Saying things that need to be said.
Don’t Let The Flies In
Ican remember as if it was yesterday my mom yelling to me as I went out the back door to feed my conglomeration of animals, “Close the door and don’t let any flies in.”
That should be the rallying cry of every cattleman in the country these days as a biological nightmare in the flying form of a parasitic fly that is the only fly in existence that must consume live flesh as its primary food source. And usually that flesh belongs to a real live bovine. Now that fly is as close as one of our nearest neighbors and knocking on our door.
(APHIS) of a positive detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Mexico. The NWS was found in a cow in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, at an inspection checkpoint close to the border with Guatemala,” according to the USDA. “Given the severity of the threat from NWS, APHIS is restricting the importation of animal commodities originating from or transiting Mexico effective immediately and pend-
A Biological Nightmare
Although the Biden administration has done nothing to stop the flow of illegal aliens across our southern border there is one export from Mexico they stopped. As of November 26, 2024, the United States stopped the importation of live cattle from Mexico because just two days earlier, “The Chief Veterinary Officer of Mexico notified the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
all over southern states are NOT expected to resume any time soon.
This comes at a time when U.S. inventories of beef cattle are at all-time lows, and feedlots that have been full of Mexican cattle in the past will now have to bid more aggressively for domestically produced cattle, putting further upward pressure on prices for calves and yearlings.
It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
ing further information from Mexican veterinary authorities on the size and scope of the infestation.” According to one government official, imports of Mexican cattle that once grazed
Although the USDA nonchalantly referred to screwworms as, “Fly larvae that infest living tissue of warm-blooded animals, causing infection,” ranchers who listened to horrifying stories about screwworms as they sat at their father’s feet know better. Just the mention of the word screwworm should strike fear in the hearts of American cattlemen. In the 1930’s and 1940’s screwworms put thousands of ranchers out
Chief Justice John Roberts Reiterates the Job of the U.S. Supreme Court
SOURCE: RENEWED RIGHT
The U.S. Supreme Court has been highly controversial ever since it was created.
It is the very nature of its independent role in the American Constitutional Republic.
Justices aren’t supposed to make everyone happy
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts recently issued a warning that the U.S. must maintain total “judicial independence” just weeks away from President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
Roberts explained his growing concerns in his annual report on the state of the federal judiciary.
“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy. Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system — sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topics,” Roberts wrote in the 15-page report.
“Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed, and the Nation has avoided the standoffs that plagued the 1950s and 1960s,” he continued.
But then Roberts raised the alarm.
of business and made large swaths of southern and southwestern cattle ranches in the United States off-limits for cattle ranching. According to the USDA, “By the early part of the 20th century the problem had become so acute that the raising of cattle in certain parts of the Southwest was practically impossible.”
The USDA says, “Given the northward movement of NWS, APHIS has in recent months stepped up its efforts in Central America to partner with impacted countries to push this pest out of newly affected areas,” said Dr. Rosemary Sifford, Chief Veterinary Officer of the United States. “With this latest find in Mexico, we will further intensify this work to protect American agriculture and reestablish the barrier in Central America.”
But the New World Screwworm has jumped a Mexican border that was crucial for stopping the northern flight of the screwworm and if Mexico does as bad a job with stopping the screwworm from Central and
continued on page 2
Green Electricity Costs a Bundle
BY BJORN LOMBORG / WALL STREET JOURNAL
As nations use more and more supposedly cheap solar and wind power, a strange thing happens: Our power bills get more expensive. This exposes the environmentalist lie that renewables have already outmatched fossil fuels and that the “green transition” is irreversible even under a second Trump administration.
The claim that green energy is cheaper relies on bogus math that measures the cost of electricity only when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. Modern societies need around-theclock power, requiring backup, often powered by fossil fuels. That means we’re paying for two power systems: renewables and backup. Moreover, as fossil fuels are used less, those power sources need to earn their capital costs back in fewer hours, leading to even more expensive power.
This means the real energy costs of solar and wind are far higher than what green campaigners claim. One study shows that in China the real cost of solar power on average is twice as high as that of coal. Similarly, a peer-reviewed study of Germany and Texas shows that solar and wind are many times more expensive than fossil fuels. Germany, the U.K., Spain, and Denmark, all of which increasingly rely on solar and wind power, have some of the world’s most expensive electricity.
The International Energy Agency’s latest data (from 2022) on solar and wind power generation costs and consumption across nearly 70 countries shows a clear correlation between more solar and wind and higher average house-
“Within the past few years, however, electcontinued on page 3
continued on page 5
by
Hard Roads And Easy Streets
I’ve always wondered, when does a town become a city? Is there a magic number like 10,000 or 100,000? I may not know when a town becomes a city but I darn sure know when I’m in one. I start getting the heebie-jeebies at anything over 30,000 people and I left San Diego one time at 3:00 a.m. because I couldn’t take it any longer. I don’t know if it’s the noise or the way that people like to congregate in crowds. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “A New York Minute?” That’s how long I can stand to be in the big bad apple.
I was born in a “hospital” with three or four beds in the town I was raised in. The sign at the edge of town said we were the “Citrus Capital of the World” and that the population was 10,000, both of which were out and out lies. They must have been counting the influx of braceros who came to pick our fruit every year.
