LMD Sept 2015

Riding Herd

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

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

Hey, Stop That!

September 15, 2015 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 57 • No. 9

The Big Gamble C

By Lee Pitts

ongratulations. You’ve spent $5,000 for bulls, culled ruthlessly and built up a herd of cows you should be proud of and the results have been impressive. U.S. ranchers are producing the same amount of beef now as we did 20 years ago with four million fewer cattle. By using EPDs, DNA, embryo transfer and a host of other tools, the purebred industry is producing more efficient cattle that produce meatier carcasses with less waste and more Prime and Choice carcasses. As a result, the beef from your cattle has found eager buyers both in this country and abroad.

Now, how would you like it if you had to kill every animal in your herd? How would you feel if your life’s legacy went up in a puff of black smoke?

This Time, It’s Personal

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

Under the banner of free trade the USDA is gambling with your future by lifting a ban on imported beef from Northern Argentina and 14 of Brazil’s 27 states while these two countries still have foot and mouth disease!

Why is the Obama administration gambling with your future? So the price of beef might go down a few pennies or so that we can call ourselves free traders only to be out-traded yet again?

Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.

Or is this all just another part of Obama’s legacy enhancement program?

The Environmental Protection Agency just devastated a river they were supposed to “protect”, creating one of the biggest environmental disasters in recent history. Another government agency, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, could be unleashing an even bigger disaster by allowing fresh beef to be imported into this country from two countries with FMD. We have rules on the books to

prevent such imports yet Obama simply ignores them, as he often does. But this time his actions will directly affect you. This time it’s personal.

Downsizing Due to globalization, when China sneezes the entire world catches a cold. Witness the recent stock market calamity. But that was just money, this time we’re talking about you and your animals. We’ve watched as Ebola from Western Africa terrified the world and listened as the World Health Organization told visitors

to Saudi Arabia to wash their hands after the obligatory camel ride lest they catch the MERS virus, also known as camel flu which is killing 40 percent of those contracting it. Yes, a more interconnected world is a much more dangerous one.

To get some idea of the damage that can be caused by a disease, consider the living Hell the poultry industry is currently experiencing. We have just witnessed arguably the worst animal health emergency in our history as bird flu has killed nearly 50 million fowl and cost one billion dollars! The feds have spent $191 million to pay poultry farmers for birds lost to avian flu in addition to the nearly $400 million spent on cleaning up dead birds and disinfecting barns. And that doesn’t count the export markets that have been closed to American poultry products. China and South Korea have gone from continued on page two

World economic woes hit home Soft grain trade, cattle to follow

BY MIRANDA REIMAN

I

f you don’t believe the global factors affecting the U.S. cattle market are numerous and complicated, you probably haven’t heard Dan Basse, president of Ag Resource Company, give an economic outlook.

By 2040, Japan’s population will drop by 25.3 million people. Today, the Black Sea region exports 34 percent of the world’s wheat. Brazil’s currency, the real, has been weak for several years versus the U.S. dollar.

Those realities shape Basse’s predictions of fed cattle prices soon topping out near $160/ hundredweight (cwt.) before softening to $120/ cwt. or lower and, with normal weather, $3/bushel (bu.) corn prices all the way to 2019.

The seasoned market analyst spoke at the Feeding Quality Forum, Aug. 18 in La Vista, Neb., and Aug. 20 in Garden City, Kan. “There is no shortage of grain in the world, so U.S. users don’t have much to worry about,” Basse said, agreeing with USDA’s average yield prediction of 168 bu./acre.

U.S. grain producers, however, need to concentrate on making margin.

Despite being down 9 percent, U.S. gross farm income is going to be the fourth largest on record this year, Basse said, but net farm income will see the biggest drop since 1932.

“Everything went higher as you made more money,” he said. “The problem is now that the cycle has changed, they are slow to take their hands out of your pocket. Our balance sheets can’t keep imploding at this rate without some readjustment in the cost side.”

Land, labor, nitrogen and seed have all risen dramatically.

“These are the four factors that have to see readjustment if we are going to see $3 corn prices translate back to profitability for the American farmer,” Basse said.

The strength of the U.S. dollar, which has trended upward since 2014, does not bode well for exports. Typically the dollar rises in 6-year cycles.

“We are only at the beginning of year one-anda-half of this dollar rally,” the analyst said. “That means we are fighting against others to export our goods into the world marketplace.”

Argentina, Russia and Brazil have seen poor currency exchange rates by comparison.

“This is really important because never before has the world seen where the United States wasn’t a predominant exporter of grains and meat,” he said.

In 2000 the Black Sea region only exported 4 percent of all wheat and corn combined. Today that’s 34 percent of the world’s wheat alone. continued on page four

T

he USDA is spending eleven million dollars over the next five years to find out why there are so many wild horses and how they can keep the population from doubling every four years like it is now. The USDA says they have 21 research projects started or in the planning stages to discover why there are so many wild ones. No doubt the manpower they’ve assigned to the problem doubles every four years too!

I can save the USDA all that time and money because I used to raise rabbits. Here is my six-step plan to reduce the wild horse herd.

Step #1. Years ago I visited one of the USDA’s feedlots and I noticed that the stallions were still in pens with mares and their social interaction had clearly gone past the dating stage. It appeared that the USDA was a pimp in hooking up the studs for some daytime playtime.

So I offer my services to teach a sex education class to USDA employees about the birds and the bees. I would stress that these feedlots are not social clubs but are pits of sexual deviation and exploitation that all feminists should abhor. If the USDA can’t at least separate the sexes the least they could do is do what I did when I raised rabbits. I hid behind a barrel and when I saw a buck deflowering a young bunny I’d jump up and yell, “Hey, cut that out!

Step #2: Years ago cowboys would tie a dummy to a saddle and put it on a wild horse. (Not to be confused with a USDA dummy.) The horses in the herd, thinking it was a person, would run themselves to near exhaustion so the cowboys could catch them easier. We could do this on a grander scale and by the time the horses figured it out they’d be too tired to have sex and both the studs and the mares would have a headache.

Step #3: Bring back the horse processing plants because these are not endangered species we’re talking about. The DNA of the “wild” horses is identical to continued on page four

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Page 2

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2015

The Big Gamble importing $428.5 million in US poultry last year to none now.

Zip. Nada.

Although a promising vaccine is in the works, until foreign countries trust its efficacy foreign markets will remain closed. At the same time, poultry producers have had to install costly bio-security measures and we still aren’t sure how the virus is getting inside their poultry barns.

Then there is PEDv. The Midwest is dotted with swine operations with bright yellow warning signs indicating that porcine epidemic diarrhea virus lives there.

continued from page one

Argentina have a long history of FMD infection. Even though people don’t usually come down with it, humans can spread it, along with automobiles, wind, water, wildlife and many other carriers. The FMD virus that is present in meat can even survive refrigeration. The common cure is to destroy every animal in the herd even if it’s just one infected animal out of 5,000.

USDA’s own spokespeople say that “an outbreak of FMD would devastate the U.S. economy and imperil national food security.”

USDA’s own risk analysis report

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that FMD is one of the top bio-security threats to our country In just one year the PED virus has wiped out more than 10 percent of the nation’s pigs. Since June 2013 as many as 7 million pigs have died in the U.S. and hog farmers have had to shovel them out by the truckload. In just one year the virus spread from one state to 30. Rodney Baker of Iowa State says that, “Something like a tablespoon of PEDv infected manure is roughly enough to infect the entire U.S. hog herd.

The virus is nearly always fatal in pigs younger than 21 days.”

Scientists still do not know how the virus entered the U.S. but it’s speculated that swine blood byproducts used in hog feed imported from China may have introduced the disease. If you still don’t think a virus can destroy an industry hear this: of the 15,000 American pigs tested,32 percent were positive for PEDv. And no vaccine or cure exists.

Although tuberculosis is bacterial in nature and not a virus like FMD and PEDv, consider that Texas is dealing with the largest TB outbreak in recent history. According to the West Texas Livestock Weekly, two Texas dairies with 10,000 cows each was infected and for the first time in 25 years the USDA has agreed to buy out those herds and destroy all the animals. Now they have 45,000 more cows to track down and possibly another 100,000 calves. That will give you some idea of what could happen if we had an FMD outbreak. Only it would be a lot worse.

We Can’t Meat Like This Politicians rave about globalization but they seldom mention a side effect; it has turned the world into a first grade class where one of the things students bring to class to share with classmates is disease.

Don’t worry, your first grader isn’t going to contract FMD as it rarely strikes humans, but for cloven hoofed animals like beef, sheep, deer, antelope, elk, swine and others, FMD is the most contagious and most economically devastating disease known to man. And both Brazil and

conservatively estimates the economic cost of an FMD outbreak in the U.S. at $40 billion. An outbreak would stop cold all U.S. beef, pork and lamb exports. At the same time the USDA admitted this, an agency of the USDA, APHIS, is opening the gates to a flood of Brazilian and Argentine beef.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that FMD is one of the top bio-security threats to our country and yet we are going to make it easier for the virus to enter. Talk about an unsecured border! Maureen McCarthy, a senior DHS advisor, warned way back in 2006 that “An FMD outbreak would cost the American agriculture economy hundreds of billions of dollars and could shutter some trade borders for years if officials deem it necessary. And she said, “It will happen instantly.”

Here’s how you know it’s a really bad policy. Even the meat-packer-dominated NCBA says importing beef from Brazil and Argentina is a bad idea.

Vilsack Disease Since the first shipments of fresh refrigerated beef from Brazil and Argentina are expected port-side in 2016, perhaps you should bone up on the disease.

FMD is a particularly painful and debilitating viral infection that causes fever as well as blisters primarily in the feet and mouth of infected animals within one to ten days of exposure.

Animals contracting FMD have chronic fatigue, difficulty eating and trouble walking because of the blisters on their feet and in their mouths.

The virus is spread through contact with fluid from infected animals. It can be spread from pus from blisters, saliva, milk and excrement and animals that contract FMD cannot be legally sold, and the meat and milk of infected animals is destroyed along with the animal that produced it. FMD can even survive in smoked and cured meats.

Just as a body that has lost its continued on page three

September 15, 2015

Livestock Market Digest

The Big Gamble resistance is more vulnerable to disease, we in this country are more vulnerable because of our tendency to confine large numbers of animals in close proximity. As the PEW Commission reported, “livestock confinements make an ideal breeding ground for new virus strains” and they warned that the continual cycling of viruses and other animal pathogens in large herds or flocks increase opportunities for viruses like FMD. If we had an FMD outbreak millions of cattle, hogs and sheep could be destroyed along with rural communities. And who would buy our beef? Industry promoters proudly claim that exports are responsible for a good measure of the good prices we’ve experienced but what happens to those prices if we lose those export markets overnight?

Licking Their Chops Aside from the huge financial losses the emotional loss from an FMD epidemic would be even worse. If you don’t believe it, just ask any rancher who has had wolves kill calves, or anyone who lived through the devastation that the storm Atlas wreaked.

There is currently no vaccine that would prevent or help corral an FMD epidemic. The last outbreak of FMD in this country occurred in 1929 among swine in California that were fed table scraps containing meat from a cruise ship that sailed from Argentina. The way we have remained FMD free is by not importing meat from countries that have it. Obama’s USDA is

Page 3 continued from page two

taking a huge gamble and for what? To flood the market with cheap foreign beef at the same time Congressmen and women are getting rid of COOL so consumer’s won’t know where their meat comes from? The Brazilian owned JBS must be licking their chops.

Wesley Batista, CEO of JBS hailed the opening of the U.S. to Brazil and Argentina as “A very good moment for Brazilian beef.” It certainly is for the world’s largest packer and feeder who will be the biggest beneficiary of USDA’s gift. Those wanting to know when these historically high cattle prices will end may get their answer sooner than they’d hoped.

Meanwhile USDA Secretary Vilsack insists we are in no way endangering domestic livestock.

He’d better hope that’s the case or FMD could rightly be renamed Vilsack’s Disease.

Remembering The Future APHIS says its import decisions are based on sound science and says there is no danger because APHIS did a risk assessment analysis. This is the same risk assessment analysis that APHIS used in 2008 when they investigated South Korea and came to the conclusion, that “South Korea has implemented all necessary disease prevention measures necessary for maintaining South Korea as free of FMD.” Within three months of that pronouncement South Korea had an outbreak of FMD in January 2009. In fact they had

77 outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and 70,000 head of swine were euthanized as a result.

Then from 2010 through 2011 South Korea had 155 outbreaks of FMD that resulted in the destruction of 331,135 swine, cattle and goats. And we are supposed to take comfort that APHIS used the same methodology in checking out Brazil and Argentina?

