Riding Herd Saying things that need to be said. February 15, 2025 • www.aaalivestock.com
Volume 67 • No. 2
Cars, Coal & Cows LEE PITTS
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NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
f you believe the environmentalists, we’re on the brink of a national climate catastrophe and it’s all because of cows and the methane they belch. But when you try to pinpoint exactly what percentage of the methane created is produced by cattle, you’ll find guestimates ranging anywhere from three to thirty-three percent. The greenies insist that the largest source of man-made m e t h a n e emissions is agriculture, which they say is responsible one quarter of the dastardly gas, followed closely by the energy sector, which includes emissions from cars and coal. How convenient that the greenies can get rid of the top three on their hit list with just one man-made scam. If all of agriculture is responsible for 25 percent of all methane emissions in this country how can cows alone be responsible for 33 percent? Aren’t cows considered agriculture? Cow burps aren’t even the largest source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste is. Yet you hardly ever hear of anyone who is studying how to get rid of food. For some reason greenies just seem to hate cows and in response academics and the enviros are trying to come up with
a more climate-friendly cow. Jumping Through Hoops For the sake of argument, let’s say that cows are responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is the figure most often mentioned. Because the feds and the green groups covet the land ranchers own for wildlife corridors, endangered species habitat and solar farms, the greenies targeted grazing cows
answer in search of a problem. Dr. Charley Martinez, an Ag Economist at the University of Tennessee, suggests that the answer is to find an EPD ranchers can use to help select cattle that produce less methane. “There are efforts out there,” says Martinez, “to develop a climate-friendly EPD and while that development may be another 5 to 10 years away, it could be accelerated if a corporation like McDonald’s suddenly wants their beef to come from climate-friendly cattle, causing buyers and feeders to source cattle from climate-friendly sources and breeders. If this happens we could see premiums for breeders who are early adopters of climate-friendly practices and breeding selections.” Dr. Martinez says, “A lot of money is being thrown at it for research.” Towards the end of
Don’t judge folks by their relatives. because they say they produce more methane than feedlots or dairy cows. This is because beef cattle get more fiber from grass which produces more methane. So academics and bureaucrats are twisting themselves into a full blown fit trying to find an
2023, the Bezos Earth Fund donated 57 million dollars to go towards making the livestock sector more sustainable. Thirty million of that will be spent on low-methane feed and genetic breeding programs to make low-methane cows. We have our doubts that in the not-so-distant future ranchers are going to select their bulls based on methane production. Still, colleges across the globe are trying to find a solution to cure gaseous cows. Professors at Curtin University in Western Australia analyzed 27 different academic publications and identified dozens of potential strategies to reduce methane emissions from Australia’s beef and dairy sectors. Merideth Kelliher who is leading the charge said that “The fastest way to lower methane emissions would be to convert farmland into wetlands and forests.” In other words, we could solve the problem by ridding the world of cows. Kelliher added, “Studies have found low emission cattle have inheritable genetic traits which can significantly reduce methcontinued on page 2
Endangered 60 Days to Save the Horse Industry Species Emerge as Trump’s Latest APHIS HPA Rule Goes Into Effect on April 2, 2025 Takedown Target SOURCE: WESTERN JUSTICE
BY BOBBY MAGILL / BLOOMBERG LAW
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n January 24, 2025, USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) temporarily postponed its final rule to amend the Horse Protection Act (HPA) regulations for 60 days from February 1, 2025 to April 2, 2025. APHIS published the final rule (89 FR 39194-39251) amending the horse protection regulations to provide, among other provisions, that the Agency will screen, train, and authorize qualified persons for appointment by the management of any horse show, horse exhibition, or horse sale or auction to detect and diagnose soring at such events for the purposes of enforcing the HPA. With the exception of § 11.19, which went into effect on June 7, 2024 and authorized the training of horse protection inspectors, the remainder of the rule was scheduled to go into effect on February 1, 2025. As the implementation date for the revised Horse Protection Act (HPA) looms over the horse industry, many people who are involved with horses find themselves wondering exactly how they will be affected. Simply put, the revised version of the HPA would make unnecessary, heavy-handed government overreach the norm, devastate all levels of horse show communities, and effectively cripple much of the equine industry in the United States. continued on page 4
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nvironmental law groups are hiring a cadre of attorneys in a bid to block President Donald Trump’s deregulatory efforts, which they assert will dismantle endangered species protections. The Center for Biological Diversity, which sued the first Trump administration more than 280 times, is adding six lawyers. Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that sued more than 200 times, is seeking eight more. Both groups say they’re preparing to file possibly hundreds of lawsuits to challenge potential rollbacks under Trump’s Jan. 31 deregulation plan, which directs federal agencies to eliminate 10 rules for each new one they enact. “We’re not as caught by surprise as we were last time around,” said Kristen Boyles, managing attorney for Earthjustice. The scramble is a response to the disruption cascading across multiple departments and agencies, as the president and his newly formed Department of Government Efficiency seek to shrink government and repeal or replace every last vestige of the Biden agenda. Trump’s Jan. 20 energy emergency declaration notably uses the Endangered Species Act to expedite development, directing his secretary of the Interior to regularly convene a rarely used committee to identify “obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure specifically deriving from implementation of the ESA or the Marine continued on page 3
by LEE PITTS
I Have My Reasons
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sing a set of reasons like I used to give on my high school and college livestock judging teams I will now appraise your average farm animals. Sir, or Madame, I place this class of farm animals #1 (dog), #2 (horse), #3 (hog), #4 (cow), and #5 (sheep). I had a very close top pair and an easy bottom. I place the dog on top, and over the horse, because the dog can’t buck you off so high that birds will build nests in your beard on your way back down to earth. The dog doesn’t smell as bad as the hog (unless it’s tangled with a skunk), doesn’t have the brains of a fire hydrant like the sheep and doesn’t try to kill you in the sorting alley or the rodeo arena like the bovine. Dogs are cheap to feed, can ride in the cab of your pickup, and will protect the empty beer cans and broken jack in the bed of your truck with their life. I do grant that the dog can’t carry you around on its back all day like the horse and its incessant yapping can be annoying. In placing the horse second, I highly value that you can tell your rumors, gossip, hearsay and transgressions to your horse and it will never spill the beans. Also, a horse will follow your subtle commands unless they are of an idiotic nature. The horse can turn like a serpent, walk like a cat and run like a deer. The only other contrivance that can do that on a farm is green and is mechanical in nature. The horse looks good in leather and is the only animal I know of that smells good when sweaty. Unlike a cowboy, your average horse knows what “whoa” means. Horses have better dentition than the cow and can run faster than a sow. Horses are also kinder than other farm animals and if you don’t think so watch them stand head to tail and swat flies off each other. Name one time you’ve ever seen a hog do that with its corkscrew tail. Over the centuries a good cow horse has always been worth about ten times the value of a cow. I do grant that pork tastes better than horse meat and your average county fair racing pig costs less than the average Thoroughbred at Keeneland.
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