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OCTOBER 15, 2012 • www. aaalivestock . com

Volume 54 • No. 11

The Wolf Agenda

by Lee Pitts

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Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

Today, there is a sense of desperation on the Diamond M Ranch. One of the great ranches in the country is being stalked by wolves who have looked at the menu and wisely chosen beef.

They are doing what animals have always done, moving on up the food chain by dining on McIrvin beef. The so-called experts who were trying to foist wolves on everyone told us that wolves killed only for food, never sport, and that as long as there was other game available they would not kill cattle. Oh really?

by LEE PITTS

Step Up America

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

en McIrvin frequently hears the wolves howl on his ranch in the northeastern corner of Washington. But pardon him if he doesn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling, or yearn for the frontier past. No, to him the wolf’s lonely howl sounds more like the end of ranching, not just for him, but for any rancher within earshot.

Len McIrvin is not the type of man to “Cry Wolf.” He and his clan are independent folks who quietly go about their work and have persevered as ranchers through five generations because they proved capable of surviving anything that life, and Mother Nature, can throw at them.

Except the wolves. These they cannot survive.

Riding Herd

“It’s the little things that get tangled in your spurs that trip you.”

Said one wildlife official after witnessing the wolves’ handiwork, “The aggressive wolf behavior at the Diamond M proves wolves will attack cattle even when the weather is agreeable and wild game is available.”

Len says, “The game department told me there is nearly 100 percent beef in the manure piles.”

Wolves are very smart, why dine on venison when you can have beef, after all, “It’s what’s for Dinner” for wolves, too.

Last year on the Diamond M was bad enough, wolves “only” killed 11 calves and five mature bulls. But this year what is called the Wedge Wolf Pack has thus far killed 40 calves out of 200 on just

one allotment! And the five calves that survived so far might as well be dead. By our calculations that’s a 20 percent loss. One wildlife official commiserated with Len and said, “I’d sure hate to have my paycheck cut by 20 percent.” But as Len told him, “You don’t understand. We don’t make a 20 percent profit. The wolves are cutting our paycheck to nothing!” But it’s even worse than that. Len says the wolves are costing him more than $100,000 when you add in weight loss of the frightened cattle, injuries, and a lower conception rate. He figures that if this keeps up the wolves will bankrupt the Diamond M within ten years.

Wolf lovers will counter that ranchers are compensated for their losses but Washington’s wildlife department has a grand total of $50,000 to reimburse continued on page two

MAKE BELIEVE WORLD . . .

The Cat Burglars — The planned 53 million-acre heist

by STEPHEN L. WILMETH

ow, what a headline! The Sun-News headline read, ‘Pussy Riot — like justice is served!’

Such a headline could mean only one thing. Surely, the courts had finally had enough of the antics of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in Tucson.

What was disappointing, though, was the story had nothing to do with the three-stage plan to put the wraps on over 53 million acres of lands in Arizona and New Mexico for nonexistent big spotted cats. Rather, the story was about some female punk rock band from Russia. It seems the girls had run afoul of the Putin allowances for blasphemous church displays.

Even in Russia, there appears to be some degree of nonsense that will not be tolerated.

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Jaguar Alley The southern border is one of the most hotly contested borders in the world. In just over 100 miles from New Mexico’s Bootheel into the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, a.k.a. Jaguar Alley, more than half of all drugs and human smuggling apprehensions and interdictions now take place. That is not just those matters on the southern border. That is the interception of

those things on combined US borders.

For scoring purposes, it is useful to array the players in the war zone. The list should start with the remnant community of American citizens. They are the folks who have duties, responsibilities, and investments in the lands being ravaged by the illicit smuggling trade.

The gate keepers, the Customs-Border Protection (Border Patrol) forces of the Department of Homeland Security, would be next.

Ostensibly, their job is to protect our borders.

The Mexican drug cartels come next. The Sinaloan Cartel has become the major player on that border expanse. They have battled the Juarez Cartel for domination to the east and other rivals to the west. They seem to be the favored operation within the Calderon Mexican administration.

The next collaborative dynamic are the combined United States land management agencies. That would include the Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Services, the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Following them would be the other cabal complex which includes the combined forces of the Environmental movement. That network

ecently I had to look up the phone number for traffic court and while I was on hold for the better part of a day I had time to thumb through the city, county, state and federal government sections of the phone book. There were listings for everything from A to Z, from alcoholic services to a zoo. (Why is the government serving alcohol?) It dawned on me that with our government’s gushing red ink we simply can’t afford to continue to fund graffiti hotlines and Cantonese translators.

There were phone numbers for street sweeping, adult sports, golf courses and, of course, traffic court.

(I’d get rid of that one right now!) There’s also a phone number for a flood control agency, even though It hasn’t flooded in my neck of the woods since 1969. I wonder what those folks have been doing to keep themselves occupied these past 40 years? Then there’s a phone number for the Adopt-A-Highway program in which people volunteer to pick up trash along our highways. As bad as our roads are getting I’d say to heck with the bottles and cheeseburger wrappers, it’s time to really adopt a highway by trading in their trash bags for a shovel and a wheelbarrow and start patching holes and building bridges.

Under listings for our county there were things like food stamps, DUI schools and smoking classes. Now I ask you, do we really need to be teaching people how to smoke? And what does a department called “Affirming Family Empowerment” do? There were several listings for fire departments and it occurred to me that perhaps the time has come to go back to volunteer departments. My Grandfather eventually got paid five bucks for every fire he fought as Chief and I think maybe we could afford that.

There were also several listings for things like Lead Abatement, Hazmat, and Bomb Disposal. Because our prisons are costing way continued on page three

continued on page four

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The Wolf Agenda ranchers with a maximum of $5,000 per ranch. That doesn’t go very far when the wolves are eating a calf per day on average.

Besides, Len doesn’t want their money. It’s blood money and he won’t take it. “If I took their money I’d be condoning their behavior, saying it’s all right to have the wolves here. And it isn’t,” says the seasoned rancher.

The Killing Fields

We understand how you make your living, because it’s how we make our living. And tougher times call for smarter, careful thinking. That’s why, since 1916, New Mexico’s farmers and ranchers have counted on us for solid financial services when they need them most. We’ve been there. We’ll be here.

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We aren’t talking here about a rich-man’s ranch, or a part-time pastime for a couple with two jobs in town. The Diamond M is truly one of the great ranches in the country, as proud as the Hereford breed that dominates their cowherd. I was once on an airplane with the man who owned the prestigious North Platte Feeders. I asked Jack McCaffery whose cattle were the best he’d ever fed. The man with a reputation for feeding fine cattle didn’t hesitate one second when he said, “The Diamond M cattle.”

Bob and Clive McIrvin started the Diamond M with their father, Harry McIrvin, after World War II and named it after the game they loved, baseball. A third brother chose to play professionally instead of joining his brothers on the ranch. Len had big boots to fill and he did so, just as his son Bill is doing. But for Len’s grandson Justin, the future looks a lot dimmer thanks to the wolves.

During much of the year Len is more like a truck driver than he is a cowboy as they must haul 5,000 head in their own trucks to chase feed. But these days Len feels like he is delivering his cattle to the killing fields. A slaughter house where the ones doing the killing wear fur and have fangs.

It’s rough and rugged country where the McIrvins choose to earn their living up near our border with Canada. Before the wolves, the biggest threat to their cattle came from mountain lions and coyotes and they got a few calves every year. But that’s the price the McIrvins were willing to pay for living in God’s Country. The wolves are a different story. A wolf is two to three times the size of a coyote and they have voracious appetites.

They are also capable of producing an abundance of offspring.

In Washington wolves are not protected by the Endangered Species Act in the eastern third of the state because they were not released here, at least by any government entity. There is some question if individuals haven’t been hauling them from Canada and planting them.

However they came, they began showing up about five years ago.

The wolf lovers, affectionately known as “wolfies”, call it “recolonizing”. In Washington the wolves are managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and they have tried, but it’s like managing a herd of cats or a group of kindergartners.

In response to the McIrvin wolf kills they sent out shooters who’ve killed five wolves at the

continued from page one

time of this writing. And you should have heard the howl from the Seattle-ites.

There are officially now at least twelve wolf packs marauding through Washington but, really, who knows? It’s not exactly like counting cows. And the rugged terrain doesn’t help. In other words, it’s the perfect place for wolves to hide out and produce more of their kind: baby killing machines.

Len McIrvin is not one to believe in conspiracy theories.

He’s a numbers-kind-of-guy who deals in facts and he thinks the facts speak for themselves; the situation he faces now is exactly what the greenies and oneworlders wanted all along. They don’t just love wolves for their warm and cuddly selves, but because they are the most effective tool for ridding the public lands of the ranchers they despise. Just as the spotted owl was used to get rid of lumbermen in the Northwest, the wolf is being used to get rid of public lands ranchers. You could call them spotted wolves! And why not, it’s a proven and effective tactic. If it worked on the gigantic and powerful lumber industry, it will most assuredly work on public lands ranchers. And because federal land is interspersed with private property, and because wolves do not recognize or respect land deeds or fences, the wolves will put private lands ranchers out of business as well. By the time we come to our senses, the wolves will have turned the West into one giant wildlife corridor.

The True Agenda The wolf may not be endangered, but property rights are and Len believes it’s all laid out in print for anyone to read in the form of something called Agenda 21.

Agenda 21 is a plan of the United Nations that came out of a U.N. Conference on Environment and Development that was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It is called Agenda 21 in reference to the 21st century and calls for organizations and governments to work together in building a sustainable worldwide culture with biological diversity, all overseen by none other than the United Nations. According to the UN, “Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by every person on Earth. It calls for specific changes in the activities of all people. Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced.”

More than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 as official policy at the Earth Summit. George Bush signed the document for the U.S. and in 1995, and President Bill Clinton, in compliance with Agenda 21, signed an Executive Order to create the President’s Council on Sustainable Development in order to “harmonize” U.S. environmental policy with

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

October 15, 2012

The Wolf Agenda UN directives as outlined in Agenda 21. Clinton directed all federal agencies to work with state and local community governments in a joint effort to “reinvent” government using the guidelines outlined in Agenda 21. In the U.S, 200 cities and town councils have adopted the resolutions proposed in Agenda 21.

The wolf is just one of the foot soldiers in carrying out that agenda. The greenies who want to shove Agenda 21 down our throats believe that wildlife is more important than human life. Agenda 21 is nothing more than the The Wildlands Project we wrote about 20 years ago, that would cram people into really small and densely crowded cities and leave the rest for a biologically diverse, no-drive-through zoo. Their stated goal is to “greatly reduce human utilization of rural lands.”

That would be Len McIrvin, his grandson, and all of the rest of us, too.

Wolves Inside A Trojan Horse It’s no accident that the wolf was chosen as a Trojan Horse to rid the land of cattlemen and sheepherders, after all, they tug at people’s heartstrings who look at a cuddly wolf pup and see the dog who sleeps at the foot of their bed every night. But little do they know that the wolf is a mere pawn of the Agenda 21 zealots who believe people should NOT own private property.

It’s all right there in black and white. From the report from the 1976 UN’s Habitat I Conference comes this little ditty: “Land . . . cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth, and therefore contributes to social injustice.”

Or how about this from Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s Earth Summit in 1992: “Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class — involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.”

Just as Paul Ehrlich wrote that “The Population Bomb” would have annihilated our world by now, the current bunch of doom-and-gloomers are mak-

Page 3

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ing the same outlandish predications in order to get what they want. In 2007, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that up to 30 percent of all species will be extinct by 2050. Promoters of Agenda 21 contend that the rate of species loss is greater now than at any time in human history, with extinctions occurring at rates hundreds of times higher than background extinction rates.

UN studies say that 25 percent of all mammal species could be extinct in 20 years. If you believe in Agenda 21 you believe in what is called the “Holocene extinction event,” which is caused by the impact humans are having on the environment. Those who are “crying wolf” for our environment contend that “the present rate of extinction is sufficient to eliminate most species on the planet within 100 years.”

We don’t know about that, but we do know that if these pessimistic pontificators get their way we know one species who will definitely become deader than the dodo bird: the American rancher.

