LMD June 2016

Riding Herd

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

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

The Hypocrats June 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 58 • No. 6

What Have They Got To Hide?

BY LEE PITTS

Education is what you get when you read fine print.

Experience is what you get when you don’t.

I

was so naive. I was raised to believe that in all the history of the world my country was unique. That because of our Constitution and Bill of Rights ours was a country where justice prevailed, where our leaders were supposed to be honorable people in service to their country based on a patriotic calling. I thought the innocent would be protected and the guilty punished. Like I said, I was s-o-o-o naive.

Watch the evening news and you realize that we can match Venezuela crook for crook. Corruption starts at the top and has pervaded every segment of our society. Even the cow business, for gosh sakes. Nothing has done more to sour me on the state of my country than to watch what has, and is, happening with the beef checkoff and the actions of the NCBA.

John’s Story

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

There are times when I feel like I’m not doing my job. I read something somewhere and say to myself, “I should have written that. What was I doing, did I have my head in the sand?” This is one of those times. I admit it, I’m envious of John O’Connell of the Capital Press, an outstanding newspaper that serves the ag interests of the Pacific Northwest. In the April 28, 2016 issue of the Capital Press John authored an article called, “Commodity groups seek freedom of information exemption

for checkoff boards.”

Since it was John’s story I’ll let him tell it in his own words: “Several agricultural organizations have gotten language included in the pending fiscal year 2017 House Agricultural Appropriations Bill asking USDA to exempt research and promotion boards funded by grower checkoff fees from federal public records law.”

The impact to writers like myself is huge. In the past there were only two ways to find out if your checkoff dollars were being misspent. One was by

buddying up to a “deep throat” willing to spill the beans. The other was through Freedom of Information requests. Believe me, finding insiders willing to tell the truth is getting harder to do as the NCBA screens its leaders and employees very carefully. That only leaves FOI requests that force government entities to come clean when a request for information is made. Or should I say, “was made?” If 14 checkoff organizations get there way it will be written into law that checkoffs be exempt from having to pro-

vide information due to Freedom of Information requests.

According to John’s article, the 14 groups included the National Milk Producers Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council. In a letter to a letter to a Appropriations subcommittee they attempted to justify their exemption by writing, “The funding used to operate and carry out the activities of the various research and promotion programs is provided by producers and industry stakeholders, and employees on the boards are not federal employees. Therefore, the committee urges USDA to recognize that such boards are not subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. Section 552 (the Freedom of Information Act).”

In John’s article Bill Bullard, the CEO of R CALF was quoted as saying, “I guess they want it both ways. They defend the programs on the basis that it continued on page two

EPA’s Astounding Take-Over of State Water Law Comment Period Ends June 17, 2016

BY KAREN BUDD-FALEN, CHEYENNE, WYOMING

I

n a stunning display of federal over-reach, on March 1, 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Service (collectively “EPA”) issued a “Scientific Investigations Report” arguing that the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) can also be used to regulate the quantity (amount) of water in the Nation’s rivers and streams. According to the federal government’s logic, because stream flows can potentially effect aquatic life and because the Clean Water Act requires the protection of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of our Nation’s waters, “National Pollution Discharge Elimination System” (“NPDES”) permits or CWA Section 401 certifications should be required when an individual, community or municipality alters the quantity or amount of water available in rivers and streams. In an area that has ALWAYS been left to the purview of the individual states based upon state Constitutional mandates and since a water right is a private property right, I believe that this amounts to an outright attack on state sovereignty and private property rights.

The comment period on the Draft EPA-

USGS Technical Report: Protecting Aquatic Life From Effects of Hydrologic Alteration, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0335 ends June 17, 2016.

I.

EPA’s Draft Report Arguments

According to the EPA, more needs to be done to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” Human alteration of the natural flow regime can change a stream’s physical and chemical properties, “leading to a loss of aquatic life and reduced biodiversity.” The EPA goes on to state that the human activities that can alter a stream’s characteristics include impoundments, channelization, diversions, agricultural practices, groundwater pumping, urban development, thermoelectric power generation and others. Climate change, the agency claims, exacerbates these harms.

Because the CWA requires the EPA to protect the “nation’s waters,” the Report urges: First, states (or the federal government) should do more to quantify water quality standards for water flow to “protect aquatic life designated uses.” “Doing more” should include using numeric standards to quantify continued on page four

T

he political asylum that passes for our democracy these days consists of two parties, left wing Democrats and right wing Republicans, and the schism between the two is wider than the gap between Michael Strahan’s front teeth. In actuality there is a third, stealth party, I call the Hypocrats, who, more and more, seem to swing every election in this country.

The Hypocrats, (or Hypocrits) include old and burnt out hippies of the 60’s, flat broke, jobless and in-debt millenials, greenies, the gay, lesbian, and transvestite community, African Americans, Latino Americans, liberal conservatives and conservative liberals.

Like the Democrats and Republicans, the Hypocrats should have their own mascot: the Hippo, one of nature’s most unpredictable and aggressive creatures.

The Hippo is a perfect fit because it’s a thin skinned mammal that never works and can barely keep its head above water. It mostly lays around all day in the swamp.

Once the male of the species fathers a child it’s byebye baby. It communicates through its huge mouth with loud grunts.

Hippos can cause extensive environmental damage and marks its territory in an amusing way. When it defecates it rapidly spins its tail in order to spread its manure over a wide area, reminiscent of a manure spreader. This is accompanied by an extended loud release of greenhouse gases that produces a sound similar to a chainsaw. Once you see this on YouTube you’ll agree that no party has a more representative mascot.

Here’s the Hypocratic platform: “We, the Hypocratic Party, believe that soccer moms have the right to burn gas and oil in their large SUV’s and to wear bumper stickers calling for the shutdown of all frackers and crackers (refineries). Hypocrats want to tear down dams and nukes and then sue utility companies for blackouts. We want to wear jewelry but put miners out of work. We don’t want continued on page four

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Page 2

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

HIDE is government speech overseen by the Secretary of Agriculture, but now are claiming it is private and these are producer dollars, and the government isn’t overseeing or managing the program.”

You may recall that when the Charter family in Montana took the beef checkoff to court over its theft by the NCBA, the only way the Beef Board and the NCBA saved the checkoff was to claim it was not a producer controlled organization at all but was actually a government program supported by your beef tax dollars that’s run by the USDA. This, after telling beef producers from the get-go that it was your program, not the government’s.

Leaving You In The Dark

Doug & Dustin Handley

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In my opinion, Alan Guebert is the best ag columnist writing today. He took John’s story in the Capital Press and ran with it in his May 8th, Farm and Food column titled, ‘Checkoffs Go Dark’. He wrote in his syndicated column, “In short, the USDA funding bill, approved by a voice vote, will prevent any farmer, rancher, or taxpayer from filing a Freedom of Information request on any aspect of how the 22 federally-mandated checkoffs collect and spend more than $500 million a year.”

As usual Alan used few words to get to the heart of the matter: “Not surprising, several of the groups that signed the letter have been reprimanded by USDA for illegal use of checkoff money.”

Alan explained why this is such an important issue. “For example, a May 1993 column explained how a USDA audit of the relatively new, non-refundable soybean checkoff uncovered “$405,219 of ‘questioned costs’” by the checkoff’s key contractor, the American Soybean Association. How did a freelance journalist like me working alone in the middle of an Illinois cornfield get the audit results? I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the overlord of all federal checkoffs.”

Alan also points out why the checkoff boards and NCBA hate the FOI requests so much.

He says it’s because, “Nearly every time anyone looks, “mistakes”—often whoppers—are found.”

Alan also quoted R CALF’s Bullard: “We believe those commodity boards should welcome transparency, and the only way they can be subject to accountability is if producers who are required to pay these mandatory fees can ensure those fees are spent properly. We think this is an underhanded attempt to hide the activities of these boards and remove them from public scrutiny.”

Alan calls Big Ag’s attempt to hide checkoff information, “hypocritical, anti-democratic, and shameful. But we already know that, don’t we? After all, with more than 20 years

continued from page one

of checkoff violations to their credit, most commodity groups that serve as checkoff contractors have little credibility left,” summed up Alan.

Both John O’Connell and Alan Guebert deserve a pat on the back and thank-yous for bringing this issue to the attention of farmers and ranchers.

Without their journalistic endeavors I doubt this underhanded move would have ever been exposed.

Stop The Deception Not only am I sick of the checkoff corruption, I am also frustrated that more ranchers don’t appreciate what R CALF has done for them. As I’ve mentioned previously, the two highest priced cattle markets ranchers have enjoyed were directly due to R CALF’s actions: stopping Canadian imports due to mad cow and helping to get country of origin labeling. Now, it’s R CALF coming to the rescue once again.

R CALF has sued the USDA over the checkoff’s improper use of tax dollars to undermine American beef while promoting foreign beef. In bringing the suit against the USDA, R CALF alleges that “the agency’s Beef Checkoff tax, which collected more than $80 million in FY 2015, is being unconstitutionally used to promote international beef, to the detriment of U.S. beef products and producers.

“The Checkoff’s implied message that all beef is equal, regardless of where the cattle are born or how they are raised, harms U.S. farmers and ranchers and deceives U.S. citizens,” said Bullard. “Despite what we know to be clear evidence about the high quality of beef raised by independent U.S. cattlemen, we are being taxed to promote a message that beef raised without the strict standards used by our members is the same as all other beef, a message we do not support and do not agree with.”

In the suit against the USDA, R CALF specifically gives the example of one promotion paid for by the Council, tax money was used to fund an advertising campaign for fast food chain Wendy’s, in order to promote a product which could contain beef from 41 different countries.”

And here’s the real zinger: “In addition, Checkoff funds have been used to advance the agenda of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association which promotes the idea that “beef is beef, whether the cattle were born in Montana, Manitoba, or Mazatlán.”

Mind you, that’s the NCBA’s published and recorded stance regarding beef.

“This is not only a battle to protect constitutional rights,” said Co-counsel for R-CALF, Dudley Butler, “but a battle to ensure that our food supply is not corralled and constrained by multi-national corporations leaving independent farmers and ranchers as mere serfs on continued on page three

June 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

HIDE

Page 3

continued from page two

Loud and Clear We are constantly being told that studies show that over 70% of ranchers support the beef checkoff. Never mind that those studies were bought and paid for with checkoff dollars.

We can’t really know for sure the level of acceptance because the USDA has never allowed a referendum, or even a complete audit of the beef checkoff since its inception. If they were that confident they would have allowed a referendum after the LMA gathered what we thought were the required number of signatures to force one.

There are other ways to tell if folks are happy with the self-imposed checkoff tax. Many states have attempted to double the checkoff to two dollars per head and in some states, like Texas, the measure passed when it was voted on at the historic height

of cattle prices. In other states, like California, it failed.

The latest attempt at doubling the checkoff was in Missouri, one of the biggest cow calf states in the country. Why this was an important state to monitor is because Missouri is probably home to more small independent cattleman than anywhere else. So listen to this: “On April 25, the Missouri Department of Agriculture released the following final results; With 8,480 Missouri cattlemen receiving ballots and 6,568 voting, a total of 4,903 cattle raisers (74.67%) voted AGAINST the checkoff, while 1,663 producers (25.33%) voted in favor.”

If 70% of cattle producers support the current dollar per head checkoff why did 75% of them, in one of our largest cow/ calf states, vote against doubling the checkoff? If one dollar was so good wouldn’t two dollars be twice as good?

The Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Dairy Association, and the Missouri Dairy Industry Alliance all supported the increase while the Rural Crises Center in Missouri was urging a “No” vote. You’d think they would have been outgunned by the big boys but the Center’s Tim Gibbons had this to say after the vote tally: “National beef consumption has fallen 32% and Missouri has lost 40% of its cattle producers and 90% of its hog producers since federal checkoff fees for cattle and pork were approved in 1985. These checkoff programs are not good for independent producers in our country, but instead have promoted the interests of multi-national meat packers and more and more are used for promoting foreign beef at the expense of U.S. producers.”

Evidently, Missouri’s ranchers got that message loud and

ELM

clear.

Where The Skeletons Are Buried In other checkoff news it was announced that the NCBA named it’s latest CEO after an extensive search. Or at least an extensive search of the NCBA’s offices.

Since June of last year Kendall Frazier has been acting as NCBA’s CEO after the last guy left who was making over half a million bucks a year. Now the NCBA has officially removed the interim title.

Frazier joined the staff of the old National Cattlemen’s Association in 1985, the same year that the national beef checkoff began, and he became one of the power brokers within the NCBA when it was formed. Before working for the NCA Frazier was part of what has been called the “Kansas Mafia” because they danced to the tune of the cattle feeders in that state and because of questionable spending by the state checkoff in Kansas. I’ll say this about Frazier, he certainly knows where all the skeletons are buried.

In making the announcement that Frazier was the new CEO, NCBA president Tracy Brunner said he is confident that the nation’s oldest and largest cattle industry association is in good hands.

