, providing both a cultural foundation, as well as an economic one, that no other industry can match. Often, revenues generated by the BLM and Forest Service from ranchers go back to support local and state economies. Aside from a monetary benefit, cattle grazing also helps sustain a healthier environment and provides a measure of security and stewardship that the agencies cannot perform due to limited staffing.

Get rid of the ranchers who are paying for the privilege of caretaking our public lands and you’ll have to pay people to do what they were doing. But you would create jobs, having 10 federal

August 15, 2011 employees do the job of one rancher. All at taxpayer’s expense, of course.

It is estimated in the state of New Mexico that a single bred cow will pay between $35-$50 in taxes annually. According to the American Farmland Trust, for every tax dollar from agriculture land collected, the owner will receive 37 cents back. Contrast that to the $1.19 that urban residents receive for every tax dollar they pay.

Lest private lands ranchers think this is not their battle, we’d draw your attention to one little line in the DOI report: “The vast majority of fish and wildlife habitat is on nonfederal lands.” Do you really think they are going to allow you to exist if your ranch is smack dab in the middle of one of their “ecosystems.” The DOI doesn’t want tourists stepping in ANY cowpies, and that includes private cowpies too.

There are countless examples of what happens to the landscape when ranchers are removed. Borderlands become dirt turnpikes for drug runners and illegal aliens. Wildlife has no place to water, and thriving plant communities die. At what cost do we rid the world of public lands ranchers? They’ll have to be replaced by armies of government employees in brand new pickups working on taxpayers money. And what of the tourists? Who will pull them out of ditches or help them fix a flat when the public lands ranchers are all gone? And what of the ranchers and their families?

I suppose, with the way the Department of Interior is mismanaging our national forests, and the way they create jobs, the public lands ranchers can all make a living fighting forest fires.

But isn’t that the biggest “consumptive” use of all?

Endangered Species Act Settlement FWS “prioritize its workload.” That settlement agreement was opposed by the CBD who wanted other species added to the list. The Justice Department obliged the requests of the CBD and on July 12, 2011 filed the second agreement, now pending before the District of Columbia Federal District Court, that would require the FWS to make 1,201 decisions on proposed listing and critical habitat designations for 1,053 species. The reason that these two numbers are different is because for some of the species, the FWS is committed to make more than one decision. The total cost to the American public for the FWS completing all this paperwork is $206,098,920, all by FY 2016.

These settlement agreements are being touted by the FWS as a “catalyst to move past gridlock and acrimony” to enable the FWS to “be more effective in both getting species on the [endangered species] list and working with our partners to recover those species.” Really? How can that be, considering the requirements of the agreements and the state of the American budget? For example: The settlement agreements only include two of the numerous radical environmental groups that have sued over the Endangered Species Act to force more species listings and critical habitat designations. This agreement does nothing to stop the National Wildlife Federa-

The Chicken & The Egg continued from page three

campaign will emphasize farmers’ and ranchers’ dedication to continuous improvement of how our food is raised to meet growing demands.

■ Strengthen collaboration within the food production, processing and distribution systems to lead the discussion and to share information about our food supply and industry more effectively with Americans.

I guess I should say this is your mission. The beef industry has committed $350,000, with $300,000 coming directly from beef checkoff dollars.

The Alliance has outlined six steps they intend to take to accomplish their mission. The first is to engage farmers and ranchers and they are encouraged to go on line to learn more about the effort including participating in a survey. The Alliance is made up of numerous organizations including the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and American Farm Bureau Federation. The hope is that over time the companies that are supported by agriculture and the industries that use our products will contribute to make the campaign work. The current budget is about $10 million with the hope of a $20 million budget in the near future.

All of this sounds peachy and I hope that it is, but the skeptic in me sees that hovering black helicopter. The premise of the group is “to put aside the things that we might disagree about and focus on what we agree upon.” Given that UEP is involved in the USFRA, what does that mean?

continued from page one

tion from filing more federal court litigation over species such as the Northern grey wolf; nor does it include Western Watersheds Project’s litigation related to the sage grouse. The Sierra Club is not bound by this settlement agreement and neither is the Natural Resources Defense Council nor the Environmental Defense Fund. Between 2000 and 2010, 455 lawsuits were filed by environmental groups against the FWS alone. It is hard to move past “gridlock” when only two of the numerous groups causing the gridlock are willing to move out of the way (sort of).

The settlement agreements require the FWS to work on a very strict time schedule. At least 94 decisions have to be made by FY 2011 and 61 decisions are to be completed by the end of FY 2012. The entire list of 1,205 decisions have to be made by FY 2016. According to a FWS Federal Register notice published November 10, 2010, it costs the agency and the taxpayer a median of $39,276 per species just to make a “90 day finding” regarding whether the FWS should even continue with a scientific review; $100,690 per species for the FWS to make a listing decision; $345,000 for each proposed critical habitat designation and an additional $305,000 for the FWS to make a final critical habitat designation. continued on page twelve

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

August 15, 2011

Page 5

Antibiotics for Beef Cattle – Use them Wisely

Boluses (or capsules)can be administered by using a balling gun.

by HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

PART ONE: The Newer Drugs and Their Uses he primary reason antimicrobial drugs are given to beef cattle is to treat or control respiratory disease, though other conditions (such as foot rot, pinkeye, wooden tongue, diphtheria, etc.) are also treated, to help the animal fight off bacterial infection. Kelly Lechtenberg, DVM, PhD (consulting veterinarian at Midwest Veterinary Services in Oakland, Nebraska) specializes in bovine medicine and has worked with many issues regarding use of antibiotics. “The BRD (bovine respiratory disease) complex is a syndrome that is usually a bacterial infection combined with viral infection and various stress factors,” he says. Viruses are not affected by antimicrobial products, but antibiotics are usually given to the sick animal to control or prevent secondary bacterial infection.

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The most commonly used products today include Draxxin (Pfizer), Nuflor (ScheringPlough), Excede (Pfizer), Baytril (Bayer), Micotil (Elanco), LA200 (Pfizer), Tetradure 300 (Merial), Naxcel (Pfizer) and various brands of penicillin and sulfa. A few stockman also use tylosin or erythromycin (which are both macrolide antibiotics).

“Draxxin carries a bovine respiratory disease label and could be used at weaning if calves are stressed, especially in large cowcalf operations where even though it’s a closed herd large groups of calves may be co-mingling — not from different sources but from different ranches in their own operation. There might be significant trucking and

There are many choices of antibiotics today, to give producer more options to best fit a particular situation.

Draxxin (tulathromyicin, which is also one of the macrolides) is one of the newer products and is a long-acting drug that has been very useful for combating respiratory disease. It is labeled for use both as a therapy and as a control (to prevent disease). “We can legally administer this product to cattle that we as veterinarians believe are at risk of developing disease,” explains Lechtenberg. For instance, it can be given to stressed animals after a long transport, upon arrival at their destination.

stress moves,” he says.

