Riding Herd
“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”
by LEE PITTS
– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
February 15, 2017 • www.aaalivestock.com
Volume 59 • No. 2
Checkoff Cheaters LEE PITTS
T
he beef checkoff is under assault from every direction. For years cattlemen have been told by the USDA, the Beef Board, NCBA, and state beef councils that your checkoff dollars are secure and are being well spent. So it must be very embarrassing for them that we now have 2.6 million pieces of evidence proving that those assurances were all a big load of Grade A bull manure. This past October the Oklahoma Beef Council filed a lawsuit seeking the recovery of $2.6 MILLION DOLLARS that was allegedly embezzled from the state’s beef checkoff by a former accounting and compliance manager. One Melissa Morton, who was supposed to be making sure the money was spent properly, was allegedly forging checks to herself all the way back in 2009, right under the noses of state checkoff officials.
A Veil of Secrecy
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
Harvest Public Media is the hero here. It was their journalistic curiosity that led them to find out about a forensic analysis done at the behest of the Oklahoma Beef Council. In that analysis it was found that Morton allegedly had started off small by forging 12 checks totaling $30,632 in 2009. Once she saw how easy it was and that no one was watching, allegedly her illegal activity escalated to the point she allegedly forged
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. 131 checks totaling $557,789 in 2016. Putting this in perspective we find that in 2014, the state beef council took in $3.6 million in revenue and Morton embezzled $316,231 of it. As syndicated columnist Alan Guebert wrote, “In other words, your money is so safe with checkoff groups that in one year an employee stole nearly nine percent of the state beef council’s annual revenue and no one was the wiser. And this had been going on for seven years! How does a dime or more out of every checkoff dollar collected by a state’s beef council go missing for more than seven years without anyone
at any level even noticing?” The Oklahoma Beef Council sat on the news of the embezzlement until Harvest Public Media started poking around. When the heist finally was revealed the Chairman of the Oklahoma Beef Council, Tom Fanning, said, “Our board and staff take great pride in serving beef producers in investing their beef checkoff dollars to grow and protect beef demand. Discovering you have a staff member that did not share that vision and abused our trust has been a devastating blow to all of us.” Pardon us for being blunt Mr. Fanning but when Melis-
sa Morton is indicted it won’t be for “not sharing a vision” or “abusing your trust.” She’s an alleged swindler and she made the Oklahoma Beef Council look like a bunch of patsies! Dudley Butler, former head of GIPSA, said, “The government has almost no oversight over this money and this is exactly what happens.” Mike Callicrate, founding member of the Organization for Competitive Markets, said he wasn’t surprised: “The check-off operates under a “veil of secrecy and this just adds to the suspicion that I think a lot of cattlemen have that our dollars are not being utilized in a way that actually benefits the cowboy that’s paying the beef check-off.” As usual Alan Guebert said it best: “The national beef board takes in roughly $80 million a year with little oversight by the USDA. Little wonder, then, continued on page two
Suffering to End Suffering: The Heroic Effort to Eradicate the North American Screwworm BY DR. JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK PUBLISHED MARCH 25, 2009
I
t was a gruesome infection. From pioneer days until the mid-20th Century, the North American screwworm was a scourge of cattle. Any little cut from thorns, any open wound left from birthing, any eye infection that wept, would soon harbor the larvae of the dreaded primary screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax. The adult female fly is attracted only to living flesh, and the eggs she laid hatched into maggots that burrowed into the wound. Their feeding and secretions expanded the wound, providing more space for more eggs. What was a small innocuous cut soon grew into an extensive infection that caused much suffering and could kill the animal. And the fly was not picky. She laid eggs on wounds beyond cattle: in pigs and sheep and wild deer. The screwworm had been a natural parasite on wild animals; up to 75 percent of newborn deer died from the infections. The herds of cattle raised by ranchers merely expanded their population. And the fact that the screwworm fly infested wild deer meant that ranchers could not control the fly by herding their domestic animals through “dips.” Infected wild animals would always provide a reservoir of screwworm flies to re-infect the cattle herds. Then researchers discovered a special weakness of this fly: unlike most insects, the screwworm only mated once. And nuclear technology
provided a way to sterilize flies with radiation, enough to make them infertile but not enough to harm their reproductive behavior. Entomologists reared immense numbers of screwworm flies in a huge “fly factory” near Brownsville Texas and later at the southern end of Mexico. The inactive fly pupae, waiting to change from maggots into adults, were at a perfect time to be dosed with radiation and dropped from airplanes. This new technique, new in the 1950s and 1960s, was called “sterile release.” We had spread huge amounts of pesticides to kill insects. But because natural selection soon selected resistant strains, not one insect species has ever gone extinct from pesticides. But for the few species that only mate once, the distribution of huge numbers of sterile insects for several generations drives the species to local extinction. The screwworm caused huge losses of livestock across the southern United States and south into Central and South America. When the initial experimental release of sterile flies eradicated the screwworm from the island of Curacao, the U.S.D.A. launched a campaign to raise the fly, sterilize them, and drop them from airplanes in a slow sweep across the United States from Florida westward. By constantly bombarding both farm and wilderness areas with sterile flies, the few surviving fertile flies could no longer find fertile mates. continued on page four
Gypsies, Tramps & Beeves
I
get my news from paperview. I read the newspaper. I don’t watch much television and have found that your average security camera monitor is more entertaining than TV. I do however watch the occasional weather report on TV, but I don’t know why I bother because it’s always the same: “Torrential sunshine today with scattered darkness tonight.” In our area weatherpersons come and go like gypsies and cold fronts. Some are good and some are bad. Generally speaking I’ve found that the best TV weatherpersons are found where the weather is the worst. My problem with most TV weather reports is that the weather is not taken seriously enough. To me the weather report is far more important than what happened in Syria or what Congressperson got caught with his pants down, or his hand in the till. I guess I’ve been in the beef business for too long but the weather is no joking matter. In many instances the weatherperson is some sort of clown. It’s no accident that Willard Scott, the most famous weatherperson in TV history, was the original Ronald McDonald, or that his “training” to be a weatherman included stints as Bozo the Clown. We’ve certainly had our share of clowns where I live. There was one tramp who looked like she was dressed by Victoria’s Secret and another guy with a huge honker. His nose was so long when he stood sideways to the camera and pointed to a low pressure area it looked like he was pointing with his schnozzola. We called him Pinnochio and it was fitting because, oh, how he lied. I’ve met a few “celebrity weathermen” over the years because at many of the charity auctions we worked the local TV station would send the weatherperson to “jazz up the auction.” Usually these local stars felt compelled to imprint their personality on the sale. Years ago I was at a Junior Livestock Auction and the local TV station had sent their weather reporter with the idea that his presence
continued on page seven
www.LeePittsbooks.com
Page 2
Livestock Market Digest
February 15, 2017
CHECKOFF CHEATERS that much-needed checkoff reform and obvious improvements in accountability are delayed: USDA is too busy explaining past checkoff scandals to address reforms farmers and ranchers need to head off future scandals. As such, it’s just a matter of time before the next one and the one after that and …” We wonder how ranchers in the 14 states that now collect a second in-state-only beef checkoff dollar feel about doubling down on the checkoff now? Are there other Melissa Mortons at any of the other 43 state beef councils who are now rubbing their hands at the prospect of a now-doubled jackpot?
