Riding Herd
“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”
by LEE PITTS
– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
December 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com
Volume 58 • No. 12
Reviving Cool BY LEE PITTS
An Industry In Decline
The easiest way to find something lost is to buy a replacement.
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s we say goodbye to 2016, forecasters telling us what to expect for cattle prices in 2017 are as accurate as the ones who predicted Great Britain would still be part of the EU and that Hillary would be writing her inaugural address about now. According to Purdue economist Chris Hurt, “Using futures prices on November 7 as a proxy for cash prices suggest 2017 finished cattle would average in the higher $90’s.” According to Hurt, “USDA analysts who use fundamental price models are forecasting the average finished cattle price to be between $112 to $121.” In other words, your guess is as good as theirs.
Back To Where We Started From
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
We have just witnessed the most volatile cattle market in perhaps anyone’s lifetime. Fat cattle prices rose by $59 then fell by $75 in less than two years! Who will ever forget the euphoria in 2014 as fat cattle prices rose above $1.70, 400 pound bawling Nevada calves brought $1,500, and all the “smart” people were telling us the good times would roll well into 2018. Fast forward to October of 2016 when fat cattle were trading below a buck and ranchers who’d paid $3,000 for bred replace-
ment heifers at the peak were wondering if those purchases would produce enough in their lifetime to pay for their initial cost. We’re back to the prices we were at before the otherworldly spike in cattle prices began. Meanwhile, costs for cow/calf operators have spiraled higher and stocker operators who retained ownership, or had to renegotiate land rents based on the higher market, are now flat broke, or are trying desperately to renegotiate those contracts. Most ranchers are tradition-
ally too tight-lipped to open their books to spying eyes but Kansas cattleman Mike Schultz shared his numbers to illustrate the severity of the crash. In 2014 he received $1,835.00 per calf, by far the best ever, but in 2016 he received $694.00. That’s a loss of $1,141.00 per head! “In my own case,” says Schultz, “with 90 calves x 1,141.00 loss in revenue x 2 years = $205,380.” Multiply that by the total number of calves in the country and you come up with a 20 BILLION DOLLAR LOSS. And Schultz thinks even that may be low.
Bill Bullard, R CALF CEO, says, “Four out of every ten beef producers who were here 30 years ago are gone today. Something has gone terribly wrong, and you saw your cattle prices fall farther and faster than any other industry today. That’s not an industry in a progressive state. That’s an industry in decline, and that’s your industry. It’s on a trajectory to decline unless you do something different than what we have done in the last 20 years.” That explains why 400 ranchers showed up at the sale barn in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to gather in one of six meetings organized by R CALF to discuss what could be done to stop the bleeding. Herman Schumacher, cattle feeder, former auction market owner and an R CALF co-founder helped organize the continued on page two
Rural Interests Plan to Fight New BLM Planning Regs BY JOHN O’CONNELL CAPITAL PRESS
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national livestock industry leader warns proposed changes to the Bureau of Land Management planning process are on the fast track for implementation and threaten public lands grazing. Ethan Lane, executive director of the Public Lands Council, which represents cattle and sheep ranchers with public lands grazing permits, said senior BLM officials have assured him a final version of the agency’s proposed Planning 2.0 will be released before the current administration leaves office. “I think it’s incredibly dangerous, and it’s going to take Congress’ full attention to protect the West and Western states from this effort,” Lane said. “The net effect is grazing and any other multiple use on BLM land will be threatened.” BLM sources couldn’t be reached by press time for comment on the time line for Planning 2.0, which would represent the first update to agency planning rules in about 30 years. The aim, according to BLM literature, is to “revise regulations that implement (the Federal Land Policy and Management Act) to include best practices learned over decades.” BLM documents insist the changes should improve transparency and public involvement while building trust among stakeholders. Crit-
ics, including rural county leaders and industry officials, note the proposed rule shortens public comment periods from 90 days to 60 or 45 days, depending on the stage. Revised priorities in the draft document remove language requiring an assessment of policy impacts on local economies, replacing it with “impacts of resource management plans on resource, environmental, ecological, social and economic conditions.” Lane believes the emphasis on the environment would come at the expense of BLM’s current mandate to manage for “multiple use and sustained yield.” “It’s wholly inappropriate for them to change their mission unilaterally to plan for intangibles like social and environmental change,” Lane said. Written comments submitted on behalf of several Western counties and organizations, including Custer County, Idaho, and Baker County, Ore., emphasize the changes would remove FLPMA requirements for BLM to make land-use decisions with “meaningful involvement” from state and local governments. “Every other entity will have the same opportunity as the state and local governments to work with the federal government at the same level,” said Kelly Aberasturi, an Owyhee Councontinued on page four
Man Up
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en, it’s time we had a talk. I hope you’re as ashamed as I am about the news that the sperm count of the average male in this country is down 30% compared to just three years ago. At this rate we’ll all be eunuchs in seven years. Here’s another statistic that should make you hang your head in shame. Your average American male now spends 51 minutes per day grooming himself. Gone are the days when a guy could be ready to go someplace in two minutes, now it’s the woman waiting on the man. And here’s the scariest report of all: Viewership of the NFL is down for the first time in forever. Probably because guys are too busy watching reruns of Project Runway or Ellen. Pick up any ag related publication and you’re bound to see photos of FFA officer teams. In many of these you’ll not see a single male. I was President of the California Association of the FFA when women were first allowed in and it was an oddity to see a female in an FFA jacket. Now the roles are reversed and guys wearing the blue and gold are as rare as an alto saxophone in a bunkhouse. When I was studying Animal Science in college it was 90% guys, most of them longing for female companionship. In the photo of the last graduating class at my alma mater it looked like all women with a token guy or two. I went into the hardware store the other day and in the plumbing department I was waited on by a female. Is nothing sacred? I’ve heard of men attending bridal showers and of far too many wives leaving their husbands for other women. I really can’t say as I blame them either when you consider the sad state of manhood these days. Who amongst us doesn’t have a male relative who is drinking wine instead of beer, arguing about pilates versus yoga in his support group, eating salads with names I can’t pronounce like arugula and raddachio, taking their pet Shih Tzus to continued on page four
www.LeePittsbooks.com
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Livestock Market Digest
December 15, 2016
REVIVING COOL meetings. Speaking at the Platte Livestock Auction Schumacher said, “I don’t think there’s an industry anywhere in the world that has taken such a beating.” In reference to the large crowds the R CALF events attracted, Schumacher said they indicated, “Cattle ranchers are fed up with their marketplace that collapsed even while supply and demand forces were promising much higher prices. What other industry in the U.S. suffers a 50 percent price collapse when supplies increase by no more than two percent? The cattle industry is the last frontier for multinational meatpackers because it’s the only remaining animal industry the meatpackers have not already vertically integrated from birth to plate.” Kim Ulmer, of Huron Continental Marketing, told the crowds, “Beef sales at the retail counter are well over $2 per pound higher than last year, but live cattle sales are lower? Why is this happening? The cattle industry could be losing producers in droves, much like the hog industry when it lost 90 percent of their producers in a very short time. We can’t sit by and watch them push out more and more beef producers until this industry is just one big corporation,” said Ulmer.
Making Us Great Again
CAREN COWAN............Publisher LEE PITTS.......................Executive Editor CHUCK STOCKS............Publisher Emeritus RANDY SUMMERS.........Sales Rep RON ARCHER................Sales Rep
MARGUERITE VENSEL..Office Manager JESSICA DECKER..........Special Assistance CHRISTINE CARTER......Graphic Designer
Taking a page from America’s new President, the theme of the meetings was “Making the Cattle Business Great Again.” Just as Trump has a list of things he wants to get done in his first 100 days, so too does R CALF. Bullard offered a “to do list” his group will be taking to Washington DC. According to Bullard, we must: • Empower producers to monitor and enforce the rules of competition by finalizing the 2010 GIPSA rules that will finally implement the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. “This will stop the four largest meat packers,” said Bullard, “who purchase 85 percent of the cattle in this country, from exhibiting anti-competitive behavior and granting undue preferences and advantages in the marketplace.” • Enforce antitrust laws to stop packers from using their tremendous market power to exploit cattle producers on one end of the supply chain and consumers on the other. “Producers are the red bullseye on the multinational meat packer target. You’re the last one to be controlled from eggto-plate or birth-to-plate,” said Bullard. “They want to vertically integrate your industry. They want to control prices on the supply chain. They aren’t trying to take your cow-calf or backgrounding operations away; they want to control the feeding segments of your industry — the holy grail upon which the entire industry is linked. We are sitting silent as we witness the decline of the number of feedlots in this country. If we let them go, we won’t bring them back.”
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• Protect the cattle industry’s price discovery market by banning packer ownership of livestock and cattle contracts that do not contain a negotiated price. Bullard told the ranchers, “The meat packers are destroying the cash discovery market. They act as gatekeepers. They decide who does and who doesn’t have timely access to the marketplace. Meat packers are forcing cattle out of the cash market and into the formula market. We must pass legislation to stop the big four from using captive supply cattle to capture control of the live cattle supply chain.” • Pass smart trade policy that will reverse the industry’s trade deficit. One of the reasons Trump won was because he promised to rewrite our trade policy and put U.S. workers and producers first. It was as if R CALF was writing Trump’s speeches. “We must renegotiate current trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA and oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to allow the U.S. to maintain import restrictions for countries with ongoing disease problems,” said Bullard, sounding like Trump. Or was Trump sounding like Bullard? Oh, never mind. As part of Trump’s new trade policy we should retain our sovereignty and not let the World Trade Organization tell us what we can, and can’t do because it directly hits you in the pocketbook. For example, in October of 2014 the WTO ruled that the newly amended COOL law violated international law. This was at the exact peak of the highest cattle prices in history. Immediately after WTO’s announcement cattle prices fell off a cliff. Straight down. This was no coincidence. It all happened because one man, the chief member of the WTO panel that told us to comply, or else, was a Mexican national, a citizen of one of the two countries that brought the COOL complaint to the WTO.
Priority Number One The final item on R CALF’s “to do list” is Priority Number One and that is... • We need to reinstate mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef so U.S. ranchers can compete against the growing tide of undifferentiated foreign beef imported into their domestic market. This is the one goal that could do the most good for ranchers in the quickest time period. The NCBA isn’t going to “fix” the problems with cattle futures. The CME won’t fix anything either, at least ethically. They may “fix” things all right, just like a Chicago politician “fixes” things. We’ve been talking about fixing the futures market for the past 40 years. And don’t buy all this talk that our exports will save us. Sure, we may some day sell more beef to foreigners than we continued on page three
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
REVIVING COOL are currently buying from them, but that doesn’t mean ranchers will get any of the money. If multinational beef packers source the beef they export from imported cattle, American ranchers won’t get one thin dime. And we aren’t going to bust up the Big Four any time soon. Nor can we afford to at this point. That’s the trouble with putting all your eggs in one basket, or, in this case, all your beef. Who would step in to process the cattle? That only leaves one way to cure what ails us.
The COOL Premium If you look at a chart of cattle prices since 2009, after COOL had been implemented in the 2008 Farm Bill, you will note a jagged line headed up until it reached the highest price in history. That’s because COOL put a premium on domestically produced cattle that the consumer wanted and discounted foreign cattle. That’s exactly why Canada and Mexico protested so vociferously. The WTO panel claimed that Canadian affidavits reported “price discounts for imported animal and meat as a result of the COOL requirements.” Of course it did. That’s what COOL was supposed to do. If Canada and Mexico did lose a billion bucks it went into the pockets of American packers, feeders and cattlemen. Call it The COOL Premium. If you need further proof that COOL was a blessing consider the unscientific discovery of a lifelong cattleman. He told the Digest that in his state, dominated by one big packer and feeder, one company runs thousands of grass cattle and on all their leases prior to COOL you saw only Mexican cattle. Once COOL became law all he saw on those same pastures were high quality Angus cattle that had been verified as born and bred here. After Congress killed COOL it was back to Mexican cattle on those pastures. That’s why Trump’s election inspired renewed fear in Canadian cattle country and why ranchers there are urging Otta-
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wa lawmakers to threaten retaliation if Trump revives COOL. If we do get another shot at COOL next time the law must be written better. The previous COOL legislation was vague and inaccurate and contained too many loopholes. And next time we need to eliminate the WTO and their meddlesome ways.