“The duration of effectiveness for this drug is at least 10 days.

People ask, ‘How long after I administer Draxxin can I be comfortable that we still have therapeutic levels in the lung, or when should I have to re-dose?’ I typically don’t think of Draxxin as a product you’d want to redose with. If the animal has not responded adequately in that length of time and you feel it needs additional treatment, it is probably better to switch drugs and go to a different class of

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antibiotics. This is not a universally held opinion; this is my own opinion,” he says.

“In the same drug class (macrolides) we also have Micotil (tilmicosin). It’s been around longer, is also a longduration therapy product (at least 3 or 4 days) and has a slightly different spectrum than Draxxin, but they are generally used for treating the same types of condition. One cautionary note with Micotil is human safety considerations,” he says.

Micotil can be fatal to humans if accidentally injected.

Both Draxxin and Micotil are prescription products (you need a prescription to get them), and the producer must be working with a veterinarian for proper diagnosis and treatment recommendations, so a veterinarian will be giving the drug or instructing the client in its proper use. This is especially important for the cow-calf operation, where the stockman may be putting a syringe in a saddle bag or taking the drug to treat one calf — often grabbed in the pasture or crowded into a gate corner or wherever you can get hands on the animal — without ideal

restraint conditions. A feedlot operator, by contrast, will be putting the animal in a treatment facility where there’s less risk for struggle and accidental injection of a human. “If I were to poke myself accidentally with a drug of the macrolide class, I would rather poke myself with Draxxin,” says Lechtenberg. “It does not have human health implications.”

Another macrolide is erythromycin, but it isn’t used as often because it is very irritating to muscle tissue. “The only label way it can be used is intramuscular. I sit on the Beef Quality Assurance task force for the NCBA, and in my opinion there is no place for injectable erythromycin in modern therapy,” he says.

Another drug that has approval for use in respiratory disease is Nuflor (florfenicol) which is in a different class of

drugs — the same class as chloramphenicol, which is no longer allowed for use in food animals. It’s a different class of drugs, very effective and broad spectrum. “All of these drugs we’ve talked about so far are injectable, to be administered subcutaneously (except for erythromycin), in keeping with NCBA’s guidelines for beef quality,” he says.

Nuflor’s effective duration of activity is probably at least 4 days. “It’s slightly shorter than Draxxin. The main question stockmen or feedlot cowboys ask, for any of these drugs, is how many days should they watch the animal (for response/improvement) before they switch drugs.

I’d give Draxxin at least a week (up to 10 days), Micotil 3 days and Nuflor 4 days,” explains Lechtenberg. If the calf is slipping backward — not making progress in recovery, you need to re-evaluate the diagnosis. Is this in fact respiratory disease or does the calf have other issues?

“It may be a primary viral infection, and the antibiotic is good to have (to keep bacterial load down) but the real problem is viremia. In that instance, continued on page six

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Antibiotics for Beef Cattle changing antibiotics won’t do much good. Or, you may have a chronic condition in the lung (especially in feedlot cattle) and the antibiotic isn’t effective,” he says. In the cow-calf operation this is generally not the problem, since the stockman will usually be dealing with a calf that’s sick for the first time. In that instance, you generally expect the response to be pretty good.

The cephalosporins are another class of drugs, introduced about 20 years ago. These include Naxcel, Exenel and Excede. “Naxcel is very short acting (about one day) but a wonderful product in respect to residues. There’s either zero or very short withdrawal time with these drugs. They are in the same general class with penicillin, but are much more potent and much more broad spectrum than the base compound of penicillin. They are very good for respiratory disease and foot rot.

Treating foot rot is one of the big uses for cephalosporins because this keeps your slaughter options open for adult cows,” he says. If an older animal gets foot rot and you want to try therapy, but realize that you might have to butcher or sell the animal, you won’t have to wait so long on withdrawal time.

“The products that are labeled for foot rot include LA-200, Nuflor and several others but many of these have significant withdrawal time. If they don’t get the job done and you have to hang onto the animal longer

continued from page five

than you want to, the cephalosporins are a better choice,” explains Lechtenberg.

The cephalosporins all consist of the same chemical entity — ceftiofur. “These drugs include Naxcel, Exenel, (effective duration about 2 days) and the newest one Excede. The latter is a different formulation, in a different carrier, so it has a longer duration of effectiveness than the others. The mechanism by which that happens is different than in Draxxin or Micotil which are absorbed rapidly and then concentrate in the white cells of the body. Excede is absorbed more slowly, so it’s like giving a continuous slow-release dose. It is effective for about 10 days, very similar to Draxxin and is also a good drug to give cattle upon arrival at a feedlot, for instance,” he says. Naxcel would be the drug of choice when treating an adult cow (if it’s an animal you could put in the chute again for retreatment if necessary, and to take advantage of the short withdrawal time if you decide to sell or butcher her afterward), whereas Excede might be what you’d choose when receiving calves into a feedlot — where you want to bring them in, process them and let them get used to the feeding program and not have to handle them again.

There are many choices of antibiotics today, to give a producer more options to best fit a particular situation.

“When setting up a program and deciding whether to use

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Draxxin or Excede as your longaction drug — in my experience one thing to consider is that Draxxin is pretty good in operations that are having problems with Micoplasma bovis. Some farms and herds have had a serious problem with this, while others have never heard of it. We started seeing M. bovis in the late 1980’s, primarily in northern and western ranch cattle, and now we’re seeing it more commonly in some of the highly put together southeastern cattle. Draxxin is pretty effective against this pathogen. Excede has a similar duration of efficacy, but because it is a cephalosporin (drugs that work by inhibiting the formation of bacterial cell walls) it doesn’t work at all for M. bovis because micoplasmas do not have a cell wall,” explains Lechtenberg.

Thus your choice of antibiotic would depend on the history of disease on your ranch. If you struggled last year at weaning time with Micoplasma bovis, and you decide to dose the calves at weaning this year to head it off, you’d want to use Nuflor, Draxxin, LA-200 or one of the other drugs that have efficacy against this type of bacterium.

“You might have the luxury of susceptibility data from last year (if your veterinarian cultured the organism), or you might not and are just playing a hunch. There’s no guarantee that you’ll encounter the same bug, but these decisions should be made with the producer and veterinarian working together and planning a strategy — such as maybe backgrounding the calves in smaller groups before co-mingling them. There are many steps that should happen before you decide to just give every calf antibiotics,” he says.

Another class of antibiotics is the floroquinalones, which includes Baytril (enrofloxacin) and A180 (danafloxacin). “These are different variations of this class, and both are very effective and very potent. The parent compound is ciprofloxacin, a human antimicrobial that is very

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Most shots should be put into the neck, to avoid injecting into parts of the body that will eventually become important cuts of meat.

