NMS December 22

The Magazine for Western Life

NEW MEXICO STOCKMAN

P.O. Box 7127, Albuquerque, NM 87194 505-243-9515 Fax: 505-349-3060

E-mail: caren@aaalivestock.com

Official publication of ...

n New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association

Email: nmwgi@nmagriculture.org

2231 Rio Grande NW, P.O. Box 7517, Albuquerque, NM 87194 505-247-0584, Fax: 505-842-1766

President, Loren Patterson n New Mexico Wool Growers, Inc. P.O. Box 7520, Albuquerque, NM 87194 505-247-0584

President James Duffy

EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING

Publisher: Caren Cowan

Publisher Emeritus: Chuck Stocks

Advertising Representatives: Chris Martinez Melinda Martinez

Contributing Editors: Carol Wilson Callie Gnatkowski-Gibson Howard Hutchinson Lee Pitts

PRODUCTION

Production Coordinator: Carol Pendleton

Editorial & Advertising Design: Kristy Hinds

ADVERTISING SALES

Chris Martinez at 505-243-9515 or chris@aaalivestock.com

New Mexico Stockman (USPS 381-580) is published monthly by Caren Cowan, 2231 Rio Grande, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104-2529

Subscription price: 1 year - $30 / 2 years - $40 Single issue price $10, Directory price $30 Subscriptions are non-refundable

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Mexico Stockman, P.O. Box 7127, Albuquerque, NM 87194. Periodicals Postage paid at Albuquerque, New Mexico, and additional mailing offices. Copyright© 2015 by New Mexico Stockman. Material may not be used without permission of the publisher. Deadline for editorial and advertising copy, changes and cancellations is the 10th of the month preceding publication. Advertising rates on request.

DEPARTMENTS

10 NMCGA President’s Message by Loren Patterson 12 Just the Facts ... and Then Some by Caren Cowan, Publisher New Mexico Stockman 16 New Mexico CowBelles Jingle Jangle 30 Beef It’s What’s for Dinner Recipe 36 New Mexico’s Old Times & Old Timers by Don Bullis 45 New Mexico Beef Council Bullhorn 52 News Update: 2023 Estate & Gift Tax Exemptions; Retailer Antitrust Claims Vs. Beef Packers Consolidation; USDA Extends Comment Deadline on Proposed PSA Rule 60 New Mexico Federal Lands Council News by Frank DuBois 65 View From the Backside by Barry Denton 70 In Memoriam 76 Food & Fodder by Deanna Dickinson McCall 80 Home at the Ranch 84 Seedstock Guide 87 Marketplace 90 Riding Herd by Lee Pitts 96 Real Estate Guide 106 In the Arena by Sage Faulkner 120 Advertisers’ Index

FEATURES

19 Bull Buyers Guide 26 Research Takes Aim at Previous Studies Linking Red Meat, Cancer by Lisa M. Keefe, meatingplace.com

28 Bill King Inducted into Hereford Hall of Fame 32 Sid Goodloe Receives New Mexico Leopold Conservation Award 40 New Mexico Launches Environmental Crimes Task Force

51 Fish & Wildlife List Lesser Prairie-Chicken Under the Endangered Species Act by Kaylee Douglas KFOR

54 No Consensus on Climate Crisis, Scientist Survey Finds

57 Cattle Industry Dynamics Finally Lining Up by Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, Cow Calf Corner

59 Third Trimester is Critical to Calf Development: Cows Need to be Primed Source: Purina

62 BLM Advances Strategy to Protect Wildlife Migration Corridors by Scott Streator, Greenwire 68 Beyond Meat Gets More Bad News: Docs Revel What’s Beef Found in Produce, Horrid Conditions by Richard Moorhead, The Western Journal

83 Sustainable Building Tax Credits are New Effective in New Mexico

91 Cattle Growers’ Welcome Hooten to the Team

92 The Breeding Bull: Your Herd’s Ultimate Athlete by Chad Zehnder, PhD, Field Consultant

94 K-S Beef Cattle Experts Share Tips in Managing Bulls in the Fall by Lisa Moser, K-State Research & Extension New Service

104 Scientists Debunk Major Myth About Yellowstone’s Wolf Population by Taylor Cunningham, Outdoors

114 Working Ranch Cowboys Association Finals

119 Casper Baca Rodeo Company Harley Davidson Ride Off

on the cover

DECEMBER 2022

Cowboy Jewelry seems a fitting cover for the Christmas Season. This beautiful painting is by Shannon Lawlor. For original paintings and fine art prints call 403.836.2284 www.shannonlawlor.com info@shannonlawlor.com Represented by Mountain Trails Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

VOL

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

by Loren Patterson NMCGA President

Loren Patterson President Corona

Bronson Corn President-Elect Roswell

Dave Kenneke

NW Vice President Cimarron

Cliff Copeland

NE Vice President Nara Visa

Jeff Decker

SE Vice President Lovington

Roy Farr

SW Vice President Datil

Joe Culbertson Vice President at Large Amistad

Shacey Sullivan Secretary / Treasurer Peralta

Randell Major Immediate Past President Magadalena

Tom Sidwell Past President Quay

Here We Go Again!

As of this letter we have been given notice that the US Forest Service is planning aerial gunning of cattle in the Gila Wilderness area. Appar ently this isn’t because of endangered species habitat, over grazing or environmental impacts, but because 2024 is the 100-year anniversary of the Gila National Forest.

As more and more details come out, the more disgusted I become at the stewardship of our USFS. External political pressure has more control than the local people of the region. The USFS has not done any aerial surveys to determine the number of cattle in the region, have not physically been to the area to assess the impact or taken any of the recommendations from stakeholders. How can a government agency continue to move forward on such a plan? One that lacks public support and does not accept viable options that are more humane and able to guarantee the protection of branded livestock. I’m curious if anyone has been held accountable for the fires New Mexico residents have endured and will suffer for generations to come, or can we as residents expect more unfettered dominion from an agency that is tasked with stewardship of natural resources that impact communities across the state?

As we made our settlement with the USFS we were promised that they would engage in conversations with New Mexico Cattle Growers and others to find a long term solution. We have had monthly conversations and have continued to look for those options that would not only uphold the mission of the USFS but also recognize and uphold New Mexico’s Livestock Code.

I was proud of the efforts we put forth, the cooperation of the New Mexico Livestock Board and the solutions we have brought forward. I am very disappointed that the USFS has decided to toss all those efforts in the trash. Keep in mind, the USFS has refused to work on fences, employ anyone to work on the problem or accept the fact that aerial slaughter has multiple long term drawbacks.

I will admit it has been hard not to become jaded with the USFS and APHIS-Wildlife Services as the proposal moves forward. One thing that has become apparent is that the word “service” should be removed from the agency’s title.

On a lighter note, I am excited about the quality of work coming from the Association’s office staff and President-Elect! Many of our committees are meeting often and active engage ment from members has been great. We have some huge obstacles ahead of us but as individuals and an industry, we are resilient! There is no substitute for letting those leaders who support us know directly nor looking our detractors square in the eye. Remain engaged, together we will make the best of it.

Bring a neighbor to our Association.

Loren

Let

by Caren Cowan, Publisher New Mexico Stockman

Despite assurances to the contrary, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is once again planning aerial gunning of unbranded, and perhaps branded livestock, from a portion of the Gila National Forest in January and February 2023, according to a November 17, 2022 letter to “interested parties” and a November 22, 2022 press release set to some media.

The letter on November 17 triggered the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which provides for public input for federal actions. NEPA requires “scoping” for citi zens to provide input on the range of issues to be addressed in an environmental assess ment. The deadline for providing scoping comments is January 9, 2023.

According to the letter, the real goal of this scoping period is for the USFS to give itself a “categorical exclusion” which would

Federal Agents Again Planning Cattle Slaughter

save the agency from providing documenta tion via an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement.

There are several charges about environ mental damage, there is sparse information contained in the letter and the press release that is not substantiated with documentation of any kind.

The issues to be commented on are con voluted in the press release, but at a minimum they must include:

Ї Neither the letter nor the press release lay out a clear purpose and need for this action.

Ї Where is the supporting documentation that the cattle should be removed?

Ї Where is the supporting documentation that removal be lethal or non-lethal?

Brazos Says let'sgo brandin

Ї Why should there be two seven-day periods for aerial gunning with a potential follow up at a later time when 65 head were killed via government sharpshooter in February 22?

Ї Why should carcasses be left onsite to decompose or feeding predators?

Ї What would a wilderness minimum requirements decision guide contain?

Ї There is a huge difference between 50 to 150 head of cattle now considered by the USFS and then the 756 head that were removed in the 1990s. Doesn’t this indicate that non-lethal removal efforts should continue?

Ї Are there other reasons that lethal removal is being considered at this time?

Comments should include:

1) name, address, phone number, and organization represented, if any;

2) title of the project “Gila Wilderness Livestock Removal” on which the comment is being submitted; and

3) specific facts and supporting informa tion for the responsible official to consider.

Commenter names, addresses, and email addresses will become part of the public record.

Written comments may be delivered in person or by mail to:

Gila National Forest, Attn: Planning Program, 3005 E. Camino del Bosque, Silver City, NM 88061. Office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday.

Comments may also be submitted by email to: comments-southwestern- gila@ usda.gov. It is imperative that comments be submitted by anyone with an interest in the future of the livestock community. The gov ernment giving itself the authority for aerial slaughter is unconscionable. What are the future ramifications of such actions?

In the press release Gila National Forest

Supervisor Camille Howes, stated “Removal of unauthorized cattle is necessary to protect the habitat of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, including federally listed threatened and endangered species. The unauthorized cattle in the Gila Wilderness trample stream banks and springs, causing erosion and sedimentation.

“This proposal will help restore the wil derness character of the Gila Wilderness by removing non-native species and alleviating the damage caused by over-grazing.”

Outside the radical environmental com munity, cattle or other livestock are not considered “non-native species,” said Caren Cowan, Protect Americans Now executive director. “Cattle have been in New Mexico since 1598 when Juan de Oñate, a Spanish conquistador born in New Spain (pres ent-day Mexico), led a caravan of 129 soldiers, 10 Franciscan friars, some 300 settlers, 83 wagons and about 7,000 head of cattle, across the Rio Grande.”

“If cattle are considered as a non-native species, then the non-native elk population in the region should also be considered for

their impacts including trampling stream banks and springs, causing erosion and sed imentation,” pointed out Don L. “Bebo” Lee, president of the New Mexico Federal Lands Council. “The Merriam Elk that may have once roamed in New Mexico were extirpated by the early 1900s. Rocky Mountain Elk were introduced around that time.”

In the Interested Party letter Wilderness District Ranger Henry Provencio said that

there are somewhere between 50 and 150 head of cattle, a far cry from the 756 head that the USFS claims were removed in the 1990’s mentioned both in the letter and the press release. According to those involved in the round ups, there may have been some animals that required euthanasia but there is no proof that a wholesale slaughter was or is called for.     ▫

The remains of the last US Forest slaughter in the Gila Wilderness.

JINGLE JANGLE

Excited About the New Year!

The state zoom calls have entertained ideas from beef promotion to recruit ing. This platform provides an opportunity for everyone to bring conversa tions to the table or join in on the scheduled topic. It also provides an opportunity for anyone who is unable to attend a regular meeting to stay in contact with other members or introduce themselves if they would like to become a member. It is proving to be a wonderful tool. The call information is always on FaceBook, but the state officers are glad to email that information to you as well. Please don’t hesitate to ask.

A state event calendar is something new that we hope will help everyone as well. There are times when we have been unaware of events until the last moment and they have gone by the wayside. The state calendar is intended to help avoid those situations by allowing us to plan, not just locally, but state wide. There are times when there may be an event in our own area and we are already booked, but someone may have an opportu nity to hit the road and provide that CowBelle presence for us. We may be loyal to a local, but first and foremost, we are New Mexico COWBELLES.

There are also new educational programs taking off in conjunction with the New Mexico CowBelles, the New Mexico Beef Council and Ag in the Classroom.

There are so many opportunities to reach out to one another, our producers, and our children. It is my hope that everyone feels the momentum, excitement and together ness as we enter this New Year.

Finally, we were proud that we could add New Mexico CowBelles as a sponsor of the Cattlegrowers Foundation Inc.! The book will be out in time for Christmas next year, but presales are opening soon.

I hope y’all are as excited as I am!

–

Jacinda Price, President New Mexico CowBelles

Powderhorn Cattlewomen met at the Bosque Redondo Memorial Museum with Wayne Overton and Mary Gaye McClain, co-hostesses. Ten members were present. Ann Sleep, President, led the invo cation, pledge and creed. Minutes and treasurer reports were approved as read. Ann read email from State CowBelles requesting information on what group has done for Ag to be sent to Wrangler for next publication and the list was made. Under Old Business, the most anticipated drawing for the hand made quilt was held and Beverly Ann Overton won! Congratulations to her and many thanks to so many who bought tickets to support the scholarship program. The Cattle women will have the Christmas LUNCH on December 7 at 11:30 at the Daily Grind Restaurant in Ft. Sumner. All attend ing need to bring items for the Hartly Home in Clovis for battered women. The group will send donations to the Baptist Children’s Home and the NM children’s home in Por tales. Under New Business, the 2023 slate of officers will be Ann Sleep, President; Sondra Jack, VP; Mary Gaye McClain, Secretary and Carol Thorpe, Treasurer. THANK YOU, Ladies, for serving as officers. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! Submitted by Joan Key, Secretary

The Chamiza CowBelles’ November meeting was called to order at 12:11 p.m. by President Jeni Neeley in Johnny B’s Restau rant with 10 members present. Jeni read the Invocation and Creed, and all recited the Pledge. Minutes from the previous meeting were read and approved. Nancy presented the treasurer’s report which was a little com plicated because of a glitch with the company from whom ordered exhibitor T-shirts. The group received only part of the order in time for the county fair. Then the remainder of the order was inadvertently doubled, plus received a partial refund. At any rate, the treasurer’s report was approved after every thing was explained. The group now have some extra T-shirts which will sell at cost. This year’s raffle beef was purchased from Shayly Cummings and was won by Phil Mullen. Both Carol Ness and Janet Franklin,

who won second and third prizes respec tively, turned their prize money back to the CowBelles. Thank you, ladies. The group sold a total of 7,239 beef tickets and $385 in merchandise at the county fair. A thank you note was received from Brooke and Dawson Gillis for the exhibitor T-shirts purchased this year. It was decided to again purchase exhibitor T-shirts for next year’s fair. It was suggested purchase in a different color, pos sibly turquoise. Jeni reminded of the upcoming annual CowBelle meeting on December 16 in Albuquerque. Nancy has already reserved a room with two beds and is willing to share if anyone is interested. Jeni suggested the possibility of changing meeting time to evenings as several women have approached her saying they would become members if the meetings were held in the evening. Nothing definite was decided at this meeting but discussed the possibility of rotating times every other month or having evening meetings during the summer months. Election of officers was held with the following results: President – Jeni Neeley; Vice President – Sherry Ibarra; Treasurer –Nancy Phelps; Co-Secretaries – McKenzie Luna and Kimberly Molsbee. Next meeting will be held December 1st at Johnny B’s. In lieu of gift exchange, please bring non-per ishable foods and/or cash for the food bank. Submitted by Cathy Pierce

Mesilla Valley CowBelles met virtually planning for a CowBelle Christmas Tree at the Fiesta of Trees held at New Mexico Home Grown as a donation to the Dona Ana 4-H program. The group completed their presen tation at the MESA/Ag Careers event held at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. Thank you, Mary Esther, and Fita. Dues are due and NMCB Annual upcoming. Submit ted by Janet Witte

New Mexico CowBelles: Thank you to all who have submitted their news to Jingle Jangle. Please send minutes and/or newsletters to Jingle Jangle, Janet Witte, 1860 Foxboro Ct., Las Cruces, NM 88007 or email: janetwitte@msn.com by the 14th of every month.      ▫

Cattleman of the Year is so welldeserved. All our best from four generations of Goodloes on the land that you know very well!

Carrizo Valley Ranch Sid & Cheryl Goodloe & Family

Editorial Calendar

JANUARY — Wildlife; Gelbvieh; Joint Stockmen’s Convention Results

FEBRUARY — Beefmasters; Texas Longhorns

MARCH — Limousin; Santa Gertrudis

APRIL — Dairy MAY — News of the Day JUNE — Sheepman of the Year

JULY — Directory of Agriculture

AUGUST — The Horse Industry

SEPTEMBER — Charolais; Fairs Across the Southwest

OCTOBER — Hereford; New Mexico State Fair Results

NOVEMBER — Cattleman of the Year; Joint Stockmen’s Convention Preview; Angus, Brangus, Red Angus

CS

Clark

Clavel

Coleman

Copeland

Cornerstone

Cox

Coyote

Henard

LT

NMSU

Perez

Pratt

Rancho de Santa Barbara . . 56

Salazar

Texas Hereford Association . 64

Tom

USA

West

Research Takes Aim at Previous Studies Linking Red Meat, Cancer

by Lisa M. Keefe, meatingplace.com

Previous studies that have proposed a link between unprocessed red meat consumption and some types of cancer are based on “weak evidence of association,” according to a new review of the data pub lished in the journal, Nature Medicine

In the article, “Health effects associated with consumption of unprocessed red meat: a Burden of Proof study,” a team of research ers and health scientists at the University of Washington “conducted a systematic review and implemented a meta-regression ... to evaluate the relationships between unpro cessed red meat consumption and six potential health outcomes,” according to the article abstract.

The authors found “weak evidence” between unprocessed red meat consumption and colorectal cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease, no evi dence of an association between unprocessed red meat and ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke; and that while there is some evidence that eating unprocessed red meat is associ ated with increased risk of disease incidence and mortality, “it is weak and insufficient to make stronger or more conclusive recommendations.”

More rigorous, well-powered research is needed, they concluded, to better under stand and quantify the relationship between consumption of unprocessed red meat and chronic disease.      ▫

Bill King Inducted into Hereford Hall of Fame

Bill King, Stanley, New Mexico was inducted into the Hereford Hall of Fame in October in Kansas City, Mis souri during the American Hereford Association (AHA) Annual Meeting and Conference.

The Hall of Fame honor annually recog nizes breeders who have dynamically influenced the direction and advancement of the Hereford breed.

Bill King started his Hereford herd as a high schooler in 1968 with the purchase of three heifers from Marshall Sellman. After graduation from high school, Bill attended New Mexico State University. Bill then returned to the family ranch, where he began buying feeder cattle and selling fat cattle for his family’s 16,000-head feedlot. Bill has three daughters: Becky and her husband, Tom; Jenny and her husband, Josh; Stacy and her husband, Anthony, and six grandchil dren: Jordan, Abby, Cash, Charli, Hayden, and Lincoln.

For more than 100 years, the King family has been ranching in Moriarty, N.M. King Ranch is a diversified operation consisting of 30,000 acres of pasture, 4,000 acres of

farmland and about 1,200 registered Here ford, Charolais and Angus cows, along with 300 commercial cows.

The ranch sells more than 350 bulls a year to mostly commercial producers and buys back customer cattle for finishing in the family-owned feedlot. Bill was honored as the New Mexico Cattlemen of the Year in 2010, his family was recognized as the New Mexico Ranch family of the year in 2015, and he was recognized as a Golden Breeder by the American Hereford Association in 2018.

Bill comes from a long line of public ser vants; Bill’s father was governor of New Mexico for three terms. Bill currently serves on the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA) board of directors and the Hereford Legacy Fund board. An advocate for the beef industry,

Bill is a past president of the American Hereford Association, New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association and New Mexico Live stock Board. He’s a former regional vice president for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), and a past board member for the Texas Cattle Feeders Asso ciation and Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Bill served on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board exec utive committee for four years. One of Bill’s daughters, Becky, currently serves on the AHA Board of Directors and Bill’s grand daughter, Abby, served on the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) board of directors.

The King Ranch has been featured in the BEEF Magazine Seedstock 100 for several years. Beyond the range, Bill’s cattle have experienced success at national shows across

the country. Bill is an owner of numerous grand champions at the National Western Stock Show, Fort Worth Stock Show, Amer ican Royal, Arizona National, and New Mexico State Fair. He’s also an owner of several impactful bulls that didn’t step foot in the showring, like Loewen Genesis G16 ET and NJW 98S R117 Ribeye 88X ET.