A Pathway To Profit We know that American ranchers and consumers overwhelmingly want COOL. A 2010 USDA study found that 90 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for beef produced entirely within the United States. But can COOL come back? Is it legally possible to revive COOL now that we have a President who says he wants to tear up trade agreements and not be ruled by international trade tribunals? If it is possible, how do we go about it? That’s the question the Digest put to R CALF’s Bill Bullard and here’s his reply: “If the Trump administration renegotiates NAFTA, we could reinstate COOL in the negotiation process by requiring Canada and Mexico to withdraw their WTO COOL complaint and award in the NAFTA Renegotiated Agreement. Canada and Mexico would then have to withdraw their COOL WTO complaint as well as their damage authorization in the NAFTA Renegotiation Agreement itself. We could then restore the COOL statutory language into the NAFTA Renegotiation Implementing Act. Every trade agreement requires an implementing act to comport U.S. laws and regulations with the agreement. Restoring the statute establishing COOL in the renegotiation implementing act, would immediately order USDA to reestablish COOL. This language could address some of the shortcomings in both the COOL statute and regulation. It should clearly address the complexity of the label.” If the past is any indication, and all
this were to happen cattleman would see an immediate spike in prices. If we don’t renegotiate NAFTA Bullard said “COOL would have to be done in a stand-alone statute, or it could be rolled into the 2018 Farm Bill. Under all scenarios, we will want to take the WTO’s discrimination argument away from it. That is, the WTO found COOL discriminatory in large part because it required the origins to be tracked on 100 percent of the imported cattle yet about 67 percent of beef and 84 percent of pork was not subject to the labeling law because it met the exemptions for being sold in a food service establishment or it was considered an ingredient in a processed food item. Close those two loopholes and the only other major WTO criticism was that the born, raised and slaughtered label did not accommodate cattle that were raised in two countries,
e.g., born in Canada, raised in Canada, finished and slaughtered in the U.S. So, if we add a “finished” phrase, then the WTO can no longer say the labels are not always accurate.” Right now in Washington everyone is jockeying for position and there are so many questions. Will Trump follow through or will he walk backwards from his promise to renegotiate trade agreements? Who will have Trump’s ear when it comes to COOL, will it be the NCBA who has stated that beef is beef no matter where in the world it comes from? As Bullard states, “With this new administration, we literally start with a clean slate. We have to ask ourselves, who is it you want representing your interest in Washington, D.C.?” If you’d like to revisit those profitable days of yesteryear the answer could not be more clear. We must revive COOL.
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Livestock Market Digest
We’re talking Bundy jumping, Trump thumping and Monument molesting
Bundy jumping
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hile most of the media and D.C. Deep Thinkers have been reacting to Donald Trump’s surprising electoral victory, I’ve been having fun monitoring the left-enviro reaction to the surprising not guilty verdict in the Bundy Oregon case. That particular decision has generated such headlines as “The Bundy Acquittal Is Dangerous” and “A Shocking Outcome”. Let me give you a flavor of what has been said. Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said his agency “must send a strong message of deterrence to those who would seek to replicate the occupation or perpetuate the toxic myths that sustained it.” “This is an extremely disturbing verdict for anyone who cares about America’s public lands, the rights of native people and their heritage, and a political
such actions are justified by this verdict.” That’s just a few of the milder reactions. I can’t read them without grinning. The Bundys were there because of federal overreach in the Hammond case and the Bundys were found not guilty as a result of overreach by the federal prosecutor. system that refuses to be bullied by violence and racism,” said Kierán Suckling, the Center for Biological Diversity’s executive director. “The Bundy clan and their followers peddle a dangerous brand of radicalism aimed at taking over lands owned by all of us. I worry this verdict only emboldens the kind of intimidation and right-wing violence that underpins their movement.” “The FBI’s treatment of the Bundy militia as Boy Scouts for 41 days hobbled the prosecution…”, Suckling said. “We are deeply disappointed in today’s verdict, which puts our park rangers and scientists at further risk just for doing their jobs,” Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, said in a statement. “The outcome of today’s trial will undoubtedly embolden extremist groups.” “I fear this ruling will embolden other militants to use the threat of violence and I worry for the safety of employees at our public land- management agencies,” said John Horning, executive director of WildEarth Guardians, in a statement. “It is entirely possible there will be threats or intimidations from militants that believe
Trump thumping Talk about your double-whammy. Not long after the Bundys were found not guilty one Donald Trump was elected President. The same Trump who said he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris agreement on global warming, revoke the “waters of the U.S.” rule and bring back the coal industry. The enviros aren’t happy. Typical of their reaction are these statements by Heather Leibowitz, Director of Environment New York. “At a time when children are being poisoned by lead in their drinking water and sewage and manure pollute our rivers, we need to strengthen our clean water protections and invest in clean water infrastructure.” “At a time when sea levels are rising, temperature records are being smashed, and extreme weather events threaten Americans across the country, we need to rapidly shift to 100% renewable energy and away from dirty fossil fuels.” “The American people did not vote for dirty air, dirty water or the destruction of our precious lands and wildlife…” Yes, Trump’s election will
RURAL
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2.0 be delayed 90 days to gather additional public comment from Western states. Simpson expects Interior funding will be addressed through a continuing resolution that won’t include his language, but he anticipates Congress will ultimately block Planning 2.0. “A rule of this size and scope
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needs to be carefully considered with adequate time for local stakeholders to add input,” Simpson said. “I anticipate this rule will be rolled back, along with many other Obama administration regulations that are simply being rushed to the finish line without going through the appropriate process.” FARMINGTON
ty, Idaho, commissioner. The county filed separate comments against the proposal. “The decisions are not local anymore.” Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, introduced an amendment to the House version of the Interior and Environmental Appropriations Bill requesting implementation of Planning
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December 15, 2016 mean children are poisoned and our lands and wildlife will be destroyed. Time out for a good guffaw. On a more serious note, the enviros are preparing for battle. They are planning an aggressive effort in the federal courts to defeat any of Trumps deregulation proposals. “We will be full-blast in the courts to resist undermining any of our fundamental environmental laws where progress has been made through executive branch actions on the environment,” vowed Trip Van Noppen, president of the law firm Earthjustice. They do face one problem: So many of Obama’s environmental initiatives were implemented by Executive Orders or similar type actions and they will be vulnerable to executive action by Trump. The Imperial Presidency, those “stroke of the pen” actions may come back to haunt them. And yes, I can’t keep from smiling as I write this. Monument molesting Rep. Rob Bishop, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has suggested that Trump should revoke many of the monuments proclaimed by Obama. The reaction has been quick. U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich says of any attempted roll backs, “they’re going to have to do it over my dead body.” Senator Udall and Rep. Lujan joined Heinrich in condemning the idea. Rep. Steve Pearce, however, says, “The Antiquities Act requires that a President designate
RIDING HERD the dog park, getting their hair styled in a salon instead of being cut in a barbershop, wearing designer jeans, having a bigger closet built to house his shoe collection, and living in something called a pied a terre in San Francisco? So-called males are using hair gel and listening to Adelle. Whoever that is. Some “men” are living with Mom just waiting for a poetry professorship to open up at the local junior college. Husbands are letting the wife drive and I swear I heard one guy the other day amongst a totally male crowd apologizing profusely for a small belch that was caused by eating too much eggplant lasagna. At a brunch, no less! Geez! In the process of being liberated, females have given men an inferiority complex. Guys, we are not inferior, just different from women. Or at least we’re supposed to be. We should be celebrating those differences, not using the same bathroom. Women have guys thinking that all the world’s problems begin and end with testosterone. It’s not yet a crime to enjoy looking at a beautiful woman but that day is not far off. Such behavior is not criminal, it’s just “nature”
the smallest possible footprint in order to achieve the desired environmental preservation. American’s have witnessed the Obama Administration disregard that part of the law.” Pearce is calling on Trump to review the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and other designations to reduce their footprint “to an acreage supported by existing federal law.” Can the President actually revoke or revise a National Monument? It’s my understanding this has never been litigated. We do have a 1938 opinion by the U.S. Attorney General. That opinion says the Antiquities Act grants the President the authority to proclaim a National Monument, but the Act “does not…authorize the President to abolish national monuments...” However, the opinion also says the President has diminished the size of monuments under that part of the act which provides that the limits of the monuments “in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the care and management of the objects to be protected…” He can’t revoke but he can diminish. Sounds very much like what Rep. Pearce is proposing. And I’m still grinning. Till next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch. Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot. com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation
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and is all part of something called “the mating process.” Males have been doing it since Adam picked up on Eve. Boys will be boys. Not girls. There’s been a men-tal breakdown in this country and men have spent the last 20 years apologizing. Ovum deprived persons of maleness are the ones with the headache now. That’s how we’ve ended up with a bunch of wimpy males who wouldn’t know the first thing about gutting a trout and the only thing they like about hunting are the cute camo clothes. So, please men, stop waxing your legs, turn off that video game, get off the couch, forget Facebook and man up. Pull up those jeans, ditch the peach colored pedal- pusher pants, get a real dog, unplug your Prius and buy a truck, for gosh sakes. Kill your own food, fire up the barbecue, turn on the ballgame, have a beer, scratch and spit. Leave your bed unmade, get out of the zen garden, no more pedicures, take the remote control back and quit crying. And for gosh sakes, NO MORE HUGGING. wwwLeePittsbooks.com
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
Page 5
Stunning New Data Indicates El Nino Drove Record Highs in Global Temperatures Suggesting Rise May Not Be Due to Man-Made Emissions BY DAVID ROSE FOR THE DAILY MAIL ON SUNDAY
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lobal average temperatures over land have plummeted by more than 1C since the middle of this year – their biggest and steepest fall on record. The news comes amid mounting evidence that the recent run of world record high
Global average temperatures over land have plummeted by more than 1C temperatures is about to end. The fall, revealed by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) satellite measurements of the lower atmosphere, has been caused by the end of El Nino – the warming of surface waters in a vast area of the Pacific west of Central America. Some scientists, including Dr Gavin Schmidt, head of NASA’s climate division, have claimed that the recent highs were mainly the result of longterm global warming. Others have argued that the records were caused by El Nino, a complex natural phenomenon that takes place every few years, and has nothing to do with greenhouse gas emissions by humans. The new fall in temperatures suggests they were right. Big El Ninos always have an immense impact on world weather, triggering higher than
normal temperatures over huge swathes of the world. The 201516 El Nino was probably the strongest since accurate measurements began, with the water up to 3C warmer than usual. It has now been replaced by a La Nina event – when the water in the same Pacific region turns colder than normal. This also has worldwide impacts, driving temperatures down rather than up. The satellite measurements over land respond quickly to El Nino and La Nina. Temperatures over the sea are also falling, but not as fast, because the sea retains heat for longer. This means it is possible that by some yardsticks, 2016 will be declared as hot as 2015 or even slightly hotter – because El Nino did not vanish until the middle of the year. But it is almost certain that next year, large falls will also be measured over the oceans, and by weather station thermometers on the surface of the planet – exactly as happened after the end of the last very strong El Nino in 1998. If so, some experts will be forced to eat their words. Last year, Dr Schmidt said 2015 would have been a record hot year even without El Nino. ‘The reason why this is such a warm record year is because of the long-term underlying trend, the cumulative effect of the long-term warming trend of our Earth,’ he said. This was ‘mainly caused’ by the emission of greenhouse gases by humans. Dr Schmidt also denied that there was any ‘pause’ or ‘hiatus’ in global warming between the 1998 and 2015 El Ninos. But on its website home page yesterday, NASA featured a new study which said there was a hiatus in global warming
before the recent El Nino, and discussed why this was so. Last night Dr Schmidt had not returned a request for comment. However, both his own position, and his NASA division, may be in jeopardy. US President-elect Donald Trump is an avowed climate change sceptic, who once claimed it was a hoax invented by China. In mid-November, Mr Trump’s science adviser Bob Walker said he was likely to axe NASA’s $1.9 billion climate research budget.+3 Other experts have also disputed Dr Schmidt’s claims. Professor Judith Curry, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and president of the Climate Forecast Applications Network, said yesterday: ‘I disagree with Gavin. The record warm years of 2015 and 2016 were primarily caused by the super El Nino.’ The slowdown in warming was, she added, real, and all the evidence suggested that since 1998, the rate of global warming has been much slower than predicted by computer models – about 1C per century. David Whitehouse, a scien-
Comes amid mounting evidence run of record temperatures about to end tist who works with Lord Lawson’s sceptic Global Warming Policy Foundation, said the massive fall in temperatures following the end of El Nino meant the warming hiatus or
Wyoming Mulls Rules to Address Rising Livestock Kills, Wildlife Poaching SOURCE: FREGEREPORT.COM
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any ranchers around the West are searching for a way to control a recent increase in livestock killed on the range. At the annual Wyoming Farm Bureau meeting this month, members supported a new policy they hope will address the problem. Farm Bureau spokesman Brett Moline said it’s not clear why people are shooting more livestock. “We’ve had trouble with people poaching. They just go out and shoot to kill,” said Moline. “We’ve seen it in wildlife. We’ve seen it in livestock. It seems to be getting more prevalent west wide and it’s not just out on private land. It’s when they’re
on public land as well, when they’re on the grazing allotments.” Moline said, now when people are caught killing livestock they are fined and must pay the rancher the market value of the animal. At the meeting, the agency agreed that restitution costs should be more punishing. With the new policy, poachers would be required to pay four times the cost of the animal’s market value instead. Moline says Wyoming Farm Bureau members also supported another new policy that would expand Wyoming Game and Fish statutes, so their game wardens could help police forest boundaries near private property for trespassing antler
hunters. “The Game and Fish are more knowledgeable about the wildlife. They know where they’re going to congregate during the seasons when they’re shedding their antlers. So this will encourage them to be more active on their patrolling,” said Moline. Moline said, often times trespassers walk past private property signs without seeing them. He said, by changing the Game and Fish statute the burden would be on the antler hunters to make sure they aren’t trespassing. The hope is that the Wyoming Legislature will act on the group’s policy in the near future.