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said the South Korea experience, with three major FMD outbreaks in six years, “demonstrates that APHIS is incapable of predicting when an FMD outbreak will reoccur in a country where the disease is known to exist.” Bullard added, “When you further consider that South Korea cannot identify the cause of its recurring outbreaks after having destroyed hundreds of thousands of livestock, it becomes clear that Secretary Vilsack is endangering the health and safety of the U.S. cattle herd by systematically relaxing our longstanding FMD import restrictions for Argentina and Brazil.”

Cross Your Fingers It’s not as if consumer’s are demanding cheaper beef from Brazil and Argentina. APHIS first proposed that imports of fresh, chilled and frozen beef from FMD-free regions of Brazil be allowed way back in 2013.

After the proposal was issued there was a public comment period and almost all of the 870 public comments posted on the APHIS website were against letting the beef come in. From

then until now APHIS has laid low for more than a year while doing their dirty work behind closed doors, completely ignoring the comments.

Why have a comment period if you are going to completely ignore the comments?

Brazil and Argentina are not recognized as FMD free by the World Organization for Animal Health. In 2011, Paraguay reported an outbreak of FMD and at the same time Paraguayan cattle were crossing freely into Brazil along a 254-mile stretch of the border with absolutely no inspections at two border crossings. And Brazil is not the most trustworthy trading partner either. In 2012 they reported that, oh, we almost forgot, we had a cow that died from Mad Cow Disease two years ago.

As for Argentina, the ban we are lifting resulted from an outbreak of FMD 14 years ago.

And get this. We CAN’T export beef to Argentina because a ban has been in place on our beef because we had a mad cow 12 years ago! So much for free and fair trade.

Our government has admitted that Argentine beef will directly compete with beef produced in the U.S. That’s because it has a good reputation in this country as a result of some Argentine themed restaurants, many who serve American beef.

As for what you can do to safeguard your cattle from foreign pathogens...as one USDA official suggested about a different virus, “You can cross your fingers.”

Page 4

Economic Woes “They are the world’s largest wheat exporter by a long shot.

They determine the world’s wheat prices,” Basse said.

Global grain production is outpacing demand growth.

“Somebody in the world, from our work, has to cut 15 to 20 million acres of production to balance the world out,” Basse said. “Either I keep building up stocks everywhere if there is favorable weather or I need someone to cut. Is it going to be the Brazilian farmer that cuts back? No. Is it going to be the Australian or the Russian wheat and grain farmer that cuts back? No. Unfortunately it kind of falls on our shoulders.”

If corn prices are trending lower to discourage production, then it makes sense that cattle prices are doing the opposite.

“Feeder prices have gone up very sharply as we tried to incentivize the cow-calf suppliers to produce more animals,” Basse said, noting the cattle herd increased in July for the first time since 2006. “We are all aware the expansion is now underway.”

Cow-calf producers have seen record profits as of late, he said.

“The second phase is when the feedlot does much better than he’s done, and that should come to play somewhere I’m thinking between the middle of 2016, maybe up to 2018 or 2019, but we have to have the availability of feeders before that can really get to that point,” Basse said.

Bearish news lingers on the horizon, however.

“What I’m troubled by when I look at U.S. beef, pork and poultry exports as a percent of the world total, everything is

Livestock Market Digest

continued from page one

starting to turn down,” he said, again blaming the dollar.

Mature economies like Europe, Japan and Russia see meat consumption decline in tandem with their population decreases. By 2040, he expects those three to drop by a combined nearly 100 million people.

For years, economists have pointed to countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and India to help provide population growth, and growing markets for ag commodities, but Basse said it may take several more years for their economies to generate enough income to become leading buyers.

In the near-term, Ag Resource predicts “one final rally in the cattle market,” with cash fed cattle reaching $157 to $161/cwt. in October or November. By the first quarter of next year, that settles closer to $134/cwt.

Basse shared some good news for those ranchers and feeders aiming for high-quality markets: “As we look at the Choice-Select cutout, we believe that Choice will gain on Select at the end of the year, which will, of course, give a premium to the more marbled cattle,” he said.

The theme was a plea to manage risk and margin.

“Commodities are cyclical.

I’m talking bearish today in agriculture, but it’s just part of the landscape we all live in,” Basse said. “You’ve got to make sure you’re around for when the good times are rolling again.”

The Forum is co-sponsored

by Roto-Mix, Purina Mills, Micronutrients, Zoetis, Feedlot magazine and Certified Angus Beef LLC.

September 15, 2015

BLM’s epic land grab

BY DEVON COQUILLARD, HTTP://MISSOULIAN.COM/

R

ecently, the U.S. Department of the Interior released it latest land use plan amendments for 11 Western states. These plans were drafted with the intent of saving an already flourishing sage grouse population.

In 2011, DOI Secretary Ken Salazar invited 11 Western governors to draft collaborative solutions to conserve sage grouse habitat in a manner in which the states can lead. Montana and the other states stepped up in true western fashion. After years of hard work and millions of dollars, the end of the process has come, and the time to deliver on that promise by the Secretary is now.

To the surprise of the West and its governors, and in violation of federal law, the Bureau of Land Management land use plan amendments unilaterally rejected the efforts of the states.

DOI unleashed a paradigm that removes more than 10 million acres of land from economic public access – a lifeline in the West. Including almost 1 million acres in Montana.

No longer can Montanans travel the public lands without far-reaching travel restrictions.

No longer can new technologies be deployed on public lands to develop the next energy resource.

No longer can those acres remain available to responsibly drive the Montana economy in ways it has for over 125 years.

DOI has delivered one of the largest federal land grabs in the history of the U.S., in the shortest order and with the least deference to the leadership and residents of Montana who depend and recreate on these lands.

It is noteworthy that seven of the bipartisan western governors filed formal protests, including Gov. Steve Bullock, whose protest to the BLM said, “The proposed plans fail to take proper and legally required cognizance of Montana’s interest.”

It is without question these land use plans have charted a costly course to litigation. In the federal government’s rush to completion, the cost to the taxpayer will be enormous as they stand in a courtroom defending the indefensible.

We now must turn to Con-

Riding Herd Trigger, Poco Bueno and American Pharoah. One reason the population is exploding is because people who have older horses have no way to get rid of them so they turn them loose on BLM and Forest Service land.

America’s wild horses are really strays and discards and in that respect they are no different than wild pigs which people consider nuisances and shoot. No one seems to be trying to save them.

gress to abate this legal collision course. There are multiple efforts in Congress at this moment, prohibition language in spending bills and stand-alone legislation. These efforts to keep public lands open and stave off costly litigation have champions in Montana’s own U.S. Sen. Steve Daines. They are on the leading edge of driving solutions to address the greatest threats to sage grouse – wildfire and invasive species. Sadly, their message and that of the governors were largely passed over for massive land use restrictions that do little to address either.

It is important the efforts of Daines and Bullock continue.

The BLM’s outright rejection of the governors’ consistency review conclusively demonstrates that the federal government has no interest in listening to the voice of states. The result is the single greatest assault on multiple-use and access to federal public lands for recreation and economic growth from which Montana may never recover.

Devon Coquillard is the communications and public outreach manager for the American Exploration & Mining Association, and writes from Spokane, Washington.

continued from page one

Step #4: Horse humanitarians and bleeding hearts will get on their high horses and condemn me but let me say that no one loves horses more than I do. I think they are the best animal on earth and that includes humans. That’s why I don’t like to see them dying a slow death from starvation. Since only one percent of the US population owns a horse I would send five wild horses to anyone who sends me a nasty letter.

Step #5: I would take one million destined for USDA research and give it to public lands ranchers to castrate wild studs. So much per pair, if you get my drift.

Taking a page from Bruce Jenner, I mean Caitlyn, I would also have USDA vets perform sexual reassignment surgery on wild horses to totally confuse them.

The only problem with this idea is the ACLU would probably in-

tervene on the grounds that the “wild” horses have an inalienable right to have sex and be married.

Step #6: Take all the wild horses and designate a state for them. I’m thinking Florida which is already filled with toothless old geezers. I’d give every stallion a patch kit and a blow up plastic mare that looks like Black Beauty. But we’d have to make doubly sure the wild horses wouldn’t’ vote in the next Florida primary.

My six-step plan will work better than any of the 21 research projects the USDA funded and will also cut down on the $50,000 each wild horse is costing the American taxpayer. We can save at least ten million dollars over the next five years and, unlike USDA’s research answers, my plan will actually work.

All I’m asking for is 10 percent of the eleven million.

September 15, 2015

Livestock Market Digest

Page 5

Property Owners Stand Up To National Park Bullying EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR THE DEFENSE OF FREE ENTERPRISE FROM THE DAILY CALLER

W

allace Stegner, Pulitzer Prize-winning dean of Western writers, famously said the National Parks are America’s best idea.

The thousands of Americans whose homes and businesses have been demolished to make way for one of them might disagree.

Tom and Kathy Stocklen met the Park Service in 1971, when they bought a successful rural business called Riverside Canoes on the popular Platte River near the mainland shore of Lake Michigan. They were escaping Tom’s grueling decades in a big high-paying corporation, only to plunge into the bureaucratic morass of the Department of the Interior – the NPS is one of its major agencies – and the brand-new Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Congress had established the new national park unit in 1970 – after a nine-year citizen battle against it – for public use and enjoyment of its sky-high dunes, cool forests, inland lakes and its picturesque farmsteads and historic maritime villages.

Sleeping Bear isn’t one of the 59 crown jewels like Yosemite or the Great Smoky Mountains with “National Park” in their names, but one of hundreds of miscellaneous rivers, seashores, battlefields, historic sites, trails – and even roads (Blue Ridge Parkway) – that land acquisition officers coveted for the NPS empire.

The Stocklens came to Michigan totally unaware that 1,600 locals had fought the 1961 bill introduced by Michigan’s Democratic Senator Philip Hart to add Sleeping Bear to America’s national park system, but they asked officials all the right questions before signing on the purchase agreement’s dotted line.

Was their commercial property eligible for “minimum re-

Gross unfairness revived the dormant Citizens Council of Sleeping Bear strictions?” No, but they could get a “Certificate Prohibiting Condemnation per Section 13 of the law.” Tom and Kathy looked up the law, read the incredible Section 13, and requested the Certificate. They got it and completed the Riverside Canoe deal.

The first year, Sleeping Bear officials caused only minor annoyances, but confiscation threats struck fear into the Stocklens. They saw people dispossessed and removed with no recourse beyond fighting over “just compensation,” and some victims got a better deal than others.

Gross unfairness revived the dormant Citizens Council of Sleeping Bear, vociferous protesters from the beginning. In 1978, the Council filed a lawsuit demanding “constitutional rights to equal protection under the law.”

The Council invited Charles S. Cushman, a savvy property rights activist from California, to address their annual meeting, which the Stocklens attended.

They were impressed with Chuck Cushman’s sensible political advice – get to know your congressman face to face – and joined his nationwide organization.

The next month, Sleeping Bear’s land acquisition officer barged into the Stocklen business looking grim. “He tried to force me into signing preliminary condemnation paperwork and I refused,” Kathy told The Daily Caller. “This guy said, ‘I am the government. You have to do what I say.’ I was furious and recalled Chuck’s methods. I said, ‘Look, in this country I am the government. You’re just the hired help.

Sleeping Bear isn’t one of the 59 crown jewels like Yosemite or the Great Smoky Mountains with “National Park” in their names

Now get off my property.’”

He gat.

The Stocklens feared that their property was being condemned, so Kathy asked Sleeping Bear’s new superintendent, Don Brown, a university professor and former park ranger.

Brown replied, “Absolutely not.”

However, barely a month later, Superintendent Brown, accompanied by a regional official, showed up at the Stocklen home, where they were invited to sit around the dining room table.

Brown said he had misspoken.

Kathy described the scene: “He said that our property was in ‘final condemnation, the ball is rolling

and can never be stopped,’ so I took out our Certificate Prohibiting Condemnation and simply held it up. Brown told me, ‘That Certificate is not worth the paper it’s written on, just like the treaties we made with the Indians a hundred years ago.’”

She was struck speechless, and then remembered something Cushman said. “I asked Brown if he’d mind me repeating that, and he said I could repeat it to anybody. I called Washington and got hold of Guy Vander Jagt, my congressman. He knew us very well from our river tours.

When he picked up, I repeated, verbatim, Brown’s little speech, treaty violations and all. I did this looking right into Brown’s face.

Congressman Vander Jagt asked what I wanted. I said, “how about getting them off my back and out of my pocket.” He replied, “Is 5 o’clock OK?” Brown did not bother them again.

Republican Guy Vander Jagt was the congressman who wrote Section 13 of the Sleeping Bear establishing act and forced the Certificate Prohibiting Condem-

nation into law. The Stocklens found nobody before or since that stripped a Cabinet officer of the power of eminent domain – “The [Interior] Secretary shall be prohibited from condemning any commercial property.”