The Wrong Wolf The real irony of this story is that the wrong wolf is terrorizing cattle country. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you might say. The wolves that wandered into Washington aren’t the wolves that populated our plains that the greenies and animal rightists said they wanted to save. The wolves in Washington are nothing more than crossbred Canadian wolves as documented by their DNA. As such, our own Fish and Wildlife Department could be accused of violating the Endangered Species Act by forcing us to accept a wolf subspecies that never lived in the region. And they did it all with the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and and Defenders of Wildlife, cheerleading from the sidelines. Some biologists now claim that those non-endangered Canadian gray wolves have ruined any hope of ever repopulating with the native wolf.

The enviros don’t care about such trivial things.

Their goal is not species purity, it’s merely to drive the ranchers off.

In 2008, 75 percent of those Washington citi-

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Riding Herd

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

too much I suggest we take every prisoner convicted of child molestation and send them out to defuse bombs and clean up hazardous spills. We could replace the Solid Waste department with politicians since it’s something they know a lot about. I’d also look into replacing Parks and Recreation Departments with convicted pot heads. If they want to smoke grass they’d have to mow it too. I’d leave the air traffic controllers in place though because you really don’t want some pot smoker telling airplanes when and where to land.

While on hold I came up with a program I call “Step Up America” in which people with special skills will replace government employees by working for free. For instance, we could get rid of immunization programs by asking cowboys to give the shots. I’d get rid of jury duty and instead everyone would take a turn being a JudgeFor-A-Day. Those lucky enough to draw a spot on the Supreme Court couldn’t do any worse than what we have now and look at the money we’d save. We could hire fewer teachers by asking professionals to

teach at least one day once every school year for free.

We simply cannot afford programs listed in my phone book like the Barbering and Cosmetology Program, the lottery and special translators for people who don’t speak English. Evidently they can call a translator to learn how they can get government services. I say if they can’t speak English they don’t get food stamps. I wouldn’t fire the translators, however, instead I’d put them to work translating the Indians and Chinese at phone centers who are supposedly speaking English when we call for help.

I’d stimulate the post office by having our mail sorted and delivered by all the convicted crystal meth users and speed freaks.

We’d get our mail in a day!

As for the Immigration Office and Wildlife Services, we can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

I’d quit turning wolves and mountain lions loose to terrorize and I’d take their radio collars and place them on illegal alien drug pushers so we’d keep track of them instead.

Let’s face it folks, we’re broke and the time has come to Step Up America!

continued on page five

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Make Believe World of trust and funding sponges espouses its mission to be the salvation of the natural world.

Next comes the more niche based federal policing agencies.

These would include alphabet soup spook brigades from CIA, DEA, ATF, ICE, and FBI. Finally, there are the state agencies and engaged state and local governments including law enforcement. For the most part, those groups have been limited to those areas close to the border. As miles from the border increase, the direct involvement and concern of border leadership tends to diminish.

The Sides Like urban wars, the border war in Jaguar Alley is extremely difficult to dissect with clarity.

Many locals would argue they believe only the second and last groups, the local citizenry and the local governments, consistently support full and unrestricted policing of the border. Most believe the Border Patrol is committed to the task if there is adequate operational freedom allowed by the Administration.

HIGH-DURABILITY TUB GRINDERS “Often Imitated”

continued from page one

As for the others, there is too much evidence that mission and ideological agendas take preference over national security concerns.

Restated, a list of those most supportive of protective measures and most weary of conditional protection of the border includes the historic border community. They are joined by state and local government which includes law enforcement. The Border Patrol is a willing and capable protective force if Washington allows it to act without political restraints.

All other participants will very from neutral to antagonistic regarding strict border enforcement. Three of the four federal land agencies (Park Service, USFWS, and Forest Service) have demonstrated antagonistic characteristics varying from indifference to open opposition to demands of stricter border enforcement allowances. Only BLM has demonstrated a more neutral stance in matters that inhibit aggressive border protection.

The alphabet soup brigades are largely silent in regards to

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local border concerns. Their missions seemingly elevate them above any requirement of issue debate. They exist, but they are hidden from the public view.

That leaves the two groups that view the border much differently from the citizenry, most local and state government, and unrestrained Border Patrol.

The environmental and drug cartels seek an open border. The former wades through the court of public opinion on a make believe platform upheld by liberal leadership and the prevailing press. The latter has grown its trillion dollar industry on those smuggling corridors that have been staked on federal lands in Jaguar Alley.

Bottom line, the environmental and drug cartels have not and will not support congressional leadership that has any inclination to allow unrestricted policing actions on federal border lands.

Cats and corridors During the week of August 13, Fish and Wildlife Service announced their much anticipated 838,232 acre critical jaguar habitat. That acreage will overlay the majority of the border area of Jaguar Alley.

In a statement by CBD, the effort was praised, but a secondary intention was announced. The CBD spokesman, Michael Robinson, divulged the group was going to demand the area be increased to include the nearby Gila and Apache National Forests or another 3.5 million acres.

The story doesn’t stop there.

CBD is on record of supporting not just the 838,232 acres with its 4,348,000 acres expansion in their Gila/Apache demand. Their long term plan advocates a combined Arizona and New Mexico area of 53,000,000 acres!

All indications suggest the first installment of the Fish and Wildlife’s 838,232 acre Jurassic Park is just the first of a three-part series of expansion for the big cats. Why should such an expansive project worry Americans?

For starters, the first phase of this brainchild is larger than the state of Rhode Island. The elevated restrictions on the land will substantively add constraints to the efforts of Border Patrol in that border area. It will also place future development of that border area in jeopardy.

If this occurs, “critical habitat” status will be layered over existing federal lands management. That means the federal agencies cannot fund or authorize any activities that might “adversely modify” those earmarked lands. For the uninformed, that means elevated access restrictions along with a mandatory public comment process that will be manipulated and managed by the environmental cartels.

De facto wilderness will be installed and one additional step toward an open borders policy will be accomplished. The cartels, all of them, will love it.

Flying saucers and shenanigans The story of the jaguar, like

October 15, 2012 the story of any species, is compelling. The cat purportedly evolved in North America and spread to South America. It is a big cat. The experts will say it is the third largest feline species in the world.

Anecdotal evidence suggests it roamed variously through historic times, but recent year confirmed sightings have been limited to occasional single adult males in the proposed recovery area. That implies the conditions of the area are not conducive for resident breeding pairs. In the most optimistic of outlooks, the area must be considered no more than occasional transient domain.

This is evidenced by statistics.

Even with discredited and unsubstantiated references, only 17 jaguar sightings are recorded in New Mexico since 1825! That computes to less than .09 jaguar sightings per year in New Mexico’s modern history. That compares to .10 confirmed UFO sightings per day in New Mexico in 2011! Albuquerque alone had more UFO sightings in 2011 than New Mexico has jaguar sightings since early 19th Century.

This being said New Mexico was, at one time, the best place in the Western Hemisphere to hunt and shoot a jaguar. A fellow by the name of C.J. Prock, a ver-

itable cat hunting magician, served jaguars up almost like jack rabbits to gung ho hunters back in the ‘70s. The problem with Mr. Prock was his propensity for hauling the cats in from jaguar territory and releasing them about the time his hunters arrived. His success was good enough to land him in the slammer.

That same suggestion of impropriety came to light last July when a mature jaguar was discovered along with drugs and guns by the Mexican military in a cartel stash house in the Mexican frontier town of Piedras Negras. What on earth would a mature jaguar be doing with loads of marijuana, cocaine, and AK47s?

Come on folks! The cat wasn’t there on contract to guard the merchandise.

Isn’t it a bit ironic just about the time a wondrous 838,000acre jaguar park is announced a mature jaguar emerges? Odds are he turned up at the wrong place a bit too early for his planned game camera coverage at some release site. The question should be . . . which cartel moved him there?

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “Constitution be damned . . . the border mission isn’t predicated on sovereign Americans with property rights at risk.”

Farm Credit of New Mexico announces its focus on drought arm Credit of New Mexico, announced in mid September that it is committed to support its customerowners and the agricultural community who are impacted by the 2012 drought.

“The impacts of drought have been felt across the country, including in the state of New Mexico. We are committed to supporting our customer-owners at a time of significant challenge for agriculture,” said Al Porter, Farm Credit of New Mexico’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

“While our customers are accustom to dealing with weather related volatility, we believe we must be aware of the issues that drought creates and focus on helping customers manage the impacts of this historic drought.” Porter said “Our customers should know that the FCNM is prepared to help them through this difficult period so they can continue to grow and be successful over the long term.”

CoBank and the nation’s three other Farm Credit banks issued a joint statement on the drought. The banks said that, “despite the challenges presented by the drought, the Farm Credit System remains well positioned to meet the financial needs of the farmers, ranchers, cooperatives and other rural borrowers.”

Also, CoBank, Farm Credit of New Mexico’s funding bank, announced it will contribute $1 million to Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger relief charity. The funds will be designated to support programs in areas of the country where the bank and its affiliated associations have significant operations.

“One of the unfortunate side effects of the drought has been the growing concern over increasing prices for a variety of food products at a time when unemployment remains stubbornly high,” said Bob Engel, CoBank President and Chief Executive Officer. “We want to do our part to alleviate the downside effects of a weak economic recovery coupled with potentially higher food prices, particularly on the poor.

We’re pleased to be able to underwrite Feeding America with this contribution and support their work on behalf of needy people across the country.”

“Across the U.S., more than 50 million people face hunger, and rising food prices threaten to make it even harder for them to put food on the table,” said Matt Knott, Interim President and CEO of Feeding America.

“We’re deeply grateful to CoBank for this donation, which will help us provide more meals to people in need.”

F

October 15, 2012

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

Cattle Production Veterinarian Hall of Fame Inductees Announced ohn Herrick, D.V.M., and Jim Jarrett, D.V.M., will be posthumously honored as inductees to the Cattle Production Veterinarian Hall of Fame at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) 45th annual conference in Montreal. They were recognized in September during the Hall of Fame banquet sponsored

by Merck Animal Health.

The Cattle Production Veterinarian Hall of Fame was established in 2011 to celebrate the rich traditions of production veterinary medicine by honoring the exceptional men and women who have made lasting contributions to the veterinary profession. The award winners will join inaugural inductees Harold Amstutz, D.V.M., and Dan Upson, D.V.M., M.S. Ph.D., in the hall of fame.

“This year’s inductees are true pioneers in cattle production medicine,” says Mark Spire, D.V.M., technical services manager for Merck Animal Health.

“Drs. Herrick and Jarrett each played significant roles in advancing the industry and laying a foundation to build upon.”

Five organizations sponsor the Hall of Fame including the AABP, the Academy of Veterinary Consultants (AVC), Bovine Veterinarian, Merck Animal Health and Osborn Barr. The inductees were selected by their peers, and all AABP and AVC members had the opportunity to vote for one beef and one dairy veterinarian.

J

John Herrick, D.V.M., 2012 Beef Inductee: Dr. Herrick was best known for pioneering the concept of preconditioning programs for weaned calves and his continued advocacy for veterinarians. His dedication to the profession led to a distinguished career and multiple leadership positions.

Dr. Herrick was an Iowa native and received his bachelor’s, master’s and veterinary medical degrees from Iowa State University. He practiced largeanimal medicine before returning to Iowa State University, where he spent 35 years as a professor of veterinary clinical science and an extension veterinarian.

Dr. Herrick played a leading role in the formation of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, as well as the Society for Theriogenology, the use of artificial insemination in cattle and swine, and establishing semen production standards. He also is known for his work to prevent brucellosis and mastitis. Dr. Herrick’s efforts led to the creation of the Iowa Preconditioning Calf Program, viewed as the industry gold standard for such programs.

A former colleague, Dr. Larry Corah from Manhattan, Kan., nominated Dr. Herrick for the award due to his prominence as an extension veterinarian.

“Dr. Herrick was ahead of his time in the profession and an early advocate for pre-conditioning cattle,” says Dr. Corah. “He was an excellent veterinarian, and everyone respected him personally and professionally.”