Proper placement for an injection in the ear.

popular.” This is a broad spectrum antibiotic effective against some strains of bacteria that have developed resistance to penicillins and cephalosporins.

“Baytril and A180 have some restrictions, which producers need to remember. They carry warnings on the label, saying it is illegal to use them in any extralabel fashion, such as for baby calf diarrhea. These drugs are low volume injections and very effective against E. coli and salmonella, but the reason they are illegal for this use because there is concern about development of antibiotic resistant gut bugs (enteric pathogens) that can infect people. These drugs can be used for baby calf pneumonia

continued from page one

Roy’s affections with a horse named Trigger, and Car 54 was never lost. The drive-in theater is now a swap meet and hotel keys and house calls are a thing of the past. Every day there are fewer of us left who remember the milkman, or that when you went to the gas station two people emerged to fill your tank, wash your windows, check your tires and your oil. I guess I’ll just have to adapt to the new “service” economy in which we live.

I’ve spent my life accumulating a pretty darn impressive nail collection, if I do say so myself, and my friend John, who is a young builder, took one look at all the nails in my shop and said, “Thank goodness we don’t use them anymore. We just use a nail gun.” With that one simple remark he discredited my life’s work.

We baby boomers have spent our lives accumulating what we thought were valuable collections of lunch boxes, Buddy L trucks and Roseville pottery and our kids take one look, emit a collective yawn and the first chance they

(they are labeled for treating pneumonia in beef cattle) but not for scours,” he points out.

All of these newer drugs require a prescription from your veterinarian. You should not be using them without advise from and consultation with your vet.

The only drugs you can legally purchase over the counter without a prescription (from a feed store, catalog supply company, etc.) are penicillin, sulfa and the tetracyclines. “There is some talk that this will change, but at this point in time they can be purchased over the counter,” he says.

Stay tuned for part two: “Antibiotics for beef cattle, the old reliables.”

get they sell them on eBay. They could care less about our Gunsmoke cap pistols, 45 RPM records and motel ash tray collections. The worst part is, just like leisure suits, I don’t think I’ll be coming back into fashion any time soon either. I’ve thought about giving this column a complete makeover, but it’s not something I could fake. Even if I did use a pseudonym and wrote a new column where every other word was “awesome”, I’d be exposed faster than a streaker, if anyone still remembers them.

My audience is getting older and they find my writing harder to read due to failing eyesight. Even if they do read and like one of my columns 20 minutes later they can’t remember who wrote it, or what it was about. As we’re getting older we’re losing our sense of humor, too, finding less and less to laugh at in this weird world in which we live. Our only satisfaction comes from knowing that one day the current crop of youngsters will have to explain to their grandkids why they liked rap music, who Paris Hilton was, and why in the world they tattooed and pierced their bodies. For, as we all discover sooner or later, time has a way of making us all irrelevant.

August 15, 2011

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

Page 7

Uptown Chefs Visit Downhome Texas Ranch hen you get the call to host a Certified Angus Beef® Chef tour there is a certain excitement that is quickly followed by panic!

But for the folks at Bradley 3 Ranch, their twenty plus years in the meat business lent to an effective plan and a skillfully hosted ranch visit and meal . . . even in the current Texas drought.

On June 20, noted Chefs from across the U.S and Certified Angus Beef® staff were at Bradley 3 Ranch for a tour and wonderful meal prepared by Certified Angus Beef® Scott Popvic. The Chefs on the tour were among some of the most innovative and rising culinary stars.

Chef Govind Armstrong is one of the nation’s brightest cooking stars, noted for his commitment to market-driven California-style cuisine. Creator of the Table 8 brand of restaurants, Armstrong is currently the executive chef and owner of 8 Oz Burger Bars in Los Angeles and South Beach. He plans expansion to California, Arizona and Nevada.

Undoubtedly one of the South’s most talented young chefs, Craig Deihl delights diners with his global fusion style of cooking at Cypress in Charleston, S.C. In 2010, Deihl received a prestigious James Beard Foundation nomination for Best Chef-Southeast. He was also named Chef of the Year by the Charleston chapter of the American Culinary Foundation.

Also on the tour was husband and wife duo, Cindy Hutson and Delius Shirley. They own Ortanique restaurants in Miami and the Grand Caymans. Cindy is a major influence on the Caribbean food scene and South Florida market place. Together they operate Norma’s on the Beach, which has been acclaimed as the best Caribbean restaurant in South Florida by USA Today, New York Times, London Times, Chicago Tribune and Ocean Drive magazines.

Adam Perry Lang is a beef and barbecue expert who has worked his way through top rated kitchens of France and New York City. He is a consulting partner in Mario Batali’s Carnevino in Las Vegas, where he sources all the beef and trains the staff on cooking techniques.

His latest restaurant project took him to London to open Barbecoa with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. He is a cookbook author and frequent guest on all the major news and foodie shows.

Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison have been inseparable since meeting as students at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.

Their three ventures — Bacchanalia, Floataway Café and Star Provisions — provide the perfect outlet for their creativity and home-raised organic produce. They have received numer-

W

ous kudos from Food and Wine Magazine, the James Beard Foundation and National Restaurant Association, to name a few. They have also appeared on CNN, GPTV, The Food Network and Discovery Channel.

The chefs flew into Amarillo and arrived at Bradley 3 Ranch on a “breezy” 105-degree day.

Since the ranch had seen virtually no rain for almost a year, the chefs saw first hand how harsh Mother Nature can be in the ranching business.

In an effort to help the chefs understand their production system, James Henderson and Mary Lou Bradley-Henderson guided the group on a tour showing them cows grazing on dry forage, a set of corrals and weaned calves. The next stop was a visit to the herd bulls.

Ranch staff, Phil Sandelin and Robert Hodge, explained their normal day — not a 9 to 5 job!

In the mean time, Certified Angus Beef® Chef, Scott Popvic, was back at the ranch headquarters preparing an outstanding meal. While he had

never been to Bradley 3 Ranch, he commandeered the grill and kitchen masterfully. His menu included an aged, bone-in Ribeye (deemed the Certified Angus Beef ® Cowboy steak), green bean and fennel salad, smoked brisket chili “in bone”, jalapeño potato salad, corn spoon bread and an incredible

peach cobbler.

Over dinner, the discussion was lively and the chefs had the opportunity to visit with both the ranch and Certified Angus Beef® staff. According to Mary Lou, “I do think the Chefs left the ranch having a better understanding of the process to get food to their restaurants. The

Certified Angus Beef® staff did a masterful job of creating a learning opportunity in a ranch setting. For us at the ranch, this provided a rare treat for us to learn about our end point consumers’ preferences and needs.

We enjoyed the culinary conversation and the “left-overs” were awesome!”

Nationally renowned chefs learn about beef from the hoof up at Bradley 3 Ranch, Childress, Texas.