Enough Is Enough
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
The last time we heard about your checkoff dollars being spent improperly it involved the largest checkoff contractor, the NCBA and the $215,000 that was, shall we say, misplaced. And that was only after looking at a tiny fraction of NCBA’s expenditures. What started out as a good idea has now become an $80 million slush fund financed by a cattle tax that is run by the USDA. Prior to the Oklahoma theft we thought the 50 cents retained in the states was safer than the other half dollar that was sent to the Beef Board, only to be redirected to the NCBA. Now, we wonder. Melissa Morton’s thievery pales in comparison to NCBA’s heist. That group didn’t even exist when ranchers approved what they thought was a producer-run, self-help checkoff, only to find out later from the Supreme Court that the beef checkoff was a tax and just another bloated government program. That’s what the NCBA testified in order to save it. Now your beef bucks make up 82 percent of the NCBA’s budget despite the fact only a tiny fraction of ranchers choose to be dues-paying NCBA members. In getting rid of COOL (country of origin labeling) the NCBA loudly proclaimed they don’t want any government intrusion into our industry. It takes a lot of gall to say such a thing at the same time they are getting 82 percent of their money from a government program. The only difference between Melissa Morton and the NCBA’s heist of the checkoff is that Morton will hopefully face years in jail as her penalty. For the NCBA it just means they can afford to pay their CEO half a million a year. Even more galling, after taking all those checkoff dollars the NCBA turns around and bites the hand that feeds them by saying beef is beef regardless if it was produced in Montana or Mazatlan. Thanks to R CALF, American ranchers finally got COOL and it was no coincidence that during the period we had COOL American ranchers enjoyed the best two years of profitability in history! But after the multinational meatpackers and their packer backed lackeys
continued from page one
at the NCBA got rid of COOL the beef industry has collectively lost over $20 BILLION since then. R CALF had finally had enough. Extreme measures were called for.
Hung With Their Own Rope It became increasingly clear that to rein in the NCBA their funding source had to be cut off by repealing the checkoff tax as it now exists. R CALF says, failing that we must pass legislation that would: 1) prohibit any lobbying organization from contracting with the checkoff program; 2) allow U.S. cattle producers to promote USA beef; and/or 3) require the checkoff program to be purely voluntary. In July of last year Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation that would restrict any political and anti-competitive behavior of the checkoff programs and require regular USDA auditing. R-CALF and many other farmer and rancher groups supported the bill. The NCBA did not. Go figure. But there’s more than one way to catch a crook. R CALF and the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) are going down two different paths to do just that. On May 2, 2016, R-CALF filed a lawsuit alleging it’s unconstitutional for the government to allow private beef councils, like Montana’s, to spend one-half of all checkoff dollars to pay for the beef council’s private speech when some ranchers disagree with that speech. The NCBA was able to save the checkoff by telling the Supreme’s it was government speech and therefore not covered by the first amendment, but what about the other 50 cents of each dollar that stays at the state level, is it all part of the federal government program too? If not, it’s not government speech and therefore it is subject to first amendment free speech provisions. In other words, R CALF found a way to hang them with their own rope.
The Stakes Are High In 2015, the Montana Beef Council (MBC) retained over $800,000 in checkoff dollars and according to the R-CALF complaint, they used some of these tax dollars to fund “promotional campaigns that communicate all beef is equal. R-CALF members say they are therefore “being forced to sponsor speech that they do not agree with and would not choose to express if not compelled to do so.” To be more specific, the Montana Beef Council gave checkoff money to help pay for Wendy’s ads to promote hamburgers that used “North American beef”. R CALF members were up-inarms because that meant the beef could come from anywhere on the continent, not necessarily Montana. Or even the United States!! continued on page four
February 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
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Livestock Market Digest
February 15, 2017
CHECKOFF CHEATERS The R-CALF lawsuit actually builds on the constitutional challenge to the beef checkoff that went to the Supreme Court in 2005. They argue that because the Montana Beef Council isn’t overseen by the feds, their advertisements are “private speech governed by the First Amendment, not government speech outside the First Amendment’s reach.” Needless to say, R CALF’s CEO Bill Bullard says “the stakes of the lawsuit are very high” and is “just a first step that will serve as a test case for future state and federal challenges to the program.” Needless to say, R CALF now has everyone’s attention, including the other 19 national checkoffs. In a hearing on October 25, 2016, a United States magistrate judge announced his findings after reviewing all the pleadings and then recommended to the federal district court judge how the case should be decided. It was the magistrate judge’s opinion that the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana should grant R CALF’s request for a preliminary injunction. This is exactly what R CALF wanted. The Magistrate Judge concluded, “The Court finds that Defendants likely do not exert the same level of control over MBC’s speech as they do over the Beef Board and Beef Committee. Nothing in the record indicates that federal officials participate in the creation of MBC’s advertising campaigns. Likewise, there is no evidence the government approves every word of MBC’s campaigns. Absent that level of control, the
Court finds that it is unlikely MBC’s speech is government speech.” Now a U.S. District Court must conduct their own independent review of the magistrate judge’s findings. If, after their review, the U.S. District Court adopts the same findings and recommendations thereby granting R-CALF a preliminary injunction, the government must stop allowing the Montana Beef Council to collect and spend producer checkoff dollars in such a manner without making the checkoff voluntary. Says Bullard, “After the preliminary injunction puts a stop to the government’s constitutional violation, the constitutional rights of our members will be protected while our case proceeds on its merits. Bullard was pleased because, “It was the first time in well over a decade that anyone within any of our three branches of government has agreed to take a critical look at our complaints regarding the illicit operations of the beef checkoff program.” Bullard added that R CALF’s checkoff-related complaints include misappropriation of funds, conflicts of interest and unlawful checkoff operations. These complaints “have been repeatedly and summarily ignored by Congress and the executive branches of government for many years,” says Bullard. “We’re thankful for the opportunity to have our concerns heard by an independent branch of government that is not influenced by the intense, high-dollar lobbying efforts of the multinational meatpackers and their so-called produc-
continued from page two
er-group allies.” David Muraskin, an attorney representing R-CALF said, “This decision ensures the government cannot give citizens’ money away to private corporations. For too long the checkoff programs have been a government subsidy of corporate meat producers at the expense of independent, domestic farmers. This decision ensures the government must take accountability for the program and respond to independent producers’ concerns.”