During his career, Dr. Herrick spent time in more than 40 organizations nationally and internationally, eight of which he was a founding member. He was a past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Iowa Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Extension Veterinarians.

Until his death in 2007, Dr. Herrick spent his retirement years as an animal-health consultant in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Jim Jarrett, D.V.M., 2012 Dairy Inductee: Dr. Jarrett was a widely-known expert in milk quality, dairy nutrition and reproductive management. He co-founded the AABP Quality Milk Pre-conference Seminar and was active in many organizations during his career.

A Georgia native, Dr. Jarrett earned his bachelor’s degree from Berry College in Rome, Ga., and his veterinary medical degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. After practicing for five years, he worked for the state of Georgia, developing one of the first milk-quality programs in the nation.

In 1967, Dr. Jarrett returned to private practice and established a dairy-production consulting business serving Georgia and the surrounding states. Not long after he started, Dr. Jarrett’s expertise and talents were being sought across the country and around the world.

When the call for nominations was announced, Dr. Keith Sterner, former colleague and retired D.V.M., from Ionia, Mich., immediately thought of Dr. Jarrett as a candidate.

“Dr. Jarrett left a very large footprint in the industry through his promotion of veterinarians and contributions to dairy production medicine,” says Dr.

Page 5

Sterner. “He was an excellent role model and an example for the industry.”

Dr. Jarrett’s leadership spanned several organizations including the World Buiatrics Association, American Veterinary Medical Association and AABP. He served as AABP pres-

The Wolf Agenda

ident, as well as its executive vice president for more than 15 years.

Dr. Jarrett received many awards, including AABP Practitioner of the Year, the AmstutzWilliams Award (AABP’s highest honor) and Georgia Veterinary Medical Association Veterinarian of the Year.

continued from page three

zens polled said they supported recovery of wolves in their state. The Capital Press echoed the feeling of many of them when they quoted one Seattle woman as saying, “I love wolves, I'd just like to take one home to cuddle with.”

“I wish she would,” said Len in response, only half in jest.

In a Seattle Times article called, “Wolves in the wild: Room for livestock, too?” writer John Saul wrote, “Raising livestock has never been compatible with wolves. That prompts other questions. Should protection of livestock take precedent over protection of natural wildlife? Especially since McIrvin uses some public land for grazing his cattle? Wolves belong in the wilds,” wrote Saul. “Maybe livestock does, too, but it is going to take some cooperation on the part of ranchers with the wildlife department to make that happen. Short of that, perhaps the use of public lands for grazing should be reexamined.”

Ah hah, there it is: the crux of his whole shebang. To the ear of the typical animal rightist/greenie/socialist the words Saul wrote about reexamining whether cattle should graze public lands sounds sweeter than any bloodcurdling howl emanating from the bloody lips of any crossbred Canadian wolf ever did.

Spotted wolf, indeed.

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October 15, 2012

Mesalands Rodeo Team Member new world champion ailey Bates, 19, a member of the Mesalands Community College Rodeo Team, was recently crowned the 2012 International Indian World Champion Breakaway Roper at the 8th Annual International Indian Finals Rodeo (IIFR). The rodeo was part of the New Mexico State Fair held September in Albuquerque.

This is Bates second year to compete at the IIFR on behalf of the All Indian Rodeo Cowboys Association. Bates said she has been a part of this Association all of her life.

“I’ve grown up with it. My Grandpa was one of the

B

founders of the organization when it first started. It’s always been part of my family and I’ve been committed to rodeo because of this organization,” Bates said. “It felt awesome that all of my hard work paid off and that I finally got my consistency down in one weekend. It’s just a self confidence booster.”

The top 15 qualifiers in each of the five Affiliate Associations of Canada and the U.S., compete at the IIFR. According to their website, the goal of the IIFR is to offer the next generation of the Indian rodeo competitors a place to compete and showcase their talents in a professional rodeo arena.

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Bates said she has been competing in rodeo competitions for the past 10 years in breakaway roping and team roping. She said her brother, Michael, had a major influence on her choosing to attend Mesalands and compete on the Rodeo Team.

Michael was a former member of the Mesalands Rodeo Team and performed very well, qualifying for the 2008 College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) and was a 2008 Academic All-American.

Bates is starting her second year on the Mesalands Rodeo Team and is majoring in Liberal Arts. In July Bates competed at the 2012 CNFR in Casper, WY and finished 13th in the nation in breakaway roping. She also contributed to the Women’s Team finishing 4th in the nation and second in the Grand Canyon Region. Bates was also a 2012 Academic All-American recipient.

“We are very proud to have

Bailey Bates: 2012 International Indian World Champion Breakaway Roper.

Bailey at Mesalands,” Dr. Mildred Lovato, President of Mesalands said. “She has not only performed well in rodeo, but she is also an exemplary student.

Congratulations Bailey! We look forward to seeing what you achieve in the future.”

C.J. Aragon, Mesalands Intercollegiate Rodeo Coach says he has enjoyed working with Bates and is very proud of her accomplishments.

“Bailey has an impressive resume. What she has done already in her rodeo career is pretty remarkable and she’s not finished. She’s going to add a lot more over the course of the next couple of years,” Coach Aragon said.

The Mesalands Rodeo Team will kicked off their first rodeo competition of the season at Dine College in Tsaile, Arizona in late September.

Enviros seek to help defend planning rule from industry challenge

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Law Center filed a motion in early September in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of two Oregonbased conservation groups seeking to formally intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of the Forest Service.

A coalition of more than a dozen industry groups claims in its August complaint that the Forest Service overstepped its authority by requiring that new forest management plans provide “ecological sustainability” and “ecosystem services” and use best available science in decisionmaking, among other charges (Greenwire, Aug. 14).

The industry groups — including the American Forest Resource Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and BlueRibbon Coalition, an OHV users group — essentially state that the new planning rule ignores the congressional mandate to provide for multiple uses such as logging, ranching and motorized recreation.

The Forest Service has said the new planning rule, which is required by the National Forest Management Act, seeks to carefully balance the interests of all stakeholder groups.

But the conservation groups Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Wild argue that the industry lawsuit threatens that balance and could have broad implications for the agency’s ability to manage forests nationwide.

“This lawsuit, if successful, could effectively ban conservation biology as a basis to help craft how we manage our national forests,” said Pete Frost, a Eugene, Ore.-based attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center who is representing the two groups.

The industry lawsuit also

reveals the plaintiffs’ true belief that national forestlands should be managed primarily for resource extraction, said Joseph Vaile, program director for the Ashland, Ore.-based KlamathSiskiyou Wildlands Center.

“These industry groups have a scary vision for our national forests,” Vaile said. “Never before have we seen extraction industries so clearly state that they oppose the use of science on our national forests. Through this suit, these groups hope the keys to our national forests are handed over to private industry so they can be turned into private tree farms for their own benefit.”

The Forest Service rule was finalized in March after more than two and a half years of public meetings and more than 300,000 public comments. Previous attempts to update the rule in 2000, 2005 and 2008 drew lawsuits from the Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups and were either enjoined or abandoned, leaving the Reagan administration’s 1982 planning rule in place.

The Obama administration rule, which emphasizes watershed restoration, drew praise from major environmental and sportsmen’s groups, including former Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) (E&ENews PM, March 23).

“It comes as no surprise that the timber industry would like to see our national forests managed for logging,” said Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild’s conservation and restoration coordinator, “but it becomes truly bizarre when the timber industry must argue against science and in favor of crony capitalism in order to achieve their desired result.”

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The Vote t all looked to be an easy morning. The spring works were in full swing and we were already “up on top” — in the ranch’s mesa country. The chuckwagon was set up at the Martinez corrals, and we were gathering the Creek Pasture to those pens. I always liked the mesa; a little more rugged than the rest of the ranch, with heavier cedar cover and rocky canyons cutting past brushy slopes and flats. It was a bit more of a test for good hands and good horses, something that appeals to our youth and to our denial that youth will finally fade.

I

The Creek hadn’t wintered a lot of cows so it would be a quick branding that day. It was the first Tuesday in June, 1972, primary election day in New Mexico. The light schedule worked in our favor, as my dad wanted to get the pasture branded up and turned back out, turn the horses loose, button down the camp, and take the rest of the day off for the crew to go home and vote. Most of the boys lived in Dilia and Anton Chico, little farm villages on the Pecos River.

We’d told the boys to take the next day off, too, knowing that once the polls closed and the bars re-opened there would be celebration of the vote in the village, no matter which way the elections went. We were registered in a precinct up in Las Vegas, some distance away.

When dad made the plan for this day, I was not surprised or particularly impressed that we would stop the spring works for a day or two just to go vote. It was, I knew, the important thing to do, but I was mostly looking forward to getting cleaned up and spending a little time in town with my wife; maybe a little shopping and, after several days at the wagon, getting to eat a nice meal at a nice table inside a nice café.

The pleasant morning was bright and clear, under a flawless blue sky that canopied mixed greens and tans of emerging spring grasses and sandstone cedar-breaks. Looking across the sloping pasture at the drive being thrown together, I could see my wife Georgia riding alongside my dad, coming up out of the little Aguilar Creek, following some cows and calves moving ahead of them in a hurried trot. My bride and I had only been on the ranch a while, having mustered out of the military a month previous, so these spring works were for me a return to the familiar life, and for my wife a new discovery. Watching Georgia impressively sit her horse with straight slender comfortable ease, I pondered just how big a change in life she was experiencing, and how fully she was embracing it. Everything felt good and right that morning, right down to the horse between my knees.

Keno Red was his registered name; a handsome, modest sized, streak-faced, dark sorrel who had been my horse a long time, since well before I left for the service. Though he had been in other strings while I was away, it was as if we had never separated; a good pair. Four years away had not faded the familiarity

that, after plenty of time and miles under the same saddle, settles into the bones of both horse and rider. A good cowpony but a little dangerous, I knew Keno well, with all his abilities and attitudes, plus a particular quirk that demanded healthy respect.

Keno did not like anything going on around the left side of his head. Whatever might be near him on that side, either in the air or on the ground, was a threat, and sometimes he would react. I remember when Duane Brockman, a little overconfident, found himself in that 3 year-old’s strike zone and was knocked out cold by a lightening-fast front foot. He was always wary out his left eye, but I knew how to get along with him on his terms and didn’t usually have much trouble that way. I could bridle him with little trouble, something most men couldn’t do easily. Other than that, Keno was a top cowpony by anybody’s measure.

Sometimes to show off I would pull Keno’s bridle off and work a herd, using just my feet to point him at selected animals and push them out of the bunch.

Keno and I joined the drive and pointed them through the gate of the picket corrals we called the Martinez. As soon as all were in, the crew jumped to action, separating most of the cows from the calves and setting up the branding equipment.

“Dad, do you want to drag on my horse?” I asked. “OK,” he responded. “I’ll just use your saddle.” He reset and cinched up, shortening his rope and tying off on the saddlehorn. Nobody in our part of the world dallied in those days, and roping “tied off” was a different more sophisticated art, requiring the roper to deftly handle the slack once an animal was caught. The famous western poet, S. Omar Barker, in a poem about roping tied off, quipped “. . . either it’s yours, or your its.”

Irons hot, flankers ready, Dad and Keno eased into the bunch of bawling cattle, shaking out a loop and snagging the first calf. The crew fell into its rhythm working each flanked calf quickly, with always another coming in on the end of Dad’s stretched rope.

Georgia and I were standing next to the branding stove as she filled a vaccine gun and I shifted the irons in the fire. We watched the roper pick up a big “early” calf, probably born as early as December. He caught the calf deep, the loop closing around its flank and not loosening. Then, things started happening fast.

by MYLES CULBERTSON

Bucking and running, the calf darted around behind the horse as Dad lifted the rope, ducking his head slightly to skillfully guide it over his hat, looking over his shoulder at his quarry. Dancing on the end of the rope, the calf ran up to the picket fence, ducked to the right, and then ran to the corral’s corner. Dad started to pass the rope over Keno’s head when I saw the horse, white-eyed, throw his face up high and away from the twined threat. I could see the wreck coming as the calf then ran full speed along the fence past and behind the right side of horse and rider through the crowded herd.

