LMD July 2021

Riding Herd Saying things that need to be said.

July 15, 2021 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 63 • No. 7

The Herd Shot Around The World

BY LEE PITTS

P

ersonally, I blame Thomas Loren Friedman for the mess we’re in.

I really doubt if the BIG 4 meatpackers would be making as much as $1,000 per head gross profit, while the American cowman was disappearing faster than a dozen donuts at a branding, if the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner hadn’t written a book in 2005 called The World Is Flat. In the bestselling book the columnist for The New York Times predicted that in the 21st century globalization would be the order of the day. He got the title, The World Is Flat from his belief that in the 21st century the world would be a level playing field in terms of commerce, wherein all competitors (except labor) would have an equal opportunity.

Sunset Industries

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

Friedman the “Flatist” believed that country borders would become increasingly irrelevant and companies, will increasingly become part of a large, complex, global supply chain extending across the globe. Friedman’s book became the bible for the globalists and the biggest cheerleader for globalism criticized anyone who resisted these changes.

Uh, that would include me.

As I read the book in 2005 I got madder with each passing page.

Friedman preached on TV talk shows that America must export our manufacturing jobs to lower paying countries like India where the average hourly wage was 40 cents per hour and China where it was two dollars per hour, while the average wage in the United States at the time was $20 plus $1.24 in Social

A person who agrees with all your palaver is either a fool or he’s gettin’ ready to skin ya.

Security tax. Friedman wrote that the average engineer in the U.S. in 2005 made $90,000 per year while in India, an engineer made $12,000. Friedman predicted that ours would increasingly become a “service economy” where we all survived by waiting on each other.

This outsourcing would not be limited to labor but to agricultural commodities, meaning we’d buy our food from wherever it was produced the cheapest.

One problem that became obvious immediately was that the countries we were dealing with are definitely NOT free traders.

Their goal is to grab as much foreign currency as they can through trade.

Friedman went to India where he learned that the folks who work in Indian call centers adopt western names, take “accent neutralization classes” and made $90 a month. He predicted that anything that could be

outsourced would be and he gave an example of a trial in a Missouri McDonald’s where orders in the drive-through were handled by a call center in India.

Friedman urged anyone who owned an American based company that made anything to “get out now or bleed to death.” He predicted that we’d have thousands of “sunset industries” in America that would completely die off. One of those industries could be the beef business. It’s no coincidence that we’ve lost half our producers since globalization became all the rage because it turns out, one person’s economic liberation can be another man’s unemployment.

If Thomas Friedman showed up to give a speech these days at a union meeting or a county cattleman’s confab about all the wonders of globalization he’d likely be tarred and feathered.

How has globalization worked out? The International

A Failure of Policy is Endangering Ranching Families along the Border

BY DALENE HODNETT, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA RELATIONS Reprinted courtesy of the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau

“

I was riding back in our mountain country by myself, riding up an often-used canyon and I was looking for cattle up on the slopes and my horse stopped to pee. I looked down in front of me and there were four men in hunting camo and black masks that were brushed up under a juniper and it boogered me and I kind of jumped…I could see that they had carpet shoes on and big bundles stashed behind them and I had to ride right past them because the canyon walls were so steep. They never blinked, never moved, never made a sound, they just stared at me.”

This is just one of the stories Erica Valdez shares about how life has changed along the border as drug and human smuggling has increased dramatically. Erica’s ranch is south of Lordsburg near Animas and she is aware of drug smuggling activity on a daily basis. Whether through dangerous interactions such as the one described, trash left at spotter camps, or damaged water systems, she and her family are paying the price of our nation’s failed immigration policy.

Forum On Globalization reported that “Globalization has benefitted transnational corporations over workers; foreign investors over local businesses; and wealthy countries over developing nations. They proclaim globalism as the model that is the rising tide that will lift all boats. But instead it is lifting all yachts.”

Hoodwinked

In April the USDA called for public comments to help the Biden Administration “transform America’s food system by increasing durability and resilience within U.S. food supply chains.” In response R-CALF’s CEO, Bill Bullard, wrote a brilliant letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in which he identified the two things that are causing today’s crisis in the U.S. cattle industry: packer concentration and globalization.