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August 15, 2011

The Arbitrage

The Corruption of Values — Promises Made . . . Values Differentiated . . . Promises Ignored . . . National Security . . . the Cardinal Value

by STEPHEN L. WILMETH

uring a wilderness hearing years ago, a lone rancher approached the podium at the Fine Arts Center on the campus of Western New Mexico University. It was apparent he was not a public speaker.

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He spoke of the pitfalls of the designation. As he spoke, the fledgling environmental crowd jeered and ridiculed his manner of speech and his message. One of the professors of that institution’s biology department ran out the front door calling the crowd to come in and “listen to this fool!”

As a student in that department, I listened along with the others who were now hooting and hollering. After a few moments, I turned and walked

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out. I left that speaker in the grasp of that disrespectful mob while he attempted to offer some logic of the fallacy of such a restrictive land management designation.

Two historic events took place after that meeting. The Aldo Leopold Wilderness was designated and the environmental movement blossomed. The voice of reason was symbolized by that lone rancher. The voices of idealism were symbolized by that progressive mob. Today, some 40 years later, there remain isolated, but no longer lone voices in the midst of even greater mobs.

The Movement The passion pitch for restrictive land designations was always predicated on idealistic fervor of an undefined goal. If there was a corollary, it was the image we had of ourselves as students finishing college at Western New Mexico University without a comprehensive educational skill to do anything except continue going to school. We were engrained with an elevated sense of self importance that had no basis for immediate real world application.

The Nazi Germans actually had a word for our predicament.

“Selbstgleichschaltung” or “selfcoordination” was the approach prewar German leadership used to bring academia, government ministries, the youth, and cultural institutions in line with their nationalistic beliefs. German leaders were amazed how effective such “coordination” was. It has been equally effective in the environmental movement.

The Uptick The Wilderness Act of 1964 was the organic progenitor of the great passion laws. It was the defining legislation that gave rise to the “Gleichschaltung” — coordination — of the environmental laws and the methodology of getting them passed.

There were two exceptions

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The Corruption of Values In the years since 1976, any objective observer is hard pressed to identify any substantive values management except ecological and environmental in federal actions. Those values have been elevated above all others in the management of existing federal lands and the acquisition of new holdings. The federal lands along the Arizona border are the best examples.

Between 1978 and the early ‘90s, over a million acres of designated federal Wilderness was established on the Mexican border in Arizona. In the management of those areas, it is obvious there was a differentiated attitude about FLPMA values. The literature is full of references to sensitivity of habitat, plans for expansion of restrictive land designations and even mitigation of Border Patrol activities.

Acquisitions of the Slaughter and Buenos Aires ranches immediately adjacent to the border added to the federal presence.

Both ranches were acquired for endemic wildlife habitat preservation and restoration. They became part of the dominion of federal lands that included the Coronado National Forest, the Coronado National Monument, Tohono O’odon Reservation, the continued on page ten

Four States Ag Expo Lowers Fees for Bull & Heifer Sale he Four States Ag Expo has announced lower rates and more attractive terms for the March 17, 2012 Bull and Heifer Sale, which will be held in conjunction with the Ag Expo’s 30th anniversary show running March 15-18.

The updated sale structure includes a lower nomination fee of $100 and a pen fee of $25/animal. Also new for 2012, 100 percent of the nomination fee will be credited toward the sale commission or no-sale fee. Ag Expo president Dusty Beals commented, “With these terms, we’re creating a way for the buyer to get excellent breeding stock while giving the consignor full exposure through Ag Expo media as well as a reasonably priced way to sell. This is the sale to hold back your bulls for.

Everyone wins.”

In addition to favorable terms, every consigning ranch will:

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conceded for those hallowed lands “untrammeled by man” as envisioned in the Wilderness Act. One was for the President to have certain authorities in the event of war. The second was to allow grazing to continue where it existed at the time of the signing.

The grazing issue was a compromise. The conservation advocates of the bill never wanted cattle grazing. Grazing was allowed only through compromise emanating from lingering anger over an event that occurred in the Gila National Forest.

It was in there that the ‘First Family of Wilderness’, was evicted from their historic range. That land had caught the fancy of several influential administrators including Aldo Leopold. It became the nation’s first wilderness. The designation was without Congressional approval.

Rather, it was an administrative action taken by a Regional Office in 1924. It set the stage for things to come.

In 1944, the Shelley family was evicted without recourse from what is now a large part of the Gila Wilderness. They had been forced to destock that portion of their ranch because of several catastrophic events not the least of which was the Great Depression. When the suggestion of restocking was imminent during World War II, the Forest Service notified the family that “the (Wilderness) has been eliminated from the Mogollon Creek Allotment.” The Forest Service was not going to alter what the Depression had accomplished regardless of needs of the nation.

The Shelley travesty was known among certain participants in the hearings prior to 1964, and it was an issue. In order to assure passage, a compromise was struck. Grazing would be allowed where it was in place “at the time of the signing”, but, as for the egregious, undefended Gila taking . . . leave that sleeping dog alone!

By the time the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) came along in 1976, the environmental influences were expansive. Conflicting missions, interagency jealousies, the confusion of laws, and the escalating environmental influences were all part of the driving forces behind FLPMA. The pacifying words were the purported “values” for which the federal lands would be managed.

Those promised quality values were scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resources, and archeological.

Everybody agreed and the bill was signed by the President October 21, 1976 and became Public Law 94-579, 90 Stat.

2743.

Be mentioned in sale-specific advertising and publicity ■ Given a live link to their ranch from the Ag Expo website ■ Receive immediate placement in the online sale catalog Benefits begin upon payment of full nomination and pen fees, so consignors are urged to register early to begin enjoying the advertising advantages.

The nomination and catalog entry deadline is March 1. The Ag Expo Bull & Heifer Sale will be handled by Southern Colorado Livestock Auction, but consignments should be registered through the Ag Expo. The catalog will be online in downloadable pdf format at www.FourStatesAgExpo.com; it will be updated as entries arrive.

For more information on the sale, contact Radiance Beals at 970/749-7560 or rb@hayesranches.com.

■

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

August 15, 2011

Summer food fight: Hot dogs caught in cultural crossfire

by DAN PILLER, www.desmoinesregister.com

n these hotly political times, even the poor hot dog can’t keep from getting caught in the cultural crossfire.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has put up a billboard near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana likening hot dogs to cigarettes and declaring that eating one hot dog a day would increase the eater’s risk of cancer.

“A hot dog a day could send you to an early grave,” said Susan Levin, nutrition education director for the Physicians Committee, which advocates a plantbased diet.

She likens the assault on hot dogs and other red meat to the long battle against cigarettes, which beginning in the mid1960s gradually eliminated cigarette advertising and then smoking in most public buildings.

That kind of thinking doesn't go down easily in Iowa, home of the nation’s largest hog population at 19 million. Corn has long been the preferred feed for livestock, and Iowa’s cattle and hog producers generate about $10

I

billion a year in cash receipts.