There they go again. The NCBA has only been around since 1985 so how can it be the oldest? As for being in good hands? Well now, we’ll never know will we because without the ability to file Freedom of Information Requests your checkoff will officially be just one more highly secretive and corrupt government operation that is funding an already corrupt organization, the NCBA. And you wonder why my faith in this country grows weaker by the day.

FARMINGTON

their own land.”

R CALF’s suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Montana, alleges “Tax money being raised here in the U.S. is being used to advertise beef being raised under conditions that are not transparent and that our members have no control over.

Our ranchers shouldn’t have to pay for advertising blitzes benefitting multinational operators that seek to turn our food supply over to huge corporations.”

Especially when you consider that the packers aren’t required to pay into the checkoff!

Public Justice spokesman, David Muraskin, added, “The Beef Checkoff program is using federal tax dollars to convince consumers that it does not matter where their dinner came from, or how it was raised. At a time of alarming food recalls and concerns about the health and safety of the food we eat, that’s both irresponsible and troubling. This suit demands an end to that deception.”

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Colorado Independent CattleGrowers Association Announces New Intern

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he Colorado Independent CattleGrowers Association (CICA) is pleased to announce Morgan Young, Loma, Colorado as the 2016 recipient of the the Joel Franz Memorial Internship. Ms. Young will receive $1,000 for her internship and invaluable experience and insight into the cattle industry.

Young’s Colorado ranching roots run deep in Paradox Valley where her family’s cow calf operation was started in the late 1800’s and continues today. She purchased her own cow calf pair when when she turned 12 years old and has maintained a small herd since.

At the age of 10, she began raising and selling market steers from her family’s herd, winning many Grand and Reserve Championships at the Mesa County Fair. Her passion for market steers led her to participate in the National Western Stock Show Catch-A-Calf. It was there in 2011 that she won the Reserve Grand Champion Catch-A-Calf. A request for her to volunteer the following year at the National Western, inspired her to become a 4-H leader for the Loma County 4-H Club.

She continues to help others pursue their dreams and goals by offering free beef clinics for all Mesa County kids each summer.

As a Fruita Monument High School student, Morgan was active in FFA and played varsity softball. Fol-

lowing graduation, she attended Lamar Community College, studying General Agriculture while playing on the college’s softball team.

There she received the honor of Outstanding Freshman Student of the year in 2014, becoming a Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society member the same year. Currently an Animal Science major at West Texas A&M University, Young plans to enter the Animal Science Master’s program in the fall of 2017 with an emphasis in Feeder Cattle Nutrition or Cattle Immunology. She will be inducted to the West Texas A&M University Honors Society (the National Society for Leadership and Success) and is involved in the university’s Block and Bridle and Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow clubs.

Her career plans are undecided at the moment, but she is leaning towards becoming a nutritionist or sale representative for a feed company or a nutritionist for a Colorado feedlot. Ultimately, she would like to own a feed store in Fruita, Colorado and continue her family’s cattle operation.

A brilliant student, leader and advocate for the beef industry, the CICA is excited to welcome Morgan as the 2016 Joel Franz Memorial intern. Her enthusiasm and work ethic will well serve and represent Colorado producers who proudly raise American beef and feed our nation.

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Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

North Dakota’s First Wolverine In 150 Years Is Immediately Shot & Killed By Rancher It was reportedly shot for threatening livestock.

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

T

he first verified wolverine spotted in North Dakota in nearly 150 years was shot and killed by a rancher in April.

The rancher said the animal had been harassing livestock when he shot it, which would make it a legal kill, according to the Helena Independent Record.

The rancher “came out to a calving pasture and the cows had surrounded the wolverine and he felt it was a threat,” state furbearer biologist Stephanie Tucker told the newspaper.

The wolverine, known to wildlife officials as M56, had made headlines in 2009 for traveling some 500 miles

from Wyoming into Colorado.

While his collar stopped transmitting in 2012, he continued to wander: he was shot about 700 miles from where he was last seen, according to the Billings Gazette.

“In some ways it’s a little mind-blowing that they can travel that far,” Bob Inman, a wolverine biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, told the newspaper. “But that’s what we’re learning is possible.”

Wolverines look a little like small bears, but are actually related to the weasel, according to National Geographic.

They will eat nearly anything, dead or alive, and are known for their aggression. NatGeo calls them “tenacious predators“ and says they can take down much larger prey when needed, including caribou.

A necropsy found M56 was between 8 and 9 years old, at the far end of the 6-10 year life expectancy of the

animals.

“It had a good run,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Matt Robbins told the Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, Colorado.

“It could have just naturally expired and we would have never known its fate, but now we know that much more about the animal and how far it eventually did travel,” he was quoted as saying. “I think that seeing that this animal lived as long as it did and traveled as far as it did, that does help validate the reports of what these animals are capable of.”

Rebecca Watters of the Wolverine Blog posted a memorial to M56 earlier this week, saying she received emails regularly from people looking for more information about this particular animal.

She wrote: “I answered such an email this morning, to a third grade class in Ohio, sending along cheerful speculations

about how he was probably still alive and wandering around the Rockies.

He was a genuinely famous wolverine, people were inspired by his story, and I’m caught between astonishment that he had gone all the way to North Dakota – North Dakota! – and sadness at his end.

“Unknown animals die unmourned all the time, so it shouldn’t matter.

But storied wolverines… they are rare, and they hint to us of all the wild and unseen and amazing lives that go on beyond our awareness,” she wrote.

“That’s something worth thinking about.”

The status of the wolverine has been under debate for a number of years. In 2014, federal officials declined to add the wolverine to the list of endangered and threatened species.

However, a federal judge last month ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reevaluate that decision after a lawsuit from environmental groups.

EPA stream flow impacts on aquatic life.

Second, once states adopt such water quantity standards, water quantity monitoring programs should be developed to determine if flow is contributing to water quality impairments such as altering the channel geomorphology, reducing riparian and flood-plain connectivity, causing salinity, sedimentation, erosion and temperature increases, and encouraging the invasion of non-native aquatic species.

Because there are now numeric standards, the third step is to alter NPDES permitting programs to incorporate the new water quantity (amount) standards. Currently, the only time the EPA has included numeric standards for water

continued from page one

quantity (or water flow) is for post-construction municipal storm water systems that can require the treatment of storm water run-off or require retention of a specified volume of water runoff. The EPA Draft Report would argue that this type of numeric standard setting and management should apply to all permitted activities impacting water quantity.

In the alternative, even if a state does not have any type of numeric water quantity standards in place, the EPA argues that the state can still require a CWA Section 401 certification related to water quantity. Under the CWA, an applicant for a federal license or permit to conduct any activity that may result in a discharge to “waters of the United States” must

HERD cattle pooping on public lands but it’s okay for wild horses and purse dogs to do so. We believe in picking up after your pet and thereby filling our landfills with mostly small plastic goodie bags.

Hypocrats believe that pot should be legalized but we don’t want any GMO’s in our food.

We believe that farmers waste too much water keeping us fed but don’t see anything hypocritical about watering our lawns, playing golf on green grass or swimming in the pool at the gym.

We live in houses made of lumber but don’t want any trees cut down.

As Hypocrats we believe any person who starts a backfire on his ranch that accidentally burns 100 acres of public juniper, thereby doing the land some good, should be thrown in jail for five years, but it’s all right for the Interior Department to so mismanage our public lands so that millions of acres, both public and private, are incinerated on a yearly basis.

If a few endangered animals get barbecued in the process that’s the price we’ll have to pay.

But don’t you dare shoot a wolf munching on a calf, lamb or the public’s elk.

Hypocrats believe that every drop of water

provide the federal permitting agency with a CWA Section 401 certification. The certification declares that the discharge will not exceed water quality standards. Since the EPA Report argues that water quantity (amount) standards should be included in a state’s water quality standards, the CWA Section 401 certification would be required for diversions or uses that may require a federal permit since the diversion or use would impact the quantity of water in a stream.

To bring this home, consider these examples: If an irrigator wants to divert water on his private land, but is applying for federal funding through EQIP or any of the other numerous Farm Bill programs, he would be required continued from page one

belongs to the feds and that a private citizen may not wash their contaminated hands in a river, but it’s okay for the EPA to discharge millions of gallons of contaminated water into the Animas and San Juan Rivers.

We believe all coal mines should be shut and that wind farms the size of Rhode Island should be subsidized with tax dollars. If those big fan blades slice and dice a few bald eagles that’s just a price we’ll have to pay for “going green”. But if you shoot an endangered or threatened species you’ll go to jail for longer than most murderers do; but not until after you’ve gone broke paying lawyer fees and fines.

Hypocrats want to bring back the grizzlies in your backyard, not ours.

The Hypocratic Party believes that guns should be banned so that teenage boys won’t kill their classmates. While at the same time liberal Hollywood producers have the right to make violent shoot-em-up movies and video games in which impressionable teenage boys shoot and blow people up. As Hypocrats we see no connection between the two.”

The motto of the Hypocrats is, “Do as we say, not as we do.”

to get a CWA Section 401 certification because he may impact the quantity of water in a stream.

If a municipality wants to drill wells for drinking water and is using federal funds to supply clean, safe drinking water to their citizens, it would be required to get a CWA Section 401 certification because the EPA believes that groundwater pumping can impact stream characteristics.

If a rancher is working to develop additional water sources on his Forest Service or BLM grazing allotment, he would also be required to get a CWA Section 401 certification, separately from the BLM or Forest Service National Environmental Policy Act or other permitting requirements.

II. Reasons to Be Very Concerned With this Report The EPA’s draft report is disheartening on so many levels.

First, the EPA’s Draft Report is the first step in significantly expanding federal power over the individual states. The management of water quality, water rights and water use has always remained completely within the purview of the state, without any interference from the federal government. Wyoming’s Constitution, like the constitutions in most western states, provides that the water of all natural streams, springs, lakes or other collections are the property of the state. Even in eastern states, where water rights are based upon riparian uses, water rights and uses are governed by state law. The EPA’s Draft Report is the first step in advocating federal oversight of an individual state’s ownership of water quantity.

Second, the courts have time and again recognized that a water right, properly granted by the state, is a private property right. Even the right to use water in a riparian system is a private property right. And while the EPA will argue that these new requirements are not prohibiting the use of water, giving the state or federal government the ability to grant a permit under the Clean Water Act is giving them the ability to condition the permit to meet some state or federal numeric standards simply based on water quantity.

Additionally giving the state or federal agency the ability to require a permit is giving them the chance to deny a permit.

Third, although the EPA’s Draft Report claims that it is merely providing a “flexible, nonprescriptive framework” and it is not impinging on state management of water rights, there is an entire appendix called “Legal Background and Relevant Case Law” arguing that the Clean Water Act applies to water quantity, not just water quality. I believe that this section is solely meant to counter any argument from water right property owners that the CWA cannot be used to regulate water rights.

Finally, although the CWA has been applied to “pollutants” being added to water whether from a point source or a nonpoint source, the Draft Report advocates CWA control over the use of the water itself. Under this theory, a state of federal permit would be required even if a water right is simply exercised.

Again, the comment period on the Draft EPA-USGS Technical Report: Protecting Aquatic Life From Effects of Hydrologic Alteration, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0335 ends June 17, 2016.

June 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

New Blood Test for the Detection of Bovine TB

A

new blood test to detect Mycobacteria in blood has been developed by a team at The University of Nottingham led by Dr Cath Rees, an expert in microbiology in the School of Biosciences and Dr Ben Swift from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.

The researchers have used this new method to show that cattle diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) have detectable levels of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) in their blood which causes this disease.

‘Evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteraemia in intradermal skin test positive cattle detected using phage-RPA’ has been published online in the peer reviewed medical journal Virulence.

Dr Rees said: “This test delivers results within 48 hours and the frequency in which viable mycobacteria were detected in the blood of skin test positive animals changes the paradigm of this disease.”

This new, simple and inexpensive blood test detects very low levels of mycobacteria in blood using a bacteriophage-based technique developed by The University of Nottingham. The group has patented an improved version of the method that delivers results in just six hours. More recently ‘proof of principal’ experiments have shown that this is even more sensitive.

This is currently licenced to a spin out company, PBD Biotech Ltd. Bovine TB is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by M. bovis.

The UK has struggled to eradicate

bTB and control measures continue to be a significant economic burden on the agricultural industry.

Routine testing for Bovine TB uses the Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin (SICCT) skin test for M. bovis infection and all healthy cattle are regularly tested this way. However, it is known that this test is only 90 percent sensitive at best and misses many infected animals.

Dr Cath Rees said: “The data we are getting has taken the scientific community by surprise. In our paper we show that when blood samples from skin test negative cattle were tested for M. bovis cells, all the samples proved negative. However using just a 2ml blood sample, viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteria (MTC) were detected in 66 per cent of samples from skin test positive animals.