slowdown may be coming back. ‘According to the satellites, the late 2016 temperatures are returning to the levels they
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were at after the 1998 El Nino. The data clearly shows El Nino for what it was – a shortterm weather event,’ he said.
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Livestock Market Digest
December 15, 2016
Why We Use Electoral College, Not Popular Vote JARRETT STEPMAN, THE DAILY SIGNAL
T
he Electoral College remains in place over two centuries after the framers of the Constitution empowered it to select presidents. Though occasionally maligned, this system of electing a chief executive has been incredibly successful for the American people. Many modern voters might be surprised to learn that when they step into a ballot box to select their candidate for president, they actually are casting a vote for fellow Americans called electors. These electors, appointed by the states, are pledged to support the presidential candidate the voters have supported. The Electoral College holds its vote the Monday after the second Wednesday in December following the election. The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College after much debate and compromise, but it has provided stability to the process of picking presidents. Though the winner of the national popular vote typically takes the presidency, that vote failed to determine the winner in four elections: 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. Some see the Electoral College as a peculiar and mystifying institution that ensures only a few, select individuals will ever cast a direct vote for president in the United States. Others complain that the system rewards smaller states with more proportional power than the large ones. Every four years, around election time, there are murmurs about revamping the system and moving toward a direct, national popular vote.
The Founders’ College As one of The Heritage Foundations legal experts, Hans von Spakovsky, notedin a paper on the Electoral College: “In creating the basic architec-
ture of the American government, the Founders struggled to satisfy each state’s demand for greater representation while attempting to balance popular sovereignty against the risk posed to the minority from majoritarian rule.” Some elements of the Electoral College, such as the indirect vote through intermediaries, were hotly debated at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It was eventually justified in part as a stopgap to potentially reverse the vote if the people elected a criminal, traitor, or similar kind of heinous person. The Founders wanted to empower democratic elements in the American system, but they feared a kind of pure, unrestrained democracy that had brought down great republics of the past. The product of the Founders’ compromise has been well balanced and enduring, and we would be wise to leave it intact. Alexander Hamilton defended the Electoral College in Federalist 68. He argued that it was important for the people as a whole to have a great deal of power in choosing their president, but it was also “desirable” that “the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.” Hamilton also wrote that this system of intermediaries would produce a greater amount of stability, and that an “ … intermediate body of electors will be much less apt to convulse the community with any extraordinary or violent movements, than the choice of one who was himself to be the final object of the public wishes.” As students of ancient history, the Founders feared the destructive passions of direct de-
mocracy, and as recent subjects of an overreaching monarch, they equally feared the rule of an elite unresponsive to the will of the people. The Electoral College was a compromise, neither fully democratic nor aristocratic.
states chose to have their legislatures pick electors, rather than the people. But, over time, the states shifted to choosing electors via the state’s popular vote instead. Every state has opted for popular election at least since the Civil War.
The Constitution states:
Calls to Abolish
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress. In addition to balancing the protection of individual rights and majority rule, the Founding Fathers attempted to create a “federalist” system that would keep most of policymaking power reserved to states and localities. America’s presidential election system also was designed to empower the states, not just the American people as an undifferentiated mass. The total number of electors and thus electoral votes across all states and the District of Columbia—included after the passage of the 23rd Amendment—adds up to 538. The winner must receive a majority, or 270, of these votes to become president. The system empowers states, especially smaller ones, because it incentivizes presidential candidates to appeal to places that may be far away from population centers. Farmers in Iowa may have very different concerns than bankers in New York. A more federalist system of electing presidents takes that into account. The states are free to select the method in which they choose their electors. In the early days of the republic, most
Modern opponents of the Electoral College argue against what they call antidemocratic aspects of the institution, criticizing both the intermediary electors and the state-by-state system of voting. Calls to fundamentally change the Electoral College reached a peak after Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore in the tightly contested 2000 election. Gore narrowly won the national popular vote, and many of his supporters howled that the system—even without the Supreme Court stepping in—was unfair. One organization, National Popular Vote, has worked toward eliminating the Electoral College through an amendment to the Constitution or a state compact. National Popular Vote argues that the current system encourages presidential candidates to spend most of their time in “swing states” rather than campaigning for votes across the entire country. This plan for a national popular vote has received a moderate level of support, but Heritage’s von Spakovsky has called it bad policy, based on mistaken assumptions. Swing states, he wrote, “can change from election to election, and many states that are today considered to be reliably ‘blue’ or ‘red’ in the presidential race were recently unpredictable.”
Baxter BLACK ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE www.baxterblack.com
My 10 Most Unforgettable Lifetime Experiences 1. Lying flat on my back in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix at 2 a.m. I passed the carafe of Chablis to my reclining colleague who looked at me and said, “Pardner, I don’t think you’re executive material!” 2. Mud wrestling with Hurricane Charlotte in San Juan Capistrano. It was there I lost $110 on a frog named Montezuma in the big frog-off. 3. The tobacco-spitting contest in Pasco where I placed third. As Tom Hall would say, “I used to couldn’t spit over my chin; now I can spit all over it!” 4. One o’clock in the morning; Saturday night, when I locked the key in Red’s Cadillac outside the Schroeder Dance Hall. I had to call a locksmith from Victoria. It was a long ride home. 5. Dancing with Mike at the Hotel Nevada in Ely. I still have a scar on my arm from waltzin’ into a rock wall when he changed leads. 6. The trip from Sioux Falls to Platte with
Many states have signed on to a bill that essentially would tie a state’s electoral votes to the national popular vote. Those states will pledge to swing all of their electoral votes to the winner of the national vote. But this is because the incentives would be to appeal only to the biggest population centers. Swing states change over time, and the 2016 election could be a prime example of swing-state unpredictability and erosion of the traditional partisan political map. Additionally, if the president were elected by unfiltered national vote, small and rural states would become irrelevant, and campaigns would spend their time in large, populous districts.
Over 200 Years of Success Unneeded tinkering with a process that is over two centuries old could destabilize one on the steadiest political systems in the world. As author and Texas lawyer Tara Ross wrote in a Heritage Foundation memorandum: America’s election systems have operated smoothly for more than 200 years because the Electoral College accomplishes its intended purposes. America’s presidential election process preserves federalism, prevents chaos, grants definitive electoral outcomes, and prevents tyrannical or unreasonable rule. The Founding Fathers created a stable, well-planned, and carefully designed system—and it works. On Election Day, Americans should appreciate the great and long-lasting constitutional tradition bequeathed to them— including the quirky Electoral College system created by the nation’s Founders.
Diane, Konni and JoAnne. They tanked up on cervesa before the trip and had to make a pit stop in somebody’s cornfield along the way. I stood guard and they scattered into the cornrows like quail. 7. Snorkeling in San Carlos Bay with one-armed guide named Onofre. We speared three lobster, two carp, one scorpion fish, a Tecate can and one swim fin. 8. Falling asleep on the red-eye Big Sky Express from Miles City to Billings. Everybody disembarked including the pilots and they pushed the plane off the runway. Fortunately one of the mechanics left his lunch in the cockpit and found me. 9. Trying to ski between the legs of an unsuspecting bunny at Angel Fire and getting my nose hooked in her ski clothing. I looked like a B-52 refueling in mid-air. 10. Spending the night in Bennett, Idaho, getting my haircut in Wellington, Kan., getting caught in blizzards in Antonito, N.M., and Fairmont, Minn., singin’ with Teense in Saratoga, team roping on Dude, canoeing the Sac in Missouri, Amtracking the 6 a.m. Pioneer Flyer out of Hastings; easting ravioli in a Chinese restaurant in Regina, cabrito in Stockdale and barbeque in Pendleton; seein’ Mt. Rushmore, the Mississippi, Mt. St. Helen’s and Ft. Morgan in the spring. Lookin’ back, I’d say it’s been a pretty good life so far. www.baxterblack.com
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
Page 7
Finishing’s Effect on Climate The ‘green’ facts of grass vs. grain when finishing beef cattle. BY DONALD STOTTS, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
I
t is a “green” discussion that continues to raise its head periodically. What is better for the environment: Grass-finished or grain-finished beef cattle? Emotions on the subject sometimes run high, and facts can be the first fatality as the level of discourse becomes more heated, whether the debate be among those within the cattle industry or with outside groups, said Clint Rusk, head of Oklahoma State University’s (OSU’s) department of animal science. “It can be a hot topic in Oklahoma for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that the state ranks third nationally in the number of beef cows,” he said. “The truth is there are trade-offs in different aspects of sustainability when comparing the two finishing production systems.” Grain-finished beef has a lower carbon footprint than grass-finished beef because of cattle’s more efficient utilization of feed in the finishing phase, fewer days on feed and greater amount of beef produced per animal. However, grass-finished beef contributes to sustainable beef production by utilizing forage resources to produce food from plants that are largely inedible by humans. The carbon footprint for beef is all the greenhouse gas emissions produced during the production of beef divided by the total amount of beef produced throughout the system’s three phases: cow-calf, stocker/
backgrounding and finishing. “Cattle entering the final ‘finishing’ stage are typically 12 to 16 months of age, and remain in this phase until they achieve a level of body condition that will provide a positive eating experience for consumers,” Rusk said. The main difference in carbon footprints between grassand grain-finished beef occurs as a result of the time spent in the finishing phase, the type of feed consumed and the body weight of the animal at the end of the finishing phase. Typically, cattle entering the feedlot for finishing eat a diet containing corn along with byproducts such as distillers’ grain left over after ethanol production or corn gluten feed left over after corn fructose production, as well as vitamins and minerals and small quantities of roughage such as hay. “Grain-finished cattle remain in the feedlot for approximately four to six months, and reach market weight faster than their grass-finished counterparts because their diets are higher in energy, which results in rapid and efficient weight gain,” said Sara Place, assistant professor of sustainable beef cattle systems for OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. In contrast, grass-finished cattle gain weight at a slower rate and typically go to harvest at 20 to 26 months of age, and at a lower final weight than their grain-finished counterparts. “Grass-finished cattle may finish either faster or slower than the typical age range, depending upon the forage and grass resources available,” Place said. “For example, the growing season is shorter in northern states, which may shorten the
finishing period and lead to lighter animal weights at harvest.” Change in outputs The difference in harvest weights translates into different numbers of U.S. citizens who can be fed per animal. Place said average grass-finished cattle provide a live animal weight at harvest of 1,100 pounds (lb.), a dressing percentage of 58 percent and a carcass weight of 638 lb. per animal, resulting in eight U.S. citizens being fed per animal, according to USDA per capita beef consumption data. “The dressing percent of an animal represents the meat and skeletal portion of an animal compared to its live weight,” Place said. “Utilizing grass forage as the primary source of feed also contributes to an increased carbon footprint because high-forage diets produce more methane emissions from the animal’s digestive tract than high-energy grain diets.” Methane is a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent at trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere as compared to carbon dioxide. For grain-finished cattle with a live animal weight at harvest of 1,300 lb., a dressing percentage of 64 percent and a carcass weight of 832 lb. per animal would result in 10.4 U.S. citizens being fed per animal, according to USDA per capita beef consumption data. “The combination of consuming a higher-energy, lower-forage diet, less time spent on feed during the finishing phase and heavier carcass weights translates into an 18.5 percent to 67.5 percent lower carbon footprint for grain-finished beef compared to grass-finished beef,” Place said. So, some might ask, why is
there a debate? “Even though grass-finished beef has a higher carbon footprint, it also has some sustainability advantages,” Place said. Grass-finished cattle utilize foodstuffs that are inedible to humans as their primary source of energy and nutrients throughout their lifetimes, but it doesn’t end there. “Beef cattle can utilize forage grown on land that is not suitable for crop production, thus providing us humans with a nutritious food source on land resources that otherwise would not be providing something we can eat,” Place said. Additionally, grasslands and pastures can sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which can help mitigate climate change, as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Research conducted by Pelletier and Rasmussen in 2010 also shows there is an advantage for grass-finished beef production compared to grain-finished beef production when expressing feed conversion as human-edible energy returned per unit of human-edible ener-
gy consumed by the cattle. “Accounting for carbon sequestration could lower the carbon footprint of grass-finished beef by 42 percent,” Place said. “In contrast, approximately 18 percent of feed intake per unit of carcass weight will occur in the feedlot for grain-finished cattle.” The bottom line is this: Beef cattle producers using either system can sustainably meet consumer demand for beef. “It is human nature to discuss and even debate topics about which we are passionate, and to have some sort of ‘winner,’ ” Rusk said. “OSU’s land-grant university mission is to determine and disseminate research-based factual information so people are better informed and can make knowledgeable decisions about issues and concerns of importance to them, their families and their communities, even in instances where there is no clear winner.” Cattle and calves account for approximately half of agricultural cash receipts in Oklahoma, according to USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service data.