Among Iowa fresh meat processing plants, Tyson Foods makes hot dogs at its plant in Cherokee and the Smithfield Foods-owned John Morrell plant makes hot dogs in Mason City.

Hog producer Wayne Sheets of Ionia, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, observed laconically “there are people who just don’t want other folks to eat meat.”

The Indianapolis billboard plays on a perception, disputed by the meat industry, that eating red meat increases the risk of cancer.

Sheets and meat groups take issue with the cancer accusation.

“If meat causes cancer, would the government allow it to be sold?” said Sheets.

American Meat Institute President J. Patrick Boyle defended the hot dog, saying “hot dogs are part of a healthy, balanced diet.

They come in a variety of nutrition and taste formulas and they are an excellent source of protein, vitamins and minerals.”

Boyle said “one of the largest studies ever done on red meat

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and colon cancer — a 2004 Harvard School of Public Health analysis involving over 725,000 men and women and presented at the 2004 American Association for Cancer Research Conference — showed no relationship between meat and colon cancer.”

The arguments about connections between red meat and various diseases, including obesity, have been around a while.

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Levin said she doesn’t object to being called a food elitist, but that “my job is to provide information to the public. Our advice is to switch to a plant-based diet.”

Wilson said he is watching the first steps in what some fear will be government control of diets.

“I’ve heard (U.S. Sec. of Agriculture) Tom Vilsack talk about ‘meatless Mondays,’ and all the campaigns about ‘local produce,’ and ‘know your farmer,’ said Wilson.

He said that “so far, the calorie information on menus and on food packaging has had no effect on the nation’s weight problem.

And there is evidence that eating what is supposed to be diet food, like a veggie sandwich at Subway, just creates a ‘halo effect’ that leaves the consumer thinking he or she is free to gorge later on something else.”

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and hog production facilities.

Even farmers markets, a favorite of “buy fresh, buy local” advocates, are seen as something of a cultural battleground.

Justin Wilson, researcher for the food industry-supported Center for Consumer Freedom in Washington, D.C., said “a lot of people who go to farmers markets can best be described as foodie elitists with a latent anti-corporate mentality, who advocate and practice vegetarianism so they can feel superior to other people.”

Wilson cites the precedent of cigarettes as the blueprint for what anti-meat groups have planned, and said “the comparison of meat and cigarettes is false. Cigarettes are known to cause cancer. No such cause has been specifically connected to red meat.”

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4995 Arzberger Rd. Willcox, Arizona 85643

JOEY FREUND, 303/841-7901 PAT KELLEY, 303/840-1848 E LI Z ABE TH, C OLORADO 80107

Santa Gertrudis Breeders International Executive Director, John Ford

Red & Tender

By Design

P.O. Box 1257 Kingsville, Texas 78364 361/592-9357 361/592-8572 fax

www.santagertrudis.ws Shorthorn AMERICAN SHORTHORN ASSOCIATION 877/274-0686 8288 HASKELL ST., OMAHA, NE 68124 W W W. SHORTHORN. ORG I NFO@ SHORTHORN. ORG

Livestock Market Digest

Page 10

The Corruption of Values Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Preserve, and expansive BLM administered lands that include National Conservation Area designations.

It is nearly impossible to find examples of support for other values promised in FLPMA, and, particularly, the historical value. A most bizarre example was when Organ Pipe’s resource staff indicated in a study they had prevailed against cattle grazing in the monument and they would also prevail against the Border Patrol!

Indeed, the Park Service had

continued from page eight

succeeded in removing the ranching Gray family who had been on the border for years, established domiciles on what is now monument land, and created water infrastructure that supported not only their cattle herd but wildlife populations.

The Park Service worked diligently in their stated intention to overcome the Border Patrol. If there is a metric to gauge their success, their managed lands are now ground zero within the most dangerous drug smuggling corridors where half of all illegal traffic enters the United States.

Values Intervention and the Future The values “bundle” that was set forth in FLPMA remains intact. Federal agency disregard for the sanctity of the historic value and the elevation of the environmental and ecological values is unacceptable. It is also dangerous and it has put the entire nation at risk.

Data suggests that if the federal agencies had administered the promised values without bias and prejudice, the United States would be a much safer place. For example, where the ranching industry has been removed from the border, illegal trespass has not increased in a linear fashion . . . the increase is exponential.

August 15, 2011 The illegal trespass impact on the border must be seen to be believed. If the federal agencies charged with management of the natural resources in those areas were private companies, their services would not only be terminated . . . they would be sued for breach of contract and dereliction of duty. Their performance in differentiating management for only the environmental value is a national disgrace.

Congress must start making amends to the eleven Western states that agreed to allow the management of their lands to be altered from a matter of disposal to a matter of retention on the basis of upholding the eight guiding values. The citizens of

those states have been deceived, mislead, and under-represented.

Congress must also add to the values bundle the single defining value that has been missing from the onset. The cardinal value . . . national security is missing. It must be added to a refined FLPMA or the American people must accelerate their search for leaders who represent the American society for whom all values were intended . . . and promised.

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “In the last 20 years, 550 federal lands ranchers in New Mexico have been lost.

That represents 550 individual family tragedies. Complicit in that reduction is the overt disregard for the historic value. The silent annihilation of this historic segment of our society is no longer an acceptable goal of the environmental movement. It must be stopped.”

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate GUIDE To place your listings here, please call MICHAEL WRIGHT at 505/243-9515, ext. 30, or email michael@aaalivestock.com

RANCH SALES & APPRAISALS SERVING THE RANCHING INDUSTRY SINCE 1920

Chas. S. Middleton and Son 1507 13th ST. • LUBBOCK, TEXAS 79401

(806) 763-5331

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

JOE STUBBLEFIELD & ASSOCIATES 13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX • 806/622-3482 Cell 806/674-2062 • joe3@suddenlink.net Michael Perez Assocs Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

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TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES • Magnificent 90 Hunting – Cattle/Horse Ranch 50 miles E. of Dallas, 35 miles W. of Tyler, White pipe fence along FM Hwy. 3,700 sq. ft. elaborate home, flowing waterway, lake. Has it all.

• 532-acre CATTLE & HUNTING, NE TX ranch, elaborate home, one-mile highway frontage.

OWNER FINANCE at $2,150/ac.

• 274 acres in the shadow of Dallas. Secluded lakes, trees, excellent grass. Hunting & fishing, dream home sites. $3,850/ac.

• 1,700-acre classic NE TX cattle & hunting ranch. $2,750/ac. Some mineral production.

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

• 256 Acre Texas Jewel – Deep sandy soil, highrolling hills, scattered good quality trees, & excellent improved grasses. Water line on 2 sides rd., frontage on 2 sides, fenced into 5 pastures, 5 spring fed tanks and lakes, deer, hogs & ducks. Near Tyler & Athens. Price $1,920,000.