When the carcasses were inspected, it was found that the highest number of bacteria were detected in the animals with visible TB lesions (VL) and 85 per cent of these VL animals were M. bovis positive.

“More excitingly, using our new more sensitive six-hour method, this figure is even higher - all animals with visible lesions were MTC positive, and even 26 out of 28 animals where the lesions were not yet visible also were positive suggesting that M. bovis is commonly found in the circulating blood of infected animals.”

Difficulties in detecting, growing cultures and achieving sensitive detection using the current skin test, which looks for the animal’s

an immune response, are a major barrier to understanding and diagnosing bTB infection. Early results indicate that M. bovis can be detected before the animal becomes SCCIT-positive.

Dr Rees said: “Using our bacteriophage-based test the hope is that we can help improve herd control by finding animals at the early stages of infection and helping farmers control outbreaks of bTB more rapidly.”

Working with the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Animal Disease Center, the Nottingham group has set up the first animal trial using the blood test to detect M. bovis in the blood of experimentally infected animals to determine exactly how soon this test can detect infection.

Dr Rees said: “The test also offers the potential for new, better tests for other farm animals. We are directly detecting the bacteria and so the method will work using blood samples from any animal species – so far we have detected mycobacteria in the blood of cattle, sheep and horses, but it could also be used for deer, goats or llamas.

“Not only that, we can detect any type of mycobacteria, we have use the same method to detect other diseases, such as Johne’s disease, not just bTB.” The paper is available via http:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.

1080/21505594.2016.1191729#.

V0224jUrK70 alternatively it can be supplied on request.

Page 5

IRS took $43M from Americans Under ‘Structuring’ Law Without Evidence

BY ALI MEYER / WASHINGTON FREE BEACON / FOX NEWS

T

he IRS has seized $43 million from more than 600 individuals by accusing them of violating “structuring” laws even when there has been no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, according to testimony heard at the House Ways and Means Committee in late May. In 2012, two armed IRS agents went to the farm of Randy Sowers, a dairy farmer for over three decades, to notify him that the IRS had seized the business’ bank account, which held more than $60,000. The agents told Sowers the IRS had done so because of structuring laws.

When an individual conducts a cash transaction in excess of $10,000, according to federal law, the bank must file a currency transaction report with the Treasury Department. It is unlawful for an individual to break up or “structure” cash deposits into amounts below $10,000 to avoid federal currency reporting.

“At that point, I had never before heard the term ‘structuring,’ and I had no idea that depositing cash in the bank could even potentially be a federal crime,” Sowers said. “Nobody from the bank or the government warned me that under-$10,000 bank deposits could lead to the seizure of our bank account. Indeed, nobody from the government contacted me about our bank deposits until after they seized our bank account.”

“I was shocked that the government would even consider bringing criminal charges when I had done nothing wrong,” Sowers said. “The IRS agents who came to the farm told me that the judge who approved the seizure had given them the authority to take anything up to $243,455—the amount of cash deposited in the account over a period of eight months.”

Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

Late-Season Grazing Can Reduce Cheat Grass

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

S

everal projects the past few years have demonstrated the value of late-season grazing to remove fuel loads on cheat grass dominated rangelands. Robert (Bob) Alverts, Science and Management Consulting and part-time faculty (University of Nevada, Reno, College of Agriculture) was involved with a cooperative project between the University of Nevada, the Burns District BLM, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Beef Council, Harney County Court and Bill and Pat Wilber’s Drewsey Valley Ranch in southeast Oregon to remove cheat grass with grazing.

In the past several decades, fire has become the biggest threat to natural resources in the western states, destroying wildlife habitat, timber resources, and livestock forage. “A map showing the location of large fires since 1970 was recently prepared by the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. There is a huge area in the northern Great Basin, where most of the serious fires

have been concentrated, and it correlates with range adjudication. That’s when the BLM started reducing cattle grazing on public land, under the notion that this would improve rangeland health,” says Alverts.

“What was forgotten was the fact that ungrazed forage becomes fuel. When fuel loads build up, unless animals remove it, nature takes it out with disturbance events like lightning-caused fires. With excess fuel loads the fire is severe enough (burning hot enough to destroy both the annual and perennial plants) that the former grass/shrub plant community is replaced by invasive annual grasses like cheat grass. Fire return intervals are shortened, fire burns more readily the next time, and the range condition and fire danger just keeps getting worse and worse, spiraling negatively,” he says.

A small fire going through a grass/shrub landscape that doesn’t have excessive fine fuels doesn’t burn as hot or spread as far, and generally doesn’t damage the plants and soil as much, or burn up all the seeds in the soil. These small, quick fires

are renewal events that remove some of the old dead grass, in contrast to the catastrophic, devastating fires we’ve been having today that leave the ecosystem in worse shape.

“Fire in nature is meant to be a renewal event when fuel loads are not at extremely high levels. Given the appropriate plant community and plant density, fire goes through quickly and lightly and takes out some of the plants competing for space and provides nutrients so the remaining plant community can thrive better,” explains Alverts.

Managing vegetation by grazing keeps fuel levels down to where fire return intervals are extended and a fire now and then is not very damaging.

“Using animals to manage vegetation works, and we know it works. We don’t see as much fire damage on properly grazed range or well-managed forest lands. It’s all about plant density and fuel loads,” he says. It seems senseless to let the trees and grass all burn up in catastrophic fires when we could prevent them fire proper grazing and forest management practices, harvesting the grass and trees for beneficial use.

“For more than 2 decades, between 5 and 10 million acres of forests and rangelands have burned each year, most of which are in federal ownership. These federal land areas, primarily in western states, are plagued with excessive fuel loads of beetle-killed timber, or non-native annual grasses, leading to extreme fires that cost taxpayers millions of dollars in suppression costs alone, without counting post-burn rehabilitation and restoration costs,” says Alverts.

“Federal agency suppression costs are more than double the budgets for fuel reduction treatments. Reducing fire risk

through active management practices such as late-season grazing, timber harvest and other prevention tools is much less costly and can generate revenue important to rural communities, providing economic livelihoods to ranchers, improved environmental conditions and essential food and fiber for Americans.”

Grass (livestock forage) and timber are renewable resources that should be actively managed, but instead of benefiting from them we’re just burning them up.

Cheat Grass Projects Results from late-season grazing demonstration (in 2012 and 2013) on the Wilber Drewsey Valley Ranch in southeast Oregon were summarized in a report published in 2014.

“I prepared another report from the 2014 grazing. We do this periodically, after monitoring condition and growth through the year, so we can see the change over time,” says Alverts.

“This allotment is typical of what many ranchers operate on, with public land. It’s a 14,000acre allotment and Wilber has a permit for 330 to 400 cows. Given the large area being grazed, and limited grazing period and number of cows, it will take several years to fully change the plant community and effectively reduce cheat grass dominance.

But each year, we are making progress and improving the land area with this tool,” he says.

“The good news is that BLM authorizes late season grazing on this allotment. This really helps, because most BLM allotments don’t have provisions for fall grazing in their AMP (Allotment Management Plan).” Without those provisions, ranchers are not allowed to graze their allotments in the fall, and millions of acres that could be treated for cheat grass reduction in this manner are not being helped.

“One of the nice thing about late-season grazing is that it doesn’t hurt the land or the grass. All the forage is dormant at that period. This allows us to really hammer those annual plants like cheat grass. At that time of year the cows actually prefer the annuals over rank, mature bunch grasses.” The mature annuals like cheat grass are softer and not as stiff, so they are actually more palatable.

By that time of year the sharp seeds have dropped off, and after a fall rain the cheat grass softens up, and cattle prefer it. “When we distribute protein supplement around the pasture to attract cattle to various areas across the pasture, it works very well. They crave the supplement and it enables them to digest the fiber (and they can eat a lot more of it) and makes them also crave the fiber. We keep moving the supplement around the pasture, and between the supplement and the water sources we can influence how those cows graze the cheat

grass,” says Alverts.

“It takes active management.

You can’t just turn the cows out and forget about them. But it’s a win-win outcome if we keep doing it over the years,” he says. Over time the reduction in cheat grass enables perennial grasses to come back into and dominate the plant communities in those areas.

“I have another project on the Roaring Springs Ranch, with Stacy Davies. It’s only a 1400 acre pasture, but it’s on private land (so they can manage it the way they choose), and they put 1500 cows in there the first year to eat all the cheat grass. This was 2012, after a really wet year in 2011. There was 2000 pounds of cheat grass per acre in that pasture. Those cows were in that pasture for 60 days and we grazed it off to less than 100 pounds per acre,” he says.

“When we get below 200 pounds per acre, fire risk is significantly reduced, and the likelihood of catastrophic fire is largely gone when fuel loads are under 100 pounds per acre,” he explains “Now, with all that competition gone, we are starting to see shrubs come back, and re-sprouting perennials—plant communities that are not as prone to catastrophic fire. We have changed the plant community in a positive way,” Alverts says.

“The focus varies by pasture, plant community, season, precipitation patterns and temperature, and every year is different.

We are also trying to take advantage of local knowledge. The ranchers have been on the land for many years and they know the land, and know what works.

They don’t want to destroy perennial grass communities because if they do, they are out of business.” Most ranchers want to leave the range better than they found it, because they have children and grandchildren that they hope will be able to use it; they are the true land stewards.

“By using late-season grazing as a tool in the fall, ranchers are able to save about $50 per head per month because they don’t have to feed high-priced hay, and they don’t have to be out there every day feeding cows.

The cows are out there working, grazing their own feed,” he says.

The rancher has to provide and move the supplement tubs, move the cows around, but it’s not as intensive or expensive as daily hay feeding.

The cows are out there from 90 to 100 days on the Wilber allotment, and this is working. In October 2012, the Wilber Ranch put 333 head into the 14,000 acre pasture and took them out on January 4, 2013 after more than 90 days of grazing. The cost of the protein was about $10.50 per head per month, whereas the monthly hay cost would have been roughly $66 per head. continued on page seven

June 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

GRAZING

A growing number of people are now aware of the validity of this research effort, and are embracing the idea of using targeted late-season grazing as a tool to help prevent catastrophic fires. “It is still hard to get change, however, or to get the funding we need—to do the right thing on the land.

Within BLM and Interior we see inconsistency between units.” Some districts are still focused on removing more cattle, rather than more grazing.

Others provide opportunity for ranchers to modify Allotment Management Plans to allow late-season grazing.

“This tool, like others, does not mean we will always have success and eliminate wildfire and resource damage. If we don’t take enough grass off, it will still be a fuel load problem and it is still going to burn,” says Alverts.

“There’s also a lot of controversy about native plants.

They are great, but so are a number of non-native species,

including crested wheatgrass, that are well suited for western rangelands. A number of folks hate it, but I love it. In the under 10 inch (annual rainfall) zone, which includes most of the Great Basin, crested wheatgrass and forage kochia are about the only two positive species that can be established after a disturbance like fire, to set the plant community on the right trajectory path for recovery. If we can get crested wheat or kochia established, we don’t get the nasty weeds that tend to move in after a fire. Then over time, we get some desired perennials (either native or non-native) and shrubs back again in the plant community,” says Alverts.

“The popular notion of planting young sagebrush plants or native seed on these burned areas in the under 10 inch zone is unrealistic; you might as well throw the money in the fire, because it just won’t work. You have to start with what works, which is forage kochia and crested wheatgrass in the drier areas, but it is hard for some people to accept because they have a mindset that we should have only native plants—and then protect them from grazing. After a fire, they think we have to keep cows off the burned area for at least 2 or 3 years. We should never let the clock tell us what to do.

We need to let the land and the plant response tell us what to do.” Going by a set timetable is a cop-out, and makes no sense.

Getting the Word Out “We are trying to get this idea of reducing fuel load with late-season grazing more widespread. We have great support from the Public Lands Council. They have given us funding, and this has helped stimulate interest from other groups like the Oregon Cattlemen, and Oregon Beef Council. We have support from local governments and related industries. ARS has weighed in heavily, with their priority for the Great Basin. We have a great cooperative research project going on with ARS to bolster the demonstration and put some quality science behind this,” he says.

“We do have one published paper that came out of the UNR Gund Ranch, done by Dr. Barry Perryman’s graduate student. That’s what got this all started, in 2006. Dr. Perryman went to Eur-Asia and observed first-hand how this works in a native plant community. He visited one village where they had stopped grazing because of the policy system that was in place at the time. A fire came through and almost took the village out. They saw the error of their ways and reinstituted grazing animals as a management tool to reduce the risk,” Alverts says.

“Late-season grazing is a viable fuels reduction tool,

reducing fire risk, and also benefits the rancher and the plant communities in the long term. It puts the land in better condition and doesn’t cost very much. We can’t think of a more positive behavioral tool than this,” he says.

