LMD Mar 16

Riding Herd

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

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

March 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 58 • No. 3

If Dogs Could Talk

Could It Happen Here? M That’s BILLION, With a B!

By Lee Pitts

Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a lot bigger than you think.

W

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

e are all part of one big happy global family now. But you know what happens when one member of a family comes down with the creeping crud don’t you? Every member in the family seems to catch it.

Today, there are so many ways that healthy members of the global family can catch a bug: through increased travel and tourism, from a flood of illegal immigrants, the very scary threat of bioterrorism, and increasing imports of food. And we don’t have to look far to see the devastating results that foreign diseases can have on a producer, or an entire industry.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea is a highly contagious virus that causes diarrhea and vomiting in swine with a death rate of between 50 and 100 percent of infected piglets. The virus was first seen in this country in April 2013 and has spread now to 27 states. The good news is that the disease is not transmissible to other species or to humans, but the bad news is that between seven and eight million pigs have died of it in just the United States.

The PED virus started killing piglets in Europe in 1971 so it can be said that the U.S. swine industry did a good job of keeping it at bay for years. But sooner or later in the global marketplace, as with Mad Cow (BSE) disease, we were bound to catch

it. Especially when you consider the many ways it can be spread.

Any manure tainted object such as trailers, equipment, boots, and clothing can carry the virus and it can survive for weeks in cold weather. Then there is this little matter... like many of our illegals, our government officials still have no idea how the PED virus entered this country!

Although I’m a well known despiser of poultry, it still saddens me to think of all the tasteless chickens that died in the Spring of last year from avian influenza in the single worst outbreak of an animal disease in this nation’s history! More

than 200 premises were affected in 15 States, with more than 48 million birds depopulated.

That’s a fancy word for murdered!

But such a disaster could never happen to us in the beef business, right?

One of the dirty little secrets of all this globaloney is that never in our country’s history have we exposed ourselves to so many of the world’s bugs, viruses and illnesses. And there is one lurking out there that has the potential to bring this nation’s cattlemen and cattlewomen to their knees, as it did before in this country.

It’s been 87 years since there’s been a foot and mouth epidemic in this country. Since 1929 we’ve been free of one of the most economically damaging animal diseases in the world. But we’re playing with fire. While FMD fans its flames in 100 countries around the world we keep signing trade agreements that enable countries with foot and mouth disease, or who share borders with countries that do, to send their beef here. And make no mistake that beef could carry the FMD virus. If and when it arrives on our shores, the results will be disastrous. According to Dustin Pendell, a Kansas State economist, if FMD broke out here losses to producers and consumers would total approximately $188 billion! That’s in addition to government costs of $11 billion for controlling livestock movement and killing off infected and exposed livestock. continued on page two

Judge holds Forest Service in contempt over Wyoming goat and sheep ban CHRISTINE PETERSON, TRIB.COM

A

n Idaho federal judge found the U.S. Forest Service in contempt of court recently, concluding the Forest Service used a flawed study as the basis to ban domestic sheep and goats from some of its lands.

The lawsuit came in 2015 after the Shoshone National Forest prohibited domestic sheep and goats from entering the forest to prevent the spread of deadly diseases to bighorn sheep.

The contempt of court ruling, made by B. Lynn Winmill of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, requires the Forest Service pay for legal fees for the Idaho Wool Growers Association and the North American Packgoat Association, the two plaintiffs in the case. It does not go as far as the groups requested by ordering additional fines and reversing the sheep and goat ban.

Winmill deferred ruling on the specifics of the ban, instead ordering a “status conference” with the groups to discuss the issue. Packgoats are often used by backpackers and hikers to carry food and other supplies on backcountry trips.

Andrew Irvine, a Jackson-based attorney representing the Packgoat Association, praised the judge’s decision.

“Obviously, this upcoming status conference with the court will determine what happens to the existing Shoshone Land Management Plan and the Forest Service’s decision to ban domestic sheep and goats on the Shoshone National Forest,” Irvine said. “I am hopeful the Forest Service will be willing to sit down and work with NAPGA on a reasonable solution.”

The Forest Service received the ruling, and its Office of General Counsel is reviewing it, said Jace Ratzlaff, regional legislative affairs and SRS coordinator for the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Regional office.

The North American Packgoat Association sued the Forest Service in 2015, claiming the Forest Service used a flawed, and illegal, study to ban domestic sheep and goats.

That study came from 2006 in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. Groups sued over the report, stating it was completed without representation from “anyone engaged in domestic sheep management or behavior,” accontinued on page five

y wife yelled for me to come and watch the TV because after a “short” commercial break, that wasted ten minutes of my life, there’d be an unbelievable story about people talking to dogs through the use of computers. Sound interesting? I thought so too.

Imagine my disappointment when it turned out that a computer specialist at Georgia Tech put computer vests on service dogs so that in an emergency a dog can find a human who will pull a lever on the vest that will trigger an audio message in English such as, “My handler needs you to come with me.” In other words, I squirmed through several incontinence and erectile disfunction ads only to learn that dogs still weren’t talking to people. I felt like an idiot being suckered in that way, but it did serve as a good reminder as to why I don’t watch television.

It did get me to thinking though, what if computer nerds were somehow able to translate barks into words we could understand? I wonder, what would dog’s have to say to us?

Here’s what I think the first words of representatives of the ten dumbest breeds of dogs would be. The number following each breed is their ranking of intelligence as determined by Stanley Coran in his masterpiece, The Intelligence of Dogs. (Please note, there’s not a single cow dog amongst the dummies.)

Shih Tzu (#70) – Just because I can’t even spell my own name doesn’t mean I’m stupid. And I thought you said you were going to get me “fixed.”

Bassett Hound (#71) – Look at that smug Border Collie (#1) over there thinking he’s so smart. Who does he think he is, Einstein? And look at that disgusting Poodle (#2) all trimmed up like some hedge in a billionaire’s topiary garden. What a slut.

Beagle (#72) – Okay, so I’m not the brightest bulb in the kennel but I’m not as dumb as you think. And chicks think I’m cute. And it continued on page six

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Page 2

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2016

COULD IT HAPPEN HERE? doesn’t take into account the emotional toll that it took on the producers who had to see their livelihood disappear in flames.”

Yes, even with all the scientific breakthroughs, still the most widely used disease control measure to stop FMD is to incinerate them. Just imagine having to destroy your own herd all because we had opened our beef market to over 30 countries around the world.

to discuss this threat.

According to the committee’s report, FMD spreads easily through livestock movement, by wind currents, on vehicles that have traveled to and from infected farms, and even on inanimate objects that have come in contact with the virus. It affects all cloven hoofed species, including wildlife such as deer and elk. It is so dangerous because it can also be spread by direct or indirect contact with infected animals, spread by aerosol from infected animals, the feeding contaminated garbage, coming in contact with contaminated objects, through artificial insemination and contaminated biologicals.

Even though it would have no effect on humans, its effect on the animal industry would be severe due to the control

Rubbing Salt In Our Wounds The same government that is exposing us to foreign FMD with all their trade deals admits there is a growing FMD threat.

So much so that last month the House Agriculture Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee convened a meeting

ELM

FARMINGTON

Iowa State economist Dermot Hayes estimates “revenue losses to just the U.S. pork and beef industries from an FMD outbreak at $12.9 billion per year over a 10-year period.”

We can get some idea of the carnage FMD would cause in this country by looking at the 2001 outbreak in the United Kingdom. According to BBC News Magazine, “There were 2,000 official cases of FMD in 2001, and by the end of September of that year when the last FMD case was confirmed, more than 6 million pigs, sheep and cattle had been disposed of.

Images of the piles of thousands of dead and burning livestock are still vivid. It’s estimated the FMD outbreak cost the public sector over $4,291,950,000, and the private sector more than $7,153,250,000, and that

continued from page one

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measures that would be necessary to contain it.

Anything that spreads FMD is called a “fomite”. The boots you’re wearing are a potential fomite, as is your pickup, but the biggest potential fomite of all is imported meat. And get this: in case of an FMD infection here, all of our exports of beef would be halted immediately, while beef and dairy imports would still be allowed from all but the offending country.

Talk about rubbing salt in the wound!

The Odds Against Us In trying to get a handle on the real potential of an FMD outbreak in the U.S. I came across one study that found the total probability of introduction into the USA of FMD to be 0.415 percent per year, which is equivalent to one introduction every 241 years. That’s not bad, I thought. Until I read further.

That number is only the risk from from getting FMD from the importation of live animals, which is far down on the list of ways we could get it.

To give you some idea of the prevalence of FMD around the world I found one study in 2011 that reported that of the 177 member countries of the World Organization for Animal Health, 95 countries had FMD. In other words, over half the world is a breeding ground for the disease! That’s why our government officials say that the possibility of an outbreak in this country, “is very real and is taken seriously by U.S. officials.”

Here was some more good news, or so I thought. According to testimony before the February subcommittee, the likelihood of having a small or regionalized outbreak of FMD here is remote. But that’s only because any outbreak would more likely be huge, not small.

Consider that one million pigs and 400,000 cattle are on the road daily in the U.S. When you add in the fairs and shows that concentrate large numbers of animals it is far more likely that if we get hit, it will be a wallop.

Are We Prepared?

One of the most thorough and informative presentations before the February Congressional subcommittee was made by the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). With 68,000 pork producers marketing more than 110 million hogs annually, the pig producers would have a lot to lose in an FMD outbreak.

According to their written testimony, “If an FMD outbreak were to occur, several strategies are available for responding, including the use of vaccine. Currently, the amount of vaccine available at the North American FMD Vaccine Bank is below what would be required for an outbreak. The funding USDA has and is receiving for the National Veterinary Stockpile is insufficient to provide adequate FMD vaccine stockpiles, which would slow the deployment of a vaccination strategy.”

The NPPC report continues, “The FMD virus has seven viral serotypes and more than 60 subtypes, with wide strain variability. Managing and ultimately eradicating FMD requires strain-specific vaccines, making vaccination challenging and very expensive. Sporadic outbreaks with different types continue to pop up in countries around the world.

“After watching countries such as the UK, Korea and Japan, whose livestock populations pale in comparison to the U.S., struggle to manage an FMD outbreak by killing large numbers of animals, APHIS changed its existing policy on managing the disease from “stamping out” to using vaccine to limit the spread. This policy change was endorsed by the livestock industry as a cheaper and more practical alternative. The United States simply cannot “kill” its way out of an FMD outbreak!”

The only problem with trying to combat the spread of FMD through vaccinations is that APHIS “does not have the quantity of vaccine needed to implement this new policy, nor could vaccine be obtained in a timely manner in the event of an outbreak.”