Bill’s impact can be felt across all facets of the beef industry. He’s been a leader, public servant and influential voice for agriculture. His passion for Hereford cattle is second to none.      ▫

Bill King

Beefy Green Chili

This chili recipe gets a Southwestern flare with rick flavors of jalapeños, fire roasted tomatoes and green chiles. Add Certified Hereford Beef brisket for a filling and delicious soup.

Cook time 40m

Protein 32g Servings 4

Ingredients:

12 ounces cooked Certified Hereford Beef brisket, cooked or shredded

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 large jalapeño pepper, seeded, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups canned diced green chiles

1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained 2 tablespoons dairy sour cream

Instructions:

Heat oil in stockpot over medium heat until hot. Add onion, jalapeño pepper and garlic; cook 5 to 7 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally.

Stir in beef Brisket, chiles and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes to develop flavors, stir ring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 tablespoons sour cream.

Garnish with additional sour cream, tor tilla chips, cheese, avocado or guacamole, if desired.

About Brisket Flat: The leaner portion from a whole brisket. Should be cooked slowly at low temperatures to maximize its tenderness. The traditional cut used for corned beef, or smoked for BBQ.

Nutritional Information; Cals 282, Carbs 7%, DV 21g, Fat 12%, DV 8g, Fiber 29%, DV 8.2g, Iron 18%, DV 3.4mg      ▫

Tucumcari Bull Test Sale — March 11, 2023

VALUE OF FEED EFFICIENCY ASSUMPTIONS:

• Assuming these bulls (actual data from 2021 test) were steers in feedlot, grown from 700 -1400 lbs (700# Gain)

• Cost of feed $185/ton, 62% DM, yardage at $0.25/head/day • Bull will sire 100 calves in lifetime, calf crop is 50% his genetics, 40% Heritability of FE • Assumes a bull at 80% ratio for FE does not add any value, other bulls compared to him • This does not include value of keeping females who are more feed efficient

Sid Goodloe Receives New Mexico Leopold Conservation Award

Sid Goodloe of Capitan has been selected as the recip ient of the New Mexico

Leopold Conservation Award®.

Goodloe has blazed his own trail at Carrizo Valley Ranch for more than six decades, and was practicing “regenerative ranching” before the phrase was coined. He was presented with the $10,000 award at the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts’ conference in Albuquerque.

Given in honor of renowned conserva tionist Aldo Leopold, the prestigious award recognizes farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners who inspire others with their dedi cation to land, water, and wildlife habitat management on private, working lands.

Sand County Foundation and national sponsor American Farmland Trust present the Leopold Conservation Award to private landowners in 24 states for extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. In New Mexico, the award is presented with New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts, Quivira Coalition and New Mexico Coalition to Enhance Working Lands.

“Sid and Cheryl Goodloe understand the meaning of watershed health,” said Willard Hall, New Mexico Association of Conserva tion District President. “They have hosted many ranch tours and serve as mentors to many conservationists.”

Earlier this year, New Mexico landowners were encouraged to apply (or be nominated) for the award. Applications were reviewed by an independent panel of agricultural and conservation leaders. Among the outstand ing New Mexico landowners nominated for the award was finalist JX Ranch, Tucumcari in Quay County, and Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron in Colfax County. The first Leopold Conservation Award in New Mexico was presented to Ute Creek Cattle Company of Bueyeros in 2021.

About Sid Goodloe

Sid Goodloe has blazed his own trail at Carrizo Valley Ranch for more than six decades, and was practicing “regenerative ranching” before the phrase was coined.

As with most innovators, his ideas were not always initially welcomed with open arms by the scientific, academic, and ranch ing communities. Yet many of Sid’s skeptics would later adopt his conservation practices.

While working in Africa in the 1960s, Sid witnessed a different way to graze cattle on rangelands with Zimbabwean scientist and farmer Allan Savory. They noticed that pas tures eventually flourished when they were given an extended period of rest after cattle

quickly grazed them. They co-wrote a description of what would be called the short duration grazing method, and the Society for Rangeland Management published it in 1969. Sid returned home and implemented

short duration grazing in 1971, where it con tinues today with few changes. Sid hosted Savory and arranged a speaking tour at several Western universities in 1974. The results were varied, with some academics either threatened by or discounting Savory’s knowledge. Undaunted, Savory would later

revolutionize established grazing methods worldwide.

Sid would make his own mark as a vision ary in removing Pinon/Juniper trees, and riparian area restoration. His management practices have yielded a showcase of wildlife habitat and plant diversity at elevations between 6,000 to 7,500 feet.

Beef cattle graze the ranch’s riparian areas for one to two weeks during dormancy. This helps prepare a seed-bed for beneficial grasses and wildflowers, while providing year-round forage for elk, deer and antelope. Recently Sid reduced his stocking rate by half to enhance wildlife habitat at the cow-calf ranch which does double duty as a fee hunting property.

• Brangus-sired calves consistently out-perform and out-sell ordinary cattle.

• Troy Floyd Brangus gives you quality, performance and uniformity now — when they are more important than ever!

• Consigning a good selection of high-performing, rock-raised bulls and females to the 32nd Annual Brangus Bull & Female Sale — Feb. 25, 2023

LUCKY

32nd Annual Brangus Bull & Female Sale

February 25, 2023

RANCH MANAGER: Steven & Tyler Townsend P.O. Box 278, Milburn, OK 73450 C 580-380-1968 StevenTownsend1968@gmail.com Patti Townsend P.O. Box 278, Milburn, OK 73450 H 580/443-5777 cgtpattownsend@yahoo.com

Sid’s ingenuity turned oak brush from a nuisance into an asset. By cutting oak brush from three feet down to six inches, it later stimulates rapid growth of a nutritional green forage when native grasses are dormant.

More than 65 years of recordkeeping at the ranch shows that rain and snow deposit an annual average of just 19.5 inches of mois ture. In response, forests have been thinned, drought provisions established, and instal lation of solar wells and dirt tanks have increased water availability.

Erosion turned abandoned homestead roads that crisscross Carrizo Valley Ranch into gullies. Sid’s steps to prevent erosion once drew opposition from downstream landowners who depended upon the siltladen runoff water to irrigate their hayfields. After two years of litigation, they realized that Sid’s work was recharging the aquifers that furnished their well water.

Forest Service personnel and college stu dents regularly tour the ranch to see its exemplary forest management and range practices at work. Sid’s efforts have been featured in three documentaries, and he’s a frequent guest speaker on conservation and land management issues. He works to pre serve the Western way of life as the longtime president of the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, a three-day chuck wagon cookoff and Western music event.

After 66 years of ecosystem improvement, the future of Carrizo Valley Ranch is very important to Sid. A conservation easement on the ranch guarantees it will provide open space and be financially unencumbered in perpetuity. Sid and Cheryl Goodloe plan to pass the ranch on as a protected property that will provide a livestock, wildlife and recreation opportunities for their grandchildren.      ▫

by Don Bullis, New Mexico Author donbullis@msn.com

There is little doubt that Dave Kemp, the first sheriff of Eddy County, New Mexico, shot and killed Les Dow, the third sheriff of the same county. The event took place at about 6:45 p.m. on February 18. 1897. There are, however, many sides to the debate regarding what really happened on Fox Street in the town of Eddy.

David Kemp was born in Coleman County, Texas, in March 1863. When he was 15, or so, he killed Daniel Smith in a Hamil ton, Texas gunfight. He also attempted to kill Sheriff G. N. Gentry, but his gun misfired. Kemp was convicted of murder and sen tenced to hang. Several prominent citizens interceded on Kemp’s behalf and he was finally pardoned and set free. The clemency came, it is said, as a result of his youth and the fact that he’d provided the prison warden with “much valuable information.” He actu ally served fewer than four years before he was released and ultimately pardoned.

He arrived in southeastern New Mexico

Murder, or not, on Fox Street in Eddy New Mexico, 1897

in the 1880s and worked as a cowboy for a time. He didn’t stay long on the range, though, and before 1890, he and one Tom Gray were operating a saloon called the Lone Wolf in a cluster of tents called Wolftown north of Eddy. In 1890, Kemp was elected sheriff of the newly created Eddy County, one source says by 30 votes in a contested election. After taking office, he moved into a partnership with Ed Lyell in the Silver King Saloon, located in a sin-city called Phenix, a mile south of Eddy. It was said to have been the largest saloon in New Mexico.

Kemp’s most notable characteristic was that he regularly chewed gum. He did not drink alcohol, use tobacco or swear.

Kemp also operated a butcher’s shop in Eddy. Some though he sold beef that he’d rustled from area ranchers. Others said he “conducted his office in the interests of his gambling cohorts.” Even so, he was reelected in 1892 and could not by law succeed himself again in 1894. Kemp threw his support to

Walker Bush, his half-brother, but J. D. Walker was elected. In an effort to smooth the bumps caused by an acrimonious elec tion process, Walker hired Kemp as deputy.

At about this time, livestock inspector Les Dow arrested both Kemp and Walker Bush for stealing a calf. The charges were subse quently dismissed and Kemp retaliated by charging Dow with stealing 20 or so head of his cattle. Those charges were dismissed, too.

The stage was set.

James Leslie “Les” Dow was also born in Texas, at Clinton in DeWitt County, in 1860. He became a deputy U. S. Marshal at an early age and he married Molly Neatherlin in 1884. That same year the Southwestern Livestock Association hired him as an inspector. His job was to help solve the enormous cat tle-rustling problem then plaguing southern New Mexico and West Texas. He arrived at Seven Rivers, New Mexico, about 20 miles north of Eddy, in 1885. He owned a ranch there, south of the town, and he soon opened the Seven Rivers Saloon.

In early April 1891, a ne’er-do-well and drunkard named Zack Light accosted Dow in his bar and demanded money. When Dow declined, Light pulled his gun, but his shot went high. Dow’s did not. He killed Light on

the spot. He was acquitted on a plea of self-defense.

Dow developed a reputation as a per sistent and fearless lawman. It was he who was largely responsible for the indictments of Oliver Lee, Jim Gilliland and Bill McNew for cattle theft around Alamogordo. As a result of that case, prosecutor Albert Jen nings Fountain and his young son, Henry, were murdered at the Chalk Hills, east of Las Cruces, in February 1896. That crime was never solved.

J. D. Walker ran for reelection in 1896, but Les Dow defeated him and took office on January 1, 1897. Dow immediately targeted Kemp. He seemed to believe that the former sheriff was responsible for some of the cattle thefts in the area. In early February, Dow arrested Kemp for carrying a gun.

On the evening of February 18, 1897, it all came to a head. Les Dow walked out of the post office and was shot in the face at close range. He died the next morning.

One version of the story goes that Kemp and another man, Will Kennon, hid in a doorway near the post office and simply waited for Dow to come out the door. When the Sheriff did so, Kemp shot him and fled.

Dee Harkey, a constable, arrived within a few minutes. Harkey said that Dow could not identify his assailant because the muzzle flash from the gun, so close to his face, tem porarily blinded him. Harkey believed that Kemp was the guilty party. The constable, however, didn’t like either man, and oddly enough helped Kemp avoid a sheriff’s posse later the same evening.

Miles Cicero Stewart, another of Dow’s enemies, claimed that Dow drew first and challenged Kemp, who then pulled his gun and shot the sheriff. Another witness. W. H. Smith, claimed that there was a confronta tion between the two men and when they went for their guns, Dow’s hung up in the holster giving Kemp the opportunity to shoot him.

Stewart followed Dow into the sheriff’s office.

Whatever really happened, Dave Kemp was acquitted of murdering Dow in a trial held at Roswell—on a change of venue—in March 1898.

Afterwards, Kemp moved his saloon from Phenix to Eddy and changed the name to the Central. He also ranched southeast of town at a place called Dark Canyon. Around the turn of the century, his mother died and his second or third marriage failed. He left New

Mexico and moved to the Texas panhandle where it joins the Oklahoma panhandle at Lipscomb County. He was elected to the local school board and served as Lipscomb County deputy sheriff for many years and was gen erally well liked in the community. He died of a heart attack in 1935.

Dow’s family, except for Molly, remained in Eddy County and became important parts of the community. And even Molly, who left town after Les died, was interred at the cem etery in Carlsbad.

An interesting fact about this affair was that all of the players—Dow, Kemp, Bush, Harkey and Stewart—were all Texans.

Dave Kemp has traditionally been placed in the contemptible category among western characters, along with the likes of Bob Ford and Jack McCall. He may not belong there.      ▫

NM Launches Environmental Crimes Task Force

Federal, tribal and state agencies partner to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes

The New Mexico Environment Depart ment (NMED) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened New Mexico’s first Environ mental Crimes Task Force.

The goal of the Environmental Crimes Task Force is to increase federal, tribal and state cooperation in investigating and pros ecuting criminal violations of federal, tribal, and state environmental laws. In pursuit of this goal, the Task Force will meet regularly with members from federal, tribal, and state agencies to disseminate actionable intelli gence and coordinate responses to address those individuals and entities who threaten our health and environment by violating such laws. Violating environmental laws— including, but not limited to, the federal and state air, water, and hazardous waste laws—is a crime and can be punishable by incarcer ation and/or monetary fines.

“If you circumvent New Mexico’s environ

mental laws – we will find you and we will prosecute you,” said Environment Depart ment Cabinet Secretary James Kenney. “The Environmental Crimes Task Force will bring much needed investigation and prosecution resources and coordination to New Mexico, which will serve to level the playing field and increase environmental compliance in our communities.”

The Environmental Crimes Task Force will also focus on advancing civil rights and environmental justice through timely and effective remedies for systemic environmen tal violations in underserved communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened, including low-income com munities and communities of color.

“This task force is being created to curb environmental crime in the state of New Mexico and neighboring tribal territories,” said Kim Bahney, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division for the Southwest Area Branch. “Public health and the environment should not suffer at the hands of deliberate polluters.”

“Low-income communities and commu nities of color have disproportionately borne the burden of environmental crime,” said Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico. “Through the Environmental Crimes Task

Force, we will bring fair treatment and meaningful involvement of underserved communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by systemic environmental violations, pollutions, climate change and abuse of natural resources.”

“As Land Commissioner, I’ve prioritized the protection of our natural resources. Under our

Accountability and Enforcement program, we’ve successfully persuaded companies to comply with their environmental obligations. Many companies do the right thing, but when companies don’t and they break the law there should be consequences for those actions. We’re proud to be a part of this task force and look forward to working with other agencies to safeguard New Mexico’s natural resources,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard.

NMED and EPA will coordinate the Task Force among the participating federal, state, and tribal agencies. This includes continuing to expand its membership, convening train ings and meetings, and leading efforts to coordinate criminal enforcement of environ mental laws. The Task Force partners include the following state and federal agencies that will coordinate on the investigation and

New Mexico Department of Public Safety

New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources

New Mexico Environment Department

New Mexico Game and Fish Department

New Mexico State Land Office

Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office

U.S. Attorney’s Office

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Navajo Nation Department of Justice

In New Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the New Mexico Attorney Gen eral’s Office prosecute individuals and organizations that conduct criminal activi ties that violate federal and state laws enacted to protect environmental quality, human health, and wildlife throughout the State of New Mexico. On Navajo Nation and depend ing on the nature of the crime, both the Navajo Nation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office may have jurisdiction.

Examples of criminal environmental vio lations include:

the public;

Ї

A chop-shop where stolen vehicles are dismantled and used oil is dumped; Ї An oil and gas operator who fabricates records to show they looked for leaking components but never did so or conceals oil spills;

Ї Industries that fail to follow safety protocols as outlined in its risk management plan, which can put its workers and the public at risk;

Ї A wastewater treatment plant operator or industrial user who changes sample results to show compliance of noncompliant discharges to surface water or groundwater, including instances of public official misusing their authority for personal gain or benefit;

Ї A company that illegally discharges pollutants into a river or channel which leads to a river due to intentional or negligent maintenance of equipment and/or properly trained staff with or without a permit;

Ї Demolition and construction activities involving removal of asbestos without following proper worker safety practice standards or illegal disposal; both causing potential exposure and creating health risks for workers and

Ї Illegal storage, transportation or disposal of hazardous or radiological wastes;

Ї Importation of illegal pesticides, refrigerants, or wildlife;

Ї Use of pesticides and refrigerants that are not EPA-approved;

Ї Oil spills, releases or discharges; some of which compromise the fishing rights or practices of indigenous or disadvantaged communities;

Ї False reporting of air emissions resulting from inadequate, under design or nonexistent pollution control devices;

Ї Companies and individuals that tamper with emissions devices or write and install tunes in road vehicles;

Ї False statements to the EPA, NMED or other regulatory agencies that undermine the integrity of environmental protection programs or permits.

If you, or someone you know, believe you are the victim of an environmental crime or believe you have witnessed an environmental crime, please submit a tip online at echo.epa.gov/report- environmentalviolations. You can also report known or suspected environmental crimes to NMED at www.env.nm.gov/general/report-an-environmental-issueor-incident

Federal, state or local agencies who are interested in participating in the New Mexico Environmental Crimes Task Force are invited to contact Bruce Baizel, General Counsel, NMED at bruce.baizel@env. nm.gov

BEEF CHECKOFF PROGRAM

DEAR FELLOW RANCHERS & DAIRY FARMERS:

LETTER FROM ZITA

It has been a whirlwind year for me serving as the Chairperson of the New Mexico Beef Council. As you read through our annual report, you will undoubtedly be as impressed as I am with all of the programs and activity in which the Council participates, and plans for, each year.

Our industry continues to have its challenges with supply chain hiccups, the lingering pandemic and, of course, the financial state of our country. However, there is much to celebrate as the Council and Cattleman’s Beef Board continue to create and refine programs to increase demand for beef.

The Annual Report is a chance to toot our horn about everything we have accomplished in the previous year. As you read through our report, please consider the commitment and hard work of the NMBC staff, CBB staff and Checkoff contractors who work tirelessly to present our industry and products to consumers, health professionals, students and thought leaders across the State. Allow me to highlight some of our programs:

• The New Mexico Beef Council continued a partnership with New Mexico State University’s Hotel Restaurant & Tourism Management to present hands-on lectures. The students learned about how beef is fabricated, the difference between the various cuts and beef grades as well as the taste and texture of grass-fed, organic and grain-fed beef. The students also learned about the beef supply chain and how beef is produced.

• NMBC has continued a partnership with ProStart which is offered by 28 high schools and consists of 40 programs, across the state. ProStart is a national program coordinated by each state’s restaurant trade association to introduce students to career options in the food service and culinary industries.

• We welcomed Kate Schulz RDN, LD, LMNT as the consulting dietitian for the New Mexico Beef Council. Through her, we are now able to bring nutrition messages to our consumers.

• NMBC continues to manage a robust advertising program on radio, and online with digital and social media. We recognize the importance of having our messages on radio stations around the state, and since we receive lots of positive feedback about our radio buys, we think you must like it also. In closing, I encourage you to become active with the Council. The six years I spent on the Council were eye opening for me. I always appreciated the work of the Council, but being immersed in these programs encourages me to support both the Checkoff and the Council Assessment in a much grander way.

Be well and God bless you and your families.

Zita Lopez, Chairperson, New Mexico Beef Council 

DAIRY CONSORTIUM IS HUGE SUCCESS

Thanks to Robert Hagevoort, PhD, NMSU/ACES and all the producers the consortium relies on and the sponsored support from the allied industry, the Dairy Consortium was able to have an in-person program in 2021. The Consortium was not held last year due to the pandemic. COVID safe practices were in place, and only a limited number of students were able to attend. Thirty-five students from all over the U.S. called Clovis home for 4 (instead of the regular 6) weeks and learned all about modern dairy management. The class is grateful for the support received from producers, allowing the class to come out and visit the dairies. For several program parts the students are out in corrals with the cows. Many producers welcomed this large group of outsiders back on their farms which marked the first visit of outsiders since the pandemic began. Dr. Hagevoort, coordinator of this program, says, “The Dairy Consortium’s strength is the handson, or experiential learning experience, it defies logic to try and conduct a pro¬gram like this long-distance or online. Ultimately learning the ‘what’s what’ and ‘who’s who’ in the industry is done by being out on dairies and seeing and doing it first-hand!” 

