LMD March 2020

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

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

March 15, 2020 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 62 • No. 3

The Poisonous Tree

BY LEE PITTS

C

ongratulations are in order to all ranchers who have thus far survived calf-killing wolves, fake beef, gun toting BLM employees, the futures market, bumbling bureaucrats, tasteless poultry, monopolistic packers, crazy greenies, radical animal rightists, militant veg heads, vegans and other assorted enemies of red meat.

From all reports there is a bright future ahead for those of you who have made it this far. Beef consumption has bounced back as Americans have rekindled their love affair with beef, and globally a rising tide has lifted all boats to the point they can now afford to enjoy the taste of beef, many for the first time.

Bragging About Beef

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

As proof of our brag that beef is back consider this report card delivered by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) about all the good news for American beef abroad: • U.S beef exports in 2018 broke both the previous value and volume records.

• In 2019 U.S. beef accounted for 51.5 percent of Korea’s total beef and beef variety meat imports and more than onethird of Korea’s total beef consumption. According to Dan Halstrom of the USMEF, “U.S. beef is achieving remarkable success in Korea’s traditional retail and foodservice sectors and is well-positioned to capitalize on growth in e-commerce, the institutional sector and other emerging sales channels. As U.S. beef moves steadily toward duty-free status in Korea,” said Halstrom, “it becomes accessible and affordable for a wider range of customers whose appetite for U.S. beef continues to grow. We are seeing many new menu concepts

Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction. in this dynamic market and continued excitement about U.S. beef.”

• South Korea made a strong push to become the leading market for U.S. beef in 2019, finishing a close second to Japan at a record $1.84 billion (up 5% from a year ago).

• Prospects for further growth are very strong in Japan, with beef from cattle of all ages now eligible for importation thanks to the new United States-Japan trade agreement.

• After some better beef bargaining and bartering Japan’s new tariff rates for U.S. beef were lowered on January first to match those of major competitors. The tariff for U.S. beef muscle cuts was dropped from 38.5 to 26.6% and still another cut in rates will come April 1.

Said Halstrom, “Buyers in Japan have been waiting a very long time for tariff relief and have already responded enthusiasti-

cally. We look forward to solid growth in 2020 and beyond.”

• According to the USMEF, “exports to Taiwan were record large for the fourth consecutive year in 2019, climbing six percent from a year ago in volume and three percent in value. This growth is also driven by success at foodservice and retail as Taiwan continues to embrace alternative cuts and U.S. beef is underpinning overall consumption growth. The U.S. dominates Taiwan’s chilled beef market, capturing approximately 75% of its chilled imports – the highest share of any Asian destination.”

• According to the USMEF, “Mexico is the third largest market for U.S. beef behind Japan and Korea, and the value of American beef sent there increased 5% from a year ago to $1.1 billion despite a 1% decline in volume. This was largely due to strong demand for beef variety meat, especially tripe.

Variety meat exports to Mexico increased 4% year-over-year in volume and surged 21 percent in value to $276.9 million. This included $111.7 million in tripe exports, up 30 percent from a year ago.”

• The first phase of our new deal with China includes significant breakthroughs in access that should allow a much larger share of U.S. beef production to be eligible for the Chinese market. Overall beef imports in China reached $8.4 billion in 2019, a 70 percent increase over the 2018 record.

• Beef exports to the southeast Asian nations increased 23 percent from a year ago in volume and were eight percent higher in value. Exports to Indonesia reached record heights, climbing 67 percent from a year ago in volume. This included a near doubling of variety meat volume along with substantial growth in muscle cuts.

• Exports of American beef to the Dominican Republic easily surpassed the previous year’s record in both volume up 18 percent, and value, up 13 percent.

Fueled by outstanding demand in Panama, exports to Central America increased three percent from a year ago in volume and seven percent in value. Exports to Panama alone surged 33% in continued on page two

Hunting is ‘Slowly Dying Off,’ has Created Crisis for Endangered Species

BY FRANCES STEAD SELLERS / WASHINGTON POST

T

hey settled, watchfully, into position — a retired couple armed with a long-nosed camera and three men with shotguns.

Tom Stoeri balanced the hefty lens on his half-open car window, waiting to capture the Canada geese as they huddled on the frozen lake, fluttering up in occasional agitation before they launched into flight.

A little more than a mile away, John Heidler and two friends scanned the skies from a sunken blind, mimicking the birds’ honking and hoping their array of decoys would lure them within range — until, Pachow! Pachow!

Pachow! Two geese dropped in bursts of greyblack plumage, and a third swung low across the snow-streaked landscape before falling to the jaws of Heidler’s chocolate lab.

Public lands such as these at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area are a shared resource, open to an unlikely mix of hunters and hikers, birdwatchers and mountain bikers.

“It’s a symbiotic thing,” said Meg Stoeri, Tom’s wife and fellow photographer.

But today, that symbiosis is off kilter: Americans’ interest in hunting is on the decline, cutting into funding for conservation, which stems largely from hunting licenses, permits and taxes on firearms, bows and other equipment.

Even as more people are engaging in out-

door activities, hunting license sales have fallen from a peak of about 17 million in the early ’80s to 15 million last year, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data. The agency’s 2016 survey suggested a steeper decline to 11.5 million Americans who say they hunt, down more than 2 million from five years earlier.

“The downward trends are clear,” said Samantha Pedder of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, which works to increase the diversity of hunters.

The resulting financial shortfall is hitting many state wildlife agencies.

In Wisconsin, a $4 million to $6 million annual deficit forced the state’s Department of Natural Resources to reduce warden patrols and invasive species control. Michigan’s legislature had to dig into general-tax coffers to save some of the state’s wildlife projects, while other key programs, such as protecting bees and other pollinating creatures, remain “woefully underfunded,” according to Edward Golder, a spokesman for the state’s natural resources department. Some states, including Missouri, are redirecting sales tax revenue to conservation.

Here in Pennsylvania — where the game commission gets more than 50 percent of its revenue from licenses, permits and taxes — the agency had to cancel construction projects, delay vehicle purchases and leave dozens of continued on page four

by LEE PITTS

Rock Stars W

e live in a galaxy of superstars.

Change your sex, write a tell-all-book, be 16 years old and lecture old fogies about how the world will end in 12 years because of farting cows, or “go viral” with your dog playing boogie woogie on the piano and you’ll gain instant worldwide recognition.

Every industry has its own rock stars, people who are universally admired and worshipped either for their accomplishments, or who are simply famous because they are famous.

Colin Kaepernick made $20 million and a name for himself simply by taking a knee.

We are no different. If you go to a cattlemen’s convention you can tell who the rock stars are by how long their name tag is.

It seems every group is using these three inch by five inch colorful cards that are strung together indicating all the achievements of the person dragging around the plastic biography. A card is added for every committee the person is on, every office they’ve ever held, the awards they’ve been given and the speeches they’ll deliver.

You know you are really in the presence of a rock star if they kick the bottom of their name tag when they walk.

University professors, breed association officials, purebred breeders, veterinarians who work for huge drug companies, champion auctioneers, economists, farm advisors and sustainability salesmen are all examples of rock stars in our business. Cowboy poets like Baxter and Waddie are idolized while many other ranchers think Allan Savory is a messiah or celestial being.

The rock stars in my universe are a little less famous. Take the man who hauled my cattle for 20 years. Ed wore a small oval name tag like a janitor or a mechanic who worked for the Ford dealership might wear. He spent much of his adulthood driving a cattle truck to all the local dairies that used to dominate the landscape in my neighbor-

continued on page four

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March 15, 2020

TREE

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w o N e b i r c ubs

value. record performance in 2018. TyWe could go on bragging son predicted its operating marabout beef but it’s clear that gin for 2019 will be somewhere when consumers can afford beef, around seven percent. Twenty and when it is available, they will years ago grocery stores would blic aisles rush to buy it. As populations have been dancing inlithe tock pu s e v e ativ one percent profit become larger and the world to make nfoarm i t s o m and if a packer made two perstruggles to find enough protein, s ’ t wes thas uis o S cent they’d have been accused of the potential for beef excite h T ing as a new herd bull or a new cheating. Even more than usual, KET calf crop.

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MAR

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k c o t s e v i L Digest

Remember Those Days?

Shoving It Down Our Throat

That’s the good news. The You’d have thought the packbad news is all that extra money ers would have been satisfied generated by strong beef sales with their take of the spoils but abroad and increased demand at no, the packers did what packers home is not finding its way into always do... they got greedy and to pullsubscribe off another me heist to in the pockets of the jeans of Amer- tried Please ican ranchers, but rather into the broad daylight. They’d have got the Livestock Digest fat wallets of the multinational away Market with it too, if not for: for R packers. The 1biggest smiles in CALF. Year at $19.95 2 Years at $29.9 the beef business these days are When President Trump worn by the packers. If you want signed the new law that replaced to see who the real winners in NAFTA it was missing someNAMEfor beef are, read on. thing. He forgot to reinstate the battle • According to the Livestock Country of Origin Labeling. It Marketing Information Center, appears he’s been hanging with the ADDRESS average profit for feedyards the wrong crowd, like lobbyists in 2019 was a projected $33 per for the BIG 3 packers and their head. That was $9 better than the packer-backer buddies at the PHONE average of $24 per head in 2018. NCBA. One of the things our foreign That sounds good until you compareE-MAIL those numbers with packer beef customers have demanded margins that are expected to av- before they bought one pound erage about $192 per head when of beef is some form of proof the final math is tallied for 2019. that the beef came from cattle MC VISA That’s $23 higher than in 2018. born and raised in the U.S. The • The packer/feeder margin packers dealt with this costly spread reached a peak of $553 hindrance by buying “program CARD NUMBER per head in early September! You cattle” that were guaranteed to read that right, five hundred and be sourced from here. This was fifty EXPIRATION three dollarsDATE PER HEAD! a big cost and it broke the pack• When all the dust has set- er’s number one rule: never pay tled Sterling Marketing presi- a premium for anything. What dentSIGNATURE John Nalivka projects cash the packers needed was a manprofit margins for cow-calf pro- datory program, paid for anyone ducers in 2019 to average $124 but them, that would make all Payment Enclosed per cow. That’s 13 percent lower cattle carry some form of man- or subscribe compared to 2018. According datory electronic identificationonline as RFID tags. to Nalivka those numbers com- otherwise known@ PAYMENT TO: pareSEND to average cow-calf margins This would do two things: it of $164 in 2017, $176 in 2016, would mean the packers would AAALIVESTOC Market andLivestock $438 per cow in 2015!Digest Ah, no longer have to pay a premiP.O. Box um for program cattle, and it remember those7458 good old days?