• 146 horse, hunting cattle ranch N. of Clarksville, TX. Red River Co. nice brick home, 2 barns, pipe fences, good deer, hogs, ducks, hunting priced at $395,000.

• 535 ac. Limestone, Fallas, & Robertson counties, fronts on Hwy. 14 and has rail frontage water line, to ranch, fenced into 5 pastures, 2 sets, cattle pens, loamy soil, good quality trees, hogs, & deer hunting. Priced at $2,300 per ac.

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

972/287-4548 • 214/676-6973 1-800/671-4548 www.joepriest.com joepriestre@earthlink.com

Texas Panhandle Ranch: 12,408 acres southeast of Amarillo in the heart of the rugged Palo Duro Canyon. This ranch has excellent access with paved highway frontage. The property has been under the same family ownership since 1929. This scenic ranch has over 3 miles of the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River. The south portion of the property is located on the elevated plains, with dramatic views of the colorful canyon country. The ranch is watered by windmills, electric wells, waterlines with drinking troughs and the river. If you are in the market for a rugged Palo Duro Canyon Ranch, loaded with game, with excellent access and unbelievable scenery, this property deserves your immediate attention. Priced at $675 per acre with some minerals.

Texas Panhandle Ranch: 71,059 acres located northwest of Amarillo, Texas. The centerpiece of the ranch is approximately 29 miles of the scenic Canadian River, which essentially runs through the center of the property.

The terrain varies dramatically from elevated mesas descending to deep canyons and wide fertile creek bottoms.

The property is extremely well improved and very well watered by the river, springs, creeks, and many water wells.

Major improvements include a 7,000 square foot owner’s home, 4,500 foot paved landing strip, hand houses, dog kennels, and many extras. The ranch offers some of the best mule deer, whitetail, turkey and quail hunting to be found. Two state record deer have been harvested in recent years, and elk are now coming down the river out of New Mexico. This property has a colorful history and a carefully planned Conservation Easement is in place. This ranch has it all. $475 per acre.

UNDER CONTRACT

Southeast Colorado Cattle Ranch: 12,383 deeded acres together with 640 acres of Colorado State Lease and a Comanche National Grasslands Permit to graze an additional 183 animal units for five months. The terrain varies from gently rolling open plains country to high elevated mesas and rugged mesa side slopes. Elevations vary from 5,800 feet to over 6,700 feet. As the country transitions from the open plains to the mesa tops the ranch has a fairly dense canopy of juniper, piñon, oak, and scattered ponderosa pine, which offers excellent habitat for turkey, mule deer and elk. Water quality is good and the ranch is exceptionally well watered and adequately improved with functional headquarter improvements including housing, barns and pens. This operating ranch is realistically priced at $425 per deeded acre with the lease and permit being transferred to an approved buyer.

East-Central New Mexico Cattle Ranch: 60,400 deeded acres with approximately 6,000 acres of leased and free use land. The ranch is located near Santa Rosa and historical stocking rates indicate a carrying capacity of 1,200 – 1,300 animal units. The ranch has a rolling to hilly terrain with a small amount of canyon country. The property is watered by natural lakes, submersible wells, windmills and an extensive waterline network. Improvements include a nearly new Spanish style hacienda, two camps and several good sets of livestock pens. $240 per deeded acre.

Descriptive brochures available on all ranches.

Chas. S. Middleton and Son

www.chassmiddleton.com • 1507 13th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79401 • 806/763-5331

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

August 15, 2011

Missouri Land Sales

See all my listings at:

paulmcgilliard.murney.com ■ Horse Training / Boarding Facility: New, state-of-the-art, 220x60 horse facility with 20 stalls, back to back, offset with bull pen at end of the barn. Two large pipe outside paddocks. 3-4 BR, 3 BA, 2,000+ sq. ft. PAUL McGILLIARD Cell: 417/839-5096 home. All on 18+ acres. Just 5 miles north of I-44 Bois D’Arc exit. MLS #1017424. Call Paul for your private showing.

1-800/743-0336 ■ 838± Acre Ranch: Never been offered for sale before. Exceptional, MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORS highly improved, all continuous ranch, 1/2 mile off Hwy. 13 at Bollvar.

SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804 Lovely ranch home and mobile home and guest entertainment house. Big shoe, hay barn and possible 8-stall horse barn. 250/cow/calf graze the 700 acre m/l lush pastures serviced by 3.5 miles of water lines and 23 frost-free waterers. 3+ acres m/l spring-fed stocked lake. This ranch has it all.

MLS#1109960 ■ 483 Ac., Hunter Mania: Nature at her best. Don’t miss out on this one. Live water (two creeks). 70+ acres open in bottom hayfields and upland grazing. Lots of timber (marketable and young) for the best hunting and fishing (Table Rock, Taney Como and Bull Shoals Lake) Really cute 3-bd., 1-ba stone home. Secluded yes, but easy access to Forsyth-Branson, Ozark and Springfield. Property joins Nat’l. Forest. MLS#908571

■ JACKSON CREEK: Approximately 2,398 deeded acres – 490± irrigated meadows – plus

BLM & USFS leases – rated at 430 MOTHER COWS plus replacements and bulls – 15 HD. HORSE PERMIT – Harney County, OR – 3 year long creeks through ranch, large spring and potable artesian well – LANDOWNER HUNTING TAGS, 4 deer and 4 elk – comfortable improvements, private HQ’s, last year long ranch in upper Otis Valley – back dropping against rugged BLM and USFS lands – owner/agent – $2,450,000 ■ LANDRETH: Approximately 797 deeded acres – 35 irrigated crop – 135 irrigated pasture – balance, dry grazing – livestock/recreation property – rates at approximately 100 – 125 animal units year long or great stocker unit on seasonal basis – approximately 1/2-MILE MALHEUR RIVER thru ranch – upland game birds, waterfowl, mule deer and bass ponds – LANDOWNER HUNTING TAGS, 2 deer – quality, clean improvements – Malheur County, OR – $990,000 – priced below appraisal ■ P BAR: Approximately 11,750 deeded acres – 300 irrigated – plus BLM & State leases –

rated at 1,300 AU’s – WINTER PERMIT for 900 hd. – one contiguous unit for easy drift – 1,000 hd. feedlot to wean and/or back ground calves – 3 homes – numerous outbuildings and livestock facilities – Malheur County, OR – possibly the lowest $$ operating ranch on the NW real estate market – $6,000,000 ■ LINSON CREEK: 1,938 deeded acres plus 892 AUM’s BLM – WINTER PASTURE for approximately 300 hd. – 11/1 – 5/10 – will generally feed about 1/2-ton hay – CHUKAR, QUAIL, PHEASANT, MULE DEER, ELK – FISHING FOR BLUE GILL, BASS AND TROUT – modest improvements – Washington County, ID – $1,475,000 – Terms ■ JUNIPER: 155 deeded acres – 74 irrigated – offering a premier close in wildlife/hunting

property – PHEASANT, QUAIL, TURKEY, MULE DEER, VARMINTS, BLUE GILL AND BASS – recently remodeled 3 BR, 2BA, 1,645 sq. ft. home – outbuildings – neat, clean and well cared for – Malheur County, OR – $545,000 ■ REATA RIDGE: 560 deeded acres accessing several thousand acres federal lands – 3,000'

executive home with lots of extras – horse barn, office, gym, shop, machine shed, covered horse runs, roping/riding arena – LANDOWNER HUNTING TAGS, 2 mule deer – Malheur County, OR – $995,000 – owner agent ■ FARM/FEEDLOT: 500 deeded acres with about 280 irrigated – CAFO at 850-1,000 head –

good improvements – great for stockers and/or dairy heifers – Malheur County, OR – $1,580,000