But the Park Service was not finished with the Stocklens. In 1990 NPS filed suit to confiscate Riverside Canoes in federal court. Tom and Kathy countersued. After much wrangling, NPS gave up and both sides withdrew their suits. At the Stocklens’ final meeting with NPS Director James Ridenour, Interior’s lawyer wanted the Certificate back.

“Why would you need it now?” she asked. Kathy replied, “First, for a souvenir, second, for self defense. You Park Service lawyers will always come after little people like me. I’ll keep it.”

Before he left Congress in 1992, Guy Vander Jagt said that “national park mismanagement illustrates one of the most reprehensible aspects of the land acquisition process.”

The Stocklens retired and sold Riverside Canoes to a pair of longtime employees who love the business and diligently guard the Certificate.

In a press release dated August 10, 2015, Sleeping Bear officials ended four decades of dredging the Platte for safe navigation, urging visitors to “use caution when fishing Platte Bay.” The letterhead ironically advised, “Experience Your America.”

This guy said, ‘I am the government. You have to do what I say.’

ELM

FARMINGTON

RON ARNOLD,

TO SACRAMENTO

STOCKTON

HWY 4

J17 M ARI

POSA

SALE SITE

RD

VALLEY HOME

HWY 99 OAKDALE

HWY 120 ESCALON

SALE MANTECA HEADQUARTERS

MODESTO

#N

TO FRESNO

Facility located at: 25525 East Lone Tree Road, Escalon, CA 95320

ESCALON LIVESTOCK MARKET, INC. SPECIAL FEEDER CATTLE SALE September 14

LIVESTOCK SALES

3 days per week on Monday, Wednesday, & Friday MONDAY: Beef Cattle WEDNESDAY: Dairy Cattle NTS IGNME S N O C OME! WELC ore rm Call fo ation m r o f in g signin on con stock. r you

MIGUEL A. MACHADO President Office: 209/838-7011 Mobile: 209/595-2014

FRIDAY: Small Animals Poultry – Butcher Cows JOE VIEIRA Representative Mobile: 209/531-4156 THOMAS BERT 209/605-3866

CJ BRANTLEY Field Representative 209/596-0139

www.escalonlivestockmarket.com • escalonlivestockmarket@yahoo.com

Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2015

Beef Today’s Feedlot Cowboy College to Focus on Increased Cattle Health and Profits

F

eedlot operators and cattlemen from across the nation will gather Sept. 15 and 16 for the second annual Beef Today’s Feedlot Cowboy College. Held at the Wichita Marriott in Wichita, Kan., this educational event is designed specifically for feedlot cattle crews and those involved in the day-to-day care and welfare of the animals. BQA certification will also be offered to all participants.

Beef Today’s Feedlot Cowboy College brings together world-class expertise, and attendees will be hardpressed to find the same amount of knowledge at any other event. Led by the industry’s leading veterinarians—

Dan Thomson, Mike Apley and Tom Noffsinger—Beef Today’s Feedlot Cowboy College will focus on improving cattle health and performance. Attendees will learn how management of newly-received cattle, low-stress cattle handling, best management practices and new technology can significantly impact the bottom line and lead to higher profitability.

Dr. Thomson, recognized internationally as a leader in animal welfare, beef cattle production and cattle health management, currently serves as the Jones Professor of Production Medicine and Epidemiology and Director of the Beef Cattle Institute at

Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He is also host of the popular television show DOCTALK with Dr. Dan Thomson. Dr. Apley is well-known for his work with veterinarians and producers throughout the U.S. regarding the use of pharmaceutical drugs in food animals, as well as feedlot health. He also teaches beef production medicine, large-animal medicine and pharmacology courses at Kansas State University.

Dr. Noffsinger is a consulting feedlot veterinarian best known for his passion and enthusiasm for working with feedlots and ranches on low-stress cattle handling.

“Cowboy College offers a unique learning experience for boots-on-theground cowboys from three of the industry’s leading veterinary experts,” says Beef Today Editorial Director Greg Henderson. “Your cattle crew will come away with knowledge and insight that will help improve your operation’s profitability and your animal’s performance and health.”

Elite sponsors of the 2015 Beef Today’s Feedlot Cowboy College include Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck. Premium sponsors include Animal Health International, and supporting sponsors are Prince Agriproducts., DuPont Pioneer and Zinpro.

Mexico Hosts the 2015 World Angus Secretariat An international gathering of Angus breeders takes place Oct. 12-25 in Mexico.

T

he Mexican Angus Association is hosting an event in mid-October that promises to feature the beautiful Mexican countryside alongside Angus cattle.

The World Angus Secretariat, an organization of more than 20 Angus breed associations worldwide, will conduct its biennial meeting to discuss the latest breed information and technological advances – as well as tour some of the region’s locales and, of course, prized breeding stock.

The Mexican Angus Association will host the 2015 event Oct. 12-25 in the Chihuahua, Durango and Mazatlán-Sinaloa regions, and the American Angus Association® encourages its member-

ship to consider attending this once-in-a-lifetime event.

The World Angus Secretariat will include a technical meeting, educational workshops, youth programs, Angus cattle auctions, commercial exhibits, social events and ranch tours, as well as pre- and post-event tours for individuals or families.

The 2015 event will open with a pre-tour of the northeast corner of the state of Chihuahua, from October 12-14. This pre-tour will allow participants to experience the Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon), a stunning range of greenish copper hue canyon walls at the heart of the Sierra Tarhumara. In addition, the World Angus Secretariat will conclude with an optional post-tour of the port of Mazatlán from Oct. 25-27.

All lodging, food and trav-

el at and between the three venue cities can be included in your secretariat registration (complete package). Visit the 2015 World Angus Secretariat Meeting website for more information and to complete your registration to attend this one-of-a-kind event. You can also follow the latest updates on Facebook.

A brief itinerary of the World Angus Secretariat follows.

2015 World Angus Secretariat Program Chihuahua – Oct. 15-17 Visits to Angus ranches Social events in the city Durango – Oct. 18-21 A colonial city where there will be a cattle show Mazatlan, Sinaloa – Oct. 22-24 The World Angus Secretariat Meeting Conference and technical meetings

Clayton Livestock Research Center To Provide Feedlot Study Information

I

nformation from four years of feedlot studies conducted at the New Mexico State University’s Clayton Livestock Research Center will be presented during a field day at the facility, Monday, Sept. 28, beginning at 9 a.m.

“We have a full day of presentations that will address a variety of issues associated with raising healthy cattle, from how to handle rangeland during and after the drought and wildlife interaction with cattle to cowcalf production and nutrition and improving cattle productivity,” said Mike Hubbert, NMSU professor and superintendent of the research facility that is located six miles east of Clayton on Hwy. 64.

Topics will include: • Reacting to a Drought and the Aftermath: Ted McCollum, rancher and Texas A&M University professor • Cattle Wildlife Interaction: Sam Smallidge, NMSU Extension wildlife specialist • Cow-calf Production and Nutrition: Eric Scholljegerdes, NMSU animal and range sciences assistant professor • Improving Cattle Productivity: Clint Loest, NMSU animal and range sciences professor “We will also have presentations from four graduate students who have conducted research here at the Clayton facility,” Hubbert said.

The studies include:

• Trace Minerals and Health, conducted by Margaret Garcia • Vaccine Studies and Animal Health, conducted by Eben Oosthuysen • Protein Levels in Feed and Cattle Performance, conducted by Kendal Samuelson • Trace Mineral Studies and Liver Abscesses, conducted by Zeno Bester Hubbert said the field day will also feature a roundtable discussion of current topics.

Ben Weinheimer, vice president of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, will join the university professors on the panel for the discussion and answer questions from the audience.

September 15, 2015

Livestock Market Digest

The View FROM THE BACK SIDE

America’s Most Feared Words

BY BARRY DENTON

R

onald Reagan used to tell this story that proclaimed that America’s most feared words were “I’m from the government and I am here to help”! As time goes on this becomes more and more evident.

In mid August Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy finally said something about the Colorado Gold King Mine wastewater spill. Ms. McCarthy said she was “deeply sorry”.

Okay, we can take her at her word, but it took several days for her to respond. Notice that she did not say that “heads would roll”, “it’s our fault”, or anything that might instill some confidence to the public.

Remember the EPA fining British Petroleum 5.5 billion for violating the Clean Water Act during the Deepwater Horizon Spill? Funny thing, but I guess you cannot fine a government agency for creating disasters.

Basically there does not seem to be any consequence in this Obama administration for making glaring mistakes.

You may want to refer to Hillary Clinton and Benghazi or Eric Holder with Fast & Furious. New Mexico seems to have its share of government calamities including the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000 that was a prescribed burn that left 235 homes burned to the ground in Los Alamos. This list could go on and on.

Have you ever wondered why our elected representatives are so enthralled with the federal government? It all seems to come down to money and advancing their political career.

There never used to be much money in politics, but that is no longer the case.

Still it does not attract America’s brightest and best.

It seems to attract the clever, cunning, and moderately intelligent individual. Remember, those introverted, kids that just didn’t fit in that you went to school with? They all grew up, found out that they could not make a living in normal society and became disciples for over reaching government agencies.

To their credit they are getting even for being picked on.

If you run your own ranch

The Top 10 reasons a rancher wouldn’t survive city life 10. People stare at your Stetson and ignore the kid with the safety pins through his eyebrow.

9. You stare at people with hair the color of your tractor.

8. You can’t help but stop and look up every time a vehicle goes by.

7. Store clerks treat you like you’re on the FBI’s most wanted list.

6. You need an MIT degree to operate some of those gas pumps.

5. Rush hour driving is like being in line at the elevator only slower.

4. Non-rush hour driving is like navigating your four-wheeler through a NASCAR race.

3. Habitually leaving the keys in your truck is a real bad idea.

2. You get turned in for animal abuse for speaking unkindly to the neighbor’s dog digging in your yard.

1. Turns out, the ‘Will Work for Food’ guy wants dinner at a 4-star restaurant and no heavy lifting.

Source: farmtalknewspaper.com

or business you now realize that they will try and trip you up every chance they get. Power and revenge are what they thrive on.

Think about Cliven Bundy for a minute. Whether you were on his side or not you have to admit that the entire thing was a fiasco on the government’s part. The US government sent an army to attack a family of peaceful ranchers that owed them some money. Why? Could not a pair of federal marshals sent to the front door of the ranch house have done the same thing?

The Bundy’s had no history of violence. What good did it do the government to shoot their cattle and bury them?

What I want to know is who were the alleged “hired cowboys” that thought this was the right thing to do? One of the funniest stories was about them ‘sic-ing’ the police dog on the son Ammon Bundy who decided he did not want to be bitten.

Therefore, he kicked the police dog in the head and that was the end of that. This entire debacle should have made you happy that you paid for it!

The other story that Ronald Reagan liked to tell was about the former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson visiting a drought devastated area in Arkansas. The old conservative Secretary was not about to dole out public funds for just anything. He said to the Arkansas farmer that he had information that this area has had 36 inches of rain. The farmer replied “Yes, we did, but that was in a 24hour period”.

One thing I have never been able to figure out is a government employee’s inability to Advertise to Cattleman in the

Livestock Market Digest

Page 7 think for themselves. Few that I have met do what is right in spite of rules. Many that I seem to have dealt with are so indoctrinated or brain washed by their employers that they are devoid of common sense. I suppose it is easier to go to work every day and not have to think. All you have to do is follow a simple set of rules and never vary from it.

Just how many rules and laws do we need? We have the Ten Commandments which pretty much cover everything.

What else do we need? All of us in private business know that we constantly have to change the way we do business just to survive. We cannot do what our parents did 50 years ago and expect to prevail. The world appears to change at an accelerated pace these days and this requires the business person to adapt to the changes.

The only change I see at government agencies is that they apply more rules to the private

individual who pays their salary.

They forget that part.

You would think that you would take great care of the persons that pay you. I get it, since they are guaranteed a paycheck no matter what happens they feel a sense of power over the people that pay them.

While I realize that we need a government, I also realize we need a much smaller one. Keep that in mind with the elections coming up next year. If you think the government is poorly run, do not ever vote for an incumbent.

They are part of the existing problem. During their stump speech they may have some good ideas, but if they have held that office for two, four, or six years and have not implemented any positive change then I would say they are ineffective.

Results matter, intentions mean nothing. Just stop and think what affects your life more. The government can be improved, but it is up to you.

Page 8

Livestock Market Digest

This column is about wildfire, federal mismanagement, settlement with enviros, and solar panels for chicken coops

Graze it, don’t blaze it

S

o far this year we’ve had thousands of fires that have burned more than 7 million acres. Three firefighters have been killed, hundreds of homes destroyed, thousands of people evacuated and for the first time the Forest Service expects to spend more than half of it’s budget on fire suppression.