Albuquerque, Mexico would87194 make all American cattle • According to theNew Sterling Beef Profit Tracker, between generic. Voila! out of nowhere, 1990 and 2018, cow-calf opera- the USDA announced it was no tors have realized a mean return longer going to accept the silver of $62 per head. So, a rancher Brucellosis tags as proof of oriwho raised a calf from concep- gin and was going to require cattion to consumer made an av- tle producers to exclusively use erage of $62 per head while a RFID technology if they desired packer who owned the animal to ship adult cattle across state for a week last September made lines. Of course ranchers would over $500! use such identification because One reason the packers are they could not afford to restrict making such record-breaking the buying pool that would profits is that they are continu- bid on their cattle to just those ing to roll out new, more val- bidders in the same state. The ue-added products, which have USDA and NCBA were going a higher value than commodity to shove RFID technology down beef. In many instances these the throat of the U.S. cattle innew products were developed dustry whether they liked it or and financed by checkoff dollars not. with cow calf producers, stocker operators and feeders footing This Is No Fairy Tale the bill for the packer’s research.

It appeared for a short time Does anyone else see a BIG that the USDA, NCBA and the problem here that packers don’t packers were going to get away pay into the checkoff? with this, and would have, if R The exceptional bull sale aver- CALF didn’t file a lawsuit to ages we’re seeing also show that stop it. ranchers are willing to spend Those of us whose job it is to huge amounts to upgrade the keep an eye out for such things quality of the cattle they’re pro- clearly bobbled the ball when the ducing. A good example was USDA was so brazen and had one year ago at this time when the audacity to come out with a record 83% of all cattle grad- a program that would give the ed Prime or Choice. Of course packers everything they wanted. ranchers are getting some extra Ranchers thought they’d stopped dollars as a result but reports this issue from being implementon Wall Street from the BIG 3 ed years ago. While the livestock packers show huge record prof- press failed to pick up on it, R its for all beef processors last CALF saw the monkey business year. Tyson Foods, for example, for what it was and went to court became the first beef processor to stop it. Their lawsuit alleged in the world to make more than the USDA committed two maone billion dollars in a year in jor violations when it attempted 2018. And even with all the han- give the packers what they wantky panky by the Batista brothers, continued on page four JBS USA Beef also turned in a

3Yes.

March 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

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Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2020

TREE ed. The first violation was that the government ignored its obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act by issuing its mandate without first providing a notice and comment period to the public.

The second major allegation was that the government violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act by unlawfully convening one or more advisory committees comprised of only pro-RFID members to assist the agency in formulating the unlawful RFID mandate in the first place.

Harriet Hageman, Senior Litigation Counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, filed the lawsuit on R CALF’s behalf to protect the livestock industry from the government’s overreach

continued from page two

and unlawful actions. Hageman alleged that, “The government had no legal authority to prohibit their right to continue using metal eartags and other animal identification devices (such as brands, tattoos, and group identification numbers) authorized by the traceability regulations implemented in 2013.” R CALF also challenged the agencies’ effort to force ranchers to register their premises with the federal government.

Within just weeks after R CALF filed its lawsuit, the USDA removed the RFID mandate and asked the court to dismiss R CALF’s case.

In other words, the USDA and NCBA had been caught with their pants down and only R CALF could see that the King

wasn’t wearing his tidy whiteys.

Maybe we’ve got our fairy tales confused.. but you get the picture.

In the wake of the USDA’s failed effort to prohibit all current forms of official animal identification devices other than the most costly and most intrusive, radio frequency eartags, the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association and R CALF are circulating an online petition in an effort to preserve choices for independent U.S. cattle producers.

Who Done It? There remain enough unanswered questions in this debacle to keep a herd of reporters busy for months. “Who,” as attorney Harriet Hageman asks,

“was in the room, who was involved, who was ‘advising’ the USDA and APHIS, how the policy came into existence, and what materials (studies, reports, memoranda, data, statistics, etc.) were developed in support and as a result of that allegedly defective process?”

Because of the government’s alleged violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, R CALF’s motion states that it should not be allowed to continue relying upon the “fruit of the poisonous tree,” meaning on the work products of the allegedly unlawful committee or committees.

“We believe that it is important to understand how the RFID mandate came about, and ensure that the USDA considers

HUNTING positions vacant, according to a 2016 report, even as it tackled West Nile virus and tried to protect rare creatures such as the wood rat.

“That’s what keeps me up at night,” Robert Miller, director of the Governor’s Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation, said of the inadequacies of the user-pay, user-play model that has funded conservation for decades.

A national panel has called for a new funding model to keep at-risk species from needing far costlier emergency measures. The crisis stands to worsen with as many as one-third of America’s wildlife species “at increased risk of extinction,” according to a 2018 report published by the National Wildlife Federation. In December, en-

RIDING HERD

continued from page one

vironmentalists and hunters united in Washington behind two bipartisan bills aimed at establishing new funding sources and facilitating the recruitment of hunters.

The needs are becoming more urgent as development eats into habitats and new challenges crop up, such as climate change and chronic wasting disease, a neurological condition infecting deer. The Trump administration’s recent rollback of pollution controls on waterways will put a greater burden on states to protect wetland habitats.

The financial troubles are growing as baby boomers age out of hunting, advocates say, and younger generations turn instead to school sports and indoor hobbies such as video continued from page one

hood. When the dairies all disappeared Ed made the transition to hauling beef cattle. It was an easy switch because Ed was the only driver who could get his truck and trailer even remotely close to the loading chutes that were made to load out bobtail trucks. As the son of a trucker and heavy equipment operator I marveled at the tricks Ed used to get close to 100 year old loading chutes that would turn to dust if you hit them very hard.

Like the time he drove over a round, four inch thick wooden fence post in line with his trailer’s wheels so the trailer sort of fell off the post four inches closer to the loading chute.

Another guy who wore a simple name tag on his shirt was Buzzard Bill the tallow man. Of course, his name tag didn’t say all that. It just said, “Bill” right over his great big heart. Buzzard Bill really didn’t need any form of identification because you could smell him coming a mile away, even if his truck was empty. His wife rode with him most of the time and around noon they’d open up a lunch bucket and share a sandwich and some chips in the cab of the smelly tallow truck.

I admired Buzzard Bill not only for his ability to withstand the grossness of his occupation but also because of his compassion. Once when a pack of town dogs attacked our flock of sheep, killing five and wounding ten others, Buzzard Bill was gentle with the carcasses as he winched them into the back of his truck. I was busy shearing around the bite marks and applying KRS to the bites where the dogs had ripped the flesh of the ewes that survived, some just barely. When Buzzard Bill finished loading he approached and I asked, “How much do I owe you?” (I knew that the tallow company now charged for their services whereas 20 years ago it was free.) I had a vague idea that cow carcasses were now $100 and sheep were $25.)

Buzzard Bill put his arm on my shoulder, looked into my misty eyes and said, “I think you’ve taken a big enough loss for one day. There will be no charge. I’ll explain it to my boss and if he objects I’ll just pay the bill myself.”

From that moment on Buzzard Bill was a rock star in my world. www.LeePittsbooks.com

the interest and concerns of the livestock industry, who are ultimately the ones who will bear the compliance costs for such requirements.” Hageman added, “allowing discovery pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act will provide much needed transparency and accountability.”

In the words of R CALF’s CEO Bill Bullard, “The government’s actions in issuing its unlawful RFID mandate infringed on the liberties and freedoms of every U.S. cattle producer and we deserve to know precisely what caused the government to act in such a brazenly unlawful manner in the first place so we can better prepare for whatever the government plans to do next.”

games.

“Hunting and fishing are slowly dying off,” said Heidler, who described himself as “a fourth-generation waterfowler.”

While his children enjoy the lifestyle, he said very few of their friends do.

“They say there’s not time between school and after-school activities,” he said, adding that even archery rarely leads children into hunting anymore.

The sport is booming at Lancaster Archery Supply, where Kevin Sweigart takes his 14-year-old daughter for lessons. Sweigart said he grew up hunting, but the culture has changed and he hasn’t passed on the tradition to the next generation.

“My dad always told me stories about hunting,” said Norah Sweigart. “But for me it’s just target shooting.”

Many states are devising ways to reinvigorate hunting culture and expand the sport’s appeal to women, minorities, and the growing number of locavores — people who seek locally sourced food.

Colorado has a Hug a Hunter campaign to raise awareness of wildlife management and outdoor recreational opportunities. Pennsylvania, where the number of licensed hunters has dropped from 927,000 to 850,000 over the past decade, is trying to stall the decline with “R3 activities” — efforts to recruit, retain and reactivate hunters.

The state is relaxing its ban on Sunday hunting this year to increase opportunities for working families. The game commission plans to bring a food truck to community gatherings to familiarize people with eating wild game. And it will expand on mentored outings for young people and first-time female hunters.

In October, Derek Stoner, the commission’s hunter outreach coordinator, helped arrange a deer hunt for 20 newcomers, many from the city, with 14 trained mentors at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Tinicum, just south of Philadelphia.

Elena Korboukh, a teacher from South Philadelphia, recognized the event was “a kind of PR campaign to promote hunting,” but said she welcomed the chance to connect with nature — an opportunity she wishes she could offer her students.

“I had hiked the refuge for

close to 20 years, but you don’t see a lot when you are moving,” said Korboukh, who killed a deer with a crossbow during the October event.

“When you are sitting still, you see a lot, and it’s very, very exciting.”

Pat Oelschlager, one of the mentors at the Heinz hunt, continues to take out inexperienced hunters. On a dank January afternoon in Evansburg State Park, Oelschlager set out to stalk deer with Lenny Cohen, who said he wanted to get closer to his hunter-gatherer roots, which he felt distant from, growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Neither targeted a deer that day but Oelschlager fielded Cohen’s questions about animal behavior, hunting etiquette and the names of native plants.

A few states are bucking the trend. New Mexico, where the number of licensed hunters grew nearly 10 percent over the past four years, credits its successes to R3 strategies such as making license applications available online and reaching out to Latino residents.

Many national hunting advocacy groups, such as Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, have made cultivating interest among people who have had little exposure to the outdoors key to their missions. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is seeking to turn what its research suggests is about two and a half million “aspiring hunters” into actual hunters.

Other groups aim to create experiences that appeal to women, including BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) and the National Wildlife Federation’s Artemis.