Under Assault And the assault on the checkoff continues, this time from the Organization for Competitive Markets. Seven years ago OCM zeroed in on the NCBA and their use of checkoff funds by forming a Beef Checkoff Reform Task Force which was successful in getting the USDA Inspector General to conduct an audit. The audit began in February of 2011 and the investigation concluded in December of that year. Then the report of this audit became a political football and took more than 15 months to write. After the conclusion of the USDA OIG investigation, a scant 17-page report of the audit was released. It was a whitewash! It essentially said that NCBA did nothing wrong. OCM immediately filed a Freedom of Information request for the material that formed the basis for this conclusion. The OIG’s report was then promptly withdrawn and reissued more than a year later; this time without any language exonercontinued on page ten
February 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
SUFFERING The key to the process was knowing when there are no more fertile flies laying eggs. Only then could they move the battlefront forward. Since this fly only comes to open living wounds, not to dead meat, it was necessary to use “sentinel” sheep with open wounds—purposely inflicted cuts—in order to detect if there were any wild flies left. No other system would work. The screwworm was driven from the United States and south through Mexico. The domestic and wild animals of North America and Mexico have now been free from this pest for two farming generations. The amount of money saved annually in the cattle industry by the eradication of the screwworm approaches $400 million annually. The amount of suffering that has been prevented, both among domestic animals and among wild deer and relatives, is also immense. But only the veteran ranchers and wildlife officers remember those gruesome infections. Just as we know that we have to suffer the momentary pain of a vaccination in order to avoid the much greater suffering of serious infectious diseases, a small number of sentinel sheep had to endure surface wounds in order to wipe out the screwworm fly. For those who would never condone this very limited suffering by the sentinel sheep, they must confront the fact that inaction would have allowed the ongoing and far more massive suffering of both domestic and wild animals in the future. Researchers are still trying to formulate a “bait” that will attract the fly and substitute for sentinel sheep, but that would be little justification for 50 years of inaction. This also reveals a paradox about science. When we make progress in science, we often eliminate the experience base
continued from page one
that gave us the drive to make that progress. When we suffered from contaminated water, we supported chlorine and ozone water treatment. Now, among the new generation that has always had reliably clean water, some want to end water treatment. Our children had dental cavities so we fluoridated the water and dramatically reduced tooth decay. Now many in our new generation without cavities see no reason to fluoridate the water. Teachers can teach such abstract facts—just as you can read the historical account above—but abstract discussions and historical pictures do not rise to the impact of living with widespread water-borne illness, rampant cavities and false teeth, or terribly infected cattle and deer. The rural folks of the
1950s and 1960s had the direct experiences necessary to take action to improve the condition of their animals and wildlife. With a new generation where fewer have grown up in contact with the countryside and with wildlife, it is a reasonable question to ask if today, we would still act to eradicate the suffering caused by the screwworm? As science teachers, it is important for our students to understand that the biggest benefactors of agricultural and biomedical research with animals—are the animals themselves. Reference: “Autocidal Control of Screwworms in North America” by R.H. Richardson, J.R. Ellison, and W.W. Averhoff, Science, Vol. 215, 22 January 1982, 361–370.
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Livestock Market Digest
February 15, 2017
Demand for Lean Beef Adds Premium to Prices for Lean, Healthy Market Cows WWW.AGRICULTURE.COM
D
ale Woerner, Colorado State University meat scientist, says, contrary to the perception of many ranchers, market cows have become much more than the just-getrid-of-them by-product. Woerner has studied this
cattle market segment perhaps more than anyone. He’s telling ranchers to be aware of the increasing value of market cows and the variety of high-value products coming from them. For example, he says, not all of the meat from a slaughter cow goes into ground beef. Many rib, loin, and round meat cuts are sold as whole-mus-
ELM
cle cuts, similar to steaks and roasts from fed steers and heifers. Some cow meat is sold as 90 percent to 100 percent lean-muscle cuts, which is near perfect for the lucrative beef jerky or deli-quality roast beef markets. “The perception has been that it’s all ground into hamburger; that’s not true,” he
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says. It’s pumping more money into prices for market cows. “We’ve seen market situations in recent months where the carcass cutout value of market cows is actually higher than that of USDA Select fed steers and heifers,” he says. Recent prices at sale barns have consistently been over $100 per cwt (and oftentimes over $120) for cows that are lean and in good condition. A healthy 1,200-pound cull cow can sell for as much as $1,500 or more on the right day at the right place. The wholesale price of lean round cuts from cows is over $3 a pound at times – sometimes more than those cuts from fed cattle. That’s because the cow meat is leaner, and that’s what processors want. While some cow meat gets sold and processed as whole-muscle meat, the biggest market for cull cows is still exactly what you think: 90 percent lean beef trimmings for grinding into hamburger. Demand for that product has increased as cattle herd numbers have declined in recent years. “Any cuts that yield 90 percent or higher lean trimmings, like the round and chuck from cows, are really in demand,” says Woerner. One lesson for ranchers is to market those animals wisely, like they are an important part of the business, says Woerner. To do that, seek out buyers
who specialize in cow beef and fully reward the value. That might mean direct marketing to a packer rather than going through a sale barn. There’s currently not much incentive to feed cull cows before you market them. With the demand for lean cows in good condition, it still rarely pays to invest in grain feed. “You will add fat to the carcass, and that’s not what is driving the value of cull cows,” he notes. Plus, Woerner continues, cull cows are not good gainers anyway. They sometimes add some quick compensatory pounds over the first 30 days of a feeding period, but after that they are very inefficient. His best advice is to keep them in good health, follow Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) principles, keep them lean, and you’ll get the best price at sale time. Another point worth noting is that cull animals have much higher condemnation rates at slaughter than fed animals. Because they are older animals that have experienced more stresses and health issues on a ranch, the risk of carcass blemishes is higher. Woerner says to practice BQA techniques with injections and handling of market cows. Horned animals can present an especially big issue with more likelihood of carcass bruising, trimming, and value discounts.
February 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
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Hawkes Wins Wetland Case on Remand from the U.S. Supreme Court BY REED HOPPER, PACIFIC LEGAL COUNCIL
L
ast May, PLF won a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes. That case was hailed as a victory for millions of landowners nationwide who were finally empowered with the right to challenge Corps wetland Jurisdictional Determinations (JDs) in a court of law for the first time in the history of the Clean Water Act. That decision bore fruit in late January 2017 when the Hawkes Company won its chal-
GYPSIES
continued from page one
would help create excitement and therefore raise more money for the kids. When we were selling the Grand Champion Steer the weatherman first stood ringside with a cane he’d borrowed from a hog showman and was swinging it so wildly he nearly decapitated one of the real ring men. To everyone’s shock the weatherman then grabbed the microphone off the block from the auctioneer and tried to call bids. Needless to say, he had no chant and was awful. He didn’t advance the bid one thin dime and the crowd had clearly had enough of his narcissistic behavior. As he obnoxiously implored the crowd to bid he walked up to the rear of the steer, raised his hand and emphatically slapped the steer on its rump with a big THWACK! In the flick of an eye, with a crack that sounded like thunder the steer shot a kick that landed... well let me put it this way. If we suppose the weatherman’s head was number one and his feet were number ten, the weather guy got it right about number five. He dropped the microphone and fell to his knees with his lips forming a big round circle of pain... “OOOOOO!” There was a smattering of groans and impolite cheers and a couple standing ovations from the cowboy crowd who for years had been given a bum steer by this obnoxious weatherman. There was a cameraman from the TV station at the Junior Livestock Auction so everyone rushed home to see if the memorable event would be shown on the nightly news. When it came time for the much anticipated weather segment the anchorman broke into a broad grin and said that the regular weatherman would not be on and explained his absence by saying, “He’d had a big day at the fair and was now a bit under the weather.” As if a tainted fried Twinkie was responsible and not the Grand Champion Steer. I’d always wondered about the derivation of the phrase, “under the weather.” Now, whenever my wife and I watch a certain NBA team play with a well known dirty player on its roster we just know before the game is over there’s a good chance someone is gonna be “a bit under the weather.”. wwwLeePittsbooks.com
lenge to a JD asserting federal jurisdiction over 150 acres of its property in violation of the Act. Hawkes Company is a family-owned business in Minnesota that sought to harvest peat moss, for landscaping, in nearby bogs. The Corps claimed jurisdiction over the property as regulated wetlands, even though a Corps reviewing officer found the Jurisdictional Determination invalid. This put Hawkes in an untenable position: Hawkes could (1) abandon all use of the land at great loss; (2) seek an unnecessary federal permit for a few hundred thousand dol-
lars; or (3), proceed to use the land without federal approval subjecting Hawkes to fines of $37,500 a day and criminal prosecution. When Hawkes challenged the JD in court, the case was dismissed as unripe for review. But the Supreme Court disagreed. According to the Court, a Jurisdictional Determination is a binding legal decision subject to immediate judicial challenge. In the recent decision, the Federal District Court of Minnesota ruled the Corps had gone too far and failed to provide site-specific evidence that the Hawkes property would
have a significant effect on a downstream navigable water (90 miles away) as required by law. Therefore the property was not subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act, although it would be subject to state regulation. This was a well-earned and hard-fought victory for Hawkes spanning ten years of negotiation and litigation with heavy-handed federal regulators who abandoned the rule of law to advance their own values. We congratulate Hawkes’ local counsel, Nancy Burke and Greg Merz, for their successful representation of Hawkes
Company in this important case. Like PLF’s Supreme Court case, this victory in the trial court is more than a win, it’s a vindication! “The whole point of judicial review of agency actions is to ensure that an independent judge–not beholden to an executive agency–takes a fresh, honest, and careful look at administrative decisions. That is why the Corps and EPA have been fighting judicial review so hard. And that is why it has been so important for PLF to champion judicial review in Sackett and now, Hawkes.” James Burling, PLF Director of Litigation
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Livestock Market Digest
The View FROM THE BACK SIDE
Trump Tower Annex BY BARRY DENTON
Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association or this publication.