Doerr Angus Ranch 53244 Hwy 84 Center NE, 68724-8004
Registered Angus Production Sale Friday, February 17, 2017 at Verdigre NE Livestock Market
Scott & Shackleton Logbooks Prove Antarctic Sea Ice is Not Shrinking 100 Years After Expeditions BY SARAH KNAPTON, SCIENCE EDITOR, HTTP://WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK/
A
ntarctic sea ice had barely changed from where it was 100 years ago, scientists have discovered, after poring over the logbooks of great polar explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. Experts were concerned that ice at the South Pole had declined significantly since the 1950s, which they feared was driven by man-made climate change. But new analysis suggests that conditions are now virtually identical to when the Terra Nova and Endurance sailed to the continent in the early 1900s, indicating that declines are part of a natural cycle and not the result of global warming. It also explains why sea ice levels in the South Pole have begun to rise again in recent years, a trend which has left climate scientists scratching their heads. “The missions of Scott and Shackleton are remembered in history as heroic failures, yet the data collected by these and other explorers could profoundly change the way we view the ebb and flow of Antarctic sea ice,” said Dr Jonathan Day, who led the study, which was published in the journal The Cryosphere.
“We know that sea ice in the Antarctic has increased slightly over the past 30 years, since satellite observations began. Scientists have been grappling to understand this trend in the context of global warming, but these new findings suggest it may not be anything new. “If ice levels were as low a century ago as estimated in this research, then a similar increase may have occurred between then and the middle of the century, when previous studies suggest ice levels were far higher.” The study was based on the ice observations recorded in the logbooks from 11 voyages between 1897 and 1917, including three expeditions led by Captain Scott, two by Shackleton, as well as sea-ice records from Belgian, German and French missions. Captain Scott died along with his team in 1912 after losing to Norwegian Roald Amundsen in the race to the South Pole, while Shackleton’s ship sank after becoming trapped in ice in 1915 as he and his crew attempted the first land crossing of Antarctica. The study is the first to calculate sea ice in the period prior to the 1930s, and suggests the levels in the early 1900s were between 3.3 and 4.3 continued on page 11
Max & Wendy Doerr
402-288-4299
www.doerrangusranch.com doerrangusranch@hotmail.com
An industry leader in 50K Registered Black Angus Seedstock
Page 8
Livestock Market Digest
Bar M Real Estate
SCOTT MCNALLY bakercityrealty__1x2.5 4/6/15 11:45 AM Page 1
www.ranchesnm.com 575/622-5867 575/420-1237 Ranch Sales & Appraisals
Socorro Plaza Realty
December 15, 2016
Happy Holidays!
On the Plaza
Filling Your Real Estate Needs in Oregon Andrew Bryan, Principal/Broker Office 541-523-5871 Cell 208-484-5835 andrew@bakercityrealty.com www.bakercityrealty.com
Donald Brown
Qualifying Broker
505-507-2915 cell 505-838-0095 fax
#5 Plaza PO Box 1903 Socorro, NM 87801 www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com
Missouri Land Sales NEW LISTING! - 80 ACRES - 60 ACRES HAYABLE, LIVE WATER, LOCATION, LOCATION. Only 8 miles west of Norwood, 3 miles east of Mansfield, 1/4 mile off Hwy 60. Well maintained 3 bed, 1 1/2 bath, 1432 sq. ft. brick/vinyl home, nestled under the trees. Full basement (partially finished), John Deere Room. This is your farm! MLS#60059808 139 Acres - 7 AC stocked lake; hunting retreat. Beautiful 2 BR, 1 BA log cabin. Only 35+ miles northeast of Springfield. MLS# 60031816.
See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com
PAUL McGILLIARD
Cell: 417/839-5096 1-800/743-0336 MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORS SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804
SOLD
174 acres M/L. MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION! Now only $1200 per acre. Cattle, horses, hunting retreat. Live water year round spring-crawdad creek. 30+ ac open, more land could be opened with brush hogging. Good fencing, 2 miles from S&H fish pay fishing ponds. 8 miles east of Ava on Hwy. 76. MLS# 60029427 MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION: GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY CLOSE TO SPRINGFIELD. El Rancho Truck Plaza. MLS #11402704; Midwest Truck Stop MLS #11402703; Owner retiring. Go to murney.com, enter MLS #, CHECK THEM OUT!!!
Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker
775/752-3040 • 775/752-0952 • www.bottarirealty.com 549 Acre Farm/Ranch in Elko County, Nevada This property is located approx.. 15 miles South of Wells, Nevada on US. Hwy 93. It has 249 acres of water righted lands being served by one full two wiper pivots. Price: $825,000. Moll Farm in Diamond Valley, Eureka County Nevada with reduced price of $650,000. This farm has older water rights. It has two pivots covering 213 acres. Borders BLM and private. No close neighbors. Two homes, one being rented. Ruby Valley Ranch in Elko County, Nevada. 622 acres with surface and underground water rights. Borders the forest at the foot of the Ruby Mountains. Price: $950,000.
We have other farms, ranches and land for sale. Give us a call!
From all of us here at Jack Horton 208.830.9210 Rae H. Anderson 208.761.9553 SX RANCH: Approximately 665 deeded acres – 300 irrigated/sub-irrigated hay & pasture – great starter, hobby or retirement opportunity – 12 miles to town & schools $1,250,000 – adjacent 1,700 deeded acres, native range, available @ $1,050,000 – would make one of the most aesthetically pleasing smaller ranches in the Northwest. For complete brochures:
Serving Willcox, Cochise & Pearce Arizona
LLC
“We will go the extra mile for you”.
Arizona Ranch For Sale Seven Lazy E Ranch
30 miles SE of Willcox. Elevation 4300 ‘ MSL. 1335 Acres Deeded, 2197 State Lease 80 Acres BLM Lease. 3 wells, electric, gas. 8 pastures have water Includes nearby custom Sante Fe Style house $1,995,885.00 MLS 21608523 Rick Frank, Designated Broker
520-403-3903
agrilandsrealestate.com
521 West Second St. Portales, NM 88130 575-226-0671 www.buenavista-nm.com
Attention Developers and Investors
We have approximately 67.8 acres in Portales, NM that is absolutely PRIME property just ready for your ideas to be initiated. Directly across the street from Walmart store, very near the intersection of U.S. 70 & NM 467 just 11 miles south of Cannon Air Force Base and home to many Military personnel. Very high traffic count, good elevation with no flood or drainage problems, very good access, lends itself well to a total planned community or combination of many lifestyles to cater to. Seller is receptive to a workable deal, currently priced at $1,100,000 – you come look and make your offer, we can negotiate. This is PRIME. We also have several rural properties in the listing process including 140 acres grass with nice home and corrals, 160 acres irrigated with pivot, one or more farm homes with good barns small acreage, some with considerable grain storage capacity and 2 homes Call Buena Vista Realty at 575-226-0671 or the listing agent Lori Bohm 575-760-9847, or Melody Sandberg 575-825-1291. Many good pictures on MLS or www.buenavista-nm.com
521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130
575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax
Buena Vista Realty
Qualifying Broker: A.H. (Jack) Merrick 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com
TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES • 100 acres, Kaufman County TX, Long County Rd frontage, city water, excellent grass. $3750 per acre. • 240 acres, Recreation, hunting and fishing. Nice apartment, 25 miles from Dallas Court House. $3250 per acre. • 270 acre, Mitchell County, Texas ranch. Investors dream; excellent cash flow. Rock formation being crushed and sold; wind turbans, some minerals. Irrigation water developed, crop & cattle, modest improvements. Just off I-20. Price reduced to $1.6 Million. • 40 acre, 2 homes, nice barn, corral, 30 miles out of Dallas. $415,000.