We have 29,000 firefighters in the field, including some from Canada, and are now bringing in additional numbers from New Zealand and Australia As a result political tongues are wagging again about mismanagement of federal lands and ranchers are speaking up.

The recent Soda fire fire burned more than 283,000 acres in southwest Idaho and east-

Fallon-Cortese Land

ern Oregon, and 900 firefighters, aided by helicopters, air support, bulldozers and water trucks fought the catastrophic fire. Alan Davis owner of Greybell Farms near Marsing, Idaho, says, “We have a bunch of people making decisions on wildlife, habitat, grazing and land management, and they have no practical experience. They have no clue how the world really works.” And he wasn’t done yet, saying “If Bureau of Land Management is not going to take an active management role … then they need to get the heck out of the way and let ranchers or somebody take care of the land.”

He is critical of federal officials for letting fuel loads pile up.

The Idaho Cattle Association also blasted the feds, saying, “These fires are largely a result of the federal government’s management framework.

We will never be able to stop all wildfires, but we can curb catastrophic fires in the future through grazing.” The issue was put most succinctly by Wyatt Prescott, executive vice-president of the Association, who said, “Graze it, don’t blaze it.”

The national boys are also unhappy. In an August 17th

letter to Obama the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council accuse the feds of gross mismanagement, and ask the President to “streamline regulations that will allow for active management” of federal lands and stop closed-door settlements with environmental groups that seek to block such efforts. The livestock industry is supporting the Resilient Federal Forests Act to partially address these issues, but a USDA official says they should instead support legislation to change the way wildfire suppression is funded.

The livestock reps respond that despite “the increasing evidence that mismanagement of forests and rangeland is to blame for the higher occurrence of catastrophic wildfires, Washington seems to believe that allocating more money to fire suppression” is the only answer.

The Resilient Federal Forests Act (H.R. 2647) takes some baby steps toward fixing the problems, and is in response to the fact that catastrophic wildfires have a significant negative impact on watershed health, wildlife habitat, property, and human life. Since 2006 more than 3,000 man-made structures have been destroyed.

Most disturbingly, agency data indicates that 348 lives have been lost to catastrophic wildfire since 1995.

Among other things, the bill would simplify the NEPA process and offer categorical exclusions to the agencies in instances where they are needed to: (1) expedite specified critical

September 15, 2015 response actions, (2) expedite salvage operations in response to catastrophic events, and (3) meet forest plan goals. In addition the bill would require that any plaintiffs challenging a forest management activity developed through a collaborative process or proposed by a resource advisory committee will be required to post a bond or other security. Keep in mind this legislation would only apply to a small subset of the total federal estate that meets certain criteria.

The legislation has passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 262-167, and was supported by 19 Democrats, mostly from the West. Our two Democrat reps, Lujan and Lujan-Grisham were not among those supporters, having voted no.

Sue & Settle This issue has been of concern to many, and is one of the reasons our federal lands aren’t being managed appropriately. Sue and settle is where an activist group sues a federal agency and the agency, instead of defending itself, settles with the group. Many of these settlements involve agency actions and regulations, and are strictly between the agency and the interest group. Left out are the general public, the Congress and those who may be most negatively impacted by the actions or regulations.

Recent Congressional testimony and reports reveal these type settlements are increasing under the Obama adminis-

Livestock Market Digest

NEW MEXICO P.O. Box 447 Fort Sumner, NM 88119 575.355.2855 office 575.355.7611 fax 575.760.3818 cell nick@ranchseller.com www.ranchseller.com

tration. Concern is also being expressed that during its last months the Obama administration will use this method to “lock-in” regulations and prevent a new administration from revising those regulations. Regulations promulgated by the regular administrative process can be changed by using that same process. That is not the case with those that are compliant with a court approved decree.

School lunch update September 30 is the deadline for Congress to reauthorize — or change — the decidedly anti-meat National School lunch Program so touted by Michelle Obama. So how’s it doing so far this year?

To find out, University of Vermont researchers conducted a small study using digital photos to capture students’ lunch trays after selecting food and then again after they passed their lunch trays to the food disposal area. The study indicates that while more children are placing fruits and vegetables on their trays, they’re consuming fewer of them, with food waste increasing by 56 percent.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to access the policy change and ask a really important question, which was, ‘Does requiring a child to select a fruit or vegetable under the updated national school lunch program guidelines that came into effect in 2012 correspond with increased fruit and vegetable continued on page nine

Bar M Real Estate

SCOTT MCNALLY To place real estate advertisements contact RANDY SUMMERS at 505/243-9515 or RON ARCHER at 505/865-6011

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

www.ranchesnm.com 575/622-5867 575/420-1237 Ranch Sales & Appraisals

Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker

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

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

Socorro Plaza Realty

AG LAND LOANS

Donald Brown

INTEREST RATES AS LOW AS 3% Payments Scheduled on 25 Years

On the Plaza

Qualifying Broker

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

Buena Vista Realty

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

As Low As 3% OPWKCAP 2.9%

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

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

521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130

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

Properties & Equities, Inc. R.G. DAVIS, BROKER • 530/347-9455 JEFF DAVIS, REALTOR • 530/604-3655 TONYA REDIMONTI, REALTOR • 530/521-6054

530/347-9455 19855 S. Main St., Cottonwood, CA 96022 homeranchproperties.net

September 15, 2015

Livestock Market Digest

Page 9

Court confusion over Waters of the U.S.: wins and losses

BY GARY BAISE,

FARMFUTURES.COM

The North Dakota Court opinion on WOTUS is devastating and thorough in its analysis as to why EPA and the Corps need to be stopped

N

orth Dakota beat the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers in one U. S. District Court on August 28, 2015. EPA won two other cases regarding implementing the Waters of the United States regulation.

EPA made it clear that it would immediately start implementing WOTUS in 37 states. In 13 states, WOTUS will not be implemented immediately. States that are protected by the injunction are North Dakota, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Let’s sort out what happened.

Thirteen states and the Murray Energy Corporation all sought preliminary injunctions in different courts to stop EPA and the Corps from beginning to implement the WOTUS regulation.

The three court decisions focus on three different courts. All three courts sought to determine if each had jurisdiction to hear the requests for a preliminary injunction to stop EPA and the Corps from implementing WOTUS. The North Dakota Court opinion on WOTUS is devastating and thorough in its analysis as to why EPA and the Corps need to be stopped.

Because the North Dakota case presents a victory for agriculture, I will focus and attempt to explain what happened regarding this confusing set of decisions.

EPA wants all of the states’ challenges heard before a U.S. Court of Appeals. The States want U.S. district courts to hear the

Real Estate Guide TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES • 125 acres, Henderson County, TX. Excellent grass & water. Square in shape, fronts a good, paved county road. $3500 Per acre.

• 275 acres, Recreation, hunting and fishing. Nice apartment, 25 miles from Dallas Court House. $3950 Per acre.

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

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

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

case because district courts will likely be more knowledgeable regarding the factual issues and the enormous impact of the WOTUS rule on agriculture.

There is a section in the Clean Water Act which deals with issues a U.S. court of appeals handles and issues a U.S. district court handles. U.S. courts of appeals generally review national effluent limitations for industry discharges. They also review the issuing and denying of permits. Two of the court’s rulings in EPA’s favor believe the WOTUS rule is reasonably related to issuing or denying permits. The North Dakota U.S. District Court wrote that the WOTUS rule is clearly not an effluent limitation and that WOTUS is clearly not issuing nor denying a permit.

The Court said that a court of appeals has no jurisdiction to consider the WOTUS rule. After reviewing which level of the courts has jurisdiction to hear the case, there is a review of when a preliminary injunction motion will be granted. North Dakota’s Attorney General and the 12 other Attorneys General argued that EPA’s WOTUS rule poses the possibility of irreparable harm to their constituents, there is a likelihood the states will achieve success on the merit of their arguments, the balance of harms is in favor of the states and it is in the public interest to grant a preliminary injunction stopping EPA and the Corps from implementing WOTUS. These four tests are common ones for lawyers to meet in obtaining a preliminary injunction.

Irreparable harm The court found that North Dakota and its additional 12 plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm unless an injunction is issued to stop EPA and the Corps. It said, “In order to demonstrate irreparable harm, a party must show that the harm is certain and great and of such imminence that there is a

Missouri Land Sales

361 Acres - Absolutely the Ultimate Hunting/Retreat being offered this close to Springfield/Branson, Missouri. Many options for this property - hunting, recreational, church camp, jeeping, horseback riding facility, or just your own personal retreat. A-1 built 60x100 all steel insulated with 2-16’ elec. overhead doors. Inside is a fabulous 900sq ft. 2 BR, 1 BA living quarters. Open fields, heavy woods, timber, rolling hills, bluffs, springs, creeks, a cave and breath taking views. Only 60+ miles south of Springfield, minutes to Bull Shoals Lake.

clear and present need for equitable relief.”

The Court went on to claim that if the rule takes effect, “...the states will lose their sovereignty over intrastate waters that will then be subject to the scope of the Clean Water Act.” EPA has claimed on many occasions it is merely clarifying its definition of what is a regulated water and not increasing its authority. The Court writes, “...the agencies admit to an increase in control over those traditional state-regulated waters of between 2.84 to 4.65 percent. Immediately upon the rule taking effect, the rule will irreparably diminish the states’ power over their waters.”

The Court also found that states will incur direct financial losses and will have to spend “vast expenditures” to map portions of each state and that many existing projects may have to be halted or suspended while the state undertakes mapping to determine if EPA and the Corps have jurisdiction.

The second factor the Court reviewed was whether North Dakota would have likelihood of success on winning the entire case. The Court’s conclusion was yes, the states will win.

The Court found that it appears EPA has exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act. The Court found that EPA will be regulating waters that “do not bear any effect on the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of any navigable-in-fact water.”

The Court went on to find that EPA’s WOTUS rule is arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion. It said EPA is attempting to even regulate intermittent and remote wetlands that have no nexus to navigable waters. The other two courts issued cursory opinions as to why a U.S. court of appeals should review the WOTUS rule.

Agriculture owes a debt of gratitude to North Dakota and its Attorney General.

This case has a long way to go!

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

PAUL McGILLIARD

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

GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY CLOSE TO SPRINGFIELD. El Rancho Truck Plaza. MLS #1402704; Midwest Truck Stop MLS #1402703; Greenfield Trading Post MLS # 1402700. Owner retiring. Go to murney.com, enter MLS #, CHECK THEM OUT!!!

174 M/L Acres. Cattle, horses, hunting retreat. Live water year round - spring crawdad creek. 30+ ac open, more land could be opened with brush hogging. Good fencing, 2 miles from S&H fish pay fishing ponds. 8 miles east of Ava on Hwy. 76. MLS# 60029427

300 Paseo Peralta, Suite 211 Santa Fe, NM 87501

505-989-7573 • Cell: 505-490-0220 Toll Free: 888-989-7573 www. SantaFeLand.com email: Kahler@newmexico.com

Apache Mesa Ranch – 5,144 acre rim rock ranch located on Apache Mesa off Hwy 84 near Las Vegas, NM. Mostly deeded, cedar & ponderosa tree cover, rim rocks & mesas, canyons & meadows. Comfortable HQ w/bunk house, caretakers quarters on 5 acres plus barn & corrals & plenty of scenery. Priced at $2,698,900. Come see this place.

D

SOL

Little Cayuse Ranch – This a horse or cow operation north of Corona. +- 2,025 acres. There are 2 homes, hay barn, sheds, tack room, 3 excellent wells, 4 pastures & 80 acre irrigation pivot with water rights. Good fences & views. Priced reduced.

Sombrero Ranch near Tremintina, NM - 1,442 deeded acres, 3 pastures, 1 solar well and 1 windmill well. Traditionally has carried 30+ mother cows year round. Located 44 miles east of Las Vegas on Hwy 104. Price is $575,000 Owner will finance.

La Cueva Canyon Ranch – 1,435 secluded acres w/240 acres of BLM lease land. Located SW of Las Vegas off Hwy 84 on Apache Mesa. This parcel has tall pines, canyon springs, stock tanks, new fence on NE corner. Off the grid and pristine. Price is $607,000 & Owners will finance.

uyers, I have B tings... s li d e I ne

Ken Ahler-GRI, E-Pro, RSPS

Trigg Ranches – 720 deeded acres lies near the La Cueva Canyon Ranch on Apache Mesa off Hwy 84. Off the grid in the tall pines & power is close by! 720 acres priced at $288,900 & smaller 200 acre parcel available for $124,000! Other parcels available & Owners will finance.