O
ur new ranch house that was built 50 years ago is located where we used to have some shipping pens with a dirt tank. It is twelve miles closer to town than the old ranch house and the road is much better, especially during monsoon season. It is truly a picturesque spot as you drive into the place. The pond as we call it now has statuesque cottonwood trees on the banks and is filled with wild mallards most of the year. There are some large
maple trees out front and this is back dropped by the commanding Granite Mountain to the east. The west is topped off by Tonto Mountain and there we sit in this little grassy valley between them. We tend to catch every storm with the mountains on both sides and that is what keeps our valley grassy. The livestock keep looking good all year so we are happy about that. Adjacent to the pond and in front of the house as you drive in there has been a huge Dempster windmill. That old mill had been there since the 1920s. Last year one of our gusty windstorms ruined the fan and we had to take down the windmill for repairs. Since we also have an electric pump in a nearby well, repairing the
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old windmill kept getting farther down the list. The trouble with the old Dempster windmills is that they are hard to find parts for, and most of the parts are cast, so you can’t weld to them. This makes improvisation difficult. I was about to scrap the old mill, but my wife and everyone else on the ranch wanted it back up at least as the familiar old landmark that it had been. It took me about a year to find the parts I needed. After I found the parts, it seemed that we had many more pressing issues to attend to. Meanwhile, back at the ranch a couple of the kids that intern here took it upon themselves to paint the windmill parts red, white, and blue. These kids were here from Germany, working for the summer and they were all quite proud of themselves. Needless to say I had to erect the old mill once again. While all this was going on with the windmill so was the presidential election. Talk about having a heavy wind blowing all year. When did you have to start running for office a year and a half before the election? Our process is getting out of hand. No wonder our country is going nuts after having to listen to politicians for that long. However, one thing that saved us this year is that there was a non politician in the fray. Also, if you chose not to listen to him you could read his
February 15, 2017 Tweets. Funny, how the non politician became the winner. I think we are all sick of the traditional self aggrandizing type of politicians that are all going to save us from some drummed up evil. The American workers finally realized that the only things we need to be saved from are politicians. The one thing that disappointed me about this election is that too many incumbents were not voted out of office. I have come to the realization that some politicians are similar to coyotes or rats. No matter what disaster befalls them they still lurk behind every bush or under every rock. I suspect we can blame them on old Lucifer himself. The rest of the story is that when Mr. Trump speaks business leaders and the United States Congress sit up and listen. Look at what Mr. Trump has accomplished and he has not even been sworn in yet. He must feel like Saint Patrick leading the rats out of Ireland. It will be interesting to see who he comes up with to replace the current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack who stepped down in early January. The news is reporting that the farmers are nervous because he has not appointed a new Ag Secretary as of yet. I bet most farmers would be happier if they eliminated the post all together. I understand that the Department of Agriculture employs over 100,000 people.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Maybe we can cut that in half and lower farmers’ and ranchers’ taxes. I was just talking to a developer the other day with several land and building projects that have been on hold since 2008. His remark to me was that all projects will be reinstated just on the promise of tax cuts and less regulation. This means jobs for people who need them and more money in the economy when they spend it. People have been waiting several years to be unencumbered by government. Most small business people that I talk to are jumping up and down with the anticipation of making a good living instead of just barely paying the bills. There is new hope in America because we have a new leader that promises to take charge in a way to help working Americans. Wouldn’t you like to go into a government facility and they would bend over backwards to help you? I may be dreaming here, but today I believe that anything is possible! Finally, the old windmill is back up. In honor of our new President we have named it Trump Tower Annex. Now Mr. Trump might not be too thrilled with our name, but as unpredictable as he is he just might. The familiar old landmark is a little loud with its red, white, and blue paint, but what better colors are there to promote here on an American ranch?
WildEarth Guardians Take Aim at Colorado Predator Management BY NIKI TURNER COUNTY, THEHERALDTIMES.COM
W
ildEarth Guardians is back, this time aiming their legal guns at Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) in an attempt to hinder the department’s plan to strategically reduce the number of mountain lions and black bears in an effort to reduce mule deer predation. “CPW’s plans are not grounded in sound science, violate Colorado’s Constitution, and are neither supported by the vast majority of Coloradans nor in the public interest,” said Stuart Wilcox, staff attorney for WildEarth Guardians in a press release. “The Parks and Wildlife Commission’s disdain for the public’s will and the opinions of dozens of our country’s leading scientists is hugely concerning.” The predator management plans are in the continued on page ten
February 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 9
Market Digest
Livestock
REAL ESTATE GUIDE For advertising information contact RANDY SUMMERS at 505/243-9515
Socorro Plaza Realty On the Plaza
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
575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax
Buena Vista Realty
Qualifying Broker: A.H. (Jack) Merrick 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com
Fallon-Cortese Land
NEW MEXICO P.O. Box 447 Fort Sumner, NM 88119 575.355.2855 office 575.355.7611 fax 575.760.3818 cell
www.ranchesnm.com 575/622-5867 575/420-1237
Bottari Realty
HeAdquArters West Ltd.