We lived at the edge of town on one acre and the street in front of our house was the city limits. Speed one way going down the street and a policeman would give you a ticket and on the other side it would be a sheriff. We had a volunteer fire department where both my grandfather and great-grandfather were the chief. My great-grandfather was even Mayor but that was based solely on the fact that he gave out huge six-inch Milky Way bars to young kids on Halloween who grew up to become voters. The train went through our town but it didn’t stop unless it hit a car or a cow. We did have a motel but it had threadbare carpet, cardboard walls and the occasional mouse.
For every year but a couple, I’ve lived in small towns and from that experience I’ve learned that there are many things you won’t find in a typical town. For instance, I’ve lived at my current residence for 40 years and in all that time we’ve never had parking meters, one-way streets, a metro area, a high school, neither a new or used car lot, a mortician, dermatologist, an Olive Garden nor any other chain restaurant. But we do have a great Mexican food joint that serves our needs quite nicely. We don’t
LEE PITTS
Volume 67 • No. 1
LEE PITTS
have a museum or a mausoleum or a place to buy clothes except the hardware store. We did have a barber shortage until recently when a brave soul opened one. And our church-to-bar ratio is about one to one, which seems to be the standard against which all towns are measured.
My mom went to church while my father hung out in bars.
I got a cowboy job straight out of college and lived outside one of my favorite burgs that I loved because it had about three cows for every permanent resident. It would have been what you call a “one stoplight town” except it didn’t have one. It did have a small grocery store, a cemetery but no hospital or urgent care, (which might explain the need for a cemetery). It’s never had a Starbucks but it did have a laundromat where I could wash my cowy clothes and pity the person who came after me.
You could order a pizza from
Dominos but it would take an hour to get your pizza, which was about the same time it took for an ambulance to arrive. The town still doesn’t have a Subway, either the kind you ride or order a sandwich. It doesn’t have an airport or a single skyscraper and the only elevator in town is the kind that holds grain, not suits holding briefcases.
In my opinion there are a few minimum necessities to even be called a town. You should have at least one gas station that sells both gas and diesel, a drugstore where you can fill a prescription and at least one bank preferably with the words “Mechanics” or “Farmers” in its name. It should also have a 4-H group and some folks who know what the letters FFA used to stand for.
If you live someplace with absolutely none of these symptoms of civilization you reside in either the country or in Heaven... but I repeat myself. ▫
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South America as they did with the caravans of illegals from Central and South America then the American cattle business could be in for some BIG trouble!
To prevent the northward movement of this pest from South America to NWS-free areas in Central and North America, APHIS collaborates with Panama to maintain a barrier zone in eastern Panama, more specifically an area called the Darien Province of eastern Panama. But lately that periphery sprung a leak that the New World Screwworms took advantage of.
No Ordinary Pest
The New World Screwworm is no ordinary pest. These flies lay their screwworm eggs that are creamy and white near the edges of superficial wounds inflicting terrible pain. In the 30’s and 40’s one third of all screwworm infections commonly found on cattle came after branding, docking, shearing, dehorning, and castrating with a knife. Barb wire cuts and baby calves’ naval cords are also major factors in supplying a feeding and breeding ground for screwworms. The smell of a wound or an opening such as the nose, mouth, or eyes, umbilical cord of a newborn animal, or genitals attracts the female flies. Wounds as small as a tick bite may attract a female fly to feed and lay her eggs. They most often enter an animal through an open wound to feed on the animal’s living flesh.
According to the USDA, New World Screwworms are endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and countries in South America, with cases spreading north to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. And now Mexico. According to APHIS there is a constant risk of re-introduction into the United States.
Adult screwworm flies are
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about the size of a common housefly or slightly larger. Initially they were often confused with blowflies. They have orange eyes, a metallic blue or green body, and three dark stripes along their backs. According to the USDA, “The name screwworm refers to the maggots’ feeding behavior as they burrow (screw) into the wound, feeding as they go like a screw being driven into wood. Maggots cause extensive damage by tearing at the hosts’ tissue with sharp mouth hooks. The wound can become larger and deepen as more maggots hatch and feed on living tissue. As a result, NWS can cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal.”
Signs of a screwworm infestation include irritated behavior, head shaking, the smell of decay and presence of fly larvae (maggots) in wounds.
For some reason I have a 1942 Yearbook of Agriculture published by the USDA in my library and found it a great source of information about the flies that were terrorizing cattle country at that time. According to the handbook it was thought that screwworm fly strikes were, “Limited to the Southern and Southwestern part of the country. Then outbreaks occurred in Iowa, Indiana and Illinois and eventually from Texas to Alaska.” Giving you some idea of why ranchers were so fearful of screwworms, my Yearbook of Agriculture says, “Of all insect species, screwworms were responsible for 85% of annual losses in the South and Southwest.”
Also, according to the 1942 Yearbook, “Screwworm maggots can infest livestock and other warm-blooded animals, INCLUDING PEOPLE. The zoonotic implications are considerable because humans, especially the young, elderly or infirm, can be infested, with severe and sometimes fatal consequences. If you see or feel maggots (larvae) in or on a wound or other area of your body, contact your healthcare provider immediately. They will need to remove the larvae, sometimes through surgery.”