Joe Priest Real Estate
1-800/671-4548
joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
Terrell Land
and Livestock Co. 575-447-6041
Tye Terrell, selling ranches since 1972
We know New Mexico and New Mexico needs.
tyecterrell@yahoo.com Los Lunas, NM
Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker
775/752-3040 Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY www.bottarirealty.com
Fallon-Cortese Land Land for sale 320 Acres Several Small Acreages Several Country Homes with Small Acreages Coletta Ray 575-799-9600
Exit Clovis Realty
205 E Llano Estacado Blvd, Suite B Clovis, NM. 88101 575-762-4200 (office) 575-762-4999 (fax) www.ClovisRealEstateSales.com
NEW MEXICO P.O. Box 447 Fort Sumner, NM 88119 575.355.2855 office 575.355.7611 fax 575.760.3818 cell nick@ranchseller.com www.ranchseller.com
HeAdquArters West Ltd. ST. JOHN’S OFFICE: TRAEGEN KNIGHT
P.O. Box 1980 St. John’s, AZ 85936 www.headquarterswest.com
Phoenix • Tucson • Sonoita • Cottonwood • St. Johns Designated Brokers • Con A. Englehorn, AZ • SAM HUBBELL, NM
928/524-3740 Fax 928/563-7004 Cell 602/228-3494 info@headquarterswest.com
Filling your real estate needs in Arizona
Tom Hardesty Sam Hubbell 520-609-2456
TURKEY TRACK RANCH – First time offering of one of the largest cattle ranches in NM. 253,000 total acres, 3000 AUYL, 30 wells and miles of pipeline, numerous earthen tanks. Stretches from the Pecos River to above the Caprock in Lea County. Operated with a headquarters and three cow camps. Price: $18,500,000.00 Call for a brochure. GATO MOUNTAIN RANCH- 2,991 total acres in the Bent, NM area. Extensive improvements along with abundant wildlife. Paved access from U.S. 70. Suitable for corporate retreat or guest ranch. ($2,800,000.00) Take a look at this one. FLORES CANYON RANCH – 3,290 total acres at Glencoe, NM. Ruidoso River runs through the southern tip of the ranch. Foothills of the Sacramento Mountains with fantastic views. Price; $3,000,000.00 DOUBLE L RANCH - Central NM, 10 miles west of Carrizozo, NM. 12,000 total acres; 175 AUYL, BLM Section 3 grazing permit; Water provided by 3 wells and buried pipeline. Improvements include house and pens. Price: $1,500,000.00. RHODES FARM – Southeastern NM on the Pecos River east of Hagerman. Comprised of 480 total acres with 144 irrigated acres. Unique private drain water rights. Call for a Brochure. Price: $1,400,000.00 Scott McNally Bar M Real Estate, LLC P.O. Box 428 Roswell, NM 88202 Office: 575-622-5867 • Cell: 575-420-1237 www.ranchesnm.com
Page 9
Scott Land co. Ranch & Farm Real Estate
1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott – Broker Krystal M. Nelson, CO/NM Qualifying Broker 800-933-9698 day/eve. www.scottlandcompany.com • www.texascrp.com
SOUTHERN NM (Chaves/Otero Co.) – 25,665 +/- ac., 1,320 +/- deeded, 4,024 +/- State, 15,000 +/- BLM, 5,321 +/Forest, permitted for 580 au’s year-round, well watered, good headquarters, very nice updated home, excellent pens & out buildings. CANYON VIEW RANCH – 1,542 deeded ac. +/- just out of Clayton, NM, beautiful, good country, well watered, volcanic rock mining operation offers addtl. income, on pvmt. RED WING RANCH - Harding Co., NM – 1,280 ac. +/-, scenic, native grass land, no cattle in 13 yrs. Call for details. SANCHEZ CANYON RANCH – Union CO., NM – 677 ac. +/of very rugged, scenic country w/excellent hunting/recreation & good home for livestock, White Tail & Mule Deer, Elk, Turkey & many other varmints. IMA HWY. - Quay Co. 1,600 ac. +/- of grassland in the House, NM area – information being processed! NM STATE LEASE – Union Co. – buy the improvements & irr. equip. on the property & lease a NM State Leased section, 640 ac. +/-, w/nice home, landscaped yard w/matured trees, nice shop, cattle pens & pivot sprinklers. MELROSE, NM - easy access just off of Hwy. 60 - 1,840 ac. +/- well located, watered w/windmills & dirt tanks, easy drive out of Clovis, NM. STEAD, NM - Union Co, NM – located at the confluence of the Pinabetes/Tramperos Creeks, year round live water, beautiful country w/super improvements & livestock watering facilities, 4,650 deeded, 3,357 State Lease, one irr. well with ¼ mi. pivot sprinkler for supplemental feed, excellent access via pvmt. & all weather roads. PRICE REDUCED CONSIDERABLY! LAKE VIEW RANCH – San Miguel Co., NM - 9,135 total ac.+/-, w/6,670 ac. +- deeded, 320 ac. +/- BLM, 40 ac. +/State Lease, 2,106 ac. +/- “FREE USE”, well improved, just off pvmt. on co. road., a neighboring ranch may be added for additional acreage!
LINCOLN/SOCORRO., NM - 37.65 sections +/- Central NM ranch w/good, useable improvements & water, some irrigation w/2 pivot sprinklers, on pvmt. w/all-weather road, 13,322 ac.+/- Deeded, 8,457 ac. +/- BLM Lease, 2,320 ac. +/- State Lease. FOR SALE OR LEASE - 30,000 HD. FEED YARD – Southeast Texas Panhandle, close to Texas & Kansas packers. Call or email for details!!!! WALKING G ARENA – Castro Co. - 6.65 ac. +/-, located just on the edge of town, a 120’ X 350’ rodeo arena, ten 12’ X 40’ horse stalls. Electric hook-up for RV & trailers. Large concrete slab for dances, auctions, etc., on pvmt. ARGENTINA….PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS on 176,000 ac. +/- (WE CAN DIVIDE into tracts of 1,500 acres or more) of choice land which can be cleared for soybeans & corn, some cleared & seeded to improved grasses for grazing of thousands of mother cows, some still in the brush waiting to be cleared. AIRPORT DRIVE – Tucumcari, NM – Choice 160 ac. +/-, on pvmt. w/beautiful home, roping arena, steel pens & 139.5 ac. +/- of water rights. BIRD HUNTERS HAVEN - Quay Co., NM - 276.22 ac. +/-, in easy driving distance of Ute & Conchas Lakes, all in native grass w/home, barns, good fences, well watered, on pvmt. CLAYTON, NM – 2600 sq. ft. home, 4 bdrm., 2 bath, 2 living areas, located on 20 ac. +/- in Mountain View Estates, on city water. SELLER VERY MOTIVATED to buy or trade for ranch or farmland properties between Dallas & Houston, TX. For sale Pontotoc/Coal Co., OK – three good, solid ranches just out of Ada in close proximity, one to the other (one owner -779 ac. +/-, 1,370 ac. +/-, 974 ac. +/-), good, useable improvements, on pvmt. or good all-weather roads.
Please view our websites for details on these properties, choice TX, NM & CO ranches (large & small), choice ranches in the high rainfall areas of OK, irr./dryland/CRP & commercial properties. We need your listings on any types of ag properties in TX., NM, OK & CO.
Page 10
Livestock Market Digest
BRANGUS
R.L. Robbs 520/384-3654
g•u•i•d•e
angus
Bradley 3 Ranch Ltd. www.bradley3ranch.com
Annual Bull Sale: February 11, 2017
at the Ranch NE of Estelline, TX Ranch-Raised ANGUS Bulls for Ranchers Since 1955
M.L. Bradley 806/888-1062 Fax: 806/888-1010 • Cell: 940/585-6471
4995 Arzberger Rd. Willcox, Arizona 85643 Willcox, AZ
HEREFORD
Registered Polled Herefords Bulls & Heifers
Cañones Route P.O. Abiquiu, N.M. 87510
FOR SALE AT THE FARM
MANUEL SALAZAR P.O. Box 867 Española, N.M. 87532
575/638-5434
RED ANGUS
A SOURCE FOR PROVEN SUPERIOR RED ANGUS GENETICS
BEEFMASTER
14298 N. Atkins Rd., Lodi, CA 95240
209/727-3335
Phillips
RED ANGUS
Spring & Yearlings For Sale CECIL FELKINS • 209/274-4338 Email: CWCOWBOY@ATT.NET 5500 BUENA VISTA RD. IONE, CA 95640
CLASSIFIEDS
Bulls, Cows, Pairs, Bred Heifers and Replacement Heifers for Sale www.RanchWorldAds.com
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December 15, 2016
Farmers Push Back Against Animal Welfare Laws BY JEN FIFIELD STATELINE.ORG / LACROSSETRIBUNE.COM
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ll hogs in Massachusetts will be able to stretch their legs and turn around in their crates and all hens will be able to spread their wings under a law passed in November by voters in the state. Laws like this one, which strictly regulate how farm animals are confined, are becoming more common across the U.S., as large-scale farming replaces family farms and consumers learn more about what happens behind barn doors. Massachusetts is the 12th state to ban the use of some livestock- and poultry-raising cages or crates, such as gestation crates for sows, veal crates for calves or battery cages for chickens, which critics say abusively restrict the animals’ movement. The restrictive laws have taken hold so far in states that have relatively small agriculture industries for animals and animal products and fewer large-scale farming operations. But producers in big farming states see the writing on the wall. Backed by state farm bureaus, large-scale industrial farmers are pushing for changes that would make it harder for states to further regulate the way they do business. North Dakota and Missouri adopted amendments in the last few years that enshrined into their constitutions the right of farmers and ranchers to use current practices and technology. Legislatures in many states, including Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska and West Virginia, considered proposed amendments this year. And Oklahoma voters rejected a similar amendment sent to them by the Legislature in November. Farmers acknowledge that some people who do not spend much time on farms may object to some of their practices. But they say that they do not abuse animals and that their practices are the most efficient and safest way to keep up with demand for food. And, they say, complying with restrictions on raising poultry and livestock like those approved in Massachusetts are costly for them and for consumers. They point to an 18 percent increase in the price of eggs — about 49 cents a dozen — in California last year that was attributed to a law that created strict space requirements for hens. The law applies not just to producers in the state but to producers in other states that sell eggs there. “Our nation’s ability to protect its food supply can be
threatened by unnecessary regulations driven by activist agendas, often by people who’ve never set foot on farmland or have no idea what it takes to produce a crop,” said Paul Schlegel, director of environment and energy policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Right-to-farm laws were put in place by all 50 states starting in the 1970s, as suburban development sprawled to rural areas. The laws were intended to protect farm owners from lawsuits brought by new neighbors who claimed the farms — with their smells, sounds and chemicals — were a nuisance. The newly proposed amendments would extend the protections by locking in farmers’ ability to use modern technology and practices. Animal welfare advocates, such as Daisy Freund, director of farm animal welfare for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, say the modern practices are not humane and call the rightto-farm amendments “right to harm” laws. The amendments would not only prevent states from passing new animal treatment laws, but would make it harder for anyone to win a lawsuit against an agriculture business, even if the operation was affecting nearby quality of life, or air or water quality, Freund said. Matthew Dominguez, a former lobbyist at the Humane Society of the United States who now works a national advocacy organization called the Nonhuman Rights Project, said the legislators who are proposing the amendments — including some who have received hefty donations from the industry — are trying to find any way they can to continue agriculture business as usual. But consumer expectations already are forcing producers to change how they operate, said Josh Balk, vice president of farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the U.S. Demand for free-range eggs and grass-fed beef is growing, pushing large companies to change their standards. Wal-Mart and McDonald’s recently committed to using only suppliers that raise cage-free hens by 2025. Market demands will force producers to change their practices or be left behind, Balk said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that to meet demand, the industry will have to convert over half its egg production to cage-free systems by 2025, up from the current rate of 10 percent. “It’s kind of similar to which companies are trying to still
produce black and white TVs, and which ones are selling color TVs,” Balk said. Consumer expectations have shifted as animal welfare groups such as the Humane Society have used undercover investigations to expose industry practices. Videos and images published on the advocacy groups’ websites, on YouTube and in documentaries depict windowless warehouses with hundreds of sows confined in gestation crates, where they spend most of their lives. Hens are shown in cages as wide and long as a letter-sized piece of paper, and barely tall enough for them to stand in. Many of these methods are accepted by industry groups such as the United Egg Producers and the National Pork Producers Council. Farmers say keeping animals in cages is the most sanitary and safest way to care for large groups of farm animals. And farming groups say the practices encouraged by animal welfare groups might not make life for farm animals any better. The National Association of Egg Farmers said that while Massachusetts voters will pay more for eggs, the lives of chickens will not improve. Caging chickens, the association said, reduces the likelihood they will become diseased. It also improves the quality of eggs, the group said, by reducing the chance that the eggs touch manure. Farmers and ranchers aren’t opposed to regulation that protects “the environment, that protects the food supply and that protects our families,” said Tom Buchanan, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. “We buy our food from the same shelves you do,” he said. But Buchanan and others, such as Harry Kaiser, a professor at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, say consumers should have the option of buying meat and eggs without paying a premium for special animal treatment. Kaiser led the study, funded by the National Pork Producers Association, that showed an 18 percent increase in the price of eggs in California. The price increased even more than that because of a bird flu crisis, but that additional increase was filtered out of the study’s results. Kaiser said the results didn’t surprise him. If businesses aren’t able to use the most efficient methods for producing eggs, he continued on page 11
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
The View FROM THE BACK SIDE
The Good Guys Might Win BY BARRY DENTON
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he signs were all in place, the rallies drew unprecedented crowds, working people were banding together against the freeloaders, the liberal media were going ballistic about things that do not matter, and the Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time in 108 years. To me these were all signs that Mr. Trump would win the presidential election. I went to the Trump Rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona. I went as a VIP so I did not have to stand in line very long compared to most. When I was waiting to get in I never saw a crowd so large. It was a line that snaked for a couple
of miles. People were friendly and helpful to each other. I got a seat right up front and got to shake hands with Mr. Trump. Needless to say, it was an exciting event and people were going nuts in a good way. There was one heckler in front of the podium. Simultaneously, two cowboy guys turned around and decked him until security guards could get there. They reported that the venue held 7,000 and there were over 20,000 people outside. In the small town, it was an amazing turnout. The electricity that filled the arena was very impressive as well. When you left there you had a good sense that indeed Mr. Trump had started a movement and was not your
