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States Propose Compact to Boost Interstate Meat Commerce
from NMS March 21
by Susan Kelly, meatingplace.com
Lawmakers in Montana and South Dakota have introduced bills in their states that would support the sale and transport of meat across state lines, according to local media reports.
In South Dakota, Spencer Gosch, speaker of the house, recently introduced House Bill 1219 to set up the proposed Interstate Cooperative Meatpacking Compact aimed at removing state barriers to interstate commerce in meat products, the Argus Leader reported.
According to the article, similar legislation is being introduced in eight other Midwestern and Western states.
In Montana, House Bill 336 is being championed by House speaker Wylie Galt. However, the Northern Ag Network reports that not all meat processors in the state support the bill, fearing that it could result in reduced federal support or alter the status of state inspection programs.
Other efforts to support small processors are taking place at the federal level. The American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) recently announced its support for H.R. 8431 and S. 5066, the Strengthening Local Processing Act, which would provide funding to help small slaugher and processing operations expand.
The legislation was introduced in September by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.).
AAMP Executive Director Chris Young told Meatingplace that the bill is set to be reintroduced in the next several weeks.
“We are working to gain support for it among members of Congress. It contains some critical funding that we have been looking for for small processors,” Young said in an email. Separately, in Oregon, House Bill 2785 would create a grant program managed by the state’s Department of Agriculture that could provide $10 million to help state-regulated meat processors expand and upgrade facilities, the La Grande Observer newspaper reported. ▫
NEW MEXICO’S OLD TIMES & OLD TIMERS
by Don Bullis, New Mexico Author DonBullis.biz
Civil War Arrives in New Mexico
The Texans are coming!!
The United States Civil War got underway on April 12, 1861 when General P. G. T. Beauregard ordered his South Carolina troops to commence the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. One would think that New Mexico, 2,000 or so miles to the west, and not a state of the Union, would not be much effected in an immediate way. Not so.
Many Americans living in the east—both north and south—found New Mexico to be a kind of enigma. Everyone knew that Texas stood with the south in the matter of secession, but its neighbor to the west and north was a territory under the direct control of the federal government. Where would it stand in the coming conflict? There were, after all, mineral resources in the West that had to be considered by both sides.
Only two years before, in February 1859, the New Mexico territorial legislature had passed a law that seemed to support the institution of slavery. It was called the “Act for Protection of Slave Property.” In effect, it was a fugitive slave act. But was Black slavery an issue in New Mexico? Not really. Some historians estimate that in 1861 there were no more than a dozen Black slaves in the entire territory (which then included what is now Arizona), and almost all of them were “owned” by U. S. military officers. Historian Robert Torrez reported that there was known to be one free Black man living in Santa Fe at the time.
On the other hand, peonage was an acceptable institution in New Mexico, and Indian slavery had been a part of life for many years. As late as 1859, a bill passed the territorial legislature which provided that captured Indians became the legal slaves of those who captured them. Territorial Governor Abraham Rencher vetoed the act.
While many of the people who had moved into southern New Mexico in the years following the Mexican War (18461848) had strong ties to Texas, those living in the northern two-thirds of the territory had strong ties to Missouri traders who had established themselves in the Santa Fe area after the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821. That seemed to imply sympathy with the Northern states.
Historian Howard R. Lamar wrote, “The question for the Americans in Santa Fe was a practical one: do we wish to surrender our trade and political organization to the authority of Texas? The answer … was no.”
The uncertainty about what would happen in the American Southwest was compounded by the actions of a number of officers serving at New Mexico’s several forts. More than a few left the United States Army to become officers in the Confederate Army. Some of the most significant were Lt. Col. George B. Crittenden who had served at Forts Craig, Stanton and Union before changing sides; James Longstreet who became a close advisor to Robert E. Lee; General Sterling Price who had at one time been military governor of New Mexico; and Henry H. Sibley who’d served as commander at Fort Union, and who later returned to New Mexico as a Texas Confederate General.