“I have had more dance parties in the field with women,” said Artemis’s leader Marcia Brownlee. “And laughed more.”

But revamping the federal funding model has proved tough. A proposed tax on outdoor gear, for example, was killed by resistance from retailers and manufacturers.

The link between hunting and conservation dates back more than a century to when trigger-happy gunmen all but blasted the bison population to oblivion and finished off North America’s most abundant bird, the passenger pigeon. (Martha, the hapless final specimen, died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo before being shipped, on ice, to Washington and put on display

at the Smithsonian.)

Small wonder that hunters were asked to curb — and pay for — their excesses. Avid outdoorsmen such as Theodore Roosevelt put their stamp on an enduring ethos that combined sport with conservation and led to the 1937 passage of the Pittman-Robertson Act, which imposed an 11 percent excise tax on the sale of firearms that is apportioned annually to state agencies for conservation.

While critics say the system puts too much emphasis on hunted animals and birds, it has turned the tables for many species including the now-ubiquitous Canada goose and whitetail deer, which had been in decline.

“The species that we have funded have done very well,” said National Wildlife Federation President Collin O’Mara, “which means it’s a fixable problem.”

In December, Congress modernized Pittman-Robertson as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, giving states greater discretion in their use of federal dollars for recruitment. House legislators also took bipartisan steps to advance the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which would provide states and tribes with $1.4 billion annually from the general fund to restore habitats and implement key conservation strategies. The bill now heads to the House floor for a full vote.

“It’s exciting to see sportsmen’s groups working with greener groups,” O’Mara said.

Still, at Middle Creek and beyond, conservation remains a constant balancing act — not only among the plentiful waterfowl, the returning bald eagles and rare bog turtles — but also among the people.

In a month or so, busloads of tourists will park along the lake, many having flown in specially from Asia, to see tens of thousands of snow geese stop over on their route north to their breeding grounds.

It’s a miraculous sight, free and open to everyone, that has inspired Tom and Meg Stoeri, the wildlife photographers, to bring along their grandchildren.

Tom Stoeri noted that the otter on their special license plate reflects their support of the state’s wild resources.

“I would pay more,” he said.

“But I don’t know if the general population would.”

March 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

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Leading Scientists Agree: Current Limits on Saturated Fats No Longer Justified

DC

-based workshop entitled “Saturated Fats: A Food or Nutrient Approach?” a group of leading nutrition scientists, mainly from the U.S., released a consensus statement detailing their findings on the latest research regarding the intake of saturated-fats and heart disease. After reviewing the evidence, the expert group agreed that the most rigorous and current science fails to support a continuation of the government’s policy limiting consumption of saturated fats.

Members of workshop, who met February, included three former members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), from 1995 and 2015, as well as the chair of the 2005 DGAC. The DGAC is an expert group, appointed every five years to review the science for the government’s nutrition policy, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), and make recommendations to the two agencies that jointly issue those guidelines, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Members of the group wrote a consensus statement on saturated fats and also sent a letter regarding their findings to the Secretaries of USDA and HHS. The letter stated, “There is no strong scientific evidence that the current population-wide upper limits on commonly consumed saturated fats in the U.S. will prevent cardiovascular disease or reduce mortality. A continued limit on these fats is therefore not justified.”

The letter urged USDA-HHS to give “serious and immediate consideration to lifting the limits placed on saturated fat intake for the upcoming 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.”

“We agreed that there is no evidence that the current population-wide upper limits on commonly consumed saturated fats in the U.S. will prevent cardiovascular disease or reduce mortality,” said Janet King, Ph.D., chair of the 2005 DGAC and a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology at the University of California at Berkeley.

Since the launch of the DGA in 1980,

Americans have been advised to consume a diet “low in saturated fats.” In 2005, the DGA added a specific limit of 10 percent of calories from these fats, and this recommendation has endured since that time. For the 2020 DGA, the USDA-HHS advisory committee has stated that it will update the recommendations for saturated fats, with a report due out mid-May of this year.

“The guidelines determine school lunches, hospital food, feeding programs for the elderly and military food. Indeed, they influence our entire food supply. It is therefore critical that these guidelines be based on the best-possible science, including the most up-to-date understanding on saturated fats and their effects on health,” stated Ronald M. Krauss, MD, one of the workshop’s two co-chairs and a professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco as well as the Dolores Jordan Endowed Chair at UCSF. “The approach to look at saturated fat as one group, and to predict health effects of individual foods, meals and diets based on the total content of saturated fat is likely to lead to erroneous conclusions,” said Arne Astrup, MD, DMSc, a workshop co-chair and Professor, Head of Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen & Chief Consultant, Unit for Clinical Research,?Bispebjerg?Frederiksberg Hospitals,?Copenhagen, Denmark. “Future recommendations should move away from a nutrient-based analytical strategy to a food-based approach, and we hope these considerations will be taken into account before the DGA advisory committee’s scientific report is issued in May.” A critically important consideration regarding saturated fat is the growing recognition by scientists in the field that the effect of these fats on health cannot be considered in isolation, but instead must be analyzed as part of the larger food matrix (i.e., the composition of specific foods) in which these fats exist. It is now known that the impact of nutrients on health needs to be considered in the

context of the overall diet (i.e., the other nutrients and foods people consume), the type and degree of food processing that a food undergoes, and other crucial factors such as a person’s metabolic health and propensity for disease.

For example, some foods, such as dark chocolate, whole-fat dairy, and unprocessed meat, have a relatively high saturated-fat content but show no association with increased cardiovascular risk.

These leading researchers in the field also concluded that: • Numerous recent meta-analyses of both controlled randomized trials and observational studies have found no significant evidence for effects of saturated fat consumption on cardiovascular or total mortality. Furthermore, there is evidence that saturated-fat intake may be associated with a lower risk of experiencing a stroke.

• Recommendations to lower saturated fat consumption have been based primarily on the evidence that this will lower LDL, the type of cholesterol in the blood that has been linked to heart disease risk. However, it is now known that there is more than one type of LDL, and that in the majority of individuals, reducing dietary saturated fat does not lower the type (small dense LDL) that is most strongly associated with heart disease risk. This may help to explain why lowering saturated fat intake in trials has not been found to reduce cardiovascular mortality.

The workshop was organized by cochairs Arne Astrup, MD, DMSc, and Ronald M. Krauss, MD, and was funded

by The Nutrition Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, D.C. with no funding from industry.

Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2020

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

Bar M Real Estate

Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker

775/752-3040

SCOTT MCNALLY

Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY

Ranch Sales & Appraisals

www.bottarirealty.com

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

SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY

Selling residential, farm, ranch, commercial and relocating properties.

On the Plaza

Donald Brown

Qualifying Broker

521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130

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

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

Buena Vista Realty

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

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

Scott Land co.

1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott – Broker Krystal M Nelson –CO/NM QB#15892 800-933-9698 day/eve. www.scottlandcompany.com

Ranch & Farm Real Estate

WE NEED LISTINGS ON ALL TYPES OF AG PROPERTIES LARGE OR SMALL!

■ BLANCA CREEK RANCH – Quay/Guadalupe Cos., NM – 10,191.44 Deeded ac. + 1,640 State ac. – Well improved ranch with excellent access. Level to gently rolling with some arroyos.

Located along I40 between Albuquerque, NM and Amarillo, TX. A beautiful, new, custom built home is situated at the headquarters along with a wellbuilt 150 X 115 shop (80 x 150 enclosed and heated), outdoor arena, horse barns, pens & other improvements. The ranch is well watered and has very good to excellent fence.

■ WEST HAYDEN RANCH – Union/Harding Counties, NM – 9,670.76 ac. +/- (8,350.76 ac. +/- Deeded, 1,000 lease/purchase acres, 320 ac. +/- NM State Lease) of really good ranch land, well watered by a large spring, mills & subs, on pvmt., home, barns & 2 sets of pens.

■ ELK CANYON RANCH – Harding County, NM - Another “hunter’s paradise” listed by Scott Land Company, LLC along w/the Elk Ridge Ranch, great opportunity for livestock/hunting/recreation, 2,240 ac. +/-, well watered w/good fences. Located just west of the West Hayden Ranch.

■ ELK RIDGE RANCH – Capulin, NM area, 100hd. +/- herd of Elk seen on property from time-to-time, 5,520 ac. +/- w/nice home, barns & pens, watered by wells & live water, no outside access through the property. Brochure being prepared!

■ COLFAX CO., NM – 7402.09 ac. +/- (4,789.69 Deeded – 2,612.4 State Lease) w/historic “POINT OF ROCKS” monument on the Santa Fe Trail, attractive improvements, all weather access!

Please view our website 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.

Call Buena Vista Realty at 575-226-0671 or the listing agent Lori Bohm 575-760-9847, or Melody Sandberg 575-825-1291.

Many good pictures on MLS or www.buenavista-nm.com

AsLow LowAsAs 3% As 4.5% OPWKCAP 2.9% OPWKCAP 2.9%

575-799-9600 Direct 575.935.9680 Office 575.935.9680 Fax coletta@plateautel.net www.clovisrealestatesales.com

INTEREST RATESAS AS LOW 3% INTEREST RATES LOW ASAS 4.5% Payments Scheduledon on2525 Years Payments Scheduled Years

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES 208 AC #) MILES OUT OF DALLAS High traffic count, long frontage on US Hwy ready for a developer. $14,000 per ac, 25 ac $700. Ready to develop.

230 AC GAME & RETREAT that is a dream. Lakes, woods, meadows, game galore, 35 miles out of Dallas, Kaufman Co.

Joe Priest Real Estate

1-800/671-4548

joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

BAR M M REAL REAL ESTATE ESTATE BAR NewMexico MexicoProperties PropertiesFor ForSale...

Sale...

New

THE 100 RANCH Iflooking you are a quality ranchthe then theRanch 100iscattle Ranch is just you The 100 THE 100 RANCH – If– you are looking for a for quality cattle cattle ranchsuitable then 100 just what youwhat need.

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100 include Ranch is THE 100 RANCH – If you are for looking a quality cattle ranch for a registered operation.

Improvements iswell aRanch scenic, improved cattleThe ranch stunning views of the nearby Sacramento and Jicarilla Mountains.

Located aRanch scenic, improved ranch with stunning views of Sacramento and Jicarilla Mountains.

Located approximately Price: $2,500,000 Call for then the 100 is well justcattle what you need.