The Secretary of Interior talked about creating a war on cheat grass and big fires in the Great Basin, but most of the focus is on suppression— which continues to cost a lot of money. “On the positive side, however, Interior is also talking about involving local fire units, ranchers and communities to take first response initial attack on fires. This should help reduce costs, putting people on the fires who know the land. On the negative side, the focus is still on suppression, instead of managing the plant community and associated fuel loads. We’ve got to manage it in positive ways,” says Alverts.

“Targeted grazing with the right kind of management on the land works. Most of the world understands this. American Society doesn’t seem to think it works. Americans ‘get it’ for some of the things in our lives. We generally understand that if we don’t change the oil in our vehicles every 3000 to 4000 miles, the engine won’t last 150,000 miles. We generally understand that if we don’t take care of our homes and keep them clean and in good repair, when we go to sell them the market value will be down.

Yet we still have this notion about the natural environment that if we just leave it alone we can ‘live happily after’. That idea is a fairy tale. Everything takes management,” he says.

Land and grazing management in other parts of the world have been going on for centuries, for entire civilizations. “Only in America, I’m afraid, are we making the mistake of trying to non-manage our federal lands. An educated nation like ours still appears to be too ignorant to figure this out! It’s frustrating for a lot of us who have devoted our lives and careers to this, but we continue to do the best we can, and we are not giving up.” The science is in place now to show that this kind of management tool works.

“In the Great Basin a consortium of land grant universities has been working together, including University of Idaho, Utah State, UNR, Oregon State and University of California, to promote the appropriate use of current science and management practices on the land. We are promoting the use of targeted grazing and other techniques that improve management and land conditions on areas negatively affected by invasive species.

We are still trying to get the capacity to do more, but even in what we’ve been able to do so far, we are showing the positive benefits of this kind of grazing tool.”

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angus

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M.L. Bradley 806/888-1062 Fax: 806/888-1010 • Cell: 940/585-6471

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575/638-5434

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S

BEEFMASTER

S

The Need for Proper Management

continued from page six

S

In 2013, the Wilbers grazed 437 head in that pasture for 114 days, beginning in September. The cattle that year were distributed better across the entire pasture, partly because of their learned experience from the previous year. The protein supplement cost about $6.75 per head per month, and all the cows gained weight.

Savings on hay exceeded $50 per head per month.

“We are seeing good vegetation response. When we take that covering of cheat grass off, it reduces next year’s production. Cheat grass has lots of seeds and they remain viable for several years, but when the next crop grows up in the spring, without that cover from the former year(s) thatch to protect it from full sunlight, it doesn’t grow as vigorously.

It needs the litter/protection from old dead grass to shade the new seedlings. If cattle can keep grazing it off every year, this reduces cheat grass’s competitive edge on the perennials over time,” explains Alverts.

“If we keep grazing cheat grass in the fall to clean up the old grass, soon the perennials will out-compete and we will have a plant community of perennials that are more robust.

Then the fire risk is significantly lowered, and ranchers can go back to traditional grazing.

It’s a win-win situation if we can keep at it,” he says.

“The University of Nevada (Reno) believes in this approach and has taken a leadership role in this project. With our colleagues at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) we have also bolstered these demonstration sites, which were intended to show that the tool was workable. This information allows us to observe changes over time, with research projects,” he says.

Page 7

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CECIL FELKINS • 209/274-4338 Email: CWCOWBOY@ATT.NET 5500 BUENA VISTA RD. IONE, CA 95640

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Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

Real Estate Guide

bakercityrealty__1x2.5 4/6/15 11:45 AM Page 1

HeAdquArters West Ltd. ST. JOHN’S OFFICE: TRAEGEN KNIGHT

The enclave clause, the disappearing west and some good news

Contra Bundy

Q

uotes from members of the Bundy family and their supporters indicate they believe Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution, the Enclave Cause, prevents the federal government from owning property within a state except for particular purposes, and then only if the feds have obtained approval of the state legislature.

That Clause grants Congress the power: “To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-yards, and other needful Buildings…”

Unfortunately, the purpose of that clause is to authorize and set out a procedure whereby the feds could establish “exclusive Legislation”, or jurisdiction, over certain properties, not to place limits on federal ownership. Federal exclusive jurisdiction means, basically, that state laws do not apply.

Why did our Founding Fathers include this exclusive jurisdiction language? History gives us the answer.

In June of 1783 Congress was meeting in Philadelphia when their meeting house was surrounded by disgruntled soldiers who had not been paid. There was even reports of them pointing their guns at the windows of the meeting house. Congress requested the Pennsylvania Executive Council call up the state militia.

However, the council refused to do so and Congress was forced to move their proceedings to Princeton, New Jersey for several weeks.

In response to all this, a Congressional committee was formed to “consider and define the jurisdiction proper to be established by Congress” for their “permanent residence.” The committee issued their report. This led to several versions being considered by the Constitutional Convention, which was amended several times. The last amendment accepted, done at the behest of the antifederalists, was to include the requirement the purchase be approved by the state legislature.

During the debate on ratification of the Constitution, James Madison wrote about the Enclave Cause in Federalist 43: The indispensable necessity of complete authority at the seat of government, carries its own evidence with it. It is a power exercised by every legislature of the Union, I might say of the world, by virtue of its general supremacy. Without it, not only the public authority might be insulted and its proceedings interrupted with impunity…The necessity of a like authority over forts, magazines, etc., established by the general government, is not less evident. The public money expended on such places, and the public property deposited in them, requires that they should be exempt from the authority of the particular State. Nor would it be proper for the places on which the security of the entire Union may depend, to be in any degree dependent on a particular member of it.

It seems abundantly clear that Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution, the Enclave Clause, is about jurisdiction, not limitations on ownership of all types of land.

However, I’m no attorney. Just a layman

who is plowing through these historical documents and would welcome any comments, corrections or suggestions.

Are we disappearing?

The Conservation Science Partners, in cahoots with the enviro group Center for American Progress, has released a report titled The Disappearing West claiming 4,321 square miles have been developed in the 11 western states since 2001. The report further states that urban sprawl, commerce and drilling claim the equivalent of one football field every 2 ½ minutes.

So, we have another “crisis” and Congress must act. An often-used tactic to stir public opinion and help the enviro lobbyists. And this all happens while the Park Service is pushing their 100th anniversary and the Land & Water Conservation Fund is up for reauthorization.

Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

According to the NRCS, the U.S. contains 1.4 billion acres, 94% of which is not developed. That’s a helluva lot of football fields. Do the math and you’ll see this is hardly a crisis.

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

Socorro Plaza Realty On the Plaza

Donald Brown

521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130

575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax

Buena Vista Realty

Qualifying Broker: A.H. (Jack) Merrick 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com

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.

Qualifying Broker

505-507-2915 cell 505-838-0095 fax

#5 Plaza PO Box 1903 Socorro, NM 87801 www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com

Terrell Land and Livestock Co.

Good News Items A Wyoming welder, Andy Johnson, built a pond in 2012 for his small herd of livestock.

Then our friends at the EPA informed Johnson he didn’t have the appropriate Clean Water Act permits and ordered him to restore the wetlands or face potential fines of up to $37,500 per day. So what did Johnson do? He sued the EPA with the help of the Pacific Legal Foundation and just this month they announced a settlement which allows Johnson to keep the pond in place, with no fines. “This is a huge victory for us as well as private property owners across the country,” Johnson said.

The Obama administration has dropped its effort to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, handing a victory to oil companies, farmers and landowners in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to not appeal the decision of a federal judge in Texas, who overturned the administration’s 2014 listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species.

In Colorado, both the House and Senate unanimously passed The Colorado Water Rights Protection Act, a bill that thwarts federal efforts to control or own water that begins on or passes through federal land, and to do so without paying for it. Reportedly, the bill does three things: 1. Forces the feds to buy water rights, instead of taking them by manipulating policy. 2. Forces the feds to go through state water court, in compliance with federal law.

3. Orders Colorado’s state engineer not to enforce any water rights restriction by the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, and provides tools for water right holders to fight these agencies in court if necessary.

And in New Mexico, the State Game Commission continues to stand it’s ground in opposition to the fed’s proposed expansion of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. Here’s a great big THANK YOU to Commissioners Kienzle, Montoya, Espinoza, Ramos, Ricklefs, Ryan, and Salopek.

Till, next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Filling Your Real Estate Needs in Oregon Andrew Bryan, Principal/Broker Office 541-523-5871 Cell 208-484-5835 andrew@bakercityrealty.com www.bakercityrealty.com

575-447-6041

Tye Terrell, selling ranches since 1972

We know New Mexico and New Mexico needs.

tyecterrell@yahoo.com Los Lunas, NM

Paul Stout Qualifying Broker

FEATURED PROPERTY 300 Marshall, Grady

Enjoy small town living with room for a few horses. Three bedroom, two bath home with covered horse stalls and pens, village water. $65,000

3879 State Road 209, Broadview, NM 88112

Office 575 456-2000 • Cell 575 760-5461

www.bigmesarealty.com

Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker

775/752-3040 • www.bottarirealty.com Ranch Properties now available through Bottari & Associates Realty, Inc

DIAMOND VALLEY, NEVADA HAY FARM - 251 acres with two center pivots with 215 acres under irrigation. Old March 1960 water rights. Two homes. $895,000

June 15, 2016

Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker

775/752-3040 Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY www.bottarirealty.com

Bar M Real Estate

SCOTT MCNALLY www.ranchesnm.com 575/622-5867 575/420-1237

Livestock Market Digest

Page 9

Missouri Land Sales 521 West Second St. Portales, NM 88130 575-226-0671 www.buenavista-nm.com

RACT T N O C R E D UN

160 acres grass - Great 2 bdrm 2 bth home - new shed bldg.- everything is A-1 excellent cond. Near Causey, NM. 10 acres w/ 5 bdrm 4 bth home, approx 40 x 100 metal barn concrete floor & wired, electric motor on 14 ft large door. 4 car detached garage, private well , septic system East of Portales, NM on pavement NM 88, nice view.

139 Acres - 7 AC stocked lake; hunting retreat. Beautiful 2 BR, 1 BA log cabin. Only 35+ miles northeast of Springfield. MLS# 60031816.

82.4 Acres M/L - Horse Lover’s Dream (joins Mark Twain National Forest). Spring fed pond stocked with bass. 4 BR, 1 BA, older home (rented), pasture (rented). 24 miles north of Mt. Grove. MLS# 60034710.

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

PAUL McGILLIARD

Cell: 417/839-5096 1-800/743-0336 MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORS SPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

174 acres M/L. Cattle, horses, hunting retreat. Live water year round spring-crawdad creek. 30+ ac open, more land could be opened with brush hogging. Good fencing, 2 miles from S&H fish pay fishing ponds. 8 miles east of Ava on Hwy. 76. MLS# 60029427 MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION: GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY CLOSE TO SPRINGFIELD. El Rancho Truck Plaza. MLS #11402704; Midwest Truck Stop MLS #11402703; Owner retiring. Go to murney. com, enter MLS #, CHECK THEM OUT!!!

Approx. 8 acres, 3+bed/2 bath rural home. 72 x 80 enclosed barn, 40 x 75 shop bldg, workshop. Replica Settler’s shack/playhouse, chicken coop, greenhouse. 3 wells. Sprinkler system. Large family room, bedroom / library, utility room, 2 car garage. New water lines. New windows in 2014. Central air/heat. Propane wall furnace for occasional power outages. Approx. 12 miles from Melrose, NM or 3.5 miles from Floyd. Very peaceful setting!

Ranch Sales & Appraisals

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 nick@ranchseller.com www.ranchseller.com

SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY 116 PLAZA 101 Bosquecito Road

Peaceful and panoramic view describes this location. A 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on 3.1 acres of upland near the Rio Grande River. Close to Bosque del Apache Refuge with birds landing in the hayfields and deer and elk frequent the neighboring fields.

SWMLS #839689 $224,000

Call 505/507-2915 • Fax: 575/838-0095 P.O. Box 1903, Socorro, NM 87801 Don Brown, Qualifying Broker dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com Arizona Ranch For Sale Seven Lazy E Ranch 30 miles SE of Willcox. Elevation 4300 ‘ MSL. 1335 Acres Deeded, 2197 State Lease 80 Acres BLM Lease.

3 wells, electric, gas. 8 pastures have water Includes nearby custom Sante Fe Style house $1,995,885.00 MLS 21608523 Arizona Life Real Estate

520-403-3903

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

SOLD

• 37 acres, Dallas Co, horse barn with apartment inside.

Just off I20 & Mesquite, air port. $399,000.

• 240 acres, Recreation, hunting and fishing. Nice apartment, 25 miles from Dallas Court House. $3250 Per acre.

• 270 acre, Mitchell County, Texas ranch. Investors dream; excellent cash flow.

Rock formation being crushed and sold; wind turbans, some minerals. Irrigation water developed, crop & cattle, modest improvements. Just off I-20.

Price reduced to $1.6 Million.

• 40 acre, 2 homes, nice barn, corral, 30 miles out of Dallas. $415,000.