Paul Bottari, Broker
ST. JOHN’S OFFICE:
www.bottarirealty.com
Joe Priest Real Estate
1-800/671-4548
joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com
Scott Land co. Ranch & Farm Real Estate
n ABERCROMBIE RANCH – Huerfano Co., CO – 7,491 ac. +/- of choice grassland watered by wells & the Cucharas River, on pvmt., excellent owner financing w/6.67% down. n UTE LAKE SUBDIVISION – beautiful, new custom built home, 5,046 +/- sq. ft. on 3.230 ac. +/-, 4 bdrm., 3 ½ bath & an attached two car garage. n CLOUD CROFT NM AREA - 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. n 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. n RED WING RANCH - Harding Co., NM – 1,280 ac. +/-, scenic, native grass land, no cattle in 13 yrs. Call for details. n COTTLE CO., TX – Pease River frontage, 1,357 ac. +/- of beautiful, rugged ranch property, numerous springs flowing into two creeks, excellent hunting, highway frontage. n 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!
1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott – Broker Krystal M. Nelson - NM Qualifying Broker #15892 800-933-9698 • 5:00am/10:00pm www.scottlandcompany.com • www.texascrp.com
n 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! n 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. n FOR SALE OR LEASE - 30,000 HD. FEED YARD – Southeast Texas Panhandle, close to Texas & Kansas packers. Call or email for details!!!! n 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. n 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. n 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. n 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.
nick@ranchseller.com www.ranchseller.com
Ranch Sales & Appraisals
Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY
• 240 acres, Recreation, hunting and fishing. Nice apartment, 25 miles from Dallas Court House. $3250 per acre.
• 40 acre, 2 homes, nice barn, corral, 30 miles out of Dallas. $415,000.
SCOTT MCNALLY
775/752-3040
• 100 acres, Kaufman County TX, Long County Rd frontage, city water, excellent grass. $3750 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.
521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130
Bar M Real Estate
TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES
TRAEGEN KNIGHT
P.O. Box 1980 St. John’s, AZ 85936 www.headquarterswest.com 928/524-3740 Fax 928/563-7004 Cell 602/228-3494 info@headquarterswest.com
Filling your real estate needs in Arizona
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
114 Acres - MLS# 60053027 114 acres m/l 25 miles north of Springfield, live water, spacious 3600 sq ft custom built home state of art dog kennel; 2nd older home, many possibilities, needs updating HOBBY FARM Deluxe 30 acres, 3 bed, 3.5 bath 3100+ sq ft custom built, 1 owner home, Webster Co, Rogersville Schools, 13 miles from Springfield R/V drive through barn, horse barn, large hip roof barn, kennel, & small animal barn, year-round spring-fed creek. This farm has it ALL! MLS# 60043538
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
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Livestock Market Digest
CHECKOFF CHEATERS ating NCBA. That was odd. Was there something in those documents that showed the NCBA was misusing checkoff dollars? That’s what OCM wanted to know so they filed a Freedom of Information Request and after years of snowballing on December 13, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order demanding that the NCBA release more than 10,000 pertinent pages of evidentiary documents to OCM by February 17, 2017.
continued from page four
“This is another hard fought victory for U.S. cattle producers,” said OCM founder Fred Stokes. “NCBA has been trying to hide the truth for too long, and it is time they come clean about how our beef checkoff funds are being spent.” If, and when, OCM gets its hands on those documents we’ll have a better idea as to what extent the thievery has been going on. It could make Melissa Morton look like a small time pickpocket.
HEREFORD
g•u•i•d•e angus
Bradley 3 Ranch Ltd. www.bradley3ranch.com
Annual Bull Sale: February 11, 2017
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
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
BEEFMASTER
A SOURCE FOR PROVEN SUPERIOR RED ANGUS GENETICS 14298 N. Atkins Rd., Lodi, CA 95240
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RED ANGUS
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R.L. Robbs 520/384-3654
To advertise call 505/243-9515
4995 Arzberger Rd. Willcox, Arizona 85643 Willcox, AZ
CLASSIFIEDS
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Wanted: Ranch to lease in south central New Mexico. 200 to 400 cow capacity year around with good improvements and good water. Three to five year lease with the option to buy. Wanting to relocate from southern Colorado. Stroh Ranch/Dave Stroh 719-738-3111 719-568-5570 cell
February 15, 2017
Sheep Research Could Lead to Cure for Huntington’s, Parkinson’s & Alzheimer’s BY TAMARA CHOAT FOR TRI-STATE LIVESTOCK NEWS
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group of modern-day sheep owners and researchers are awaiting news that will also bring hope — particularly to those suffering from Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. The hope lies in a molecule called GM1 ganglioside. The wait is for clinical trials to use it on patients. GM1 is naturally occurring in all mammals, but is found in high prevalence in sheep afflicted with a condition known as GM1 gangliosidosis. GM1 from bovine has been shown in clinical trials to slow and even reverse the debilitating neurological collapse of victims of Huntington’s disease, referred to by those unfortunate enough to be familiar with it as simply HD. “Basic research has shown that if you take a culture dish of nerve cells and feed them GM1 ganglioside, they start growing new axons, which are the cell processes that make nerves function,” said Larry Holler, founder and owner of Glycoscience Research Inc. of White, S.D. “We have always thought that couldn’t be done — to regrow nerves.” For the past 20 years, Holler and his wife and business partner, Sue, have been working to bring GM1 into clinical trials to treat these neurological diseases. The procedure has been long, with the rigorous regulatory nature of the pharmaceutical industry all but halting progress at times. In January, Holler and his team of collaborators — which includes Steven Hersch, a clinician and researcher at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital (Holler himself holds DVM and PhD degrees) — will submit a grant proposal to the National Institutes of Health that would fund safety and proof of concept studies necessary to lead to a clinical trial. This is the second time the corporation has submitted a grant to the NIH; the first was rejected. Holler says years of trying to get an industry focused on synthetic laboratory production of molecules to accept a product that comes from an animal source has been a struggle. Animal Research Tricky “Pharmaceutical companies are afraid of anything that requires animals to produce a drug,” Holler said. “It’s too complicated, too messy. But the reality is, there is no other way to produce GM1 ganglioside — if we could synthesize this in the laboratory, it would have already been done.” They hope to hear the status of their submission by March. If it’s a go, clinical trials would be anticipated about three years down the road. “We’re cautiously optimistic that they would be willing to consider that these sheep will represent a cure for HD,” Holler said. The efficacy of GM1 ganglioside was well-documented in
the late ’80s and early ’90s, and it was one of the most prescribed treatments in Europe for neurological diseases. An Italian company partnered with U.S. researchers to study GM1 from cattle brains — until the break out of European mad cow disease forced a halt. Holler notes that there is also research published in Canada that has shown GM1 ganglioside delivered directly to the brain can reverse signs of HD. “The results have been nothing short of amazing,” Holler said. “They can take mice that are on their way to dying and make them clinically normal again. The impact, at least in our animal studies, is pretty dramatic.” The molecule has previously been injected directly into brain tissue, but Holler says he thinks future application will likely be though something similar to a nasal spray. The discovery of the high prevalence of GM1 ganglioside in the affected sheep was the result of studying the condition because it also occurs in humans. Sheep with GM1 gangliosidosis have concentrations of GM1 ganglioside at 30 to 40 times higher than normal animals — an incredible advantage over the original bovine samples. Value Added While GM1 gangliosidosis is not a desirable trait — sheep suffer from musculoskeletal weakness and usually reach end stage of the disease by 5 months of age — it is recessive, and herds with the trait are carefully planned and contained. Because the lambs are harvested earlier and due to the research tissue involved, carcasses are not allowed to enter the food chain. Producers who agree to select for the trait in their herds are paid a subsidy and the lambs are purchased by Glycoscience Research Inc. Right now GR1 has 13 to 14 cooperators that breed for the recessive genetics and are currently raising sheep for the research. Holler says that although the science field may think the sheep aspect is a burden, “from an animal production standpoint, these animals are worth a lot more for their chemical production than their lamb and wool. We believe it’s a tremendous opportunity for value-added sheep production in the U.S.,” he says. For the Hollers, and those living with HD, the road to the cure can’t come fast enough. The fact that it can come through something as organic and earth-derived as a lamb is more than coincidence. “It’s been a phenomenal journey,” Holler said. “If I look back, I can see God’s footprints throughout every step of this process. “It’s definitely not been an easy road. Probably not a day or a week goes by that my wife and I don’t look at each other and wonder if we can keep on. But we think about the people and the friends we have met with HD — it’s such an unrelenting disease; it just destroys these people — and we know we have to keep going.”