According to Bullard, the percentage of imports that comprise America’s total available beef supply has doubled from 10 percent of total beef supplies in the early 1980s to above 20 percent today. “These undifferentiated beef imports from around the world function as substitutes for U.S. cattle and beef and cause the exodus of U.S. beef cattle operations, shrinkage of the U.S. cattle continued on page two

Russell Johnson’s ranch runs for eight miles along the international boundary and he shares Erica’s frustration. “This ranch has been in our family since 1918 and I’m the fourth generation. This is a great place to ranch, and the border wall was going to provide us with some relief, but unfortunately it didn’t get finished and we’re left with bits and pieces and now it’s increasing the flow of traffic that’s coming through our ranch.” The portion of the wall that was not completed transitions to Normandy barriers and then to a barbed wire fence (which the Johnsons are charged with maintaining) that for a half mile serves as the barrier between Mexico and the United States. This has created a funnel right through the Johnson ranch and the resultant traffic destroys fencing meant to keep cattle from wandering to neighboring ranches or Mexico.

It’s not just the fences that need constant repair, it’s the water systems as well. Amanda Keeler’s ranch is eight miles north of the border, near Hachita. She explains that immigrants looking for water often break off the tank floats leaving the water running. This drains the system and leaves her cattle without water, a dangerous situation in New Mexico’s desert heat. To hear more of the interviews with Erica, Russell and Amanda, search YouTube for NMFarmBureau for our channel.

Recently, NMF&LB joined all 50 state Farm Bureaus and Puerto Rico in sending a letter urging the Biden administration to address the surge of undocumented immigrants continued on page four

by LEE PITTS

Genetically Unemployable

I

can’t stand being told what to do.

Been that way all my life. I can’t work for other people and that worked out just fine because no one has ever wanted too desperately to hire me. I’ve never handled people with authority well and that’s why for the past 40 years I’ve been self-employed and believe me, there’s been several times I felt like firing myself.

I haven’t filled out a resume in 45 years, never taken a day of unemployment, and I’ve never run out of work.

I started my career early in life mowing lawns, delivering papers and dusting furniture for my Grandpa in his furniture shop, all before I was 12. By far, my Grandpa was the best boss I ever had. He gave me a shiny silver dollar every Friday and I sure wish I’d have kept them.

I worked in the oil fields for three summers to help self-finance my college education and I did have a good boss one summer who everyone called Timmy. He was a quiet, elderly gent who was about five and a half feet tall and built like a piece of rebar. And just as strong. Timmy was the only boss in the oilfields who seemed interested in teaching me things.

I’d been on similar A-frame trucks with other bosses in other summers but mostly what those bosses did was try to stay out of radio range of the BIG BOSS so he wouldn’t know my boss was taking a nap or “reading” a magazine full of scantily clad women.

I also had a fabulous boss on the cattle ranch I worked for during high school but I never really considered him a boss because he was more like a father. And that’s the sum total of good bosses I’ve had.

One of the worst was my first. I was the only gringo on a Hispanic crew picking lemons and oranges and I learned an early lesson that racism can work both ways. With citrus you had to cut the stem right next to the fruit or the sharp stems would damage the other fruit in the big wooden boxes. You’d stack your boxes at the head of a row, write your number (mine was 13) on the box and fill it from the sack that hung around your neck. If you didn’t clip your stems the boss would yell at you to come to your boxes and go through every box

continued on page nine

Page 2

Livestock Market Digest

HERD SHOT AROUND THE WORLD herd, and elimination of opportunities for aspiring cattle farmers and ranchers.”

“Since 1990,” wrote Bullard, “the average annual volume-based trade deficit has been about 1.5 billion pounds of beef per year, with a cumulative deficit since that time of over 46 billion pounds.” Bullard says, “The U.S. live cattle supply chain continues to be severely weakened by persistent trade deficits that relegate the United States to a beef deficit nation – unable to produce sufficient volumes of beef from cattle born, raised, and harvested in the United States to satisfy domestic consumption.