Here’s the rub: “Current U.S. law prohibits live FMD virus from being introduced onto the U.S. mainland,” so foreign companies are the only source of finished vaccines. According to the NPPC testimony, “The United States is the only country in the world to maintain its own antigen bank.” (Located at Plum Island, New York.).

“The bank maintains antigen for a limited number of FMD strains. APHIS contracts with foreign vaccine production companies to produce finished vaccine from the antigen stored at Plum Island. If an outbreak occurs, the antigen is shipped to Europe to produce vaccine, and the finished product is shipped back to the U.S. Based on the current production contract, after three weeks, this process would produce only 2.5 million doses of vaccine, and there is no surge capacity to produce more.”

Iowa State’s Dr. Roth estimates that the U.S. livestock industry would need 10 million doses for the first two weeks of an outbreak.

Playing With Fire Remember that FMD outbreak in the UK we told you about earlier? They still don’t know where it came from. They don’t rule out the possibility that the UK was the target of biological warfare or bioterrorism by unfriendly nations. The CIA lists Foot and Mouth Disease as one of the 15 animal agents that have potential for biological warfare.

Last November there was a different House Ag Committee hearing on American Agriculture and National Security, continued on page four

March 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

COULD IT HAPPEN HERE? continued from page two which highlighted the vulnerability of the U.S. food supply to the potential for foreign animal disease introduction by terrorists, or by accident. The Blue Ribbon report issued by that committee said that a terrorist group wishing to show the weakness of the United States could target our ag industry with FMD. The panel theorized how such an attack using FMD could occur. “A member of the terrorist group travels to Asia (possibly China) to obtain scabs or fluid from an infected animal. Terrorist infect a small herd of swine to act as an incubator. Samples are collected from herd and buffered at a pH between 6.5 and 11 to maintain viability and are placed in aerosolizesers. Members of the terrorist group travel to major livestock centers in the U.S. and gain access to major livestock markets throughout the United States.

Members spray aerosolized FMD into pens of cattle and swine in sale barns, and trucks.

Animals are then dispersed to different parts of the country.

Some animals begin to develop symptoms as early as 12 hours after exposure, but initially are attributed to shipping stress.

After initially exposed animals have been moved out, the pens and grounds are contaminated and posed to infect the next group of animals to enter the livestock market.

“The biologic economic warfare cycle has begun. Before FMD can be initially diagnosed, it has already spread

beyond the initial confines of the livestock markets. Trucks hauling animals from market are dispersing the agent around the country.”

So you see, it’s a fair question... could it happen here?

It certainly can if the United States is serious about letting other countries like the African nation of Namibia ship their beef here. That country has had 30 outbreaks of footand-mouth disease in cattle in the past six months and yet we are seriously considering allowing them access you our beef market.

And we’re only talking about one disease when there are several that could bring us down. Although we’re talking about a different bug, perhaps this will provide a better perspective. Chipotle learned the lesson the hard and expensive way when they began importing beef from Australia in 2014. After they fingered beef from down under as the E. coli culprit that put 21 people in the hospital it was announced that Chipotle’s January 2016 sales were down a whopping 36 percent and one survey showed 60 percent of loyal and longtime customers were actively avoiding eating there.

Now put yourself in Chipotle’s shoes. Only in addition to losing all that money you may have to incinerate your entire life’s work. Then tell me again about all the wonders of globalization.

Like our mothers used to tell us, if you play with fire long enough, you will get burned.

Page 3

Jauer Dependable Genetics 39th Annual Angus Bred Female & Bull Sale Results

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auer Dependable Genetics had another successful production sale on January 30th in Hinton, Iowa.

The weather was nice and buyers came from 10 states to purchase cattle.

Sale Results: 145 head, gross, $464,250 30 spring bred cows, avg., $3,400 11 fall cows w/calves, avg., $3,100 71 commercial heifers, avg., $2,150 33 two year old bulls, avg., $5,300 Volume Buyers 13 bred cows, Amana Farms, Amana, Iowa 11 commercial heifers, Jocelyn Robinson, Hinton, Iowa

13 bulls, Robert Ellsworth, South Dakota High sellers: Spring bred cow – lot 5, Jauer 173 Anchor 109 5157, $6,700, sold to 5L Red Angus Ranch in Montana Fall cow w/calf – lot 50, Jauer 8065 41/97 4032 1171, $4,800, sold to Ben Vondrak in Iowa Commercial heifer – lot 83, $2,450, sold to Darin Vagle in Minnesota Two year old bull – lot 207, Jauer X-tra Wide 965 4010, $12,000, sold to Bobby Ellsworth in South Dakota Cattle sold into 10 states - IA, IL, MN, MO, MT, NE, OK, SD, AR, & OH.

Page 4

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2016

The Politicization of the Environmental Movement

BY BRIAN BLACK, SCIENCE

A

n environmental activist friend of mine recently shook her head and marveled at the extraordinary accomplishments of the last several months. “Still lots of work to be done,” she said. “But wow!

This has been an epic period for environmentalists!”

From the rejection of the Keystone pipeline to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (COP21), “epic” may be an apt descriptor for someone who is an environmentalist.

However, nothing galvanizes opposing forces to action better than significant wins by their foes. And 2016 appears to promise that environmental issues – particularly climate change – will be more politicized than ever before.

It wasn’t always this way.

By and large, environmental action since the 1960s proceeded in the U.S. in a bipartisan fashion, emphasizing issues of human health and resource conservation. That’s no longer true: almost by default, the Democratic Party stands largely alone, rather than together with the Republican Party, to uphold the ethic that environmental protection is a united, American common interest.

How have we gotten to a point where the environment has become such a partisan issue?

From Teddy R. to Reagan The intellectual roots of American environmentalism are most often traced back to the 19th-century ideas of Romanticism and Transcendentalism from thinkers such as Henry David Thoreau. These philosophical and aesthetic ideas grew into initiatives for preserving the first national parks and monuments, an effort closely associated with Theodore Roosevelt. By the close of the 19th century, a combination of

resource exploitation and increasing leisure led to a series of conservation efforts, such as protection of birds from feather hunters, which were often led by wealthy women.

Today’s environmentalism clearly harks back to these origins with aspects of being a social movement that seeks clear political outcomes, including regulation and government action. But much of what became known as the “modern environmental movement” originally coalesced around groups that formed under the influence of 1960s radicalism.

The large oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 provided some of the impetus for landmark environmental laws signed by Nixon, including the Clean Air Act, which he signed December 31, 1970.

The biggest impact of these organizations, though, came during the later 1960s and 1970s, when their membership skyrocketed with large numbers of the concerned, but not-so-radical, middle class.

Through the formation of “nongovernment organizations” (NGOs), ranging widely from the Audubon Society to the Sierra Club, Americans found a mechanism through which they could demand a political response to environmental problems from lawmakers.

During the 1970s and 1980s, NGOs often initiated the call for specific policies and then lobbied members of Congress to create legislation. Such bipartisan action included clean water laws that restored Lake Erie and Ohio’s Cuyahoga River or responded to dramatic events such as the Santa Barbara Oil Spill in 1969.

The nuclear power accident at Three Mile Island in 1979 fueled an antinuclear protest, a major concern of many environmentalists.

Republican and Democratic presidents of this era signed

laws that had begun with grassroots demands for environmental action. Environmental issues, whether they were the effects of acid rain or the ozone hole, had become a prime concern in the political arena. Indeed, by the 1980s, NGOs had created a new political and legal battlefield as each side of environmental arguments sought to lobby lawmakers.

These gains by environmentalists had a ripple effect politically. In A Climate of Crisis, historian Patrick Allitt describes the opposition to environmentalism that emerged as a result of the bipartisan action on environment in the 1970s.

In particular, he describes the “anti-environmental” response manifested in policies of President Ronald Reagan, who slowed efforts to limit private development on public lands and set out to shrink the responsibilities of the federal government.

Antiregulation Today, portions of this backlash appear to inform the views of candidates in the 2016 Republican presidential primary who reiterate the libertarian belief that it’s best to severely limit government regulation of the environment.

And compared to the cooperative vision of past leaders including President Teddy Roosevelt and Congressman John Saylor, who fought in the 1960s for wilderness and scenic river legislation, the Republican environmental mandate of the past appears today to be stymied.

Climate change and environmental issues have barely come up in presidential debates, with candidates typically complaining that environment regulations will harm the economy.

Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz, for example, tapped into this spirit when in December 2015 he held a three-hour “hearing” ti-

tled “Data or Dogma? Promoting Open Inquiry in the Debate over the Magnitude of Human Impact on Climate Change” (which technically was convened by the science panel of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that he chairs).

Prior to his hearing on the topic, climate change had been little discussed at the party’s presidential debates; however, Cruz proclaimed that the “accepted science” proving climate change was actually a “religion” being forced on the American public by “monied interests.”

By contrast, Democrats stress the term “common sense” and appear more than content to allow their party to become the primary bastion for environmental concern. Hillary Clinton, as the likely Democratic presidential candidate, has often been publicly ahead of the Obama administration on environmental issues.

For instance, when in early 2015 Obama approved the expansion of Arctic drilling, Clinton openly opposed it. Also, Clinton was openly against the Keystone pipeline project long before Obama definitively rejected it.

In both Keystone and Arctic drilling, Obama allowed the issues a long and very public vetting process that has revealed a powerful, broad-based environmental lobby. NGOs such as 350.org and others have demonstrated a willingness for activist demonstrations, particularly due to a deep base of support for issues such as climate change and sustainable energy.

Republican candidates seem prepared to relent possible compromise on environmental questions in order to appeal to a special interest faction of their party. Overall, though, Gallup polling demonstrates broadbased support for environmental issues, including a solid 46 percent favoring protecting the

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environment over economic development.

Climate change worsens the political divide Going forward, the most revealing flashpoint on issues related to the environment is likely to be climate change, particularly after the historic Paris Agreement of December 2015.

Global warming first made front page news in the 1980s when NASA scientist James Hansen testified to the Senate.

Then in 2007, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made history by specifying the connection between temperature rise and human activity with “very high confidence.”

An emerging political force: activists for action on climate change and sustainable energy.

In its relation to environmentalism, climate change represents a clear expansion of thinking. While local issues such as oil spills and toxic waste remain concerns, climate change clarified the possible planet-changing extent of the human impact. As a concept, it has had time to percolate through human culture so that today we are most concerned with issues of “mitigation” and “adaptation” – managing or dealing with implications.

In each case, these responses to climate change involve plans for regulations to, for example, limit carbon emissions. In response to the increasing call for structural changes to our economy and society, contrary voices (such as that of Cruz) have found traction by saying mitigation efforts will undercut economic development and, in general, disrupt our everyday lives.

Not surprisingly, concrete mitigation efforts, such as discussions of “cap and trade” legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions and international pacts such as COP21, have also spurred panicked responses among those destined to be impacted by the new thinking.