WILDEARTH GUARDIANS Piceance Basin and the Upper Arkansas River Basin in south central Colorado. WildEarth Guardians, which is based out of Montana and is best known in Rio Blanco County for a lawsuit filed against Colowyo that threatened 220 jobs, cited the “clearly expressed desire of Colorado citizens to ban trapping … as well as receiving over 6,500 public comments opposing the plans.” “We call on CPW to with-
draw the plans, work with leading biologists to understand the existing science on the impacts of predation by carnivores to mule deer, and focus on addressing the main threats to mule deer populations including rampant fossil fuel development and habitat loss,” said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. “We also call on the governor to appoint commissioners who are committed to employing the
continued from page eight
best available science and who represent the vast majority of Coloradans who oppose cruel trapping and want the full compliment of native species, including bears and mountain lions, on the landscape.” As of press time, Colorado Parks and Wildlife had not been served the complaint, according to CPW public information officer Mike Porras, and declined to comment until they have a chance to review the complaint.
February 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Alaska Divorce Courts Will Now Treat Pets More Like Children BY KARIN BRULLIARD, THE WASHINGTON POST
D
ivorces can be messy. Leaving aside the very raw emotions involved, there is the matter of splitting property. Who gets the house? Who gets the couch? Who gets the dog? If one of those items seems different to you, that’s probably because you, like many Americans, consider pets to be more like family members than furniture. But courts do not. In the eyes of the law, animals are property. So although pet custody battles are often passionate and sometimes truly wacky, courts think of them more prosaically: as part of the “property distribution” in a divorce. That’s why an amendment to Alaska’s divorce statutes, which took effect recently, is making waves in the world of animal law. It makes Alaska the first state in the country to require courts to take “into consideration the well-being of the animal” and to explicitly empower judges to assign joint custody of pets. In a blog post, the Animal Legal Defense Fund called the well-being provision “groundbreaking and unique.” “It is significant,” said David Favre, a Michigan State University law professor who specializes in animal law. “For the first time, a state has specifically said that a companion animal has visibility in a divorce proceeding beyond that of property — that the court may award custody on the basis of what is best for the dog, not the human owners.” As animals’ social status has evolved, courts nationwide have struggled with the pets-as-property idea, said Kathy Hessler, director of the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. The parties involved often want decisions on custody, visitation and even monetary support for a pet, she said. But existing statues that guide such matters are designed to address children, not animals (which some courts think is just fine, at least in Canada). Some people argue that pets should stay with the children; others think they should remain with whoever purchased them, or whoever was their primary caretaker. Often couples purchase pets with shared money, but rarely do people want to be “bought out” of their share of Fido, as might happen with a car or a house, Hessler said. “The relationship with the animal is what is important in the family law context, so the property law analysis tends to
be a poor fit for resolving disputes, and in fact, many of the property settlement agreements are continuously disputed, making more work for the courts,” Hessler said. The Alaska amendment was sponsored by former representative Liz Vazquez (R) and the late representative Max Gruenberg, a Democrat and family lawyer who told the Associated Press in 2015 that he’d once handled a divorce that resulted in joint custody of a sled dog team. “Our pets are members of our families,” Vazquez, who lost her bid for reelection in November, said in a statement
last year. “We have to remember that we’re sent here to Juneau to represent people; real human beings, many of whom have pets they love as much as their friends and family.” The Alaska bill also allows courts to include pets in domestic violence protective orders and requires the owners of pets seized in cruelty or neglect cases to cover the cost of their shelter. “I hope it is the beginning of an explicit trend,” Hessler said of the well-being provision. “It makes more sense to address these issues at the legislative level to allow for public input and create rules that can be applied evenly to all citizens.”
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Livestock Market Digest
February 15, 2017
California Sheriff Introduces Ag Theft Prevention Tool SHEYANNE ROMERO / VISALIATIMESDELTA.COM
T
ulare County ranchers/ and farmers are getting a little help from the sheriff’s department in the form of water. But it’s not what you might think.
Sheriff Mike Boudreaux announced in mid January a new investigative tool being used by the department’s Agricultural Crimes Unit, SmartWater CSI. Once sprayed on ag equipment, the liquid which is invisible, odorless, stays on a thief for up to five years without them
noticing and is picked up using an ultra-violet light. The sheriff’s department is the first agency in the western United States to take advantage of the technology. “We will use this tool to protect our ag partners,” Boudreaux said. The invisible witness Boudreaux referred to the product as a “silent, invisible witness”. Antonio Arserio, general manager for SmartWater CSI, said the product is made up of water and solvent-based traceable liquids. Each vial has a unique chemical code that can be traced back to the farmer or person who registers it through a database. According to the sheriff’s department, there are more than one billion one-of-a-kind forensic codes available from the manufacturer. When sprayed on a surface, the liquid is not visible without the use of UV light. The items marked can be traced for up to five years, unless washed thoroughly. The spray is transferable to those who touch it. The sheriff also plans to use mist devices that are motion-cen-
sored. This will spray thieves and leave footprints and fingerprints at the crime scene. Be smart SmartWater was developed by a retired police officer and his chemist brother in the United Kingdom more than 19 years ago. However, detectives with the Ag Unit heard about the product from an Australian college professor, Alistair Harkness. Harkness was researching ag crimes and explained to detectives the benefits of using a product in ag-related crime. They brought the research back to Boudreaux. “We have great people assigned to the unit,” he said. “They grew up in this community and they understand the ag world.” In areas where it’s been used, SmartWater CSI has reported double-digit reductions in property crime — between 35 and 45 percent. “The Tulare County Sheriff’s Department is on the cutting edge of technology, as evident by their recent investment in the SmartWater CSI theft deterring and tracking technology,” said Tricia Blattler, executive director of Tulare County Farm Bureau.