While they generally do not travel more than a couple of miles if there are suitable host animals in the area, they can travel 35 miles in one week to find more living flesh from warm blooded animals suitable as a host. One female can lay 200 – 300 eggs at a time and may lay up to 3,000 eggs during her 10- to 30-day lifespan. Eggs hatch into larvae (maggots) that burrow into the wound to feed on the living flesh. Larvae emerge within 12–24 hours and immediately begin to feed, burrowing head-downwards into the wound. After developing through three larval stages involving two molts, the larvae leave the wound and drop to the ground, into which they burrow to pupate (emerge as adult screwworm flies). The entire cycle may be completed in less than 3 weeks in the tropics, a little longer in colder climes.
potion was dreamed up by frustrated cattlemen but war-time conditions made it so some needed chemicals were not available. Back in 1942 screwworms were responsible for five million dollars in losses per year in the United States, but keep in mind that $5 had the purchasing power of about $96.78 today, an increase of $91.78 over 83 years. So if we had the same level of losses from screwworms today as they did back then we’d be losing one hundred million dollars per year from the parasitic insect.
“Treatment,” said my Yearbook, “was generally effected by application of organophosphorus insecticides into infested wounds, both to kill larvae and to provide a residual protection against re-infestation. Preventive measures include the spraying or dipping of susceptible livestock with organophosphorus compounds and the use of avermectins (especially doramectin) as subcutaneous injections to animals ‘at risk.’ Strict control of the movement of animals out of affected areas also acts as a preventive measure. There are no vaccines or biological products available.” Later the fumes of benzol were found to kill screwworms that breathed them so benzol oil was mixed with pine tar as the preferred treatment. The concoction produced a smell so bad that old time ranchers could never forget.
“In 1933, the screwworm migrated from the Southwest to the Southeast United States by way of a shipment of infested animals,” according to my Yearbook of Agriculture. “By 1934, ranchers reported infestations in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. As early as 1920, the USDA produced films to teach farmers and ranchers how to identify and treat screwworms. At the time, researchers confused the primary screwworm, which requires living flesh to breed, with other species of blowflies, which consume the carcasses of dead animals and the decayed flesh of living ones.”
“In the early 1930’s many scientists began to doubt whether they had correctly categorized the screwworm. By using traps baited with attractants such as rotting liver, scientists captured flies to inspect them for existing blowfly characteristics.” Interestingly, “Weekly interviews with ranchers determined the number of animals infested and allowed scientists to conclude that the traps actually helped reduce livestock infestations.”
Now This Is Interesting!
Then began one of the most interesting and most beneficial experiments in livestock history: the use of sterilized male flies in the sterile insect technique. In this procedure vast numbers of sterilized male flies were sequentially released into the environment, where their matings with wild females produced infertile eggs, leading to an initial population reduction and, progressively, eradication.
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Five Bucks Isn’t What It Used To Be
Back in 1942, ranchers tried everything to kill screwworms including dried horse manure, common salt, boiling water and strong caustics applied twice weekly. Many an experimental
It was Edward F. Knipling that came up with the real solution to prevent wound infestation by reducing or eliminating the screwworm. He developed the theory of ‘autocide’ (sounds like a car crash, doesn’t it?) in which sterile males would be released to overwhelm the natural population. The plan present-
ed two problems: how to produce enough laboratory-reared screwworms and how to sterilize them in mass. Raymond Bushland is credited with coming up with the technique to sterilize trillions of flies by radiating them.
Back in the 1940’s we produced 20 million flies per week at our Mission plant in the United States, which equates to a billion flies per year that consumed 108 million tons of meat! Two planes would then drop 20 million flies per week over Panama, specifically over the Darrien Gap between Panama and Colombia. The flies were escorted to their destination in two Beechcraft King Airs, a turbo prop airplane still produced today that can hold seven people, (like we once accomplished on a flight home from Nebraska one time), or 20 million flies. It is a historic and iconic aircraft that can fly at 270 miles per hour over 1200 miles. Besides its size, another attribute is that it can fly really low, which it did delivering the flies to the Darrien Gap before dispersing them. The same sterile fly technique is still used today only the flies are mass produced in Panama. Since the screwworm fly only mates once in her lifetime the life cycle of the screwworm is disrupted because after being “bred” by the sterile males the females lay eggs that are sterile and do not hatch. Using the sterile insect technique the USDA finally eradicated screwworms from the United States in 1966.
Smear 62
The screwworm problem became so bad that the USDA
enlisted the Civilian Conservation Corps to help ride through cattle and doctor the sick ones.
According to my 1942 Yearbook of Agriculture, “The CCC agents also rode cattle ranges to keep them free of materials that might cause wounds, separated infested animals from healthy ones, and burned animal carcasses. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration provided funds for CCC to build and repair pens for segregation of infested animals.”
“Public education in the late 1930’s encouraged calving, branding, and dehorning out of fly season; prompt treatment and isolation of wounded animals; and avoidance of wounds. USDA continued to recommend pine tar oil and benzol as the best wound treatment and burning carcasses to reduce the spread of infestation. Research at Menard, Texas, included a search for a more effective larvicide than benzol and pine tar oil. At Menard, Edward F. Knipling conducted extensive studies of larvicides, reporting in 1938 that new larvicides showed promise. This study and related research led to development of a much-improved wound treatment later known as Smear 62.” Old time cowboys hated the smell and many wives prevented their entrance into living quarters until their clothes had been burned in the burn barrel!