What happened next was probably over in less than three seconds, but the mind in a crisis can sometimes press the unraveling of events down into extreme slow motion. The rope did not make it over Keno’s head, instead catching in the shanks of his bits. I could see Dad reaching to get it untangled as Keno struggled fearfully to break the closing trap, the running calf heading for the end of the rope.

Slack ran out fast, hitting hard against twisting bits and tender mouth. Helplessly, I watched horse, trapped, neck bent and head struggling — rider still in the saddle — flipping backward into the crowded corner of cows and calves. I heard a sickening thump, cattle leaping away in mass, and then like a riptide off the corral fence they were jumping and stumbling over the stretched rope and fallen horse, his legs thrashing skyward trying to regain something, anything, solid. Under Keno’s inverted body, Dad could be seen through the boiling mob of cattle

Page 7

and dust. I ran toward the wreck as Keno tried to roll one way, then the other, panicked, pinning and mashing his rider into the ground. Finally rolling to his side, he jumped up, frightened, kicking his limp prostrate rider as he leapt away.

The next thing I remember is kneeling over Dad, along with Georgia and one of the cowboys.

He was on his back and looked to be conscious but dazed. I said something stupid, I think, like “are you alright?” His eyes were half open and the trauma was obvious in his visage. “I think my back’s broke,” his voice hoarse with strain. Georgia comforted him as I dashed toward a pickup.

My mind racing, I knew I had to get help, and we were a very long way from it. I had to move, no time, no time . . .

Frantically cranking a trailer off the hitch of one of the trucks, I looked back over my shoulder to see Dad standing, Georgia holding him steady. Relief washed through me at the realization his back was not broken after all, but even at a distance he didn’t look very good. He was pretty beat up — bent over a little bit, dusty and scuffed, but he said he was alright, just needed a little break. Georgia and I helped him sit comfortable on the ground in the shade of the picket fence before I walked across the corral to Keno Red standing in the corner, still shaken by the event. Picking up the bridle reins, I untracked him and stepped up gently, giving him time to settle down before shaking out a loop and restarting the branding. I suppose nowadays everything would stop in favor of finding medical care, no chances taken; but maybe people were tougher back then, or maybe just resigned to the fact that the remote isolation of ranch life must accept the fact of injuries, short of broken bones, and keep going. Anyway,

he looked like he was resting so we finished up the branding and drifted the herd back out into the Creek Pasture to pair up.

The boys stayed back to put the campfire out and close up the chuckwagon while Georgia and I put Dad between us in his pickup to start the 15 mile trek back off the mesa to the ranch headquarters. The road was rocky, with a lot of low rough obstacles and shallow washouts, making the journey slow as we tried to keep him as comfortable as we could. I felt like we were creeping but I would cringe, maybe even more than he, whenever I misjudged the road’s ruts and bumps. As we moved carefully down the road, he broke the silence: “Don’t tell Momma what happened.” I wasn’t surprised at the instruction, as that was his nature, but this was going to be mighty hard to hide. When I made that point, he simply said, “I’ll do the talking.”

Close to an hour had passed when we drove through the horse pasture gate and were in view of the headquarters. Rolling slowly around the little hill by the house we pulled up next to the driveway as Mom came out to greet us.

Looking through the passenger window and seeing the obvious, her focused alarm was characteristic of a ranch woman who accepts the facts of a dangerous life, subconsciously braced for such eventualities, conditioned to respond instead of panic.

“What happened?” She asked intently, attention fixed on his condition. Georgia and I sat in silence, under his instructions. “I fell out of the chuckwagon.”

Georgia’s and my eyes simultaneously rolled toward the passenger between us with the same incredulity. “That’s his story!?” I thought to myself, knowing that Georgia was thinking the same. continued on page eight

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The Vote “You what?” Mom wasn’t buying it. “What in the world were you doing up in the chuckwagon?” “. . . gettin’ a biscuit.” I just slowly shook my head, and I saw my wife fighting off a smile at the new discovery about her fatherin-law’s mischievous sense of humor. Undeterred, Mom asked again; “Well, what really happened?” “Keno fell with him,” I interjected. “We’d better get to town. He may be clever but he’s hurt bad enough to need a doc.”

Mobilizing, she answered, “Let’s get him into the car,” starting back to the house to grab her purse and close the front door.

In the back seat, Mom helped him get as comfortable as possible as the four of us started for the highway, another eleven miles of dirt road before reaching pavement. From there we were still almost 30 miles from town and medical help. Not having to worry about bumps in the road now, I was airing out that big Lincoln on the way to the hospital, figuring if a state policeman picked up on us maybe he would escort us on in.

In the rear view mirror it was easy to see, even though he wasn’t admitting it, he was in a lot of pain. “Does it hurt to breath?” “. . . kind of.” “We’ll be there pretty soon,” I said, pushing the big car a little harder.

Pulling into town, I pointed

continued from page seven

the car up the main drag and caught the street leading to the hospital, when I heard a stir in the back seat and saw Dad trying to sit up and look around.

“Where we going?” he queried.

“To the hospital. It’s up this street.” He knew that; I just assumed he was a little disoriented. “No, we have to vote, first,” he retorted, like he thought I should know that. Georgia looked back at him as if maybe she didn’t hear right. “No!” I argued. “We’ve got to get you to the hospital. Dad, you’re hurt.”

Why did I have to remind him of that, I thought to myself. The expression on Mom’s face pretty much told it all, predicting the victor in this argument. “If we go there first the polls will close,” he said, trying to sit straighter in the back seat. “Lets vote first, then we’ll find a doc,” He said through a visible twinge of pain.

“Dad, look at you, we need to get to the hospital!” Mom usually had no problem weighing-in when she knew what was right, but I could see by her resigned expression I was on my own. She already knew the futility of this one. Dad dug in, stubborn: “We vote.” His immovable resolve would not be challenged. “We’ll find a doc later.” All arguments summarily dismissed, I conceded defeat and turned at the next corner, headed for the polls.

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The voting machines for our precinct were set up at McFarland Hall, an old gymnasium on the high school campus that held a number of memories for me, having played ball, watched games, danced, attended concerts, sneaked out of assemblies, and generally misbehaved on its old hardwood floors during my high school career. Today, I was about to observe the singular event in my experience that dispatched those memories and embedded McFarland Hall as an emblem of a bedrock principle.

Parking at the curb, I peered up the walkway and stairs at the gym’s front doors. What would normally have been a short walk with just a few steps up looked a little forbidding. Dad was stiff and getting very sore having been cramped up in the back seat for over an hour. We helped him get his sea legs under him while Mom went ahead to hold the door open. She had plenty of time, because Georgia and I were his crutches, carefully helping him along. The stairs were slow, each one a task in itself.

Once inside, we gingerly crossed the foyer through the big double doors onto the gym floor. The voting place was characteristically dignified and respectful. It seems when people vote they recognize that there is something important and sacred in their care. The quiet but wideeyed surprise of the voting officials reminded me we were a sight; dusty and tattered, having come straight off the cattle works. I realized I hadn’t even removed my spurs. We helped Dad over to the table to sign in, the lady at the roster a bit discomfited by this beat-up cowboy in front of her. They all knew him, but none had ever seen him like this; smudged with dirt, banged up, not the usual nice shirt and necktie he normally wore when going to town. Once signed in, Georgia and I helped him get to the voting booth. The old style machines had a handle up high that simultaneously closed the curtain and reset the machine. He couldn’t reach high enough so I pulled it closed for him. In a couple of minutes he was finished with his vote, so we helped him to a seat then voted ourselves. All done, in a grimace he said “Lets go find a doc.”

The nurse opened the front door of the little community hospital to help us limp in. “Hi, W.O.” The doctor looked over the top of his glasses and asked, “What in the world did you do now?” “Hi, Doc. Aw, a horse fell with me.” He said, trying to front an all-OK attitude. I filled in; “The horse went over backwards, Doc . . . mashed him pretty good.” “I can see that. Sit here, W.O. Let’s check you out.

You all can wait out in the lobby.

Nurse, we should set up for an X-Ray.” Some time later the doctor came out to report. “Looks like three cracked ribs, a bruised lung, and a bruised liver. He’ll be fine, but he’s going to be pretty sore for a while. I’d prefer to keep him here overnight just to

October 15, 2012 make sure he’s OK. You’ll need to keep him wrapped up pretty good because of the ribs. Other than that, just keep him off any horses for a few weeks, especially the ones that fall down. Tell him to take it easy for a while.”

Settled in to a hospital room, Dad was cleaned up and comfortable, having gotten a dose of some sort of pain reliever, while Mom, Georgia and I were scattered around in chairs, relaxed, glad that the scramble was over with. “I should go back to the ranch tonight and bring you some clean clothes in the morning. That way the kids don’t have to stay here. They’ll probably discharge you in the morning so I’ll be back early. Will you be OK?” “Sure. I think I’ll just stay here.”

“Of course you will,” she retorted, faking annoyance at the idea of him jumping up and doing the town. “W.O., did you remember your mother is coming from Dalhart to see us tomorrow?” We had all forgotten about that in the haste of the last several hours’ events. “Oh yeah, I forgot.

Don’t say anything about this.”

Georgia smiled, warning him, “She’ll know, and you’re going to have to come up with something better than the biscuit story.” “I’ll do the talking,” he grinned back.

Well, he did have a story for her, but I don’t recall what it was.

I do remember she didn’t believe him and started in on the ‘every mother’s lecture’ about being too old for such dangerous work.

Anyway, everybody was back on the ranch and into the routine, moving camp, branding, and attending to the spring works.

He was supposed to stay at the house, but didn’t. It was, however, with those cracked ribs, easy to keep him out of the saddle.

Many years have passed since that first Tuesday of June in 1972, but I look back often into its memory and still chuckle at Dad’s hardheaded insistence about going to cast his vote. My quiet laughter is nevertheless laced with a deep respect for what we, as well as the poll workers, the voters, the medical people, and others observed that day.

Folks often use well worn phrases, respecting the vote as a right, a franchise, a privilege, and all the rest, but that day we witnessed the action itself give enlightened meaning to those terms, rendering them alive and declaring the simple act of a vote as the most basic arbiter of a free society. In 2004, my brother, W.O. III, part of a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan, witnessed their first national election in 5,ooo years. He told of a young Afghan woman who wept inconsolably because she had lost her voter certificate and could not cast her ballot. My son-in-law, Matt Peterson, a Marine whose unit provided security in Iraq’s first election in 2005, remarked “I will remember watching people vote for the first time in a democratic election for the rest of my life. Self determination is an amazing thing.”

Early in 2011, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines at Sangin, Afghanistan, my son-in-law’s out-

fit, had so far sustained the heaviest casualties of any unit in the history of that war, taking a key Taliban stronghold that had resisted defeat for years. The Secretary of Defense arrived for direct personal briefings from the battalion, accompanied by a Marine Lieutenant General who had lost his own son, right there, just a few months previous. At the completion of his tour and briefing the Secretary, with the General standing beside him, asked “Is there anything I can do for you?”

They could have asked for any number of creature comforts, but the Marines, dirty and tired, the strain of constant battle evident in their faces, were silent. After a long moment, a young Marine spoke up: “Don’t let them forget what we’ve done here.” “. . . what we’ve done here . . .” The enemy was on the run.

Markets were active again.

Schools were reopened. The provincial governor was able to travel at will for the first time in years. The privilege of dipping a finger into a jar of purple ink and voting was brought to Sangin.

The restoration of those nations is a rocky trail, fraught with danger and risk, but if they will hold on to the vote, they will make it; if they don’t, they won’t.

The courage and defiance represented by an ink-stained finger there or the secure confidence in a signature on the voter list at the polling place here, mean the same thing: the destiny of a society, ours or theirs, belongs to those who have the passion and the gumption to vote, no matter the obstacles. It is a simple act, but with a price measured in inestimable blood and treasure paid out over history by those who know its value, often paid by those who have it for those who desire it. It is the same act — quiet, secret, sacred — whether cast in a remote village by an Afghan peasant, or in a school gymnasium by a busted up cowboy.

W.O. Culbertson, Jr. was a man of insight and principle.