“As an organization that works with thousands of farmers each year, we are excited to see the sheriff’s department embrace this new technology, and expect that it can play an important role in deterring ag theft and rural crimes.” The total cost to the sheriff’s department for the kits and equipment was roughly $58,000. SmartWater vials will be issued to roughly 1,200 farmers and ranchers who are members of the Farm Bureau. Those interested can register with the sheriff’s department at the Tulare County Ag Expo, Feb. 14-16. There is a total of 5,000 farmers and ranchers in the county. Farmers and Ranchers will fill out a registration form linking them to a unique forensic code only found in their vial. The kit will be free of charge from the sheriff’s department and each kit can mark up to 50 items. The department will provide training to business owners on how to use the product and what items should be tagged. Smart prevention Billboards will go up warning potential thieves about the use of SmartWater to protect ag partners, Boudreaux said. In 2016, there were more than 1,000 ag- and nonag-related property crimes assigned to detectives. Of those, only 214 were closed. In an effort to deter and reduce ag crime, Ultra Violet lights will be placed in Tulare County jails. “When a thief comes through the jail that ultra violent light, lights up,” he said. “Someone who comes in has no right to privacy.” The department is working with the District Attorney’s Office on how to prosecute cases using SmartWater. “SmartWater is able to show a person was in an area where a crime occurred,” Boudreaux said. This helps detectives work backward to solve the case, he added. Once the sample is collected by deputies, it is sent to the Florida International University for testing. Results can take between three to 10 business days, Arserio said.
Advertise to Cattleman in the Livestock Market Digest!
February 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Zinke hearings The Zinke hearings plus collaboratin’ compensatin’ and stickin’ it to stakeholders
T
he Senate hearings on Ryan Zinke’s nomination as Secretary of Interior was relatively uneventful, with the Montana Congressman surviving unscathed. Zinke testified he was an “unapologetic admirer of Teddy Roosevelt” and believes Roosevelt “had it right” when he set aside “millions of acres of federal lands” for protection. It was on these lands where “my father taught me to fish and hunt and the Boy Scout’s taught me the principles of environmental stewardship,” he said. Zinke also reiterated his opposition to the transfer of lands out of federal ownership. “I want to be clear on this point: I am absolutely against transfer or sale of public land. I can’t be any more clear,” he said. There would be three immediate priorities, he said. First would be to restore trust. Second would be to prioritize the $12.5 billion backlog in Park Service maintenance, including making that a part of a proposed infrastructure bill. And third is “to ensure the professionals on the front line, our rangers and field managers, have the right tools, right resources, and flexibility to make the right decisions that give a voice to the people they serve.” Sounds like he’s planning on having plenty of money to spend. Those who rely on federal lands remaining federal lined up to support the nominee. “The Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable supports Secretary-designate Zinke and looks forward to working with him and his team at the Department of the Interior to advance the outdoor recreation sector, grow jobs in the U.S. and ensure that all Americans have access to healthy, active outdoor fun on their public lands and waters,” said Derrick Crandall, President of the American Recreation Coalition. “RVIA unwaveringly supports the nomination of Representative Ryan Zinke to serve as Secretary of the Interior,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, President, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. “Because the Department of Interior oversees water management and its policies directly impact Americans’ access to federally managed waterways and fisheries for recreation, the role of Secretary of the Interi-
or is of critical importance to the U.S. recreational boating industry and its 35,000 marine businesses and 88 million boaters,” notes Thom Dammrich, President of the National Marine Manufacturers Association. “We stand behind President-elect Trump’s nomination
of Ryan Zinke of Montana for Secretary of the Interior given his proven passion for and commitment to the outdoors. Welcome to the New West. The livestock producers chimed in, with Tracy Brunner, NCBA president saying, “During his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Zinke has consistently advocated for our western communities, economies, and ranchers. He has demanded transparency and the inclusion of stakeholders when it comes to land management decisions, and has a strong understanding of the challenges that come with stewarding the West.” And PLC president Dave Eliason stating, “We are excited for Representative Zinke to refocus the agency’s efforts to their core mission,
Page 13 and to have someone in this role that understands the unique challenges we face in the West.” As predicted, there were plenty of hosannas to collaboration and inclusion of all stakeholders. Zinke said he would be “working with rather than against” local communities and states by being “a listening advocate rather than a deaf adversary.” Those are pretty words, but most of us will be more interested in what he does after listening. And speaking of collaboration…
Collaborating and compensating? On August 5, 2015, near Silverton, Colorado, EPA personnel and employees of an EPA
contractor caused the release of wastewater and tailings, including toxic levels of lead and arsenic and other harmful elements. The spill affected the waterways of municipalities in the states of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, as well as the Navajo Nation. The Animas River turned orange but the EPA didn’t notify New Mexico and Colorado until the next day after the spill. But hey, who said all this collaboration had to be quick. The EPA initially set the spill at one million gallons. They lied. The USGS determined the spill was triple that size at over three million gallons. But hey, who said all this collaboration had to be accurate. continued on page fourteen
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Livestock Market Digest
February 15, 2017
States Can Do Some Things More Efficiently States Can Do Some Things More Efficiently BY HOLLY FRETWELL, NYTIMES.COM
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here is legitimate concern about the management of federally owned lands. Recent proposals to transfer federal lands to the states, historical movements like the Sagebrush Rebellion to cede lands in the 1970s, and persistent appeals and litigation to oppose federal land agency actions all demonstrate longstanding discontent with federal land management. State control is one option but even the federal government can do more to encourage public-private partnerships. But most of the debate over the transfer of federal lands misses a key point. Good land stew-
ardship is less about who and more than about how and why. The rules that govern land management, such as laws, customs and property rights, define managers’ incentives, and incentives drive behavior. A report I helped prepare showed that state trust land agencies generate greater net revenue than federal land agencies, when the cost of wildfire protection is not considered. That is no surprise: State trust land agencies have a legal mandate to generate net revenue to fund public schools, hospitals and other state programs. Revenue generation, however, is not the goal of federal land management. Under the multiple
use doctrine, the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service are tasked with managing federal lands for energy development, livestock grazing, timber, and recreation, while protecting natural, cultural, and historical resources. The multiple use mandate does not specify how to prioritize the allocation of resources among the various uses. The law does make clear that covering costs is not a requisite mechanism to prioritize use. Instead, a balance of Congressional appropriations, complying with statutory mandates, manager preferences and public input determines federal land use. And it is impossible to satisfy the multiple-use preferences of 535 politicians, let alone 324
million Americans. Yet accomplishing good management first requires knowing what is trying to be achieved. It also requires incentives that are aligned with that outcome. Despite their revenue maximization goal, states also manage for multiple uses including conservation. But the focus is on directing resources to high valued uses and encouraging cost minimization. It is time to consider alternative proposals to improve public land stewardship. The transfer of some federal lands to state control is one option, but it is not a panacea for our vast federal estate. Public-private partnerships, charter forests, park franchises,
conservation easements and leases, tradable grazing permits and dominant use areas would allow innovation and adaptive management to better meet Americans’ demands for resources, recreation and conservation. Current mechanisms to resolve these conflicting demands for the multiple uses of federal lands and resources are inefficient and costly. Experimentation with adaptive management can provide better tools to enhance federal stewardship. Holly Fretwell, a research fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center and adjunct instructor of economics at Montana State University, is the author of “Who is Minding the Federal Estate: Political Management of America’s Public Lands.”
Move Over Vegans, There’s a New Flexitarian in Town BY RITA JANE GABBETT, MEATINGPLACE.COM
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hole Foods Market’s global buyers and experts announced the trends to watch in 2017. Among them, a trend toward “flexitarians” who embrace individualized forms of healthy eating.