Congratulations to the Dairy Consortium Class of ‘21

The United States Beef Academy (USBA) is an educational event for young men and women who are motivated to learn about the beef industry. This event is under the direction of New Mexico State University Department of Extension Animal Sciences and Natural Resources, and Texas Agri-Life Extension. It was designed to be a follow-up edu¬cational program for young men and women who have completed another New Mexico Extension program, the NM Youth Ranch Management Camp.

In 2021, the US Beef Academy, held at the Corona Range and Livestock Research Center in Corona, NM, completed their sixth Academy. The Academy has hosted 83 students from 17 states and Mexico over the six-year period. The class is capped at 16 students per year and in 2021, there

were more applicants than roster positions. The 2021 student roster consisted of one veterinarian, three veterinary students, four graduate students (both Master’s and PhD) and seven upper class undergraduate students. The students were from several universities and colleges including NMSU, Dine College, TX A&M, Colorado State and Oklahoma State. The Academy receives corporate and industry support from several local, regional and national companies that facilitate the delivery of the US Beef Academy. It is a collaborative effort of NMSU Dept of Extension Animal Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Agri-Life Extension and Colorado State University. NMBC is grateful to John Wenzel, DVM, and faculty for coordinating and conducting this program. 

Ag Day was celebrated in October at NMSU Homecoming by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and New Mexico State University (NMSU) College of Agricultural, Environmental and Consumer Sciences (ACES). New Mexico Beef Council was this year’s title sponsor. AG Day featured ACES departments’ exhibits, dozens of agricultural organizations, businesses, non-profits and student organizations sponsored food booths and educational exhibits.

Groups such as the NMSU Therapeutic Riding Program and the NMSU Animal and Range Sciences department provided pony and horse rides, along with a variety of farm animals and livestock that the pub¬lic interacted with to learn more about. New Mexico Ag in the Classroom had a fishing-pond game, while organizations such as New Mexico 4-H, NMSU Cooperative Extension Service and the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum helped educate the public about how agriculture is inte¬grated into their commu¬nities and everyday lives. Attendees had the chance to sample New Mexico grown products, such as beef and dairy. 

Dr. Thomas gives hands-on instruction in fabricating.

Director Jim Hill sporting his TEAM BEEF jersey serves up tasty

sliders at

NEW MEXICO BEEF COUNCIL PARTNERS WITH NMSU’S HOTEL, RESTAURANT & TOURISM MANAGEMENT

NMSU-Hospitality, Restaurant and Tourism Management (HRTM) teamed up with NMBC staff in September for three beef classes that took place at New Mexico State University as part of a partnership between NMBC and the NMSU-H R T M program. The three classes HRTM 363 Quantity Food Production & Service, and two sections of HRTM 2120 Food Production & Service Fundamentals, attended lectures, and hands-on presen¬tations over three days.

Tom Bertelle and Daniel Chavez, NMBC Center-of-the-Plate Specialists and Beef experts, provided hands on training for the students. Sub-primals rib, chuck and loin were used in the fabri¬cation of cuts and as visual aids. Students were able to taste test cuts to understand grading and beef choices. Beef videos were used for the classes to reinforce fabrication information, examples of the versatility of beef in menuing ideas, and the sustainability of beef production. Dina Chacón-Reitzel, NMBC Executive Director, presented informa¬tion about the beef industry, including the beef supply chain, and sustainable beef production practices. Students were provided “Beef in the Culinary Classroom” binders, developed through NMBC, and supplemental prined resources to support the presenta¬tions given. In addition, they were all given beef aprons, “The Beef Book”, and chefs jackets with the NMBC logo. Culinary instructors were provided posters, resources and video presen¬tations which they will be able to use for future classes. 

The New Mexico Beef Council is helping boost the next generation of culinary professionals through support of the ProStart® program. ProStart® is a nationwide, twoyear program for high schools students pursuing a career in culinary arts and hospitality management.

Congratulations

Congratulations

NMBC’s Beef Grant program is available to all of the ProStart® culinary classroom programs across New Mexico. This sponsorship includes beef education for teach training. In addition, schools are provided an opportunity to apply for grants up to $1,000 to cover the cost of beef purchase to use both in their classroom and for ProStart® state and national competitions.. 

NMBC’s Tom Bertelle grills steaks for sampling different grades of beef as students look on.

Tom Bertelle and Daniel Chavez fabricate beef primals for students.

Students enjoy beef samples

Happy student showing off his Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. apron and cow mascot at the Beef dinner prepared by the HRTM students.

to Carlsbad Culinary, winners of the ProStart® competition. The Carlsbad team went to Washington D.C. to compete nationally.

to Cloudcroft High School on winning the “Management Competition”.

2021-2022

DIRECTORS

ZITA LOPEZ, CHAIRPERSON & FEDERATION DIRECTOR FEEDER, SPRINGER 575-447-1117

COLE GARDNER, VICE CHAIRPERSON PRODUCER, YESO 575-910-5952

MARJORIE LANTANA, SECRETARY PRODUCER, CROWNPOINT 505-860-5859

DAN BELL PRODUCER, CORONA 575-799-0763

MATT FERGUSON PRODUCER, CARRIZOZO 575-491-9025

JOHN HECKENDORN PUREBRED PRODUCER, MORIARTY 505-379-8212

JAMES HILL FEEDER, MESILLA PARK 575-993-9950

KIMBERLY STONE PRODUCER, CAPITAN 202-812-0219

JOEL VAN DAM DAIRY REPRESENTATIVE, TEXICO 575-714-3244

BOE LOPEZ N.M. CATTLEMAN’S BEEF BOARD REPRESENTATIVE FEEDER, SPRINGER 505-469-9055

KENNETH MCKENZIE USMEF REPRESENTATIVE PRODUCER, ENCINO 575-760-3260

DINA CHACON REITZEL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 505-841-9407 WWW.NMBEEF.COM

ONLINE MARKETING

The NMBC’s target market, busy millennials and their families, are best reached through online tactics. Consequently, we focus much of our advertising and consumer information campaigns online. The New Mexico Beef Council’s marketing plan includes maintaining and promoting our website, and a robust digital ad and social media campaign. All of our metrics for measuring consumer impressions

SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT

DEAR FELLOW PRODUCERS,

For decades, state beef councils have partnered with the national Beef Checkoff to drive the demand for beef with remarkable success. By working together and sharing a unified voice, we develop creative and innovative ways to reach consumers even as their buying behaviors change.

Despite changes in how families make their grocery purchases, they still love beef! Recent research shows that 69% of consumers eat beef at least weekly. Research like this serves as the foundation of all Checkoff programs, and the Federation of State Beef Councils continues to support product quality, nutrition, beef safety, sustainability and market research to strengthen beef’s promotional efforts.

For more than 35 years, the Beef Checkoff has been using funds wisely and effectively and the Supreme Court recently confirmed that USDA has appropriate and adequate oversight to ensure that Checkoff funds are being spent in compliance with the Beef Promotion and Research Act. As Checkoff dollars are budgeted for projects, the Federation of State Beef Councils is at the table with producer input guiding decisions through a grassroots process.

This annual report touches on some of the programs that producers help direct. From research and promotion to consumer and industry outreach, these efforts demonstrate the positive impact that national programs have when extended at the state level. These success stories confirm that we are better and stronger when we work together!

As we look forward to 2023 when the Federation of State Beef Councils commemorates its 60th anniversary, let’s take time to celebrate our accomplishments, plan for the future and continue to work together to drive beef demand.

Sincerely,

BETTER AND STRONGER TOGETHER

The Federation of State Beef Councils (FSBC) builds a larger, more impactful, coordinated plan that is executed as a partnership between the Federation and individual state beef councils (SBCs). State beef councils voluntarily invest in the FSBC each year, and more than 50% of those contributions supplement tactics within Authorization Requests (ARs) approved by the Beef Promotion Operating Committee (BPOC). Supplementing these tactics helps the national Checkoff program have a larger impact on consumer demand.

In 2022, the FSBC contributed $4.5 million to supplement the approximately $40 million national plan funded by the BPOC for promotion, research, industry information, consumer information, and producer communications. Specific programs made possible by SBC contributions include but are not limited to the following.

PROMOTION $1,165,000

For the second year, the FSBC sponsored the Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner 300, the 41st seasonopening race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway in February, 2022. Consumers were reached through BIFWS race coverage and television spots encouraging them to shop at Smith’s/Kroger’s for race related offers.

Beef was the star of the holidays with 125 ads airing during the holiday season on the Hallmark Channel including Thanksgiving weekend and a movie sponsor premier.

Chair, Federation of State Beef Councils

PROMOTING BEEF TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF CONSUMERS

Kids are influencing their family’s buying behaviors and are more engaged with social issues than ever before. NCBA, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, and state beef councils recognized the importance of educating America’s youth about beef’s positive sustainability story and created fun and exciting ways to reach the next generation of consumers.

As part of reputation management initiatives around sustainability, NCBA partnered with kid-focused media outlets, such as The Week Jr. and ScoutLife. Through these partnerships, kids and parents alike were directed to the newly created Beef Sustainability for Kids page on the Beef Checkoff-funded Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. website. An important aspect of the online content was kids sharing their stories of life on the ranch with their urban neighbors, helping bridge the gap between pasture and plate. 

STATES EXTEND E-COMMERCE EFFOR TS

In November and December 2021, a nationwide club store promoted beef and the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. brand during the holidays on the retailer’s digital properties. Holiday beef digital ads were placed on the retailer’s website and app directing consumers to a page where they could add beef to their shopping cart. Almost 40,000 consumers interacted with the ads, and those ads drove more than $8 million in beef sales with 8.6 percent new buyers to the beef category. The return on ad spend for the campaign was $41.72, which means that for every Checkoff dollar spent on the project, nearly $42 was returned in beef sales. In addition, the effort was supported by 14 state beef council partners which helped increase the overall reach and impressions and brought additional beef sales to individual states. 

EARLY BITES WITH BEEF

The Early Bites with Beef campaign continued in 2022 to advance awareness and increase health professional recommendations that beef can (and should) be a safe complementary first food for babies starting at around six months of age and continuing throughout childhood. Campaign efforts also provided consumers with information about how to effectively and safely feed babies beef.

Funding from the Federation and individual state beef councils extended outreach efforts to health professionals nationwide. More than 3,000 toolkits, complete with posters, fact sheets and

newsletters, were distributed to pediatric health care offices in 32 states. Health professional response to toolkits was very positive with nearly 9 in 10 professionals recommending or intending to recommend beef to parents and caregivers. In addition, 75% of respondents reported being more knowledgeable about beef as an early complementary food after receiving the information. On the consumer side, half of respondents reported that receiving the information from their pediatric professional made them more likely to feed beef to their child. 

BEEF ADVOCATES BLAZE NEW TRAILS

The new Trailblazers program takes advocacy to an unprecedented level by giving participants the tools and training they need to promote beef to new audiences while addressing and correcting myths. Ten Trailblazers from across the country attended a multi-day training, which provided them with the resources, information, and engaging activities they need to become expert communicators, excel in media interviews and understand how to build confidence in beef related practices when talking to consumers. 

NEW SPOKESPERSON SCORES POINTS

FOR BEEF

Beef scored points this summer with new spokesperson, Tony Romo. The former professional football quarterback and current sports commentator shared his family’s passion for beef with consumers, and promoted beef nationwide through digital and social media, outdoor advertising, on ESPN.com and through broadcast television ads on the Food Network, HGTV and the Magnolia Network. State beef councils extended this national programming through billboards, displays, advertising and other promotional efforts. Tony Romo’s Playbook on BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com also highlighted new recipes and valuable information about beef’s taste, nutrition, versatility and sustainability. 

Trailblazers Shaye Koester and Jaclyn Wilson of Nebraska plate their beef dish during a social media and culinary challenge.

Fish

by Kaylee Douglas/KFOR

Species Act

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is listing two Distinct Population Seg ments (DPS) of the lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Southern DPS of the lesser prai rie-chicken is being listed as endangered while the Northern DPS of the lesser prai rie-chicken is being listed as threatened.

FWS officials say the lesser prai rie-chicken serves as an important measure of the overall health of America’s grasslands as they need large, unfragmented parcels of intact native prairies to maintain self-sus taining populations.

“The lesser prairie-chicken’s decline is a sign our native grasslands and prairies are in peril. These habitats support a diversity of wildlife and are valued for water quality, climate resilience, grazing, hunting and rec reation,” said USFWS Southwest Regional Director Amy Lueders. “The Service contin ues to work with stakeholders to develop voluntary conservation agreements that will protect the lesser prairie-chicken and the native grasslands on which it depends while assuring that oil and gas and renewable energy development, ranching, agriculture and other activities continue.”

While historical estimates suggest lesser prairie-chickens once numbered in the hun dreds of thousands, or even millions, across nearly 100 million acres, populations have declined drastically due to habitat loss and fragmentation.

Lesser prairie-chicken habitat has dimin ished across its historical range by about 90 percent. Aerial survey results from 2012 through 2022 estimate a five-year average lesser prairie-chicken population of 32,210 across the five-state region.

Officials say their decline reflects the larger decline in the vitality and resilience in shinnery oak, sand sagebrush and mixedand short-grass prairie ecosystems.

Voluntary conservation efforts have helped conserve key habitat for the lesser prairie-chicken but have not demonstrated

an ability to offset the threats and reverse the trends of habitat loss and fragmentation facing the lesser prairie-chicken.

A thorough review of past, present, and future threats to the lesser prairie-chicken, as well as an analysis of ongoing conserva tion efforts, finds the Southern DPS is in danger of extinction, and the Northern DPS is likely to become endangered in the fore seeable future. The Southern DPS encompasses lesser prairie-chicken popula tions in eastern New Mexico and across the southwest Texas Panhandle. The Northern DPS encompasses lesser prairie-chicken pop ulations in southeastern Colo rado, southcentral to western Kansas, western Oklahoma and the northeast

Texas Panhandle.

According to the FWS’s Species Status Assessment, habitat loss and fragmentation are expected to continue, resulting in con tinued declines across the species’ range even when accounting for ongoing and future conservation efforts.

“We have worked to ensure there are extensive options available for streamlined ESA compliance for all industries across the entire estimated occupied range of the lesser prairie-chicken,” said Lueders. “Moving forward, we welcome the opportunity to work with any other interested parties to develop additional options to fit their needs while providing regulatory certainty.”

The FWS says the designation of critical habitat for the lesser prairie-chicken is prudent but not determinable at this time.      ▫

When in Colfax County visit Cimarron and the Aztec Mill Museum “Crossing the Rayado”

Photo credit: Getty Images

ROSWELL LIVESTOCK AUCTION SALES, INC. & ROSWELL LIVESTOCK AUCTION

TRUCKING, INC.

by Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, Texas Agriculture Law Blog

Roswell livestock Auction Receiving stAtions

LORDSBURG, NM

20 Bar Livestock Highway #90 at NM #3 – East side of highway. Receiving cattle for transport 2nd & 4th Sunday of each month. Truck leaves Lordsburg on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. (MST) Smiley Wooton, 575/622-5580 office, 575/6266253 cell.

PECOS, TX

Jason Heritage is now receiving cattle every Sunday. For information to unload contact Jason Heritage 575/8409544 or Smiley Wooton 575/626-6253. NO PRIOR PERMITS REQUIRED. Trucks leave Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (CST)

VAN HORN, TX

800 West 2nd, 5 blocks west of Courthouse. Bob Kinford, 432/284-1553. Trucks leave 1st & 3rd Sunday at 3:00 p.m. (CST)

MORIARTY, NM

Two blocks east and one block south of Tillery Chevrolet. Smiley Wooton 575/622-5580 office, 575/626-6253 mobile. Trucks leave Sunday at 3:00 p.m. (MST)

SAN ANTONIO, NM

River Cattle Co. Nine miles east of San Antonio on U.S. 380. Receiving cattle for transport 2nd & 4th Sunday of each month. Michael Taylor 575/418-7398. Trucks leave Sunday at 3:00 p.m. (MST)

Recently, the IRS announced the 2023 estate and gift tax exemp tion amounts. These amounts change slightly each year, and are an important consideration in a person’s estate planning process.

The IRS sets a certain amount that a person is allowed to give during their lifetime or at death without estate or gift tax liability. The IRS adjusts the amount each year.

For 2023, the exemption amount will be $12.92 million per person, up from $12.06 million per person in 2022. Remember that in 2026, the exemption amount will significantly decrease, going to $5 million per person (adjusted for inflation, it will likely be closer to $7 million) and plan accordingly. If you think you are even close to the current exemption amount, you need to be working with an attorney and an accountant now to take steps to ensure you (or your estate) will not face estate or gift tax liability.

The annual gift tax exemption will also increase, going from $16,000 in 2022 to $17,000 in 2023. To read more about estate and gift taxes, visit: https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/ for previous blogs posted in 2021.      ▫

Retailer Antitrust Claims Vs. Beef Packers Consolidated

by Susan Kelly, meatingplace.com

Afederal district court in Minnesota has consolidated the anti trust claims of several large retailers and wholesalers against four beef packers into the lawsuit originally brought by R-CALF USA and the National Farmers Union (NFU).

The plaintiffs, which include Sysco, US Foods, Kroger, Hy-Vee, Albertson, Associated Grocers, Subway and SuperValu, allege the packers’ efforts to jointly manage their slaughter volume and their cattle purchasing practices caused beef prices to rise while also pushing cattle prices lower.

The discovery phase of the case, originally filed in April 2019, is expected to continue through 2023, the NFU said.

The plaintiffs plan to file a motion for class certification by August 2023, the NFU said. In that motion, R-CALF USA, NFU and other cattle feeders will ask the court to certify that their claims should proceed on behalf of feeders who sold fat cattle to Tyson, National Beef, Cargill or JBS from Jan. 1, 2015, to the present, and

USDA Extends Comment Deadline on Proposed New PSA Rule

The USDA extended the comment period by about six weeks covering its pro posal aimed at improving transparency within the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), the agency announced in Mid-November. USDA introduced the “Inclusive Compe tition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act” in June to pro hibit certain “prejudices against

market-vulnerable individuals” that tend to be excluded in livestock markets. The pro posal drew calls from Congress and industry organizations to expand the comment period, which originally was scheduled to end on December 2. The comment period has been extended to January 17, 2023.

The proposed rule, which is a long read in the Federal Register, points to the consol idation that has occurred in the livestock industry. Since 1980, the four largest cattle processors have gone from 36 percent of market share to more than 80 percent of fed cattle processing now. For hogs, the concen tration over the time has gone from 34 percent to 64 percent for the four largest packers. In poultry, since 1977, the four-firm concentration ratio has gone from 22 percent to 53 percent.

USDA noted, “Limited options for pro ducers heightens the risks of prejudicial exclusion and retaliation. Over the years, these concerns have been reported to USDA, but the Department has not been able to effectively address complaints, in part owing to insufficient clarity around P&S Act rules and standards and related questions around the ability for individuals to bring cases based on specific instances of harm.”      ▫

No Consensus on Climate Crisis, Scientist Survey Finds

he Heartland Institute recently com missioned a survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University to get scientists’ thoughts on climate change. The survey results dispel the notion that 97 percent of relevant scientists believe humans are causing catastrophic climate change. Instead, Heartland’s poll found the percentage of earth scientists who believe anthropogenic climate change will “significantly harm” people’s standard of living in our lifetimes is far lower than previously reported: 59 percent.

Fairleigh Dickinson surveyed 400 people who hold at least a bachelor’s degree in the academic fields most pertinent to the climate debate, including meteorology, climatology, physics, geology, and hydrology. Ninety-five percent of the respondents fell into the cate gories of meteorology (72 percent) or climatology (23 percent), so physicists and geologists, among others, were underrepre

sented, in my opinion. Only 24 percent of those surveyed had advanced degrees in their respective fields, and only six percent had Ph.Ds.

It is unfortunate that the sample size wasn’t larger and the poll didn’t survey more people with advanced degrees who are con ducting and publishing research on climate change. I also wish more physicists and geol ogists had been surveyed. Oh, well; as with every other poll, you can only survey those who agree to be interviewed.