For instance, coal companies and a number of states openly fight efforts by the EPA to monitor and regulate CO2 as a pollutant.

So who politicized the environment?

Ultimately, voters have.

By tying environmental issues such as climate change to our system of laws and regulations at the end of the 1960s, Americans permanently chained these concerns to political vagaries in the future.

Politics is now an integral part of the process of regulating the nation’s environment and health.

Therefore, a better question might be: “Who exploits the issue of environmental protection for political gain?” That answer, it appears, unfolds today for American voters.

Professor Brian Black teaches at Pennsylvania State University. This article first appeared at The Conversation.

March 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 5

US E. coli outbreak blamed on Australian beef WWW.SKYNEWS.COM

A

ustralian beef has been blamed for a mass E. coli outbreak at US fast food chain Chipotle despite authorities finding the cause of the outbreak in 14 states unclear.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly closed their investigation after being unable to pin-

point any of the 64 ingredients used by the restaurants as the likely culprit.

Publicly the Mexican food chain stated the same, but privately beef supplied

by Australian farmers since 2014 has been determined as the cause, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

“Chipotle concluded the E. coli was most likely from contaminated Australian beef,” the Wall Street Journal said.

The restaurants are continuing to serve Australian beef but have reportedly begun taking additional precautions, including testing the beef for pathogens and implementing measures to avoid staff members directly handling raw meat.

Hundreds of people across the US are believed to have fallen ill after eating contaminated food from Chipotle.

SingleTree Ranch Awarded Limousin Commercial Producer of the Year

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rank Daley of SingleTree Ranch, New Castle, Colorado, was honored as the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) Commercial Producer of the Year. The award was presented to Daley and his wife, Sheila, at the NALF annual membership banquet in Denver, Colorado.

They were selected from a group of commercial producers nominated by various state Limousin associations to receive the coveted national award. Other finalists included Delmer and Kyle Stern of Stern Farms, Garden City, South Dakota, Steve and Barbara Baier, Fritz and Melisa Baier of Entropy Acres, Griswold, Iowa, and Bernhard and Kathy Larson of Larson Limousin, Hendricks, Minnesota.

SingleTree Ranch is a family run cow-calf operation started near New Castle, in 1979 with

CONTEMPT continued from page one

cording to Winmill’s ruling.

A judge in 2009 sided with the groups, and added that the study’s findings could not be “relied upon by the Forest Service with respect to any future agency decisions.”

When the Shoshone National Forest released its final 2015 plan banning domestic sheep and goats, it used too many of the study’s findings, including exact wording from portions of the document, Winmill found.

“The court order from 2009 was fairly black and white, and it said not to use these documents,” said Steve Kilpatrick, executive director of the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation.

“It’s unfortunate that the Shoshone cut and pasted so many of the documents and didn’t cite additional research in its finding.”

The science behind disease transmission between domestic sheep and goats and wild sheep, and the merit of keeping the animals separate, is still sound, he said. Bighorn sheep herds, he added, continue to face die-offs across the West because of interactions with domestic livestock.

The Packgoat Association plans to meet with the Forest Service and the judge, and Irvine hopes they can reach an agreement that allows recreationists to use pack goats in the Shoshone forest once again.

the purchase of 106 acres of land. Frank bought his first Limousin bulls in 1981 and has used primarily Limousin bulls since.

In 2005 and 2007, SingleTree Ranch extended their ranch property by adding 250 cows on ranches near Wray, Colorado. The Daleys also started a partnership in 2014 with their daughter, Amy, and her husband, Nicholas Krick. They hope to improve their record keeping and efficiency with the extra help.

For several years, SingleTree has kept the calves “natural” (as per USDA guidelines) and marketed finished cattle to Coleman Natural Meats, Laura’s Lean, Meyer Natural Angus, and Ty-

son.

“Selling on a grid has worked well over the years because of Limousin’s excellent carcass traits. Our cattle will consistently grade well, with a high percentage Yield Grade 1s and 2s and large ribeye areas,” said Frank Daley.

“SingleTree Ranch combines all aspects of a progressive commercial operation. They utilize every tool available in making management decisions regarding genetics, land use, and marketing programs. Their hard work makes their operation efficient.

Coleman Limousin is proud to have nominated SingleTree Ranch for this award,” said Trent Coleman, Charlo, Mont.

The first outbreaks linked to the chain were reported in July last year and were followed by seven other reports of major outbreaks.

The CDC declared earlier this month it was likely the outbreak was over, and concluded an investigation without identifying the source of the contamination.

Bradley 3 Ranch, Ltd … The Wide Body Sale report

T

his proven program, once again offered Angus bulls with calving ease, muscle, and efficiency and a few really nice Charolais on February 13, 2016. There was a good crowd in attendance along with many bidders on Superior.

The high selling Angus bull was lot 16, at $13,000, to a repeat customer. This bull was out of a great cow, B3R 9180, he featured calving ease, growth, along with excellent gain on grass, and marbling.

Lot 16 a very complete balanced trait bull.

The 2nd high selling Angus

bull was lot 32, at $12,500.

Once again out of the great cow B3R 9180.

The 3rd high selling Angus bull was lot 126, at $12,000 out of B3R Back to Basics a high accuracy calving ease herd sire known for his docility and weaned calf value. (“cashable results“ as one customer describes it).

The entire offering averaged $7100. Bulls sold into 10 states.

Bradley 3 Ranch, Ltd next annual sale will be February 11, 2017 featuring 200+ Angus and Charolais bulls. This is a top 100 seed stock operation.

Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2016

Common ground: Young ranchers find resiliency through sharing

BY LAURA PETERSEN, THE UNION

S

hades of morning tinged the sky as ranchers Rob Thompson, Brad Fowler and Joe Fischer walked out into the field to inspect the young, tender forbs and brassicas — plantain, chicory and alfalfa — sprouting up in the grass.

The young plants will increase the nutrient diversity of the “forage base” that Fowler’s animals graze on.

Fowler and his ranching friends are experimenting with ways to improve the health of the soil.

In turn, the livestock they raise will be healthier.

Ultimately, the people who eat the meat will be healthier, too.

“It’s something we play around with. We’re all in the grazing business,” said Fowler.

Fowler and his wife, Alana, raise grass fed and finished beef, lamb, goat and pastured chicken, turkey and pork for their meat Community Supported

Agriculture operation, Fowler Family Farm.

The Fowlers also manage a herd of goats as part of their vegetation management business, The Goat Works.

Once a month, for roughly the past two years, this trio of young 30-something ranchers have met for breakfast and coffee and walks on the land to share ideas, trials and errors and give support to each other.

This small producer-led group has common ground.

Rather than view each other as competitors, they meet for educational and professional growth, for accountability and as a business resource.

They cover a range of topics — from soil health and rangeland restoration to animal husbandry, stockmanship and facilities design.

Jokingly, they refer to themselves as “grazing geeks.” Yet they are serious about their work and how the practice of taking care of the land translates into making a sustainable living on it.

“We’re all business entities

that support families,” said Rancher Joe Fischer.

Others join them, including veteran rancher, Dan Macon, who with his wife Sami runs a small-scale commercial sheep operation known as Flying Mule Farm.

Macon also serves as an assistant specialist for the rangeland program at UC Davis. He says meeting with other ranchers has helped his own operation.

“The purpose of our meetings is to share information, questions and mostly to learn from one another. I think the fact that we know and trust one another is key — we don’t see one another as competitors, and we’re willing to share problems as well as solutions.”

“We’ve all been at this long enough to realize that we have more questions than answers.

We’re all trying to learn — from each other, from our land and our animals, and from other innovative operations. We’re also comfortable with the fact that we don’t know it all — we’re not experts, but we’re all trying to become better at what we do,” said Macon.

All are graduates of the California Grazing Academy, taught

by Placer-Nevada County Farm Advisor Roger Ingram of University of California Cooperative Extension.

Ingram regularly joins the group on field trips and data collection.

They recently took soil samples at area ranches that were sent to Cornell University’s soil health lab.

“I help facilitate the group when needed, do a little teaching and a lot of listening. They are trying to implement things they learned at the Academy and many other things as well, and most importantly, they trust each other — which opens up a new level of sharing,” Ingram said.

Sun up to sun down farming and ranching can be isolating.

The meetings offer ranchers the chance to cooperatively work through problems in a way beyond the formal classroom.

Hardly a new notion, the idea of “grass alliances” is something that harkens back to the days of old. Ingram hopes to see spinoff groups emerge.

“I think, if anything, we need more smaller groups like that.

Finding ways to network is really critical,” he said.

Microbes and Dirt Thompson, 34, grew up in Eastern Oregon.

“I’m a cradle rancher. I was born into it. This is what I’ve always done,” he said.

His family bounced around, following the cattle. As a young man, he ran feedlots, grew corn, spent time “custom haying.”

“I gypsied around. Put up hay for people,” he said.

Five years ago, in between jobs, he and his wife moved to Nevada County.

Thompson found part-time work at Elster Ranch. Now, he manages the operation full-time.

He follows the lead of conservationist Aldo Leopold to holistically manage the grass with the sole emphasis of improving land health and sells beef and lamb on the side.

Elster Ranch beef can be found at BriarPatch Co-op and in the summer months at Nevada City Farmers Market.

In 1860, Joe Fischer’s family moved from Missouri to California’s Valley Springs area.

His grandfather drove hogs by horseback, hauled acorn-finished pork to the mines and ran a charcuterie business.

“All I ever wanted to be was a cowboy,” said Fischer, who now manages thousands of acres of a ranching operation in Auburn.

His parents paid for his education at Cal Poly where he earned a degree in animal science with an emphasis in livestock production.

Contiguous land is becom-

RIDING HERD really knocks them out when I run to the end of my leash and nearly choke myself to death, like this. I tell ya, it drives the broads nuts when I scoot across the carpet on my butt.

Pekingnese (#73) – Let’s see.

I’m getting carried around in some rich broad’s purse while the rest of the clueless mutts are riding around in the back of some pickup truck barking at the wind. Or herding sheep for a living while my owner, who doesn’t have the sense God gave a rhododendron, feeds me caviar and let’s me sleep between her 300 thread count sheets.

And just who’s the stupid one now, buddy boy? I’m not the one that got a 12 on my SAT’s.

Bloodhound (#74) – Okay, tell

ing increasingly hard to come by. More and more, population pressures lead to chopped up land segmented for development.

Fischer manages seven parcels between Auburn and Lincoln.

“It spreads a guy out,” he said.

These days, it’s easier to improve carrying capacity than it is to expand, the ranchers say.

Regenerative health of the soil is the answer.

“That’s why we’ve got to boil it down to microbes and dirt,” said Thompson.