Joe Priest Real Estate

1-800/671-4548

joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

Scott and co.

L Ranch & Farm Real Estate

GATO MOUNTAIN RANCH – High desert recreation hunting ranch with excellent improvements. Wildlife includes elk, mule deer, bear and lion.

Well suited as a corporate retreat with accommodations for at least 34 people. 389 deeded acres along with 2,602 BLM lease acres with a grazing permit for 33 AU’s. Numerous horseback and ATV trails. Owners willing to split the deeded acreage. This is one of kind. Presented in cooperation with Schrimsher Ranch Real Estate, LLC. View video at www.nm-ranches.com Price: $2,800,000.00 TOLAND RANCH – Hobby Ranch comprised of 1,440 deeded acres located at Cedarvale, NM in Torrance County. Divided into two tracts divided by State Highway 42. North tract is fenced with one well. South tract needs approximately 2.5 miles of boundary fenced. View additional information at www.ranchesnm.com. Priced accordingly @ $300.00 per deeded acre.

FUSON RANCH – 280 acres located under the face of the Capitan Mountains southwest of Arabela, NM in historic Lincoln County. Access is gated and locked. Improved with one residence, maintenance shop and small barn. Water is provided by one well. View additional information at www.ranchesnm.com. Price: $400,000,00.

BILLY THE KID RANCH – 3,290 acres located in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains just 30 minutes from Ruidoso, NM. Access is gated and locked from U.S. Highway 70. Improvements include a sprawling 3 bedroom residence with an enclosed metal shop and equipment shed. Fantastic views of Sierra Blanca and the Capitan Mountain range.

Sale to include cattle and equipment. Presented in cooperation with Schrimsher Ranch Real Estate, LLC. View a color brochure and video at www.nm-ranches.com. Price: $4,000,000.00 Scott McNally Qualifying Broker Bar M Real Estate www.ranchesnm.com Office: 575-622-5867 • Cell: 575-420-1237

1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott – Broker Krystal M. Nelson, CO/NM Qualifying Broker 800-933-9698 day/eve. www.scottlandcompany.com • www.texascrp.com

SCOTT LAND COMPANY, LLC in cooperation with Hall & Hall Auction Co. will offer the Cucharas Ranch North – Huerfano Colorado at auction at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Check our website for info on the property and a link to the auction info.

NORTH EDGE OF AMARILLO – 651 ac. +/- of rough, rolling, scenic grass land w/canyons, good well & cabin w/electricity, Bob White & Blue Quail, deer & other wildlife, secluded yet accessible in minutes from downtown!

OCATE MESA – 100 pristine ac. +/-, located near Black Lake on state road 120 between the villages of Ocate & Angel Fire, New Mexico, great hunting/recreation!

30,000 HD. FEED YARD – Southeast Texas Panhandle, close to Texas & Kansas packers. Call or email for details!!!!

JUST LISTED! 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.

ARGENTINA….PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS on 176,000 ac. +/- (WE CAN DIVIDE into much smaller tracts) of choice land (beautiful land can be cleared for soybeans & corn, some cleared & seeded to improve grasses for grazing of thousands of mother cows, some still in the brush waiting to be cleared).

JUST LISTED! 11.2 choice sections +/-, in the heart of Central New Mexico’s open, rolling grama grass country, good improvements & water, cow/calf country w/summer grazing of yearlings certainly an option, two mi. of hwy. frontage.

JUST OUT OF CLAYTON, NM - 2,685 ac. +/-, 2 homes, bunk house & roping arena, other improvements, well managed, excellent grass.

CLOUD CROFT, NM - Otero Co. – ¾ miles of the Rio Penasco – 139 ac. +/- deeded, 160 ac. +/- State Lease, 290.27 acre feet of water rights, 2 cabins, excellent grazing, elevation from 7-7500 ft., good access off of paved road.

QUAY CO., NM – Box Canyon Ranch – well improved & watered, 2,400 ac. deeded, 80 ac. State Lease, excellent access from I40.

TUCUMCARI, NM AREA – 4 irr. farms totaling 1,022.22 deeded ac. +/- with 887.21 ac. +/- of Arch Hurley Water Rights (one farm w/a modern 2 bdrm. – 1 bath home, w/a metal roof, barn & shop) together with 1,063 addtl. deeded ac. +/- of native grass (good set of livestock pens & well-watered). All one-owner, all on pvmt., can be bought together or separately.

SUPER GRAIN & CATTLE COMBINATION – Union Co., NM - well improved w/15 circles, state-of-the-art working pens, homes, barns, hwy. & all-weather road frontage, divided into 3 different farms in close proximity of each other – can divide.

DANCES WITH WOLVES COUNTRY - Union Co., NM – Pinabetes/Tramperos Creeks Ranch – super 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.

SOUTH CONCHOS RANCH – San Miguel Co., NM – 9,135 total ac.+/-, 2,106 ac. +/- “FREE USE”, 6,670 ac. +- deeded, 320 ac. +/- BLM, 40 ac. +/- State, well improved, homes, barns, pens, watered by subs & mills at shallow depth just off pvmt., on co. road.

STATE OF THE ART – Clayton, NM area, 1,600 deeded ac. +/-, plus 80 ac. +/- State lease, home, barn & pens in excellent condition, all weather county road.

FT. SUMNER VALLEY – beautiful home on 20 irr. ac., 3 bdrm/2 bath country home, nice combination apartment/horse barn w/2 bdrms., one bathroom/washroom & three enclosed stalls w/breezeway, currently in alfalfa, ditch irrigated.

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. Seller very motivated to buy or trade for ranch or farmland properties between Dallas & Houston, TX. Area!

Please view our websites for details on these properties, choice TX, NM & CO ranches (large & small), choice ranches in the high rainfall areas of OK, irr./dryland/CRP & commercial properties. We need your listings on any types of ag properties in TX., NM, OK & CO.

Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

Agriculture and Rural Communities’ Need for Reliable and Consistent Credit Highlighted in Testimony

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n mid May Farm Credit participated in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry’s full committee hearing titled, “The Farm Credit System: Oversight and Outlook of the Current Economic Climate.”

Farm Credit Services of America CEO Doug Stark testified about the importance of Farm Credit’s broad mission to serve rural communities and agriculture and how Farm Credit is working with customers during the current downturn in the agricultural economy.

The Committee also heard from Michigan farmer and U.S. Army veteran Jed Welder, Farm Credit Administration board members Kenneth Spearman, Dallas Tonsager and Jeffery Hall, along with representatives of the commercial banking industry. In addition to those testifying in-person, nearly 80 groups representing farmers, ranchers, farmer-owned co-

operatives and other agribusinesses, rural infrastructure providers and rural communities submitted statements for consideration by the committee.

“Farm Credit exists to serve agricultural and rural communities in good times and bad.

Unfortunately, there are challenging economic indicators ahead,” said Stark. “It’s times like these that highlight the importance of Farm Credit—to remain that financial partner to producers and rural communities when the times get tough.

We’ve been in our rural communities preparing our borrowers to weather the storm, and we’ll be here to see them through to the other side.”

Similar to the producers Farm Credit serves, the System has built financial strength in anticipation of the economic cycle through diversification in loan geography, industry and size.

“Farm Credit’s mission is to

support rural communities and agriculture, irrespective of the economic climate,” said Stark.

“We saw this downturn in commodity prices coming and have been building financial strength to make sure we can continue to fulfill our mission and support our customers.”

Low commodity prices coupled with high input costs are putting pressure on farmers and ranchers. Farm Credit has been working to make sure its customers have accurate information about the situation and are able to make good business decisions. Helping to somewhat offset the current price squeeze, debt-to-asset ratios on U.S. farmers are below the 30year average and well below the levels seen in the mid-1980s.

Also in contrast to the devastating downturn agriculture experienced 30 years ago, interest rates—and therefore debt costs—remain low.

“Farm Credit’s philosophy on credit today is this: we know our customers well, understand and respond to their needs and work cooperatively with them

to analyze and structure our transactions to give them the best chance to succeed,” said Stark. Michigan farmer and U.S. Army veteran Jed Welder also weighed in on the current economic conditions in agriculture and the value of Farm Credit.

“This is a challenging time for farmers like me across the country. Right now, we are planting corn and soybeans with prices very near breakeven,” said Welder. “Having a lender that works with me, that knows my farm and the challenges I face, is more important than ever.” Welder explained how he relied on Farm Credit, saying “They understood what I wanted to do and what I needed to run my operation, they made good, solid recommendations and over time became a trusted partner.”

Farm Credit is well known for its mission providing financing to all types of U.S. farmers and ranchers. In addition, Farm Credit’s agricultural mission includes financing aquatic producers, many farmer-owned

cooperatives and other agribusinesses, and U.S. agricultural exports. A constant supply of credit to these areas has helped make agriculture one of the driving engines for the U.S. economy and allows U.S. agricultural producers to feed the world. Farm Credit’s mission beyond agriculture is just as important.

Rural homebuyers face obstacles unknown in more urban settings and Farm Credit provides loans tailored to these unique circumstances. Farm Credit also provides financing for companies that provide vital infrastructure to rural communities, helping bring clean water to rural families, reliable energy to farms and rural towns, and modern, high-speed telecommunications that connect rural America to the rest of the world. Modern infrastructure makes rural communities competitive, provides jobs, and helps improve the quality of life for rural families.

The complete hearing can be viewed at http://www.agriculture.senate.gov/hearings.

Westway Feed Staffer Honored

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he American Feed Industry Association named Cathy Bandyk, Ph.D., of Westway Feed Products LLC, and Ronny Moser, Ph.D., of JBS United, Inc., its Members of the Year during a ceremony at its Board of Directors dinner May 4, in Arlington, Va. Bandyk is known for her many accomplishments with AFIA’s foundation, the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER), as well as involvement with the AFIA Liquid Feed Committee and the Nutrition Member Interest Group and Ruminant Subcommittee. Moser was a key component in informing AFIA membership of preventative measures concerning the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.

The Member of the Year Award is presented to an AFIA member who exhibits the utmost support throughout the year to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives. With the exception of the 83 members on the Food Safety Modernization Act work group who received the 2014 Member of the Year Award, only 34 individuals prior have been honored.

Bandyk serves on IFEEDER’s Board of Trustees and played an instrumental part in the realignment of IFEEDER’s future to better benefit

AFIA membership and the industry. She is part of both the research and marketing committees of the foundation, and has chaired their annual silent auction. Bandyk is also an active member of the Liquid Feed Committee, recently stepping into the role of secretary. She headed a major update of the committee’s Liquid Feed Handbook and an educational PowerPoint to share with academia and the industry.

“At the 2015 Liquid Feed Symposium, Cathy presented a liquid feed historical timeline that featured six decades of industry and individual accomplishments,” said AFIA President and CEO Joel G. Newman. “The timeline was a perfect portrayal of the successes and advancements liquid feed has undergone and the future it holds.”

Bandyk is the technical sales and support manager at Westway Feed Products LLC, and was the former nutritionist/product manager at Quality Liquid Feeds for 13 years. Other professional affiliations include the American Society of Animal Science, American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists, National Cattlemen’s Association, and the Florida Cattlemen’s Association.

She and her husband live near Williston, Florida.

PLF’s Supreme Court victory in Hawkes Landowners Have Right of Review Under Clean Water Act Designations

P

acific Legal Foundation (PLF) won a precedent-setting victory for property owners’ rights on May 31, 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor in the PLF case of United States Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes. The groundbreaking decision accepted

PLF’s arguments that landowners have a right to seek judicial review when their property is designated as wetlands subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. “Today’s ruling marks a long-awaited victory for individual liberty, property rights, and the rule of law,” said PLF Principal Attorney M. Reed Hopper, who successfully argued the case in front of the justices. “For more than 40 years, millions of landowners nationwide have had no mean-

ingful way to challenge wrongful application of the federal Clean Water Act to their land.

They have been put at the mercy of the government because land covered by the Act is subject to complete federal control. But all that changed today. The Supreme Court ruled that wetlands ‘jurisdictional determinations’ can be immediately challenged in court. Everyone who values property rights and access to justice should welcome this historic victory.”

June 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 11

The Critical Nature of Critical Habitat Decisions

The View T

BRIAN SEASHOLES / REASON FOUNDATION

FROM THE BACK SIDE

Who is in Your Bathroom?

BY BARRY DENTON

S

everal years ago I was the show farrier at a large horse show. I worked this horse show every year because it had over 2,000 horses, it ran for almost three weeks, and was very lucrative from a business standpoint.

I had been working this particular show for about five years and since it was such a major event, the show farrier had to be on the grounds from the beginning until the end. You normally began around 7:00 in the morning and ended around midnight nearly every night.

Toward the end of the show you would get very tired and punchy.

Of course, at the end of the show is when all the championships were held so there would be even more work checking toe length and checking the weight of horseshoes. Both of those criteria had to be met or a horse could stand to lose a championship that it had just won.