Unsurprisingly, the poll found 96 percent of those surveyed believe climate change is occurring, and on average they attribute 75 percent of the change to human activity. Beyond those two points, there is nothing approaching a consensus among the scientists.

As my Heartland colleague Chris Talgo wrote in an article for Townhall discussing the survey, “even among the 59 percent of

scientists who expect significant harm at some point in our lifetimes, the term ‘signif icant harm’ is a far cry from the term ‘crisis’ that is often employed by climate activists and the media.”

Forty percent of those surveyed were either unsure whether any harm would occur, thought climate change might cause slight harm, or believed climate change would result in a slight or significant improvement in the lives of people living today. The remaining respondents said they do not believe climate change is occurring.

More than four-fifths of those surveyed said extreme weather events such as hurri canes, droughts, and wildfires have increased significantly (41 percent) or slightly (46 percent) in recent years. This shows, however, not that extreme weather has in fact wors ened, but that the perception of many scientists has been skewed by media cover age, anecdotal claims, and the influence of their colleagues—sources vastly different from hard data, peer-reviewed research, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. I say this because the available data show just the opposite.

Concerning this point, another Heart land colleague, Linnea Lueken, wrote the following for Heartland Daily News:

[O]fficial data from the United States government and international sources show the frequency of hurricanes has slightly declined in recent years, and they have not become more severe. Data also shows wild fires have decreased over the past century. Instances of extreme drought and tornadoes also remained unchanged or slightly declined.

And concerning harm to humans, peer-reviewed studies like one recently pub lished in The Lancet show human deaths related to temperatures have declined signifi cantly over the past 30 years, and human mortality related to climate has declined during the last hundred years of climate change.

What this poll confirms is that in think ing about extreme weather events, scientists often don’t follow the scientific method or the established rules for scientific forecasting as laid out by Kesten Green and J. Scott Arm strong in their series of papers, studies, and presentations on the subject. Green and Armstrong write,

… dire predictions are not, however, the result of scientific forecasting; rather, they are the opinions of experts. Expert opinion on climate change has

often been wrong.

… Climate scientists now use com puter models, but there is no evidence that modeling improves the accuracy of predictions. For example, according to the models, the Earth should be warmer than actual measurements show it to be.

Commenting on this point in a press release, Heartland Institute President James Taylor said, “the Scientific Method requires that we engage in science by testing and ana lyzing theories according to objective data rather than asking for a show of hands.”

Another interesting finding of the study is the generational and experiential divide it reveals.

Heartland Senior Fellow Anthony Watts and I find it instructive that only a minority of the older, more-experienced scientists surveyed, ages 50 and above, said climate change presents a serious danger. Of those surveyed, it seems more-seasoned profes sionals have more-moderate opinions on the effects of climate change: their responses were more consistent with existing data, in contrast to the more-extreme, alarmist views of younger respondents.

“Just 44 percent of scientists over 50 years

old believed climate change would reduce our standard of living in our lifetimes,” Watts said. “Further, just 38 percent were convinced severe weather events have increased.”

My conclusion about this observation is that the more experience one has as a researcher, the more skeptical one becomes of extreme claims. The evidence suggests years of indoctrination have succeeded in programming younger, less-experienced climate scientists into believing humans are causing a climate catastrophe even though the data say otherwise.

So, do the survey participants believe the climate is changing? Yes. (And they should, as it is always changing.) Are humans responsible for most of it? Those polled say yes. Is this causing a catastrophe? No agreement.

SOURCES: Townhall, Heartland Daily News, The Heartland Institute ▫

Cattle Industry Dynamics Finally Lining Up

by Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, Cow Calf Corner

The latest Cattle on Feed report pegs November 1 feedlot inventory at 11.706 million head, 98.0 percent of last year and the second consecutive monthly year over year decrease. The 12-month moving average of feedlot totals, which shows the average feedlot total for the previous year, peaked in September 2022 (Table 1). Feedlot inventories are expected to decrease year over year

Food Pantry Contributions Worth Billions a Year, Study Finds

by Susan Kelly, meatingplace.com

Researchers at Cornell University and USDA have calculated the substan tial economic value contributed by food pantries — worth up to $1,000 annu ally to participating families and as much as $28 billion nationwide.

The totals underscore the food bank system’s important role in addressing food insecurity, which has grown during the pandemic and recent inflation, said David R. Just, science and business professor in the School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell.

Just is the co-author of “What is Free Food Worth? A Nonmarket Valuation Approach to Estimating the Welfare Effects of Food Pantry Services”, pub

for the foreseeable future. Table 1 shows how cattle industry dynamics have developed since the last cyclical peak, with peak totals for each category highlighted in yellow. The peak average cow herd and calf crop occurred in 2018 with the peak feeder supply noted on January 1, 2019.

Table 1. Cattle Industry Dynamics, 2018-2022.

The combination of effects from the pan demic in 2020 and drought since 2020 has pushed the peak in feedlot numbers and cattle slaughter into 2022, well past the cycli cal peak in the calf crop in 2018. The pandemic in 2020 caused a backlog of cattle in feedlots and in the country.

As a result, the estimated feeder supply on January 1, 2021 was higher than 2020. The drought in 2021 and 2020 caused cattle to be marketed earlier than usual and resulted in reduced heifer retention and increased heifer and cow slaughter in 2021 and 2022.

Early marketing of cattle, reduced heifer retention and herd liquidation have kept

feedlot inventories higher in 2022 and tem porarily increased beef production. Beef production is projected at a record large 28.4 billion pounds in 2022 as a result of the highest total cattle slaughter in 15 to 20 years.

As 2022 comes to a close, it appears that feedlot inventories have peaked and cattle slaughter should begin to decline in the next few months. On October 1, 2022, the inven tory of heifers in feedlots was higher than the previous year, with the heifer percentage of total feedlot inventories the highest in 21 years.

The number of heifers in feedlots should begin to decline and will drop sharply when herd rebuilding begins. Feedlot inventories are beginning to reflect the fact that feeder cattle supplies have been declining since 2019.

With drought conditions continuing, it is unclear when herd liquidation will cease and herd rebuilding can begin. However, it is clear that feedlot production, cattle slaughter beef production will fall in 2023.

How much they will fall depends on when drought conditions will improve. Nev ertheless, declining feedlot supplies mean that all levels of the cattle are finally on the same page and are reflecting the tighter cattle supplies in the country.      ▫

lished this month in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Lead author Anne Byrne is a research agricultural economist at USDA’s Economic Research Service.

Food banks and pantries served 51 million people in 2021, according to the nonprofit Feeding America. However, researchers said, their economic value to the individuals and households hasn’t been estimated using rigorous economic methods. Determining that value is chal lenging because food pantries provide food and services at no cost, and the market value of food may not accurately capture its value to people who can’t afford to access markets.

Byrne and Just used travel costs, an application of a methodology long used to value assets like national parks, based on costs incurred to make the trip. They cal culated the cost of travel to and from food pantries as a measure of households’ “will ingness to pay” for the food, considering the distance, duration and frequency of their trips.

The scholars analyzed 13 years of data (2005 to 17) from a northern Colorado food bank that in 2017 served 10 percent of Larimer County residents at locations in Fort Collins and Loveland. The result was an estimated value to families of $40 to $60 per trip to a food pantry and $600 to $1,000 per year based on typical annual visit frequencies.

Extrapolated nationally — based on 389 million visits reported by Feeding America’s 2014 Hunger in America Study — the estimates confirm that “food bank services collectively represent a sizable share of the food landscape,” the research ers wrote, with an estimated value of $19 billion to $28 billion.

Editor’s Note: The study did not report on how much was donated to food pantries.      ▫

Third Trimester is Critical to Calf Development: Cows Need to Be Primed

Source: Purina

The finish line is nearly in sight for cow herds around the country as spring-calving season looms. For many spring-calving herds, late-fall or early-winter marks the start of the third trimester and a significant upward shift in nutrient require ments. Coincidentally, it’s also when most available forage resources are lowest in quality. This creates a significant gap between nutrient needs and nutrient delivery during what is arguably the most critical trimester in calf development.

This year, the ongoing drought around the country is compounding nutrient needs for cowherds. Dryness in your area may have you facing difficult decisions like feeding more hay and supplements than normal or culling animals.

“The drought and subsequent liquidation of cows have made late-gestation nutrition all the more important this year so the next generation of the cowherd can be set up for success,” says Patrick Gunn, Ph.D., cattle nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition.

Cow nutrition during these three months influences everything from calving ease, calf vigor at birth, long-term calf performance and next season’s breeding success for the cow.

Short- and long-term impacts of cow nutrition for the calf

Initial investments in quality nutrition have the benefit of positively affecting per formance at calving and later in the calf’s life, benefiting your overall profitability. Insuffi cient nutrition in the final trimester has significant ramifications.

“Cows channel 30 percent of their energy to support fetal growth and development during the third trimester,” says Gunn. “The fetus needs more nutrients from its dam than the previous two trimesters to fuel the final calf development of its organs, skeleton, lungs and immune system.”

If calf development requirements aren’t met in-utero, it can result in:

Ї Reduced birth weight and impaired growth Ї

Lower likelihood for the calf to reach

Ї

its genetic potential

Compromised immune system with a lifelong impact

Ї Long-term negative effects on fertility

Ї Setbacks to the dam’s reproductive efficiency

“The third trimester offers a unique opportunity to proactively invest in the future of your calf crop and replacement heifers,” says Gunn.

Cutting corners on nutrition to save money upfront has an impact on perfor mance, and subsequently your pocketbook. Fetal nutrition studies in Oklahoma and Nebraska demonstrate that calves born to cows with adequate levels of protein and energy in the diet during the third trimester have improved average daily gain and overall health.

The Nebraska study compared the repro ductive performance of heifers born to supplemented and non-supplemented cows while grazing corn stalks. Supplemented cows produced heifers with higher overall breeding season pregnancy rates (93 percent) compared to heifers from non-supplemented cows (80 percent).

“The bottom line? Whether the calf is destined for the feedlot or the cowherd, ade quate cow nutrition is paramount for their future performance,” says Gunn.

Meeting third trimester requirements

Calving is the main athletic event a cow fuels her body for. Prepare the cow and her growing fetus for a successful calving by focusing on the essentials – protein, energy, minerals and vitamins. And don’t forget to factor in changing weather. The colder it gets, the more energy cows need to maintain core body temperature, diverting energy away from the growing calf.

“Feed your cowherd with supplements that deliver additional energy and protein in a palatable package,” says Gunn. “Some sup plements are designed to complement your existing forage resources, so cows only consume supplement when they need it.”

Year-round mineral supplementation is another great strategy to help meet third trimester requirements. Constant access to quality mineral helps cows build up mineral and vitamin reserves. Cows can pull from those reserves during critical times, includ ing the third trimester, to support nutrient needs without depleting their stores.

The third trimester serves as the final sprint to the finish line – a time to dial in cowherd nutrition and not hold back, ulti mately helping performance and your bottom line.      ▫

LAZY S RANCH WILLCOX, LLC M S

SM Registered Angus Since 2002

Service-Age Bulls Available

Private Treaty and at Sales at Marana, Prescott, AZ

Susan Wilson-Sanders, DVM 520-403-8510

Ed McClure: 520-306-1574 lazysranchacct@gmail.com 13250 Ash Creek Road, Willcox, AZ 85643

February 8-9, 2023

Overton Hotel, Lubbock, Texas

Starts 1pm CT on the 8th Early registration is $75

For more informaton visit animalscience.tamu.edu or contact Marcy Ward at 575-644-3379

An educational forum tailored for beef producers in the Southwest.

The Southwest Beef Symposium is a joint effort between the New Mexico Cooperative Extension Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, established to annually provide producers with timely information about current industry issues and practical management.

Cowboys, Climate Change & the New Congress

J-C Angus Ranch

Climate change

Aworld leader on climate change has announced we are failing to meet the goal of limiting increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

One Alok Sharma, who presided over the previous climate change conference (COP), told attendees at this year’s COP that limit ing the temperature rise to that level had to be a “red line.”

The 1.5 degree Celsius was the agreed upon goal at the at the 2015 U.N. climate summit in Paris.

The current climate conference has also released a draft agreement that includes funds for “loss and damages,” a long-sought provision paying reparations from the western, more developed nations to the rel atively poor undeveloped nations. Let’s call this what it really is – income redistribution that uses climate change as the action forcing event. The draft text , if adopted, would begin a two-year implementation process to create a funding mechanism no later than 2024.

Now the Biden administration has just released their Roadmap for Nature-Based Solutions to Fight Climate Change wherein they propose nature based solutions for floodplain management, calculating the value of nature, for energy, and as a guide to all federal planning and permitting. You name it and they have a nature based solution.

Just what are these nature based solu tions? The White House describes them as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems as solutions to societal challenges, like fighting climate change. Examples include protection or conservation of natural areas, reforesta tion, restoration of marshes or other habitats, or sustainable management of farms, fisher ies, or forests.”

Uh-oh. You see where this is leading.

Right into the hands of the enviros, who are critical of the Biden plan because it doesn’t use enough of the nature based solu tions. They want the Biden administration to offer more specific actions to protect old growth forests, which they claim has 35 percent of forest land, but only 25 percent have some type of formal protection.

That formal protection gets me. What they really mean is more wilderness, wildlife refuges, national monuments, etc., but they

by Frank Dubois

Can an arbitrary number on climate control, selected by the UN and Biden, affect your grazing permit? Read on, friend, read on.

just won’t come out and say it. Those lands currently must be managed to comply with the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Acl, the Clean Water Act, the National Environ mental Policy Act, and many others. There is nothing informal about it. The idea these lands are unprotected is just outhouse soup.

New congress

The results of the recent midterm elec tions have moved the entire Congress to the left, with the progressives making significant gains in the Democrat party.

The chair of the Congressional Progres sive Caucus. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), says “There’s no question that this will be the most progressive Democratic caucus in decades.” Michael Starr Hopkins, a Demo cratic operative says, “They have power and they should use it… Period.”

And make no mistake, the progressives are closely aligned with the enviros.

Cowboys

What will come of all this climate change push, especially for ranchers and rural prop erty owners?

It seems clear the enviros will use climate change as the lever to lobby for all the items on their agenda, but of most interest to us they will use it as the reason to: Ї increase funding for all their programs. with special emphasis on wildlife habitat and land acquisition Ї designate more wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, national monuments, national parks, wild and scenic rivers and other land use designations Ї place more emphasis on “lands with wilderness characterists” and roadless areas during the planning process, and Ї climate change will take a much more prominent place in all planning documents and decisions, including those on livestock grazing

In NM we have almost 30 WSAs and other places like Otero Mesa where you just know the envirocrats are making plans. Also to be considered are Forest Service “roadless areas” in the Carson, Cibula, Coronado, Gila, Lincoln and Santa Fe National Forests.

You better get ready for the ride.

Here is hoping you have a Merry Christ mas and a Prosperous New Year.

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

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

M-Hat Angus

Leadership in Quality Herefords

BLM Advances Strategy to Protect Wildlife Migration Corridors

by Scott Streater, Greenwire

The Bureau of Land Management recently pledged to prioritize conserva tion and restoration of wildlife and aquatic migration corridors on public lands as the climate warms and drought conditions linger across the West.

BLM has issued an instruction memoran dum directing bureau state offices to identify wildlife migration corridors and conserve or restore them to ensure “habitats for native fish, wildlife, and plant populations are suf ficiently interconnected.”

Among other things, the memo signed by David Jenkins, BLM’s assistant director of resources and planning, directs all state offices “to consult with state fish and wildlife agencies and Tribes” to assess the condition of connectivity corridors “in order to manage as best as possible for intact, con nected habitat.” It also encourages BLM planners evaluating projects to consider alternative sites for proposals that would harm habitat connectivity corridors.

BLM must also “incorporate evaluation of areas of habitat connectivity, and manage ment and analysis of them” when renewing resource management plans, the memoran dum says.

While maintaining wildlife habitat has been a key part of BLM’s mission, the docu ment notes “the management of the connections between and within priority habitats … has, in some cases, received less attention and, with increasing habitat frag mentation and degradation, maintaining habitat integrity and connectivity has become a significant need.”

BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning called the move a “science-based effort” to acknowledge the fact that “our public lands support the needs of wildlife and biodiver sity” and need to be managed as such.

It’s part of BLM’s ongoing efforts “to make sure wildlife has room to roam well into the future,” she added.

Those efforts began four years ago under then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who signed a secretarial order directing BLM to collaborate with states and private landown ers on projects and research designed to

upgrade winter range and migration corri dors, particularly for elk, antelopes and mule deer (Greenwire, February 12, 2018).

The Biden administration has worked to build on the Zinke order and has tied ongoing efforts to do so as part of its “Amer ican the Beautiful” initiative that aims to conserve or restore 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in April directed Interior Department agencies “to update policies, to identify and prioritize conservation and restoration of wildlife cor ridors,” according to the new BLM memo.

Interior has in the last year made millions of dollars available for such work, including $9.5 million in grants last spring for a series of projects in seven states and three tribal nations aimed at improving big game migra tion corridors (E&E News PM, April 7).

Interior has announced the awarding of $91 million in grants administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for 55 projects, including programs to remove or replace 250 miles of fencing that blocks wildlife migration corridors (E&E News PM, November 10).

The latest BLM effort will help states that have adopted their own wildlife corridor

strategies. That includes Wyoming, where Republican Gov. Mark Gordon in 2020 issued an executive order directing state wildlife officials to identify and protect migration corridors — drawing bipartisan praise from Haaland (Greenwire, August 13, 2021).

So have Nevada and Colorado, where Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in a statement

praised BLM’s latest effort “to support bio diversity and resilience on federal lands.”

The latest BLM effort also won praise from numerous conservation and outdoor sporting groups, including the National Audubon Society, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the Wilder ness Society.      ▫

Kiley McComb, Mgr. P.O. Box 2 Picacho, NM 88343 575/653-4617 Cell: 806/282-2770 kmccomb@diamond-a.com

Ranchers Versus

Non Ranchers

Ihappened to attend a once-a-year commu nity meeting at the school gymnasium last week with local county officials talking about everything from traffic concerns to building permits. We are lucky in our area as our county representatives are quite recep tive to the ideas put forth by rural residents.

This is a very large county area wise with 8,125 square miles and a population of about 225,000. That comes to about .036 people per square mile. As a result, you tend to know or know of most of your neighbors, which is normally a good thing. One thing that has happened here, like other places in the West, we are being invaded by Californians trying to escape high taxes and snowbirds flying south for the winter. In the last 15 years our population in this county has doubled. With that dynamic in place some of our attitudes are beginning to change, which is not neces sarily a good thing.

For instance, we have a new local mine in our area, and they have been having trouble drilling enough water for their use on their own land. As a result, until they get their water issues resolved they are buying water from a local rancher and trucking it a few miles to the mine.

Luckily, the local rancher has an abun dance of water and the equipment necessary to fill trucks efficiently. This has been a good solution for both parties. It is off the beaten path and causes no hardship or inconve nience for any other residents.

At the community meeting the other

night this issue was brought up by a nubile resident that exclaimed, “They are using OUR water, because water belongs to every one.” I never thought I would ever hear those words uttered by anyone in this county.

What the nubile resident does not under stand is that when you buy land in our area, you also pay for water and mineral rights. The water on your land is yours and so are the minerals.

Why would he think the water is partially his? He is not contributing anything to the rancher selling the water. The arrogance astounds me and makes no good common sense.

The county officials knew that everything was done legally, so the man’s protests fell flat, and he looked like a fool for that comment. What scares me, is there will be more people with those corrupt attitudes moving in as time goes on.

Each year it gets tougher and tougher to be a rancher because with the influx of people and more progressive governments they seem to be trying their best to eliminate us from the American landscape.

Stop and think about it. In the West the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and state agencies that

leased land for grazing used to be the ranch er’s friend.

They were happy for you to help them be stewards of the land and in turn helped you maintain it. Now, they do nothing positive for the rancher and have become our adversaries.

According to the progressive deviants in charge of these agencies the lands should be for recreational use only. All Terrain Vehicle routes seem to be the priority these days. What destroys the land faster than an ATV, certainly not cattle?

We used to be so far from town that no one would want to come out this way unless they were horseback or the occasional serious hiker. Today, we are accessible to any city slicker that can afford an ATV.