100 with Ranch is the nearby two sets of pens, shop, and hay barn. approximately 30 ofmiles northwest Carrizozo, the The ranch isdeeded comprised 15,931 mileswell northwest Carrizozo, Mexico on theNew Chupadera TheChupadera ranch is comprised of 15,931 acres,of30,680 aon brochure or view onMesa. my website: www.ranchesnm.com a30 scenic, improved cattle ranchNew with of stunning views of theMexicoMesa. deeded acres, federal BLM acresapproxand 9,208 NM State leasecapacity acres. The grazing capacity of the nearby Sacramento and Jicarilla Mountains.

Located federal BLM lease30,680 acres and 9,208 NM lease State lease acres.

The maximum grazing of themaximum ranch is listed at 1,200 A.U.Y.L. BLACKWATER DRAW RANCH – an Niceextensive improved ranch ranch listed atoperational, 1,200of A.U.Y.L. ranch fully ready to turn outsixwith noand start upwell costs.

Watered with six imately 30is miles northwest Carrizozo, Mexico onno theoperational, The ranch is fully ready The toNew turn out iswith start up costs.

Watered with wells pipeline system. located just minutes downtown Roswell, NMwith wells big andMesa. an extensive system.

Ample deeded big on the ranchoryx. to 15 include elk, mule deer,land antelope and oryx.

Chupadera The ranchpipeline of 15,931 Ample game hunting onis comprised the ranch to include elk,game mule hunting deer,property antelope and Access to from the public is limited along and south of U.S. Highway 70/380.

Improvements include Access to the public land is limited with approximately 7,000 acres of private land gated and locked.

The 100 Ranch has acres, 30,680 federal BLM lease acres and 9,208 NM State approximately 7,000 acres of private land gated and locked. The price includes all ranch vehicles and equipment. The 100 Ranch a customwith designed home, guest house, Quonset Barn, LLC. hadhad justjust two owners 1940s. isisone Oak Properties NM Ranch Ranch Luxury, LLC. lease acres.

The maximum grazing capacity ofIt It the ranch is alisted has two ownerssince sincethethe 1940s. oneofof a kind. kind. Co-listed Co-listed Mossyrock Oak Properties NM &&Luxury, barns, and a good set of pipe pens. Partitioned into two larger atPrice: 1,200$11,000,000 A.U.Y.L. The ranch is fully operational, ready turnwebsite: out Price: $9,995,000 Call for a brochure or view ontomy www.ranchesnm.com pastures and two smaller pastures. Acreage includes 2,185 with no start up costs.

Watered with six wells and an extensive COCHISERANCH RANCH––Ranch Ranchproperty propertylocated locatedjust justwest westofofRoswell, Roswell, NMalong along and adjacent toU.S. U.S. Highway 70/380 Ruidoso, COCHISE NM Highway 70/380 totoRuidoso, deeded acresand andadjacent 320 NMtoState Lease acres.

The Blackwater pipeline system. Ample big game hunting onand the80 ranch toofinclude NM. Comprised of 6,607 deeded acres acres NM State Leaseacres. acres.Water Water provided bythree threesolar solarwells wells andpipelines. pipelines.

NM. Comprised of 6,607 deeded acres and 80 acres of NM State Lease isisprovided by and Draw Ranch is adjacent to the Cochise Ranch, the two may elk,Fenced mule deer, antelope and oryx.and Access the public landfor is registered cattle operation. Improvements include two sets of be intoseveral severalpastures pastures smallto traps suitable Fenced into and small traps suitable for a aregistered cattlevery operation.

Improvements sets of pens, $1,350,000include Call fortwo a brochure orpens, combined easily. Price: limited with approximately 7,000 acres of private land gated and shop,and andhay haybarn. barn.Price: Price:$2,500,000 $2,500,000Call Callforfora abrochure brochureororview view my website: www.ranchesnm.com shop, onon my view on mywebsite: website:www.ranchesnm.com www.ranchesnm.com locked. The price includes all ranch vehicles and equipment.

BLACKWATER DRAW RANCH Nicethe well improved ranchproperty propertylocated locatedjust just1515minutes minutesfrom fromdowntown downtownRoswell, Roswell,NM NM BLACKWATER Nice well improved The 100 Ranch hasDRAW had just RANCH two owners–– since 1940s.

It is ranch KELLEY PECAN ORCHARD – 10.2guest acres with over 230 Barn, along andsouth south U.S. Highway 70/380.

Improvements include custom designed rockhome, home, guesthouse, house, Quonset Barn, along ofofU.S. 70/380.

Improvements a acustom designed rock Quonset one of aand kind.

Co-listed withHighway Mossy Oak Properties NM Ranch &include matureand producing pecanpastures. trees located just west of Roswell, barns,LLC. andaPrice: agood good$11,000,000 setofofpipe pipepens. pens.

Partitioned into twolarger largerpastures pastures twosmaller smaller Acreage includes 2,185deeded deeded barns, and set Partitioned into and two pastures. Acreage includes 2,185 Call for a brochure or two view on Luxury, NM.isArtesian water rights with one wellthe supplies irrigation acres and 320 NM State Lease acres.

The Blackwater Draw Ranch adjacent to the Cochise Ranch, two may combined acres and 320 NM State Lease acres.

The Blackwater Draw Ranch is adjacent to the Cochise Ranch, the two may bebecombined my website: www.ranchesnm.com water through a newly installed sprinkler system to the orchard. veryeasily. easily.Price: Price:$1,350,000 $1,350,000Call Callforfora abrochure brochureororview viewononmy my website: www.ranchesnm.com very website: www.ranchesnm.com include a large 5,400 square foot two story coloCOCHISE – Ranch property located westwith of over 230Improvements KELLEYRANCH PECAN ORCHARD 10.2just acres mature producing pecan treeslocated locatedjust westofof Roswell, KELLEY PECAN ORCHARD ––10.2 acres with over 230 nial mature producing pecan west Roswell, style residence that hastrees been featured injust Southern Living Roswell, NM along and adjacent towith U.S. one Highway 70/380 to irrigation water NM. Artesian water rights well supplies through newly installed sprinkler system the NM. Artesian water rights with one well supplies irrigation Magazine. water through a anewly installed sprinkler system totothe This property is one of a kind.

Call for an appointment Ruidoso, Comprised of include 6,607 deeded acres and 80square acres foot two story colonial style residence that has been featured in orchard.NM. Improvements large 5,400 orchard.

Improvements include a alarge 5,400 square foot two story colonial style residence that has been featured in to take a look or for a color brochure. Price: $975,000 Call for a of Southern NM State Lease acres.

WaterThis is provided three solar LivingMagazine.

Magazine. propertyby oneof ofa awells kind.Call Callbrochure totake takea www.ranchesnm.com alook lookororforfora acolor colorbrochure. brochure.

Southern Living This property isisone kind. forforananappointment orappointment view on mytowebsite: andPrice: pipelines.

Fenced into several pastures and small traps $975,000Call Callforfora abrochure brochureororview viewononmy mywebsite: website:www.ranchesnm.com www.ranchesnm.com Price: $975,000 Scott McNally, Qualifying Broker ScottMcNally, McNally, Qualifying Broker Scott Qualifying Broker Bar M Real Estate, LLC P.O. 428, Roswell, NM 88202 Roswell,NM NMBox 88202 Roswell, 88202 Office: 575-622-5867 Cell: 575-420-1237 Office:575-622-5867 575-622-5867 Cell:575-420-1237 575-420-1237 Office: ••Cell: www.ranchesnm.com

CONTACT CONTACT

BarEstate M Bar M RealEstate Real

AG LOANS AGLAND LAND LOANS

COLETTA RAY

Pioneer Realty 1304 Pile Street, Clovis, NM 88101

www.ranchesnm.com www.ranchesnm.com

Joe Stubblefield & Associates 13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX 806/622-3482 • cell 806/674-2062 joes3@suddenlink.net Michael Perez Associates Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

521 West Second St., Portales, NM 88130

575-226-0671 www.buenavista-nm.com

1421 N. Ave O, Portales, NM Nice comfortable 3 bedroom, 3 bath country home on 17.9 acres with city water and sewer, lays next to the Portales city limits. HVAC plus pellet stove in living room, garage has space for woodworking or craft hobbies.

Horse friendly, show animals, get the pasture established and the sky is the limit on the great things that can be done with this 17.9 acres with irrigation side roll. Barn for horses as is, portable panels for a variety of other animals.

See these and other properties at www.buenavista-nm.com

M U R N E Y , ASSOCIATES, REALTORS® 1625 E. Primrose • Springfield, MO 65804 • murney.com • 823-2300

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com Paul McGilliard - Cell: 417/839-5096 • 1-800/743-0336

Missouri Land Sales • A STUNNING HORSE FACILITY. Situated in a desirable area, Rogersville schools, beautiful 4,139 sq.ft home. 4 bdrms and 4 baths, a 7,200 sq. ft. indoor riding arena, 5 horse stalls expandable to 7 (12 x 12), a 72 x 12 walkway, 36 x 12 tack room, feed room, 72 x 24 hay loft, outdoor wash rack, 120 x 12 outside overhangs, individual fenced horse runs from stalls. Entire property is fenced annd cross fenced, 5 pastures and acreage for hay. This home has geo-thermal heating and cooling, as well as a full Generac backup generator, all set up.

Also included is a full sprinkler system on all floors of this home. Three fireplaces (one on each level). So much to offer, and quite unique to find something this well-built. A must-see property. MLS#60148628 • GREENFIELD TRADING POST. Available for sale at the corner of Hwy. 160 (Grand) & H Hwy. Newer tile floors, ADA bathrooms, outside storage tanks, 4 double side gas pumps. Owner reports a brisk business with sales around $1m last year. Store features a bait room for fishing at nearby Stockton Lake. Property has roll up garage door for easy storage of equipment and inventory. Vendor for popular Hunt Pizza with small eat-in area. Multiple coolers, coffee makers and shelving are included in sale. 2080 sf in store, 1120 sf for storage of inventory. This is an unbranded station. MLS# 80140975.

O’NEILL O’NEILL LAND, LAND,llc llc P.O. P.O. BoxBox 145, Cimarron, Fax: 575/376-2347 145, Cimarron,NM NM87714 87714 •• 575/376-2341 575/376-2341 • •Fax: 575/376-2347 land@swranches.com land@swranches.com •• www.swranches.com www.swranches.com

MOUND RANCH, RANCH, Mora/ Mora/ WAGON MOUND Harding Counties, Counties, NM. 8,880.80 8,880.80 +/+/Harding Total Acres, Acres, aasubstantial substantial holding holding with with Total good good mix mix of of grazing grazing land land and andbroken broken country offrim riminto into Canadian River. country off Canadian River.