Had he lived long enough to see what my brother and son-in-law witnessed and experienced, I believe he would have enthusiastically wanted to hear every detail, and he would have said to them, “Well done. Remember what you’ve seen.” He would have been amazed at the grasp for liberty being made by tribesmen in the middle-east and Asia.

He would have understood with clarity their implications, and what their success or failure would mean for his grandchildren and great grandchildren. It would never have occurred to him that his own example would be the measure, the standard, by which I and my family follow the news of liberty on the other side of the planet. He saw things in simple profound terms, and simply would have known — and would have told us all — “You have to vote.” That’s about all he would have said about it. . . . and, in recollection I would add, even if a horse falls on you.

“Don’t let them forget . . .”

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October 15, 2012

Claims Filing Period to Open on September 24, 2012 for Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers Who Claim Past Discrimination at USDA Those Eligible Must File Claims No Later Than March 25, 2013 griculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers who allege discrimination by the USDA in past decades can file claims between September 24, 2012 and March 25, 2013.

“Hispanic and women farmers who believe they have faced discriminatory practices from the USDA must file a claim by March 25, 2013 in order to have a chance to receive a cash payment or loan forgiveness,” said Secretary Vilsack. “The opening of this claims process is part of USDA’s ongoing efforts to correct the wrongs of the past and ensure fair treatment to all current and future customers.”

The process offers a voluntary alternative to litigation for each

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Hispanic or female farmer and rancher who can prove that USDA denied their applications for loan or loan servicing assistance for discriminatory reasons for certain time periods between 1981 and 2000.

As announced in February 2011, the voluntary claims process will make available at least $1.33 billion for cash awards and tax relief payments, plus up to $160 million in farm debt relief, to eligible Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers. There are no filing fees to participate in the program.

The Department will continue reaching out to potential Hispanic and female claimants, around the country to get the word out to individuals who may be eligible for this program so they have the opportunity to participate.

Independent legal services companies will administer the claims process and adjudicate the claims. Although there are no filing fees to participate and a lawyer is not required to participate in the claims process, persons seeking legal advice may contact a lawyer or other legal services provider.

Under Secretary Vilsack’s leadership, USDA has instituted a comprehensive plan to strengthen the Department as a model service provider and to ensure that every farmer and rancher is treated equally and fairly as part of “a new era of civil rights” at USDA. This Administration has made it a priority to resolve all of the past program class action civil rights cases facing the Department, and today’s announcement is another major step towards achieving that goal.

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Hunting the Wiley Hog o there I was in the early morning haze between the hours of dawn and daylight, stealthily walking across a mowed field in search of the wily feral hog. Actually the first halfmile was not as stealthy, it was more like trudging, since my packer whom we’ll call Newt, had partied the night before and failed to gas up the four-wheeler.

Carrying pistols, rifles, ammo, bandoliers, reams of toilet tissue and video filming equipment, we looked more like refugees fleeing the Libyan conflict, followed by the paparazzi! Suddenly my guide, who asked us to call him Bwana, froze in his tracks! It was quite dark but we could hear his “Shush! There, on the edge of the field, see’em?” he said.

I stared at the shadowstreaked horizon. If there was a pig I sure couldn’t tell. It was all melded into the cedars and brush. We ducked behind a round bale to disguise ourselves.

Doc, the videographer for the hunting show, set up his camera apparatus. Newt handed me a semi-automatic left-handed 30.06 rifle with scope. He took aim himself, while Bwana unhooked his AK-47 with electronic sight, from its shoulder strap.

I wondered at the time how we must have looked in a pig’s eye view? A round bale, back-lit by the rising sun, festooned with arms, legs, heads, cameras and weapons sticking out in silhou-

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ette. A pig’s eyesight is not good, so we might have appeared to them like a Mars landing module that had crashed back to Earth.

After five minutes of intense scrutiny Bwana said, “They’ve gone. Must have smelled us.”

Then suddenly Newt said, “There’s a big one!”

Casting our attention eastward we spotted a large black creature. “I think it’s a cow. . .” said Newt, “or a pig.”

“How ‘bout a big dog?” I asked as Boar Fever came over me, “Or a bear, a small buffalo . . . do they have buffalo here?

Maybe a musk ox.” I was buzzing in anticipation. “How far a shot is that?” I asked.

“600 yards,” said Bwana.

I raised my rifle and the crosshairs actually blocked out the target! Calculating windage, fall, distance, instability, the hiccups, the mosquitoes and the bowl of chili Newt had eaten the night before, I figured my odds of hitting the beast was about 100 to one.

“Did we leave the bazooka at home?” I asked knowing the bazooka’s range was only 300 yards. What we needed for this shot was a mortar or even a drone with guided missiles.

“Follow me,” said Bwana.

In the center of the field 200 yards away was a high-line pole.

We lined up single file to reduce our image and stumbled on, reminiscent of the Bataan Death

March. I leaned against the pole to steady my aim. Four hundred yards I calculated. I took aim.

“How much should I elevate the shot?” I asked.

“About this much,” he instructed. I looked back to see

TO MAKE A CLAIM: Claimants must register for a claims package by calling the phone number below or by visiting the website at http://www.farmerclaims.gov and the claims package will be mailed to claimants. Call center representatives can be reached at 1-888/508-4429. The claims period: September 24, 2012-March 25, 2013.

All those interested in learning more or receiving information about the claims process and claims packages are encouraged to attend meetings in your communities about the claims process and to visit the website or call the claims telephone number.

In February 2010, the Secretary announced the Pigford II settlement with African American farmers, and in October 2010, he announced the Keepseagle settlement with Native American farmers. Both of those settlements have since received court approval. Unlike the cases brought by African American and Native American farmers, the cases filed by Hispanic and women farmers over a decade ago were not certified as class actions and are still pending in the courts as individual matters.

Bwana holding his thumb and index finger in the “C” position about two inches apart. I remember trying to decipher, does that mean two inches above the pig or two inches above the crosshairs?

I know it sounds dumb, but I hesitated. I looked back . . . too late . . . the pig was gone.

They told me he would have been a Boone and Crockett Record. They’d never seen one that big; hoof-prints like a rhino, tusks as long as a mastodon, enough meat to make two and a half tons of sausage. I’d have my picture on the cover of Pigs Unlimited! I felt my future melt away.

Oh, well, at least we got it all on film.

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The claims process provides a voluntary alternative to continuing litigation for Hispanic and female farmers and ranchers who want to use it.

Audio and video public service announcements in English and Spanish from Secretary Vilsack and downloadable print and web banner ads on the Hispanic and women farmer claims process are available at: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=PSAs_Print_ and_WebBanner_Ads.xml

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Hage Forage Right Trial Ends With BLM and U.S. Forest Service Employees Found in Contempt riday, August 31, a weeklong show-cause hearing ended with Chief Federal District Court Judge Robert C. Jones finding Tonopah Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manager Tom Seley and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Service ranger (USFS) Steve Williams in contempt of court. The contempt, including witness intimidation, occurred during the pendency of the five-year-old forage right case, U.S. v. Estate of E. Wayne Hage and Wayne N. Hage.

Seley was specifically found having intent to destroy the Hages’ property and business interests. “Mr. Seley can no longer be an administrator in this BLM district. I don’t trust him to be unbiased. Nor can he supervise anybody in this district,” the judge stated in his

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order from the bench.

The contempt finding was the result of the USFS and BLM having filed suit against Wayne N. Hage and the Estate of E. Wayne Hage in 2007 but then also seeking alternative remedies while the case was pending in derogation of the court’s jurisdiction.

“The problem is Mr. Seley especially, and to a lesser extent, Mr. Williams . . . had to kill the business of Mr. Hage. They had to stop him in any way possible,” the judge noted as the motive for their contemptuous actions. “My problem was that you were seeking remedy outside this court,” he added.

The court noted, “You got a random draw of a judge. You submitted to this civil process.”

Then, Seley and Williams pursued their own remedies by trying to extort money out of thirdparty ranchers who had leased cattle to Wayne N. Hage. They issued trespass notices, demands for payments, their own judgments, and in one instance coerced a $15,000 settlement.

All of this was done during the time the court had jurisdiction over these issues.

Counts against Seley and Williams included filing on top of the Hages’ vested and certificated stockwater rights with intent of converting those rights to a new permittee; sending 75 solicitations for 10-year grazing permits in the Ralston allotment aiming to destroy the Hages’ grazing preferences and water rights; issuing temporary permits to third parties, in particular Gary Snow of Fallon, Nev., with the knowledge that Snow’s cattle would drink the waters belonging to the Hage family; and, finally, the assessment of fines, penalties and judgments on third parties whose cattle were under the legal possession of Wayne N. Hage.

Judge Jones remarked about the July 26 Federal Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in the parallel constitutional Fifth Amendment takings case, U.S. v. Hage. The court expressly said the Hages have “an access right” to their waters. He also noted that the court did not overturn any of the Hages’ property rights that the Court of Claims found the Hages to own. Also, the takings that were overturned were overturned on the basis that the claims were not ripe, not because the government was acting correctly.

The hearing began Monday, August 27, with a cadre of agency heads from Washington, D.C., regional and state offices turning up in Reno to defend their policies and employees in court. After intense questioning by the court, Judge Jones made witness credibility findings in which USFS Region 4 Director Harv Forsgren was found lying

to the court, and Nevada head of the USFS, Jeanne Higgins, was not entirely truthful. After those findings, several other named witnesses did not testify.

In his bench ruling Friday night, Judge Jones stated: “The most persuasive testimony of anybody was Mr. Forsgren. I asked him has there been a decline in AUMs [animal unit months/livestock numbers] in the West. Then I asked him has there been a decline in the region, or this district. He said he doesn’t know. He was prevaricating. His answer speaks volumes about his intent and his directives to Mr. Williams.” The court noted that anybody who is school age or older knows “the history of the Forest Service in seeking reductions in AUMs and even an elimination of cattle grazing during the last four decades. Not so much with the BLM — they have learned that in the last two decades.”

In his findings of witness intimidation, Judge Jones noted: “Their threats were not idle.

They threatened one witness’s father’s [grazing] allotment.” The judge referenced testimony wherein Steve Williams delivered trespass notices accompanied by an armed employee. In one instance the armed man snuck up behind one of the witnesses with his hands ready to draw his guns. “Packing a gun shows intent,” the court noted.

In explaining the findings to Seley and Williams, the court found there was “intent to deprive this court of jurisdiction by intimidation of witnesses and threats against witnesses.” He added, “Where you crossed the line is you took civil action yourself in order to kill the business of Hage.”

Seley and Williams were held personally liable for damages totaling over $33,000 should the BLM and USFS fail to fund the losses to Hage and third parties.

In addition, Judge Jones imposed an injunction wherein the BLM and USFS are prevented from interfering with thirdparty leasing relationships when the livestock are in the clear operational control of Wayne N. Hage. The judge ordered Hage to reapply for a grazing permit and ordered the federal government to immediately issue permits to the Hages for the winter grazing season on the Ralston allotment.

The judge said he had already written 100 pages of his final decision from the main trial ending June 6. He indicated his published decision should be forthcoming in early October. Wayne N. Hage represented himself, pro se, and Mark Pollot, a Boise, Idaho, attorney, represented the Estate.

Source: Range Magazine

For LMD advertising information, contact RANDY SUMMERS at 505/243-9515, or email randy@aaalivestock.com.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

October 15, 2012

New CFI Research Approach Results in Double Digit Increase in Support for Today’s Food Technology CONSUMER TRUST RESEARCH AT THE CENTER FOR FOOD INTEGRITY REVEALS MESSAGES THAT CONNECT WITH CONSUMERS onsumer attitudes toward modern food production technologies can be significantly improved by providing information from credible sources that helps consumers understand the broader social benefits of today’s systems, according to new research from the Center for Food Integrity (CFI). A new approach tested in CFI’s 2012 Consumer Trust in the Food System study resulted in significant increases in support for certain modern farming technologies.

An online survey of 2,001 people this summer measured attitudes toward five technologies commonly used in today’s farming systems. Attitudes were then re-measured after the par-

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ticipants were provided messages that detailed the environmental, social or animal well-being benefits from credible sources.