Like we said, we can only hope that Mexico and the United States are more effective in controlling the immigration of the screwworm fly than they are at controlling the movement of illegal aliens from Central and South America. ▫
hold and industry energy prices. In a country with little or no solar and wind, the average electricity cost is about 12 cents a kilowatt-hour (in today’s money). For every 10 percent increase in solar and wind share, the electricity cost increases by more than 5 cents a kilowatt-hour. This isn’t an outlier; these results are substantially similar to 2019, before the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Take Germany, where electricity costs 30 cents a kilowatt-hour—more than twice the U.S. cost and more than three times the Chinese price. Germany has installed so much solar and wind that, on sunny and windy days, renewable energy satisfies close to 70 percent of Germany’s needs—a fact the press eagerly reports. But the press hardly mentions dark and still days, when these renewables deliver almost nothing. Twice in the past two months, when it was cloudy and nearly windless, solar and wind delivered less than four percent of the daily power Germany needed.
Current battery technology is insufficient. Germany’s entire battery storage runs out in about 20 minutes. That leaves more than 23 hours of energy powered mostly by fossil fuels. Last month, with cloudy skies and nearly no wind, Germany faced the highest power prices since the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with wholesale prices reaching a staggering $1 a kilowatt-hour.
At least climate-obsessed European governments are generally honest about solar and wind costs and raise electricity prices accordingly, making consumers bear the weight of green energy policies directly. In the U.S., by contrast, consumers pay solar and wind costs indirectly—through tax deductions and subsidies.
Solar and wind credits cost the federal government more than $20 billion in 2024, supplemented by state subsidies. Texas received about $2 billion in federal subsidies last year, and state government subsidies at least tripled that cost. This suggests a total hidden cost for the entire U.S. that perhaps runs more than $60 billion annually, implying that the actual cost of electricity with solar and wind is far higher than stated prices.
Poor countries are especially hurt by the lie that green energy is cheap. Rich countries often refuse to help poor countries with fossil fuel projects. If solar and wind really were less expensive, the world’s poorer countries would easily leapfrog from today’s energy poverty to energy abundance. New energy infrastructure would all be solar and wind. But this happens only in rich countries where generous subsidies and existing fossil-fuel backup infrastructure make our solar and wind deception possible.
In poorer countries, where electricity consumption rose almost five percent from 2022 to 2023, most of the additions came from fossil fuels, with coal
FSIS Announces 2025 Inspection, Service Rate Changes
BY CHRIS MOORE / MEATINGPLACE.COM
Tcontributing more than all solar and wind additions. China during that period added more new coal than new solar and wind. Bangladesh added 13 times as much coal as solar and wind. Despite India’s ambitious solar targets, it added three times as much coal as solar and wind.
This sets the backdrop for U.S. authorities’ recent bribery allegations against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. Since most Indian states don’t want to “risk ‘intermittent’ renewables,” according to Reuters, he allegedly had to bribe government officials to get them to buy power from his $6 billion solar power project. Mr. Adani’s case confirms what the data already show: Solar and wind are bad business and make our power much more expensive.
Mr. Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus, a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and author of ‘Best
he USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced updated rates for inspection and laboratory services for 2025. The new fees, effective Jan. 12, will apply to meat, poultry and egg product establishments, as well as importers and exporters, for voluntary, overtime, holiday and laboratory services.
certificates electronically through the Agency’s Public Health Information System.
FSIS also announced a revised fee for exporters applying
Things First.’ ▫
Saving America’s Forests?
BY JANE SHAW STROUP / JANE TAKES ON HISTORY
It makes a good story. In the late 1800s demand for wood was insatiable—for houses, for ships, for fuel, for railroad ties. Americans were logging trees all over the country, then moving on to another forest, leaving ugly cutover land behind them. President Theo-
dore Roosevelt expressed fear of a “timber famine.” Trees are being destroyed, he said, “far more rapidly than they are being replaced.”[1]
George Vanderbilt (grandson of the “robber baron” Cornelius Vanderbilt) came to the rescue.
Vanderbilt’s mansion near Asheville, North Carolina, was built on land that included about 125,000 acres of forest, much of it already logged. Vanderbilt hired a young man, Gifford Pinchot, to manage the lands around the Biltmore
estate, with the goals of making money while restoring and protecting the forest. Pinchot hired a German forester, Carl Schenck, to work for him. Pinchot went on to be the first head of the U.S. Forest Service, and Schenck started the first forestry school in the nation.
“Pinchot implemented a management plan that improved the forest while returning a profit to the landowner, the first of its kind in America and served as a national model,” states the National Forestry Foundation on its website. [2]
But Wait!
In fact, there was no timber famine and there never would have been. And Vanderbilt did not make a profit on his forest (some of which his widow eventually sold to the government; it would become a key part of the Pisgah National Forest).
The misunderstanding about forest resources has had major ramifications. It led to the creation of the U.S. Forest Service and to “sustained yield” policies that may be unnecessary and costly.
Gifford Pinchot and Carl Schenck had studied in Europe, including France and Germany. Because the densely populated continent held only limited forestland, Germans had developed “sustained-yield” forestry. This management approach ensures that when trees are cut down, others are growing, providing a steady stream of timber. Vanderbilt wanted to duplicate that.