“What’s cool is there is so much synergy in what we’re doing. We represent a new way of thinking,” said Fischer.

Like Gabe Brown, the award-winning sustainable farmer and rancher who spoke at this year’s Nevada County Sustainable Food and Farm Conference, these local ranchers have become observers of the natural world.

They experiment with “mob grazing,” a method that mimics nature’s patterns, like the timeless cycle of large herds of roaming elk that once dominated the California landscape.

When done right, the high-density impact of many animals on the ground combined with sufficient rest periods is dramatically improving rangeland soil.

With increased soil health and fertility, the ranchers are finding they have flexibility built into their systems to be more resilient to the whims of Mother Nature.

While it feels good to have science validate their work, at the end of the day, these pioneering businessmen with families to raise are doing what pays the bills.

“This isn’t our side business, this isn’t our recreation,” said Fowler.

“This is what we do,” said Thompson.

continued from page one me once more, you want me to do what? And what’s this newspaper on the floor for? You do know I can’t read, right? And if I’m so stupid, the next time your idiotic husband gets lost while he’s hunting go find him yourself. And where’s that Saint Bernard? I need another drink.

Borzoi (#75) – If I roll over on my back and expose my genitalia would you scratch me in our secret spot that makes my leg jerk uncontrollably? Yeah, that’s it. That’s the spot. Awesome.

Chow Chow (#76) – What are you so mad for, it says “Wet Paint” and that’s what I did. And what’s with calling me a Chow Chow. I got it the first time.

I’m a Chow, okay? And another thing, next time you want that

slobbery tennis ball that you threw, go get it yourself. And while you’re at it, would you flush the toilet again to freshen up my drinking water?

Bulldog (#77) – Who are you calling stupid, mister? I may drool on the carpet occasionally and I may look like I stopped a runaway freight train with my face, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sexy. Admit it, you’re just dying for me to plant a big wet one on ya.

Bassenji (#78) – Just because I’m the only breed of dog that doesn’t bark doesn’t mean I’m ignorant. I’m not the one who bought me for a watchdog.

Afghan Hound (#79) – and the dumbest dog in the world) – I hate katz.

March 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 7

The Center for Biological Diversity Goes Batty

BY JONATHAN WOOD, PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

T

he Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is threatening to sue the Fish & Wildlife Service for not imposing ruinous and unnecessary restrictions on private property owners throughout 37 states to protect the Northern long-eared bat.

It contends that heavy-handed “take” regulations should be imposed despite the fact that the species is threatened by a quickly-spreading fungal infection–not human activity. If CBD gets its way, millions of people will be less free and we won’t be a single step closer to curing the infection.

This threat comes on the heels of a CBD report asserting that any activity not regulated by the Endangered Species Act is a “loophole.” The report accuses the Obama administration of violating the statute and congressional intent through how it protects threatened species — i.e. those that are not endangered but face a more remote risk of extinction. According to CBD, the Service’s failure to regulate all human activity in any way affecting the bat is the latest example of this.

Unfortunately, CBD’s analysis hinges on a fundamental misunderstanding of the law and congressional intent. As I explain in a recently published article in the Pace Environmental Law Review, Congress intentionally excluded threatened species from the Endangered Species Act’s incredibly burdensome “take” prohibition — which forbids any activity that has any effect on a single member of a species or its habitat.

Senator Tunney, the floor manager of the bill, explained that the prohibition was limited to endangered species to “minimiz[e] the use of the most stringent prohibitions. . . . Federal prohibitions against taking must be absolutely enforced only for those species on the brink of extinction.”

In excluding threatened species — of which there are hundreds — Congress recognized that it’s unfair to impose the costs of conserving and recovering these species on relatively few individuals. It treats this as a last resort, necessitated by the dire threats endangered species face.

Under Section 4(d) of the statute, Congress also authorized the Service to adopt regulations extending the take prohibition to particular threatened species if “necessary and advisable” for that species’ conservation. When the Endangered Species Act was enacted, both Congress and the agency expressly acknowledged that this is what the section means. It does not change the statute’s general rule: take of threatened species shouldn’t be regulated.

Thus, you might wonder how CBD could claim that not regulating take of the threatened bat creates an illegal “loophole.”

The problem stems from the fact

that, shortly after the Endangered Species Act was enacted, the Service adopted a regulation illegally reversing Congress’ choice. It purports to make any take of any threatened species — including those not yet identified — a federal crime. As a consequence of this illegal regulation, the take of hundreds of threatened species has been restricted, contrary to Congress’ intent, and without a moment’s thought given to whether these severe restrictions are “necessary and advisable.”

This includes the northern spotted owl, where the regulation has decimated the timber industry in the pacific northwest. And it includes the piping plover, where the regulation has

frustrated coastal development and shut down beach economies on the east coast. For the species covered by the regulation, the Service doesn’t even acknowledge the huge costs it’s imposing, much less try to justify them.

What’s worse is that the agency has effectively reversed the standard limiting its authority.

Rather than respecting Congress’ policy choice, the agencies adopted a regulation broadly prohibiting the take of any threatened species. Turning the statutory standard on its head, they only reduce burdens on private activity if an exemption is necessary and advisable for the conservation of the species.

And that illegal practice is what CBD’s argument rests on.

It assumes, contrary to the statute’s text and legislative history, that take of threatened species is supposed to be criminal and any limitation on that is a “loophole.”

This is not only contrary to the law, it’s bad policy. If the Service followed the statute, the take prohibition would be a key incentive for recovery. People with threatened species on their property would voluntarily conserve them, to avoid the prohibition’s strict restrictions. Those with endangered species would work to recover them, to escape the restrictions. CBD’s preferred approach blurs any distinction between the two categories, eliminating these incentives.

In the 40 years since it was enacted, approximately one per-

cent of the species subject to its protections have recovered.

Congress’ aim in adopting the Endangered Species Act was not to create a regime under which species at risk of extinction would remain forever on the precipice. To the contrary, the intent was to conserve and recover species. Incentivizing private conservation is the best means of accomplishing that aim. The agencies’ command-and-control approach gets the incentives wrong: it severely punishes those who have maintained their property in a suitable condition for imperiled species, and it denies landowners any reward for their role in restoring a species to the point where the extinction risk is more remote.

Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2016

Sixth Circuit Issues Waters of the US Ruling

BY DAMIEN M. SCHIFF, PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

O

n February 22, 2016 a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that it—and not the federal district courts—has original jurisdiction to hear challenges to the EPA and the Corps’ “waters of

the United States” (WOTUS) rule. (PLF attorneys represent a coalition of property rights and trade associations challenging the rule in federal district court in Minnesota and in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals) Interestingly, although the vote on the outcome was 2-1, the vote on the reasons for the outcome was 1-1-1. In Judge McKeague’s view, the court should take a “functional” approach to jurisdiction and hear the cases. Judge Griffin agreed that the court has jurisdiction, but objected strongly to the functional approach. In fact,

Judge Griffin’s opinion makes clear that he would have voted against jurisdiction were it not for a Sixth Circuit precedent that he construed to be on point (although wrongly decided).

And in dissent, Judge Keith argued against both Judge McKeague’s functional approach as well as Judge Griffin’s reading of prior case law.

Takeaways: (1) Almost certainly the state and industry petitioners will seek rehearing before the entire Sixth Circuit.

Such rehearing is oftentimes granted to allow appellate courts to reexamine prior prec-

edent. That would appear to be warranted by today’s decision, at least according to the concurrence and dissent.

(2) The Sixth Circuit’s stay of the WOTUS rule, issued last year, will continue in effect (if the court had determined that it did not have jurisdiction, the stay would have automatically ended). (Note that Judge McKeague wrote the opinion granting the stay, and was joined by Judge Griffin. Perhaps then it’s not surprising that those two judges continue to believe that the court has jurisdiction).

(3) The case probably won’t advance to the merits any time soon if the petitioners seek en banc review of the today’s jurisdictional ruling.

(4) The ruling has no binding effect on district court challenges to the WOTUS rule outside the Sixth Circuit’s jurisdiction.

Perhaps the most prominent of those is the ongoing challenge brought in federal district court in North Dakota by that state and twelve others. The court in that case issued a preliminary injunction against the rule last August.

Scientists Debunk Study Eliminating Global Warming ‘Hiatus’

By MICHAEL BASTASCH, Daily Caller

S

o, there really hasn’t been much global warming lately. Scientists have debunked a controversial government climate report from last year claiming the 15-year “hiatus” in global warming never actually existed.

A new paper put out by a group of scientists — including Michael Mann of “hockey stick” curve fame — has debunked a controversial National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report from last year claiming global warming has accelerated faster than surface temperature readings have

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“Overall, there is compelling evidence that there has been a temporary slowdown in observed global surface warming,” Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading and co-author of the paper, wrote in a blog post on the new research.

Hawkins noted that “the most recent observed 15-year trends are all positive, but lower than most previous similar trends in the past few decades” which is a “clear demonstration that the rate of change has slowed since its peak.”

The debunking comes as congressional investigators demand government climate bureaucrats turn over emails and documents related to the “hiatus”-busting study. House science committee Republicans sent a letter to NOAA, slamming the agency for dragging its feet and trying to skirt transparency.

“While I appreciate that NOAA has started to comply in part with the Committee’s lawful subpoena, I am disappointed with the slow pace and limited scope of the Agency’s production,” Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith wrote in a letter to

NOAA recently obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Smith, who chairs the House science committee, has for months been seeking documents related to NOAA’s 2015 study claiming to have eliminated the global warming “hiatus” from the temperature record.

The study was highly controversial and immediately criticized for making drastic adjustments to surface temperature data.

But NOAA has not been forthcoming with all the information Smith’s office has requested from the agency regarding the study. At first, NOAA claimed it would not release any emails from scientists, trying to create a narrative that Smith’s aim was to basically harass government researchers.

Smith fired back and continued to press the agency for documents, eventually getting them to agree to have political staff and scientists be interviewed by congressional investigators.

Then things heated up when a whistleblower told Smith the study in question was “rushed” and was published “before all appropriate reviews of the underlying science.”

In light of this, NOAA agreed to hand over emails from non-scientists to the committee.

But even now, Smith is worried NOAA’s allowing of employees to search their own emails for records under narrow guidelines is hampering his investigation.

“On numerous occasions, NOAA has miscommunicated delivery dates of document productions and has seemingly stalled its efforts to comply with the Committee’s subpoena,” Smith wrote.

The NOAA study published last year by climate scientist Tom Karl, argued “[n]ewly corrected and updated global surface temperature data from NOAA’s do not support the notion of a global warming ‘hiatus.’”

Now, scientists have published work calling into question Karl’s research.