The study showed double-digit increases in positive attitudes toward genetically modified crops, antibiotic use in meat animals and indoor food animal production.

“This data gives us a better understanding of the kinds of messaging we can use to move the needle in a positive direction,” said Charlie Arnot, CEO at CFI. “This data shows us the things we can say to consumers that actually increase support for the kinds of production practices in place today on farms that allow us to produce more food using fewer resources. Our focus

this year was finding compelling ways to convey that today’s food system is better aligned with mainstream values than many realize.”

Some of the messages that were most effective in changing consumer attitudes would be considered basic information to those familiar with modern farming techniques. For example, informing survey participants that raising food animals indoors protects them from predators and bad weather resulted in a significant improvement in positive attitudes as did messages that using GM seeds reduces the use of water, fuel and greenhouse gas emissions.

“This might be painfully obvious to some,” said Arnot. “But, if

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we don’t talk about these positive attributes they may not be perceived as benefits by a public that is largely unfamiliar with agriculture.”

Among other survey findings: ■ When food safety questions arise, just under half (45 percent) of consumers search for more information online.

■ Facebook is the number one Internet connection site for food bloggers.

■ Consumer concern about food safety is up 5 percent compared to a year ago while concern about the economy, rising health care costs and rising energy prices is up only 2 percent or less CFI’s previous 5 years of research yielded significant insight into how to enhance consumer trust in today’s agriculture and food system. The organiza-

P.O. Box 7458 Albuquerque, NM 87194 505/243-9515 Fax 505/998-6236 caren@aaalivestock.com www.aaalivestock.com

Many States Not Prepared for Health Care Law ore than three dozen states could be unprepared or unwilling to set up the insurance marketplaces called for under the 2010 health care law, leaving at least part of the task up to the federal government, according to a new report, says the Washington Post.

■ Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have formally expressed their intention to set up the marketplaces, which are known under the law as health insurance exchanges.

■ But many of the rest of the states are behind in their planning or have decided not to operate exchanges on their own, according to a report from the Health Research Institute, the research arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers’s health care consulting business.

■ Even some of the 13 that plan to set up the exchanges might not be ready for enrollment by October 2013, the report says.

■ If a state does not set up an exchange, the federal government will either partner with the state or be the sole operator in that state.

When the law passed, many experts predicted that the vast majority of states would set up their own exchanges. The experts believed states would

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want to tailor the exchanges to their own populations. But the task has proved exceedingly complicated. Participating states must set up a call center as well as a Web site that allows people to easily find and understand health plans, in much the way that Orbitz and Travelocity help people find airline flights.

■ States must declare their plans to the Dept. of Health and Human Services by November 16.

■ In addition to the 13 states that have expressed their intent to set up marketplaces, three states have decided to partner with the federal government in forming the exchanges.

■ Eight have opted to leave the task exclusively to federal authorities.

If states do not set up exchanges, the health care law requires the federal government to step in.

U.S. officials say that they will be ready no matter how many states go this route but that they still invite states to play some role in running the exchanges.

Source: Sandhya Somashekhar, “Many States Not Prepared for Health Care Law,”Washington Post October 1, 2012. “Health Insurance Exchanges: Long on Options, Short on Time,” Health Research Institute, October 2012

Is There a Future for Generic Biotech Crops? n medicine, when patents on a drug expire, there is intense competition to create generic versions, resulting in lower prices. The theory should be the same for biotech crops that farmers use, but regulations make it a very complex process that ends up costly to farmers, says Gregory Conko, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

■ When intellectual property rights on biotech plants expire, generic breeders have to ensure that growers and end users have permission to sell the seeds and grow and sell the crop.

■ Furthermore, most biotech seed products need to be periodically reapproved for sale.

■ However, this requires access to proprietary testing data held by the original developers of the approved product, not the generic producers.

■ Moreover, entire bulk ship-

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ments of a crop can be rejected by an import country on the grounds that the product has not been reapproved.

■ Disruptions in shipments can have negative economic effects that ripple through the food supply chain.

■ Consequently, those that buy or sell biotech seeds will have heightened costs that could eliminate any gains made from producing biotech crops or their generic counterparts.

On top of the clear problems with the regulation, there is a consensus that they aren’t necessary. There has been agreement by plant scientists for the past 30 years that biotech plants pose no new or unique threats compared to conventional breeding methods. Similarly, several scientific bodies such as the U.S. National Academies of Science and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization agree that there is

no basis for the regulation.

Adding to the cost and complexity is that reapproving requires that the regulators get the original safety data. However, this does not make sense because the regulators already had to approve a biotech plant market approval in the first place, meaning regulatory scientists already examined the original data.

Despite the lack of political support, policymakers should seek to eliminate the regulations.

However, in the interim, the biotechnology industry has begun cooperating under what is known as the “Accord Agreement.” Essentially, developers will maintain registrations for their products after patents expire so that generic breeders are able to share the needed data with regulatory agencies.

Source: Gregory Conko, “Is There a Future for Generic Biotech Crops,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, September 25, 2012.

tion’s peer reviewed and published trust model proves that shared values (and in turn, confidence) are three to five times more important than demonstrating technical competence in building trust.

“This year we segmented the population by Values Orientation and we targeted Early Adopters. Since shared values drive trust, we need to be able to better understand consumer attitudes based on their Values Orientation. In addition, targeting Early Adopters helps us connect with information seeking consumers who will drive public sentiment on food issues,” said Arnot. “Giving Early Adopters information from sources they consider credible has a positive impact on their attitudes and opinions.”

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 12

Select Sires Inc. and Allied Genetic Resources Partnership Will Bring Added Value to Commercial Beef Producers elect Sires Inc. and Allied Genetic Resources (Allied) are teaming up to become the premier source of Simmental and SimAngus genetics.

Allied, based in Normal, Ill., represents a large number of committed, independent seedstock producers and currently markets more than 5,000 commercial bulls annually. The breeder-owners offer nearly 3,000 SimAngus hybrid bulls per

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year and are the nation’s largest producers of Simmental genetics. Additionally, nearly 1,000 Angus, Red Angus and Balancer bulls are sold by Allied herds each year. Allied works with the commercial customer base of its breeder-owners to offer valueadded options, and genetic decision-making solutions targeted toward long-term profitability.

“We believe the commercial beef industry is showing a

renewed interest in capitalizing on the feed conversion advantage of crossbred steers, in addition to the fertility and stayability advantages of crossbred females,” said Dr. Aaron Arnett, vice president of beef genetics at Select Sires Inc. “Because of their focus on improved calving ease without sacrificing growth or carcass merit, we believe modern Simmental and SimAngus cattle represent the most logical

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October 15, 2012 choice for crossing to highly English-influenced herds. Partnering with Allied is an obvious fit for Select Sires because their breeder-owners are commercially focused, with economically important traits at the forefront of their breeding programs, which is in line with the goals of our core customer base — the commercial cattleman.”

“We represent a very highly regarded group of breeders who are absolutely committed to customer service and the larger beef business,” explained Marty Ropp, chief executive officer of Allied. “Select Sires has the same kind of reputation when it comes to targeting commercial production and overall beef chain profitability from conception to consumption.”

The inclusion of Allied bulls into the Select Sires program

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Outstanding improvements with the main residence — three log cabins along with barns, corrals and roping arena, etc.

On 37 deeded fenced acres with two separate water wells.

Seller is motivated.

DAVID P. DEAN Ranch: 432/426-3779 • Mob.: 432/634-0441 www.availableranches.com

INTEREST RATES AS LOW AS 3%. PAYMENTS SCHEDULED ON 25 YEARS

Color brochure available.

JACK HORTON

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JOE STUBBLEFIELD & ASSOCIATES 13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX • 806/622-3482 Cell 806/674-2062 • joe3@suddenlink.net Michael Perez Assocs Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

YORKS RANCH ~ GRANTS, NEW MEXICO

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Exceptional E xceptional Auction Auction Properties Properties

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Campo Bonito, LLC RANCH SALES P.O. Box 1077 • Ft. Davis, Texas 79734

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allows for two branded categories of Simmental and Simmental-influenced genetics known as Profit Track and Future Track sires. In the months ahead, cattlemen will find several new and valuable options coming to the Simmental and SimAngus lineups at Select Sires. Look to www.selectsiresbeef.com and the Select Sires 2013 Beef Sire Directory for these exciting additions.

Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc. is North America’s largest A.I. organization and is comprised of nine farmerowned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America’s best genetics at a price.

A premier working cattle ranch located on the Continental Divide, consisting of 34,000 acres of deeded land plus an additional 136,000 acres of state and Bureau of Land Management grazing leases. Carrying capacity is estimated at 2,300 animal units, making the ranch a positive cash flow operation. The ranch is bordered

by Wilderness areas and a National Monument. A ranch highlight is the excellent hunting for trophy elk, antelope, mule deer and other wild game. In addition, numerous Anasazi Indian artifacts can be found on the ranch. $12,000,000. Contact Robb Van Pelt.

Scott Shuman Texas A Auc uctioneer License #16027

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“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

October 15, 2012

Texas Longhorns — The Tradition Continues

by CALLIE GNATKOWSKI-GIBSON

here’s no doubt that Longhorns are a tough breed. The remnants of cattle originally imported into what is now the Western United States by Spanish conquistadors, the cattle survived in the wild for decades before being re-domesticated early this century.

Their ability to adapt and survive helped develop hardy, disease resistant cattle that are easy calving and very protective of their

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calves. Those traits, combined with the distinctive horns and markings, are helping these versatile animals grow in popularity.

Found across the United States, Longhorns find homes as rodeo cattle, in registered and commercial cattle operations, as yard ornaments, and in some cases, people even break them to ride.

Easy care, as well as several marketable products including beef, hides and horns, have helped these southwestern producers succeed with the breed.

HEADQUARTERS WEST LTD. Con A. Englehorn See details at www.headquarterswest.com || 602/258-1647

Kimble Ranch Southeastern Arizona 40 miles NE of Douglas on U.S. Hwy 80. 9,228 ac deeded, 9,352 ac Arizona State Lease, 747 ac New Mexico State Lease, 4,470 ac U.S. Forest, and 1,356 ac BLM. Estimated carrying capacity 550 AU yearlong. Elevation from 4,100' to 5,800'. Well improved with two building sites and 20 pastures with permanent water in each. This is an excellent ranch that has been in the same family for three generations. Price $3,800,000.

From the plains of Texas Mowing the grass got Sandy and Bill Martin, of Running Arrow Farm, LLC, in Wellington, Texas, into the Longhorn business. Bill, a native Texan, was recuperating from surgery; he needed self-sufficient cattle that could take care of themselves with minimal input to keep his grass mowed, Sandy explained.

Sandy, who grew up on a grain farm in North Dakota, took charge of the cattle when the couple married about a year later.

W-R RANCH

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This ranch is also offered as two units: ■

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6,507 ac deeded, 3,255 ac Arizona State Lease, 747 ac New Mexico State Lease, 1,356 ac BLM, and 4,470 ac U.S. Forest, Two building sites. Estimated capacity 380 AU yearlong. Price 2,700,000 2,721 ac deeded, 6,097 ac AZ State Lease.

No buildings. Estimated capacity 170 AU yearlong. Price $1,200,000

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ATTENTION LAND OWNERS: We have sold ranches and other related properties in the Southwestern United States since 1966. We advertise extensively and need your listings (especially larger ranches). See our websites and please give us a call to discuss the listing of your property.

We have a 1031 Buyer for a $2,000,000 to $4,000,000± ranch in Central, Southern or North Texas, Western and Central Oklahoma.

Missouri Land Sales ■ 675 Ac. Excellent Cattle Ranch, Grass Runway, Land Your Own Plane: Major Price Reduction. 3-br, 2ba home down 1 mile private land.

New 40x42 shop, 40x60 livestock barn, over 450 ac. in grass. (Owner runs over 150 cow/calves, 2 springs, 20 ponds, 2 lakes, consisting of 3.5 and 2 ac. Both stocked with fish. Excellent fencing. A must farm to see. MSL #1112191

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

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

■ NEW LISTING, 327 ACRES: Cattle/horse ranch. Over 225 acres in grass. 3/4 mile State Hwy. frontage. Live water, 60x80 multi-function barn.