typical politician. Okay, so here we are sitting on the back of a horse, tractor, combine, or doing the books at our desk wondering how some guy from NEW YORK CITY is going to do us any good. Here is the first clue. Just three days after Mr. Trump is elected President of the United States he is starting to choose members of his Cabinet and other appointees. One of the first things he does is creates the Agricultural and Rural Advisory Committee headed by Charles Herbster. Sixty persons from the agriculture industry will be included. The sixty chosen are dairy farmers, wheat farmers, soybean farmers, cattle ranchers, a few former politicians that made great strides in agriculture, a few governors of agricultural states, oil men, miners, etc. I do not think that they missed any one area of our western business. I guess they should have had at least one horseshoer on there and maybe they will at that. A few of the people included on that list that us westerners may know are: Helen Graves of the King Ranch in Texas, Mark Killian Commissioner of Agriculture for Arizona, Mary Fallin the former Oklahoma Governor, Forest Lucas CEO of Lucas Oil, Johnny Trotter CEO of Bar G Feedlot, and Red Steagall Cow-
FARMERS said, their costs will go up. Not everyone can afford to pay premium prices, he said, and others don’t want to. Rodolfo Nayga, professor in the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness at the University of Arkansas, has found that while a segment of the population is willing to pay higher prices for organic food, or food produced using higher standards for animal treatment, not everyone is. “This isn’t for everybody,”
Page 11 boy Poet of Texas and advocate of the American Cowboy. If you know any of those folks, that is a very impressive list. How many of your friends were asked to be on the current President’s advisory list? Mr. Trump may hail from New York City, but I think he is hell bent on helping small business to succeed in this country. He recognizes that the small businessman is the backbone of America. That is why he will go after the North American Free Trade Agreement. Look at how NAFTA has flooded our cattle market with more and more foreign beef. It has only made the small rancher disappear from the western landscape. How many ranchers in your local Cattle Association actually make their entire living from the ranch? It is sad how low that number has become. I do not think Mr. Trump will wave a magic wand and all small ranchers will suddenly make a half million dollars a year, but I do think he will remove some hurdles that prevent you from making a decent living. It looks to me like this is a chance at a new beginning in America. Perhaps even the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service will actually become the rancher’s friend once again. It will take awhile to adjust or repeal some of these over-
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Nayga said. “There are some farmers that won’t be able to accommodate the regulations for animal welfare and for environmental concerns.” When animal welfare groups started about a decade ago to pay their employees to take jobs on farms to expose practices, the industry responded by pushing for what animal welfare advocates call ag-gag laws. Some of the laws made it a crime to take photos or videos of private farm property without the own-
SCOTT million square miles (5.3 and 7.4 million square kilometres) Estimates suggest Antarctic sea ice extent was significantly higher during the 1950s, before a steep decline returned it to around 3.7 million miles (6 million square kilometres) in recent decades which is just 14 per cent smaller than at the highest point of the 1900s and 12 per cent bigger than than the lowest point. The findings demonstrate that the climate of Antarctica fluctuated significantly throughout the 20th century and indicates that sea ice in the Antarctic is much less sensitive to the effects of climate change than that of the Arctic, which has experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century. In future the team plans to use data from naval and whaling ships as well as the logs from Amundsen’s expeditions to complete the picture. Separate research by the British Antarctic Survey also showed that the present day loss of the Pine Island Glacier on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been happening since the mid 20th century and was probably caused by El Niño activity rather than global warming. Pine Island Glacier, which drains into the
er’s permission, while others made it a crime for an employee of an animal welfare organization to lie about where they worked when they applied for a job on a farm. About 26 states considered ag-gag laws from 2010 to 2015, but only nine — Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming — passed them. The Humane Society is not aware of any ag-gag bills pro-
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Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica, is retreating and thinning rapidly, but the initial triggering mechanism was unclear. The team looked a sediment cores in the area which showed that an ocean cavity under the ice shelf began to form around 1945, following a pulse of warmth associated with El Niño events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. “We are very excited about this new finding as it provides the first direct evidence of the timing of glacier retreat even before we had satellites to measure them,” said lead author, marine geologist Dr James Smith from British Antarctic Survey. “They show us how changes half-way across the planet in the tropical Pacific, reached through the ocean to influence the Antarctic ice sheet.” Co-author Professor Bob Bindschadler of NASA added: “A significant implication of our findings is that once an ice sheet retreat is set in motion it can continue for decades, even if what started gets no worse. “It is possible that the changes we see today on Pine Island Glacier were essentially set in motion in the 1940s.” The Pine Island research was published in Nature.
posed this year. Interest in these laws has faded after they faced opposition from animal welfare groups, as well as groups advocating for food safety, freedom of speech and workers’ rights, said Dominguez, who traveled the country fighting the laws for the Humane Society. Lawmakers also may be hesitant to propose the laws when so many are being challenged in court, he said.
reaching environmental laws. Keep in mind that we have gone from no chance on this reform to a good chance to get it done. Please explain to me why National Cattleman’s Beef Association did not stop the recent agreement with Brazil bringing in over 3 million pounds of beef each year. Are we ever going to see foreign beef labeled in the stores? If you could export American beef at a premium and import foreign beef cheap I might be able to see the logic. However, it is not the average rancher that makes money on this deal. Our beef prices will just continue to decline. I hope Mr. Trump can help with this issue as we are losing our beef jobs to other countries as well. Many corrections can be and should be made to help the last of the small ranchers. Hopefully, happy days will be here once again.
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Livestock Market Digest
December 15, 2016
New Aerial Survey Identifies More Than 100 Million Dead Trees in California
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he U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that the U.S. Forest Service has identified an additional 36 million dead trees across California since its last aerial survey in May 2016. This brings the total number of dead trees since 2010 to over 102 million on 7.7 million acres of California’s drought stricken forests. In 2016 alone, 62 million trees have died, representing more than a 100 percent increase in dead trees across the state from 2015. Millions of additional trees are weakened and expected to die in the coming months and years. With public safety as its most pressing concern, the U.S. Forest Service has committed significant resources to help impacted forests, including reprioritizing $43 million in California in fiscal year 2016 to conduct safety-focused restoration along roads, trails and recreation sites. However, limited resources and a changing climate hamper the Forest Service’s ability to address tree mortality in California. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Forest Service officials are seriously hampered not only by short-term budgets passed by Congress, but also a broken budget for the Forest Service that sees an increasing amount of resources going to firefighting while less is invested in restoration and forest health, said Vilsack. “These dead and dying trees continue to elevate the risk of wildfire, complicate our efforts to respond safely and effectively to fires when they do occur, and pose a host of threats to life and property across California,” said Vilsack. “USDA has made restoration work and the removal of excess fuels a top priority, but until Congress passes a permanent fix to the fire budget, we can’t break this cycle of diverting funds away from restoration work to fight the immediate threat of the large unpredictable
fires caused by the fuel buildups themselves.” The majority of the 102 million dead trees are located in ten counties in the southern and central Sierra Nevada region. The Forest Service also identified increasing mortality in the northern part of the state, including Siskiyou, Modoc, Plumas and Lassen counties. Five consecutive years of severe drought in California, a dramatic rise in bark beetle infestation and warmer temperatures are leading to these historic levels of tree die-off. As a result, in October 2015 California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency on the unprecedented tree die-off and formed a Tree Mortality Task Force to help mobilize additional resources for the safe removal of dead and dying trees. This year, California had a record setting wildfire season, with the Blue Cut fire alone scorching over 30,000 acres and triggering the evacuation of 80,000 people. In the southeastern United States wildfires have burned more than 120,000 acres this fall. The southeast region of the Forest Service is operating at the highest preparedness level, PL 5, reflecting the high level of physical resources and funding devoted to the region. Extreme drought conditions persist, and many areas have not seen rain for as many as 95 days. Longer, hotter fire seasons where extreme fire behavior has become the new norm, as well as increased development in forested areas, is dramatically driving up the cost of fighting fires and squeezing funding for the very efforts that would protect watersheds and restore forests to make them more resilient to fire. Last year fire management alone consumed 56 percent of the Forest Service’s budget and is anticipated to rise to 67 percent in by 2025. As the situation in the southeast demonstrates, the problem
of shrinking budget capacity is felt across the U.S., not only in the western states. The health of our forests and landscapes are at risk across the nation, and the tree mortality crisis could be better addressed if not for the increasing percentage of the
Forest Service budget going to fight wildfire. “We must fund wildfire suppression like other natural disasters in the country,” says Vilsack. Forest Service scientists expect to see continued elevated levels of tree mortality during
2017 in dense forest stands, stands impacted by root diseases or other stress agents and in areas with higher levels of bark beetle activity. Photos and video of the surveys are available on the Forest Service multimedia webpage.
Feds Want More Access to Private Property on Red River BY JOHN INGLE, TIMES RECORD NEWS
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he federal government is asking a federal district court judge to rule on the areas to which they have access while surveying properties along the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma that are enmeshed in a land dispute between property owners and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In an emergency motion filed recently in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the government argued that the “Plaintiffs continue to refuse reasonable access to portions of the disputed area” as determined by an October 30 ruling by Judge Reed O’Connor. The judge’s order allows BLM surveyors and armed federal agents access to the northern boundary of eight parcels of land in question for the purpose of collecting information via a survey for their July 2017 trial. Surveyors began work in Wichita County on land owned by Kevin Hunter. There was disagreement then between Rob Henneke, attorney for the plaintiffs, and Department of Justice attorney Romney Philpott as to the how far inland the surveyors could advance, with the two eventually agreeing to a compromise so the inspection could get underway. The government argued that in addition to not allowing broader access to the property in question, the BLM surveyors were not allowed to “trace and re-examine the boundary lines identified by a prior BLM survey” and that they were prevented “from inspecting topographic elevations” on the land away from the river’s edge. “This Court made in its October 30 Order that Plaintiffs cannot limit the scope of the discovery to only those areas consistent with Plaintiffs’ theory of the case,” the government said in the motion. “It also observed that no
undue burden will result from permitting access to Plaintiffs’ land for Defendants to inspect ‘the disputed area.’ The Court should not countenance Plaintiffs’ new impediment to the discovery authorized in that Order. Henneke said by telephone that they’ve been given deadline by O’Connor to have their response filed with the court. He said the court was clear in its direction as to where the BLM could survey and have access regarding the northern boundary of the properties along the southern gradient line of the Red River. “Yet, BLM still insists that the 1923 survey line is controlling (the inspection) and they want to have full access through the pastures and all the area on my clients’ properties all the way to that 1923 survey line,” he said, “which ... is nearly 2 miles inland from the waters of the Red River.” Henneke said the plaintiffs have already compromised by allowing the BLM to measure and take pictures not just at the river, but also the designated path by which the BLM can access the area. He said they have been “reasonable” in letting surveyors go beyond what the court order allows. “Upland and grass areas the BLM wants to have full access to are areas that are specifically excluded by the (U.S.) Supreme Court in terms of what the river bed (and) river bank area is,” he said. The Supreme Court in the early 1920s commissioned Arthur Kidder and Arthur Stiles “to run, locate and mark upon the ground” the southern gradient boundary so as to define the border between Texas and Oklahoma. The gradient boundary was determined to be the mid point between the edge was water flowing normally in the Red River and the south cut bank along the river.