Has Has modern water system located modern water system located 17 miles 17 east ofMound WagonoffMound off eastmiles of Wagon pavement pavement 3 miles onTwo county then 3 milesthen on county road. bedroad.

Two bedroom historic house, room historic house, once a stage stop. once a stage Wildlifemule include Wildlife includestop. antelope, deer antelope, deer and some elk. and some mule elk. $2,710,000 $2,440,000 $2,710,000 $2,440,000 FRENCH TRACT FARM, 491.55 +/FRENCH TRACT FARM, 491.55 deeded acres, Colfax County, NM +/two deeded acres,gated Colfax County, NM two pivots, some pipe, 371 irrigation pivots, some shares in AVID,gated House,pipe, barn,371 closeirrito gation barn, exit 419shares off I25inonAVID, HWYHouse, 58. All in one close to exitparcel 419 offwith I25 access on HWY contiguous on58. all All in$700,000 one contiguous parcel with sides. access on all sides. $700,000 RATON MILLION DOLLAR VIEW, RATON MILLION DOLLAR VIEW, Colfax County, NM. 97.68 +/- deeded Colfax NM. 97.68 +/- deedacres inCounty, 2 parcels with excellent home, ed 2 parcels withmillion excellent big acres shop,inwildlife, a true dol-

$489,000.

Also listed witha true the house home, big shop, wildlife, million dollar view at the of a private road. and one parcel for end $375,000 $489,000. listed with the house MIAMI 20 Also ACRES, Colfax County, NM and one2,715 parcelsqft for $375,000 quality adobe home, barn, MIAMI ACRES, Colfax County, NM grounds,20fruit trees and mature trees. quality 2,715 sqft adobe barn, Extremely private setting. home, REDUCED grounds, andsee. mature trees. $355,000.fruit This trees is a must Also listed Extremely privatewith setting. with same house 10 +/-REDUCED deeded $355,000.

This is a must see. Also listed acres for $310,000 with same house with 10 +/- deeded MAXWELL 19.50 ACRES, Colfax acres for $310,000 County, NM quality extensive remodMAXWELL 19.50 one ACRES, Colfax eled two bedroom, bathroom County, NM quality extensive remodhome with water rights, outbuildings eled two bedroom, one bathroom home for livestock in NE NM. Great south with water rights, outbuildings forfacliveing porch iced tea cooling stock in NE for NM.sipping Great south facing porch off sipping at 6,000iced ft elevation.

Would for tea cooling off atmake 6,000 summer getaway winter ski ftgreat elevation.

Would makeand great summer getaway and winter ski base. $270,000 base. $270,000

C O N TR A C TT C AG T RIN ND ON PCE

P E N D IN G

MORA +/- ACRES, ACRES, 12 12miles miles MORACOUNTY COUNTY160 160 +/south WagonMound, Mound,remote, remote,excelexcelsoutheast east of of Wagon lent good mix mixofofsub subirrigated irrigated lent solar solar well well good cabin.$154,000 $154,000 lar view at the end of a private road. and andrange. range. Small Small cabin.

March 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

Endangered Species, Umbrella Species, Expanded Habitat

A

re we about to see an expansion of the authority or impact of the Endangered Species Act? If so, how will this occur?

First let’s take a look at how we got where we are today.

In the early history of our country, the states were sovereign over wildlife within their borders. As late as 1896 the Supreme Court held that states have the, “undoubted authority to control the taking and use of that which belonged to no one in particular but was common to all.” (Geer v. Connecticut). Since then we have witnessed the steady passing of this authority from the states to the federal government, culminating in the passage of the Endangered Species Act. The feds had no role in the management of wildlife until Congress passed the Lacey Act in 1900, which began the reg-

ulation of interstate commerce of wildlife. The first federal wildlife refuge was designated in 1903, and in 1918 the Migratory Bird Treaty Act passed which implemented a treaty with Canada.

In 1966 the Endangered Species Preservation Act passed which called for a list of endangered species and directed federal agencies to protect threatened species “where practicable” and prevented the “taking” of a species within a federal refuge. It did not regulate private actions that took place outside a federal refuge.

1969 brought us the Endangered Species Conservation Act which banned the importation of anything made from an endangered species anywhere in the world and called for an international convention to prevent extensions.

Almost immediately, Presi-

dent Nixon declared the 1969 law inadequate and requested additional federal authority to protect endangered species.

Congress held a series of hearings in the House and Senate, resulting in the Endangered Species Act of 1973 which was signed into law by Nixon.

Interestingly, the authority to appropriate funds for the purpose of enforcing the ESA expired in 1992. The act itself did not expire in 1992 as some people think. What did expire was Congressional authority to appropriate funds. That seems simple, no money no enforcement. Sorry, but that is not the way the D.C. Deep Thinkers operate. Both the Senate and House found “special” rules where they could appropriate your money even though their authority to do so had expired.

And that is what they have continued to do, each and every fiscal year since 1992.

Well then, if Congress can’t even reach agreement to reauthorize appropriations for the Act, surely we won’t see Congressional action to expand the scope or impact of the law. That is correct. I believe the expansion of the act will come administratively, either by agency action or by dictate of the courts.

Let us take a look at two recently announced academic studies.

According to investigators at the University of Queensland, the protection of Australia’s endangered species could be

Page 7 and Forest Sciences. “We need to think about where species will go as the climate changes, and then plan for that. The business-as-usual planning process isn’t going to work.”

Watch for government-funded studies to develop lists of “umbrella” species and mapping their whereabouts. No doubt we will also see government grants to development computer models that predict where species will migrate as a result of climate change. How long will it be before an agency determines that to protect a species under authority of the Act it must also protect these umbrella species? For similar reasons they will determine that not only the critical habitat of an endangered species must be protected, but also the habitat where the endangered species will migrate to as a result of climate change. And since “umbrella” species will also migrate, we must also protect that future habitat.

As you can imagine, all of this will result in a huge expansion of federal authority over land and water.

How good of a prognosticator am I? I hope, terrible.

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

improved by a factor of seven if “umbrella species” were prioritized for protection. Umbrella species are species which when preserved, indirectly protect many other plant and animal species. The study’s senior author, University of Queensland and the Nature Conservancy’s Professor Hugh Possingham states, “Now is precisely the time where governments need to get their investment in nature to be as efficient as possible” and “With a species extinction crisis…we need better methods to efficiently prioritize investment of resources in species recovery.” In other words, if you really want to protect endangered species, the best way to do so is to protect the more expansive list of “umbrella” species.

Then we have recent research from the University of Washington and Evergreen State College which analyzes whether accounting for climate change in conservation planning can protect future biodiversity better than current approaches. The authors found that many species of animals and plants likely will need to migrate under climate change, and that conservation efforts will also need to shift to be effective.

“We are going to need to protect different places if we want to protect biodiversity in the future,” said lead author Joshua Lawler, a UW professor in the School of Environmental

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

Ritchard Talks Implant Dos and Dont’s

BY MIRANDA REIMAN

W

hen it comes to growth implants in cattle, animal scientist Robbi Pritchard only worries about three things: getting enough premium if you’re not use them, using them wrong and using them with too little insight.

“Using them without sound technical advice, you can ruin a bunch of carcasses, no doubt about it. Using them wrong and running out of gas can cost

you a lot of money in cost of gain,” said the longtime South Dakota State University ruminant nutritionist. But if used correctly, “you can have all of the performance and all of the final product value you want.”

But what exactly is “used right?”

During the 2019 Feeding Quality Forum in Amarillo, Pritchard said the answer depends on everything from the type of cattle to the quality of working facilities.

It’s not one-size-fits-all, but

Aggieville Turns in to Cow Town to Celebrate Agriculture with New Prospect Cattle Show A new prospect cattle show is coming to the streets of Aggieville Business District April 18, 2020 named the Aggieville Showdown. The Aggieville Showdown is excited to announce the new development of a prospect cattle show with Grand Drive like never before.

Exhibitors from across the country will compete for large cash prizes and the opportunity to show their cattle in a Grand Drive event on Moro Street located in Aggieville. Exhibitors will arrive the afternoon of April 17 to prepare their cattle for the show starting at 9 A.M. on April 18 at the Riley County Fairgrounds. Participants will compete in the divisions of showmanship, prospect market beef and breeding heifers. The Aggieville Showdown welcomes Ashley Judge and Jake Wagner from Loveland, Colorado to judge the inaugural show. Ashley and Jake will select the top six prospect market beef and breeding heifers

to advance to the Grand Drive in the heart of Aggieville. The Aggieville Showdown Grand Drive will begin at 7 P.M. open to the public. Recording artist Lucas Maddy will take the stage performing his top hits including “Aggieville”. The prospect market steers and breeding heifers will then take the ring to compete for the title of Grand Champion. The event will feature live interviews from the winning contestants. The Aggieville Showdown Founder, Christian Calliham expressed “This prospect cattle show is unique in many ways.

The event allows exhibitors to compete up to the age of 25 allowing most collegiate aged students the opportunity to show again”. Shared by Calliham and the board members, “No cattle show in the nation has created a Grand Drive in the street of a popular business and entertainment district which makes the event fun to spectators”.

it can work for most cattle.

When someone says they have better genetics that don’t need an implant, they’re wrong, Pritchard said.

“For sure, if you’re going to go implant-free, you want superior genetics; that’s a slam dunk. But to say that we can come up with genetics that remove the need for them, not so much,” he said. “The person who told you that may not realize how implants really work, because the better the genetic growth potential, the bigger the

absolute daily response to the implant.”

A moderate potency implant boosts daily gains by about 15%. That’s 0.3 pound (lb.) on calves gaining 2 lb. per day, but 0.6 lb., “if you have superior genetics that are gaining 4 lb. a day,” he said.

With that kind of growth potential comes the need to match nutrition that will keep up with an implant.

Maybe that’s the reference.

Maybe, he suggested, some producers are saying, “My cat-

tle can eat enough and grow fast enough that if you give them an implant, the management plan doesn’t keep up.’’

When it comes down to the bottom line, implants usually win. Pritchard shared dollar figures during a follow-up presentation at the 2019 Angus Convention in Reno.