2-bedroom, 1-bath rock home. Priced to sell at $1,620 per acre. MLS #1204641 ■ 483 Ac., Hunter Mania: Nature at her best. Don’t miss out on this one. Live water (two creeks). 70+ acres open in bottom hayfields and upland grazing. Lots of timber (marketable and young) for the best hunting and fishing (Table Rock, Taney Como and Bull Shoals Lake) Really cute 3-bd., 1-ba stone home. Secluded yes, but easy access to Forsyth-Branson, Ozark and Springfield. Property joins National Forest. MLS#1108090

CHARLES BENNETT United Country / Vista Nueva, Inc. 575/356-5616 www.vista-nueva.com

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES • 735 acres Paris, Texas, excellent pasture, paved road frontage, huge lake, mansion home. $2,750,000.

• 274 acres in the shadow of Dallas. Secluded lakes, trees, excellent grass. Hunting & fishing, dream home sites. $3,550/ac. Can add 300 more acres, only 30 miles out of Dallas.

• 152 acres, Hunt Co., Texas, highway frontage, 5 tanks, waterline, can divide. $2,750/acre.

• 256 Acre Texas Jewel – Deep sandy soil, highrolling hills, scattered good quality trees, & excellent improved grasses. Water line on 2 sides rd., frontage on 2 sides, fenced into 5 pastures, 5 spring fed tanks and lakes, deer, hogs & ducks. Near Tyler & Athens. Price $1,920,000.

Make us an offer!

• 146 horse, hunting cattle ranch N. of Clarksville, TX. Red River Co. nice brick home, 2 barns, pipe fences, good deer, hogs, ducks, hunting. PRICE REDUCED to $375,000.

• 535 ac. Limestone, Fallas, & Robertson counties, fronts on Hwy. 14 and has rail frontage water line, to ranch, fenced into 5 pastures, 2 sets, cattle pens, loamy soil, good quality trees, hogs, and deer hunting. Priced reduced to $1,750 per ac.

• 10 Wooded Acres with a 6-bedroom, 3.5 bath and a 2-car garage and shop for $185,000, owner financed with 10% cash down.

• 134 acres Wortham, Texas, $1,750/ac. Hunting and cattle. Fronts FM Hwy.

SO LD

Joe Priest Real Estate 1205 N. Hwy 175, Seagoville, TX 75159

972/287-4548 • 214/676-6973 1-800/671-4548 • Fax 972/287-4553 joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

“We make a good team,” she said.

“I work the cattle — shots, branding, loading and transporting them between pastures, as well as studying the pedigrees and planning mating strategies. Bill is my bean counter and does a lot of the internet work, along with minor repairs and keeping our smaller pastures irrigated.”

Today, the Martins raise registered Texas Longhorns on their ranch 23 miles south of Shamrock, Texas. They focus on raising seedstock for other producers, mainly first-time breeders just getting into the business. However, Sandy said, she believes that Longhorns need to be able to go into the freezer as one of their many jobs.

The top five to ten percent of bull calves are saved to market as bulls. While most bulls are sold private treaty from the ranch, Sandy does occasionally take cat-

Page 13 not normally able to eat much red meat, can eat a lot more Longhorn beef because it is so lean.”

The Martins track the hip height, weight and horns — the tip to tip length and size of the base — on all of her cattle. “If you don’t measure, you don’t know where you are. We are always looking to improve the herd.”

For Sandy, self sufficiency is one of the breed’s biggest strengths. “I make sure the cattle have grass, water and hay, and do some general monitoring, but the cattle basically take care of themselves,” she noted.

She does all of her cow work on foot, and cites the breed’s intelligence. “These cattle know their names and understand simple voice commands and hand signals. They have to be worked a little slower than other cattle, and if you’re really hammering on them they know it. You have to be

Longhorns find homes as rodeo cattle, in registered and commercial cattle operations, as yard ornaments, and in some cases, people even break them to ride. tle to Longhorn sales. The majority of sales originate on the internet, she said.

Bulls and heifers that don’t make the cut as seedstock are sold for other purposes. “Everybody in the herd has a job, and it’s my job to find a job for each calf, whether that’s as breeding stock, as a herd buddy for other cattle, or as meat in the freezer,” she explained.

Lean Longhorn beef is growing in popularity, and Sandy is working to develop a market and customer base for her product.

Focusing on its benefits as a health food, she markets her beef, which is processed at a USDA inspected facility, at farmers’ markets in Altus, Mangum and Sayre, Oklahoma, at a retail location at the ranch and online. She also sells “Total Equine” Bio Remedies LLC for horse feed, which helps horses work efficiently without the sugar high associated with some other feeds.

In addition to the cattle operation, Sandy raises Tennessee Walking Horses and enjoys trail riding. “I never raised cattle until I raised Longhorns. I was able to transfer my knowledge of horses to the cattle, and that has also made me a better horse person,” she pointed out.

She slaughtered six steers in 2011, and has three scheduled for February, 2012. “The first two years, I was lucky to make gas money, but this year I am starting to make a profit,” Sandy said.

“The business is growing gradually. It’s a niche market, and it’s all in educating people about our product and showing them that if they want something to help and improve their health, they might want to try Longhorn beef.”

Longhorns carry the majority of their body fat around their inner organs as a reserve during tough times, making the meat naturally lean, she explained. “My hamburger is 98 percent lean. We are finding that people with food and health issues — like diabetes and heart problems — who are

careful about letting them have a bad experience because they have long memories.”

“Many people are intimidated

by Longhorns the first time they are around them because the cattle study you so intensely. Usually, they are trying to figure out whether you have cattle cubes in your pocket,” she laughed.

Longhorns are also known for calving ease. “Longhorn calves are smaller, with smaller shoulders, and the mamas have a bigger pelvic area for easy calving,” she noted. “Commercial cattle are bred for size, but the size of the pelvic area is just not keeping up with the size of the cattle.”

The herd instinct that helped the breed survive on their own for so many years remains strong in today’s Longhorns. “The cattle tend to stay together in a group unless they are calving. You don’t want to make a baby cry, either, because everybody — the mama, heifer calves, steers and bulls — responds to that baby’s cry.”

The cattle are also very curious, will travel and love to explore, Sandy said. “When you put them into a new pasture, they will circle it two, three, maybe four times.

They are like kids, they want to see where their limits are, and then they settle down.”

The cattle do well on the rolling hills of the Texas Panhandle ranch. Because of the marketing options, the Martins now produce strictly grassfed beef — with hay, Bio Remedies mineral tubs and salt blocks, the only supplemental feed that the cows receive.

They try to feed hay that is at least 13 percent protein to keep the cattle in good working condition, she explained. “Longhorns eat different things. They are browsers and will eat weeds, the leaves off of trees, they are just more efficient.”

To Central New Mexico Longhorns’ self sufficiency also continued on page fourteen

Livestock Market Digest

Page 14

Texas Longhorns

continued from page thirteen

attracted Andrew and Kortnie Dotson, Dotson Ranch, to the breed. “We researched different breeds, and decided that Longhorns were the cattle for us, mainly because they are such easy-care animals. All you really have to do is make sure they have feed and water,” Andrew said.

The Dotsons, who got started

with the breed with help from San Acacia producers Dr. Fritz and Rebecca Moeller, raise registered Texas Longhorns and Longhorn/Angus cross cattle in Socorro where they also run the Black Dog Boarding Kennels. They started raising crossbred cattle because of Andrew’s interest in the genetics between the two breeds.

“It’s an amazing cross. Many of the good traits of the Longhorn breed like calving ease, and the weight gain of the Angus, carry over into the crossbred cattle.”

The health benefits of Longhorn beef also helped the Dotsons choose the breed, and are a big selling point, according to Andrew.

“As people are becoming more health-conscious, they’re looking for things like grass-fed, organic, and free range in their food.”

Cattle heat-stress app at hand to help producers reduce weather-related livestock losses Source: DON SPIERS

new tool to help cattle producers reduce heatrelated losses soon will be as close as the nearest smartphone.

Livestock researchers at the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) are developing a smartphone app called ThermalAid enabling cattle producers to more conveniently and reliably monitor livestock conditions in relation to local temperature and humidity levels. Easy access to temperature/ humidity index readings will help producers more quickly determine when their cattle are heat stressed, according to Don Spiers, professor of animal science at CAFNR and leader of the research team developing the app.

“ThermalAid is designed for use with beef or dairy cattle in pastures, feedlots or barns,” says Spiers. “In addition to heat and humidity readings, this simple application will help producers more accurately calculate livestock respiration rates, which have a direct correlation to heat stress.”

A stopwatch-like feature of ThermalAid allows producers to count the number of breaths for an animal over a short interval. The producer then records the number and the app calculates the breaths-per-minute. Normal respiration rate for cattle is around 40 bpm. Rates for cattle under heat stress can run as high as 160-180 bpm.

Heat-stressed cattle reduce their feed intake or stop eating completely, which lowers growth rates in beef cattle and reduces milk production in dairy cows. Also, heat stress can compromise cattle immune systems and jeopardize overall health. In the United States, heat-related losses in the beef and dairy industries can range into the hundreds of

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millions of dollars annually, says Spiers.

ThermalAid is tied to a website, ThermalNet (ThermalNet.missouri.edu), which the livestock research team has developed to offer extensive information on how to detect and reduce livestock heat stress. Recommendations to alleviate stress and reduce body temperatures include providing additional shade or installing mechanical cooling systems, such as fans or misters. Altering the animals’ diet is another alternative.

“The beauty of the app is that over time we’ll collect information from producers for a large database that will allow us to make even better predictions about how animals will respond to heat stress, not only in Missouri and the Midwest but all over the country,” says Spiers.

Eventually a global network will be created between producers and heat-stress specialists to provide site-specific recommendations to alleviate the problem, and ultimately reduce costs to the producers and consumers.

“The science of determining heat stress from the environment has been in the literature for decades,” Spiers notes. “Extension specialists have long talked about it with their cattle-producer clients. But ThermalAid can now place timely information immediately in their hands.”

Record heat levels in Missouri this summer have allowed the researchers to collect additional data to improve the app’s usefulness and predictive value. Additional testing is planned for the next two months. Spiers indicates the researchers hope to have ThermalAid available for use by cattle and dairy producers statewide, nationwide and worldwide by late fall.

Spiers will demonstrate ThermalAid during field day activities at MU’s Southwest Research Center Sept. 14, in Mount Vernon.

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October 15, 2012 “Once a Longhorn steak is cooked, it actually has less cholesterol and fat than a skinless chicken breast,” he continued.

“Because of the low fat content, you have to be careful cooking the meat, but if you cook it right, it’s very good, tasty meat and has almost a sweet flavor.”

Having several marketable products is another advantage of the Longhorn breed, he said. “If we did have something happen and lose an animal — it’s reassuring to know that we can sell the head, horns and hide for about the same value as the animal.”

Calving ease is another strength of the breed. “During calving season, most breeders have to be out in the field. With Longhorns, though, you just need to go out afterwards and sex the calves.”

The Dotsons sell registered Longhorn bulls, and lease bulls to producers for use on both registered and commercial cattle. The majority of females are saved as replacements, while many steers are sold as yard ornaments.

Future plans may include marketing Longhorn beef, Andrew said, because of the demand they have

seen for the product.

Longhorn females are also a good option for commercial cattle operations. “We keep most of our females in the herd,” he noted.

“Those that we cull make great mothers in a crossbreeding operation. They are smaller cows, so they eat less. They will go out and utilize the pasture better than most breeds, and wean a calf the same size as an Angus in the fall.”

The majority of the cattle run on pasture along the Rio Grande, where they survive on native grasses, Salt Cedar, and willow.

“They browse as well as graze, and will actually browse on trees as well as the grass, even in the winter. It’s amazing what these cattle will eat,” he explained. “They are also very protective, and good about taking care of their own.”