Status Review & Petition to List the Lesser Prairie-Chicken as an Endangered Species Under ESA SOURCE: KANSAS NATURAL RESOURCE COALITION
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n September 1, 2016 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) released its 7-Year Work Plan for species reviews and actions under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As part of the Work Plan, FWS will conduct a Discretionary Status Review (DSR) of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, which was delisted by a Federal court in September, 2015. On September 8, 2016, the unpopular and litigious environmental groups Wild Earth Guardians, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Center for Biological Diversity (environmental groups) filed a petition with FWS, requesting the LPC be given endangered protection under ESA through an emergency listing process. Claiming “new science,” the environ-
mental groups requested endangered status for the Shinnery Oak Prairie and the Sage-Sagebrush Prairie DPS areas, contending LPC populations in those areas are isolated, contain small populations, and are thus imperiled. The petition also requests LPC populations in the Mixed-Grass Prairie and Shortgrass Prairie/CRP Mosaic DPSs be listed as endangered, but not as part of the emergency listing. Critical Habitat has been requested for all three DPSs. For its part, the Mixed-Grass Prairie DPS is home to several KNRC member counties. USFWS has ninety days from the date of the petition to decide if it presents substantial scientific or commercial information warranting action. It is noteworthy the “emergency listing” prerogative is the sole discretion of FWS, and so the petition itself inappropriately encroaches on Federal decision-mak-
ing from the onset. In response, FWS has taken the position the submittal is simply a petition-for-listing, thus requiring FWS to issue either a positive, 90-day finding – which would result in a 12-month status review or a negative finding, which would terminate the process. KNRC speculates the negative finding will result in the environmental groups filing litigation to force FWS to meet mandated deadlines. Since FWS has released its Work plan and scheduled a LPC discretionary status review, we believe the petition to be both redundant and moot. In 2017, FWS will likely attempt to list the LPC as “Threatened” species because an “Endangered,” listing would both jeopardize the WAFWA Range Wide Conservation Plan and require designation of Critical Habitat, which triggers a NEPA Environmental Impact Statement.
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
Page 13
Myers Family Donates Santa Gertrudis Bull Statue to Texas A&M University
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ark and Karen Myers of Myers Cattle and Land Corporation have donated a large bronze statue to Texas A&M University in honor of Carroll D. Myers. The statue of the Santa Gertrudis bull is displayed at the west entrance of the newly opened Veterinary and Biomedical Education Complex, which is part of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. The statue, which measures 9 feet tall by 9 feet long, was installed Nov. 4, and was ready for the grand opening of the $120 million state-of-theart facility Nov. 11. Mark Myers says the statue represents the spirit of the Running M Ranch and Myers Cattle and Land. “It is strong, tough and muscular, with a fierce and determined look. It is competitive and relentless in its pursuits, yet kind and tender hearted,” Myers explains. “It is positioned
as if approaching the top of a mountain crest, looking down and over its offspring that will follow over the years.” Texas artist Payne Lara designed and created the 1,800 pound golden bronze statue with input from Mark Myers, in honor of his father, Carroll D. Myers, and his 80th birthday. “It has the Myers Cattle and Land “Running M” branded on its left hip along with the numbers 830 over 33 signifying my father’s birthday, August 30, 1933, and representing all of the traits that he has left for all of us – such the name of the bull being Legacy,” Myers says. Myers says the statue is also dedicated to the students, faculty and staff of Texas A&M University. “It is our hope that all who pass through the west entrance of the impressive new college will look at this magnificent Santa Gertrudis bull and be inspired to excel and lead in ev-
erything that they do in the spirit of a great teacher, taking time to make sure all have an opportunity to learn,” Myers says. Having a statue of a Santa Gertrudis bull present at the new facility brings added recognition for the breed. “This college could have selected any species of animal that it wanted, as they serve the entire animal kingdom, so in that vein it is incredibly important that they selected a bovine, and specifically a Santa Gertrudis bull,” Myers says. John Ford, executive director of Santa Gertrudis Breeders International (SGBI), is very pleased that the Santa Gertrudis breed is represented at the new facility. “Words do not describe the pride felt by members of SGBI that the first breed developed in the United States and recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture welcomes stu-
dents and visitors to the College of Veterinary Medicine Complex,” Ford says. “We recognize the science of animal agriculture is constantly evolving and are pleased that our breed is represented as a model for progress at a leading institution.” Ford is thankful for the Myers’ support of the Santa Ger-
trudis breed. “I and all members of SGBI are extremely appreciative of the support given by the Myers family to the association. Their devotion and dedication to promoting the breed can’t be measured, and we as an association are grateful for all the family does to strengthen the breed’s industry presence.”
Growth Pattern of Cattle Affects Beef Eating Quality N FG INSIGHT EWS19 NOV 2016 ANGELA CALVERT
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esearch has shown that producing cattle to slaughter under 24 months old has benefits in terms of meat eating quality compared to those finished at an older age. AHDB Beef and Lamb commissioned the study carried out by Scotland’s Rural College and the University of Bristol. Dr Mary Vickers, AHDB Beef and Lamb senior scientist, said: “The project tested the theory that cattle which undergo a store period produce meat with more gristle that is less tender.” The cattle were managed to finish at different slaughter ages between 12 and 36 months. Cattle on a short-duration growth path were finished indoors and slaughtered at 12-16 months old. Animals on the medium-duration growth path were grazed on a high-quality grass reseed then finished indoors during the subsequent winter feeding period.
They were slaughtered at 18-24 months, having reached commercially acceptable carcase specification (target R4L). Cattle on the long-duration growth path were grazed for two summers on poor-quality, unimproved grassland with the intervening winter acting as a store period when the animals were fed a forage-based diet. The final finishing diet was a forage and concentrate ration during their second winter prior to slaughter at 25-36 months. Cattle growth rates on the long and medium-duration systems were 34 per cent and 61 per cent of those on the short-duration system. Slower growth rates mean cattle on the long growth path were on farm seven times longer than those on the short growth path. Cattle on the medium growth path were on farm more than three-times longer. Net margin decreased with duration of the finishing system, the biggest difference seen between the medium and long-duration systems.
Gristle Older animals which had a growth check and a longer growing period had increased gristle between the muscles as a proportion of the loin weight. They also had higher shear force scores, reflecting tougher meat. Meat quality was assessed by the University of Bristol’s professional taste panel, which found beef from animals reared on the short finishing treatment was significantly more tender than cattle finished at older ages. For flavour and overall liking, the panel scored the medium duration cattle highest, with no advantage gained from slaughtering cattle at an older age. Dr Vickers said: “It is impossible to distinguish between the effect of age and the intermittent growth patterns on the results obtained in the study. However, the results from this work provide strong evidence of numerous benefits, both commercially and from a meat quality perspective, of producing cattle to slaughter at under 24 months of age.”
CME to Amend Livestock Futures Options Minimum Listed Range of Exercise Prices BY REUTERS
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ME Group plans to amend rules governing minimum listed range of option exercise prices for its livestock options contracts to reflect a percentage range relative to the options exercise values closest to the settlement price of the previous day’s underlying futures contract, the exchange said on Thursday. The new rule will be effective December 18 for trade date on Monday December 19, the
CME said. Exercise prices for all contract months shall be at intervals of 2 cents for options on Lean Hog Futures, Feeder Cattle Futures and Live Cattle Futures, the agency said. All the option exercise prices will be listed prior to the opening of trading on the following business day. As new prices are added, existing values outside of the newly determined ranges without open interest may be delisted, the exchange said.
News With A View & A Whole Lot More...
THE most effective advertising medium in ranching today!
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f you have livestock, a product or service that stockmen and their families need, they will find out about it quickly if you advertise in the Digest. Digest readers know value when they see it and they respond rapidly to a good offer. Before you plan your advertising budget, think hard about how to stretch your dollars and where they are spent the most efficiently. Are you paying more to reach fewer qualified potential customers than you woud receive in the Digest? The Digest’s circulation is concentrated in the most important livestock producing states: Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington and Texas. The Digest caters to the most active readers in the livestock world - who ARE the buyers and sellers of livestock, the ones who show up and speak up. It is the ONLY place to get Lee Pitt’s perspective on the world and how we are going to thrive into the future. To plan your advertising, contact Caren Cowan at: caren@aaalivestock.com or 505/243-9515, ext. 21
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Livestock Market Digest
December 15, 2016
Producing the Right Calf to Fit the Market Key to Capturing Premiums SOURCE: AGRILIFE TODAY
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hough cattle prices have come down from historic highs, there are still ways for beef cattle producers to capture more dollars for their calves by adding value at the ranch, according to experts at the 45th South Central Texas Cow-Calf Clinic in Brenham. Several hundred beef producers from Washington, Brazos, Austin, Burleson, Fayette, Harris, Lee and Waller counties took part in the day-long program hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and surrounding beef and forage county committees. Dr. Dan Hale, AgriLife Extension meat specialist, discussed carcass value and what cattle order buyers are looking for. He said there could be as many as nine order buyers at an auction ring looking to fill specific orders. “What are those buyers looking at inside the auction ring? They are looking at how fast those calves are going to gain once they leave the livestock market auction.” He said it’s important to get as many buyers in attendance to bid on
your cattle to fill their orders. “You do that by making sure your calves you are marketing fit their orders.” Hale said the buyers are given orders every week before they go to the auction and may have as many as 20 orders to fill. “If your calves fit at least one or two orders on each of the bidders present need to fill, then your cattle will potentially receive higher prices and maybe the top price of the day,” he said. “They are looking at frame size, the size of the animal and how large they are going to get before they start to get fat.” Hale said the longer you can feed those animals before they start getting into the rapid fattening phase of their life, and the more muscular they are, the faster they grow. “The order buyer is looking at seeing how long they will they grow in the feedyard or on grass before they start getting really fat,” he said. “This is also why lighter-weight calves often bring higher prices per hundredweight, as lighter cattle will be able to spend more time as a stocker calf and as a feeder calf before they become finished in the
feedyard. They also look at genetic makeup of the animal, and estimate the final USDA quality grade — USDA prime, choice or select — once the calf has gone through the feedyard and is a finished market animal.” Hale said order buyers are also looking at gender. He said heifers start the fattening phase of their lives much sooner than steers and that is the reason prices paid for them are often less than comparable steers. Hale said producers should consider adding value to their calves. This can be achieved by implementing programs such as the VAC 45 program, also known as the Value Added Calf program, where calves are weaned 45 days before they are sold. They also receive two sets of booster vaccines to enhance their immunity to disease and sickness. The buyers of VAC 45 calves find them to more easily attain their genetic potential, have an enhanced immune system, are more predictable in their feedyard performance, and reduce the use of antibiotics. Castrating bull calves also adds val-
ue, said Dr. Joe Paschal, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist, Corpus Christi. Paschal and Dr. Helen Philips of Philips Veterinary Hospital in Brenham provided a live chute-side demonstration. “Talk to your veterinarian and develop what is referred to as a vet-client relationship,” Phillips told attendees. “Don’t wait until your calves are too sick to call a veterinarian.” Phillips urged producers to develop a herd health plan with their veterinarian, and both she and Paschal discussed proper vaccinations to prevent diseases such as blackleg and redwater from causing death to valuable calves. They also discussed practices such as ear notching to help ranchers identify the pasture in which calves have received a round of vaccinations. “There are practices that can add value to your calves, whether it’s sticking an ear tag in their ear, putting a notch in the ear, blackleg vaccination or castrating bull calves at a young age. All of this adds value to those calves and you will be compensated when you market those calves,” Paschal said.