“The meatpacking lobby has hoodwinked past Administrations and Congresses,” continues Bullard, “into believing this horrendous and persistent cattle and beef trade deficit does not matter because, they say, ‘We export tongues and other offals while we import grass-finished beef trimmings to mix with our fattier trimmings to meet U.S. ground beef demand in commercial markets.’ But that is simply not true. According to the USDA, the U.S. brought in over 130 million pounds of tongues and offal in 2020 alone.

Also that year, the U.S. imported nearly 400 million pounds of fresh/chilled carcasses and bone-in cuts and prepared beef, which further disproves their baseless assertions. The fact is that unless the U.S. takes steps to eliminate the horrendous and persistent trade deficit in cattle and beef, strengthening and rebuilding the domestic beef supply chain will remain untenable.”

Hogwash!

Sometimes you hear a lie so often it becomes the perceived truth. Such is the case with imported beef. According to Bullard, “The meatpacking lobby’s decades-long mantra is that

cont. from page one

the importation of large quantities of lower quality processing beef does not harm domestic producers. In fact, they say, domestic producers benefit from imports of processing beef because ‘without processing beef imports we could not meet domestic demand for commercial ground beef and would likely lose those consumers to other lesser-value proteins.’ But a government analysis shows whatever the benefits from these imports, they are at the domestic cattle producers’ financial expense and they effectively displace the domestic cattle producers’ opportunities to expand their herds and otherwise strengthen the domestic supply chain.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (80 percent financed by your checkoff dollars) has testified in the past that, “Especially in the Pacific Northwest, imports of Canadian and Mexican cattle have supplemented seasonal shortages in our herd and helped our feed yards and packing facilities run at optimal levels.”

Hogwash!

Let’s look at the northwest to see how globalization “has helped.” During an investigation by the International Trade Commission the North American Meat Institute (meatpackers) testified that, “The Northwest region imports 227,000 head of Canadian fat cattle per year representing approximately 19 percent of processing capacity in the region. Additionally, another 55,000 of Canadian feeder cattle are imported annually into Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, representing eight percent of the one-time packing capacity in that region.”

Thus, while the U.S. was importing 282,000 head of both fat cattle and feeder cattle from Canada and/or Mexico into the Pacific Northwest and produc-

ing undifferentiated beef from those imported cattle, R-CALF says, “The domestic beef cow herd in the Pacific Northwest has shrunk by about 240,000 head of cattle and over 21,000 beef cattle farms and ranches have exited the U.S. cattle supply chain. And there’s every indication that this same import-related harm is being exacted in every state.”

Free To Choose R-CALF recommended to Vilsack that to lessen some of the damage that imports have done to the U.S. cattle industry the USDA should, “Empower cattle producers to combat the horrendous trade deficit with country of origin labeling (COOL). “Currently domestic beef is indistinguishable from imported product,” says R-CALF. “Therefore, the decision to purchase imported versus domestic beef is vested exclusively with the beef purveyor – be that the packer or the retailer, who unilaterally decides from which country’s supply chain the cattle and beef will be sourced and subsequently offered to the consumer. As a result, consumers are deprived even of the opportunity to choose to support the domestic live cattle supply chain and the rural economies it supports because they cannot distinguish between foreign-produced or domestic-produced beef at the grocery store where they make their purchasing decisions.”

Currently, importers and packers are allowed to place a “Product of the USA” label on beef derived from cattle that are born and raised in foreign countries. The USDA has made clear that “once product offered for entry has been reinspected by FSIS inspectors and the official mark of inspection has been applied, FSIS considers that such product has been ‘entered’ into the United States, and therefore, is the regulatory equivalent of domestic product.”