Ledoux, NM – Perimeter fenced 60 acre dry land terraced farm has overhead electric, sub-irrigated pasture and all weather county road access! Located ½ mile north of Ledoux. Price reduced $228,000 & Owner will finance.

Anton Chico – Historic 65 acre irrigated farm w/ditch rights.

Adobe home, bunkhouse, storage shed, shop + irrigation & some farm equipment go w/sale. Priced below appraisal at $698,900 & Owner can finance!

Dilia Loop Road – Fenced 20+ acre parcel is planted in alfalfa & grass, has 4 irrigated sections plus ditch rights and Pecos River frontage. Excellent farming opportunity for organic vegetable gardens. Price is $231,500.

Upper Anton Chico – This parcel has outstanding alfalfa production for a small parcel, 7.5 acres are irrigated with under ground pipes, perimeter fenced, easy farm to work and water. Pick up 375 bales per cutting! Asking $82,500 .

consumption?’” said lead study author Sarah Amin. “The answer was clearly no.”

I’d say that deserves a failing grade, but the only grade that counts is the one given by Congress. We’ll let you know how that turns out. I’m predicting we’ll have to take a paddle to our elected officials.

Solar Chickens & Commie Reindeer I’ve told you about Toad Roads, Bee Highways and Prairie Dog Peanut Butter. Well now we have solar panels for chicken coops. It’s true. The USDA has announced that as part of its Rural Energy for America Program it has awarded $16,094 to a Georgia poultry company to “install a solar array on the roof of poultry houses.”

Finally, Russia is claiming ownership of the North Pole.

Putin has submitted documents to the United Nations and we are waiting to see how the UN will rule.

If they rule for Russia, we should all feel sorry for Rudolph the reindeer. Why? Because then all the reindeer will be reds!

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

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

Your farms, ranches and rural properties.

Paul Stout, Qualifying Broker

3879 State Road 209 Broadview, NM 88112

575 456-2000

575 760-5461

Ranch & Farm Real Estate

Office:

continued from eight

ed t n a w

Scott Land co.

Ken Ahler Real Estate Co., Inc

The Westerner

www.bigmesarealty.com

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

SWEETWATER TX. AREA - fully operational railroad TUCUMCARI, NM – Horse Motel known coast-tospur & grain elevator in top condition w/lease income! coast and in all parts in between - 4 ac. +/- on the edge of town. Nice metal frame horse stables w/ WE NEED LISTINGS on agricultural properties of pipe-rail pens. Nice brick home, 3 bdrm., 2 bath. all kinds – we have sold & closed many of our ranch Excellent opp.! listings in New Mexico & we are diligently seeking new listings anywhere in NM, CO, TX or OK. We currently WALKER CANYON RANCH – Motley Co. TX., - Buy are 12 strong at Scott Land Company, LLC, & work & one pasture or all (pastures run in size fr. 7-900 ac. each up to 3,300 ac. w/lake) pick the size of ranch advertise profusely in all of these states. that you want w/a total of 10,432 ac. +/-, ranchland w/a WE HAVE JUST LISTED a choice ranch in Union large, permitted dam providing a huge, beautiful lake Co., NM w/ “state-of-the-art” improvements, working w/water backed up in a number of smaller canyons facilities, fencing, water & location & a nice little ranch for boating, fishing & other recreation together w/good w/2,400 ac. +/- deeded & 80 ac. +/- State Lease. hunting on the ranch. On pvmt.!

Please call for details!

HIGH RAINFALL! ADA OK. AREA -3,120 ac. +/- of CONCHAS LAKE AREA – well improved 11 section choice grassland w/houses, barns & steel pens, lays ranch +/-, mostly deeded w/small amt. of BLM & in 3 tracts, will divide!

State, homes, barns, pens, watered by subs & mills at shallow depth just off pvmt., on co. road.

Look at our websites www.scottlandcompany.com STATE OF THE ART – Clayton, NM area, 1,600 & www.texascrp.com to view the way in which we deeded ac. +/-, plus 80 ac. +/- State lease, home, barn will present your property or to contact our office with & pens in excellent condition, all weather CR road. any interest you may have in purchasing any of the properties we currently are offering for sale.

HARDING CO., NM – starter ranch, 1,875 deeded ac. +/-, 901.9 ac. +/- CRP, well watered w/subs, mills Give us a call at 1-800-933-9698 & pipeline, 3 bdrm./2 bath brick home, garage, shop/ 5 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to discuss in detail livestock, metal barn & pens, 7 miles fr. town, co. road. your real estate needs whether buying or selling.

Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2015

Conservation Easement Program potentially bankrupting some land owners

BY MARK BOYLE THEDENVERCHANNEL.COM/

A

state tax program aimed at helping land owners preserve their property and protect it from development, may actually be hurting them.

Alan Gentz owns 500 acres of land in the town of Sterling.

In an effort to preserve some of that land, Gentz donated 20 total acres of land to Logan County in 2006 and 2007 as part of the Conservation Easement Program.

The program allows land owners to donate land to their county or non-profit and receive tax credits in return. Those tax credits can then be applied toward the land owner’s taxes or sold.

In exchange for 20 acres, the Gentz’ received almost $550,000 in credits.

But now Gentz says the program has turned on those who’ve applied for it and used the program to preserve land.

“We already had licensed qualified appraisers appraise the

property, we covered all of the ground legally we could do, we didn’t think there could ever be a problem of them passing an ex post facto law to come out and challenge us,” said Gentz.

That ex post facto law Gentz claims, came in the form of House Bill 1300. Gentz says the bill is being used to go back to land owners and recover money given away in tax credits after the program showed signs of failure.

Gentz had his tax credits later denied because the appraiser on the case had their license suspended.

Gentz now has a $1.4 million dollar bond on his recently filed lawsuit against the Department of Revenue that must be paid before his case ever sees the inside of a courtroom.

“The State of Colorado bankrupted a lot of farmers and ranchers over this, we know a lot of cases where they’ve lost their farms, been bankrupted because of HB1300,” said Gentz.

In a 2012 Audit Committee meeting, Deborah Van Wyke, who works for the Department of

Revenue, admitted to their shortcomings in documenting cases and claims.

“Historically the conservation easement donations have been reviews as opposed to an audit, a review doesn’t have as detailed notes as an audit and we agree that this is problematic,” said Van Wyke in the Committee meeting recording.

Lyle Macdonald works for the Department of Revenue, but declined to comment on cases with pending litigation when 7NEWS reached him by phone to comment on the story.

The Attorney General’s office also declined to comment.

“This conservation easement process continues to be confusing and somewhat challenging,” said Sonnenberg. “We need to figure out why after a number of years some of these easements are still in limbo.”

Various potential “fixes” for the Conservation Easement Program have left landowners confused and the state possibly at risk regarding the tax credits generated through these easements.

Baxter BLACK O N T H E E D G E O F C O M M O N S E N S E www.baxterblack.com

Stop, Look and Listen

t s e g i D Classifieds 381 CR 373 Trent, Texas 79561

Cal-Tex Feed Yard, InC. COMMERCIAL CATTLE FEEDERS (325)862-6111 Fax (325)862-6137 caltexfeedyard@wtconnect.com

Rex Bland, Pres.

725-8372 Rosemary Bland Hayter, CEO 232-6498 Diltzie Edmondson, Off.

Johnny Edmondson, Gen. Mgr. 338-7692 Terry Brown, Yard Mgr. 669-3563 Becky Brown, Off.

KADDATZ

Auctioneering and Farm Equipment Sales New and used tractors, equipment, and parts. Salvage yard, combines, tractors, hay equipment and all types of equipment parts.

ORDER PARTS ONLINE.

www.kaddatzequipment.com • 254/582-3000

BULLS ANGUS CHAROLAIS SIM ANGUS HEREFORD

A large selection of two-year-olds, performance records, range-raised and range ready, fertility tested, all virgin. Quality to compare anywhere!

PAT GRISWOLD CATTLE CO Goldthwaite, Texas

817/946-8320 mobile

T

he sun had already set when Joe finally called home. Janie said, “Joe, where are you? We’ve got company coming!”

Joe sighed, dug another cinder out of his hair and said, “Sweetie, I’ve had a bad day.”

That morning at daylight they unloaded their horses in the big Texas panhandle pasture to gather the steers.

Joe reluctantly let his friends come on the gather in their helicopter but as the morning progressed he was learning to appreciate its value. It could zip up a draw, check the next rise and push ‘em like a spatula in a pan full of Jimmy Dean sausages!

As they approached the tunnel that would take the cattle under the Santa Fe railroads tracks, Joe held ‘em up, waiting for the train. It soon rattled through in the cool November fog. Knowing there wouldn’t be anoth-

er train for a while he started the steers.

In a few minutes he noticed that some of the steers had climbed through the fence and were casually socializing on the tracks above him. Cow shaped silhouettes in the mist.

Riding up, Joe saw that the fence had come down.

He kicked himself for not checking earlier, but they’d come in a different way. He spurred his horse, Freckles, up the side of the roadbed, went down the tracks south and brought the steers back.

The helicopter came in from the north and they sandwiched the critters over the crossing.

A whole bunch was milling around on the tracks when Joe saw the helicopter suddenly rise straight up! A rotating beam shone through the mist. A eerie feeling shivered down Joe’s neck. There was no sound. Then, like a

whale breaching out of your Grape Nuts Flakes, a locomotive burst outta the fog!

Joe pulled Freckles hard down the side! He tangled in an old fence at the edge of the cinders. Joe came off in the rat’s nest of wire!

The horse panicked and ran straight at the onrushing train draggin’ several yards of wire and Joe! The hysterical horse got sideswiped by a flatcar!

Skimmed him from hip to shoulder and tore the fender and stirrup off the saddle!

Scuffed the seat up some, too. Joe’s boot came loose before he hit the crossties and he rolled away from the roaring train.

No cattle were killed, Joe was black and blue for ten days, they had to Pine Sol the helicopter cockpit and Freckles healed up. Although they don’t call him Freckles anymore. Now they call him Santa Fe!

September 15, 2015

Livestock Market Digest

Page 11

Beef Improvement Federation Cow Tales Honors Angus Breeders

M

ississippi State University and the Mississippi Extension Service hosted the 47th annual Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Annual Convention June 9-12 at the Beau Rivage Casino and Hotel in Biloxi, Miss. The event draws a wide audience each year, ranging from breed association professionals and cattle producers to researchers and industry representatives.

Industry-leading education and discussions on the latest scientific advancements in the beef industry are at the forefront of the three-day event.

The Angus Media team provides complete online coverage of BIF meetings and events at the website www.bifconference.com. There, you’ll find summary articles from each session, audio recordings and the PowerPoint presentations given by speakers across the nation. Topics covered include rebuilding the nation’s cow herd, sustainability in the beef business and the latest genomic tools to aid cattle producers in selection decisions.

Throughout the conference, BIF honors cattle producers who exemplify its mission to improve the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of beef production. This year, the Angus breed is proud to congratulate two of its own for the following prestigious awards.

The new nonfiction collection by Heather Smith Thomas

2015 Seedstock Producer of the Year, McCurry Angus Ranch Recognized as the 2015 Seedstock Producer of the Year was McCurry Angus Ranch, Burrton, Kan. McCurry Angus Ranch is a family-owned and -managed operation that utilizes 2,000 acres for home-based operations, with satellite operations in Chase and Greenwood counties, which consist of primarily native tall-grass prairie in the Flint Hills. Buffalo, S.D., is the embryo transfer (ET) base for 150 commercial Angus-based cows.

McCurry Angus consists of 400 registered-Angus cows split evenly between spring- and fall-calving herds, and 250 spring-calving commercial-Angus cows.

About 175 bulls are sold yearly in a spring production sale and private-treaty sales throughout the year. Target customers are commercial cattle producers. Currently, females are marketed primarily private treaty. In addition, springborn commercial steer calves are marketed through Superior Livestock’s online auction.

The ranch got its start in 1977, with the marriage of two third-generation Angus breeders.

Andy and Mary McCurry began their start-up operation with seven registered-Angus heifers representing pedigree lineage of seven distinct cow families, no land, no facilities and no equipment.

Today, 95 percent of the current

herd traces back to those foundation females.

2015 Commercial Producer of the Year, Woodbury Farms Woodbury Farms, Quenemo, Kan., was honored with the BIF 2015 Commercial Producer of the Year award. Located in Osage County, Kansas, on the eastern edge of the Flint Hills, the operation was started in 1881 when Fred H. Woodbury purchased his first 80 acres near Olivet, Kan. The fourth generation of Woodburys now operates land in four counties, managing 5,000 acres of native and tame grasses and 400 acres of cropland.

The cow herd consists of 400 spring-calving cows of which 175 are registered Angus and 225 are commercial Angus and black baldies, along with a few red baldies that stem from a Hereford cow base.