The Dotsons show their cattle in Texas Longhorn Breeders of New Mexico (TLBNM) shows, with the New Mexico State Fair as one of their big venues. One of their females has been named Reserve Grand Champion Female at that show for the past two years, and they are looking forward to this year’s show.

October 15, 2012

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

Dairymaster launches its latest technology in the fight against mastitis airymaster, a leading manufacturer and supplier of advanced automated milking, feeding, milk cooling, manure and heat detection equipment to dairy farms worldwide, launched it latest technology in the fight against mastitis.

Its most popular products in the US are the Swiftflo Swing and Swiftflo Revolver Rotary milking parlors, due to the unique performance of the milking cluster with low liner slip, faster milking, typically 5 percent more yield and better udder health. With the Dairymaster Swiftflo parlors customers also have increased cow comfort, among other advantages.

The US market is a priority for Dairymaster according to the company’s International Business Manager, Fergus O’ Meara.

“Dairymaster continuously innovates and places a large emphasis on research and development.

Our goal is to make dairy farming more profitable, enjoyable and sustainable and we strive to achieve this using the most advanced technology. This year we are launching the Dairymaster ClusterCleanse at the World Dairy Expo. This product has had enormous success worldwide to date.”

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As farms worldwide are getting larger the Dairymaster ClusterCleanse is an immense aid for improving milking hygiene and is of great assistance for farmers fighting the battle against the spread of contagious mastitis during milking such as Staph Aureus.

The Dairymaster ClusterCleanse rinses each cluster after each cow is milked which results in a more hygienic cluster for the next cow.

The ClusterCleanse is available in three different formats, as a stand-alone version, whereby the operator activates the ClusterCleanse; in conjunction with Dairymaster Automatic Cluster Removers and in conjunction with Dairymaster Weighall Milk Meters, in these configurations, the ClusterCleanse sequence is automatically engaged after the cluster has been removed from the cow.

The cluster and the long milk tube are flushed using a combination of water and air. After the cluster is flushed out it is then automatically purged maximizing the cleaning effect. This reduces the risk of “cow-to-cow” cross infection and contagious mastitis. Lower SCC means higher milk quality payments and better herd health.

With the Dairymaster Clus-

Rural TV, iHigh.com, Alltech build digital distribution system for National FFA Organization he National FFA Organization, Rural TV, iHigh.com and Alltech have joined together to enable FFA to deliver educational materials and programs to middle- and highschool students across the U.S. through TV and Internet broadcasts.

FFA programming can now be accessed 24 hours a day by visiting iHigh.com/FFA. Programming includes state FFA convention sessions, National FFA Convention & Expo sessions, coverage of the 2012 FFA Alumni Development Conference and local FFA events.

“The new digital distribution options will allow more students, FFA members, teachers and FFA alumni to participate in major activities, such as state and national FFA conventions.

FFA members who can’t attend those events will be able to share and benefit from educational and motivational presentations at the events,” said Dwight Armstrong, chief executive officer of the National FFA Organization.

“Rural TV, Alltech and iHigh understand the value of helping FFA build an educational pipeline for future workers and innovators in agriculture while also building leaders that strengthen local communities.”

The digital delivery system will provide a compelling window into the world of FFA, agricul-

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tural education and agriculture by sharing activities and accomplishments of FFA members with parents, community leaders, consumers, business and industry and the general public.

It will make the FFA story available to a global audience; anyone with an Internet connection will have intimate access to FFA educational programs and opportunities for students.

In addition to playing a key role in the Internet streaming, RFD-TV has long provided gavel-to-gavel coverage of the annual National FFA Convention & Expo on its broadcast channels.

The 2012 National FFA Convention & Expo runs Oct. 24-27 in Indianapolis.

“We are all committed to help FFA grow so that the organization can achieve greater opportunities and reach more students,” said Patrick Gottsch, founder and president of Rural Media Group, creator of Rural TV. “It’s exciting to see this entire team focused on the same goal of helping young people succeed.”

“The potential impact of this agreement is creating a lot of excitement,” said Billy Frey, senior vice president of agricultural content at iHigh.com. “Alltech and iHigh have been able to work with 12 states to broadcast their state FFA conventions online utilizing this technology, and more chapters are signing up daily.”

terCleanse, there is no need to replace existing milking clusters or purchase any special liners and it does not affect the milking vacuum level. The Dairymaster ClusterCleanse can also help reduce the spread of Strep. Ag. and Mycoplasma Mastitis.

Another new product in the Dairymaster range is the Platform teat sprayer for rotary parlors. The rotary platform teat sprayer can provide both pre spray and post spray of teats. For the pre spray, the cow walks onto the rotary and when her CowID is displayed on the milk meter the intelligent software activates so that she is sprayed for a predefined time. For the post spray, once the cluster is removed from the cow again the intelligent software activates and there is a spray delay time. The Cholorhexadine chemical is used in the teat sprayers for both pre and post spraying — a very efficient method of both pre and post spraying milking herds, eliminating a need for a worker at the cups off position.

Dairymaster also announced the second year anniversary of the launch to the market place of Select Detect, sold by Select Sires, one of the largest AI companies in the United States.

Dairymaster recently released the new version of the Select Detect Mobile app, which allows dairy producers more freedom and flexibility, while still allowing them to increase pregnancy rate.

The app has changed the way fertility is managed and has been very successful in the market.

To learn more about Dairymaster, please visit www.dairymaster.com. To learn more about Select Sires, please visit www.selectsires.com.

Media Contact: Lisa Herlihy; Tel +353 66 713 1124; Email: lherlihy@dairymaster.com

Page 15

Gibb to Head Gelbvieh Association he American Gelbvieh Association is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Jim Gibb as executive director to the AGA staff. Dr. Gibb lives in Louisville, Colo., and has been hired as the part-time executive director, effective immediately.

Dr. Gibb has a long-standing career in the beef industry working with seedstock and commercial beef producers.

His work in the field of genomics and DNA testing has helped breeders and cattlemen identify quality genetics in their herds to help them make sound breeding decisions. Dr. Gibb brings an understanding of breed associations as he has previously worked for the American Polled Hereford Association and the American Gelbvieh Association.

“It is with great pride and inspiration the AGA announces the services of Dr. Jim Gibb in his role as executive director of the Association. Dr. Gibb’s vast accumulated experience working with cattle associations, his wealth of knowledge with regard to genomics and national cattle evaluation, as well as his fond familiarity with Gelbvieh cattle and the American Gelbvieh Association qualifies him as the perfect fit to help propel the Gelbvieh breed and the AGA’s membership into the forefront of the cattle industry,” said Mark Goes, president of the American Gelbvieh Association. “His

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interpersonal skills and supervisory expertise will enhance and facilitate more effective and efficient performance in the areas of research and breed improvement, administration and promotion for the AGA and its membership.”

The decision to hire an executive director for the AGA was made during the recent August meeting of the Association’s Board of Directors. The Board approved to realign the management of the AGA from the matrix management system to executive director management.

In regards to this decision, President Goes offers these comments: “Along with the diligent efforts towards the recent AGA strategic planning process, the Board of Directors allocated funding for a professional analysis of the matrix management of the AGA as opposed to executive director management.

Under the professional advisement of a legal organizational consultant, the AGA Board has opted to proceed with the oversight of an executive director. While the AGA utilized the matrix design for almost three years with success, the efficiency and effectiveness of an executive director surpasses that of a matrix management as applied to a not-for-profit organization such as that of the AGA.” Dr. Gibb will work out of the AGA headquarters office located in Westminster, Colo., on a part-time basis.

COWBOY UP! HORSES FOR HEROES – NM, INC. WWW.HORSESFORHEROES.ORG

The American Competitive Trail Horse Association is proud to partner with Horses For Heroes – NM, INC. (501c3) on November 10th & 11th 2012 for our first annual Ride to Remember. Hit the trails and join us in a nationwide remembrance and tribute to our service men and women. EVERY ride will assist in raising much needed funds for those nonprofit organizations that support our wounded warriors.

For futher information please visit: ACTHA RIDE TO REMEMBER — WWW.ACTHA.US/RTR

Livestock Market Digest

Page 16

Animal Lovers Sue Giant Mall in Southern California

by MATT REYNOLDS, Courthouse News

he Animal Protection & Rescue League sued the South Coast Plaza mall, of Costa Mesa, in Orange County Superior Court.

The mall is the second biggest in the country, and gets about 2 million visitors a month, according to the complaint.

The animal rights group claims the mall violates the First Amendment by restricting the size of protest signs, blacking out days during the Christmas shopping season, prohibiting use of cameras at protests, and requiring activists to protest “‘only in polite conversational tones.’”

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That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though, the group says, claiming the mall has and enforces more than 40 unconstitutional rules.

Named as defendants are South Coast Plaza Security, Segerstrom & Sons LLC, and South Coast Plaza.

“Defendant SCP Security routinely demands that plaintiff and other persons and groups seeking to engage in expressive activity at or in the mall comply with the rules, including various unconstitutional provisions therein,” the complaint states.

“During a protest at the mall on June 22, 2012, SCP Security manager George Sanchez

(‘Sanchez’) repeatedly demanded that volunteers affiliated with plaintiff carry signs no bigger than the size permitted in the rules. When protesters refused to comply, Sanchez summoned officers with the Costa Mesa Police Department to enforce the rules.”

The mall’s security workers use “intimidation and coercion” to make protesters follow its rules, and employs a “massive security presence” to intimidate protesters, according to the complaint.

The plaintiff claims that in April 2010, Orange County People For Animals activists were subjected to a “browbeating” when president of mall security

October 15, 2012 (nonparty) Karl Andrews summoned members to his offices, “shrieked violently,” and threatened to have the protesters arrested.

“Many APRL [Animal Protection & Rescue League] volunteers regularly refuse to engage in expressive activity at the mall because of the routine police presence and the perceived threat of arrest, and because of the menacing and intimidating behavior of personnel employed

by SCP Security,” the complaint states.

The group is represented by Bryan Pease of San Diego. It wants the restrictions enjoined as unconstitutional, and costs.

South Coast Plaza did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Estate tax indefensible says foundation report n July 25, Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Republicans published a report criticizing the federal estate tax. The report called for either a significant reform or outright repeal of the estate tax. But while the JEC Republican report makes strong arguments, David Block and Scott Drenkard of the Tax Foundation hope to strengthen the case for repeal with additional evidence of compliance burdens inherent in the estate tax. Compliance costs are much more significant than is often understood, so much so that tax revenue is likely to actually increase upon repeal regardless of economic growth patterns in the coming years.

The justification for the estate tax has historically been twofold: the estate tax raises revenue and reduces income inequality.

■ The JEC report effectively shows that the estate tax fails on both accounts.

■ The estate tax is the smallest source of revenue of any major tax in the United States.

■ In 2011, it raised roughly 0.05 percent of all federal revenue.

■ In 2012, projections show that the estate tax will only raise 0.42 percent of federal tax collections.

■ Not only is the tax revenue from the estate tax fairly insignificant, but the charitable deduction, along with “stepped up basis” asset valuations, ensure that income and capital gains tax revenues are kept artificially low as taxpayers make economic decisions to avoid the estate tax.

■ The revenue gained from the estate tax is largely illusory, as lost revenue from estate tax repeal would be made up in other areas of the tax code.

The estate tax is often defended under the premise that it promotes equity, but the tax fails to achieve this goal.

■ Inheritance accounts for just 2 percent of income inequality according to one study, and other sources find that only 27 percent of wealthy households accumulated any wealth at all through inheritance.

■ As the JEC Republicans highlight, only one in five children of a wealthy parent will be wealthy at their retirement.

■ In effect, the estate tax does not soak the rich; it instead soaks their less-than-wealthy heirs.

In addition, the estate tax reduces savings and acts as a drag on the economy through compliance costs. Its repeal would increase economic growth and some studies even find that it would raise tax revenues. The JEC report makes a strong argument for estate tax repeal, but after accounting for the higher tax revenue and larger compliance costs shown by Block and Drenkard, the estate tax becomes indefensible.

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Source: David Block and Scott Drenkard, “The Estate Tax: Even Worse than Republicans Say,” Tax Foundation, September 4, 2012.