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July 15, 2021 We’ve seen time and again in the United States. Both JBS beef packers turn on and off and Marfrig are a product of the the beef spigot from over two Brazilian government’s “Nationdozen countries around the al Champions Policy,” which was world whenever it suits their implemented by the Brazilian fancy. R-CALF says we need National Development Bank to to engage “in serious negotia- catapult Brazil into a global beef tions with Canada and Mexico packing superpower.” The cartel to convince them to withdraw partners receive not only subsitheir decade-old complaint over dized loans but a whole host of the old COOL law at the World resources not available to AmerTrade Organization (WTO) and ican companies from our govagree to a complete nullification ernment. According to Bullard, of all COOL-related WTO rul- “It is evident that Marfrig and ings. The Administration should JBS are state-supported, cartel also require all enterprises federal beef that are atprocurement tempting to Friedman predicted gain control agencies to source only of America’s that ours would beef born, critical food raised, and production harvested in facilities, as increasingly become a the United well as over States for all A m e r i c a ’s ‘service economy’ where federal food food-proprograms inwe all survived by waiting duction supcluding the ply chain, National particularly on each other ... One of School Lunch its beef supProgram.” those industries could be plyAchain.”

It’s also nothvery galling to er R-CALF the beef business. “ many ranchrecommeners to see the dation was beef checkoff used to advertise to learn from the COVID crises and promote beef NOT derived and take decisive steps to profrom animals born, raised, and tect us from unnecessary and harvested in the United States. avoidable disease outbreaks.

“But America appears on track Playing With Fire to expose cloven-footed liveIt’s obvious that Friedman’s stock and wildlife to the risk of flat world is a fairy tale, COVID foot-and- mouth disease – the taught us that. “Many countries most contagious disease known that send us beef are unwilling to such animals. This completeor unable to deploy necessary ly unnecessary and avoidable recourses to eradicate highly risk exposure is due to plans to contagious livestock diseas- introduce the LIVE FMD virus es within their borders,” says onto the U.S. mainland to be R-CALF. “As a result, the U.S. studied and manipulated within cattle herd’s risk of exposure to the planned National Bio and such diseases is greater today Agro-Defense Facility located than before the outset of the in the heart of the High Plains globalization of beef and cattle – the region where about 75 percent of beef packing capacisupply chains.”

Even before Friedman’s ty and 80 percent of all cattle in book, “The USDA embarked feedlots are located.

“The U.S. Department of on a systematic course to facilitate the importation of more Homeland Security’s own risk and more imported beef and analysis indicates “that a release cattle. The first step in the pro- of FMD virus resulting in incess was to lower U.S. food fection outside the laboratory safety standards to allow foreign has a nearly 70 percent chance countries that did not meet the of occurring with an economhigher level of food safety re- ic impact of $9 to 50 billion.” quirements in the United States The academy also said that the to nevertheless export beef to most likely cause of an accidenthe U.S. market. Beginning in tal pathogen release would be 1997, the USDA weakened its human error... just like the Chipolicy by adopting what it called nese virus.

Globalization is nothing new. “regionalization,” which allows regions within a country to con- It comes and goes in cycles down tinue exporting livestock and/ through history but usually in or meat to the U.S. even if the the process agricultural markets exporting country has ongoing get destroyed. It’s irritating to disease problems. Then in 1999, constantly hear that the export the USDA further relaxed U.S. market will be the salvation for import restrictions by ceasing U.S ranchers while the truth is its longstanding practice of con- all we have to do to fix this mess ducting monthly inspections at is to make available to Ameriforeign meatpacking plants. In- can ranchers the largest, most stead, the U.S. began conduct- affluent and accessible market ing only periodic inspections.” for U.S. goods of all. That would By 2005 the USDA was defer- be the $1.2 trillion dollar market ring to The World Trade Organi- within the U.S. that has been zation to establish U.S. disease lost to imports. prevention policies. The USDA relaxed its standards even while Canada continued to experience unexplained outbreaks of BSE.”

“

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Cleaning Up Their Mess R-CALF made over two dozen recommendations to the USDA on how to fix the broken beef market. One that will surely NOT get done is to, “Prohibit foreign ownership of critical domestic beef supply chain components. Brazilian-owned JBS and Marfrig now own or control two of the four largest beef packing companies operating

July 15, 2021

Livestock Market Digest

Biden’s Monkeywrencher The disturbing story of nominee Tracy StoneManning and Earth First!

BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL / WALL STREET JOURNAL

“P.

S. You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could

get hurt.”

Thus reads a note sent in 1989 to the U.S. Forest Service

by Tracy Stone-Manning, now President Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management.

Presidents are generally entitled to personnel picks. An exception might be a nominee who ran with eco-terrorists— who collaborated with Earth First! saboteurs, known for spiking trees to halt timber sales, and who misled senators about the nature of her involvement.

Mr. Biden put Ms. Stone-Manning forward in April, and she isn’t new to politics. The environmental radical has worked for Sen. Jon Tester and former Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, and more recently at the National Wildlife Federation. She’s spent a lifetime protesting fossil-fuel production, logging, mining and public access to federal land.

The Earth First! story also isn’t new, though over the years Ms. Stone-Manning crafted a heroic version. In that tale, told in various forums over the years, she was an innocent graduate student at the University of Montana in Missoula. In 1989, a “frankly, frightening” and “disturbed person” from Earth First! asked her to mail a warning letter about tree spiking, which is designed to kill or maim loggers and mill workers.

ter to the Forest Service. The letter explained that “five hundred pounds of spikes measuring 8 to 10 inches” had been laced through Idaho trees, and warned that anyone seeking She agreed, because “she didn’t to fell them would get “hurt.” want anybody getting hurt.” In Rather than alert authorities, 1993 she nobly testified against Ms. Stone-Manning rented a the spikers, helping send two to typewriter and retyped it, exprison. A Biden official said that plaining in a later interview that Ms. Stone-Manning has always she worried her “fingerprints been “honest and transparent” were all over the original.” She mailed it. about her history.

The Missoulian reported that Hardly. Public documents obtained by the Journal tell in fall 1989 “prosecutors subthe real story. According to poenaed seven Missoula resithat 1993 court transcript, Ms. dents, including Stone-ManStone-Manning arrived in Mis- ning, to appear before a grand soula in 1988 and immediately jury to provide physical evimoved into a house occupied dence, including handwriting

by Earth First! members. This and hair samples.” Yet a former was the height of the wilderness federal law-enforcement agent who investigated wars, and the 1989 spikEarth First! ing recently told had by the Prosecutors E&E news she mid-1980s stonewalled the defined itself subpoenaed investigation, setas the tip of ting it back years. the fanatical According to the seven Missoula spear. Its moarticle, only after dus operandi residents, including Mr. Blount’s comwas violence mon-law wife ratand terror, or him out was what it called Stone-Manning, to ted Ms. Stone-Man“monkeyning’s role exposed, wrenching”— appear before a and then she tradspectacutestimony for lar arsons, grand jury to provide ed immunity.

“The equipment only reasons that destruction, physical evidence, Tracy Stone-Manand most ning became a notably the including handwriting cooperator, if you deadly pracwant to call it that, tice of tree and hair samples.” is because she was spiking. caught,” the forShe acmer agent told E&E. knowledged in testimony that So here’s the real story: The she helped edit an Earth First! newsletter. One 1989 edition Biden nominee, as an adult, highlighted an article entitled joined an organization that “Who Are the Real Terrorists?” openly perpetrated violence— It praises “the fine art of tree tactics that led to real harm, as spiking.” In testimony, Ms. with a California sawmill worker Stone-Manning described the whose face was ravaged in 1987 men who were ultimately con- when a blade shattered on a victed of spiking as co-inhab- spike. Ms. Stone-Manning was itants of her house as well as made aware of an act of eco-terrorism, aided the perpetrators, “friends.”

One, John Blount (later and hid the crime. Why would convicted), in the spring of Mr. Biden reward this behavior 1989 asked her to send a let- by putting her in charge of 247

“

Page 3 million acres of public land?

The “honest and transparent” Ms. Stone-Manning also wasn’t straight in her Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee questionnaire. She at one point declared that she had “never been the target of [a federal] investigation.” This despite complaining in a 1990 Spokesman-Review article about being targeted in the FBI probe, as well as giving a 1993 interview to the Missoulian, which reported: “Stone-Manning said she could have been charged with conspiracy” if not for her immunity deal. (The BLM didn’t respond to a request for comment from Ms. Stone-Manning.)