All calves are backgrounded after weaning, with a majority of the steers being sold through the local sale barn. About one-third of the heifer calves are retained for replacements, and most of the remaining calves are sold in a production sale in March, along with about 40 yearling bulls from the registered herd.

A small number of steers and heifers also are entered in the annual Flint Hills Beef Fest hosted in Emporia, Kansas. Cattle are summer-grazed on the Flint Hills, then finished at a commercial feedyard where carcass data is gathered.

Study examines decline of Texas livestock auction markets

D

eclining cow numbers have led to consolidation in Texas livestock auction markets following devastating droughts the past decade, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service study.

Dr. David Anderson, AgriLife Extension Service livestock marketing economist, provided an overview recently at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course in College Station.

“Things change over time, but we were interested in the changes in the beef industry’s infrastructure, particularly livestock auction markets,” Anderson said. “Obviously we’ve experienced changes in cattle cycles, inventory numbers and how we trade. We have the Internet, video auctions and direct sales. All of that has played a part in how we trade and market cattle.”

Other authors on the study were Dr. Andy Herring, associate professor in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University, and

graduate student Trent Hester and assistant professor Ariun Ishdorj – all based in College Station.

Data was collected using sources such as the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Agricultural Statistics Service and other U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Anderson noted during the mid-1970s Texas beef cow numbers peaked at about 7 million head.

Currently, Texas has approximately 4.2 million cows. Anderson said before starting the study, there was an expectation that there were fewer auction markets than when data first began being compiled in 1969.

The study proved their hypothesis correct, he said. Texas had 167 auction markets in 1969 and only 92 auction markets were left in the state by 2013. The study indicated that the decline could be attributed to a number of factors, such as producers using other means to market their cattle, “or overall, there being fewer cattle to market in the state, requiring

fewer markets to sell fewer cattle.”

“That’s exactly what we saw,” Anderson said. “Then we wanted to know if these fewer auction markets are handling more volume. Overall, the markets haven’t declined as fast as the number of animals.

Drought will do that as producers sell cattle at an incredibly fast rate. Over time, the auction markets adjust to that at a much slower pace.”

“The implied animal revenue keeps going up as drought occurs,” Anderson said. “The more animals are sold, the higher that revenue is. But that doesn’t account for inflation.

Overall, we found there are fewer markets and declining real implied value when you factor inflation into the equation.”

Anderson noted the study did not account for video or Internet auctions or other marketing services. Also, sheep, goats and hogs were not part of the study.

Source: AgriLife Today

F

ollowing the success of her acclaimed nonfiction collection Horse Tales: True Stories from an Idaho Ranch, author Heather Smith Thomas has assembled Cow Tales: More True Stories from an Idaho Ranch, an entertaining and compelling lineup of autobiographical essays detailing her family’s adventures raising cattle in the challenging ranch country outside Salmon, Idaho. In the tradition of James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small), each story centers on a partic-

ular animal or aspect of animal husbandry, offering insight into the resourcefulness required to manage a cattle herd and a heartwarming look at human-animal bonding. “I am grateful to ... the many unique ‘cow characters’ I’ve been privileged to know,” Thomas writes.

“This book is a gathering of memories about some of those special characters ... a collection of stories and recollections about a few of the many ‘cow critters’ who taught me and my family about cattle care, cattle nature, and ourselves as humans.”

Paperack/Published by The Frontier Project Inc. Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other book retailers. Retail: $24.95. Inquiries: A.J. Mangum, 719/237-0243, thefrontierproject@gmail.com

Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2015

The Veterinary Feed Directive: what does it all mean?

BY DR. HEIDI WARD,

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS EXTENSION

I

n 1996, Congress enacted the Animal Drug Availability Act (ADAA) for the approval and marketing of new animal drugs and medicated feeds.

Before that time, drugs used in the animal industry were either over-the-counter or prescription-based. The ADAA created a new category of products called veterinary feed directive drugs (VFD drugs). These drugs were intended for use in or on animal feed (including water) and were obtained by the producer without a prescription. The VFD drug category was created to avoid state pharmacy laws for prescription drugs, which were not applicable to medicated feed. As of October 2015, new VFD regulations will go into effect for animal drugs already labeled as VFD drugs. The new regulations will require the professional supervision of a licensed veterinarian if the VFD drug is deemed medically important. The following provides background information and important points to prepare

livestock producers for the upcoming regulation changes.

In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) published a guidance document, which called on animal drug companies to voluntarily stop labeling drugs that are medically important as drugs that can be used to promote animal growth. The purpose of this request was to decrease the incidence of antibiotic resistance in both human and animal medicine. The guidance document also requested that animal drug companies change the labeling of their products to require a written VFD order by a veterinarian. The CVM felt that putting these drugs under veterinary control would guarantee that they would be used only when necessary for assuring animal health. All of the animal drug companies contacted committed in writing to participate in the new drug marketing strategy. The VFD final rule was published in the summer of 2015. Animal drug companies have until January 2016 to relabel their VFD drugs.

The most important provision of the VFD final rule is the

requirement of veterinarians to issue all VFD orders within the context of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR). A valid VCPR is the basis of veterinary supervision and provides a legal agreement between the veterinarian and livestock producer. Only veterinarians actively licensed and in good standing in Arkansas can write VFD orders for production facilities in Arkansas. In order for a veterinarian to issue a VFD order, he/she must do the following: • The veterinarian takes responsibility for the health of the animals and the client agrees to follow the veterinarians’ instructions.

• The veterinarian knows the animals enough to make a preliminary diagnosis of the medical condition for which they will be treated. This means the veterinarian has either examined the animals or has had timely visits to the operation where the animals are managed (at least one visit per year to be valid in Arkansas).

• The veterinarian is readily available for follow-up evaluation or has arranged continuing care and treatment with anoth-

er veterinarian or emergency service.

• The veterinarian provides oversight of treatment, compliance and outcome.

• The veterinarian maintains records of treatment (three years in Arkansas).

Along with a valid VCPR, veterinarians must become familiar with the labeled use of VFD drugs in the feed. The VFD drug can only be used to treat diseases indicated for a specified duration of time on the label. To do otherwise is called “extralabel use”, which is not allowable under the VFD final rule. A VFD order must contain all of the following: • Veterinarian’s name, address and telephone number • Client’s name, business or home address and telephone number • Premises at which the animals specified in the VFD are located • Date of VFD issuance with an expiration date • Name of the VFD drug(s) • Species and production class of animals to be fed the VFD feed • Approximate number of animals to be fed the VFD feed

• Indication for which the VFD is used • Level of VFD drug in the feed and duration of use • Withdrawal time, special instructions and cautionary statements necessary for use of the drug in conformance with the approval • Number of reorders (refills) authorized, if permitted by the drug approval, conditional approval or index listing • Addition of the statement “Use of feed containing this veterinary feed directive (VFD) drug in a manner other than as directed on the labeling (extralabel use), is not permitted” • An affirmation of intent for combination VFD drugs as described in 21 CFR 558.6(b) (6) • Veterinarians electronic or written signature To find a veterinarian in your area, please contact your county extension agent. To find out more information on the VFD along with fact sheets and the list of medically important drugs used in animal medicine, go to: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ucm071807. htm

In A Remote Part of Washington, a Scramble to Save Cattle from Flames

BY ANNA KING, NPR.ORG

M

ore than 1,000 square miles of wildfires are burning in Washington state. In the remote Okanogan Valley in the north-central part of the state,

many cattle ranchers are scrambling to save their herds.

Ranchers in Omak, Washington, have lost animals, barns, pasture and winter haystacks to the wildfires. But some people still have their cattle, and at the town’s Ag Tech Feed Store, own-

ers Monte and Laurie Andrews are trying to help keep those ranchers in business.

“We’re trying to make sure that these cattle are fed, that these ranch families don’t lose their livelihood — that we can keep them going,” says Monte

Vejraska has opened or cut all the fences on his property so cattle can escape.

Andrews.

The Andrews’ feed store is a hub for the community. Ranchers are using it as stopgap for broken communications. Power, phone lines and cell phone towers have burned down. The Andrews are helping people coordinate cattle evacuations.

Sometimes, it’s the quieter moments that let the stress sink in. Outside the feed store, Hugh Tower tends to his evacuated horse and mule. He built his own log cabin up in the Tunk

Valley. Fire rings his property now, but there are still two older horses he couldn’t get in a trailer to haul out.

“What I can’t do is just sit still,” Tower says. “If I do that, I start to come apart,” he says, emotion straining his voice.

“I stay busy here,” he says. He tends to his animals outside the feed store and helps out inside.

“There’s a lot to do here, you know — hay coming in, hay going out all the time.

Across town at the Stockyard Café, ranchers are gathering every morning to trade information and guzzle coffee. Among them is Craig Vejraska. We jump in his new pickup. He has to go check on his cattle in some high mountain meadows. He’s nearly 70 years old, and he speeds at 70 mph up winding country roads — no seat belt. His eyes narrow to the road.

“I’ve had a better couple of weeks, I can tell you that,” he tells me.

We drive for nearly 15 miles over rugged dirt roads and flaming trees. “There ain’t no communications here, there ain’t no cell phone service, there’s nothing. You’re on your own,” Vejras-

ka says.

In this scorched landscape of blackened trees, ash and thick smoke, finding black Angus cows is a problem. Vejraska has opened or cut all the fences on his property so cattle can escape.

He would drive them to safety, but the fire is so widespread that he has few places to put them.

He would have his four sons round them up, but that’s too dangerous.

“They make cows every day,” he says. “I’m pretty partial to those four boys, and I’ll be ***damned if I’m going to give ‘em up for a fire. You know, cows will have to burn.”

In a high meadow, he calls the cattle and opens up a sack of feed, pouring it on the ground.

The animals drift in close, out of the smoke. He’s bred these cattle lines for years. They’re made for this harsh mountain ground.

This is a small band — just a few dozen cows out of his herd of 1,800. He smiles. At least these are still here.

“We’re still in business,” he says.

Anna King reports for the Northwest News Network, a public radio consortium.

September 15, 2015

Livestock Market Digest

By JIM OLSON

C.B. Irwin – Larger Than Life

H

ave you ever noticed the bucking horse on a Wyoming license plate? Most historians agree this bronc is the legendary horse, Steamboat. While Steamboat is forever immortalized on the license plate, his owner was also an extremely popular character of the early 1900s.

Charles Burton (C.B.) Irwin was born on August 14, 1875 to Joseph Marvin Irwin and Mary Margaret Irwin. Joseph was a blacksmith in Chillocothe, Missouri. C.B. learned the blacksmithing trade at an early age.

As a young man, he married Etta McGuckin and the newlyweds moved to Colorado where they started a blacksmith business.

They later (around 1900) moved to Wyoming—and this is where C.B. became well-known.

Irwin had many careers as a young man—but the thing he carried with him, no matter what he was doing, is that he was driven to succeed. He was also said to have been one of the West’s most colorful characters. In Wyoming, he worked as a cowboy, blacksmith, railroad agent and promoter. He was “flush” and broke at various times but Irwin eventually saved his “chips” and invested wisely in land. Through trades, hard work and cunning skills, it was not long before the Irwins had their own ranch. The Y6 ranch, near Cheyenne, eventually consisted of approximately 23,000 acres.

C.B was considered a good cowboy and in 1906, he won the steer roping contest at Cheyenne. However, he was even better at cowboy managerial skills.

In the years leading up to 1912, C.B. was a prominent figure of the Cheyenne Frontier Days. It is said that once he even produced a special one-day rodeo for President Theodore Roosevelt, who had missed the regular show. C.B. helped organize parades and provided rodeo stock. He is also credited with bringing the Sioux and Cavalry presence to the early Frontier Days events. However, about 1912, C.B. and his brother Frank went their own way and formed the Irwin Brothers Wild West Show—traveling the North American Continent, Buffalo Bill Cody style.

It has been speculated that in the “teens,” it took about twenty railroad cars to move Irwin’s livestock and equipment to shows throughout the country.

They advertised the “Bad Bronc Steamboat” as one of the show’s stars. Another famous bucking horse belonging to the Irwins was named for C.B.’s friend, Teddy Roosevelt. These horses were rarely ridden and people came from far and wide to see cowboys give it a shot on one of

the famous buckers.

Although C.B. was a character and promoter, he was also a straight shooter. Rodeo historian, Willard Porter said, “C.B. was a man of much personal and moral courage. His own attitude towards gentlemanliness and sobriety is reflected in a prize list from one of his shows (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Frontier Days and Roundup), which stated

C.B. is also remembered (along with brother Frank) as the ones who sang “Life is like a Mountain Railroad” under general rules: Drunkards not wanted in this contest and the committee reserves the right to reject the entry of any contestant whose conduct at other shows makes them undesirable.”