We are being invaded by people that have no knowledge or respect for our way of life. They have ruined where they live, so now they are intent on ruining where we live via their invasion.

Not only that, but they try to tell us how we ought to be living through nonsensical legislation. I’m an optimist and still think we can beat them back, but they are knocking on the door, so keep it shut.      ▫

VIEW

Beyond Meat Gets More Bad News: Docs Reveal What’s Been Found in Product, Horrid Conditions

by Richard Moorhead, The Western Journal

LIFE IN RURAL NEW MEXICO

Paintings

by Carlitta Harvey

Afood processing plant belonging to one of the biggest faux meat companies is riddled with bacteria and food safety violations.

Internal documents and photos from the Beyond Meat plant in metro Philadelphia paint a picture of dangerous conditions with possible repercussions for consumers.

Bloomberg obtained the evidence from plant whistleblowers, publishing the find ings in a recent report.

A food safety attorney interviewed by Bloomberg indicated that the conditions at the plant were seriously unhygienic.

“If neat and tidy is one and filthy is 10, I’d put this at an eight,” attorney Bill Marler said of the plant.

“Mold growth takes a while — that under scores a lack of cleanliness.”

Purported photos from the faux meat plant — a 45-minute drive on the Pennsyl vania Turnpike from Philadelphia — show mold growing on walls, as well as soiled containers used in food preparation.

Plant-based “meats” manufactured at the facility were found infected with the bacteria Listeria at least 11 different times since the second half of 2021, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.

The food-borne infectious bacteria can cause illness for those who consume it, and it contains serious health risks for pregnant women, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is yet to make a safety inspec tion of Beyond Meat’s Pennsylvania facility since the public company acquired the plant, according to Bloomberg.

Internal plant documents also suggested that inorganic materials like wood, string and metal had been found inside Beyond Meat products engineered at the facility.

In spite of this, the Pennsylvania Depart ment of Agriculture “found no instances of nonconformance with regulations,” hailing Beyond Meat’s food safety protocols in reports that followed March and September plant visits, according to Bloomberg.

Beyond Meat declined to comment when questioned on the documents and photos by Bloomberg.

The company produces plant-based prod ucts made to resemble hamburger patties, sausages, and other staple meats.

Economic prospects for the faux meat industry have taken a turn for the worse in 2022, with demand for the chemically engi neered meat alternatives failing to materialize as investors anticipated.

Proponents of fake meat point to it as an environmentally preferable alternative to the animal products that humans have consumed for thousands of years.      ▫

Nona Opal Peters went to be with her Lord and Savior on November 6, 2022 at BeeHive Homes of Portales. It was a beauti ful Sunday morning to meet Jesus! It is difficult to summarize a life of 102 years and 11 months into just a few words.

Opal was born on December 2, 1919, during a snowstorm to Mattie Bell Chaney and Daniel Oscar Jones. The doctor could not get there, and Opal’s grandmother deliv ered her at the family ranch between Capitan and Ruidoso.

Opal was the middle child of three broth ers and six sisters. Opal’s love of education began at the age of four in the one room schoolhouse at Angus. She and her siblings walked to school or rode the family horse.

Opal accepted Christ in 1936 at a revival held by Ralph Hall in the one room school house. She graduated from Capitan High School in 1937 and attended Eastern New Mexico State University and received her Associates degree. While there, she served as the Eastern New Mexico University Rodeo Queen in 1938. She returned to Capitan and taught junior high and coached girls’ basket ball for two years.

Opal married LaMoyne Peters on June 2, 1941, in Roswell. They made their home between Capitan and Ruidoso where they helped build the family ranch. She was a third grade teacher in Capitan for 25 years. Opal completed her Bachelor’s Degree in education in 1958.

She served as church secretary at the Capitan Nazarene Church, Nogal Mesa Ranchman’s Campmeeting, and Angus Naz arene Church for many years. Opal was a lifelong member of the Church of the Naza rene in Capitan and later in Angus.

Opal loved to take walks and go for drives on Sunday afternoons to visit friends and loved ones in the area. Her home was her pride and joy, and she especially enjoyed watching and listening to the birds sing. Opal collected anything and everything relating to birds, especially cardinals, which were her favorite. Opal & LaMoyne read a devotional every morning after breakfast and prayed for the family, community, nation and many elected officials by name. One of Opal’s favorite books of the bible was James.

Opal had 29 nieces and nephews that she loved dearly and did her best to stay active

in their lives and she consistently prayed for her family and friends. She also had more students than she could count and would talk about many of them by name through the years. Her students, family and friends were near and dear to her heart.

Opal is survived by her daughter Glenda Armstrong, husband Leslie, Fort Sumner; three grandchildren: Renee and Kevin Grant, Fort Sumner; Tanya Bequette and Landon Stevens, Fort Sumner; and Lynden Arm strong and Noah Cohen, Washington, DC. Four great-grandchildren: Kyra and Justin Monzingo of Fort Sumner, Rhett and Makayla Grant, Amarillo; and Kenzie and Kagan Bequette of Fort Sumner.

She is also survived by Dara Jack son(Matt) and family of Midland, Texas, Chet Armstrong(Todie), Justin Arm strong(Rahime) and Wyatt Armstrong of Hagerman; and Marty Armstrong(Michaela), Trenton Armstrong (Jasmine), Amber Lopez (Chazton) and family, and Taylor Cochrane(Seth) and family, Roswell. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, students, and friends.

The family would like to thank the staff of BeeHive Homes of Portales for their excel lent care and support over the last several years.

The family requests memorial contribu tions in memory of Opal Peters be given to Nogal Mesa Ranchman’s Camp Meeting, Box 86, Nogal, New Mexico 88341 or Bonita Park and Conference Center, 200 Bonita Park Road, Angus, NM 88316.

Jerry Metzger, 82, a long time resident of Estancia, was born June 25, 1940, to Wayne Sylvester and Inez (Ikenberry) Metzger, went home to be with the Lord on October 23, 2022, at his home surrounded by his wife of 57 years, Rowena and his loved ones.

Jerry joined the US Army on January 8, 1962 and was stationed in Germany until December 23, 1964 and served as a Military Mechanic and Army Reservist until January 7, 1968.

Jerry met and married the love of his life, Rowena Caster on June 26, 1965. To this union of love, four kids were born, Michelle, Warren, Wayne and Christie. He owned Jerry’s Chevrolet in Estancia for approxi mately five years. They farmed and ranched west of Estancia, where Rowena still resides.

Jerry was a member of the Torrance

County Fair Board, Torrance County Sher iff’s Posse, the Estancia Valley Quarter Horse Association, and the First Baptist Church. He loved his family, and he could always be found watching and supporting his grandkids and great-grandkids at live stock shows, rodeos, basketball and football games.

He is survived by his wife Rowena; sons Warren Metzger; Wayne Metzger and his wife Randi; daughters Michelle Dunlap and husband Todd; Christie Riley and husband Leland, all of Estancia; 12 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren and one on the way in May 2023; one sister Lorena Coburn and husband Duane; and numerous nieces and nephews.

One of the last of the Old Time Cowboys, Well known cowboy Robert Edwin “Sonney” Wright passed away peacefully in Taos on November 16, 2022. He was born on Septem ber 19, 1925 in Ft. Sumner to Lloyd and Rillia Wright. The Wrights were cattle ranchers and Sonney grew up living the cowboy life style. Always keenly competitive, he took to rodeo at a young age.

In 1944 he entered the Army and served in Japan and Korea. After the war Sonney returned to the family ranch and started rodeoing seriously. In that era, he rode bulls, broncs, bull dogged, and calf roped. He married Ruth Taylor, Tatum, and they had four children.

Sonney began roping professionally in 1945 (calves, steers) and won the World Steer Roping title in 1965. Known for his flamboy ant style and a go for broke attitude, he was a crowd and fellow contestant favorite. He set a number of arena records including Cheyenne. He never liked rodeo travel and stayed close to his family and ranch in Alto to the end of his rodeo career.

Sonney divided his time between ranch ing, rodeo, hunting and numerous important ranch land investments.

Big Game hunting was another passion, Sonney hunted and guided big game hunts all over North America. He particularly loved hunting bear and mountain Lions horseback with his fine hounds and was well known in the hunting dog world.

Sonney also loved racehorses, and owned some great ones, which he campaigned from Ruidoso to Santa Anita

Sonney leaves behind numerous family members: five children, Scotty, Zaynah, Zack, Pat and Jay along with 11 grandkids and seven great-grandkids.

Wright was preceded in death by his

beloved mother Rillia, Father Lloyd, son Deuce and sister Eunice Dean Nunn. He spent the last two years near Taos in the care of his son Pat, where he passed peacefully On November 16th, 2022

Services will be held at the ex-Rocker X ranch (Ramon, New Mexico) in the spring. In lieu of the family suggests a contribution to Heifer International.

Dr. Glenn Paul Blodgett, Guthrie, Texas, was called home on November 20, 2022, due to a complication from surgery, leaving behind a legacy that helped write the history books for the Four Sixes Ranch and the American Quarter Horse.

Born on December 21, 1948, Dr. Blodgett, or “Doc” as most called him, traveled a long way in his 74 years, from the family farm in Spearman, Texas, to a leader in the American Quarter Horse industry and around the globe as an ambassador for the breed, repre senting the ranch and the profession, and championing the welfare of the horse.

His fondest childhood memory was getting his first horse, “Smokey,” when he was 10. As he grew, his love for horses did too, and in the manner for which he is widely known, Dr. Blodgett set his sights early and began working diligently toward his goal of becoming a veterinarian.

After high school graduation, he attended his father’s beloved Texas Tech University (TTU) for one year before transferring to Oklahoma State University (OSU), where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science. From OSU, he then com pleted veterinary school at Texas A & M University (TAMU) in 1974 and began working at the Spur Veterinary Hospital in Spur, Texas. Two years later, he returned to his Spearman, Texas, roots to open Hansford County Veterinary Hospital with Dr. Tom Latta.

In 1982, Ms. Anne Marion, Burnett Ranches, was looking for a good business man, horseman and veterinarian, so she approached Dr. Blodgett to work for her as the resident veterinarian and manager for the Four Sixes Ranch horse division. The two made an impressive team sharing the vision of continuing and enhancing the legacy of Quarter Horse production on the Four Sixes Ranch with the utmost integrity. Through their partnership, they developed a worldclass, multi-tiered operation with some of the most elite race, performance, and working ranch horses available anywhere in

Dr. Blodgett didn’t just manage the horse division; he lived and breathed it. The horse business is a reputation business, and his approach was simple: his passion, credibility and honesty set him and the ranch apart. Under his leadership, the ranch became an industry leader in reproduction, breeding more than 1500 mares annually. During his tenure at the Four Sixes, the ranch became an all-time leading breeder of both racing and performance American Quarter Horses, and in 1993 won the AQHA Best Remuda Award.

The Bible says, “A person’s wisdom yields patience” (Proverbs 19:11). This was the foundation of Dr. Blodgett’s success. Often his business and breeding decisions took time to come to fruition, but the genius became apparent later and the entire horse world benefited from his influence and innovations.

He set a high standard for all to follow as he always strived to do what was right, always do better and take the high road no matter what. Every breeding decision was carefully considered, and he could recall two, three, or even four generations that he had been involved in breeding. He knew the story of every horse on the place; from nutrition to health care, he diligently set them up for success.

A soft-spoken man with an easy smile and a dry sense of humor, Doc had a grin that he was famous for and a chuckle that everyone loved. Throughout his career there were two questions Dr. Blodgett was asked the most, what is your favorite kind of horse and what is your favorite horse color? His answer was always the same, “a fast one!”

It’s impossible to sum up the life of an icon or legend in a few paragraphs; all you can do is write about the man you love and respect. One of his closest friends for more than 20 years, Johnny Trotter, may have summed it up best, “I do not know of any other person that has contributed as much to the horse industry, and in every facet, as Dr. Blodgett has.

If he is not the best man I have ever met, he ranks right up there in the top two or three. Not many people are like Dr. Blodgett. He was as true a friend, business partner and person as I have ever known. I am really glad that God decided to bless my life with a rela tionship with him because it is a huge blessing.”

A man of few words, there were times that he expressed himself that were extremely

meaningful to those on the receiving end. In the 37 years that Boyd Rice rode horses for the ranch he very distinctly remembers the two times that Dr. Blodgett said he was proud of him. The first time was in 2005 after he rode Playin Attraction at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity, winning both the Intermediate Open Champion and Open Reserve Champion.

Rice recalls, “It felt good to have him tell me he was proud of me but when it felt really good is when I showed his half-brother Quahadi at the World’s Greatest Horseman in 2021. We had won the preliminary round and, in the finals I missed my steer in the steer stopping. I was pretty disappointed but after the event Glenn was presenting the awards and he said to me ‘I know that it did not turn out the way either of us wanted but I am very proud of you’. As an owner he could have said a lot of things, but this meant the world to me. It really reaffirmed the kind of man he was.”

Dr. Scot Martin, owner of Hansford Vet erinarian Clinic in Spearman, Texas, is one of the many people that will say that Dr. Blodgett had a profound impact on his life, saying he was always ready to listen and give a gentle nudge “At every crossroad in my career I consulted him, and I did everything he advised me. If asked how I would describe Dr. Blodgett to a total stranger, I would say he loved others and loved God like no other human that I ever knew.

“He was so patient, beyond reproof. He was as close to living all of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kind ness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – as anyone I have ever known. It was not something he worked on, it came pretty naturally, he was born into it.”

Dr. Blodgett’s professional contributions were immense. His commitment to the bet terment of the American Quarter Horse breed and his steadfast involvement dates back to 1991 when he began his service as a Texas Director of American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). From there, he served as chairman of the AQHA Stud Book and Registration Committee, AQHA Hall of Fame Selection Committee, AQHA Execu tive Committee, and AQHA Executive President. He served on the American Asso ciation of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Board of Directors, Racing Ethics and Ethics Ad Hoc Committees.

He was appointed to the first Texas Horse Racing Commission. In addition, he was an active member of the Texas Equine Veteri nary Association (TEVA), the Texas Quarter Horse Association (TQHA), the Texas Vet

erinary Medical Association (TVMA), the American Association of Bovine Practi tioners, and the Ranching Heritage Association.

Over his lifetime he had been recognized by numerous organizations including the AAEP Distinguished Life Membership Award; TVMA Equine Practitioner of the Year; AQHA Register of Merit Award; Asso ciation of Racing Commissioners International’s Joan Pew Award for racing commissioner of the year; OSU Graduate of Distinction in Animal Science; Outstanding TAMU Alumni; AQHA Racing Council Special Recognition Award; National Ranch ing Heritage Center Golden Spur Award; and was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame, Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.

He was honored with an adjunct profes sorship in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sci ences and taught at Texas Tech University as an adjunct graduate faculty member. In addition, he mentored hundreds, if not thou sands, of senior veterinary students from throughout the country and abroad at the 6666 Ranch.

He was a part of Alpha Gamma Rho at OSU, a fraternity dedicated to upholding high morals and standards while “making better men.” This foundation of friends was very important to him.

His commitment to community service and philanthropy were an important role in Dr. Blodgett’s life. He served on the Guthrie Common School District as a board member for 24 years, was a member of the advisory board for Tarleton State University in Ste phenville, served as chairman of the King County Tax Appraisal Board, Vice President of King County EMS and was an active sup porter of the 4-H and FFA.

He is survived by his high school sweet heart and wife of 53 years Karen Blodgett: daughters, Buffie Guynes and Brandie Blodgett Mustian and husband Mike; five grandchildren; sister, Marilyn Cline; broth er-in-law, Ronnie Wright and wife Lelia; and a host of nieces, nephews and extended family.

Editor’s Note: Email caren@aaalivestock.com. Memorial donations may be sent to the Cattlegrowers’ Foundation, a 501(c)3, tax deductable charitable foundation serving the rights of ranch families and educating citizens on governmental actions, policies and practices. Cattlegrowers Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 7517, Albuquerque, NM 87194. The New Mexico Stockman runs memorials as a courtesy to its readers. If families & friends would like to see more detail, verbatim pieces must be emailed to us, & may be printed at 10¢ per word. ▫

RANCH FOOD & FODDER

by Deanna Dickinson McCall

Christmases spent on the ranch seem to hold so many memories for lots of folks. Sometimes weather can interfere with family traveling or plans. Being ranchers, we are accustomed to Mother Nature’s whims, and we just move forward and do the best we can.

It brings to mind a Christmas of long ago on the Nevada ranch we were on. We’d been hit by snowstorm after snowstorm, and we were unable to get to town to buy gifts for our small twin daughters. Fortunately, I had picked up two dolls the last time we made it to town that I had planned to make fancy dresses for. My husband was trying to think what he could make for them that Christmas Eve night as we encouraged the girls to go to bed early. We needed time to secretly make the only gifts they would receive. We heard a vehicle bucking its way through the deep snow. We wondered what was wrong, someone must be bearing bad news to try to get to us. Stepping outside, we saw our bach

elor neighbor pulling up to the house. He had a horse and a Christmas tree in the stock racks on his old pickup. He got out and hol lered “Merry Christmas.” He claimed he had to get his tree cut before his son came in the morning and had brought his horse along in case he got stuck and had to ride out. He also said Santa had dropped off presents at his place for our girls. They unwrapped pretty silk scarves, games and candy while he handed us a box of beautiful chocolates and our own new wild rags. He then produced his final gift of a bottle of whiskey and asked us to join him in a Christmas drink so he could warm up a bit before making his way back through the thirteen miles of drifts to his house. That was one of the best Christ mases ever. None of us will ever forget it or him.

I hope this recipe might make your own Christmas a bit merrier. The recipe is simple and will go with a prime rib or any holiday meat. It is from the cookbook I coauthored with Gay Gardella, Cowboy Cuisine: Beyond Biscuits and Beans. It is sometimes known as the original Potatoes Au gratin recipe.

This recipe calls for the use of a mandolin. It is almost impossible to slice thin enough without it for this recipe. I use an inexpensive one and discovered I use it more than I thought I would, for other fruits and vegeta

bles. It also slices great jerky if the meat is firm and semi-frozen. Besides, once you make this dish, I am betting it will become a family favorite.

Potatoes Au Gratin

Ingredients:

3 to 4 russet potatoes 1 onion

Assorted grated cheeses (Swiss, Gruyere, Cheddars, etc)

Heavy cream Directions:

Grease a baking dish.

Use a mandolin to slice both the potatoes and onions. (Leave the peel on the potatoes)

Place a layer of the potatoes in the dish, then place a layer of the onions. Season well with salt or garlic salt and black pepper. Add a light layer of the cheese you are using.

Repeat layers, ending with potatoes.

Pour heavy cream over the layers. Press down on the layers. The cream should just cover the layers. Sprinkle top with desired cheese, I usually use either Parmesan or Asiago.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour and a half, until a fork easily pierces it and the top is golden brown. Let stand a few minutes before serving.      ▫

LT Cattle Company

Selling commercial Hereford bulls to cattlemen in rugged southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona for over 50 years. Our cowherd started with about 40 registered cows in the mid-1950’s. Our herd bulls come primarily from the Barber Ranch, Channing, Texas. We select for balanced traits, with a little more emphasis on growth.

Calves will be ready to go by mid-December. There will be some polled and a few registered bulls. Our current 240 Hereford cows birth unassisted out in big pastures. At branding time those of the calves that are structurally correct, have bone and a big square hip are left as bulls.

We are confident our bulls used on your predominately black cowherd will give you a top end set of productive, fast growing black baldies. We would be honored to hear from you.

LT Cattle Company

Silver City, New Mexico

Jimmy McCauley 575.574.2283

David McCauley 575.538.1828

Ryan McCauley 575.654.4030

HOME AT THE RANCH

Bull or Heifer

Reprinted courtesy of the American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches and Working Ranch Cowboy Association

For the past several years my husband has gone and helped people day work.

His favorite thing in the world is to ride a good horse with some good cowboys and drag calves. My husband is also the cowboy pastor of our church and he shows a lot of excitement for two things: telling people about Jesus and dragging calves.

This is what he is called to do and God has wildly blessed us. But, to be honest, I have not always shared in my husband’s calling or passion. To wake up at 4 am, get three kids up and ready to drive 1.5 hours to watch my husband ride his horse and work cattle didn’t seem too exciting to me.