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, ranking member of the Energy Committee, is leading Republicans in demanding the withdrawal of her nomination, stating that she was “intentionally trying to deceive” the committee. The nominee has proved too much even for Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski.

And Barack Obama’s first BLM director, Bob Abbey, last month said her history “should disqualify her” from the job.

The Biden team is so far sticking by its monkeywrencher, so the question will be decided

by Senate Democrats, including Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin. It’s bad enough to rubber-stamp radicals. There should be no room in the federal government for those who dabbled with terrorists.

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Page 4

Livestock Market Digest

BORDER

continued from page one

entering the United States. The letter was also sent to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

“For years our farm and ranch families along the southern border have been caught in the middle of a perilous situation that continues to escalate” says Craig Ogden, President of New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau. “My heart goes out to those families who have farmed and ranched in that area for generations and are victim to dangerous and sometimes violent, drug and human traffickers.” The letter asks the federal government to provide additional resources to secure the U.S. border.

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(right) New Mexico rancher near Deming Russell Johson standing in front of part of the border wall on his ranch. (below-top) Johnson in front of the unfinished piece of the wall on his ranch that allows free and regular entry by illegals who want to avoid border crossings. (below-middle) New Mexico rancher near Animas Erica Valdez. (below-bottom) New Mexico rancher near Hatchia Amanda Keeler Adame.

July 15, 2021

Executive Order to ‘Promote Competition’ through 72 Initiatives Unveiled

BY ZACHARY HALASCHAK, ECONOMICS REPORTER | WASHINGTON EXAMINER

T

he White House announced that President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order on July 9, 2021 designed to decrease corporate consolidation and increase competitiveness.

The order, which has been much hyped by administration officials in the days leading up to its release, is meant to raise wages through the 72 initiatives that will be carried out by more than a dozen government agencies, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

The order calls upon the leading antitrust agencies, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, to enforce existing antitrust laws “vigorously” and that enforcement should focus on the labor markets, agricultural markets, healthcare markets, and the technology sector.

“That lack of competition drives up prices for consumers,” the White House said. “Families are paying higher prices for necessities — things like prescription drugs, hearing aids, and internet service.”

Biden’s order, which was months in the making, also creates a “White House Compe-

tition Council” that will be led by the Director of the National Economic Council. The goal of the council is to monitor progress on the dozens of initiatives in the order and to “coordinate the federal government’s response to the rising power of large corporations in the economy.”

The directive seeks to cut down on “burdensome” licensing requirements that the White House claims stifle wages and suppress worker mobility. It also encourages the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements.

Biden’s executive order also targets the shipping, railroad, and agriculture industries.

In terms of ocean shipping, the executive order will push the Federal Maritime Commission to crack down on companies that the administration says have been charging unreasonable and unjust charges, such as fees for detention and demurrage.

In the fact sheet, the White House says that four decades ago, there were 33 “Class I” railroads, while there are only seven left today, with four large companies dominating the market space. The new order encourages the Surface Transportation

Executive Order Aimed at Big Agribusiness

BY ZACHARY HALASCHAK, ECONOMICS REPORTER | WASHINGTON EXAMINER

T

he Biden administration is moving forward with new rules targeting what it sees as unfair practices in the agribusiness industry as part of an executive order on competition.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it will engage in a series of rule-makings to increase competition in agricultural industries, to boost farmers’ and ranchers’ earnings, fight back against abuses of power by giant agribusiness corporations, and give farmers the right to repair their own equipment how they like,” White House press secretary said.

The order directs the USDA to issue new rules under the Packers & Stockyards Act that the White House says will make it easier for farmers to bring claims, help chicken farmers from being exploited and underpaid by chicken processors, and put in place anti-retaliation protections for those who speak out about bad practices.

The Press Secretary said the executive order also directs the USDA to issue new regulations that will define when meat can have labels indicating it is a product of the United States.