With a wide Choice-Select spread and cheap feed, the base carcass grid price for non-implanted finished cattle continued on page eight

If You Are a Buyer of Roping Stock You Don’t Want to Miss This Event 34th Annual

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Martin Machado Office: 209-838-7011 Cell: 209-652-6946 Michael Machado ................................. 209-495-9208 Joe Vieira ..................................................209-531-4156 Thomas Bert ..........................................209-605-3866 CJ Brantley ..............................................209-596-0139 Tony Luis ................................................209-609-6455

Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

The View FROM THE BACK SIDE

DILLYS & DOUGH HEADS

BY BARRY DENTON

(The views expressed in this column are not necessarily the views of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association or this publication.)

H

ere we are once again in an election year. The Democrat Party seems to be going to the far left in a big way. The funny thing is though, that most of America is pretty centrist, however the far left is being steered by the big media.

One thing about it, if you listen to any broadcasts by NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and many times FOX, you will notice they are all promoting the far left agenda. If television and newspapers are the only place that you get your news then you may wind up believing them, if you are not intelligent enough to think for yourself.

The far left zealots tell you straight up that they want to take your guns away and double your taxes, but people are stupid enough to vote for them anyway. I guess they think the whole world will be holding hands and singing Kumbaya when that happens.

I notice the leading presidential candidate advocates free health care, education, and housing for all. Just who is going to pay for those platitudes? Probably, anyone that works for a living and earns a wage.

The funny thing is that we already do that for way too many people in this country. What would be the point of living in America? If every service is free then it will contain no quality.

Look at health care in the United Kingdom where they wait three years to get a knee repaired and you can get one repaired in the US next week. Have you noticed how many Canadians there are in the southwest in the winter time? Yes, many are here for the sunshine, but just as many are here to take advantage of our health care which they have to pay for.

One thing that we Americans should all know is that “free” diminishes value and quality. I was astonished that the most communist candidate won the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire. Isn’t it sad that people are so willing to give up their hard won freedom so easily. Freedom that so many fought and died for.

“I unironically embrace the bashing of rural Americans. They, as a group, are bad people who have made bad life decisions….and we should shame people who aren’t pro-city.” This is a quote from UC Berkeley instructor Jackson Kernion. Mr. Kernion has taught at least 11 philosophy courses at the California University. Isn’t it hard to believe that this man is paid by rural tax dollars? Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Mr. Kernion also went on to say that rural Americans should be paying higher health care costs and more in taxes, and be forced to live an “uncomfortable” life for rejecting, “efficient” city life.

I tried to find out if we are still paying this nutty professor, but I have gotten several different answers, so at this point in time, I do not know what is true.

One thing that is quite obvious to me is that the far left will use any cause or excuse to seize power. They are not really concerned about the environment, your health, or coal miners that do not get paid enough.

All these causes are just ways to empower themselves, so they can force people to live as they tell them. They are truly out to destroy your freedom and rural way of life.

Something else that is a threat to our way of life according to “Law Enforcement Today”: Prepare For Iran Sleeper Cells To Attack Rural America. Mr. Art Del Cueto, the President of the Arizona Border Patrol Union said, “We need to take securing our borders very serious. With the huge rise in individuals claiming asylum, we truthfully don’t know enough about those individuals past, much less their true intentions.

March 15, 2020

Drug cartels are the ones that control our southern borders and they do not care about human lives, it’s all about the money.” He went on to point out, “They would have no problem making deals with terrorist organizations to ensure safe passage into our country.”

What does this say about Congressional Democrats that refuse to fund the wall? What does this say about the New Mexico Governor that pulled the National Guard away from the southern border as soon as she was elected? Are these

people controlled by drug cartels or just too stupid to see an imminent danger?

Anyone that lives down on the border knows just how real the threat is. I know that Arizona border rancher Fred Davis went and testified before Congress about these very problems. Why do we have so many do nothing politicians?

Remember Robert Krentz’s murder?

Remember Senator John McCain grandstanding and still nothing was fixed? Talk about dough heads? When are we going to fix this folks?

Oklahoma Landowners & Ranchers Have Coyote Depredation Options SOURCE: OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

C

oyotes may be harvested anytime during daylight hours by anyone with a hunting license, and they may be harvested at night with a free permit issued by a game warden from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. (Photo: David Strozdas/Readers’ Photo Showcase 2019) Coyotes are opportunistic predators and have adapted to many habitats, which can lead to more coyote sightings and related conflicts in some areas.

While coyotes mainly feed on mice, squirrels, rabbits, gophers, deer, some fruits, and carrion, some coyotes will take advantage of an opportunity to prey on small livestock and poultry.

However, there are many methods available to address conflicts that might arise due to coyotes.

“We recognize the hard work and the great contributions of farmers and ranchers across the state, and we are eager to help them take care of any wildlife-related issues on their property,” said J.D. Strong, director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “I encourage landowners to call their local game warden if they are experiencing problems with coyotes, and we’ll be happy to work through those issues with them on things like night-hunting permits, depredation permits or in connecting them with licensed nuisance wildlife control operators.”

Depredation permits are issued by game wardens for agricultural damage or threat of damage to livestock of some type. Permit holders can use rifles, night-vision equipment, thermal scopes or snares (with a 10-inch stop).

These depredation permits are good for up to one year or a set amount of time agreed to by the game warden and landowner, as some only want the permits during spring or fall calving seasons.

Coyotes taken under this permit can be sold or traded. Property owners should be aware that some municipalities have more restrictive laws for firearms use within city limits.

Oklahoma landowners can also kill coyotes at night with a shotgun and light by requesting a night-hunting permit from any Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation game warden.

Shotguns with size 6 shot or smaller are legal means of take for these 24-hour night-hunting permits for coyotes.

Those who are having problems with coyotes affecting ranching or farming operations may also contact the wildlife services division at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry for help in dealing with the situation. In some circumstances, ODAFF agents can come to the property to assist landowners with coyote problems.

Those agents use a variety of control methods such as trapping, aerial shooting, and calling coyotes into firearms range. To contact ODAFF Wildlife Services Division, call (405) 521-4039.

Oklahoma has an open hunting season year-round for coyotes, with no daily, season or possession limits. Hunters need only a hunting license to take coyotes with any legal firearms or archery equipment at any time during daylight hours. Landowner or agriculture lessees do not need a hunting license when hunting on their own property.

Coyote trapping is legal throughout the year in Oklahoma. Trappers are required to have a state hunting license and a state trapping license, unless exempt.

RITCHARD would need to bring $11/hundredweight (cwt.) above the base for conventional cattle to make up for the weight their implanted contemporaries gained. That gets even steeper

continued from page seven

as quality premiums diminish or feed gets more expensive.

Two decades of experience and dozens of research trials suggest an implant at branding or “turnout” has no impact on

grade, but the weight added at weaning shows up on the rail.

That extra 25 lb. of weaning weight adds 8 to 10 lb. of carcass weight.

Estrogenic-based implants increase frame size.

“That’s one of the problems we had a long time ago with implants in cattle not grading,” Pritchard said. “We kept backgrounding them like they were smaller-frame cattle, but when we put the implant in their ears, we just turned smaller-frame cattle into a bigger-frame animal but didn’t feed him accordingly—and that’s where we would lose the grade.”

Implant strategy on the ranch all depends on the marketing strategy: when you’re selling, who you’re selling to and how you’re weaning and growing the animals until delivery.

Pritchard offered several if/ then scenarios: • “You don’t want to sell a calf that has an implant that isn’t mostly depleted,” he said.

If the buyer gives another implant and basically doubles up,

that’s where carcass quality will suffer, and discounts will ensue.

• “If you’re going to carry those calves over to grass, don’t implant them,” Pritchard said.

“You didn’t want them to grow; why give them a growth promotant?”

• “If you’ve got a creep feeder out there, please implant the cattle. Otherwise, you’re just selling me more fat,” he said.

• “Don’t implant calves on weaning day.” For a few days after weaning, they struggle to take in enough calories to gain weight, much less support an implant.

• “If you’re going to implant cattle, deworm them,” he said, noting internal parasites decrease feed intake. “Depressing intake and stimulating growth are counterproductive when it comes to carcass quality.”

• “If you’re downsizing your cows’ mature size, think very seriously about implanting.”

• “Get your day count right, because if you run out of implant everything’s going to go backward. If you’re too short or you overlap them, you’ll create problems,” he said.

• “There’s no upside to overdosing. There’s this American thing: if something’s good, more is better. However, there are limits.”

Other options include use of a long-acting versus a traditional implant, he said, calling them as different as a Crescent wrench or a box-end wrench.

“Which one’s better? Whose toolbox doesn’t contain both?” he asked. “Everybody has both of them because there’s a place for both of them.”

Consumer acceptance of the technology is a consideration, but Pritchard says it fits the sustainability narrative.

“They do reduce the amount of labor per serving of beef.

They also reduce the carbon footprint per serving of beef,” he said. Moreover, implants let cattlemen keep cows matched to their environments and still produce calves matched to the market.

After all the considerations, it comes down to a couple of linked points, Pritchard said: “Weight without quality is problematic, but quality without weight is unprofitable.”

March 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

Baxter BLACK ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE www.baxterblack.com

Butch and Chope

B

utch has a theory about hardcore born-to-rope ropers; as soon as they build a loop and take one swing, it kicks their brain out of gear.

To demonstrate how this theory works he told me

about a friend of his. We’ll call him ‘Chope’, for short.

Butch was runnin’ a ranch in the wilds of New Mexico east of Las Vegas. He’d bought a set of braymer bulls to put on his braymer cross cows and one of the bulls had turned out to be

a bad actor. He’d shornuf do some damage if you cornered him.

It came time to pull the bulls.

They gathered ‘em in a corral along with whatever cows came along. As they were workin’ the cows out the gate one of the bulls kept tryin’ to escape. It was that shornuf bad bull.

Chope was horseback watchin’ the gate. The third time the bull tried to slip out, Chope, who was tied hard and fast, slapped a loop on him.

The bull turned and thundered back across the corral.

Chope pitched the slack and was tryin’ to square his horse around when the bull hit the end of the line. All fourteen hundred pounds of him.

Chope’s horse had only got

Reward Climbs to $11,000 in Texas Missing Cattle Case

I

nformation about the theft of 262 head of cattle off a Lipscomb County ranch just got a lot more valuable.

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger Ben Eggleston said rancher Bob Adcock has added $10,000 of his own money to the $1,000 reward offered by Operation Cow Thief. The reward will be paid to an individual who provides information leading to the arrest or indictment of the person or persons responsible for the crime. Eggleston said all information is kept confidential, and tips may be provided anonymously by

calling 888-830-2333.

