LMD Nov 2014

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Livestock “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL NOVEMBER 15, 2014 • www. aaalivestock . com

MARKET

Digest T Volume 56 • No. 11

by Lee Pitts

A

A Bridge To Nowhere

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

Ever since the NCBA hijacked the beef checkoff groups on the outside have asked the Secretary of the USDA, to fix the USDA controlled program. Instead of fixing it, the NCBA has been trying to double down by asking for another dollar per head. Since

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff. the 1985 Act doesn’t allow for that, they have been trying to double it state by state then they’d figure out a way to get their hands on the extra dough later. The current Secretary of Ag, Tom Vilsack, got so fed up with the beef politics that in 2011 he formed the Beef Checkoff Enhancement Working Group to come up with solutions to stop all the industry infighting. The U.S. Cattlemen’s Associ-

ation and the National Farmer’s Union had been especially vocal in calling for changes to the checkoff and initially they called for Vilsack to come up with all new beef checkoff under the 1996 Commodity Promotion Act. The USCA wants periodic referendums, a separation of the Federation of State Beef Councils and any policy organizations, and no increase in the beef tax until the one we have is fixed.

Vilsack must have listened to the USCA and the NFU because he told the working group if they didn’t come up with some solutions he would take matters into his own hands. The group was composed of the Farm Bureau Federation, American National Cattlewomen, Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Federation of State Beef Councils, Livestock Marketing Association, Meat Importers Council of America, NCBA, National Livestock Producers Association, National Milk Producers Federation, NFU and USCA. R-CALF was originally a member of the working group but they didn’t last as long as a housefly at a flyswatter convention. R-CALF never has been good at graft and greed. After three years of meetings the group was as paralyzed as Congress and just like them, continued on page two

Are money and power changing the environmental movement? MANUEL QUIÑONES AND DANIEL BUSH, EE NEWS

n a widely circulated memo in late October, environmental groups boasted that they’re “poised to execute the last phase of our biggest and most sophisticated electoral effort ever.” They were on track to spend $85 million, they said, including $40 million on six Senate races. Not only are environmental groups spending record amounts of cash on the races, they are also trumpeting a common vision with what advocates call an unprecedented level of coordination. And they vow it will last through future elections. But their critics say the environmental community’s clout has made the movement more pragmatic at the expense of core values, including defeating the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

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by LEE PITTS

Another Friend Gone

What a Mess! nytime a group of cattlemen get together at a convention bar or hanging on the pipes at an auction market on sale day the conversation invariably turns to the idiotic bureaucrats in Washington, DC and how messed up our country is. While very true, not a word is said about the pure unadulterated greed and ineptitude displayed by one of our own industry organizations. The leadership of the NCBA would not seem a bit out of place in the halls of a corrupt Congress or at a White House cabinet meeting. And now, thanks to all the bumbling bureaucrats get ready to have the beef tax you pay, otherwise known as the checkoff, tripled. And much of that will probably end up in the greedy hands of the NCBA. In returning this country to its former greatness perhaps the first steps we take should be to put our own glass house in order.

Riding Herd

They were on track to spend $85 million, they said, including $40 million on six Senate races. “This can be called the election when the environmental movement lost its virginity,” said Mike McKenna, an energy lobbyist and Republican strategist. “I think their efforts have become more professional. They’ve actually gotten legitimate guys involved.” Last year billionaire donor Tom Steyer helped elect Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey (D) to the Senate by opposing fellow Democrat Rep. Stephen Lynch, who supported construction of KXL. Steyer then floated the idea of opposing vulnerable Louisiana incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), a strong fossil fuel supporter,

though in the end he decided to focus on other high-profile races. Now Steyer, head of the NextGen Climate political action committee, is part of an informal coalition of green groups helping boost candidates who support KXL. The coalition includes the political arms of the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and League of Conservation Voters, which is supporting the likes of Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska), both of whom want the pipeline built. Last year environmental groups, including LCV, also touted their efforts to help put Democrat Terry McAuliffe into the Virginia governor’s mansion. The groups did it, they said, by highlighting Republican Ken Cucinelli’s skepticism continued on page five

he much-dreaded morn- ing arrived and I was in a funk. Even though I’mprone to being that way, this day was especially depressing for it was the day of the last sale ever to be held at the Templeton Livestock Market. The owners, friends of mine, had sold the property and the land will soon be planted in houses. I don’t blame them, I’d have probably taken the cash, too. We had been expecting this day for a long time but the sale of the property was held up by a lawsuit. It seems the neighbors went to court to stop the sale of the land because they’d grown to love “their” sale yard. These were the same people who years ago moved into the new neighborhood and then complained about the noise and the dust of the auction barn which had been there for 70 years. Now they were especially upset because it was being torn down to make way for houses. It seems they preferred cows to people after all. In the past, whenever you said, “I’m going to Templeton," everyone knew you were referring to the auction market, not the town of the same name. Although the town always has been a very agreeable place where people are real people, if you know what I mean. And while it’s true that I’ve only been to two of the seven continents, I’d have to say that Templeton is truly one of the greatest places on earth. Templeton was the unofficial cow capital of my county, home to three cows per person, and the only sale yard left within 200 miles. At one end of town was the sale yard and at the other was the feed and grain mill. Templeton has one way of entering and one way of leaving and I’ve never altered that routine in 41 years of going there. I think I’ve worked every bull sale they ever had and bought cattle, been a consignor and fed cattle out back in a small grow yard they had. Next to the sale continued on page three

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