“We’re presenting results to support previous findings of reduced rates of surface warming,” John Fyfe, a climate scientist with the Canadian government who worked on the paper, told Climate Central. “That essentially refutes the Karl et al. paper.”

Flying Horse Ranch Under New Ownership

F

lying Horse Ranch is located in Larkspur, Colorado, just North of Monument, off Highway 83 on the Palmer Divide Ridge.

The 1,400-acre working cattle and equine ranch is acre-upon-acre of grazing pastures and meadows. There are nine natural-fed ponds and a flowing creek that runs through the middle of the ranch.

The original homestead of the ranch still stands on the west side of the property. The existing structures were built in 2000, with the intention to run a cow-calf & equine operation. Flying Horse Ranch went under new ownership in September 2015 and with that, new life was born to the ranch.

Under new ownership, the team at Flying Horse Ranch put together a strategy to utilize the ranch for what it was intended, to operate a registered Angus cow-calf and bull development program. A proven registered Angus herd was purchased in its entirety from a ranch in Montana. FHR and will host its first annual Angus bull sale in April, 2016 where only the top high-quality, high-altitude 2015 yearling

bulls will sell to prospective cattle producers.

Flying Horse Ranch is dedicated to producing bulls that are ready to go to work for the cattlemen at any elevation. Residing at 7,200 feet elevation, these bulls are developed to take care of themselves and are PAP tested at the ranch; to ensure their scores will reflect their performance ability. In addition, all the FHR bulls are i50K tested to produce the most accurate EPD data, making buying a bull from FHR an easy decision for any cattlemen’s herd.

Reference sires of the FHR bulls include: Barstow Cash, Sitz Rainmaker 11127, Hoover Dam, Connealy Consensus and MOGCK Sure Shot. Sons of these sires will sell at the bull sale on April 14, 2016 at the ranch. In addition, the ranch continues to build on the best genetic lines available, focusing on obtaining herd sires that have outstanding PAP scores, low birth weights and calving ease, strong weaning weights as well as have a high $B figure. We also put a strong emphasis on making sure their feet can handle their environment.

March 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 9

EPA goes after Low-Income Farmers in Land Grab The Supreme Court says the Clean Water Act is not a grant of federal control over every stream and depression in the nation. The Environmental Protection Agency says otherwise.

BY BLAKE HURST, THEFEDERALIST.COM

P

endleton County, West Virginia, is home to 540 farms. The average farm in the county has a net income of around $45,000 a year.

On either coast, that’s not an impressive income, but those farms are important to Pendleton County, where the median household income is $30,429.

Arlington County, Virginia, just blocks from the nation’s capital, is one of the richest counties in the nation, with a median household income of $94,876, and a median family income just over $127,000.

Two thousand, one hundred employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) call Arlington County home.

At least some of those EPA employees have been thinking about farms in Pendleton County. The county is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and, consequently, in the crosshairs of a massive and detailed EPA blueprint to alter the waters of the bay. The plan, an outgrowth of an executive order President Obama signed shortly after taking office, divides the Chesapeake watershed into thousands of small areas and prescribes pollution abatement goals for each of those areas.

These goals, or total maximum daily loads (TMDL), will give EPA total control over land use throughout the six states and the District of Columbia that make up the Chesapeake Watershed. For farmers in Pendleton County, the effects will be immediate and drastic.

Or, to quote from a brief the county and several other nearby counties filed in the Third Circuit Court: “It is anticipated that a significant amount of Pendleton county farmland will have to be removed from production due to its proximity to waterways and the resulting impact of the Bay TMDL on local land use.”

the case has been appealed to the Supreme Court. If the highest court in the land agrees to hear the appeal, they’ll surely do so with more than a little frustration, as environmental agencies have lost three times in similar Supreme Court cases since 2001. The highest court has consistently reminded the agencies that the Clean Water Act is not a grant of federal control over every stream and depression in the nation.

In direct contradiction to the plain language of the law, the EPA blueprint envisions almost no role for the states involved.

As the Supreme Court is surely tired of pointing out, there are restraints on the federal government in the CWA. It leaves a large amount of room for a state role in environmental regulation. In fact, the act makes that “cooperative federalism” explicit, to whit: “primary responsibilities and rights of States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution, to plan the development and use (including restoration, preservation, and enhancement) of land and water resources…”

In direct contradiction to the plain language of the CWA, the EPA blueprint envisions almost no role for the states involved, setting pollution limits for thousands of individual areas in the watershed. According to the plaintiffs: “As a practical matter, the power to set numeric limits for sediment and nutrients by source type within specific geographic areas equals nothing short of the power to allow farming here, but not there, building here, but not there.”

According to a 2014 report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the bay’s water quality has improved 40 percent since the early 1980s.

Here Come the Federal Puddle Police The American Farm Bureau filed suit against the EPA, arguing that its Chesapeake Bay plan exceeded the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Third District Court found against AFB, and

We’re Doing Fine Without Your Interference According to a 2014 report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the bay’s water quality has improved 40 percent since the early 1980s. That’s a testament to the ability of states to carry out the responsibilities the CWA lays out. Due to their efforts, the bay’s water quality is better than it has been since the 1940s.

The EPA’s plan is unnecessary and prohibitively expensive, forbidding the flexibility needed to economically reach the environmental goals everyone in this controversy shares.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently commissioned a study that found flexibility in meeting those goals could, when compared to the EPA blueprint, reduce costs 73 percent in Pennsylvania and well over 80 percent in Delaware, New York, Maryland, and West

Virginia.

It surely must have come to the notice of the few federal regulators still capable of irony that residents of one of the richest counties in the nation are threatening the livelihood of farmers in one of the poorest counties in the nation. The

proposed federal mandates for Pendleton County and the thousands of other areas the EPA blueprint covers would mean fewer acres farmed and a direct hit on farmers’ ability to make a living.

The Obama administration has spent much time and ener-

gy focusing on the problem of income inequality. One way of addressing the problem would be to work for common-sense local solutions to environmental problems, not a diktat from high-dollar Washington experts that ignores the rights of states and small farmers alike.

Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2016

The View FROM THE BACK SIDE

Keeping Track Real Estate

BY BARRY DENTON

R

ecently I attended a public meeting with a local tax assessor. One of the primary tenets of the assessor’s speech was for the public to report any suspicious activity that they might see their neighbors doing.

For instance if you saw your neighbor adding a window to their house, you are supposed to report it. If your neighbor replaces clapboards with aluminum siding you are supposed to report it. Heaven forbid if your neighbor added a tool shed out back.

First of all, why would you ever care what your neighbors do? Secondly, as long as it’s not hurting you, why bother?

I thought we had government officials and airplanes taking aerial photos to keep track of country folks on a regular basis?

To me, it is hard to believe that we are in America. I know of some towns where you have to approach a board before you can change the color of your house. It just baffles me how apathy sets in and people forget all about the freedom they once had.

Folks are very willing to give up freedom in exchange for government protection. Protection from what?

Whether or not your neighbor is taxed for adding his tool shed in the back yard should not concern you in the least.

American citizens spying on each other is truly a crime in itself.

Where I was raised there were many refugees from Nazi Germany working on farms and ranches. These folks were displaced from their homes, abused in concentration camps, and were lucky enough to escape those conditions. Their stories were disgusting, heart breaking, hard to imagine, and fantastic.

I will never forget the horror on their faces when they related some of these tales of being ripped out of their homes and forced to exist in squalor. Some refugees never knew they were being watched and others did.

The ones that did went into hiding.

However, the common thread in all these stories is that all had been reported to the authorities by their neighbors.

Let’s think about this. Government authorities create hysteria about a topic that advances their agenda. The folks get scared and report their neighbors before their neighbors report them.

We have seen this before and fought wars over it. Why are we

letting it creep into America; the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Perhaps you will not be thrown into a concentration camp if your tool shed is not on the assessor’s map, but this is one way of diminishing your freedom a little at a time. The fact that they fly over your property taking photos is creepy enough. Why do we have a government that spies on normal citizens?

A few years ago the Department of Agriculture wanted you to volunteer for a government chipping program of livestock.

Under the guise of safety once again, the gist was that they could help contain diseased livestock this way.

I am not certain how many of you volunteered for this, but it cannot be a good thing. First of all, why does the government need to know where all your cattle are and when you move them? If you haul your horse to a roping, then not only do they know where the horse is via the chip, but also where you are as well.

In other words this is a preliminary step toward more control. The last time I visited Scotland I stayed with some folks that owned a dairy farm.

It was incredible to me that they had to keep track and record every shot they gave their cattle. There was a record that was sent to the government of what happened to each and every cow throughout its lifetime.

The farmer milked about 60 head and probably had 40 or so dry cows and calves. At that time he spent about one full day a week just keeping records. He had no choice if he wanted to be a farmer in Scotland.

Can you imagine the amount of paperwork you would have with a thousand head? What is the point of all this control? I will bet you that the government guys that had to read these records do not have a clue about what they are reading. I would guess that they are taught that the records should follow a certain pattern and if they vary from that then they check it out further.

Just think of the added government employees you would have to have to read the blasted things. I realize most of this is done with computers, but it is still time consuming. If more and more rules and regulations are heaped on you then that diminishes your freedom as well.

Finally, I am certain you all have seen the recent events concerning the Nevada ranching family, the Bundy’s. It is a continued on page eleven

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Ranch & Farm Real Estate

Livestock Market Digest 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

JUST LISTED! Please call for details on 176,000 ac. +/- of choice land in Argentina (beautiful land cleared for soybeans & corn, some cleared & seeded to improved grasses for grazing of thousands of mother cows, some still in the brush waiting to be cleared).

JUST LISTED! Central NM grass ranch – 11.2 sections +/-, all deeded, choice, open, rolling grama grass country w/2 mi. of hwy. frontage.

Information package being prepared.

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

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.

TALL GRASS – Quay Co., NM – 145 ac. +/-, located in close proximity to Conchos & Ute lakes, w/new barbed wire & steel post fencing on all-weather road. Classified as crop land in native grass w/eligibility for FSA pmts. Owner building new home – very motivated to sell this property! PRICE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED! 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.

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.

CUCHARAS RIVER RANCH NORTH – Huerfano Co.,CO - buy this well located, choice, grama/western wheat grass ranch & develop the really scenic parts of the ranch for residential subdivisions w/10, 20, 40, 100 acre tracts. 12, 088 deeded ac. +/-, addtl. perks, hunting, fishing, recreation w/a large lake on the ranch together w/the Cucharas River & Sand Creek. PRICE REDUCED! 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.

HIGH RAINFALL! ADA OK. AREA -3,120 ac. +/- of choice grassland w/houses, barns & steel pens, lays in 3 tracts, will divide! Trade for ranch and/or farmland in the area between Dallas & Houston & East.

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.