Unfortunately, C.B.’s only son, Floyd, was killed in a freak roping accident in 1917 before a show. This sudden demise took the wind out of Irwin’s sails. He lost his appetite for producing the Wild West and the Irwin Brothers Show was disbanded.

C.B. is also remembered (along with brother Frank) as the ones who sang “Life is like a Mountain Railroad” at their friend, Tom Horn’s, hanging in 1903. Tom was the first man executed on the “newfangled,” automated, Julian Gallows. In 1911, Irwin produced a movie inspired by the life of Horn. It was titled “Round-Up on the Y-6 Ranch.”

Warren Richardson, who wrote, “I have known Charlie Irwin intimately ever since he came to Cheyenne some 30 years ago,” also said, “If the right man ever writes the life of Charley Irwin, every page will tell of an adventure.”

C.B. had a thyroid problem which led to excessive weight gain. One of the things he is remembered for was being “larger than life,” in more than one way! He was six-foot-four and varied reports have him weighing anywhere from 350 to 500 pounds (towards the end of his life). Mrs. Tom Mix, who knew him personally described him as being “Massive.” Rodeo photographer J. E. Stinson referred to Irwin as the “Giant Cowboy.”

After the Wild West Show ended, C.B. got into racing horses in a big way. He ran thorough-

breds from Chicago to California and all across the West. Tom Smith, who trained the legendary horse, Seabiscuit, even got his start working for Irwin. C.B. is also credited with helping create interest in a number of new racing venues. His reputation as a horseman and promoter carried over into horse racing. During one year, C.B. held a record for winning one-hundred-forty-seven races—the best winning record for a thoroughbred trainer at the time.

Irwin was well-acquainted with many prominent figures of his time. His friends list reportedly included President Theodore Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill Cody, General John (“Black Jack”) Pershing, Charlie Russell, Will Rogers, Tom Horn and various other cowboys, Indians and outlaws.

Irwin was always known as a great organizer, promoter and popular public figure, so it was no surprise that in 1934, he decided to run for Governor of Wyoming. His campaign slogan, suggested by Will Rogers, was ”Popular Government at Popular Prices.”

Most people called him, “C.B.” but Will Rogers, called him “Charley.” While campaigning in 1934, Irwin was killed in an automobile accident. Will Rogers wrote in his weekly column, “Old Cheyenne won’t seem the same…Charley was up to see me just before he was killed in the auto accident. Buddy Sterling who had charge of my horses was one of Charley’s main boys when he ran all the shows and contests. He was like Floyd, he was a top hand at anything. He gave me a race mare, a young one, that he wanted to have Buddy break for polo.

Charley had a great career. He was a real cowpuncher in his day, and the greatest spirit and best company that ever lived.

That other world up there is going to hear a whoop at the gate and a yell saying, ‘Saint Peter, open up that main gate, for there is a real cowboy coming into the old home ranch. I am riding old Steamboat bareback and using Teddy Roosevelt for a pack horse. From now on this outfit is going to be wild, for I never worked with a tame one.’”

It was said that at least thirteen-hundred mourners attended the funeral. They say no one person connected with rodeo, before or since, has received so much media and publicity when passing. Irwin was loved by many.

The legendary western character, C.B. Irwin, was posthumously inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.

Page 13

U.S. EPA ordered to pay attorneys’ fee sanction in Clean Water Act lawsuit BLJENNER & BLOCK, CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER BLOG

O

n August 30, 2015, a federal district court judge in Texas granted a developer’s motion for summary judgment against the United States and ordered the Government to reimburse the developer’s legal fees incurred in defending the Government’s lawsuit as a result of conduct that the court characterized as being “oppressive and dishonest.”

According to the district court, in 2004, the developer began developing several tracts of land located in north Houston. In 2007, an investigator with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) advised the developer to stop developing its property because the

property contained wetlands that U.S. EPA contended constituted jurisdictional waters of the United States. In May 2010, the United States sued the developer for violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), and more specifically, for discharging fill into what the United States contended were waters of the United States without a CWA permit.

The court rejected the United States’ claims that the developer filled wetlands constituting jurisdictional waters of the United States finding instead that: “Mill Creek and Dry Creek, as the latter’s name suggests, are little more than drainage ditches that conduct water only after a rain—a country boy could easily jump them.

The same is true for the three continued on page fifteen

Page 14

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2015

Improve Rangeland with Proper Cattle Handling Part Two – Intensive Pasture Management and Low Stress Handling Makes Money

B

ob Kinford (Van Horn, Texas) teaches ranchers how they can improve their cattle handling skills and pasture management, increasing their stocking rates and profits, especially in large range pastures.

Pasture management is simple, once a person figures out how to work with the cows’ inclinations instead of against them. “Yet the whole livestock industry has been bamboozled by people who have been teaching less effective methods. All the research grant money comes from chemical companies, fencing companies, fertilizer companies, drug companies, etc. and there is very little attention given to holistic management and simple, inexpensive ways to improve the land and forage plants,” he says.

Kinford spent some time in Mexico working with Alejandro Carillo who changed to holistic management on his large ranch 10 years ago. “Alejandro and other holistic ranchers are not doing any deworming or anything like that, for instance, until they ship their cattle. At that point, if the cattle are not coming back on the place (and are being shipped across the border) then Alejandro deworms them and they have to be dipped for ticks,” Kinford explains.

“By not using the dewormers, they have tremendous dung beetle populations, and those beetles do a great job of reducing flies that breed in manure, and the worms that are passed in manure.” By moving the cattle frequently from place to place and not coming back to the same place for a long time, the worm/fly cycle also tends to be broken.

“Another thing that many people don’t realize is that frequent moves really benefit the cattle. I got onto this 30 years ago when I started working on various ranches that ran several thousand yearlings. They sometimes picked up a couple hundred cheap cows to run with them, on these desert ranches. I’d be riding through checking the cattle at one water source and they would be scattered out, and I’d see an area with good feed and I’d put them over there on that good feed. I could rotate them around inside of a pasture and keep putting them onto areas of feed they had missed, and the cattle did better because they were being put on fresh feed more often. If you are doing this, you are literally putting your cattle on fresh feed every day,” he says. This also leaves the worms behind.

“When you put them into the fresh feed, they will graze competitively and as tightly together as the feed will allow. If there is really good feed they will graze inches from each other. In an area where feed is sparse they spread out. But when they go into good feed, they graze tightly together again. When the feed is really good they don’t do any selective grazing at all; they just put down their heads and eat,” he says.

Cattle always walk as they graze, moving slowly over the land. “The lead

Cattle always walk as they graze, moving slowly over the land. cow eats and moves forward a little bit and they all move up a little bit, and if she picks up and goes 100 yards, they all move forward 100 yards. It’s interesting to watch because if she moves farther they all string out and go forward that same distance and then come back together grazing again.” They get maximum use of a pasture this way, if you let the herd do its work.

The cattle are getting fresh feed every day, it is better for the cattle, the plants, and the land. “The only thing it’s not good for is ranch employees (day help) because when it’s time to gather or move them, one person can do it,” says Kinford.

“The thing that some people don’t like about this type of cattle management—even though it only takes one person—is that they want to be haying during summer, instead of managing the cattle, or have other things to do that they think are more important.”

They want to just turn cattle out into a big pasture and forget about them.

“The way I look at it, is that the cattle are the cash crop. Taking care of them should be top priority. I don’t look at it that I work for the rancher; I work for the cows, and they pay me through the rancher. When a person is running a cattle operation, the cattle are the most important thing on the ranch,” he says.

“Not only does this type of management allow you to control your grazing, but also allows you to check your cows frequently, as you move them. You can sit there, let them string out in the direction you want them to go, and be able to closely observe every one of them. You’ll know if one is lame or if any of them have a problem,” he says.

“You let them go out about half a mile, then stop them, and they put down their heads and start eating, and you are done for the day. Each day we graze the cattle in a different direction from the water until they’ve made a complete circle around the water point—similar to the wagon wheel method that uses fences,” he explains.

“You’ve moved them to new feed and you’ve checked them every day to know if any are sick or have a problem. Once you have grazed 360 degrees around a water source, you are ready to move to the next area. This prevents any plants from being over or under grazed, improving range health as well as allowing you to keep ahead of any health prob-

lems, and keep track of all your cattle,” says Kinford.

The cattle management he teaches makes managing the herd easier, and makes the rancher money because the cattle do better, and if there’s a problem it can be caught and treated early.

“You also know where every animal is,” he says.

“I’ve gone into places where normally they end up at least 20 head short every year, just because they weren’t checking them often enough to know where they are or where they went. But when I am putting the cows together and moving them to feed, at the end of the year they’d be short only 4 or 5 calves. That’s a big difference, right there, in the final paycheck for those cattle. And the fact that they are being handled more, and used to being handled, they don’t shrink as much when they are being gathered to sell.” Thus this management more than pays for itself.

LOW STRESS HANDLING MAKES MONEY –“My first job in New Mexico was running 2200 head of steers on 48,000 acres. They just turned everything out, and didn’t have anybody hired. When I came in, the first thing they needed to do was gather all the cattle to deworm them, and wanted to deworm them twice during the summer. So the cattle got gathered three times that year.”

In the past, the rancher would do it with an airplane because it was cheaper than hiring cowboys. “In the pasture that was farthest away from the pens, it was rough country and for some reason he couldn’t get into it that morning with his airplane. So I went out there and started poking around and that afternoon I saw him flying around in the airplane but by then I basically had them gathered. It was 440-plus steers, on five sections. When we weighed and shipped that fall, that set of steers was 7.5 pounds heavier than the rest, even though they were the ones that had to travel the farthest. The way they were gathered, they didn’t shrink as much. If you multiply that times 3, and it’s 22.5 pounds weight difference, times 2000 steers, that would be the equivalent of another pot-load of steers, without having to buy more cattle or more pasture. That’s the difference the handling would have made in whatever the prices were on steers that year,” says Kinford.

This much difference should get people’s attention. “Yet sometimes it’s hard to get people to become more interested in the cattle than they are in whatever tradition they are following—whether it’s buckaroo or cowpuncher. They want to work cattle their traditional way rather than what’s best for the cattle.” Many people think it’s more exciting to have a bunch of cowboys moving cattle than to have one person quietly taking care of them.

“I got into a deal where the guys were a bunch of buckaroos and they took about three times longer than they needed, to work the cattle. They were doing double turn-over, triple backhand turnover or fancy shots just to show continued on page fifteen

HOLISTIC GRAZING “Richard Teague, a professor at Texas A&M, is the only college professor I know of who has done a study on holistic grazing that says it works. He says the main reasons most people say it doesn’t work are because they are either doing it on too small a scale (you can’t do it with just 10 head because they are not providing the grazing the impact you need) and also because they are not flexible enough. People think they need a grazing plan and have to stick to that plan. Flexibility is the whole point of a grazing plan,” says Kinford.

“The whole point of changing the behavior of the cattle to move as a herd is that it gives you the flexibility you need.

You may have an area with a lot of feed for a mile or two down a rough draw or ridge. Perhaps your plan is to stay in that pasture for three weeks, but that draw will provide a couple extra days’ feed. You may also be grazing some hillsides that you can throw into the plan and actually have the cattle graze higher areas they normally don’t go to except for a few odd animals. You can get that herd effect on the whole piece of ground, which you normally wouldn’t get. This not only improves the side of that mountain, but also gives you more acreage to graze.”

If you look at flat ground versus mountains, on a map, there is always more total acreage in the mountainous areas even though they are the same distance on a map. If the hillsides were flattened out, there would be a lot more acres! You may almost double your grazeable acreage. “If you graze there for five years, and double the feed on the whole thing, you may have actually quadrupled your carrying capacity.

So why don’t people want to do it? The big problem is that if people don’t think they can do it, they can’t. It’s a hard mind set to change.”

He points out that almost all farms/ ranches that are managed holistically have more feed than their neighbors.

“They are running more cattle per acre than their neighbors and yet the neighbors all think they are crazy. Some ranchers are going broke because of feed shortage and having to drastically cut their cattle numbers. If they had been managing their land holistically they might have had to cut their numbers back to more than what they had when they originally thought they were at full capacity.”

One place he worked on has 120 sections and runs about 900 cows. “I went to a place in Mexico last year that has about 60 sections and they are down to 950 cows because of a drought and they’d had a fire go through it the year before. That rancher figures that if the drought breaks, in another two or three years he will be back up to 2000 head on 60 sections, versus the ranch with 900 cows at full capacity on 120 sections.

That is basically four times the cattle, and doing it without having to use dewormers, because they have the dung beetles and frequent cattle moves. That ranch is making four times the money, with less effort.” This should make economic sense, but some people are slow to catch on.