Sure, I didn’t mind him going and enjoy ing himself. I supported his passion and I think he appreciated the fact that I didn’t mind him going, but deep down he wanted more out of me. He wanted me to share in his passion. What does sharing this passion look like?

For the past two years, we have gone to help our friends at the Thurmond Ranch work calves over Memorial Day weekend. When I say “we”, I mean my husband, me,

and our three kids who are eight, six, and four years old. The first year we went, I actu ally drove separately with our kids and met the cowboys at the draggin’ pen. My goal was to stand outside the pen and visit with some other wives while the men got the work done…you know, to be a supportive wife. But, before I knew it, I had an ear tagger in one hand and a bunch of pink and blue ear tags in the other and I was given the job of tagging the calves.

The next year, I got up when my husband did and we all left as a family. Again, I was the designated ear tagger. I was extremely nervous but then decided to relax, do my best, and enjoy the day.

At the start of the day, my husband, Beau, noticed that I couldn’t keep up and gave me pointers on how to do the job more effi ciently. He taught me how to watch as the calves were being drug to us to see if it was a heifer or a bull, so I knew which color tag to use before the calf ever got to me.

After that, the guys never had to wait on me again. They even let me try my hand at dragging a few and my husband took the tagger. It was a great day. As the day went on I could tell my husband was filled with so much joy to have his wife and family actively involved in something he loved.

My passion on the other hand is running, and to be honest, Beau is my number one fan. He encourages me to be the best that I can be. He watches the kids so I can go run with friends or in a race. He comes and cheers me on and encourages me to do whatever I need to get better. He doesn’t whine about the money we spend going to doctors so that I can remain healthy and be able to run. He doesn’t just support me and send me on my way, he shares in my joy and my passion.

This transition from playing a supportive role to becoming a shared role has also taken place in our church. We started a cowboy church four years ago. I have always been, or at least tried to be, a supportive pastor’s wife. I am at most all events the church puts on, do my time in the nursery, help lead the women’s ministry—you know, what some would say are the “pastor’s wife’s duties”.

However, I learned this wasn’t necessarily what showed my husband that I shared the ministry with him. My husband often felt he was doing ministry alone. Sure, I was there physically supporting him, but how was I sharing the spiritual and emotional side of ministry with him?

I needed to learn that if your husband is called to the ministry, you as a wife are also called. Slowly but surely, and after many nights filled with heartfelt conversations about Beau’s feeling alone and me feeling I was doing my duty, I began to ask God to help me share in our calling and God has changed me.

I’ve taken myself off of the nursery sched ule so I can be more involved in other areas and I’ve learned to inquire more about my husband’s sermons, pray for him more, provide feedback and ideas, and even help him teach some.

I am not a gifted teacher, it’s not my “spir itual gift”. However, I have learned that as the pastor’s wife, I have the most influential female voice in our church and that the ladies in our church actually want to hear my side of things, or how this particular topic can apply to them.

You may not be able to rope and drag calves, but you learn to tag them. You may not even like to ride a horse, but you can help get them saddled and ready to go to the arena or hook the trailer up to the truck. What is your spouse’s calling? What does your spouse enjoy doing and how can you begin to share in his or her passion? This looks different for everyone and also changes with the seasons in our lives. When our children were smaller, it was harder for me to share in Beau’s passion for draggin’ calves, or even speaking in church for that matter—and that was ok. But as our kids have grown, I’ve been able to join in and share more of what Beau loves and what we have been called to.

We’ve learned that life is a balance and God has called us to share each other’s calling in whatever way we can. So here is the question you may want to ask yourself: “Am I supportive of my spouse’s calling or passion or am I sharing it?” Maybe you need to learn how to tell whether it’s a bull or a heifer coming at you and get in the pen!

Photo by Bailey Alexander on Unsplash

7L Diamond’s Hi Altitude Bulls

Leah & Peter Clark

Bulls sell 4-6-23 at Valley Livestock in Monte Vista • 719-849-8223

Altenburg Super Baldy-Triangle J

Selling 120 bulls – Fort Collins Saturday, March 18, 2023 Willie Altenburg 970-481-2570

Baty Livestock Spring and Fall Heifer Sales batylivestock@gmail.com facebook/batylivestock

Bridle Bit Simmentals

All-Terrain Bull & Female Sale Mon. 3/20/2023 at Walsh, CO Chad Cook 719-529-0564

Campbell Simmental

Part of High-Altitude Bull Sale on Sat. 3/25/2023 at LaGarita Robert 970-749-9708

Dilka Cattle Yearling & 18-mo-old bulls PT Briggsdale, CO • 970-396-8791 thedilkas@aol.com

Far Out Cattle Ranch Jerrid Brisendine 719-353-1747 All-Terrain Bull & Female Sale Mon. 3/20/2023 at Walsh, CO

Hill Brothers Livestock Females always available. Paul 417-849-6851 facebook.com/hillbrotherslivestock/

Jay Hill Family

Simmental & SimAngus bulls Private treaty • 970-520-1555 jaywhill@kci.net

Mari Simmental Breeders

Ron Mari • Holyoke Selling black % & PB ET bulls 970-520-7333 for EPDs & data Phoenix Cattle Co. Fleckvieh Simmentals & Fleckvieh/Angus seedstock Roger Schager • 303-550-5592

Rains Simmental Bulls of the Prairie sale Sat. 3/11/2023 at Oakley, KS Mike Rains 785-672-7129

T-Heart Ranch shane@t-heartranch.com High-Altitude Bull Sale 3/25/2023 719-850-3082 or 850-3083

Sustainable Building Tax Credits are Now Effective in New Mexico

New Mexicans are now eligible for a tax credit for energy efficiency and elec trification measures they install in their existing homes. Last year, the New Mexico Senate passed House Bill 15 (HB15), which replaces the Sustainable Buildings Tax Credit (SBTC) from 2015. That 2015 tax credit has been instrumental in transform ing the market for new buildings in New Mexico, and now the 2021 SBTC adds tax credits for improving the efficiency of exist ing homes and businesses too.

Providing tax credits for installation of efficient products in existing homes and commercial buildings will help New Mexi cans lower their monthly energy burden by lowering their utility bills, help fight climate change by reducing the emissions from oper ating the building or home, and improve community health through reduced health impacts from emissions.

Buildings are a leading source of carbon emissions, and reducing their energy use helps fight climate change, reduces negative community health impacts, and reduces operating expenses for homes and businesses. The 2021 SBTC goes further to incentivize only the best building practices and also incentivizes energy efficiency improvements to existing homes and buildings.

Under HB15, homeowners and businesses are eligible for tax credits for the following actions:

Ї

Ї

Energy Star heat pump installation.

Energy Star heat pump water heater installation.

Ї

Ї

Energy Star windows or doors installation.

Improvements in insulation levels.

Ї Making the home or building electric vehicle ready

The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department has posted the application form for tax credits. As long as a purchase was made from January 1, 2021 or later, New Mexicans will qualify.      ▫

RIDING HERD by Lee Pitts

Pass the Mealworms, Please

WARNING! Do not read this column if you are about to eat or have just eaten. It may cause headache, diar rhea, constipation, cramping, bloating and nausea.

Professors at Wonkwang University in South Korea are testing ways to replace beef with meat made from mealworms. Baked or fried mealworms are now eaten in a few countries as snacks, although I don’t think we’ll be seeing Mealworm Doritos® at the next Super Bowl party nor can I see people picking through the peanuts for mealworms as if they were cashews in the Planter’s® Party Mix.

This story raises several troubling ques tions. First, if you were a doctor would you

hang your diploma on the wall if you grad uated from a place called Wonkwang University? And what the heck is a meal worm anyway?

I’m glad you asked. A mealworm is the larval stage of the yellow mealworm beetle. They do have a brain and mealworms were the first organisms to circle the moon back in 1968 which has been described as “one small step for mealworms.” They are success fully being raised in labs and also in people’s unkempt houses. (They are said to love Cheerios®, but then, who doesn’t?)

One problem the scientists ran into is that inbreeding such as occurs in a lab really hurts the female’s sex appeal and is a real turn-off to male mealworms. They are com monly used to feed reptiles, fish, birds and are also used for fish bait. So in this brave new world of the future are we now going to be reduced to eating fish bait? Really? If you want to eat a few I recommend you look up Bassett’s Cricket Ranch where you can get 1,000 mealworms for only $15.99. Bassett’s got high marks for their mealworms although one online critic described them as “putrid, smelly and terrible,” and another said, “If you’re easily grossed out they may not be for you.”

Mealworms are nocturnal and gregarious

creatures that are mostly vegetarian but do occasionally go off their diet and eat each other. The cannibals also feed on dead or dying birds and can pass along salmonella, E. coli and numerous other diseases that could threaten your life if you eat too many. If ranchers have the stomach for it they can get a good look at their competition on the Internet. To me mealworms look like a bunch of disgusting maggots at an orgy, crawling all over each other.

One thing mealworms can do that cows haven’t shown an aptitude for yet is they can eat plastic. That’s right, they can digest poly styrene which is a thermoplastic substance and get this, mealworms taste exactly the same whether they’ve been fed Cheerios® or a diet of plastic.

To feed the ever-growing mass of human ity on earth it’s been suggested that cattle ranchers could easily transition into meal worm ranchers and admittedly, I can see some advantages. You wouldn’t have to be constantly worried about a drouth, meal worms require little in the way of fencing, they have few, if any, difficult births and even if they are hard calvers who cares? After all, the lady mealworm can give birth to over 500 offspring during her short life, which is more than you can say about your average cow.

U BAR RANCH

Producing southwestern Angus cattle that “Fit the Bill”

• Performance in the feedlot and on the range.

• Raising quality Registered Angus cattle since 1991.

• Bulls available private treaty or at the annual “Angus Ready for work sale” March 2023 in Belen.

And if you threw a bunch of empty plastic bottles off the feed truck instead of expensive hay I’m pretty sure the cows wouldn’t eat it.

I have doubts about this entire meal worm-as-human-food concept though and can’t see ranchers selling their cows and buying mealworms. First of all, I doubt the mealworms would survive the branding. Instead of cowboy poets descending every year on Elko I doubt we’ll hear from meal worm poets, after all, what rhymes with mealworms? I wonder, will there be a meal worm checkoff and will the Cowboy Hall of Fame be expanded to include the lowly mealworm?

South Korean scientists know Americans would never willingly eat mealworms so they suggest a sneaky approach in which the worms could be hidden in savory seasonings “as a way to change consumer’s minds.” They suggest using mealworms as condiments in the same way we use salt and pepper. Can’t you just imagine someone at a dinner party saying, “Please pass the salt and the meal worms.” Or, a chef tasting his latest creation and saying, “Um, I think it needs a pinch more worms.”      ▫

Cattle Growers’ Welcome Hooten to the team

The New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association welcomes a new member to their team, Gracie Hooten. Gracie is a recent graduate from New Mexico State University where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Agriculture; Concen tration: Agribusiness, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Busi ness and Economics. She also recently completed a Product Line Internship Position with Olam Spice/ Olam Food Ingredients (Ofi).

Gracie is from Tularosa, where she has lived and worked on her family’s cattle ranch her entire life. Her passion for agri culture started at a young age. Growing up she was a member of both 4-H and FFA where she was actively involved. She showed livestock and competed in judging competitions. Agriculture has truly impacted her life and it is one of the main reasons why she decided to pursue a

degree in this industry.

She will be serving the Association in her new role as Administrative Assistant. Gracie is excited to be a part of the NMCGA team and looks forward to meeting everyone at the Joint Stockmen’s Convention in Decem ber! Contact Gracie directly at gracie@ nmagriculture.org      ▫

Gracie Hooten

The Breeding Bull

Your Herd’s Ultimate Athlete

Chad Zehnder, Ph.D., Field Cattle Consultant

LeBron James. Tom Brady. Usain Bolt. These names bring with them a certain performance standard.

Each season, fans expect these athletes to be in top form, to perform and to achieve results no one else is capable of. You expect the same of your breeding bulls each season, but are you treating them like the athletes that they are?

Bulls need to remain sound and active for the duration of breeding season. One way you can help prepare them as athletes is by conditioning them.

If bulls are too thin at the start of breed ing season they might not hold condition and perform. At the same time, too much condition could be detrimental. Excess weight can affect structure, soundness and the bull’s ability to remain in active form.

Gradually condition bulls

The ultimate goal should be to achieve ideal bull condition and start far enough in

advance so it’s not a sprint to attain it. It’s ideal to have a body condition score (BCS) of 6 going into breeding but it should be achieved gradually.

A single point change in BCS equals 80 to 100 pounds of weight. That means for a bull to go from a BCS 5 to a BCS 6, it would require gaining 100 pounds. To achieve that score increase takes time and monitoring. Start monitoring bulls four to five months before breeding season.

Early monitoring allows for gradual changes to be made over time, versus trying to make drastic weight changes quickly. Allowing a bull to gain one pound per day over 100 days, as opposed to pushing him to gain three pounds per day over 30 days, will be much more conducive to the longevity and performance of the bull.

An early start to bull preparation also helps ensure bulls have high-quality semen going into breeding. Sperm production takes 60 days and is impacted by the nutrition a

bull receives pre-breeding season.

Balancing BCS with nutrition

Yearling bulls and bulls up to two or three years of age are still growing and need a diet that meets those requirements. Young bull requirements differ from what more mature bulls need to gain or maintain condition and the two groups should be developed and fed in separate facilities if possible.

If you have multiple bulls in a group, ensure they have ample bunk space or freechoice supplementation to help reduce displays of dominance at the feed bunk. Sup plements with intake control properties encourage snack eating, causing bulls to eat smaller meals more consistently throughout the day versus aggressively trying to consume all their feed in one meal.

Supplements can also help keep bulls in prime condition by maintaining or improv ing BCS and can help balance any nutritional deficiencies of forages.

Developing bulls on the range or in a pasture situation where they can exercise can be advantageous. Exercise and reducing the energy fed in the diet can also help over-con ditioned bulls get closer to BCS 6.

Quality mineral nutrition is also essential because minerals support the development

of a growing bull’s structure and feet. Min erals can support health and sperm quality as well. Consider using a highly available trace mineral source so that bulls get the most benefit from the minerals consumed.

Monitor during and after cattle breeding season

Once bulls are turned out with cows for the breeding season, continue monitoring their body condition. If bulls fall below a BCS 4, replace those bulls to ensure your cows are getting bred.

At the end of breeding season, bulls will need some extra attention again. Bulls often end the breeding season in a BCS 4 or 5. At that point, younger bulls that are still growing will need more than a maintenance diet to regain condition and allow for growth.

Purchasing bulls is a significant initial investment, but trying to cut corners during bull development won’t do your herd any favors.

To maximize your investment and use a bull to his full potential, continue developing him with a high-quality nutrition and animal health program.

Think of bull development as a marathon rather than a sprint. The goal is to optimize gain and maintain the structural and breed ing soundness of a bull for as many years as possible.

Prepare bulls now for an all-star breeding season later. Prepare them for greatness      ▫

MAY — News of the Day

JUNE — Sheepman of the Year

JULY — Directory of Agriculture

AUGUST — The Horse Industry

SEPTEMBER — Fairs Across the SW; Charolais

OCTOBER — Hereford; NM State Fair Results

NOVEMBER — Cattleman of the Year; Angus; Brangus; Red Angus:

Stockmen’s Convention Preview

DECEMBER — Bull Buyers Guide

We Know Agriculture...

Mac

Gordon Morris,

Colten Grau,

FARM BUREAU ··-® FINANCIAL

K-State Beef Cattle Experts Share Tips in Managing Bulls in the Fall

by Lisa Moser, K-State Research & Extension News Service

On occasion, athletes experience inju ries or stresses on their body that require them to rest and recover. This is a time for the athlete to evaluate their training regimen and nutrition plan.

In much the same way, beef producers need to rest their bulls following the breed ing season and make those evaluations on their health and nutrition, said the experts at Kansas State University’s Beef Cattle Insti tute on a recent Cattle Chat podcast.

“Like offensive linemen, bulls are big, heavy animals, which makes them prone to feet and leg issues, especially if they’ve been walking and breeding in rough pastures,” said veterinarian Bob Larson.

The Department of Animal & Range Sciences is part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences

The Department also offers pre-veterinary studies –our graduates have a high acceptance rate into

nary medicine programs. We offer graduate degrees at the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy levels. The M.S. or Ph.D. in Animal Science can emphasize nutrition or physiology, and offers a Ph.D. in Range Science to study range management, range ecology and watershed management.

• The Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (The College Ranch) –64,000 acre ranch just outside of Las Cruces

• The Corona Range & Livestock Research Center – 28,000 acre ranch & facilities in Corona, NM

• Student organizations, including a Block & Bridle Club, Pre-Vet Club, Range Club, Horsemen’s Association, Therapeutic Riding Club, & Judging Teams

• Clayton Research Center hosts research on shipping protocols, particularly evaluating the health and performance of newly received cattle, and nutrition and management from feedlot to slaughter

Dr. John Campbell –575/646-6180 / Dr. Dennis hallford –575-646-2515 http://aces.nmsu.edu/academics/anrs/

He said that producers should assess the movement of the bulls when they walk, focusing attention on the bulls’ hooves and legs.

“It takes good observational skills to look for swelling or an injury in those areas and that can cause restrictions in the bull’s move ment,” Larson said. “Sometimes it is hard to detect lameness even if the problem is

serious.”

If an issue is suspected, Larson encour ages producers to reach out to their veterinarian to help identify the source of the problem.

Along with musculoskeletal issues, bulls may be coming off the summer pastures thinner than normal due to the drought that much of the country is experiencing, said beef cattle nutritionist Phillip Lancaster.

“If the bulls are at a body condition score of five or less, they will need an energy sup plement to get them back in condition for the next breeding season,” Lancaster said. “This is especially true if the hay quality is poor because of the drought.”

If producers are adjusting nutrition, it is recommended that they separate the bulls from the cows if the facilities will allow for that, according to Larson.

“As we get later into the winter and closer to breeding season for a spring-calving herd, the bulls and cows need to be separated because the late gestation and lactating cows will have high nutritional demands and the bulls will get over-conditioned if they are supplemented the same way,” Lancaster said.

Larson added that there are other benefits for separating the bulls and cows for a period in terms of rest, but he said it is important to keep the bulls together from a social standpoint.

“Bulls need to figure out the dominance hierarchy and it is best for them to do that before the start of the breeding season,” Larson said, adding that if new bulls are added to the operation in the fall, they should be integrated into the bull pasture prior to turnout.

“I want those new bulls to acclimate with the feed and other bulls that are already on the operation soon after they arrive,” Larson said.      ▫

Martin:

Paige: 806-679-5883

806-677-0777

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

NEW LISTING! Skully Creek Ranch: 94 AU with 1,440 deeded acres, state and federal leases in Greenlee County approximately 40 miles northeast of Safford, Arizona. The ranch is located just over four miles off the paved highway along and lies along Skully Creek. The headquarters includes an adobe, two-story rustic ranch house overlooking the cottonwood lined Skully Creek Canyon with amazing views of Hells Peak in the distance. This is a real nice “off-gride” property with private, solar powered well. The deeded land location and physical features provide privacy and mountain views. Price: $1,600,000

NEW LISTING! Indian Springs Ranch: 52 AU with 1,480 deeded acres, BLM grazing lease in Cochise County approximately 14 miles northeast of San Simon, Arizona. The ranch is located just over 12 miles off the paved highway at the end of Indian Springs Road in the Peloncillo Mountains. Headquarters improvements include two ranch houses and horse corrals with shades. The ranch is very private and secluded with lots of water. Livestock water is provided by numerous springs and three private wells. The water wells are pumped via solar with water levels all less than 100’. Private land controls access to thousands of acres in the Peloncillo Wilderness. Price: $1,400,000

NEW LISTING! Hunt Valley Farm: West of St. Johns in Apache County, Arizona, includes 891 deeded acres in total with 210 acres currently irrigated via center-pivot sprinkler and gated pipe flood irrigation. Shallow wells on land-line electricity with room to expand the irrigated acreage. Currently used as a grow yard/ heifer development facility with corral/bunk space for approx. 950 head. Buildings include a remodeled mobile home in good condition, farm office and large metal shop with commodity storage under roof. This is a nice production farm located directly off the paved highway situated at 5,400’ elevation. Price: $1,500,000 ESCROW!