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

14 ac. W/ 3 bdrm 2 bth, carport & bunk room, nice detached workshop w/roll up door, R.V. Shed in ground pool, lots of fruit trees and landscape, good water well, new septic system installed - 1/8 mile paved access road.

80 acre irrig farm uses 2 small pivots, 1 parcel Alfalfa, 1 parcel in wheat, has a decent home and workshop barn, on pavement east of Portales, NM. Have listed approx 4.75 ac. With 4 stall horse barn plus tack room -several pens and exercise area - single wide made permanent and built on too with concrete porches and other outbuildings.

2.8 ac west of Portales, NM with 3 bdrm 2 bth home has been home to small animals, chickens and room to raise the kids. This home has just had kitchen and den - living area nicely remodeled and is on Co-op water, vacant and ready for new owner.

Jack Horton 208.830.9210 Rae H. Anderson 208.761.9553 For complete brochures:

agrilandsrealestate.com

COTTONWOOD CREEK RANCH: Possibly the most complete combination working/recreation ranch on the market – Owner rated at 500 animal units year long – FREE WATER, spring fed and artesian, provides drought proof irrigation and recreation with possible commercial opportunities – Approximately 440 irrigated acres, producing 1,000+/- tons winter forage for the cow herd - Cattle utilize deeded, private BLM and small private lease with a turnout in mid-April generally running to late December - Steer calves push the upper five weights at weaning in mid-October - One and a half man labor force, plus a a little neighbor social at branding and shipping – High end improvements including owners home overlooking an approximately 20 acre man-made lake which maintains a constant level year-long as well as bordering an additional approximate two acre pond, both providing a warm water fishery for recreation and an occasional dinner – Four each land owner hunting tags assure elk and deer hunting if desired – Plentiful waterfowl and upland game birds – Eastern, OR – Asking $5,285,000 SX RANCH: Starter – Hobby – Retirement – Can’t be matched for the price – Approximately 665 deeded acres with approximately 323 irrigated – FREE WATER – Priority dated 1875 – About 110 sprinkler irrigation (3 wheel lines) with balance flood and sub-irrigated hay and pasture – Approximately ¾ mile Crooked Creek thru property – Combination livestock/farming or a great straight livestock of approximately 100 plus head when shaped up – custom 1,600+/- square ft. home, metal shop and historic barn – located approximately 12 miles north of Lakeview, OR - 2 each landowner hunting tags for Mule deer - ASKING $1,250,000 GOERTZEN BUCKHORN FARM: 1,200 plus deeded acres located in picturesque Wallowa County Oregon – Approximately 609 irrigated with balance in native pasture. Storage water from Wallowa Lake (Farmer’s Ditch Company) offers one of Oregon’s most dependable irrigation sources at a cost of just over $10,000/year – Farm is in hay and pasture capable of generating serious income for the land owner. Management in place for an absentee owner and/or labor force if needed - Modest improvements – Only minutes to Enterprise and Joseph – ASKING $2,700,000.

K DIAMOND FEEDLOT & FARM: Licensed CAFO with 2,900 head stocker capacity – 200 deeded acres including approximately 140 acre irrigation (2 pivots) – easy freeway access just north of Baker City, OR. ASKING $1,500,000 THORN CREEK RANCH: Located against the eastern edge of the towering Eagle Cap Mountains in eastern Oregon – Approximately 4,070 deeded acres plus 80 acres landlocked BLM – Partial border against USFS creates a major back yard – approximately 160 acres irrigated – Approximately 40 surface acre reservoir can be used for a combination fishery and/or hay production - Lifestyle investment including custom cedar home with matching outbuildings, riding/ roping arena, two round pens and sorting corrals all newly constructed since 2014 - Currently summering 150 cows on a seasonal basis and selling some hay – elk, deer, turkey, lion, bear and some upland game birds – quick fishery and boating access to Hells Canyon area, Baker City, La Grande, dining, golf and shopping – ASKING $,4,000,000 – Owner/Agent - Approximately 9,500 neighboring acres (deeded and USFS) is also currently available for sale.

Page 11

National Ranching Heritage Center hosts 46th annual Ranch Day April 9

A

ctivities for the young and young at heart will highlight the 46th Annual Ranch Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 9 at the National Ranching Heritage Center (NRHC) in Lubbock.

More than 4,000 visitors attend Ranch Day each year as more than 150 volunteers work to make the NRHC come alive with living history demonstrations and hands-on experiences for the whole family. The popular event will also include hands-on ranch science activities, a ranch horse skills demonstration by the Texas Tech Ranch Horse and Rodeo teams, a stick horse rodeo, music, dancing, and a magic show

at the 6666 Barn.

Guests are encouraged to participate in such historic activities as visiting with living history docents to learn about life as a pioneer, leather working, washing clothes on a washboard, churning butter, and riding horses. Science activities will include learning about wind energy, exploring animal science, and investigating plants and soils.

The “Ranch Hand Experience” program will allow visitors (ranch hands) to get work cards when they arrive and have their cards stamped as they complete each activity.

After six activities, visitors can take their stamped work cards

to the Matador Office to receive cowboy pay that can be spent at the Waggoner Commissary.

The NRHC is a unique 27acre museum and historical park that offers educational programs and exhibits to promote interest in ranching history and contemporary ranching issues. Located at 3121 Fourth Street adjacent to the Texas Tech University campus, the center provides 48 authentic dwellings and ranch structures from some of the nation’s most historic ranches. NRHC does not charge an admission fee for its activities but encourages donations to support its educational programs.

BQA Certification Opportunity for Cattle Producers at 34th Annual Four States Ag Expo

B

eef Quality Assurance (BQA) program coordinators from Colorado and Utah are excited to come together on March 17, 2016 during the 34th Annual Four States Agricultural Exposition to present a BQA certification workshop. The workshop will be held at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds in Cortez, Colorado and will include both an indoor certification training as well as a live cattle handling demonstration.

The four-hour workshop is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on March 17 and will include practical information on Best Management Practices encompassing cattle care and hus-

bandry, feedstuffs, medications and feed additives, processing/ treatment and records, and injectable animal health products. Low-stress cattle handling topics will be addressed

by Utah State University-Eastern’s Jim Keyes, Monticello, Utah, who will provide an onsite cattle handling demonstration that will highlight cattle gathering, sorting, chute-side processing and loading. The workshop is guaranteed to provide practical, profit-enhancing tools and tips to take home to your operation.

The Four States Ag Expo has a long and proud history of supporting innovation in agriculture in the Four Corners re-

gion. With a mission of raising awareness about agriculture, the Expo brings together the finest products, services, clinicians and speakers to promote and enhance the agricultural industry. Cattle producers and agriculturalists from across the Four Corners states are encouraged to take advantage of the fun and educational opportunities at this year’s family friendly event.

The BQA certification workshop and symposium are open to all Ag Expo attendees. A $5 gate fee is required for admission to the expo. Visit the Four States Ag Expo website atfourstatesagexpo.com for more information.

Ag Outlook for 2016 a Bit Harsher Than Recent Years

I

n the last few years, farmers have seen record prices and high profitability. But that may not be the case in 2016, says University of Missouri Extension agricultural economist Scott Brown.

“We’re going to have lower livestock prices across the board,” Brown says. “I don’t care whether you are a cattle, hog or dairy producer.”

Brown expects hogs to be down $3 to $4 per hundredweight after dropping $30 from 2014 to 2015. Fed cattle prices will be in the $120 per hundredweight range, down from $140-plus a year ago. Dairy producers will also take a hit with farm milk prices dropping a dollar to $16 per hundredweight.

The outlook for grains is similar.

“One could suggest we’re going to have lower corn, soybeans and wheat prices,” Brown says. “A lot of that is going to hinge on what kind of weather we have as 2016 unfolds, but another good crop in the bin probably assures us more pressure on corn and soybean prices as we look ahead.”

Farmers are likely to plant more than 90 million acres of corn with a decent spring.

Brown says that will put pressure on prices, and he doesn’t expect increased demand from exports due to a stronger dollar.

With profitability getting thinner than it was, it’s important for producers to protect against downside risk.

KEEPING TRACK sad tale in America no matter whose side you are on. What I would like to know is who are the cowboys that were hired by the government to round up cattle on the Bundy Ranch when this all started? My point is what decent cowboy would agree to be involved in that travesty? Why would you ride against your own kind for a few dollars? Who shot the cattle and what was the point of that?

Lastly, it looks to me like our country is pretty divided after the last eight years and I am certain that was the goal. I can remember a time when

“A lot of folks are struggling with price risk management, given that prices for all ag commodities are lower,” Brown says. “So they aren’t as excited about locking those prices in, but I will remind them that prices can go lower from where we are today.”

USDA projects net farm income to fall below $55 billion this year, down from more than $120 billion in 2013. Brown says that will affect more than just farmers. Machinery, fertilizer, seed and chemical suppliers are all trying to adjust to this tighter agricultural economy.

“I think rural communities are going to feel some of the changes that are coming,” he says.

continued from page ten the government used to help its ranchers. Now there seems to be a concerted movement to get rid of us. I think it is a shame that the only effective weapon we have against bad politicians is being able to vote them out. They can do so much damage while they are in office and are very seldom held accountable.

It is not the hard working person that is the problem in this country. This is an election year.

Read up on what’s going on and try to vote for someone that endorses freedom!

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

All about the Bundys and will Obama slam New Mexico again

Beleaguered Bundys

O

n February 10th Cliven Bundy was travelling from Nevada to Oregon, where his two sons were being held in jail and four hold-

outs remained at the Malheur Wildlife refuge. His travel was interrupted by SWAT teams at the Portland International Airport, where he was arrested at 10:10 p.m. Bundy, 69, was then booked into the Multnomah County jail at 10:54 p.m. on charges related to the 2014 standoff at his Nevada ranch.

Cliven Bundy and four others have been charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit an offense against

the United States, conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, use of a gun in a crime of violence, assault of a federal officer, threatening a federal officer, obstruction of justice, interference with interstate commerce by extortion and interstate travel in the aid of extortion. Each of the 16 charges carries a minimum sentence of between five and 20 years and a $250,000 fine.

The indictment has some interesting things to say about the vaunted BLM law enforcement officers, stating they committed key tactical errors including ceding the high ground to their opponents and underestimating the strength of their “attackers.”

Fifty BLM rangers were guarding 400 cattle confiscated from Bundy and penned in a temporary corral at the bottom of a wash. According to papers filed with the court, when the Bundy family and their supporters arrived to claim the cattle, the rangers found themselves in a life-threatening situation.

The indictment states: “The officers at the (corral) gate were dangerously exposed.

They were in the open and low ground at the bottom of the wash, below highway bridges that towered more than 40 feet above them and surrounded on the sides by steep embankments of high ground.”