“Schenck was used to the forests of Germany,” wrote Jonathan Hill in 2017. German forests
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“were of pure artificial design: forests were often of a single type of tree, planted in even rows and all of the same age. The forests of Biltmore were practically the exact opposite. Once the original old growth trees had been cut, many of the properties that eventually made up the Biltmore estate were left abandoned for the forest to regrow on its own.” [3]
Schenck tried to apply his German training to this wild, uncouth, and cutover forest.
Making matters worse, he and Pinchot differed on just how the German process should be applied to American forests. When Pinchot first arrived at Biltmore, he had selectively cut some of the bigger trees in order to obtain revenue and also to open the forest to more sunlight and faster growth of young trees. To Schenck, this violated the orderly process he had learned in his home country.
The Problem
The fundamental problem, however, was that the United States was not like Germany. Land, including timberland, was widely available and cheap. There was so much wood in the United States that prices weren’t high enough to justify regrowing the forests.
And consumption of wood was about to drop, as coal replaced wood as fuel, and brick replaced some of the wood used for housing. In 1907, two years after Roosevelt’s “timber famine” speech, wood consumption peaked in the U.S., not to return to such a height for 70 years.[4]
In 1991, economist Roger Sedjo summarized the views of a number of Pinchot’s contemporaries who realized that it was hard to make money on trees.
“The primary reason that forest management and tree planting were rare, even on private lands, was simply that these investments did not pay financially.” He described the Vanderbilt effort as one that “eventually proved unprofitable.”[5]
Randal O’Toole, author of Reforming the Forest Service, explains further:
“[W]ood is extremely abundant in this country; wood technology has dramatically increased the amount of usable wood from individual trees; there are a lot of substitutes for wood; and as a result, per capita consumption of wood has dramatically declined since the [Pinchot] era even as the amount of wood grown in the U.S. each year is significantly greater than the amount we use. In short, there was no need for their [forestry] profession in
the Biltmore era and there is no need today.”[6]
The Aftermath
Yet the idea that Pinchot and Schenck saved America’s forests is hard to quash. Schenck “emphasized not just preservation, but forest management practices that would assure continued production of saleable timber,” wrote Amy Ney in Carolina Today. “This was sustainable forest management, which we practice today.” [7]
Some authors, such as Harold T. Pinkett, have recognized but downplayed the weak or nonexistent returns at Biltmore.
“Here was perhaps the first systematic attempt in American lumbering to secure the natural reproduction of a forest area. Although it did not produce immediate financial profit, it pointed the way to more rational use and protection of forest resources.” [8]
Jonathan Hill also recognized that the Vanderbilt forest didn’t make money but blamed it on several factors: two periods (around 1903 and around 1908) in which the Vanderbilt family lost a lot of money. In the 1908 crash, lumber prices went down; when President William HowardTaft came into office in 1909, lumber producers hoped he would impose protective tariffs. Instead, Taft decided that lumber prices were too high, choking economic growth. He subsidized Canadian timber! However, all these authors are right that the Vanderbilt forest management set the stage for the U.S. Forest Service and the way it manages timber. Whether that is good or bad is a story for another day.
Notes (Comments are after the notes)
[1] Theodore Roosevelt, “Remarks at a Meeting of the American Forest Congress,” Washington, D.C., January 5, 1905. American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency. ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-meeting-the-american-forest-congress.
[2] Hannah Featherman “Biltmore Estate: The Birth of US Forestry,” National Forest Foundation, n.d., https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/biltmore-estate-the-birth-offorestry.
[3] Jonathan Hill, Crossing the Atlantic: Carl Schenck and the Formation of American Forestry. (Duke University honors thesis, 2017), 26, https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14258.
[4] Roger Sedjo, “Forest Resources: Resilient and Serviceable.” In America’s Renewable Resources: Histo4ical Trends and Current Challenges, Kenneth D. Frederick and Roger A. Sedgo, editors (Washington, D.C., Resources for the Future, 1991), 90.
[5] Sedjo, 87.
[6] Randal O’Toole, email correspondence, November 2024. O’Toole’s critique of the Forest Service is Reforming the Forest Service (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1988).
[7] Amy Ney, “First in Forestry,” Carolina Country, July 2013, https://www.carolinacountry.com/carolina-stories/first-in-forestry.
[8] Harry D. Pinkett, “Gifford Pinchot at Biltmore,” North Carolina Historical Review 34, no. 3 (1957): 346–57, 354.
Beef Fueled Global Meat Price Rise in December
BY FRANK FUHRIG / MEATINGPLACE.COM
Global meat prices rose 0.4 percent last month, driven mainly by expensive beef, according to United Nations data issued Friday.
The Meat Price Index compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N. averaged 119 points in December, 0.5 points higher than November. The increase halted three straight months of
Feds Issue $103M to Monitor HPAI in Farm Workers
BY FRANK FUHRIG / MEATINGPLACE.COM
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a $306 million dollars on January 3, 2025 for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) monitoring and preparedness. The funding tranche includes $103 million for state and local agencies to step up monitoring of farm workers exposed to infected animals.