What’s the Future For Beef Cattle Genomics? BURT RUTHERFORD, HTTP:// BEEFMAGAZINE.COM/
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emember 10 years ago? How you made your bull selection and breeding decisions in 2007 and before? You may have heard of DNA testing and the promise it held for the beef business, but most likely you paged through the sale catalogs looking at the pictures and taking in the EPD and individual performance data for the bulls that caught your eye. “The last 10 years, really, have been a very exciting time to work in genetics,” says Ben Hayes, a world-renown geneticist with the University of Queensland in Australia. Speaking at the recent convention of the American Angus Association, Hayes says that genetic and genomic technology has progressed to the point that it’s now widely used in breeding decisions. And not just for seedstock producers, but for cow-calf ranchers as well. “The question is, where do we go next with this technology?” One angle is to add value to breeding decisions, Hayes told Angus breeders. “The second is starting to use genomics as a management tool.” To illustrate how genomics can be used to add value to breeding decisions, Hayes detailed an experiment in Australia to determine if it’s possible to select cattle for heat tolerance. This is of particular concern in Northern Australia, where heat events are common. It’s also a concern in many parts of the South and Southwestern U.S. Using Holstein heifers, Hayes and his team combined production data from the Holstein data-
base with weather data generated by the Australian government. Combining these two large data sets, they came up with genomic breeding values for heat tolerance. Using those data, they screened 400 heifers from random farms and then selected 24 heifers that had the best prediction for heat tolerance and 24 that showed to be the least heat tolerant. These heifers were exposed to a mild heat event for a day. “It turns out the genomic breeding values really did pull apart the two groups quite well,” he says. In addition, Hayes says breeders can use genomic data to make genomic mating plans that avoid inbreeding. He says that’s important because of the declines in fertility and production that closely-related animals can suffer from. As well, it can help avoid recessive genetic defects, some of which are lethal. Looking even further down the road, Hayes told Angus breeders that the cost of genomic screening will continue to come down, meaning that genomic data can be used to make management decisions. He used feedlot prescreening as an example. The idea of genomically screening feeder cattle for various economically important feedyard traits has been around about as long as genomic tests have been available. But cost has been the hurdle. It’s now coming down to a point where it’s almost practical to do, he says. But genomically testing feeder cattle only gives you a handle on profitability from the animal’s own genome. “And every animal actually carries tens of millions,
hundreds of millions if not a billion other genomes. And those are the microbes in the rumen. And they also contribute to feed efficiency and possibly to disease resistance as well.” Just a few years ago, there was no possibility of getting a handle on the rumen microbiome, he says. But recent developments in sequencing technology developed in human medicine can be transferred to livestock. “It’s now at a point where you can take a handful of rumen contents, extract the DNA out of those rumen contents and profile the rumen of the animals,” he says. This is an idea that needs a lot of research, but initial trials on a small scale look promising. Hayes and his team ran a small study on 28 dairy heifers where they measured feed efficiency and also profiled the rumen microbiome. “From the rumen microbiome, we were able to predict feed efficiency with an accuracy of 0.49,” he says. “It means we’re getting a fairly good prediction. Certainly not perfect but good, just from the composition of those bugs.” The feed efficiency genomic breeding value established for dairy cattle is 0.33. “But when you combine them together, at least in this small study, we got an increase in how accurately we could predict feed efficiency,” he says. “We’re just starting to shift into a space, I think, where the genomic information is going to be useful for management of these animals,” he told Angus breeders. “That’s just starting to happen. The price point needs to come down a little bit to make it a reasonable goer, but certainly the technology is nearly there.”
December 15, 2016
Livestock Market Digest
Page 15
Not So Fast on the Overtime Rule, Says Judge BY NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS SENIOR FELLOW PAM VILLARREAL
By JIM OLSON
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n late November, a U.S. District judge issued a preliminary injunction against the Department of Labor’s new overtime pay rule, scheduled to take effect on December 1. Agricultural field workers were exempted from the rule. The rule doubles the threshold under which salaried employees are required to receive overtime pay. The NCPA published two reports on the negative effects of this rule and potential job losses as a result. According to Judge Amos Mazzant, the Department of Labor overstepped its authority by “raising the minimum salary level such that is supplants the duties test.” Part of Congress’ original intent of over-
Fannie Sperry Steel Montana’s First Famous Bronc Rider
“I
have never tired of rodeo in my life. I have never seen one show too many, be it good, bad or middlin’. I hope there’s an arena in Heaven, that’s where you’ll find me.” Wrote Fannie Sperry Steele, one of Montana’s most famous Bronc Riders from the early days of rodeo. Fannie was born to Datus E. and Rachel Schrader Sperry on March 27, 1887 in the Prickly Pear Valley near Helena, Montana. Her father did not ride horses (reportedly because of an old injury) but her mother taught her to ride well. By the time she was sixteen, she discovered she could earn money riding bucking horses. The following year, in 1904, she earned the title of Montana’s Women’s Bucking Horse Champion. Rodeo historian, Willard Porter once wrote, “Rodeo biographers generally concede that, out of no more than a dozen turn-of-the-century lady bronc riders, Fannie Sperry was the best and the most dedicated to her roughand-tumble trade.” Fannie was notable for her different riding style from most lady bronc riders of the day—she did not ride with hobbled stirrups. Riding with the stirrups tied together under a horse’s belly allows for greater stability and was considered an advantage for the rider. Judges of the day allowed women to ride this way without penalty. Fannie became famous for riding her entire career without hobbled stirrups. She wrote, “Mine is the reputation of being the only woman rodeo rider who rode her entire career un-hobbled. I confess it is a record I am proud of!” Although there were no official World’s Champions recognized in those days, and several rodeos claimed their champs were indeed the “World Champion,” Fannie won the Calgary Stampede ladies bronc riding in both 1912 and 1913, giving her the unofficial title of Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World. She competed at rodeos and performed with Wild West Shows across the country for years. On April 30, 1913, she married fellow bronc rider and rodeo clown, W.S. “Bill” Steele. Together the couple traveled the country performing in Wild West Shows and rodeos. During their careers, the couple worked the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, the Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Wild
West Show, The C.B Irwin Wild West Show and dozens of “contested” rodeos along the way. They even formed their own Wild West Show for a time, often using wild horses captured in the hills on their ranch. Besides being a bronc rider and relay race rider, Fannie was said to be a crack shot. She and Bill had an act whereby she would shoot the ash off the end of a cigar in his mouth. One time at Calgary, she drew a bad bronc called, Red Wing, who had trampled a rider to death only a few days prior. When asked later if she was afraid of the horse, she replied “You just forget about being scared when you ride horses.” Fannie was known for dressing in cowgirl fashion, with long black braids, a vaquero-styled hat and fancy boots. She knew that many folks came to watch the women riders and, while she wanted to ride as well as the cowboys, she did not want to look like them. After riding the rodeo circuit for twenty long years, Fannie competed for the last time in 1925 at Bozeman, Montana. Although retired form competing, she did continue to ride exhibition off and on for years afterwards. By the time the Steeles retired from rodeo, they had sold the family ranch and started a guiding outfit near Lincoln, Montana. Fannie continued to run the pack string after Bill died (in 1939) right on up till she was in her seventies (she did not completely retire from riding horses until about 1974). Fannie Sperry Steele, was one of the first women inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s, Rodeo Hall of Fame (1975), and the first Montana native in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame (1978). She once wrote, “If there is a horse in the zodiac then I am sure I must have been born under its sign, for the horse has shaped and determined my whole way of life.” Her last few years were spent reflecting on her storied career from a Helena, Montana rest home. At the ripe old age of ninety-five, Montana’s most famous Bronc Rider from the early days of rodeo passed over the great divide (February 11, 1983). Much has been recorded about her fabulous career and there was even a book written about the great Fannie Sperry Steele titled, The Lady Rode Bucking Horses.
time rules was to exempt workers in executive, administrative and professional positions. In the DOL’s Final Rule, according to Judge Mazzant, the duties test was virtually ignored as “ambiguous.” But he noted that one only needs to check the dictionary in order to determine the meanings of words, thus, there was no ambiguity in defining the duties test. The “preliminary injuction” also applies to all employers nationwide who would be affected, not just those located in the 5th Circuit. It will be interesting to see what happens with yet another controversial and overreaching Obama administration order. The overtime rule, or at least this version of it, will likely be tossed aside under the Trump administration.
Permian’s Wolfcamp Formation Called Biggest Shale Oil Field in U.S. BY JOE CARROLL BLOOMBERG NEWS, WWW.STAR-TELEGRAM.COM
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n a troubled oil world, the Permian Basin is the gift that keeps on giving. One portion of the giant field, known as the Wolfcamp formation, was found to hold 20 billion barrels of oil trapped in four layers of shale beneath West Texas. That’s almost three times larger than North Dakota’s Bakken play and the single largest U.S. unconventional crude accumulation ever assessed, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At current prices, that oil is worth almost $900 billion. The estimate lends credence to the assertion from Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield that the Permian’s shale could hold as much as 75 billion barrels, making it second only to Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field. Irving-based Pioneer has been increasing its production targets all year as drilling in the Wolfcamp produced bigger gushers than the company’s engineers and geologists forecast. “The fact that this is the largest assessment of continu-
ous oil we have ever done just goes to show that, even in areas that have produced billions of barrels of oil, there is still the potential to find billions more,” Walter Guidroz, coordinator for the geological survey’s energy resources program, said in the statement. Oil explorers have been flocking to the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico to tap deposits so rich that they can generate profits even at lower oil prices. A race to grab land in the Permian has been the main driver of a surge of deals in the energy patch and the industry’s main source of good news. Although the Permian has been gushing crude since the 1920s, its multiple layers of oilsoaked shale remained largely untapped until the last several years, when intensive drilling and fracturing techniques perfected in other U.S. regions were adopted. The Wolfcamp, which is as much as a mile thick in some places, has been one of the primary targets. ConocoPhillips, the world’s largest independent oil producer by market value, increased its estimate for the size of its Wolf-
camp holdings on Nov. 10 to 1.8 billion barrels from 1 billion last year. A day earlier, Concho Resources CEO Timothy Leach told investors and analysts that two recent wells it drilled in the Wolfcamp were pumping an average of 2,000 barrels a day each. Big Lake goes from oil boom to bust Diamondback Energy Inc. disclosed recently that it has been drilling 10,000-foot sideways wells in the Wolfcamp. Production from the wells has been as high as 85 percent crude, according to the Midland, Texas-based explorer. For Apache Corp., a slice of the Wolfcamp and another Permian layer known as the Bone Spring are major components of the 3 billion-barrel Alpine High discovery that the company announced in September. CEO John Christmann called Alpine High “a world class resource” during a Sept. 7 presentation at a Barclays Plc conference in New York. The Wolfcamp shale also holds 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.6 billion barrels of gas liquids, the geological survey said in a statement.
Page 16
Livestock Market Digest
December 15, 2016
ROSWELL
LIVESTOCK AUCTION
575-622-5580
Benny Wooton 575-626-4754 Smiley Wooton 575-626-6253
Wishing our customers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Cattle Sales mondayS Horse Sales apr., June, Sept., dec.
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Winfield Livestock Auction 7168 Hwy US160 Winfield, Kansas 67156 (620) 221-4364
Livestock Auction Inc
Don Painter & Arlen Nelson
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Happy Holidays to all our customers!
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P.O. Box 96 / Hanford, California 93230 Richard & Nick Martella 559.582.0358 office Sherry Silva Office Manager Richard's cell 559.381.2628 Regular Sales 12:00 Noon Wednesday All Class of Cattle www.amlivestock.com amlivestockauction@yahoo.com
www.winfieldlivestockauct.com Email: wla@sutv.com Sales held each Wednesday in Winfield, Kansas at 11 AM Our sale is one of the leading livestock auctions of South Central Kansas. We are now broadcasting our Livestock Sale on Wednesday, live at: www.cattleusa.com
rs e m o t s u c r u o l for al liday Season h s i w l a i c e p s A Ho t a e r g a r fo s e & famili d a prosperous 2016! an
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Wednesdays at 10:00 am All Classes of Cattle
We also “Handle”
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Office: 719/384-7781 • Don: 719/384-7189
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Prescott Livestock Auction
Shasta Livestock Auction Yard
Sales Jan through April & July and August Biweekly May & June and Sept to Dec Every Week Sales start at 11:00am on Tues
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COTTONWOOD, CA
Regular Sales Friday All Classes of Cattle
Hosting Cattlemens Weekend March
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Office: 520/682-4400 FAX: 520/682-4191 Clay Parsons 520/682-4224 520/444-7650 Mobile Seth Nichols 520/705-6763
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P.O. Box 608 • Belen, NM CHARLIE MYERS Office: 505/864-7451 Fax: 505/864-7073 • Cell: 505/269-9075