“The terrain acted like a funnel with them at the bottom and no natural cover or concealment to protect them from the gunmen on the high ground, their only protection being their body armor and the vehicles they happened to drive to the gate.” “…the officers had no choice and were forced to leave and abandon the cattle to Bundy and his co-conspirators…”.

I remember thinking at the time the DC Deep Thinkers had come to their senses and called off the dogs. Not so. They were simply out maneuvered by a su-

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March 15, 2016 perior force and made to retreat from the field.

As a result of the Battle of Bunkerville in Nevada and the

Let’s call it the Tres Amigos Treehugger Triangle, and any member of Congress who opposes significant revision of the Antiquities Act should be branded as supporting this three-person power trip. occupation of the wildlife refuge in Oregon, however, Cliven, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are in jail and facing multiple charges.

What do we make of all this?

Peter Walker, a professor at the University of Oregon writes: “Those who value public lands - for economic, environmental, recreational and aesthetic values – owe a debt of gratitude to Harney County. A violent branch of the Sagebrush Rebellion came to town in Harney County, and the community told it to go away.”

While Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O’Neil write in the Illinois Review: “Granted, the conflict that created the situation in Oregon is far from over. The ranchers involved have accomplished their primary goal of having their concerns made public, although not to the extent of those who rioted, thrashed, and burned Ferguson or those who marched on the streets of large cities chanting “No justice! No peace! No racist police!”

And they conclude: “Unfortunately in calling attention to their plight, one rancher paid the ultimate price, his life, for doing so. Will the authorities now be more open to initiating productive discussions to hear ranchers’ concerns? The fate of the protestors arrested and taken into custody might be an indicator of what the future might hold for the Great Basin region of this nation.”

Your humble observer thinks what may be happening on our side of the aisle is what has been going on with the enviro-left for many years. Radical elements take action that brings media and political attention to a particular issue, paving the way for

more moderate partisans to offer compromise solutions. Time will tell if this is actually occurring, and if so, will it be as effective as the enviro-left model has been in influencing national policy.

Will Obama strike again?

President Obama recently designated three new national monuments in California – Sand to Snow National Monument, Mojave Trails National Monument, and Castle Mountains National Monument – totaling 1.8 million acres. “This president has misused and abused his executive power more than any of his predecessors in an attempt to distract from his true environmental legacy which will be one of mismanagement and undue economic hardship in rural communities,” said Brenda Richards, Public Lands Council President. Further, the PLC is expecting another 10 million acres to be set aside in the waning days of the Obama administration.

Areas in New Mexico may be on that list. There have been several press accounts of a proposal to designate 120,000 acres as the La Bajada Mesa National Monument in northern New Mexico, and we should remember the BLM has suggested that 1.2 million acres be set aside in the Otero Mesa of southern New Mexico.

“Everybody is coming to me with their wish list,” says Interior Secretary Sally Jewel.

You take your wish list to one person, who then takes it to one other person, who can grant you your wish. Under this model, three people can determine how 640 million acres are managed.

No public hearings, no debate, no involvement of Congress.

And this model is being heavily used by the current administration. You know, the same folks who promised “sound science” and transparency in the management of these lands.

Let’s call it the Tres Amigos Treehugger Triangle, and any member of Congress who opposes significant revision of the Antiquities Act should be branded as supporting this three-person power trip.

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

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner. blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation.

March 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 13

State gains a toehold in wild-horse control

BY BRIAN MAFFLY, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

T

he Bureau of Land Management has settled a lawsuit brought by Utah trustlands officials over wild horse management, conceding greater influence to the state in deciding whether to remove “excess” horses from herds that roam over state trust lands in the midst of public lands.

BLM also promised to make “reasonable” efforts to clear two tracts of horses every other year.

Last year, the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, or SITLA, filed suit in U.S. District Court, alleging the BLM was failing in its duty to manage federally protected horses and burros, to the detriment of the state lands that are interspersed with the public lands administered by the BLM. Some regard free-roaming mustangs, descendants of domestic horses that Spanish explorers released centuries ago, as icons of the West that symbolize a spirit of freedom. But ranchers

and other rural Utahns regard them as an invasive exotic species that no longer belongs on the range, which should be used for grazing.

According to various lawsuits, non-native horses proliferate in the absence of predators and excessive numbers are depleting the range, displacing ranchers who hold grazing permits on public and state trust lands.

In a recent news release announcing the settlement, BLM vowed to do the things the agency, which manages 23 million acres in Utah, has long claimed it already does, namely collaborate with local stakeholders and protect resources.

The agreement “provides for a mutual commitment to work cooperatively to manage wild horses that have entered onto SITLA lands. The agencies will meet annually to identify priority removal areas, ensure environmental review, conduct aerial population surveys jointly and monitor rangeland resources and improvements.”

So what’s new?

“We have never [before] partnered up with the state of Utah to coordinate efforts to do that,” said Gus Warr, who directs the BLM’s wild horse program in Utah. He expects the BLM will authorize him to remove 50 horses a year in Utah, and under the new agreement, the state will help choose areas to receive priority attention.

The deal’s provision are subject to appropriations from Congress.

The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act prohibits SITLA and other state agencies from unilaterally removing wild horses from trust lands. This law recognizes that horses “contribute to the diversity of life forms within the nation and enrich the lives of the American people,” and charges the BLM with managing these animals.

But ranchers and county commissioners have long complained the BLM allows horses free rein at the expense of grazing.

SITLA manages 3.4 million acres, most of them in check-

erboard sections among seas of BLM lands, to raise revenue for Utah schools. Some 207,000 acres lie within Utah’s 19 Herd Management Areas.

Tensions over wild horses focus on a consolidated block of SITLA land in Iron and Beaver counties known as Blawn Wash, which sits outside any designated horse management area. Since 2000, the BLM has removed 550 horses in four roundups from this herd, which soon repopulates. Most recently, in the summer of 2014, the feds pulled all 143 horses they encountered.

Some of the gathered animals are adopted out, but most join thousands of other formerly free-roaming horses spending their lives in captivity at enormous expense to U.S. taxpayers. Federal law prohibits the killing of wild horses except for humanitarian purposes.

Warr said aerial surveys indi-

cate 75 to 100 horses continue to live on Blawn Wash. Under the agreement, BLM will remove up to 150 horses from Blawn and surrounding lands and up to 50 horses and burros affecting the McKay Flat grazing allotment in the Muddy Creek Herd Management Area in 2016. Both areas will be hit with repeat roundups every other year.

Horse advocacy groups, which had sought to intervene in the suit, were suspicious of the settlement.

“The goal here is to force BLM to do more removals. It’s not fair to the horses and not fair to the American taxpayers.

All this is going to do is further exacerbate the mismanagement of wild horses,” said Deniz Bolbol of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. “This is an agency that is hellbent on treating these horses like livestock.”

Judge Upholds Ruling Vacating Lesser Prairie Chicken Listing

BY MELLA MCEWEN, WWW.MRT.COM

O

n February 29, 2016 Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Junell upheld his September 2015 ruling overturning the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened.”

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied a motion by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to amend Junell’s original judgment, according to a press release from the Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. After he vacated the listing in September, the agencies appealed, asking that the decision be remanded to the Fish & Wildlife Service or that the judge’s ruling be limited to the Permian Basin.

The Permian Basin Petroleum Association, along with

Chaves, Eddy, Lea and Roosevelt counties in New Mexico, had sued the agencies after the listing.

In response to the court’s recent ruling, PBPA President Ben Shepperd issued the following statement: “The PBPA applauds Judge Junell’s denial of the Motion made by the FWS and the Department of the Interior. This ruling serves as vindication of the unprecedented stakeholder participation across the lesser prairie chicken range.”

The association also applauded the decision. The association is responsible for implementing the LPC Range-wide Conservation Plan. Under this plan, more than 180 oil and gas, pipeline, electric transmission and wind energy companies have enrolled in conservation agreements to avoid, minimize, or mitigate their operations’ impact on the chicken. In the process, these companies have committed

$45.9 million in enrollment and impact fees to cover off-site mitigation actions for unavoidable impacts and which contributes to habitat conservation. The chicken’s population increased 25 percent from 2014 to 2015, in part as a result of industry’s conservation efforts.

More than 101,000 acres of farm and ranch land have been enrolled in 10-year agreements, and an additional 1,600 acres have been enrolled in permanent conservation to offset industry impact.

The FWS has 60 days in which to appeal the February decision.

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Page 14

Livestock Market Digest

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The Designated American

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wonder if I will see in my lifetime the end of “Designated Americans?” I was filling out a form and was asked to check if I was African American, Hawaiian American, Latin American, Native American, Asian American, Anglo American or Other American. I declined. I guess it would make a difference if I were applying for a basketball scholarship, a cook in a Mexican restaurant, a judgeship on the Supreme Court, or a Karate teacher. But should it?

It is obvious Justice is not blind. Watch how opposing lawyers select their members of the jury. Or watch how news reporters walk on eggshells around the Designated American d’jour. Or watch people vote (or not vote) for someone solely on their Designated American category.

It seems every Designated American group has its dayin-the-sun to be recognized as the “easiest to be offended.” Sports team mascots, scholarships for only the selected, private clubs, exclusive music, Army promotions by gender, racially leaning magazines, the “too rich” and Hollywood each take their turn to sit in the corner and be patted or chastised.

But let’s say by 2076 that the African Americans,

Latin Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Hawaiian Americans and Anglo Americans have all assimilated into calling themselves “Americans,” just like the Germans, Jews, Polish, Lebanese, Italians, Irish and Swedes have done. They would have no need to plead “Political Correctness” or “Insensitivity.” There would be no headlines blasting pro football for only having 32 percent Anglo American players OR blasting pro baseball for only having 8 percent African American players! OR pro basketball for only having 3.2 percent Latin Americans!

Most of the world has gotten over the taboo that genetics have nothing to do with human characteristics, of course it does! But the Politically Correct Industry still clings tightly to their credo, “…hear no one credible, see nothing obvious and speak no truth, lest our bias be shown.”

Eventually prejudice, on both sides will disappear as people tire of restrictions on belief, freedom of speech and color of skin. In 2076 black man, red man, white man, yellow man or brown man will be merely an adjective when describing someone.

Unfortunately it’s going to take awhile. Today, when applying for unearned government benefits, you have a greater chance if you are an officially selected Designated American. But there is a trade-off; it comes with a classification, a stereotype.

You have to prove your race to get on Native American tribal roles or get a scholarship at certain colleges.

If you get welfare or food stamps you must prove that you come from a lower income family. If you want to get government insurance you must prove that you can’t afford it.