The money issued through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expands a strategy to improve protection and monitoring of the labor force in poultry and dairy production that was first launched by federal public health authorities in July.
The effort has included outreach campaigns to educate high-risk livestock workers about personal protective equipment, raise vigilance for outbreaks and encourage seasonal flu vaccinations to minimize the chance of genetic crossover between viral strains. More recently, CDC urged much wider testing of workers after outbreaks in local livestock.
CDC is issuing another $8 million to make and distribute influenza diagnostic test kits for virologic surveillance. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), another HHS agency, is awarding $11 million for additional research medical countermeasures to the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has been detected since March in more than 900 dairy herds in 16 states and continues to spread in wild birds and commercial poultry.
Other HHS funding announced includes:
■ $90 million for hospital preparedness.
■ $10 million to the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center.
■ $26 million to the Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers.
■ $43 million to the Special Pathogen Treatment Centers avian influenza preparedness and response activities.
■ $14 million to replenish federal caches of medical equipment and supplies. ▫
the second-highest of the last 18 years, only slightly below 2022’s mark of 118.3.
price declines.
Since the end of 2023, the Meat Price Index is 7.1 percent higher, or 7.9 points. The index’s 2024 peak was 122 points in August, with a low for the year of 108.9 in January. The average for 2024 was 117.2 points, 2.7 percent, or 3.1 points, higher than in 2023, “driven by robust import demand from key meat-importing countries, amid slower global production growth,” the FAO said in its analysis. Last year’s average meat prices were
The rise in beef prices was the result of “strong global demand coupled with production constraints due to routine endof-year maintenance shutdowns at processing plants in major exporting countries,” the FAO said.
Pork prices fell in December as Christmas and New Year holiday demand in the European Union was less than expected. Poultry prices dipped slightly amid Brazil’s strong exports. Sheep and goat prices were higher. ▫
Photograph by Pirie MacDonald, provided courtesy of the Library of Congress, is in the public domain.
Gifford Pinchot in 1909.
ed officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts said. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving. As my late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, an independent judiciary is ‘essential to the rule of law in any land,’ yet it ‘is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not take care to assure its preservation.’”
“I urge all Americans to appreciate this inheritance from our founding generation and cherish its endurance,” Roberts added. The rule of law must be supreme
Roberts also quoted Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who once remarked that the three branches of government “must work in successful cooperation” to “make possible the effective functioning of the department of government which is designed to safeguard with judicial impartiality and independence the interests of liberty.”
“Our political system and economic strength depend on
In 2020, Roberts blasted comments made by Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer of New York while the Supreme Court was considering a high-profile abortion case.
Roberts began his warning by recounting a story about King George III stripping colonial judges of lifetime appointments, an order that was “not well received.”
And it comes as Trump is readying for a second term as President with a very ambitious conservative agenda, parts of which are likely to be legally challenged, and some may end up before the high court whose conservative majority includes the three justices appointed by Trump in his first term.
In his annual report, the Chief Justice wrote that even if court decisions are unpopular or mark a defeat for a Presidential administration, other branches of government must be willing to enforce them to ensure the rule of law.
Roberts pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated government schools in 1954 as one that needed federal enforcement. Threats to Justices will not be tolerated any longer
He also said, “Attempts to in-
the rule of law,” Roberts wrote.
A landmark Supreme Court immunity decision written by Roberts, as well as another high court decision halting efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot, were championed as major victories for Trump and the Republicans.
The immunity decision was criticized by Democrats like Biden, who called for term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the Supreme Court.
And some Democrats, and at least one Republican lawmaker, urged President Biden to ignore a decision by a Trump-appointed judge to revoke FDA approval for the chemical abortion drug mifepristone.
The high court’s conservative majority also ruled last year that Biden’s massive student loan debt forgiveness efforts constitute an illegal use of executive power.
Yet Biden has all-but ignored this ruling.
Roberts and Trump clashed in 2018 when the Chief Justice scolded Trump for denouncing a judge who had rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.”
Limited Supply, Strong Demand Fuels Ag Land Market
There are more motivated land buyers in today’s market than there are willing sellers, according to Farmers National Company.
Despite the pressures created by lower net farm income, declining commodity markets, higher interest rates and increased input costs, land values have remained quite stable across the Midwest. While most university and industry land value reports published at year’s end reflect a flat or slight downward trend compared to production expenses, the stability in those values reveals the resiliency of the land market and its ability to maintain the high values set over the past five years.
“There are many factors for buyer motivation, but much of it can be explained by mindset translating to demand,” said Paul Schadegg, senior vice president of real estate operations at Farmers National Company.
“Farm operators continue to be the primary buyers of ag land. Their mindset or motivation revolves around reinvest-
ing in their farm enterprise, expanding operations, and utilizing today’s farm equipment fully. Location of land offered for sale also plays a large role in their decision making, as often this land has not changed hands for generations and once sold, may not be sold again.”
Considering the average age of today’s farmers, most have experienced the rise and fall of farm cycles and, along with it, the long-term appreciation of land value. They fully understand what an exceptional value land presents as an asset to their farm operation and investment asset, Schadegg said.
“We anticipate that operating farmers will continue to be the primary land buyer as we move into 2025. Changes in the ag economy will determine if the percentage moves up or down,” he added.