But the single most important event in the early days of the war was President Abe Lincoln’s appointment of Dr. Henry Con-
nelly as territorial governor in 1861. Connelly’s predecessor, Abraham Rencher, appears to have been a competent administrator, but he was a native of North Carolina and the president wasn’t sure he could depend upon his loyalty to the Union.
Henry Connelly, born in Kentucky, had close ties to the Missouri traders and had been a merchant in New Mexico since 1824. He was strongly anti-confederate. Connelly had also married into the Chavez family of Peralta and had become popular among Hispanic New Mexicans.
Connelly’s style in stirring up support for the Union was interesting, and predicated on his long experience with New Mexicans. His mantra didn’t have anything to do with resisting the Confederates. Truth be told, most New Mexicans didn’t seem to care much about the war, one way or the other. But what they did care about was being invaded by Texans and Connelly repeatedly stressed that the invading army was made up of Texans, and only incidentally by Confederates.
It worked. Sibley and the Confederates had counted on the New Mexico population for supplies and support. Sibley even issued a proclamation: “We come as friends to liberate the people from the yoke of military despotism. In the name of former friendship, I appeal to you, drop your arms, array yourself under the colors of justice and freedom.” No one bought it and the Confederates found their supply line getting longer and longer and thinner and thinner.
The Confederates were defeated at the Battle of Glorieta in March 1862, and beat a hasty retreat back to Texas.
As a kind of parting shot while on the retreat south, the Texans bothered to visit Governor Connelly’s sizable hacienda. They left it in ruins. The governor’s loss was said to have been about $30,000; a fortune at the time. The doors to Connelly’s mansion may be viewed today as the main entrance to the Casa San Ysidro Museum in Corrales, New Mexico.
Source: New Mexico Historical Encyclopedia by Don Bullis ▫
2021 Horse Sale and Open House
May 1, 2021
Open House 9am - 10:30am Sale Preview 10:30am - 12pm Online sale starts 1pm - 4pm
Catalog and Pictures will be posted to NMSU Horse Farm on Facebook and on Animal and Range Sciences Website
•14 Horses will sell •Five 2-year-old geldings •Three 2-year-old fillies •One 3-year-old mare •One yearling stallion •One yearling filly •Two broodmares •One 12-year-old stallion — Love Em N Leave (pictured)
Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NMSUHorseFarm
For more info on breeding fees or sale, contact Joby Priest / priest@nmsu.edu / 575-202-3646
100 Seedstock Suppliers & More Than 56k Bulls Make the List
Source: BEEF Magazine
Every year, BEEF assembles the annual Seedstock 100 list for several reasons, which include monitoring the level of seedstock concentration and the relative market engagement of seedstock suppliers. It’s also meant to recognize the contribution of seedstock producers who make all or a substantial portion of their cattle income from the seedstock business.
As such, the BEEF Seedstock 100 list makes no claim to be representative of the seedstock industry as a whole. Neither is it intended to be a proxy of quality and ability.
Inclusion on the SS100 list speaks to a host of supplier attributes associated with the commitment and ability to market so many bulls year after year, such as customer trust and satisfaction, industry knowledge and adaptability.
Our SS100 list represents a small percentage of the overall number of beef cattle seedstock suppliers in the United States. Obviously, you can find seedstock providers offering far fewer than 230 bulls each year who market top-end quality backed by topdrawer service. Those providers can be found in our Seedstock Directory list. ▫ Cattlemens LivestockAuction Co., Inc.
R egular Sales R egular Sales
CATTLE
Every Friday at 9 a.m. SHEEP, GOATS & HORSES
ALL BREEDS BULL SALE
Monday March 29, 2021 1:00 p.m.
Expect to Sell About 100 Top-quality Range Bulls
1st Tuesday of Every Month at 10 a.m. BelenLivestockAuction.com
For more information or to consign cattle, please give us a call or drop by. We guarantee our same high quality service as in the past. P.O. Box 608 • Belen, NM
OFFICE: 505/864-7451 • FAX: 505-864-7073 BRANDON MAJOR — 505-270-4873 • ELIJAH PADILLA — 505-573-0546 BUCKY RUSSELL — 505-410-3216 • CHARLIE MYERS — 505-269-9075