When you step into the world of governmental Designation…the table is no longer level. In an effort to make Americans equal, we’ve reverted to segregation! They have divided us against ourselves! In 1776, 36 Americans signed the Declaration of Independence which states, “…all men are created equal…” By 1866, 620,000 soldiers had died in the war to end slavery. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson’s Voting Rights Act was signed by 410 members of Congress. In 1968 Martin Luther King gave his life for the cause…2½ centuries of defending the Constitution’s declaration that all men were created equal.

Today our feeble leaders are trying to convince us that men are not created equal…that they can’t help themselves and some must be treated, mistreated, segregated and/or Designated, in order to become equal.

We’ve turned Washington, D.C. back into the swamp from whence it came.

March 15, 2016

Livestock Market Digest

Page 15

Represent the US Sheep Industry in the Tri-Lamb Young Leader Program

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he American Lamb Board (ALB) and the American Sheep Industry Association’s (ASI) Young Entrepreneur Committee are seeking two candidates to represent the U.S. in a new Tri Lamb young leaders program. The program is designed to create a forum of young producers and leaders from the US, AU and NZ to share ideas, network and to broaden understanding of sheep production practices in all three countries. Each country will select two young (22-40 year olds) producers who exhibit future leadership potential to participate in the forum for two years. Each country will also select one progressive suc-

cessful producer leader to serve as a mentor and liaison with the other leaders.

Background The program will be kicked off in Australia August 10-14, 2016 followed by New Zealand August 15-18, 2016. Airfare, hotel and other travel expenses will be covered for the participants that are selected to represent the US. The US representatives will develop an agenda and host the AU and NZ producers in 2017. Participation in the forum requires a two-year commitment (20162017).

The 2016 trip to Australia will include participation at

LambEx, Australia’s premier lamb industry event with more than 900 delegates and 70 exhibitors. All sectors of the lamb industry come together at the LambEx to showcase the Australian industry. The delegates will also spend time in Canberra, which as well as being the nation’s capital, is the headquarters of the Sheepmeat Council of Australia followed by a day in Sydney. Delegates would fly out of Sydney to New Zealand where they will spend three days near Christchurch touring several farms and learning about the different aspects of sheep production in New Zealand.

The leaders that are select-

ed will be required to present a report on the new young leader group and the AU and NZ meetings and tours at the 2017 Annual Sheep Convention in Denver, CO. The participants will also be asked to help develop the 2017 US program hosting the AU and NZ leaders including location, timing, tours, agenda etc.

Selection Process There are two parts to the application process: • Applicants must complete the written application which is available by contacting the American Lamb Board: megan@americanlamb.com or click here to access the applica-

tion online.

• Interviews will be conducted over the phone or in person depending on applicant’s location.

Applicants must be members of the American Sheep Industry Association.

Timing Applications are due on March 15, 2016. Interviews will be conducted between March 15 -31 and participants will be notified by April 1, 2016.

Questions can be directed to Megan Wortman at megan@ americanlamb.com or by calling the ALB office at 303/7593001.

Sheep Industry Leadership School Returns to Ohio State University in July 2016

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articipants 20 years of age or older who are interested in all aspects of sheep production and marketing have until May 1, to register for the July 10-14, 2016 Howard Wyman Sheep Industry Leadership School, to be held at Ohio State University (OSU), in Columbus, Ohio.

This intense four-day program will incorporate site tours of exceptional Ohio sheep operations with the Lamb 509 short

course taught by Roger High and Dr. Henry Zerby of OSU. In addition to the site tours, participants will spend one full day in the OSU Meat Labs learning about carcass grading, performing hands-on fabrication of carcasses and processing of meat products.

Interested individuals must complete an application form.

Applications will be reviewed and 32 participants selected to attend the 2016 school.

Though there is no fee to apply, a registration fee of $200 is required once you have been notified. NLFA provides meals, lodging and tour-related expenses. Participants are responsible for their own travel to and from the school location.

Applicants may apply electronically by visiting the NLFA web site: http://www. nlfa-sheep.org/leadership.html or an application may be down-

Denver will Host the All-Stars of Rodeo & Country Music at Rodeo All-Star Weekend, April 15-16

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he stars of rodeo return to Denver for the ultimate pro rodeo competition, Rodeo All-Star Weekend, April 15 and 16. This year’s Rodeo All-Star Concert, presented by Pepsi, features Grammy-nominated country duo, Brothers Osborne. Fans with a Friday night rodeo ticket will enjoy the concert and Murdoch’s Fashion Showcase for FREE. Rodeo All-Star Weekend celebrates the sport and athletes of rodeo with an All-Star festival feel. The weekend offers three All-Star rodeo performances, All-Star concert, the popular Lunch with Champions, Murdoch’s Mutton Bustin, After Parties, mechanical bull and the Murdoch’s Fashion Showcase.

Rodeo All-Star management is proud to announce presenting partner, Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply. “Murdoch’s has proven to be a leader in the field of ranch and home supply, and we are excited to have them as our presenting partner for Rodeo All-Star Weekend in our fourth year,” said Paul Andrews, President and CEO of the NW Complex.

Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply was founded in Bozeman, Montana, in 1994. Since then, Murdoch’s has opened 29 stores throughout Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. Murdoch’s is known for its walls of jeans, gloves, socks, work wear, boots and shoes for the entire family as well as its

vast line of ranch, home, large animal and pet supplies.

“Rodeo is one of those western traditions that is so tightly woven into our agricultural heritage.” states Teresa Harting, Chief Marketing Officer, Murdoch’s Ranch and Home Supply. “It highlights core values that are important to our company, like a diehard work ethic, unyielding respect for one another, and never quitting in our pursuit of excellence. We’re looking forward to another lively event for our customers to enjoy.”

This year, Rodeo All-Star will be aligning with the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD), Therapeutic Horse Riding program. “A percentage of event proceeds sold through NSCD channels will go back to this great organization to support their Therapeutic Horse Riding program which is based out of Winter Park, CO,” said John Ellis, Vice President of Partnership and Business Development for the National Western Complex.

The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) is one of the largest outdoor therapeutic recreation and adaptive sports agencies in the world.

Each year more than 3,000 children and adults with disabilities participate in their programs.

With specially trained staff and volunteers, and its own adaptive equipment lab, the NSCD teaches a variety of year-round

sports and activities to individuals with almost any physical, cognitive, emotional or behavioral diagnosis.

Tickets to the fourth annual Rodeo All-Star Weekend, April 15-16, 2016, are on sale now at rodeoallstar.com, the National Western Box Office, King Soopers locations, or by phone at 1-866/464-2626.

loaded and returned by mail or fax, but applications must be received by May 1, 2016.

For more information, call the NLFA office at 503/364-5462 or email info@nlfa-sheep.org.

Page 16

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2016

Ranchers Losing Ground in Government Land Grab

BY AMANDA RADKE IN BEEF DAILY

I

don’t know about you, but in my opinion, the 2016 presidential election can’t come soon enough.

For the 22nd time during his nearly eight years in office, President Obama has taken advantage of the Antiquities Act of 1906, locking up millions of acres of land in the western states.

Obama’s designations total 265 million acres, and his most recent designation of the Sand to Snow National Monument, Mojave Trails National Monument and Castle Mountains National Monument totals 1.8 million acres.

With several months left in office, Obama is expected to

designate another 10 million acres of land in Oregon, Arizona and Utah. What’s worse, Obama will more than likely continue to use his executive power when making these designations without any public comment period or economic studies.

Locking out this land under the guise of protecting it negates the fact that ranchers with grazing permits pay to run the ground and also are responsible for the management of those leases. Somehow I have my doubts about the federal government’s abilities to manage this expansive amount of land, and with our nation’s multi-trillion dollar debt, I don’t see how there is enough funding available to make improvements, control weeds, manage bison and elk herds, and fight fires on

this land.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ranchers fighting the government against a powerful land grab. In fact, an entire session at the 2016 Cattle Industry Convention was dedicated to offering advice on how to navigate the stressful world of grazing permits on public lands and how best to deal with litigation, should things escalate that far.

While the media has been somewhat mum on the real issues facing real ranchers who live in areas heavy with federal land, there have been several stories in recent months that should have piqued your interest.

The first, and most dramatic by far, was the imprisonment of Oregon ranchers Dwight and

Steven Hammond, who got in a legal battle with the Federal government over a backfire that they set (with permission) to protect their ranch, which ended up burning 137 acres of federal land. The Hammonds ended up paying $400,000 in fines, and a protest on their behalf ended with the death of Robert LaVoy Finicum and the arrest of nearly a dozen others.

This story has been swept under the rug by many, the parties involved have been painted as terrorists, and today, the Hammonds still sit in prison for simply trying to protect their ranch and help prevent the spread of a major wildfire. You may not agree with the tactics those involved in the standoff took to stand up for what they believe in, but it’s hard to deny the fact

that there is trouble brewing in the West, and the bully is the Federal government.

By the way, the Hammonds are currently seeking a presidential pardon, which I think will be highly unlikely until a new president takes office. The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association is circulating a petition to grant the Hammonds clemency.

Then, there’s the case of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suing a California farmer for plowing his privately-owned land. Claiming that he violated the Waters of the U.S. rule (WOTUS), tree, vine and wheat grower John Duarte is being sued by the EPA, which he claims is a way to chase farmers like him off his own land to turn it into habitat preservation.

Most recently, 20 dairy and beef operations in the federally-owned Point Reyes National Seashore in the Bay Area of California are facing a lawsuit from three environmental groups, which are claiming the government is renewing ranching leases without making the preservation of the park a top priority. The suit calls for halting the leases and will be settled in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

These are just a few key examples of how the rancher is now at odds with the government, with environmentalists and with public’s perception of the impacts of cattle grazing on public land. Of course, this battle has been going on for decades, and has been fought by ranchers, as well as the timber and energy industries, all across the nation.

We’ve got ranchers dealing with violence on the southern border.

We’ve got farmers fearing government reproach because of the ridiculous regulations listed in the WOTUS rule.

We’ve dealt with an Administration that seems to lack an understanding that the nation’s food security is directly tied to how well America’s farmers and ranchers can do.

So as the presidential election season heats up, ask yourself who will repeal WOTUS, who will get control of an overreaching EPA and who will set the tone for the next four years to allow ranchers to get back to work without the stress of strict rules and regulations that are becoming harder and harder to follow. These issues should be of concern to any rancher, whether you live in the West or not. Once the battle is won in the West, where will the government turn next? And do you stand a fighting chance if the next target is your ranch?

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Penton Agriculture.

To read more on practical advice for resolving grazing issues on public lands go to: http:// beefmagazine.com/pasture-range/6-pieces-practical-advice-resolving-grazing-issues-public-land To view the Hammond petition go to: https:// petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/commutesentences-dwight-lincoln-hammond-jr-andsteven-dwight-hammond-both-harneycounty-oregon