On Feb. 18, Adcock reported the steers and heifers missing from the Bill Merydith Ranch located at 14135 County Road U in Perryton. He said most of the cattle were black, but some were red and other mixed colors. They weighed between 500 and 550 pounds each. All are branded with a Lazy 11 on their left shoulder.

“Any theft, but especially one of this magnitude, can just be devastating to a rancher,” Eggleston said. “If you know something about this crime, please come forward so we can help him recover those animals.”

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Page 9

halfway around and was sideways to the bull when the slack ran out. He was slammed to the ground! Butch said he could see that nylon rope stretch an extra five feet as the bull was lifted off his front quarters till he looked like Trigger. At that same moment he heard a sound like Mickey Mantle drivin’ one over the centerfield fence. The saddle horn had broken off!

The rope with saddle horn attached cracked like a whip and lashed straight for a horse tied to the fence. It just missed a dismounted cowboy and coiled around the horse’s pommel and saddle horn. The tail with Chope’s horn still attached whopped the horse’s butt. The horse bucked loose, breakin’ his reins and the bull galloped

off draggin’ the line.

Butch looked back to see Chope madly tyin’ another rope to his saddle through the gullet.

“Whattya doin’?” asked Butch.

“I’m gonna rope him and get my rope back,” answered Chope.

Butch stared at him. His broken saddle sat cockeyed, his hat was gone. His poor horse was shakin’ like a front row spectator at a rock and roll concert.

You could almost hear his ears ringin’. It was like Chope was lashing him to a harpoon.

Butch placed his hand over Chope’s and said, “Let’s think about this a minute... nobody’s dead yet.” www.baxterblack.com

Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2020

Coronavirus: Human Strain Causes Fear, But Domestic Livestock Strains are Routine SOURCE: AGRILIFE

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any people are hearing about coronavirus for the first time as the China strain, COVID-19, affecting humans causes concern all across the world. But coronaviruses are not new to livestock and poultry producers, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife veterinary epidemiologist.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, common human coronaviruses usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold.

Most people get infected with one or more of these viruses at some point in their lives.

But the CDC is now responding to an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel or new coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

“Coronavirus is a common virus in livestock herds and poultry flocks seen routinely worldwide,” said Heather Simmons, DVM, Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases, IIAD, associate director as well as Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s associate department head and extension program leader for Veterinary Medical Extension. IIAD is a member of the Texas A&M University System and Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

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Wildlife in China may be human strain carriers “In wildlife, bats are known to carry over 100 different strains of coronavirus, and wild civets are the source of the coronavirus that causes SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), first reported in China in 2002-2003,” Simmons said.

“Although our understanding is still limited, wild pangolins (a scaly anteater) sold at live markets may be associated with the recently reported coronavirus outbreak in China.”

Bats, civets and pangolins are all commonly sold at live markets in China, she said.

Coronaviruses from wildlife are dangerous since they have the potential to mutate, adapt and spill over to new species, including humans.

“That is the concern now, this new strain of coronavirus has emerged to cause disease in humans,” Simmons said. “It is important to create an understanding of the difference between coronaviruses occurring in domestic livestock and poultry compared to coronaviruses that spill over from wildlife to humans.”

Coronavirus in domestic livestock doesn’t jump to humans

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What does coronavirus look like in livestock?

While coronaviruses have a high morbidity, or rate of illness, in livestock and poultry they are generally considered to have low mortality, rate of death, Simmons said. Coronaviruses will affect either the respiratory system or the gastrointestinal system, depending on the species and the age of the animal.

Coronavirus in cattle In calves, diarrhea commonly occurs in animals under three weeks of age due to a lack of obtaining antibodies when the calf does not get enough colostrum from the mother in order to build up immunity. Clinical signs include severe dehydration and diarrhea. The severity of the clinical signs depends on the age of the calf and their immune status. This is often seen by producers in the winter months as the virus is more stable in cold weather. The second clinical syndrome, winter dys-

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entery is found in adult cattle.

Clinical signs include bloody diarrhea with decreased mild production, loss of appetite with some respiratory signs.

Bovine coronaviruses can also cause mild respiratory disease or pneumonia in calves up to six months. The virus is shed in the environment through nasal secretions and through feces.

Coronavirus in swine There are multiple coronaviruses that affect swine. Like cattle, they affect the respiratory or gastrointestinal tract.

In sows and piglets, porcine respiratory coronavirus usually presents with no clinical signs.

If clinical signs do occur, it may be a transient cough within the herd and spread of this disease occurs through aerosolized methods.

Coronavirus in poultry Infectious bronchitis virus, or IBV, is a rapidly spreading respiratory disease in young chicks. Clinical signs in laying hens include reduced production, eggshell abnormalities and decreased internal egg quality.

How to treat Livestock producers should consult with a veterinarian for treatment, Simmons said.

Treatment in livestock herds and poultry flocks typically includes supportive therapy of fluids. Antibiotics are not indicated for viral infections but may be used if a secondary bacterial infection occurs.

More information can be found through the https:// texashelp.tamu.edu/coronavirus-information-resources/ .

‘Public Charge’ Rule for Immigrants Takes Effect

BY ANDREA NOBLE / ROUTEFIFTY.COM

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Simmons said, to date, the coronaviruses in livestock are not considered reportable diseases because their main effect is as an economic burden to livestock producers.

They are known to occur worldwide annually, with some of the most common coronaviruses found in production animals to include the scours and winter dysentery in beef and

dairy cattle, porcine respiratory coronavirus in swine and avian infectious bronchitis in poultry.

The World Health Organization has reported that while another coronavirus, MERSCoV, is known to be transmitted from dromedary camels to humans, other coronaviruses circulating in domestic animals have not yet infected humans.

“That’s what is very important to understand at this time,” Simmons said. “We have been dealing with these diseases for a long time but as of yet, we have not seen cases worldwide transmitted from livestock to humans or vice versa.”

rule that allows U.S. immigration officials to more strictly scrutinize prospective immigrants’ wealth and reliance on public benefits took effect in late February after a round of legal battles that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

The “public charge” rule expands the type of public benefits that could be counted against an immigrant seeking a green card or visa and establishes new income thresholds used to evaluate applicants. An income of less than 125 percent of the federal poverty level, or $31,375 for a family of four, would be counted negatively against an applicant.

“This rule enforces longstanding law requiring aliens to be self-sufficient, reaffirming the American ideals of hard work, perseverance and determination,” said Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. “It also offers clarity and expectations to aliens considering a life in the United States and will help protect our public benefit programs.”

Under the rule, immigration officials will consider an immigrant’s use or potential use of benefits programs—including Medicaid, housing assistance or food stamps—when deciding whether or not to issue a green card. A “public charge” is defined as any noncitizen who receives one or more public benefits for more than 12 months within a three-year period. Officials will weigh these factors along with other considerations like

a person’s age, health, financial assets, English proficiency, and education.

Critics of the new rule say it is a wealth test that could dissuade family members of non-citizens from applying for public benefits to which they are entitled. The Urban Institute estimates that one in seven adults in immigrant families reported not participating in a non-cash government benefit program in 2018 for fear of risking future green card status.

The Community Health Care Association of New York State estimates as many as 95,000 Medicaid enrollees could drop their coverage and become uninsured as residents in families with at least one noncitizen may be more likely to dis-enroll from the federal program.

In California, researchers estimate that the chilling effect on American citizens who live in immigrant families could lead to up to 2.2 million residents to drop Medicaid coverage or stop participation in the food stamp program.

The U.S. Supreme Court in January overturned a nationwide stay that prevented the enforcement of the rule. A separate injunction had prevented enforcement of the rule specifically in Illinois, but the high court voted 5 to 4 in favor of imposing the rule.

Authoring a dissent in the Illinois case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the Trump administration’s increasingly seeking emergency stays from the Supreme Court while cases are still working their way through the lower courts.

March 15, 2020

Livestock Market Digest

Collectors Corner Collecting for Investment

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ecently I was asked into the home of a Collector to asses their collection.

These folks wanted to liquidate their items by sending them to auction. They had been collecting for years. They believed in the philosophy of putting their extra money into collectibles as an investment. They were now at a point in their lives where they wanted to sell the collection, buy an RV and travel. It was great hearing the enjoyment they had over the years of searching out and buying items for their collection. Auctions, yard sales, flea markets, crafts fairs, they were excited when relating the different stories of procurement.

Unfortunately the house was full of Bradford Exchange and Franklin Mint type of items, including hundreds of plates.They were especially excited about their “Native American” collection, which consisted of tourist type Navajo “Kachinas,” low end split stitch baskets (along with import baskets) and dozens of signed prints by artists most people had never heard of. There were knock-off bronzes and mass produced statues made of pewter.

I do not judge anybody, and this kind of stuff is fine to buy if you want decorative items that do not cost much to decorate your

home with. However, these types of “collectibles” are rarely a wise investment. They are decorative items, and home decor is rarely “collectible” or valuable later on.

I did not have the heart to tell them that in my opinion, they had not “collected well” as far as an investment goes and there was very little monetary value in the collection. And that the “tens of thousands” of dollars they thought they would get at an auction was actually a couple thousand dollars worth (at best) of yard sale or flea market items.

I politely declined the consignment.

This little exchange got me to thinking—hence this month’s article.

I am a big proponent of collecting. I have always said it is nice to be surrounded by your savings accountable while enjoying it in your home, instead of having it all locked away in a bank somewhere. However, when collecting as an investment, we need to get educated on what we are doing! You would not (or should not) invest in the stock market, not having a clue as to how the stock market works. You should not invest in real estate blindly or buy it just because it is “cheap.”

As a matter of fact, a wise investor does not invest in anything

without having a good general knowledge of what he or she is investing in—and preferably also get some advice from an expert in the field.

An educated collector would not buy “collectibles” for investment that were made in China for a corporate giant. Or buy “crafts” from road-side vendors near points of interest for the tourists or buy spurs made in Japan from a western store. Remember, just because it was a “deal,” does not mean it was a good buy. There is “cheap” and there is “inexpensive.”

One of the first rules of buying as an investment is—don’t buy junk! Know the market on things you collect. If you collect coins, know what they are worth and which ones are practically worthless. If you collect stamps, know the market. If buying art is your thing, most knowledgeable collectors will advise you to stay away from prints (with very few exceptions).

If buying Native American arts and crafts, know that even though it may be “Native American made,” that does not necessarily mean it is a collectible, learn the difference between quality, handmade items and “crafts” which are hastily put together. Quality is quality, no matter who made it. Sure, buy certain items because you like them, that is perfectly ok, but do not think you are buying them as an “investment.” There is a difference between collecting just because in item pleases you and actually making a potential investment.