“In 2017, consumers will embrace a new, personalized version of healthy eating that’s less rigid than typical vegan, paleo, gluten-free and other special diets that have gone mainstream,” the Whole Foods team explained in a news release. For example, some flexitarians may be eating vegan before 6 p.m.,
or eating paleo five days a week, or gluten-free whenever possible. Instead of a strict identity aligned with one diet, these shoppers embrace the “flexitarian” approach to making conscious choices about what, when and how much to eat. Also on the upswing: fresh
oven-ready meal kits and vegetable medleys as shoppers continue to crave healthier options that require less time. Saving money, time and food waste are also trending, according to Whole Foods. People aren’t just asking themselves what they’d like to eat, but also how meals can stretch their dollar,
reduce food waste, save time and be healthier. Trends to watch also include the “make some/buy some,” approach, like using pre-cooked ingredients from the hot bar to jumpstart dinner, or preparing a main dish from scratch and using frozen or store-bought ingredients as sides.
Manage Feed Mixing / Rations from Mobile Device
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he wireless Libra TMR from Central City Scale, Inc. eliminates the need for indicators, remote displays, thumb drives and printers. The TMR app delivers a smart and simple way to build and manage your rations, pens, and feed groups.
Know the exact weight of ingredients going into the mixer and track what has been fed to each pen, providing useful information and features at your fingertips. With this new technology, cattle feeders and Dairy operations can have more
precise control of their feed mixing, ingredients and rations. Central City Scale, Inc. of Central City, Nebraska is introducing the new Libra TMR which is a feed and ration management system that is iPad-based and connected to load cells on the feed mixer using Bluetooth electronics. The operator enters the feed ingredient information into the app, along with rations with all the ingredients. Information is assigned to what ration gets fed to which pen and how many head are in each pen. This technology saves time and makes it simple to execute a ration and feed it properly. By entering the name of your feed group, Libra TMR will inform you how much weight volume of each ingredient is required for each ration you are mixing. More importantly, the system will also allow the operator to scale by dry matter.
Using agrimatics’ cloud service (coming soon), a nutritionist can also log in and remotely manage rations for their customers. The Libra TMR allows the feed mixer operator to use a smart phone or tablet as a full featured indicator. The number of remote displays are unlimited. The ability to set a custom timer for mixing between each ingredient or after all ingredients have been loaded helps with generating a Total Mixed Ration. Automatically adjust the batch size based on any loaded ingredient. Feeding schedules for different feed groups can be created increasing efficiency in your feeding operation. Being able to enter bunk readings in the system allows the operator to quickly adjust rations and feed amounts. The operator can input and adjust dry matter percentages for ingredients or record as fed.
THE WESTERNER EPA administrator Gina McCarthy stated the agency accepted “full responsibility” for the spill. Well, cry me a polluted river if she didn’t lie. The EPA has just announced attorneys at EPA and the Justice Department have determined EPA can’t pay the over $1.2 billion in claims for damages because of sovereign immunity. But hey, who said all this collaboration had to be truthful. Congress can waive sovereign immunity, and if they chose to collaborate with the states and
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the river users, they will do so. Congress should also pay these claims out of EPA’s budget. This whole episode is a prime example of collaboratin’, compensatin’ and stickin’ it to the stakeholders.
BLM brown baggin’ with Bigfoot The press has reported on a January BLM Brown Bag Lecture in Safford, Arizona. The event had a documentary on Bigfoot, and featured “a Bigfoot lookalike contest, door prizes, popcorn, Bigfoot cook-
ies, and more.” Brown baggin’ with Bigfoot, including Bigfoot cookies, at the BLM office. Nice to see their budget’s not in the dire straits they often claim. I wonder what their February brown baggin’ will feature. A BLM Break with Big Bird? 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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Livestock Market Digest
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Food Companies Ranked on Animal Welfare BY MEATINGPLACE EDITORS
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nimal welfare has become a key business issue for the world’s leading food companies, which are paying increased attention to the matter within their supply chains, concludes a report assessing 99
major brands. Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of companies have published farm animal welfare policies, up from 46 percent in 2012, according to the findings compiled by Compassion in World Farming, World Animal Protection and investment firm
Baxter BLACK ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE www.baxterblack.com
Things Aren’t What They Seem - If you see an Indian dressed like a cowboy, he’s probably a cowboy. - If you see a cowboy dressed like an Indian, he’s probably a country music singer. - If you see an Indian dressed like an Indian, he’s probably an entertainer. - If you see a country music singer dressed like an Indian, he’s probably an actor. - If you see an actor dressed like a country music singer, he’s probably lip synching. - If you see a cowboy with a briefcase, he’s probably a salesman. - If you see a salesman dressed like a cowboy, he’s probably a realtor. - If you see a golfer dressed like a farmer, he’s probably a salesman. - If you see a farmer dressed like a salesman, he’s probably a golfer. - If you see a farmer dressed like a cowboy, he’s probably on vacation. - If you see a roper dressed like a cowboy, he’s probably a header. - If you see a roper dressed like a prisoner, he’s probably a heeler. - If you see a heeler dressed like a header, he’s probably out on parole. - If you see a cowboy with creased jeans, he probably doesn’t ride a horse for a living. - If you see a lawman dressed like a cowboy, he’s probably the sheriff. - If you see a cowboy dressed like a lawman, yer probably in Wyoming or Mississippi. - If you see a sheriff in your rear view mirror, you’re probably in trouble. - If you see a movie star dressed like a cowboy, he’s probably Hopalong Cassidy. - If you see Hopalong wearing bermuda shorts, he’s probably at a Celebrity Golf Tournament. - If you see a cowboy dressed like Hoppy, he’s probably a cowboy poet. www.baxterblack.com
Coller Capital. Top priorities are close confinement and the reduction of routine use of antibiotics, said the report, titled “Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare.” Farm animal welfare is emerging as a source of competitive advantage rather than being viewed only a potential business risk through increased costs or media exposes of poor practices, the report noted. Cargill and McDonald’s Corp. were among companies that received a Tier 2 ranking for making animal welfare integral to their business strategy. Tier 3 companies that have established policies but still have work to be done included Hormel Foods, JBS, Subway, Sysco Corp., Tyson Foods, Walmart and Wendy’s. Those making progress on implementation (Tier 4) included Chipotle Mexican Grill, Costco Wholesale, Kroger, Panera Bread and WH Group. At Tier 5 for showing limited evidence of implementation were Chick-fil-A, ConAgra, Darden Restaurants, Dunkin’ Brands, OSI Group, Publix, Starbucks, Target and Yum Brands, among others. Those ranked at the bottom, or Tier 6, for showing no evidence of having animal welfare
on the business agenda included Domino’s Pizza and Kraft Heinz. “As global demand for livestock products continues to increase, and the world seeks to reconcile food production with the ecological limits of the planet, it is incumbent on all of us to ensure that production systems meet both the health and behavioral needs of food animal species,” Keith Kenny,
vice president of sustainability at McDonald’s Corp., said in a forward to the report. “Given the interrelatedness of global supply chains, the industry and key stakeholders will increasingly need to work together to create solutions that work for consumers, producers, businesses, the environment — and of course the millions of farm animals around the world,” Kenny said.
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Livestock Market Digest
February 15, 2017