CONTACT: ST. JOHNS OFFICE: TRAEGEN KNIGHT www.headquarterswest.com email: info@headquarterswest.com

DOUBLE BAR R RANCH, NOGALES, AZ — 110 deeded, w/12,224 NF Grazing land, runs 380 yearlong, Great improve ments, high rain area. Priced at $3,500,000

RS RANCH GLENWOOD NM — 44,233 total acres consisting of 119.6 deeded acres and 44,113 acres Gila National Forest Grazing Allotment. Ranch will run 650 head mother cows yearlong and 18 horses. San Francisco River Runs through the Ranch, great improve ments. Priced at $4,900,000

TYLER RANCH/FARM — York Az, 544 deeded with 173 irrigated, along with 14,000 state and Blm lease land. 300 head mother cows yearlong. Priced @$2,300,000

SERVING THE RANCHING INDUSTRY SINCE 1920

www.chassmiddleton.com

5016 122nd STREET LUBBOCK, TEXAS 79424 • 806-763-5331

Sam Middleton 817-304-0504 • Charlie Middleton 806-786-0313 Jim Welles 505-967-6562 • Dwain Nunez 505-263-7868

■ CATTLE RANCH SE of Deming: NM 2,900 +/- acres total, 2,500 +/- acres of deeded land, including 71 +/- acres of water rights with a priority date 03/03/1945. 240 +/- acres of NM State Land, 160 acres of adverse land. Priced at $1,200,000

■ HAWKEYE CANYON RANCH: Organ, NM 4,527 +/- acres &/or 7 +/- sections 35 AYL, 4,316 +/- acres of BLM, 191 +/- acres of NM state land, 20 +/- acres of deeded land, 1,600 sq ft house with granite counter tops, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, metal roof, plus 1 bed, 1 bath casita w/carport, barn, corrals, excellent views, minutes away from Las Cruces, NM Priced at $635,000

■ WHIRLWIND ROAD: The farm is located south of Deming, N.M. Irrigation well, priority date 06/02/1952 The farm is improved with a filter station, irrigation well and perimeter fencing 236 acres +/- in total, with 142.82 acres of irrigated farmland and 93.16 acres pastureland. Priced at $200,000

■ 117 NW WINCHESTER ROAD: Deming, NM 88031 - 117 acres of deeded pasture land with a domestic well, located north of Deming, NM. Priced at $187,000

■ CEDAR GROVE RANCH: 37 section cattle ranch, Deming, NM. 23,714± total acres, 1280± acres deeded land, 2632± acres of state land, 19,802± acres BLM, excellent water system, seven solar wells, 180,000 gallons of water storage, 333 AYL, 6± horses.

■ RAINBOW WASH NORTH RANCH: 17 section cattle ranch located between Lordsburg and Animas, NM in the Pyramid Mountains. 11,383± total acres, 640± deeded land, 3477± of state land 7266± acres of BLM, four wells, 112 AYL

$240,000

SAN MARCIAL, Willow Springs Ranch, Winchester Road. 432 acres at the foothills of Chupadera Mountains $325,000

MILAGRO, 0000 Pecos Spur, Portrillo Creek Ranch Subdivision. 164 acres wide open space. Distant mountain views. Close to I-40. $94,000

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

TO ADVERTISE CONTACT CHRIS@AAALIVESTOCK.COM OR 505-243-9515, x .28

APACHE MESA, LAS VEGAS, NM: 227 acre parcel off Hwy 84 has two stock tanks, rim rock views, 2 stock tanks, overhead power & fiber optics avail able. Fenced on three sides! Priced at $354,400 & OWC.

DEMING, NM – 2050 CLABBERTOP ROAD: consists of 268 deeded acres w/30 x 60 metal building, one cold water well, overhead power & 3 RV pads! Located 10 miles west of Deming off I-10 frontage road. Price: $329,900 obo DEMING, NM: At the end of Baker Road, selling two deeded sections w/ power, access off north I-10 frontage road. Parcel can be used for ag crops, subdivision, solar or wind power projects. Price: $560,000

VILLANUEVA, NM – 305 CR B29A: 87 deeded acre parcel has 3 legal lots of record w/100 gpm shared well. Power on site & fenced on 3 sides, motivated seller! Owner will carry, terms negotiable! Priced at $142,500

VILLANUEVA, NM: 279 deeded acres has overhead electric, perimeter fenced, good stock tank. Juniper & pinon tree cover w/some ponderosa! Great gramma grass cover right now! Estate sale! Asking $260,000 OBO

SOUTHERN SANTA FE COUNTY – CALLE VICTORIANO: parcel is 640 acres w/power & good water well onsite! Price reduced to $399,900 Located in Kings Draw in the Estancia Water Basin off Simmons Rd. Can be subdivid ed. No restrictions & mfg. homes ok.

TIERRA DE DIOS: Three 20 acre parcels available south of Rowe, NM have an airstrip for those wanting fly-in homes. Priced from $149,900 to $154,900. All parcels have underground power, fiber optics, community water

SPECIALIZING IN FARMS, RANCHES AND LUXURY HOMES

MORE HUSTLE, LESS HASSLE

O’NEILL LAND, llc

CAPULIN -SIERRA GRAND VIEW, Union County. NM. 520 +/- deeded acres with HQ 1.5 miles off highway, 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home with landscaped yard and volcanic rock walls, nice outbuildings, 3 registered wells including 1 registered as an irri gation well and an excellent solar well. Close proximity to Des Moines, NM. $898,000

DES MOINES, 336.58 +/- Deeded Acres Union County NM – 3 bedroom 2 bath home, 32ft X 30ft metal build ing on slab. 62 ft X 12 ft metal barn, one big pasture off highway. Mixture of open grass range and trees. Less than two miles to town. $575,000

MAXWELL 45, Excellent irrigated pasture with utilities in back of prop erty, including installed septic system, with private views of mountains. 40 irrigable acres and a domestic water meter installed. Great to put down home and bring horses. $249,000 $239,000

BAR LAZY 7 RANCH, Colfax County, Moreno Valley 594.38 +/- deeded

acres, accessed off blacktop between Eagle Nest and Angel Fire. Historic headquarters. Currently used as sum mer grazing, pond and trees accessed off county road on rear of property as well. Presented “ASIS” New Survey, $4,000,000 $3,800,000

UTE PARK RIVER PLACE 6.83 +/ACRES, 450 +/- feet of the Cimarron River and more than that of Ute Creek are the south and east boundaries of this unique one of a kind water proper ty. 2 bedroom 1 bathroom cabin, year round access off Hwy 64. $589,000 $570,000

SOLD

CIMARRON BUSINESS, Frontage opportunity, house, big shop and office buildings, easy view off Hwy 64. Formerly known as “The Porch.” $295,000

COLFAX TAVERN & DINER, Colfax County, NM. Aka “COLD BEER”, turn key legendry regional icon and desti nation, with anchor staff/team willing to stay on. Prime business on front range. $1,500,000

Laughlin Peak Ranch

Spanning an area encompassing over 50 square miles, the Laughlin Peak Ranch is located southeast of Raton, New Mexico, the County Seat of Colfax County. This area of Northeastern New Mexico is highly recognized as having exceptional hunting along with outstanding livestock grazing throughout the more open native grass portions of the country. The terrain of the Laughlin Peak Ranch is very diverse. Rolling and hilly, very productive pastureland is generally found throughout the exterior edges of most of the ranch with several very pronounced mountains located through the middle and on the exterior edges.

The Laughlin Peak Ranch can truly be described as one of the premier native wildlife ranches in New Mexico. A fall 2022 survey observed 440 elk with an estimated 49 bulls for every 100 cows. The survey also observed 159 pronghorn antelope. It should be noted that this survey only counted the elk and pronghorn in full view, and with approximately 50% of the ranch in moderate to heavy timber, it is likely that half or more of the elk population could not be viewed from the air. Besides having an outstanding population of elk and pronghorn, the ranch supports a variety of other wildlife, including mule deer, bear, turkey, and an occasional mountain lion.

The ranch has been well managed and conservation practices are apparent when touring the ranch. 1,000-1,500 yearling cattle are shipped to the ranch in May of each year and are scattered throughout the open grazing areas of the ranch through the summer months. The ranch is fenced and cross-fenced and is watered by a combination of windmills, electric submersible wells, solar wells, earthen ponds, and several live springs. The property is adequately watered for the day-to-day operation of the ranch. The ranch is considered to be well-improved with multiple homes, cabins, shipping pens, round pens, and a roping arena.

The Cowboy Mill Ranch is an outstanding working livestock ranch that includes a combination of deeded land and BLM grazing allotment with a rated carrying capacity of 676 animal units. The property is located in the northeast portion of Lincoln County, near the DeBaca and Chaves County lines, in the productive rolling grasslands northeast of Sierra Blanca Peak and the Capitan Mountains.

The terrain of the Cowboy Mill Ranch is diverse. The northern 2/3 of the ranch is primarily rolling plains country. The southern 1/3 of the ranch becomes hillier and more broken, offering good winter protection for livestock. There are a number of prominent drainages meandering through the northern and southern portions of the ranch. The ranch is primarily open, short and mid-grass country with a good turf of quality and productive native grasses, consisting primarily of blue grama, black grama, sideoats grama, New Mexico feathergrass, and tobosa. The ranch is fenced and cross-fenced into approximately 14 main pastures and several traps.

The Cowboy Mill Ranch is well watered. Livestock and domestic water is provided by approximately 10 electric submersibles and solar wells. There are approximately 14 water storages. The wells and storages are tied to a network of water lines to numerous drinking troughs scattered throughout the ranch. A considerable amount of money has been spent on developing and improving the water infrastructure on this ranch in recent years. Improvements include a foreman’s house, sheds and two sets of shipping pens, one with scales.

The 100 Ranch in Lincoln and Socorro Counties is a 55,439.22± acre ranch offering cattle production opportunities as well as big game hunting. Big game on the ranch includes trophy bull elk, trophy mule deer, trophy antelope, oryx, and mountain lion. The location is 20 miles northwest of Carrizozo, NM on the Chupadera Mesa.

This working ranch is currently permitted by the BLM for 1,183 animal units and 17 horses. Amenities at Headquarters include four mobile homes, two double wide 2012 and 2014, and two single wide mobile homes. There is also one sitebuilt residence. In addition, there is a barn, shop, scales, working and range corrals, hay barn, and airplane hangar. The acreage is comprised of 15,941 deeded acres more or less, 9,208.22 NM State Lease Land, and 30,290 BLM acres. The ranch is fenced and cross-fenced for proper grazing management. The elevation ranges from approximately 5600’ to 6800’. The terrain is characterized by rolling piñon-juniper hills, canyons and the Chupadera Mesa. There are outstanding views of Sierra Blanca and the Jicarilla Mountains. The ranch is accessed by a maintained county road in good condition.

The ranch is adequately watered by an extensive pipeline system providing water to storage tanks for livestock/wildlife drinkers. There are 6 water wells on the ranch with submersible pumps, both solar and electric, 52 drinkers, and 38 dirt tanks. This ranch is currently stocked with 860± cows and calves and 60± bulls. The ranch also supports a rather good size herd of resident elk. Trophy bulls in the upper age class of 7+ frequent the ranch from the nearby Oscura Mountains (WSMR) during the rut. The largest bull harvested so far was estimated at 425 green B&C.

www.scottlandcompany.com

Krystal M. Nelson – NM QB 800-933-9698 5:00 a.m./10:00 p.m.

RANCH & FARM REAL ESTATE

We need listings on all types of ag properties large or small!

■ KINNEY CO., TX – 802 ac. +/-. Brush country w/ some live oaks. Good Hunting!

■ COLFAX CO., NM – 491.55 ac. +/-, 371 shares of Antelope Valley Irr. Dist. water. 2 center pivot systems. 270 ac. +/- of pasture w/pens & corrals. Elk, deer & antelope are hunted in the area.

■ CASTRO CO., TX – 592 ac. +/_- w/remodeled 4 bd./4 ½ bath home, 160 ac. under pivot. Balance is dryland & native grass.

■ CARSON CO., TX – 640 ac. +/- 5 mi. N of Panhandle on TX 207. 333 ac. +/- under 3 center pivot systems. One well produces 800 GPM. Permanent perimeter and cross fencing.

■ PECOS CO. – 637 ac., Big water, State Classified Minerals.

■ PRICE REDUCED! CEDARVALE, NM – 7,113-acre ranch (5,152 ac. +/- Deeded – 1,961 ac. +/- State Lease) well fenced & watered w/good pens, new barn.

■ COLFAX COUNTY NM GETAWAY – 1,482.90 ac.+/- grassland (1,193.59 ac. +/- Deeded, 289.31 ac. State Lease), great location near all types of mountain recreation.

■ PRICE REDUCED! UNION CO., NM – 2,091.72 ac. (1,771.72 Deeded, 320 ac. -/+ State Lease), well watered w/three wells, two sets of steel pens.

■ ANGUS, NM – 250 +/- acres with over a 1/2 mile of NM 48 frontage. Elevations from 6,800 to 7,200 feet. Two springs along a creek. Ideal for future development or build your own getaway home.

■ PALO DURO CREEK TREASURE – 941 acres +/- in Randall Co. NW of Canyon, Tx. STUNNING VIEWS OVER LOOKING PALO DURO CREEK. Turn key cow/calf operation w development potential. Property includes: 3/3/3 ranch style home, 4 wells, large shop plus shed, enclosed livestock working facility w/hydraulic chute, livestock pens & shed, miles of 5 & 6 barbed wire fence & over 7000' of pipe fence. YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THIS! Canyon School District.

■ DEAF SMITH CO., TX. – 651 ac. +/-, 7 miles N of Dawn, Tx., 1 mile E of FM 809. 349 acres native grass with well-maintained fencing and 302 acres of cultivated dry land.

■ PRICE REDUCED! DALLAM CO, TX – 1,216.63 ac. +/- of CRP/ranchland w/irrigation, re-development potential, wells & pipelines already in place.

■ PRICE REDUCTION! TURN-KEY RESTAURANT –READY FOR BUSINESS! One of the best steak houses in the nation just out of Amarillo & Canyon at Umbarger, TX., state-of-the-art bldg., w/complete facilities.

RANCHES/FARMS

*NEW* 12.7+/- Irrigated Acres, Marana, AZ – Irrigated farmland in the heart of Marana, perfectly suited for development. Currently, plant ed in Alfalfa and at one time was planted to corn. Fields are fenced, flood irrigated from concrete ditches and gates from the Cortaro Irrigation District. Great location near Marana Stockyards for those interested in performance horse activities that involve livestock. $825,000

*NEW* 98+/- Deeded Acre Farm, Bonita, AZ – Great little farm in a picture-perfect setting!

Two small pivots with 35 acres of water rights. Nicely improved with a newer 3 BR, 2 BA Shultz doublewide mfg home; 3-sided hay/ machine shed, 1,560+/- s.f. shop with concrete floor and insulated ceiling, hay shed, Connex box, nice set of guardrail and steel corrals with crowding tub, squeeze and scale. 250 gpm irrigation well with 20 HP motor and 13,500+/- gallons of storage. Raise horses, finish out calves, small cow/calf operation or homestead. Runs about 40 head of cattle. $750,000

120 +/- Acres of Farm Ground, Willcox, AZ – Located NW of Will cox in a good groundwater area. 2 wells. Center pivot. $468,000 Call Harry Owens

2nd mfg home on deeded. 2 sets of good steel pipe corrals $1.9M

*SOLD* 2,373+/- Acre Farm, Animas, NM – Custom 2560 +/s.f. home built in 2008. 20-Acre piv ot, 40’ x 60’ shop, 40’ x 50’ hay barn, fruit trees, chicken coop, gar den area. Pivot produced 9.5 tons/ ac of alfalfa in 2020. 300 gpm well. 5 pastures with water piped to 2 storage tanks and drinkers in all pastures. Historically has run 40 head of cattle yearlong. $1.3M

*SOLD* 1,578 Acres of Land, McNeal, AZ – Currently used as grazing land for an adjacent ranch. Fenced with 2 wells. Seller will split. $500 per acre for all or $650 to $700 per acre for smaller parcels. located near the McNeal Farm we have listed above, and could be used as an additional pasture; purchase for investment or build your own ranchette.

*NEW* 0.14+/- Acre Building Lot, Maricopa, AZ – A great opportunity to own a corner lot in the desirable community of Tortosa. Ideal for a small builder or buyer wishing to build their dream cus tom home. One of only two lots available in the area, the other lot is adjoining this one. Utilities to the lot, back block wall in place. $110,000

HORSE PROPERTIES/LAND

SOLD

*SOLD* 200-300 Head Cattle Ranch, Marana, AZ – 112.8 +/Deeded ac; 150+/- ac of pasture, 3,700+/- ac of sub-lease, 14 +/ac of farm fields, HQ on State Land.

*AUCTION* 5+/- Acre Country Estate, Dewey Humbolt, AZ –Charming 2 BR, 3 BA 2-story home. Beautiful, vaulted wood ceilings, loft, floor to ceiling windows in the great room with expansive valley views. Includes 2-car detached garage, 1,092+/- s.f. metal shop building, railroad car, small barn, fenced and cross fenced. Online Auction to start 12/1 and will end with a soft close on 12/10. Contact Paul Ramirez for details or check out our webpage coming soon.

SOLD SOLD SOLD

*SOLD* 40+/- Acre Last Stand B&B Guest Ranch, Sonoita, AZ –An exceptional property in the grass lands of Sonoita, presently operating as a successful wedding & equestri an event venue. The Territorial, twostory 4 BR, 4.5 BA main home has 4,110 s.f., & custom features throughout. $1,675,000

SOLD

*SOLD* 90+/- Acre HP Bar Ranch, Benson, AZ – Perfect gen tlemen’s ranch or private get-away. Backs up to USFS for endless riding possibilities. Fully fenced for cattle. 2 BR, 1 BA home; garage; steel barn w/two horse stalls, tack room & large hay storage; corrals; work shop. Expansive views. $595,000

SOLD

*SOLD* 20+/- Acre Equestrian Property, Sonoita, AZ – Estab lished horse training and boarding fa cility on +/-20-acres adjoining BLM land, panoramic mountain v iews. Two mfg homes, 36’ x 160’ horse barn, barn/shop, equipment shed, hay shed, 10 shades/loafing sheds with corrals, +/-70’ x 90’ dressage and 160’ x 170’ fenced arena. There are also RV spaces with septic, a fire pit and a well. $650,000

Ben G. Scott – Broker

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

Scientists Debunk Major Myth About Yellowstone’s Wolf Population

by Taylor Cunningham, Outdoors

Scientists have debunked a popular online video that claims when the wolf was reintroduced to Yellowstone in the 1990s it affected the ecosystem so much that the park’s rivers changed course.

The theory of a wolf-driven “trophic cascade” has caused a lot of chatter. And after gaining some popularity, Sustainable Human uploaded a video that argues the theory’s truth. Eight years later, the video has an impressive 44 million views.

Wolves were native to the Wyoming and Montana land that now makes up the national park before humans left their mark on the area. But by the 1920s, hunters had eradicated the species from the park. The federal government decided to replenish its population in 1995.

The video claims that when that hap pened, the wolves drastically curbed the elk

population, which meant they ate fewer willow trees. Those trees then grew taller and gave beavers a source of food. In turn, the well-fed critters built more dams and changed the flow of the rivers.

“It’s a really romantic story,” said Utah State University ecologist Dan McNulty. “It’s a story about a world that doesn’t really exist.”

Tom Hobbs, a natural resource ecology laboratory professor at Colorado State Uni versity admitted that when the wolf nearly went extinct, the park felt a huge ecological

hit. But scientists disagree about how they affected things once they returned.

However, all scientists agree that the men tioned video “is demonstratively false.”

Wolves Have Little to do With Yellowstone’s Elk Population

Hobbs has written several research papers on Yellowstone’s willow, and everything he’s learned proves that wolves had little to no impact on the tree’s growth.

He said that elk and other hooved animals (ungulates) did overeat the trees. When they did, they starved out beavers and forced them to leave smaller streams.