For those of you not familiar with this type of horse, when a horse won a championship the toes were measured and the shoes were pulled and weighed to make sure they were legal or the championship would be taken away. Needless to say, it was a lot of extra work at the end of the show and it put you under a great deal of pressure to push the shoeing rules as far as they would go without getting your clients horse disqualified.

Because of the vast amount of people needing services we always had everyone scheduled with appointments which helped with the onslaught. Of course, there were always emergencies and the horse that someone forgot until the last minute.

These horse shows were marathons and you had to be right all the time.

One particular day at the end of the horse show I’m on my way to the restroom adjacent to where our shoeing barn was. Naturally you cannot even walk to the restroom without someone wanting something, so you stop and talk along the way.

Then it happened . . . I was not paying close atten-

tion and I opened the door of the restroom only to see three or four ladies standing in front of the mirror doing their makeup. Of course, they all shrieked and I closed the door as fast as I could, only to hear them laughing profusely behind the closed door.

I was never so embarrassed in all my life. For the next couple of days those ladies would come by the shoeing barn and tease me about it which made it even worse.

Naturally they told their friends and soon I was the butt of many jokes. Nothing is sacred at a horse show. Ha! Ha! We all do dumb things sometimes, but I was glad when that show was over.

Now we have a President of the United States issuing an executive order for transgender to enter whichever bathroom they wish any where. Perhaps, he is not well, but I cannot think of a reason why he would think this was important.

The statistics show that transgender persons make up less than one half of a percent of all the people in the country. Why is this important in a country where the majority rules?

I think it has been a very effective concept that boys go to the boy’s room and girls go to the girl’s room. It is quite simple and now he wants to change all that. Obviously, he did not consider the unintended consequences.

Are we going to give transgender persons an identification card so we know who they are? In my estimation it would open bathrooms up to perverts that want to harm females especially. When you are keeping the order and protecting people why would you voluntarily endanger them?

In my estimation this is an act of evil under the guise of being nice to transgender people. Just because I am a horseshoer, but feel like a professional baseball player does not mean that I can walk out on the baseball diamond during a game and start playing. I feel sorry for our wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters that may have to endure harm due to the stupidity of one.

he federal Endangered Species Act is enormously controversial for a number of reasons, one of which is the designation of “critical habitat.” As the term implies, critical habitat is what the agencies that implement the Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service) deem very important to the conservation of species listed under the Act. Controversy arises over the costs that result from designation of critical habitat, which can be enormous.

The habitat these agencies decide to include and exclude from designation as critical habitat can have significant economic and regulatory implications. For example, in 2005 the Fish and Wildlife Service designated 199,109 acres as critical habitat for the Central California Distinct Population Segment of the California Tiger Salamander in twenty California counties, and estimated designation would impose costs

of $76,000,000 over twenty years. Concurrently, the Service excluded 183,556 acres, which, had it been designated as critical habitat, would have had an economic impact of $364,978,338 over twenty years.

Despite the enormous amounts of land and money involved in the areas that are included and excluded as critical habitat, the federal government maintains decisions about what habitat is excluded are immune from legal challenge. This would strike many fair-minded people as unjust. In response, Pacific Legal Foundation has petitioned the Supreme Court to take a case over whether federal agency decisions on excluding areas from designation as critical habitat are subject to judicial review.

In support of PLF’s petition, Reason Foundation and Cato Institute are filing a joint amicus brief. A portion of the amicus brief documents the impacts of critical habitat designation for 159 species. The total numbers for these 159

species are enormous, including: 60,169,546 acres (of which 11,261,054 is privately owned) included as critical habitat, which, along with other designated habitat (streams, lakes, ocean), will have an estimated economic impact of as much as $10,660,137,093 over twenty years; and the exclusion of 7,787,628 acres, and associated aquatic habitat, which would have had an economic impact of $1,955,411,884 had it been included.

Big numbers and a lot at stake, to be sure. Which is why it is so important that federal agency decisions about which areas of habitat are excluded from designation as critical habitat should be subject to judicial review. This is a matter of simple fairness, good government and the ability of citizens to challenge the decisions of federal agencies. Let’s hope the Supreme Court sees it that way and agrees to take the case.

See more at: http://reason. org/blog/show/the-critical-nature-of-critical-hab#sthash.duenXl2y.dpuf

4 Stock Dogs in SW Idaho poisoned with Strychnine

BY SEAN ELLIS / CAPITAL PRESS

F

ourteen stock and guard dogs have been poisoned with strychnine in this part of southwestern Idaho since early April and 12 have died.

The poisoning of the dogs, which are used to guard and shepherd sheep and goats, has occurred over several weeks.

“We lost another dog today.

The poisoning is still going on,” the dogs’ owner, Casey Echevarria, told Capital Press May 30.

The dogs were intentionally poisoned with strychnine, said Dr. Brent Varriale, a Fruitland veterinarian who examined three of them. He said they had large amounts of green dyed grain in their stomachs, which is consistent with gopher bait that contains strychnine.

The gopher bait was mixed with a significant amount of raw ground meat and the amount of bait found in each dog would have required mixing it with food to encourage the dogs to eat as much of it as they did, he said.

Varriale said he examines dogs that have consumed gopher bait and suffered strychnine poisoning about once every few years and they never have that much of the bait in their stomachs.

The large number of Echevarria’s dogs that have suffered strychnine poisoning this spring, coupled with the large amount of bait found in their stomaches, “tells me it was done intentionally,” Varriale said.

Varriale saved and froze stomach content samples from each dog and contacted the Canyon

County Sheriff’s Department, which investigated the incidents but has not identified any suspects.

Varriale said strychnine poisoning is a bad way to die because it causes paralysis so the dogs can’t breathe and they suffocate to death.

“They may not catch the person that did it but I hope it at least ... prevents it from continuing,” he said of the reason he contacted law enforcement. “It’s a terrible way to die.”

Echevarria said the dogs cost him between $1,500 to $2,500 each and although the poisonings have cost his operation a lot of money, he’s more concerned

about the dogs’ suffering.

“This does piss me off,” he said. “The way they’ve done it is more cruel than shooting them with a gun. I don’t want publicity for me. It’s more about getting the word out there so it doesn’t happen to (any more) dogs.”

The poisonings have drawn the attention of Idaho’s Humane Society of the United States branch.

“This should be publicized,” said HSUS Idaho Director Lisa Kauffman. “Strychnine poisoning is a really horrible way to go.

That is an excruciating death for those dogs.” continued on page thirteen

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

SUPREME COURT: Kennedy Comments May Indicate Hot Water for WOTUS Rule

BY ROBIN BRAVENDER, E&E REPORT

J

ustice Anthony Kennedy made waves in environmental law when he called the Clean Water Act “arguably unconstitutionally vague.”

For critics of U.S. EPA’s new Waters of the U.S. rule, or WOTUS, that was a welcome sign that the conservative justice who’s often the high court’s swing vote might be willing to help strike the Obama administration’s contentious water regulation.

“This is not an offhand comment,” Mayer Brown attorney Tim Bishop said at an environmental law conference here today. “Saying ‘arguably unconstitutionally vague’ is not some-

thing a justice says at argument in an offhand or careless way.”

Bishop, who’s representing industry groups challenging EPA’s rule in court, said he saw Kennedy’s comments signaling how he leans in litigation over the rule that’s still pending in lower courts but is widely expected to wind its way to the high court.

“I would like to say that means WOTUS is dead,” Bishop said, but it remains unclear who will fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. “We have a 4-4 court, and we don’t know who the ninth member will be when the WOTUS rule eventually gets to the court, so we can’t say that yet.”

Kennedy’s remarks were also ironic, Bishop said, because “it’s

Kennedy who is responsible for all of this, by writing his opinion in Rapanos.”

In 2006, Kennedy penned a stand-alone opinion in the case Rapanos v. United States, where he set criteria for when a stream or wetland warrants federal protection. At the heart of his approach is the notion that waters must have a “significant nexus” to navigable rivers and seas in order to qualify for federal protection (Greenwire, June 5, 2015).

“He is clearly having regrets,” Bishop said today. “He is very, very concerned about what he wrought in Rapanos and what has now come home to roost in the WOTUS rule that appears to embrace most water in the country.”

EPA, for its part, contends that its new regulation -- which is also known as the Clean Water Rule -- will help make it clearer which waters are covered under the Clean Water Act, making the permitting process easier and faster for businesses and landowners.

Kennedy’s comments came as the court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case over when landowners can go to court to challenge government determinations about water permits.

Lisa Jones, deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, attended the oral arguments in that case, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes.

She said Kennedy’s comments about the Clean Water Act were likely “somewhat a surprise” for Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart, who argued the case on behalf of the government.

Jones also got a sense of déjà vu, she said, since the arguments bore some similarities to the case Sackett v. EPA, another case involving property owners where the court ruled 9-0 against EPA and in favor of landowners.

“I’m not going to give you any predictions,” Jones said today at the conference hosted by the American Bar Association.

But “it did harken back to the days of Sackett, and there was a lot of animosity in discussing the issues.”

Hage Set to Appeal Ninth Circuit Ruling in Forage Right Case to US Supreme Court: Western Water Law Hangs in the Balance SOURCE: PROTECT THE HARVEST

I

n January 2016 a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision reversing all of the findings of Nevada Federal District Court Chief Judge Robert C. Jones in his 103-page decision in U.S. v. Hage (2007).

Judge Jones had found among other things that government officials had “entered into a literal, intentional conspiracy to deprive the Hages not only of their (grazing) permits but also of their vested water rights.”

The Court added, “This behavior shocks the conscience of the Court and provides a sufficient basis for a finding of irreparable harm…”

During the trial in the lower court, the Hages were warned

by the lead Justice Department attorney that the Ninth Circuit would almost certainly rule in favor of the BLM and USFS. With chilling assurance he said the Justice Department was not concerned how Judge Jones would rule because the DOJ could get any decision they wanted out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Consistent with the Justice Departments’ prediction, the Ninth Circuit panel issued a scathing ruling reversing all of the trial court’s decisions, excoriating Judge Jones for supposed bias against the government Defendants. Wayne N. Hage and the Estate of E. Wayne Hage are appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ruling from the Ninth Circuit completely overturns 150 years of western water law and precedent as well as the laws governing the infrastructure across federally administered lands in

the West. The Ninth Circuit decision, as handed down by the three-judge panel, is also in direct conflict with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in the related case, Hage v. U.S., (1991), (between the same parties regarding the same property). There the Court recognized access as an essential component of a water right. In addition to a conflict between rulings in two different federal courts, due to the appellate panel’s brazen violations of the appellate rules of procedure regarding findings of fact and other procedural errors, analysts believe there is an increased likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will review the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling.

In order for the Ninth Circuit to overturn the findings of the trial court in U.S. v. Hage, they had no option but to assert Judge Jones had bias against the government Defendants. Under the rules of appellate procedure

the Ninth Circuit was bound

by Judge Jones’ findings of fact, unless the justices went to the extraordinary measure of finding the judge had bias and had abused his discretion, which they did. Interestingly, Judge Jones was not the only trier of fact to make such findings.

Chief Judge Loren Smith, from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington D.C., after hearing similar testimony during two separate trials in the related case of Hage v. U.S. (1991), made virtually identical findings of fact. Two well respected, experienced jurists, both Chief Judges of their respective courts, separated by the width of the country, separated by decades of hearings, having nothing in common but considering the conduct of the U.S. Forest Service and BLM employees against the Hage family, both reached virtually identical conclusions.

Two generations of the Hage

family, beginning during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, have spent nearly 40 years in courts defending their constitutionally protected property interests in federally administered land and their right to be allowed to graze their livestock around their vested waters as Congress clearly sanctioned. They have prevailed in three administrative appeals. They have successfully litigated three substantial federal court cases at the trial level in two separate federal courts.

They have successfully defended their vested water rights against competing claims by the United States in a state water adjudication. The courts in multiple published decisions have repeatedly recognized their vested water rights, easements, rights-ofways, forage, and improvements on federally administered land.

Those rights stand on appeal in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

Committee Exposes the DOI’s $50 Million Law Enforcement Database Boondoggle

O

n March 17, 2016 the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held an oversight hearing raising bipartisan concerns about the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) waste, abuse and incompetence concerning its law enforcement records system. Since 2003, DOI has spent over $50 million in federal funds on a database that is still not fully functional.

DOI began the process of implementing the Incident Management Analysis and Reporting System (IMARS) in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Over a decade later, DOI has failed to adopt a functional law enforcement records management

system that meets the needs of the Department and its bureaus. For years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has refused to implement IMARS, preferring its own legacy database, and has withheld funding from the IMARS program.

The Department’s most senior leaders have allowed this impasse between DOI and FWS to go unresolved for years, while pumping tens of millions in taxpayer dollars into an outmoded and cumbersome database.