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

National FFA Organization receives nearly $1.9 million from Microsoft icrosoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) has donated nearly $1.9 million of software, training and support to the National FFA Organization for the creation of a new online network to help students track educational successes, pursue awards and scholarships and ultimately obtain careers in the agriculture industry.

The Agricultural Career Network will be an online portal that students can use starting in middle school, through college and beyond to track their educational accomplishments, activities and awards. It will also allow students to build resumes and online portfolios, apply for awards and scholarships, prepare for college, pursue internships, connect with potential employers and pursue employment opportunities.

Agriculture teachers will also be able to manage FFA member information in the network, which will provide key data for Perkins plans and reports, produce local impact reports for advocacy efforts, compile information about available grant and scholarship applications and create tools that teachers can use to gauge the relevance and successes of their individual agricultural education curricula.

Microsoft’s donation to FFA includes SharePoint 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 and additional products.

“Microsoft’s generosity and support gives us the utmost con-

M

Southwest New Mexico Farms and Ranches WAHOO RANCH: Approximately 40,976 acres: ± 11,600 deeded, 6,984 BLM, 912 state, 40 uncontrolled and 21,440 forest. Beautiful cattle ranch located on the east slope of the Black Range Mountains north of Winston, N.M., on State Road 52. Three hours from either Albuquerque or El Paso.The ranch is bounded on the east by the Alamosa Creek Valley and on the west by the Wahoo Mountains ranging in elevation from 6,000' to 8,796'. There are 3 houses/2 cabins, 2 sets of working corrals (1 with scales) and numerous shops and outbuildings. It is very well watered with many wells, springs, dirt tanks and pipelines. The topography and vegetation is a combination of grass covered hills (primarily gramma grasses), with many cedar, piñon and live oak covered canyons as well as the forested Wahoo Mountains. There are plentiful elk and deer as well as antelope, turkey, bear, mountain lion and javelina (47 elk tags in 2010). Absolutely one of the nicest combination cattle/hunting ranches to be found in the Southwest.

Price reduced to $5,500,000.

MAHONEY PARK: Just 10 miles southeast of Deming, N.M. The property consists of approx. 800 acres Deeded, 560 acres State Lease, and 900 acres BLM. This historic property is located high up in the Florida Mountains and features a park like setting, covered in deep grasses with plentiful oak and juniper covered canyons. The cattle allotment would be approx. 30 head (AUYL). Wildlife includes deer, ibex, javalina, quail and dove. This rare jewel would make a great little ranch with views and a home site second to none. Price reduced to $550,000.

SAN JUAN RANCH: Located 15 miles south of Deming, N.M. east of Highway 11 (Columbus Highway) on CR-11.

Approximately 24,064 acres consisting of approximately 2684 acres Deeded, 3240 State Lease, 13,460 BLM, and 4,680 uncontrolled. The cattle allotment would be approx. 183 head (AUYL). There are 6 solar powered stock wells with metal storage tanks and approximately 6-1/2 miles pipeline. The ranch has a very diverse landscape consisting of high mountain peaks, deep juniper & oak covered canyons, mountain foothills and desert grasslands. There is plentiful wildlife including deer, ibex, javalina, quail and dove. A truly great buy! Price reduced to $550,000.

26.47-ACRE FARM for sale off Shalem Colony Road. Borders the Rio Grande river. 13.55 acres EBID water rights/26 acres water rights. $380,000.

212 ACRE FARM BETWEEN LAS CRUCES, N.M. AND EL PASO, TEXAS: Hwy. 28 frontage with 132 acres irrigated, 45 acres sandhills, full EBID (surface water) plus a supplemental irrigation well, cement ditches and large equipment warehouse. Priced at $1,629,000.

50.8-ACRE FARM: Located on Afton Road south of La Mesa, NM. Paved road frontage, full EBID (surface water) plus a supplemental irrigation well with cement ditches. Priced at $12,000/acre.

OTHER FARMS FOR SALE: In Doña Ana County. All located near Las Cruces, N.M. 8, 11, 26, 27 and 63 acres. Starting at $12,000/acre. All have EBID (surface water rights from the Rio Grande River) and several have supplemental irrigation wells. If you are interested in farm land in Doña Ana County, or ranches in Southwest N.M., give me a call.

SOLD

DAN DELANEY R E A L E S TAT E , L L C www.zianet.com/nmlandman

Page 11

318 W. Amador Ave., Las Cruces, N.M. 88005 (O) 575/647-5041 • (C) 575/644-0776 nmlandman@zianet.com

fidence that the Agricultural Career Network will deliver world-class service to FFA members, their teachers and FFA alumni to help them efficiently and professionally document their educational and career progress and achievements,” said Mark Cavell, chief technical officer at the National FFA Organization. “We envision the network will be a powerful resource that students can use now and well into their futures as agricultureindustry leaders.”

The initial focus of the Agricultural Career Network will be to improve the quality, service and impact of FFA. Data collected through the network will help document the impact and relevance of FFA and agriculture curricula, drive FFA programming and build a growing base of

support for agricultural education.

“We applaud FFA for its launch of the Agricultural Career Network” said Staci Trackey Meagher, general manager for Microsoft’s Midwest District.

“Microsoft has long believed that inside each and every person there is great potential. To continue increasing digital inclusion, we are committed to providing technology, tools and resources to these organizations and are honored we can assist the FFA with this key initiative.”

The Agriculture Career Network will roll out in phases, with the first phase being made available to FFA members and agriculture teachers this fall. Over the next two years, the network will expand, featuring additional tools and features.

www.baxterblack.com

Baxter BLACK O N

T H E

E D G E

O F

C O M M O N

S E N S E

Biomass t a time when self-righteous environmental groups are trying to block solar power, and selfdescribed green politicians are preventing “Not in my Backyard” wind power, our much maligned real power utilities continue to search for greener fuel options.

It is not unusual that the bluster of the often government-subsidized non-profit ANTI’s impede progress through frivolous litigation. Yet the workers in the trenches who furnish us with light, fuel, heat and electricity, soldier on with these parasitic envirosites clinging to them like ticks under a donkey’s tail.