September 15, 2015

Improve Rangeland how handy they were.” The cowboys wanted to show off their skills rather than taking care of the cattle.

CATTLE AND WILDLIFE – “The wildlife people get up in arms thinking cattle are bad for the wildlife, but that ranch in Mexico is a perfect example of how cattle are good for the land and the wildlife. After the cattle go through there, they now have three different species of grass coming up after the cattle leave, and that’s where the deer go.”

The deer, and many other species that utilize these plants, prefer the new, fresh regrowth where cattle have grazed; they won’t eat the old mature plants that would be there if there was no grazing.

“The wildlife biologists, for the most part, haven’t figured that out.” They don’t realize that the cow is taking the place of grazing species that used to travel over these lands—the bison, antelope and elk—all the plains animals that were part of the ear-

EPA ordered to pay tributaries. They are not permanent waters. The government’s characterization as seasonal is generous and accurate only insofar as they are wet in the Spring and Fall after is has rained. They are wetlands only in the same way that the entire area is coastal prairie.”

The court went on to state that “[t]he seasonal connection of some wetlands to seasonal tributaries that feed navigable waters is too tenuous a connection to give the government jurisdiction under the [CWA].”

The court then went on to address some of the Government’s actions in the litigation. The court was critical of the Government’s overly broad assertion of privilege, noting that a special master found that 88 percent of the documents that the Government had claimed to be privileged in fact were not privileged.

Livestock Market Digest continued from page fourteen

lier ecosystem.

“You don’t see elk on the plains anymore, simply because they got pushed up into the mountains by human activity.

One of the things I find interesting is that the early trappers, if the Indians were after them, they would cut through what is now Yellowstone Park. The Indians considered it evil ground and wouldn’t follow them through there. Once they got there, there was nothing to eat, however, because there was no game there, especially in winter. But now we have this idea that it’s a natural ecosystem and must have bison and elk—but the only way those animals make it through the winter is because they get fed all winter!”

But we can’t go back to what it was like earlier. “To do that on the plains we’d have to take out all our human civilization, build our freeways underground, etc. so these animals can go back and forth. That isn’t going to work.” continued from page thirteen

The court further noted that: “[t]he Government has not followed court orders or has done so only after months of recalcitrance. When ordered to produce data, it either did not comply or did so only half-heartedly. It has never followed the spirit of the court’s orders, and, at best, it only sometimes complied with the letter. It has withheld papers under claims of privilege either maliciously or because it is grossly incompetent. It has abused its power in an attempt to brow-beat the defendants and discourage their colleagues and competitors from developing similar areas.”

As such, the court granted the developer’s motion for sanctions and ordered the Government to reimburse developer’s attorneys’ fees incurred in defending what the court found to be meritless enforcement action.

Page 15

Time to end government protection of wolves

BY JIM HARBISON, LAS CRUCES SUN-NEWS

R

ecently, a small group of radical environmentalists staged a protest at Congressman Steve Pearce’s office in opposition to a bill to eliminate the federal wolf recovery program and allow the state to manage species preservation. Kevin Bixby of the Southwest Environmental Center organized the protest. They fear this bill would be a death sentence for predatory Mexican wolves, which is untrue.

Protest speakers included local environmental lobbyist Jeff Steinborn and Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. This center is a very litigious environmental organization in the Tucson area and is well known for its numerous environmental lawsuits and egregious demands.

Wolves have become the symbol of wilderness idealism where animals are valued above people.

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, believes the wolf has taken an almost religious connotation for environmentalists and is used to keep people out of the forests.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has the responsibility of managing the wolves and advocates “livestock avoidance” to protect ranchers and families from the predatory wolves. Unfortunately, wolves are natural predators and don’t follow this farcical government policy. They see ranch livestock — cattle, sheep, horses, dogs — as easy prey.

Pearce and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, have co-sponsored H.R. 2910 that would nullify rules that list the Mexican wolf as an endangered subspecies. Ironically, the wolf as a species has never been in danger of extinction. Additionally, the bill would allow the responsibility for management of all reintroduced wolves to move from the USFWS to state authorities in Arizona and New Mexico.

Why is this necessary? In Reserve, ranchers have built “kid cages” for the school children to protect them from wolves while they wait for the school bus. Shouldn’t the wolves be in cages instead of our children? In 2011 in Winston, a woman and her children were held hostage overnight while wolves circled their porch and looked into their windows. The wolves left when the sheriff and other ranchers arrived.

Many believe the federal government’s release of wolves is a violation of their private property rights. Many see wolves as a great injustice and have experienced the situation where the wolves apparently have more rights than the people.

Wolves multiply at rate as high as 34 percent per year. When they were reintroduced into New Mexico the goal was to grow to 100 wolves.

Without public comment, the USFWS arbitrarily raised that goal to 350 wolves. No justification was ever given for the increase and there is no guarantee that number won’t rise again.

In the years following the introduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Forest in 1995, the elk population was reduced from 20,000 to less than 4,000 now. In Idaho, the elk herd was reduced from 17,000 to less than 2,000. Needless to say, federal management of wolf populations across the country has had a devastating impact on wildlife, local economies, and has threatened human safety. Instead of allowing Washington to continue failed management practices with no accountability to the people impacted, we must allow the states to take over wolf management.

Congressmen Pearce and Gosar are right. It’s time for the states to manage wolves and their bill is a step in the right direction. If we don’t control the predators, they will control us.

Jim Harbison is retired infantry officer and highly decorated combat veteran. He is a member of various Masonic and veterans organizations and is an outspoken conservative activist.

Page 16

Livestock Market Digest

September 15, 2015

Court rules prairie chickens in no danger Source: leaderandtimes.com

A

federal court in Texas has stripped the lesser prairie chicken of Endangered Species Act protections, a victory for oil and gas companies as well as farmers and ranchers that argued conservation efforts are working.

District Judge Robert Junell ruled on September 1, 2015 in Midland that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to make a proper evaluation of the states’ conservation plan when it listed the lesser prairie chicken — a species of grouse with feathered feet and striped plumage — as threatened.

That was the argument made by the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. Its president, Ben Shepperd, said the ruling “serves as vindication of the unprecedented stakeholder participation across the lesser prairie chicken range.”

The association had said the listing would impede operations and cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas development in one of the

country’s most prolific basins, the Permian Basin in the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico.

“This essentially means that oil companies can build an oil derrick over these birds’ nests,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.

The group said in a statement that the ruling was a blow to the species, which has lost most of its habitat to oil and gas operations, wind farms and power lines.

The lesser prairie chicken was once plentiful in the Great Plains, but its habitat has shrunk by more than 80 percent since the 1800s and its population by 99 percent. It lives primarily in Kansas but also in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado. With 95 percent of the bird’s range on private lands, federal agencies have worked with ranchers and oil and gas companies to restore habitat and minimize impacts to the species. Tens of millions of dollars and millions of acres have been committed to a voluntary conservation program, only to be rebuked by the listing.

In a bid to keep the bird off

the endangered species list, the five states in the lesser prairie chicken’s range organized their own conservation program, the first of its’ kind of voluntary conwservation, offering economic incentives to landowners and companies that set aside land.

But the lesser prairie chicken was designated as threatened last year by the FWS, one step beneath endangered status under the Endangered Species Act. That means federal officials think the bird soon will be in danger of extinction.

After plentiful spring rainfall, the population increased by 25 percent this year to 29,000 birds, the Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies says. The population growth shows the results of “boots-on-the-ground conservation,” said Congressional Western Caucus Chairwoman Cynthia Lummis, who hailed the ruling.

“There is a better way to serve species and people in the 21st Century,” she said.

The Kansas Natural Recources Coalition also played a role in providing information and in-

creasing public awareness about the lesser prairie chicken as well as providing testimony and filing briefs in federal court.

“We are delighted to see justice,” KNRC Executive Director Jim Carlson said. “Now, if we only could recoup economic damage to industry, agriculture and commerce wrought by the specter of a threatened listing, we would be good-to-go.”

The U.S. Senate in January rejected an amendment by Kansas Senator Jerry Moran to remove the lesser prairie chicken from the government’s threatened species list.

Moran and other Kansas officials praised the court decision.

“We don’t need burdensome federal government regulations dictating land use practices and hindering our rural economy,” Moran said in a statement.

New Mexico’s Representative Steve Pearce said, “Yet another of this administration’s job killing, onerous regulations has been shot down by a federal court.

Kansas Big First Representative Tim Huelskamp also supported the ruling.

“In countless efforts my office made to oppose this listing and protect Kansas farmers and ranchers, I always maintained that the Lesser Prairie Chicken would recover as the drought abated and we continued our voluntary conservation efforts,” Huleskamp said in a statement following the ruling. “A federal judge agreed that the FWS ignored the law and never performed a valid analysis to demonstrate otherwise.”

The ruling was as hailed as landmark by the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association along with numerous counties and soil conservation districts who are all participating in other litigation before Oklahoma and Washington DC Federal District Courts.

Tesas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Pete Bonds said, “The administration should realize by now that ranchers are the best stewards of our nation’s land. They have proven their ability to successfully implement their own conservation programs.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Earl Watt contributed to this report.

ND Judge Limits Water Rule Injunction To 13 States

BY JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, LAW360, NEW YORK

A

North Dakota federal judge refused on September 4, 2015 to impose a nationwide injunction on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent rule clarifying the scope of the Clean Water Act, instead limiting it to the 13 states that sued the agency in his court.

Those states had pushed for the injunction to apply nationally, but U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson said he wouldn’t grant that request out of respect for other judges who have ruled on this issue or could still do so, among other reasons.

There are lawsuits in at least

13 federal district courts challenging the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waters of the U.S. rule. Judge Erickson also said he would not expand his injunction to the entire country out of respect for the states that desire to implement the rule as currently proposed, and because the record before him is not sufficiently complete to justify a broader application.

“On the one hand, there is a desirability for uniformity regarding a national rule with national application. On the other hand, there is the idea of respecting the decisions of other courts and other sovereign states,” the judge said.

The decision involved weigh-

ing the interests of “competing sovereign entities” and “undermining the ruling of other courts,” he added.

Lawsuits challenging the rule are spread across the country.

Fourteen petitions for review of the rule that were filed in different appeals courts have been consolidated, at the EPA’s request, by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in the Sixth Circuit. The EPA has also asked the JPML to consolidate all the various federal district court cases in the D.C. district court. Judge Erickson is the only judge to have found for plaintiffs so far.

Judges in the Northern District of West Virginia and the Southern District of Georgia

have denied plaintiffs’ motions for injunctions. Judges in the Southern District of Texas, the Northern District of Oklahoma, the Northern District of Georgia, the District of Minnesota and the Southern District of Ohio have stayed their cases until the JPML rules. And cases in the Northern District of California, the Western District of Washington, the District of Arizona, and the District of Columbia have not been decided in any fashion yet. Paul Seby of Holland & Hart LLP, who represents North Dakota in the case, took the judge’s decision in stride.

“The court’s order affirmed the grant of a preliminary injunction against EPA and the Corps from implementing the legally flawed rule in North Dakota and 12 other states. That important result has not changed — including the finding that the rule has several major legal defects. The court’s order today merely deferred to other court proceedings that must play out independent of the North Dakota proceeding,” Seby said.

Judge Erickson granted the 13 states’ motion for preliminary injunction of the rule, also called the Clean Water Rule, on August 27, calling the measure “exceptionally expansive.” He also said it “appears likely” that the EPA and the Corps overstepped their authority and failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act in crafting and promulgating the rule. The decision came one day before the rule was supposed to go into effect across the country, and the EPA immediately said it would continue with that plan outside the 13 states.

The states then registered their

disagreement with the EPA’s decision with the judge, who asked both sides to brief the matter. The EPA said in a statement released recently that it and the Corps will comply with the court order, and that the agencies’ prior regulations will be in effect in those 13 states.

“The Clean Water Rule was developed by the agencies to respond to an urgent need to improve and simplify the process for identifying waters that are and are not protected under the Clean Water Act and is based on the latest science and the law,” the EPA said.

The rule redefines the scope of waters protected under the CWA — determinations the agencies claim have been confusing and complex after Supreme Court decisions caused them to evaluate jurisdiction on a case-­by­-case basis. The agencies for the first time defined which features constitute riparian areas, floodplains and tributaries, among other important terms. But opponents criticized the rule as a power grab by the federal government.

North Dakota is represented

by Paul M. Seby of Holland & Hart LLP. The states are represented by their respective attorneys general, except for the New Mexico agencies, which are represented by their general counsel. The federal agencies are represented by Martha C. Mann, Andrew J. Doyle and Jessica O’Donnell of the U.S. Department of Justice. The case is North Dakota et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al., case number 3:15­cv­00059, in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. ­­ Editing by Mark Lebetkin.