DOI has also shrugged off serious concerns about the mismanagement of the program, including the fact that the individual who was in charge of implementing IMARS from 20082013 resigned after his falsified

educational qualifications were exposed.

Harry Humbert, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Safety, Resource Protection, and Emergency Services, testified on behalf of DOI. The Department refused to allow a witness from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to testify.

“With the many years in development and millions poured into the program, we are left to conclude that this is government incompetence rivaled only by the rollout of the Obamacare website. This is government waste, fraud and abuse to the extreme, and has the potential to handcuff law enforcement and cause even deeper divisions that IMARS was supposed to

solve,” Subcommittee Chairman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) said.

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) questioned Humbert about the Department’s actions following the resignation of the IMARS project manager who lied about his educational background.

“The person in charge of IMARS, the Department’s law enforcement database, was a fraud whose qualifications for the job were entirely fabricated.

What did DOI do after he left to ensure that the system was not otherwise compromised?”

Labrador asked.

Humbert responded, “I don’t believe that there was anything to be reviewed at that point, sir.”

June 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 13

Feds seek $37,500 per day penalty from mid-valley farmer

BY BUALEX PAUL, ALBANY DEMOCRAT-HERALD

I

n February, the U.S. Department of Justice took the issue beyond the discussion level, filing a complaint in federal court in Eugene, Oregon. It alleges Case violated the federal Clean Water Act and is seeking a penalty of $37,500 per day and restoration of the river bank.

The suit names William Case, Bill Case Farms Inc. and Case Family LLC. It alleges Case is polluting the river “by discharging dredged or fill material into waters of the United States in Linn County, Oregon, by among other things, constructing an approximately 835-foot-long revetment wall in a riverbank, and by constructing an approximately 993-foot-long dike along the riverbank without a permit issued under CWA (Clean Water Act) section 404, 33 U.S. 1344.”

According to court documents, the discovery phase of the case is to be completed by June 23 with a pretrial order by July 25.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Honorable Thomas M. Coffin has been assigned to hear the case.

Court documents also noted that the farm is near the con-

It’s prime farm ground.

If we hadn’t done anything we probably would have lost 50 more acres fluence of the North and South Santiam Rivers in an area “designated critical habitat under the Federal Endangered Species Act for Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon and is designated essential fish habitat under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act for Coho salmon and Chinook salmon.”

“I’ve spent more than $250,000 on construction and lawyers,” Case said. “I really don’t know what comes next.”

Case does not dispute that he took actions to slow down erosion that claimed a couple acres of the 170-acre field.

“It’s prime farm ground,” Case said. “If we hadn’t done anything, we probably would lose 50 more acres.”

Case grows corn, beans and grass on the property.

Case Farms employs as many as 90 people at peak harvest times.

Case and his family donate food to the Albany Helping Hands and last year, donated more than 70,000 pounds of squash to the Oregon Food Bank that was distributed statewide.

And Case said he never tried to hide any of his actions. In fact, he had verbal permission from government representatives, and he took numerous photographs of the work in progress.

What he didn’t get was anything in writing, nor did he apply for a permit to complete the work.

Case has owned the property for more than 20 years and said erosion problems began to mount during the flood of 1996.

“It made a whole new channel in the river,” Case said.

In 2004, another flood created a channel next to his farm land and from 2005 to 2009, the river waters kept eating away at his farm, slicing away a section 100 feet wide and 800 feet long.

Case said he called the Division of State Lands and Corps of Engineers in 2009 and says he was told that as long as he didn’t work in the river, he could build a dike to protect his property.

In 2009, Case spent $100,000 to buy boulders from a quarry

New Shorthorn Director of Marketing & Communications

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he American Shorthorn Association hired Shelby Rogers as the Director of Marketing and Communications.

Rogers graduated from Oklahoma State University on May 7, 2016 with a degree in animal science and agricultural communications.

During her time at OSU she was a member of the Oklahoma Collegiate Cattlewomen, Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, and she was on the staff of the Cowboy Journal magazine. Rogers was selected as McKnight Leader Scholar for her four years of college because of her previous leadership experiences.

Originally from Hamilton, Texas, her family started their ranch in 2000, raising Registered Hereford cattle. Rogers was active in the American Hereford Association, serving on the National Junior Hereford Association board from 2011-2014. While on the board, Rogers served as fundraising chair and leadership chair. As a director she helped in planning the Junior National

Hereford Exposition and served as a role model to younger members. She also served as a director for the Texas Junior Polled Hereford Association for eight years.

Rogers held multiple internships that prepared her for this job. One specific position was the marketing and communications internship for Accelerated Genetics in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She designed advertisements, photographed farms, and wrote press releases. This internship gave her new experiences working with dairy cattle and different breeds of beef cattle. She also had a social media internship one summer and she handled social media planning for many different companies.

“Her passion for the beef industry and previous experiences will make her a great addition to the American Shorthorn Association staff,” said Montie D. Soules, Executive Secretary/CEO of ASA. “We look forward to having her on board with us.

Shelby will bring new ideas to help in the rebranding of the Shorthorn breed.”

near Sweet Home and build the dike.

Case, 77, said engineers have estimated he would have lost about 400,000 cubic yards of soil had he not constructed the dike.

But the federal government issued a cease and desist order and the Environmental Protection Agency charges that Case is violating the Clean Water Act. Case said the EPA believes the boulders warm up the water, which could harm fish and other riparian species.

In 2012, the EPA wanted Case to: n Remove portions of the riprap wall and replace it with native vegetation that will root extensively and provide elements of shade, food and ultimately large wood in the river. n Remove or lower the upstream rock wing dike to reduce

force on the south bank. n Re-establish a riparian vegetated buffer that blends seamlessly with the adjacent existing buffers. n Remove the impediment to fish passage into the back water area (a duck pond) by removal of a section of the embankment. n Develop a revised restoration and mitigation plan for EPA review and approval. It would include describing how fill material will be removed, how specific projects would be implemented and site vegetation re-established, such as specific dates work activities would begin and end; a list of heavy earth moving equipment to be used; names and contact information of contractors; a list of best management practices to be implemented such as installation of silt fencing, hay bales, etc.

Wolves Roam Residential Area

BY MONIQUE LOPEZ | UPPERMICHIGANSSOURCE.COM

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dog found ripped to shreds in Florence had been confirmed as a wolf attack.

After a U.S. Department of Agriculture Division Wildlife Services investigator classified the mauling, his suspicions of there being a pack of wolves nearby sent the neighborhood into high alert last week.

The days of taking long walks and letting kids and animals run free are long gone for the Davis family.

Three generations of them all live on the same lot, so walking from house to house was a typical daily occurrence.

But after seeing the carnage of their family pet dog Suzie just feet away from the home, they say they now live in constant fear.

“It was traumatic,” said Tom Tuchalski neighbor and son-in-law of Carmen Davis, the dog’s owner. “There’s no other way to explain it. I’ve never encountered anything like that in my entire life. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of stuff but that was by far the worst.

It looked like a scene out of a horror movie.”

DOGS Idaho’s animal abuse felony law, which was strengthened this year, does not apply to these incidents, Kauffman said, because production agriculture animals, which include stock and working dogs, are specifically exempt.

However, she said, another state law that has been on the books for years makes it a felony to intentionally poison a produc-

Although, according to a USDA wildlife biologist, relatively few wolf attacks are reported, Davis claims to have seen a few wolves in the area before this incident. The investigator, who confirmed the savage attack as being one caused by a wolf, was unable to say for sure whether more than one wolf was involved in the mutilation. But wolves run in packs and work as a team.

“We have a fairly good idea of the number of wolves in a pack in Wisconsin and, on average, without pups, usually our wolf packs range in the size of four to five animals,” said USDA wildlife biologist David Ruid.

The Davis family was told that all they can do is remain vigilant and report any other wolf sightings, but they want more to be done about this.

“The population needs to be controlled and they need to be taken out of residential areas,” Tuchalski said. “People shouldn’t have to worry about their pets and kids being in danger.”

Residents in the area are asked to report wolf sightings to the sheriff’s department or local DNR. continued from page eleven

tion ag animal, including stock dogs, that is worth more than $1,000.

News of the poisonings angered Tim Linquist, who uses shepherding dogs to guard the goats he rents out for weed control.

“It’s a shame anybody would do that to an animal,” he said.

“Fourteen dogs. That’s crazy.”

Page 14

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

By JIM OLSON

Florence Hughes Randolph Dynamite Comes In Small Packages

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t four-feet six-inches and weighing in at ninety pounds, she is one of the smallest competitors the sport of rodeo has known. In contrast to her petite size, her legacy is large and has lasted the test of time.

Born, Cleo Alberta Holmes, at Augusta, Georgia in June of 1898, her father was an iron worker and farmer. He preferred the name “Florence” and thus she became known by this name the rest of her life. At an early age, Florence gained horseback experience by riding the plow horses and mules, bareback, between the stables and fields. Not much is known of her formative years other than by the time she was thirteen or fourteen, she left home and joined a Circus or Wild West show as an equestrian performer.

After a couple of years of performing, she started an act of her own dubbed, “Princess Mohawk’s Wild West Hippodrome.” She toured with various Wild West shows until she heard about a rodeo in Calgary where there was big money to be won.

Rodeo historian, Willard Porter, wrote, “In 1919 at the Calgary Stam-

pede, a young lady made internal headlines when she singlehandedly out rode thirteen male contestants in the Roman race riding.” That young lady was our Florence.

The win at Calgary catapulted her rodeo career. From then on, Florence competed in Roman Racing, Trick Riding and Ladies Bronc Riding (all contested events at the time), at rodeos across the United States and Canada.

Rodeos first professional announcer and historian, Foghorn Clancy, called her a “Seeker of adventure.”

Florence is credited with being the first lady to master turning a backwards somersault from one horse to another while performing at full speed. She is also credited with being a ten-time world champion, although in her day there were no official “World Champions” recognized. Several rodeos throughout the country claimed their winners were the “World Champion.”

It should be noted however, that she was considered one of the best in her day and is said to have competed in over five-hundred rodeo performances.

In 1925, she married fellow rodeo performer and Wild West showman, Floyd Randolph. Although she is bestknown as Florence Hughes Randolph, prior to her marriage to Floyd, she also performed as Florence Holmes, The Princess of Mohawk, Florence Hughes, Florence King and Florence Fenton as she experienced a number of failed marriages. Florence and Floyd endured however and the couple became well-know performers.

Later in life, they continued to support rodeo, becoming members of the Rodeo Historical Society.

Along about the late 1920s, Florence went to Hollywood where she doubled for movie stars, raced motorcycles and did horse and motorcycle stunts. However, in an interview Florence once said, “I had the rodeo fever, so I left Hollywood and went back to Texas.”

Although a daring champion with numerous wins to her credit, she also experienced several injuries along the way. In 1971 she told an interviewer, “I’ve been carried off for dead several times.” She was actually pronounced

dead in 1923 following an accident.

On another occasion she was rushed to the hospital. When she awoke on the table, she heard the doctor say out loud, if she lived, she would never walk again. It is said that scared her so badly she jumped up and fled the building clad only in a sheet!

One of her most prestigious wins came at Madison Square Garden in 1927. At the time, this rodeo was considered by many to be the “National Finals” of its day. Metro Goldwyn Mayer sponsored a silver trophy for the rodeo, which was like winning a “Gold Buckle” today. This coveted trophy was won by Florence that year.

Florence passed away in April of 1971 after a long and decorated career.

One of the most prestigious names in rodeo from the formative days, Florence Hughes Randolph was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museums Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1968. She was also posthumously inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1994.

Jim Olson ©2016, www.TotallyWestern.com

Horn Flies: The $1 Billion Bite at Profits News With A View & A Whole Lot More...

THE most effective advertising medium in ranching today!

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f you have livestock, a product or service that stockmen and their families need, they will find out about it quickly if you advertise in the Digest.

Digest readers know value when they see it and they respond rapidly to a good offer.

Before you plan your advertising budget, think hard about how to stretch your dollars and where they are spent the most efficiently. Are you paying more to reach fewer qualified potential customers than you woud receive in the Digest? The Digest’s circulation is concentrated in the most important livestock producing states: Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington and Texas. The Digest caters to the most active readers in the livestock world who ARE the buyers and sellers of livestock, the ones who show up and speak up. It is the ONLY place to get Lee Pitt’s perspective on the world and how we are going to thrive into the future.

To plan your advertising, contact Caren Cowan at: caren@aaalivestock.com or 505/243-9515, ext. 21

Break the horn fly life cycle this spring to avoid being robbed of productivity and profits.

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an you imagine being bit 120,000 times per day? It might be hard to imagine what this feels like, however during peak time frames, as many as 4,000 horn flies can call a cow’s hide home. At 30 blood meals per day, that adds up to 120,000 bites per cow.

Not only are these bites irritating your cows, but with production losses for the U.S. cattle industry are estimated at up to $1 billion annually, they’re also biting away at your profits.