For 20 years coal burning plants have been experimenting with Biomass as a fuel or co-fuel with coal. Biomass, by definition is also a fossil fuel, only much “fresher”, geologically speaking.

In most cases it is wood-waste, the byproduct of lumber mills.

After Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina, one of their National Parks was devastated.

All the trees were down. The Forest Service chipped the trees and the local power plants burned the product with coal, up to 15 percent. Today the envirosites would stop them in their tracks!

Feedlots and dairies have always been interested in ways to recycle cow manure as energy or as cud-pleasing condiments.

Though it might sound queasy to the squeamish, even humans develop a taste for Brie cheese, goose liver and fungi!

I’m thinking if southern pow-

A

er plants really wanted to recycle, how ‘bout kudzu! My gosh, it’s hangin’ on every power pole from Macon to Memphis! They could compost it, ensile it, or lay it out on Interstates 10 and 20 to be dried and flattened. They cut it in chunks like peat and burn it along with the loblolly stumps and chitlins.

If you’re looking for abundant biomass trash, think about Christmas trees in January, flowers after Mother’s Day, Easter eggs in May and punkin heads after Halloween! Consider the waste in discarded Popsicle sticks, toothpicks, wooden matches, and even give-away yardsticks! And speaking of flammable; paper of all kinds including Charmin, well, maybe not Charmin, but Kleenex, losing lotto tickets, receipts from Wendy’s Square meal and Circle K 16 oz cups of coffee. How many of those receipts do you wad up every year and toss?

Newspapers could be classed as organic biomass, especially if you have been using it to train the puppy!

We all should remain vigilant to the items in life that could be considered recyclable. There could come a day when every home, apartment complex, restaurant and chicken farm will have its own self-producing power source. Which means as long as I keep writing this column on my Big Chief tablet, I should generate enough paper to heat my home. So keep on subscribing, friends, it gets cold here in Arizona in January.

Livestock Market Digest

Page 12

Endangered Species Act Settlement Multiplying the FWS’s own numbers by the actions for each species in the settlement agreements brings the cost of the settlement agreements to the American taxpayer to a grand total of $206,098,920 — just to process the paperwork, that figure excludes the payment of attorney fees to the CBD and WEG. The amount of those payments has not been publically released.

What is even more distressing

continued from page one

is that the settlement agreements go far outside the bounds of the original multi-district litigation. The original litigation dealt with 133 species for which the Justice Department agreed that the FWS had failed to follow the procedural ESA requirements. In contrast, the settlement agreements expanded that number to include 1,053 species; 940 of which were not part of a federal court complaint. How

can the FWS with any conscience agree to this expansion?

Even more unconscionable is the way the FWS press release describes the settlement agreements. According to the FWS announcement, the settlement agreements and work plan “will enable the agency [FWS] to systematically, over a period of six years, review and address the needs of more than 250 candidate species to determine if they

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

Please list me/my organization as a member of the Western Legacy Alliance.

I have included my membership dues and my $____________ additional contribution.

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August 15, 2011 should be added” to the ESA list.

But look at the list attached to the settlement agreements and read the settlement agreements themselves. The official species list that has to be considered contains 1,053 species, which is 76 percent more than admitted by the FWS. While technically 1,053 species is “more than” 250 candidate species, my children would not get away with that kind of creative factual accounting.

The bottom line analysis of the multi-district settlement agreements is this — the Justice Department and FWS agreed to two settlement agreements that represent an 89 percent increase over the number of species included in the original litigation;

that commits the FWS to spend over $206,000,000 over the next six years to do the paperwork on 1,053 bugs, worms and grasses that two radical groups think are more important than humans in all 50 states; to add to an ESA list that already includes over 2,000 species when only 10 have been removed from the list since it was passed in 1969; and the Justice Department has agreed to pay the attorney fees to the two groups for suing in the first place. I would argue that $206,098,920 plus added attorney fees payments would pay a lot of benefits to deserving Americans including those who are serving this Country. That is where my tax dollars should go.

Tucson: the environmental litigation factory capitol of America

by HUGH HOLUB, Inside Tucson Business

or years Tucson has tried to create a positive image of itself to attract new business.

Tucson wants to be the biotech center of America. Tucson wants to be the solar capital of America.

But Tucson already has a wellestablished identity in America.

Tucson is the environmental litigation factory capitol of America. Tucson is home to the Center for Biological Diversity which has been spewing out lawsuits over alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. And the CBD has been raking in millions in legal fees for these lawsuits under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).

Nationally the CBD has become the poster child of a litigious environmental group . . . prompting Congress to actually try and reform the Equal Access to Justice Act and cut off the pipeline of taxpayer money to the CBD and other similar environmental litigation factories such as Western Watershed Project and WildEarth Guardians.

CBD engages in what some call the “EAJA racket”.

Here is how it works according to Ted Williams who had a commentary in the Tucson Weekly.

By harassing the feds to make a profit, the Center for Biological Diversity makes environmentalists look bad.

“The Interior Department must respond within 90 days to petitions to list species under the Endangered Species Act. Otherwise, petitioners like the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) get to sue and collect attorney fees from the Justice Department.

“For 2009, the CBD reported income of $1,173,517 in ‘legal settlement.’ The center also shakes down taxpayers directly from Interior Department funds under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and for missed deadlines when the agency can’t keep up with the broadside of Freedom of Information Act requests. The Center for Biological Diversity has two imitators: WildEarth Guardians and West-

F

ern Watersheds Project.”

What the CBD does is file hundreds of petitions to list species and subspecies as being endangered. The US Fish & Wildlife folks have 90 days to respond . . . which they can’t realistically. Then CBD sues to force the listing and get legal fees. Then CBD demands a habitat protection plan for hundreds of species . . . which US Fish and Wildlife can’t process in time . . . and another lawsuit and legal fees results.

CBD claims it was “won” when in fact they are exploiting a structural problem with the Endangered Species Act that sets arbitrary timetables for the feds to respond, and CBD overwhelms the US Fish and Wildlife Service with its petitions and demands.

If you have any doubts about the magnitude of CBD’s litigious activity nationally, go to Google News and create an alert for “endangered species act” and for “center for biological diversity” and see what turns up on your computer screen every day.

One goal of creating an identity is this will attract even more similar businesses. And this works . . . because Tucson is the acknowledged environmental litigation factory in the country, a second “elf” arrived in town in 2007: Western Watersheds Project Arizona Office http://www.westernwatersheds.org/arizona.

Instead of gaining the reputation of making things, Tucson is known for its radical environmental obstructionism.

But interestingly, while there is a national debate going on about how the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians are sucking up taxpayer money and blocking economic development in the name of protecting endangered species. . . you sure do not read about any of this in the Arizona Daily Star.

Tucson is the Vatican for environmental litigation factories.

And you know what happens to anyone who dares challenge the authority of the high priests of any religion in their capitol.