Land investors make up the second largest segment of ag land buyers. Investors include individuals, groups, and land investment funds. Schadegg said that this group’s mindset is business-oriented.
“There is virtually no emotional motivation, as buying decisions are based on return on investment or anticipated appreciation of land value. The motivation lies in expanding the portfolio, opportunities in productive regions, and improving ROIs in declining land markets. Many land investors have not experienced the rise and fall of agriculture cycles but fully
appreciate the long-term value of land. As pressures on the ag economy increase, investors stand ready to bid on land that fits their investment criteria.”
Across the industry, land listings are down, on average, 25% from the active and accelerating value market experienced between 2020-2023. The principle of supply and demand fits into the current land market, as many landowners understand the long-term appreciation of land value while providing an annual return on that investment. Schadegg said that the result of this thought is to retain ownership, further reducing the amount of land offered for sale.
“Motivated buyers remain in the current land market both as farm operators and land investors ready to deploy available cash to further their operations or portfolios,” he added.
Farmers National Company has experienced an active fall selling season, marketing $223 million of land value for clients across the Midwest in the past three months. FNC conducted 123 sales through public auction methods. Real estate activity moving into the first quarter of 2025 remains brisk, with an above-average level of auctions and traditional listings being negotiated.
“Optimism remains moving into 2025, and with positive signals for the ag economy, opportunity will exist for those involved in agriculture production,” Schadegg noted.
timidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.”
Roberts wrote that while public officials and others have the right to criticize rulings, they should also be aware that their statements can “prompt dangerous reactions by others.”
This is in response to threats targeting federal judges having more than tripled over the last decade, according to U.S. Marshals Service statistics.
“State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were killed at their homes in 2022 and 2023,” Roberts wrote.
“Violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,” he wrote.
While Roberts did not direct his warnings to either party or any particular politician, it is important to note that it has only been Democrats and Joe Biden that have flaunted and ignored court rulings. ▫
Why Cattle Minerals Matter: A Simple Guide
BY ROBERT MALMSTROM / WEST TEXAS LIVESTOCK GROWERS
Minerals play a crucial role in keeping your cattle healthy, supporting everything from growth to reproduction. However, figuring out the right amount of dietary minerals for your herd is more complex than you might think.
It’s not just about what your cow needs but also about the forage quality, the animal’s age, and even the production stage. Add to that factors like soil type, fertilizer, and rainfall, and you’ll see that ensuring your cattle get the right minerals is a balancing act.
While forages and water can provide some minerals, it’s rare for any region to always have all the minerals in the right amounts. Even if your forage seems sufficient, the balance between certain minerals can affect absorption. This underscores the importance of understanding mineral deficiencies and taking proactive steps to ensure your herd’s health. Simply offering mineral supplements is not enough; understanding what’s missing is key to empowering your herd to thrive.
There’s a common belief that cattle can instinctively seek the minerals they need, but that’s not entirely true. Cattle, like people, tend to eat what they
enjoy, and some necessary minerals have a bitter taste. This can lead to the lack of consumption of vital minerals. However, with a solid settlement plan in place, you can reassure yourself that your cattle are getting what’s required.
Why provide minerals
As mentioned above, minerals are essential to cattle’s health and well-being. Picking the correct supplement here is vital for maintaining both healthy and productive animals. You will want to select one that will meet the animal’s needs while not breaking the bank. A good mineral program costs about $10$20 per cow annually.
High-quality forages and even grains can provide many of the required minerals, but that can fluctuate. Harvested forages tend to have fewer minerals than ones in the pasture. The drying-out process that hay goes through is the cause of most of this loss. As forages mature, their overall quality will decline as most of their nutrients are transferred closer to the root system for winter storage.
Types of Minerals: Macro and Micro
Minerals are a vital part of the puzzle when it comes to keeping your cattle healthy and productive. Just like humans, cattle need a variety of minerals
to support everything from bone growth to reproductive health. These minerals are often found in forages and water but are only sometimes present in the right amounts or balance. That’s where supplements come in. By understanding which minerals are most important and why, you can make better decisions to keep your herd thriving. For instance, calcium is essential for bone development and muscle function, while zinc plays a role in immune function and reproduction. Understanding these roles can help you appreciate the value of mineral supplementation in your herd’s health and productivity.
Your cattle need two main categories of minerals: macrominerals and microminerals. Macrominerals are required in more significant amounts and play a big role in daily bodily functions like bone development and muscle health. Macrominerals are required in large amounts, usually shown as a percentage of the total diet. On the other hand, microminerals are needed in smaller quantities and are usually listed in ppm. Still, they are just as essential for things like immune function and reproduction. Don’t worry—while that doesn’t sound like a lot to keep track of, we’ll break it down, especially on the most important ones in each category, to keep things simple. Knowing the top minerals in each group and their role, you’ll be better prepared to meet your cattle’s nutritional needs. This knowledge will help you boost their overall health, increase productivity, and, ultimately, save you time and money in the long run.
Macrominerals
■ Calcium (Ca): Essential for bone development, muscle function, and milk production.
■ Phosphorus (P): Works alongside calcium for bone health and energy transfer in cells.
■ Magnesium (Mg): Helps in muscle and nerve function and prevents grass tetany.
■ Potassium (K): Important for muscle function and maintaining hydration in cells.