“Willows are like ice cream to these ungu lates,” Hobbs noted. “It was important to put the wolves back, but it didn’t change the willows much.”

When the beavers moved to larger rivers, the smaller bodies of water deepened and became more narrow. That lessened the floodplain area where willows thrive. So the trees didn’t grow as quickly. And despite the video’s claims, the willow tree “hasn’t even come close to recovery.”

Hobbs also noted that the video’s creator did not take into account Yellowstone’s “incredibly complex” food chain. According to him, wolves have little to do with elk pop ulations. Furthermore, grass makes up 90 percent of elk’s diet. So, they also don’t play a huge role in the state of the willows.

“We know right out of the gate it was not entirely due to wolves,” he added. “Wolves had very little effect, at least early on. To attribute it all to wolves is completely unre alistic. It is a classic example of how saying something many times with enthusiasm can make it true, regardless of what the science says.”      ▫

photo credit: rogertrentham/Getty

W/A Rodeos –Steeped in Tradition, Building for Tomorrow “W

/A Rodeos was founded in 1967 by my late Mom and Dad, Barbara and Buster Webb. My Dad roped calves and steers after he finished his educa tion at Ft. Lewis College, Durango, Colorado,” says Lisa Webb.

The family homesteaded an area next to the San Juan River in Northwest New Mexico. W/A Rodeos is operated today by the daugh ter of Barbara and Buster, Lisa Webb, and her partner, Donny Wilkinson. Lisa says her father and his cousins worked on the family ranch, and gathered wild cows and horses in

the nearby Carson Forest. They devel oped grit and a great love for the cowboy way of life.

For the last fif ty-six years, W/A has produced rodeos and honed the stock needed to produce top quality rodeos. They range from producing 4-H rodeos, high school rodeos, college rodeos, regional rodeo association events and international professional rodeos. She says, “We have basi cally had stock buck from Mexico City to Calgary, Canada and from the Mississippi to the West Coast.” W/A Rodeos has had its share of recognition. Awards include their horse, 23 Leather Britches, being recognized as the NARC World Finals Bareback Horse of the Finals for the first year of the North American Rodeo Commission. She says, “We were always proud of Playboy being named the 1977 Indian National Finals Bull of the Finals.” More recently, Many Colors was the NMRA bucking bull of the year and they

have had several horses and bulls named IPRA Stock of the Year.

W/A Rodeos has provided stock for youth rodeos since the beginning days of the rodeo company. Lisa says they always had young contestants around who wanted to learn how to ride or improve their skills. Her dad, Buster, believed they had to take care of their youth contestants. She says he knew it was important for the individuals as well as the future of rodeo, and it is easy for her to con

JANUARY — Wildlife; Gelbvieh; Joint Stockmen’s Convention Results

FEBRUARY — Beefmasters; Texas Longhorns MARCH — Limousin; Santa Gertrudis APRIL — Dairy MAY — News of the Day JUNE Sheepman of the Year JULY — Directory of Agriculture

AUGUST — The Horse Industry SEPTEMBER — Charolais; Fairs Across the Southwest OCTOBER — Hereford; New Mexico State Fair Results

NOVEMBER — Cattleman of the Year; Angus; Brangus; Red Angus; Joint Stockmen’s Convention Preview DECEMBER

Bull Buyers Guide

W/A Rodeos Cathys Clown

tinue that tradition today. In addition to providing opportunities for the contestants, W/A Rodeos often takes in youngsters who want to learn how to fight bulls, pick up bronc riders and learn all the other aspects of the working side of the arena. Quick to provide mentorship for those who want it, Lisa and Donny embody the family aspect of rodeo.

The rodeo world of today is not what it was fifty-six years ago, and Lisa says they are making changes so that they can continue to partner with rodeo committees and contes tants alike for the rodeo needs of tomorrow. “Today, the rodeo world has evolved to large scale qualifier events and regional sport events more than a following for the regional rodeo associations.” She says contestants are drawn to large awards and the bigger purses and their rodeo company is evolving to focus on large regional rodeos along with the qual ifier events that continue to expose New Mexico’s youth to the world of rodeo.

Today’s world of rodeo brings with it many challenges that run as deep as the opportunities, Lisa says, because “Rodeo is not immune to the build a bigger, faster, better athlete. The rodeo athlete of 2022 has access to the best of fitness programs and psychocybernetics along with unlimited ways to get derailed. We are a six-second attention span society in an eight-second world, so to speak.”

Today’s rodeo athlete has many tools but also must deal with more competition for their attention, and discipline is more important than ever. Lisa says for a youth rough stock contestant, it is important that they get on bucking stock that is appropriate for their age and skill levels. Good practice and mental training are important steps, and

W/A

W/A

ARENA

Forage Bassia: Alfalfa of the Desert for Wintertime Grazing

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ haven’t we all grown up hearing this English idiom? Yet, it’s human nature to do just that, especially in the agriculture industry, ‘we have to trust our gut.’ Plant when we feel there might be rain coming, prolong harvest to just the right sweet spot, move the cows at just the right time, and so on. We must; our livelihood generally depends on these decisions. Sometimes though, we connect feelings, words, or experiences to a negative belief just by circumstance, which can sometimes lead to a missed opportunity. Forage bassia, (Bassia prostrata (L.)), is commonly known as summer cypress, alfalfa of the desert, or forage kochia. Ah, right there, as your read ‘kochia’ did you feel it? That negative association with that dreaded, fast-spreading, annual kochia weed (Kochia scoparia). We spend so much time, money, and labor fighting weeds that even entertaining the thought of growing a plant that shares a name with one feels wrong. Forage bassia, however is anything but a weed.

Forage Bassia is a semi-evergreen, shrub-like, longlived, perennial introduced from the deserts and semiarid provinces of the Mediterranean and Eurasia. It is part of the Chenopod family, which contains other highly nutritional arid rangeland species like four-wing saltbush and winterfat and is one of the most important heavily grazed forages in regions with less than 12.5 cm (5 inches) of rain a year. It was initially introduced into the U.S. in 1966 as a plant that could provide forage while competing with Halogeton on droughty, saline soils. Since then, the plant has proven itself as a very highly valued winter forage; it helps control erosion; serves as a shelter and provides tasty seeds for song and game birds; acts as a greenstrip/ firebreak, and generally thrives on poor-quality sites. Additionally, forage bassia has stabilized disturbed sites (overgrazed, burned, droughted, etc.) by competing against annual species such as cheatgrass, halogeton, and medusahead, yet, is non-invasive to native perennial plant communities. In late fall, while the dormant grasses are high in fiber (energy) but low in protein, forage bassia has high crude protein (between 9 – 18%) and great digestibility but does not cause nitrate or oxalate toxicity making it an excellent choice to optimize forage protein and energy levels during the dietarily stressful winter months. In fact, most ranchers who’ve had to supplement with pellets and/or hay during winter have almost eliminated that cost in few years after overseeding their rangeland with forage bassia.

There seem to be more fires, less water, and more damaged rangeland each year. Utilizing greenstrips to reduce or stop range fires is a must. Fires can damage greenstrips, but research has shown that forage bassia has an excellent post-burn survival rate. Scan this code to see just how burn-resistant this plant is! This video was taken in late October when the plants were dry and hadn’t received water in months. Gas was poured on the plant to aid fire ignition. Overall, forage bassia excels in a wide variety of soils but handles alkaline, bare soils very well while providing many other benefits. It is a unique plant, and Westfork has aided ranchers in sowing and establishing hundreds of thousands of acres across the western U.S. since 1988. Research has shown that it should be seeded (broadcasted aerially or drilled into prepped or native sites) in late fall or early winter for the best germination and establishment, so contact us today! Westfork would like to work with you to overseed forage bassia on your current range stand or reclaim land using our favorite rangeland mix, Range Changer, to help you increase your carrying capacity by, on average, six-fold. Scan the QR code below to learn more about this amazing plant, our company, or both. Or email us at shane@rangechanger.com

Presented by: Scan

W/A Rodeos often provide a rough stock practice pen in Bloomfield to help kids grow and spread their wings as rough stock riders. “Youth rodeos still teach such strong life lessons and create memories they will remember from here to eternity!” Lisa says that despite the challenges, the greatest lessons in life are still learned from the world of rodeo.

“I was blessed to be born into W/A Rodeos and I ate, drank, and slept rodeo—I’ve lived the way of life fully; today I’m surrounded by a family of rodeo friends who have taught me so much about life’s lessons and I hope to help the next generation with an easier path.”      ▫

Donny

Invora® herbicide doesn’t just stunt brush growth. It stops it. Using innovative chemistry, just a single application of Invora can eliminate mesquite for 10+ years* and huisache for 5+ years,* allowing more nutritious forage to thrive. Protect your rangeland and get next-generation brush control — guaranteed for the long haul.

Rodeo Roundup

The Working Ranch Cowboys Associa tion (WRCA) was established in 1995 in Amarillo, Texas, United States as a professional association for ranch owners, foremen, and cowboys. One of their stated goals was to keep the western heritage, ideals, and work ethics alive.

The WRCA sanctions several rodeos every year plus the World Championship Ranch Rodeo (WCRR) held every November in Amarillo. The WRCA rodeo events cater more to actual ranch work than do regular rodeos. The events include Ranch Bronc Riding, Team Doctoring, Wild Cow Milking, Team Branding, and Team Penning.

In 2022 the WRCA added a youth rodeo component which crowned its first champi ons in November 22.

The WRCA Foundation, sponsored by the WRCA, provides assistance to cowboys and their families in times of serious needs

and also provides a financial collegiate schol arship every year.

2022 YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RANCH RODEO RESULTS

Branding:

Sponsored by Multimin

1. Little Hatchett Ranch – 22.89

2. Myers Cattle Co. – 24.39

3. Nutrition Plus – 25.03

4. Rim Rock Ranch – 26.52

5. Hat Creek Cattle Co./

6. EC Cattle – 28.24

Sorting:

Sponsored by Resistol

1. Myers Cattle Co. – 42.03

2. Hat Creek Cattle/EC Cattle – 46.47

3. C3 Cattle Co. – 49.56

4. Rim Rock Ranch – 64.17

5. Rafter J Land & Cattle – 87.75

Doctoring:

Sponsored by Teskey’s

1. Little Hatchett Ranch – 20.03

2. Sooner Cattle – 21.46

3. Hat Creek Cattle Co./ EC Cattle – 22.20

4. C3 Cattle Co. – 22.32

5. Rim Rock Ranch – 24.83

Trailer Loading:

Sponsored by Olathe Boot Co.

1. Little Hatchett – 28.24

2. C3 Cattle Co. – 34.28

3. Hat Creek Cattle Co./

4. EC Cattle – 34.68

5. Rim Rock Ranch – 35.61

6. Sooner Cattle – 39.22

Wild Steer Racing:

Sponsored by Box Inc.

1. Sooner Cattle – 6.61

2. Myers Cattle Co. – 8.79

3. California Creek Cattle – 13.94

4. Little Hatchett Ranch – 14.51

5. Rim Rock Ranch – 19.18

Top Horse: Karlee Elliott – Rim Rock Ranch

Top Hand: Brooks Myers – Myers Cattle

2022 Youth World Championship Ranch Rodeo Reserve Team:

Little Hatchet Ranch

2022 Youth World Championship Ranch Rodeo Champion Team: Myers Cattle Co.

27TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RANCH RODEO FINAL RESULTS

World Champion Team: Rockin P Cattle Co./S&P Cattle

Cow milking can be tough ... Photo by Kristen Schurr

Dally Peterson from the Little Hatchet Ranch team, Reserve Champions of the second-ever Youth World Championship Ranch Rodeo. Dally started doing leadline rodeo at 2 years old. Back at the family ranch, she helps with any ranch chore that needs attention, from feeding to water line repair. She ropes, crafts, makes halters, and enjoys baking sweets!

Photo by Kristen Shurr

Third-Place Team: Veale Ranch/Allen Cattle

Fourth-Place Team: Four Sixes

Fifth-Place Team: Muleshoe Ranch/Hatchet Ranch

Top Hand: Logan Wescott – Muleshoe Ranch/

Smooth Sunnette; awarded to Logan Anderson – Muleshoe Ranch/Hatchet Ranch

Event Winners /Ranch Bronc Riding

This is how it’s done. Photo by Kristen Schurr

Stray Gathering:

Sponsored by Capital Farm Credit Muleshoe Ranch/Hatchet Ranch

Sorting:

Sponsored by Livestock Nutrition Center Rockin P Cattle Co./S&P Cattle

Wild Cow Milking:

Sponsored by ADM Animal Nutrition Veale Ranch/Allen Cattle

Team Branding:

Sponsored by Express Scale Services Gibbs Cattle/H Cross      ▫ “One day I am going to have a horse like you...” Photo by

Kristen Schurr

(below) Cowboys start young in the Grand Entry. Photo by Kristen Schurr

Rodeo Company Harley Davidson Ride Off

36th Annual Extraordinair Championship Bull Riding Farmington, New Mexico

Friday night winner Justin Granger was up against Saturday night winner

Cannon Cravens for C.J. Baca’s custom Harley Davidson 1997 Sportster.

“Both men put up effort and true grit... the type that’s rarely seen,” said Baca. “I knew putting this award on the line would bring something special out of great cowboys. They truly WANTED it and it showed. They

Justin Granger

C.J. Baca’s Custom Haley Davidson 1997 Sportster

come up short but it wasn’t for lack of try. New West Rodeo’s c763 night train and MannCreek Buckn

Bulls Tim Roberts CR’s Brindle T are the real deal bucking bulls and they took care of the business they came to do, put two champions on the ground so I can keep ole blacky ... to be continued.”     ▫

Rodeo Roundup

ad index

A Lazy 6 Angus

Ranch 19, 84, 87

Ag New Mexico FCS, ACA 2

AgLands 104

American Angus Association 22

American Brahman Breeders 24, 56, 86

American Heritage Bank / Colten Grau 93

American Salers Assn 62

B & H Herefords 13

Bar G Feedyard 40

Bar J Bar Herefords 33, 87

Bar M Real Estate 96, 97

Bays Cattle Co 75

Beaverton Outdoors 105

Beefmaster Breeders United 44

Big Mesa Realty 97

Bill King Ranch 8

BJM Sales & Service, Inc 88

Black Angus “Ready for Work” Bull Sale 28

Border Tank Resources 88

Bow K Ranch 64

Bradley 3 Ranch, Ltd 6, 86

Brazos 12

Brennand Ranch 58, 84

Brinks Brangus / Westall Ranch, 17, 84

Brownfield Ranch & Farm Properties 97

Button 15

C-D

C Bar Ranch 56, 86

Campbell Simmentals 42

Candy Ray Trujillo’s Black Angus 56

Carlitta Harvey 68

Carter Brangus 24, 85

Carter’s Custom Cuts 72

Casey Beefmasters 64, 86

Casper Baca Rodeo 119

Cattle Guards / Priddy Construction 89

Cattlemen’s Livestock Auction 30

Chas S Middleton & Son 97, 99, 100, 101

Citizens Bank of ClovisMoriarty 89

CJ Beefmasters 64

CKP Insurance 11

Clark Anvil Ranch 63, 84

Clavel Herefords 36

Clovis Livestock Auction 53

Coba Select Sires 64, 86

Coleman Herefords 71, 85

Colorado Simmental 81 Conniff Cattle Co , LLC 19

Copeland & Sons

Herefords, LLC 21

Corn Ranches 32

Cornerstone Ranch 35

Cox Ranch Herefords 64, 87

Coyote Ridge Ranch 56

CS Cattle Co 51

D2 Ranch 56

Denton Photography 83

Desert Scales & Weighing Equipment 87

Dexter Livestock Commission 14

Diamond Seven Angus 37, 85

Domenici Law Firm, PC 74

E-J

Elbrock Ranch 58

Environmental Science U S , Inc 113

Evans Beefmasters 24 Express Scales Services 108

F & F Cattle Company 63

Fallon-Cortese Land 98

Farm Credit of New Mexico9

Farmway Feed Mill 54

FBFS / Larry Marshall 89

FBFS / Monte Anderson 94

Ferguson Ranch 56

Figure 4 Cattle Co 62, 84

Five States Livestock Auction, 60

505 Trucks, LLC 88

Fort Worth Stock Show 30 4 Rivers 77

Genex / Candy Trujillo 58, 87

Grau Charolais 27, 85

Grau Ranch 87, 122

Great Basin Seed 68

Hall-Gnatkowski 18

Harrison Quarter Horses 88

Hartzog Angus Ranch 67, 86

Headquarters West / Traegen Knight 96

Headquarters West Ltd / Sam Hubbell 96

Heartstone Angus, LLC 65 Henard Ranch 86

Hi-Pro Feeds / Sendero 7

Hooper Cattle Company 19

Hubbell Ranch 73, 87

Hudson Livestock

Supplements 91

Hutchison Western 2 Industrious America 85

Innovative Solar Systems, LLC 43

International Brangus Breeders 39

Isa Beefmasters 58, 85

J & J Auctioneers 106

J-C Angus Ranch 60

James Sammons III 102

Joe Stubblefield & Associates 96

K-M

K2 Red Angus 79

Kaddatz Auctioneering & Farm Equipment 87

Ken Ahler Real Estate Co , Inc 98

L & H Manufacturing 74

Lack-Morrison Brangus 34

Laflin Ranch 56

Lazy D Ranch

Red Angus 64, 87

Livestock Nutrition Center 107

Lonestar Stockyards, LLC 95

LT Ranch 76

Lyssy & Eckel Feeds 112

M-Hat Angus 61

Major Cattle 82, 84

Manzano Angus 29, 85

McKenzie Land & Livestock 20

McPherson Heifer Bulls 58, 85

Mead Angus 58, 85

Mesa Tractor, Inc 55, 87

Miller Angus 41, 85

Monfette Construction Co 88

Motley Mill & Cube Corporation 118

N-0

NAIA 82

National Western Stock Show 38

NM Angus Bull & Heifer Sale 23

NM Premier Ranch Properties 102

NM Federal Lands Council 110

NM Purina Dealers 124

NMSU Animal & Range Sciences 90, 94

O’Neill Land 98

Olson Land and Cattle 63, 85

P-R

Parker Brangus 34

Paul McGillard /

Murney Associates 96

Perez Cattle Company 3, 87

Pratt Farms 63, 86

Protect Americans Now 78

Punchy Cattle Company 65

Ramro LLC / RJ Cattle Co 25

Rancho de Santa Barbara 56

Range Changer 109

Raymond Boykin 58

Republic Ranches, LLC 102

Reynolds Farm & Ranch 69

Rio Grande Scales & Equipment 88

Rio Hondo Land & Livestock Co 64

Robbs Brangus 58

Robertson Livestock 88

ROD Ranch 56

Roswell Brangus Breeders Co-Op 123 Roswell Livestock & Farm Supply 18 Roswell Livestock Auction Co 52

S-T

Salazar Ranches 56

Santa Rita Ranch 58, 85 Sci-Agra Inc 87

Scott Land 103

Sid & Cheryl Goodloe 18

Sidwell Farm & Ranch Realty 96

Siler Santa Gertrudis Cattle 26

Skaarer Brangus 42, 87 Sowers 88

St Vrain Simmentals 56 Stallard 102

Steve Jensen 26

Stockmen’s Realty 103 Suther Feeds 5

SW Beef Symposium 59

T & S Manufacturing 111

TechniTrack, LLC 88

Terrell Land & Livestock Co 102

Terry Hudson 74

Texas Hereford

Association 64

The Ranches 92

Thompson Ranch 22, 84

Tom Robb & Sons 64, 86

Tom Sidwell 18

Townsend Brangus 34

Troy Floyd 34

Tucumcari Bull Test 31

2 Bar Angus 24, 84

U-Z

U Bar Ranch 90

United Fiberglass, Inc 83

USA Ranch 84

Verde Real Estate 102

Virden Perma Bilt Co 87

Vitalix, Inc 115

W&W Fiberglass Tank Co 95 Waypath 66 Weaver 75

West Star Herefords 61, 87

White Mountain Herefords 26, 87

Widner Angus Farm 62

Williams Ranch Supply 117

WW - Paul Scales 92

Zia Real Estate 98