“High horn fly populations can cause blood loss and increased cattle stress or annoyance,” says Ted Perry, cattle nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition. “Annoyance can cause cattle to use their energy to combat flies, change their grazing patterns and cause cattle grouping. Ultimately, it can lead to decreases in milk production, causing a reduction in calf weaning weights.”

From ear tags and pour-ons to mineral or feed supplements with fly control, there are a lot of different ways to manage flies. And each solution has a place in the industry, adds Perry.

With so many fly control options available, what’s the best way to break the horn fly cycle?

“The best place to start is by breaking the life cycle in the manure,” says Perry.

Making manure magic One of the most convenient and consistent ways to control horn flies in cattle is giving them a mineral supplement that contains an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR).

“An IGR passes through the animal and into the manure, where horn flies lay their eggs,” says Perry. “It breaks the horn fly life cycle by preventing pupae from developing into biting adult flies.”

Using mineral supplements with an IGR can help reduce expenses, labor and stress on your cattle that other methods can cause. Cattle don’t need to be rounded up or handled, since IGR is consumed by the animal and fly control is spread through its manure as it grazes.

It also provides consistency, as cattle are regularly consuming IGR through their mineral.

In like a lion, out like a lamb Weather forecasts predict a particularly wet spring and hot summer, a great combination for horn fly populations. Perry says you should act now to keep fly populations under control this summer and into fall.

“Feed a fly control mineral 30 days before the last frost of spring, before fly emergence,” says Perry. “This 30-day window at the beginning of spring is critical, because temperatures can fluctuate to levels that cause flies to emerge. Once those flies are present, you want to have fly control in the manure.”

Perry recommends continuing to feed fly control mineral through summer and 30 days after the last frost in the fall.

“You might have an aggressive spring and summer fly control strategy, but finishing strong in fall is also really important,” he adds. “Horn flies overwinter in the pupal stage, which can jump-start adult populations in the spring. Using fly control mineral longer in the fall decreases the opportunity for flies to overwinter in the soil and reduces large fly populations the following spring.”

Don’t let it wash away There are many forms of fly control mineral available, but it’s important to choose one that can stand up to the unpredictable weather that spring brings.

Rain and other elements can quite literally wash your mineral investment down the drain, or turn your mineral into a bricktype substance which cattle often refuse to eat.

Look for a fly control mineral that can withstand the weather.

A weatherized mineral should have a large particle size and adequate water and wind resistance.

“Using a fly control mineral this spring can help keep fly populations down, but only if cattle are consuming it. If you’re not seeing consumption because the mineral has been turned into a hard block or because the particles are being blown away, then your investment is a loss,” adds Perry.

June 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Baxter BLACK O N T H E E D G E O F C O M M O N S E N S E

lecture on his range management theories but work beside him for a year or two and you’ll learn more about protecting the environment and workin’ with nature than you’d read in thousand BLM pamphlets.

He probably wouldn’t have

Page 15 you don’t get the salt scattered in the right place there’ll be heck to pay!

The person that answers that ad ought to know better than to set down and start askin’ about paid holidays, days off, cost of living escalators and a five-year

www.baxterblack.com

Wanted: Cowboy WANTED: Cowboy. No TV, No phone. If you don’t like dogs and can’t tough it in the mountains, don’t apply - Alamo, Nevada.

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’d like to meet the ol’ boy that wrote that ad. You can almost picture him in your mind.

We’re all acquainted with somebody that fits his description. He might be willing to give you a month off to go see your ailin’ mother but better not ask for every Saturday and Sunday off to go ropin’! He’s not liable to set down and give you a two hour

He’d get a day’s work, good grub, a warm bunk, and that kind of “family feelin’” that comes with cowboyin’ much sympathy if you bucked off one of his colts but if yer wife’s in the hospital he’ll make sure you have everything you need.

He’d look the other way if you got picked up by the deputy for gettin’ rowdy in town but if

contract. However, if I don’t miss my guess, he’ll get a day’s pay for a day’s work, good grub, a warm bunk and that kind of “family feelin’” that comes with cowboyin’.

There’s plenty of good hands

that could answer that ad and fit right in. If he gits the job you can bet yer silver snuff can lid he’s a cowboy. A reporter asked me awhile back if I was a cowboy. I said no. That name is reserved for them that make their livin’ punchin’ cows. It didn’t bother me to be mistaken for a cowboy, matter of fact I’m proud of it. But that honor belongs to that particular feller who gits up everyday, puts on his spurs and goes to work.

Them that writes “COWBOY” in the blank space after ‘occupation’ on the IRS form; they’re what I’m talkin’ about.

Real cowboys; the backbone of the cattle business. www.baxterblack.com

Governor Sandoval Urges Relaxed Grazing Restrictions as Drought Wanes WWW.NEVADAAPPEAL.COM

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overnor Brian Sandoval is urging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reconsider livestock grazing restrictions in northeast Nevada, saying that may now be unwarranted given a wet winter that has drought conditions on the mend.

The Republican governor who recently called for expedited roundups of wild horses in Nevada says the agency’s current management scheme wrongly prioritizes mustangs ahead of ranchers — a matter of much debate for

decades in the 10 western states where the mustangs roam from California to Colorado.

Sandoval said widespread precipitation has provided healthy forage and water resources in areas stung by five consecutive years of drought.

“Drought conditions in 2015 were a very different story and decisions based on that timeframe need to be revisited — especially decisions that drastically affect an industry and the livelihoods of many hardworking Nevadans,” he said in a letter last week to BLM Nevada State Director John Ruhs arguing against

Wolf Pups Under the Microscope In Bottle-Feeding Study

BY MOLLY ROSENBLATT / MINNESOTA.CBSLOCAL.COM

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he sound of wolves howling is a common one at the Wildlife Science Center in Columbus.

But that haunting sound has been eclipsed lately by the sounds of whimpering puppies.

The 5-week-old pups are helping answer questions in captivity that cannot be answered in the wild The center is in partnership with Duke University to study cognition and social interaction by bottle feeding the pups.

“They’re so different than dogs. They’re capable of movement and interaction so much earlier than dogs,” said Peggy Callahan, the center’s founder and executive director.

And they are involved in more than one study. The North American grey wolf puppies are actually being used in a study to help learn about the breeding struggles of the Mexican wolf.

“We are always looking at things before it gets tested on a very endangered species, so we are using contraceptives

on these guys that prevents breeding. But then the question is, ‘Is it going to be reversible?’” Callahan said. “Because if you interfere with breeding success with even one or two Mexican wolves, that has profound implications for the database, the DNA of those wolves.”

The six puppies in the study are part of four litters, but not all the females were able to reproduce after being taken off the contraception.

“There are implications that there is some long-term impact on fertility, and that’s unfortunate,” Callahan said.

“No big deal for us, but it’s a big deal for the Mexican wolf.”

Callahan also has a K-9 helper named Sean, a German Shepard who acts as a surrogate parent.

“No matter how much time I spend with them, I can’t mimic that dog behavior down to the letter like he can,” she said. “So it gives them comfort. He corrects them, he makes them go to the bathroom, he’s just amazing.”

The puppies already weigh 10 pounds at 5 weeks old. As adults, that subspecies of gray wolf, called the tundra wolf, tops out at about 130 pounds.

grazing restrictions anticipated this summer based on last fall’s assessments.

Sandoval said he’s concerned about the growing over-population of horses, “the negative impact they have on our rangeland, and the burden of the proposed solution being solely put upon the livestock industry.”

He said the proposed action “prioritizes wild horse populations above livestock producers.”

Nevada is home to nearly 28,000 wild horses — more than half of the 47,000 estimated in the West. BLM argues the range can sustain less than half that many — about 12,000 in Nevada and 26,000 nationally.

Nevada BLM spokesman Stephen Clutter told The Associated Press that agency officials are conducting tours with grazing permittees to observe on-theground conditions and discuss management options and changes for the 2016 season.

Clutter agrees there’s been “significant improvements” in

drought conditions over the past year but expressed caution. “The effects of drought are cumulative and it can take several years of good precipitation for vegetation to fully recover,” he said.

At the governor’s wildland fire briefing in Carson City recently, Nevada State Water Engineer Jason King said the 2015-16 winter was good when considering the four years prior.

“I characterize it as an average water year,” King said. “We’re doing much better than we were, but we’re not out of the drought and we shouldn’t forget that.”

Clutter said grazing restrictions are one of the tools the agency has to protect the ecological health of the range, and the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 is just one of many laws that guide BLM. Under that law, areas where the animals were found in 1971 are to be managed “principally but not necessarily exclusively” for wild horses or burros, Clutter said

Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Idaho-based conservation group the Western Watersheds Project, said it’s clear ranchers have no legal right to graze their livestock on public lands.

“They have the privilege of having the preference to graze when conditions are favorable as determined by the BLM and based on science,” she said.

“First in line should be the endangered species like the sage grouse that absolutely need to be relieved of livestock grazing in their range if they are going to recover.”

Anderson said Sandoval’s letter is “indicative of how politicized public lands livestock grazing is — with the industry getting politicians to strong-arm agency decision making.”

“Instead, the governor should be concerned with job creation programs for a sustainable economy,” she said, “and propping up the cowboy culture of the arid West isn’t it.”

Page 16

Livestock Market Digest

June 15, 2016

Forestry Company Sues Greenpeace Under Anti-Mafia Law For Conspiracy

BY ANDREW FOLLETT / ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTER / DAILY CALLER

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forestry company filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit against Greenpeace Tuesday for misrepresenting the company’s environmental record to raise funds and promote its agenda.

Greenpeace knowingly and deliberately made false claims about the company while fundraising, and fabricated evidence of Resolute’s alleged environmental malfeasance, according to the forestry and paper company

Resolute Forest Products. RICO is an anti-mafia law designed to combat organized crime. “‘Greenpeace’ is a global fraud,” states the 124-page legal complaint. “For years, this international network of environmental groups collectively calling themselves ‘Greenpeace’ has fraudulently induced people throughout the United States and the world to donate millions of dollars based on materially false and misleading claims about its purported environmental purpose and its ‘campaigns’ against targeted companies.

Maximizing donations, not saving the environment, is Green-

peace’s true objective.”

Resolute alleges Greenpeace outright fabricated and digitally modified photos to damage the company and increase fundraising efforts. It accuses the environmental group of being “consistently based on sensational misinformation untethered to facts or science, but crafted instead to induce strong emotions and, thereby, donations.”

Greenpeace has ironically repeatedly urged the federal government to investigate oil companies and organizations that dispute the risks of global warming using the exact same RICO legislation. Specifically, Green-

peace’s media officer called upon the Department of Justice to undertake a “broad” investigation to “look into the role of other fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and think tanks in sowing doubt about the risks of climate change.”

Greenpeace and other environmental activists met behind closed doors in January to coordinate how to best get government prosecutors to go after ExxonMobil for allegedly misleading the public about global warming, according to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal in April.

Three state attorneys general

G N I S I T R E V D A T S E B N E R E TH T S E W N I E VALU CK INDUSTRY! O T S E V LI

launched investigations into Exxon at the behest of Greenpeace and other environmental activist groups since November. The attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands sent a subpoena to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian think tank, in April. The AGs are basing their investigations on reports from InsideClimate News and Columbia University claiming Exxon knew about the dangers of global warming for decades while funding groups skeptical of warming.

Both groups are financed by leftwing foundations looking to ban oil and other conventional sources of energy.

Humane Society to Spread Meatless Mondays

BY JASON HUFFMAN POLITICO.COM WITH HELP FROM CATHERINE BOUDREAU, IAN KULLGREN, JENNY HOPKINSON, VICTORIA GUIDA AND HELENA BOTTEMILLER EVICH

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Call Ron Archer today at 505/865-6011 or email archerron@aol.com

Reser ve you r

Livestock M space now in arket Digest ’s

Annual Fall Marketing E ditio

n

ADVERTISING DEADLINE: August 1

hen Kristie Middleton launched the meatless transition team at the Humane Society of the United States in 2011 she was an army of one. Now her group numbers 15, and they claim success in getting 200 school districts across the country to reduce their meat offerings, reports Pro Agriculture’s Ian Kullgren this morning. That’s not counting hospitals, senior homes or corporate cafeterias.

Among the converts: The U.S. Coast Guard Academy, in New London, Connecticut, which has cut its meat consumption by as much as 10 percent in three years, and the Compass Group, the world’s largest food catering company, which reduced beef purchases 10 percent a year from 2015-17.

If you were wondering where the Humane Society might strike next after its big victories in the cage-free chicken battle, this is it. The playbook is similar, creating a demand for meat-free alternatives by targeting mass buyers that feed thousands of people a day.

“These institutions have massive purchasing power,” said Middleton, the Humane Society’s senior director of food policy. “They typically will market those choices to their consumers, so they are helping with that educational component and outreach as well.”