Microminerals
■ Zinc (Zn): Plays a role in immune function, reproduction, and skin health.
■ Copper (Cu): Vital for enzyme function, red blood cell formation, and immune health.
■ Selenium (Se): Helps protect cel ls from oxidative damage and supports immune function.
■ Manganese (Mn): Necessary for reproductive health and bone formation.
The time of year can also influence what minerals are needed. One of the leading minerals cattle need supplementation for during the winter is phosphorus. In tandem with Calcium, Phosphorus is necessary for the animal to have good bones. Most forages are low in this vital mineral this late in the growing season, so cattle are more likely to be deficient during this time. Supplements such as cottonseed and soybean meal can be used because they contain
moderate concentrations.
If you want more information on this subject, check out Mineral Supplements for Beef Cattle by the University of Georgia found here extension. uga.edu/publications/detail.html? number=B895&title=mineralsupplements-for-beef-cattle
Free-choice minerals vs hand-fed minerals
Two of the most common mineral delivery systems are free-choice or hand-fed. As the name suggests, free choice is putting the mineral in a bunk or tub and letting the cattle eat whatever they want. Hand-fed is where you pour the mineral out in the amount needed every day. Each has pros and cons, so looking at what works best for you in your situation is best.
Hand feeding can ensure a more uniform consumption because you are putting out the needed amount. A problem with free choice is that the pushier cows will eat more than the others, leaving the more timid ones not getting the amount they need. Hand feeding allows you to space it out more evenly, giving every cow a chance to get what they need.
Where the cattle spend their time will play a role in which the system will work. When cattle spend most of their time in the pasture, free choice is better. Feeding the supplements can be challenging when getting out to certain parts of the pastures daily. Another consideration is that if you miss a day or two, it is likely that when you put it out again, the cattle will overconsume the minerals.
To control the amount that is being consumed, you will need to consider the salt. Despite the more bitter-tasting minerals, cattle will actually seek this out, so the amount you mix in can influence consumption. Since they seek it out, you can use it to make the supplement more palatable.
Salt is the key
Every mineral supplement that is used in winter should contain salt. The fact that cattle will eat minerals with salt added, plus forages being deficient in it, is why all free choice minerals have it included. The minerals, feed and supplements with smaller intakes generally have more salt than the ones with greater intakes. Mixed for smaller intakes is because they will consume less with more salt. After all, they get their salt “fix” with less intake. I go over the importance of this in more detail in a previous post, “Purpose of salt for cattle” found here www.westtexaslivestockgrowers.com/purpose-of-salt-for-cattle
If you are mixing salt into the mix at home, then leave it out of your calculation of reaching the target intake. The goal here is to ensure your cows get the target intake of the actual mineral. Let’s say that if the target is four oz per head per day for a mineral mix, then for 100 cows, you want them to consume 25 lbs of the mixture daily. However, if you add 10 lbs of salt to the bag, you want them to consume 30 lbs daily.
Some people think that if they have the salt and mineral separate, then it will reduce intake of the mineral, but that is not the case. All that will happen is that you will have more variability in the intake among your herd. Some of your cows may eat the minerals, but others
will only consume the salt.
Lick mineral tubs or Loose minerals
Regarding minerals, there are two choices: tubs or loose. There are differences in how they deliver the minerals. Which one will best provide for your needs will depend on your situation, The wind can cause the loss of minerals in the loose form, but that is not the case with the tubs. Most lick tubs are made up of 200 to 250 lbs, so it is difficult for the wind to knock it over. Even if it was managed to get laid over, all you must do is stand it right back up. Depending on the size, the loose mineral is more likely to be blown away. I suppose you can call them kernels.
Another weather event that can create waste is rain. A tub may get some water on the top, but you will unlikely lose any of the product. The loose mineral will seep right into the ground if it gets wet. If it is in a bunk of some kind, the top layer will likely become crusty, making it unpalatable.
Labor is another issue you should consider when selecting which delivery method to choose. The labor cost of the tub can vary on some things, but one tub should last 50 head for about a month. You only have to change it about once a month or so. The weight of trying to haul it and placing the tub must also be factored into your figures. With loose minerals, you will likely be feeding multiple times a week, if not every day. Needing to feed numerous times a week can mean an increase in the amount of fuel that you will need, so plan accordingly. ▫
FDA Sets Uniform Compliance Date for New Food Labeling Rules
BY FOOD AND DRUG LAW AT KELLER AND HECKMAN OF KELLER AND HECKMAN LLPTHE DAILY INTAKE
FDA has set a uniform compliance date of January 1, 2028, for new food labeling rules issued between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2026. This does not change existing compliance dates for regulations published before January 1, 2025.
FDA periodically issues uniform compliance dates to lessen the economic impact on the food industry of responding separately to each new food labeling rule. The uniform compliance date allows for an adjustment period, providing the food industry sufficient lead time to use existing labels and create new labels.
FDA will set separate compliance dates for certain new labeling regulations when necessary. Regardless of compliance date, the Agency generally encourages the food industry to comply with new regulations as quickly as is feasible.
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THE SAND CAMP RANCH
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P.O. Box 428, Roswell, NM 88202 • Office: 575-622-5867 Cell: 575-420-1237 Website: www.ranchesnm.com