Another thing to realize is what you paid for an item does not usually matter when it comes to re-selling. Remember the markets can and will change. Know the current market.

Other basic things to remember when collecting for investment:

Weak Business Growth Across Rural America Highlighted in New Report

BY BILL LUCIA, SENIOR REPORTER / ROUTEFIFTY.COM

T

he economic struggles in many corners of rural America in the years since the Great Recession are well known at this point.

But research that the liberal Center for American Progress recently released includes some stark findings about the differences between areas in and around the nation’s cities and rural communities when it comes to new businesses growth.

The report says that between 2010 and 2016, in non-metropolitan communities, the change in the number of business establishments was “basically zero.” Most of the new U.S. business growth that did occur took place in the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan counties.

It’s the latest research to highlight the growing divide between America’s thriving urban areas and the rest of the country.

Among the factors contributing to this trend are long-running declines in sectors like manufacturing and mining, as well as demographic shifts that are leaving many rural communities with populations that are shrinking and growing older.

“While much has been writ-

ten about the tough job market in rural America since the Great Recession, there’s been surprisingly little focus on the lack of new business creation in rural communities,” the report’s author, Olugbenga Ajilore, said in a statement.

“Historically, new firm growth has played a key role in helping communities recover from recessions,” he added.

To take a closer look at business growth trends across the country, Ajilore divided metro and non-metro communities into different sub-categories based on certain characteristics.

In doing so, he finds real differences in rural communities, with some experiencing mostly the loss of businesses, while others saw some growth. In the South, rural areas with large African American populations and “evangelical hubs,” with fewer college graduates and limited health care providers, are among those that had the most business losses between 2010 and 2016.

Other areas with declines included rural, blue-collar communities spread across the South and upper Midwest, among other places, with lower incomes and lower college graduation rates. The same was true for “rural middle America” communities with mostly white, middle-income populations

and average college graduation rates, as well as Native American lands.

Business growth was also weak in farming communities with aging populations, the report shows.

Pockets of rural America that have seen the strongest business gains tend to have economies that depend on recreation or industries like oil and gas production. This makes it hard to apply lessons from those places to areas lacking similar resources, the report notes.

Population increases can help drive small business growth. And Ajilore points out that one way the population in an area can grow is if immigrants move there. He points to an influx of Mexican immigrants working in meatpacking jobs in Nebraska as an example.

“There’s an important role for local, state, and federal policymakers to play in helping businesses in rural communities,” Ajilore said. “Until there are efforts at all levels of government to foster entrepreneurship in rural areas, these communities will continue to fall behind.”

A copy of the report can be found here: https:// w w w. a m e r i c a n p r o g r e s s . org/issues/economy/reports/2020/02/20/480129/economic-recovery-business-dynamism-rural-america/.

Page 11 • Start small and collect what you like, but remember, quality is important.

• Things made to be collectible—rarely are. This includes pretty much all kinds of commemorative or mass produced items.

• Mass produced items do not necessarily just come from large companies. Check out most any gift shop for examples of crafts that are collectively mass produced by groups of people.

• But for sure, if your “collectible” says “Made in China” or “Made in Taiwan” on it — it’s not a collectible. It is a decor item, or a cheap knock-off.

• There is a difference between collectibles and decor. Decor is rarely collectible, but collectibles can sometimes make great decor.

• Things that have survived a long period of time and remain in good condition are often sought after.

• While condition is a big fac-

tor in value, restoration is generally not desirable.

• Rarity (or uniqueness) is usually a factor. Things whereby only a few have survived the test of time, or items that stand apart are generally sought after. If there are dozens of them that all look alike, be careful.

• Beware of fads in the market.

In another article published in this column, we talked about the basics of collecting. It was mentioned there are many other reasons to collect besides monitory ones. And that is true. There are many reasons to collect. However, when collecting as an investment, you should study the market. Know what you are dealing in like Warren Buffet does the stock market. Otherwise, it will be hit or miss whether you actually wind up with a good investment or not.

Jim Olson © 2020 www.WesternTradingPost. com

Merck Animal Health Expands Pinkeye Vaccine Portfolio through New Licensing

M

erck Animal Health (known as MSD Animal Health outside the United States and Canada) has announced an agreement with Addison Biological Laboratory, Inc., to market the USDA conditionally licensed Moraxella Bovoculi Bacterin. The product is the only commercially available vaccine for the prevention of pinkeye due to Moraxella bovoculi in cattle.

Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) – commonly called pinkeye – is a highly contagious and costly disease that negatively impacts cattle production, causing estimated losses of more than $150 million annually in the U.S. Moraxella bovis, has long been identified as the bacteria causing pinkeye. However, more recently M. bovoculi has been frequently isolated in pinkeye cases, including in cases of winter pinkeye. To complicate prevention, both M. bovoculi and M. bovis often are found together.1 “Options to help prevent M. bovoculi have been limited, so we are pleased to provide bovine veterinarians and producers with this vaccine,” says Tim Parks, D.V.M., ruminant technical services manager for Merck Animal Health. “Moraxella Bovoculi Bacterin includes eight different M. bovoculi isolates – and when

used in conjunction with Vision® or Piliguard® vaccines for M. bovis – provides comprehensive pinkeye protection.”

Pinkeye commonly is associated with summer grazing, but it can occur year-round.

“For beef cattle, pinkeye vaccines for M. bovis and M. bovoculi fit well into branding and/or weaning protocols, and for dairy, might be given when moving animals into larger group pens,” says Dr. Parks. “Consult with your veterinarian for specific guidance and to create a holistic approach for pinkeye control – including vaccination, fly control and environmental management – that will provide the best results for your herd.”

Conditionally licensed products meet the same safety testing and purity requirements as fully licensed products. Administer a 2-mL dose subcutaneously to cattle 14 weeks of age or older and repeat vaccination in 21 days.

Moraxella Bovoculi Bacterin is an addition to the Merck Animal Health pinkeye portfolio that includes vaccines that offer protection against M. bovis, namely 20/20 Vision 7 with SPURTM, Piliguard Pinkeye-1 Trivalent and Piliguard Pinkeye+7. To learn more about vaccinating for pinkeye, visit MAHcattle.com.

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

March 15, 2020

Five Ways to Reduce Unit Costs in a Cow-Calf Ranch

BY AARON BERGER, NEBRASKA EXTENSION BEEF EDUCATOR

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here are five ways to reduce unit costs of production in a cow-calf enterprise.

1. Decrease costs while keeping production the same. An example of this would be to sell unneeded equipment or reduce equipment expense while keeping calf production the same.

Costs decrease while production is maintained, decreasing unit cost of production.

2. Hold costs the same while increasing production. The use of hybrid vigor in cow-calf production is an example of this strategy. Research shows that a crossbred cow will be more productive over her life than the females of the straight bred contemporaries used to create her. An example of this would be an F1 Hereford X Angus cross cow. Costs of production would likely be the same, but productivity is expected to in-

crease, decreasing unit cost of production.

3. Decrease costs while increasing production. An example of this could be the moving of a calving date for a cow herd to better match the availability of significantly lower cost feed resources. This move of calving date could also potentially improve calf survivability if weather is more favorable, resulting in an increase in the number of calves weaned. Costs decrease while production increases, reducing unit cost of production.

4. Increase costs with an expected greater percentage increase in production. The strategic use of a protein supplement for spring-calving cows grazing low-quality forage is an example of this. The protein supplement can increase the ability of cows to utilize low-quality forage, resulting in improved body condition scores at calving, greater survivability of calves, greater calf weaning weights and increased

pregnancy rates for cows. The percent increase in productivity exceeds the cost of the protein supplement, reducing unit cost of production.

5. Significantly decrease costs with a smaller percentage decrease in expected production. An example of this would be the decision to select for a genetically adapted cow that better fits her environment and requires fewer supplemental feed inputs. Pounds of calf produced would likely decrease with the cow requiring fewer inputs, but the cost to produce those pounds of calf is expected to decrease at a proportionally faster rate, resulting in a decrease in unit cost of production.

For producers weighing opportunities to reduce unit cost of production, evaluate the potential ripple effects of the proposed change to the whole cow-calf production system.

Some questions to ask in evaluating the possible impact of

those changes include: 1. Does this proposed change increase the vulnerability of the cow-calf production system to extreme weather events?

2. Does the proposed change build greater resiliency to the production system or increase risk?

3. What may be some of the unintended consequences of this change?

4. Who are people that have already made these changes or have the proposed production system in place that I can learn from?

5. What impacts do the proposed changes have on the expected price to be received from products produced?

Think creatively about how you might address unit cost of production in your cow-calf operation. Sometimes a little “out of the box thinking” can open the doors to changes that can significantly impact unit cost of production.

NIAA Appoints Interim Executive Director

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he National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) Board of Directors has named J.J. Jones with Roots & Legacies Consulting, Inc. as the organization’s interim executive director. Jones began his role in January 2020. Previously, NIAA was managed by the National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA) for nearly ten years. The change is subsequent to organizational restructuring at NLPA. Jones and the team at Roots & Legacies will lead all professional staffing needs for six months while the board of directors conduct a search for a full-time management company. In addition, NIAA leaders are establishing the organization’s next strategic plan to guide the organization forward.

“As leaders in the animal agriculture sector, we know there is no shortage of topics that we must collectively address. From antimicrobial resistance to the future of protein in our diets and animal well-being to environmental sustainability, NIAA allows leaders from across species to come together for our common good,” shares NIAA Chairman, Nevil Speer, Ph.D. Roots & Legacies brings together talented, passionate leaders with diverse backgrounds who empower individuals and organizations within the food, agriculture and rural America space. In addition to its co-founders, the organization benefits from a vast network of associates across the U.S. Speer goes on to share, “The Roots & Legacies team is no stranger to food and agriculture. NIAA will be guided by a professional staff that appreciates the opportunities and challenges animal agriculture faces. As the board plans for the future of the organization, we look forward to J.J.’s leadership.”

Jones, a native of Northwest Kansas who now splits his time between Kansas City and Council Grove – in the Flint Hills of Kansas, is a graduate of Kansas State University where he majored in animal sciences & industry with a minor in international agriculture. After working with various organizations including the Kansas Beef Council, Kansas Grain & Feed Association, Kansas Department of Agriculture and The Center for Food Integrity, Jones co-founded Roots & Legacies. In this role he works with clients and associates on association management and strategic communications. Roots & Legacies also works with clients on professional and personal development, business operations and influence-building efforts.