“Something that I learned that I found a little outrageous,” she said, “is that under current labeling rules, most grass-fed beef labeled ‘product of the U.S.A.’ is actually raised and slaughtered abroad and then imported to the U.S. for processing.”

The Press Secretary said

that the Biden administration sees the issue about labeling unfair for U.S. farmers and ranchers who have to compete with companies overseas “that are misleading consumers.”

The order also directs the USDA to develop a plan to increase opportunities for farmers by supporting alternative food distribution systems such as farmers markets. The USDA will take other actions in addition to the ones mentioned on Tuesday as part of the executive order, Psaki told reporters.

The news comes about a month after more than two dozen Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate signed a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland contending that “the anticompetitive practices” in the meatpacking industry today “are unambiguous.”

The lawmakers said that over the years, the price of live cattle in the U.S. market has fallen, while the price of boxed beef has greatly increased, a disconnect that has resulted in higher costs at the grocery store for consumers.

“Our American ranchers work hard every day to produce the best beef in the world. They battle the wind, the rain, the snow and the sun. They shouldn’t have to battle a problem their government has an obligation to fix,” they said.

▫

Board to require railroad track owners to provide rights of way to passenger rail.

The White House wants to put big agribusiness on notice through the new order.

It will direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue new regulations under the Packers and Stockyards Act that the administration says will make it easier for farmers to bring claims, help chicken farmers from being exploited and underpaid by chicken processors, and put in place anti-retaliation protections for those who speak out about bad practices.

The USDA will also consider new rules about “product of the USA” labels and how it is determined what meats can bear that phrase.

The order also targets internet service providers and will encourage the Federal Communications Commission to restore Obama-era “net neutrality” laws that were undone in 2017 during the Trump administration.

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The Right’s Most Influential Spokesman on Climate Change

BY PETER CHRISTIAN / KGVO

A

man described as ‘the right’s most influential spokesman on climate change’, Myron Ebell, Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was on the Talk Back show to answer questions from KGVO listeners, and there were plenty.

Ebell recalled his youth on a farm in Oregon, where he experienced the effects of government controlled lands.

“What I learned growing up is that the federal lands which in my county are about 50 percent,” began Ebell. “It’s Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service that most of the environmental problems that we face in the rural West are caused by federal land mismanagement, and that includes the threat of catastrophic fires.”

Ebell, who faces constant criticism from environmental groups, said the Green Movement is very big business.

“In my experience, the environmental movement is very big business,” he said. “Now, it’s not little grassroots groups, although there are a lot of little grassroots groups and most of them do really good things, but the ones that dominate Washington and in state capitals, the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council, these are organizations that have budgets of well over $100 million a year. Some are over $200 million a year.”

Ebell coined a phrase for these groups, ‘the Climate Industrial Complex’.

“It has become the climate continued on page five

July 15, 2021

Livestock Market Digest

Radical Resetters Publish Plan to Wreck America & the Free World

BY CRAIG RUCKER / CFACT

A

pparently the problem with the world is that you are too free.

Americans must slash our energy use 87 percent and abandon limited government and our free economy if we are to live “sustainably” and meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. That is according to a peer-reviewed study by five lead authors published June 29th in the journal Global Environmental Change.

Read the entire study at: https://www.cfact.org/2021/07/04/ radical-resetters-show-their-math-in-new-peer-reviewedstudy/?mc_cid=ccee86f382&mc_eid=006164256b It’s not often that the Socialists planning our future dystopia make their intentions plainly known. We can thank five academic radicals for doing just that.

Although the study’s authors concede that only countries with high energy use accomplish “decent living standards,” they nonetheless conclude that our political and economic systems are “misaligned with the aspirations of sustainable development” and are “unfit for the challenges of the 21st century.”

You can kiss individual freedom and prosperity goodbye, along with individual housing, cars, air travel, entrepreneurship, and even eating meat.

Their prescription:

■■

Slash annual energy use per person from Canada - 232 Gigajoules (GJ), U.S. - 204 GJ, and France 95 - GJ to a very low 27 GJ per year

■■

“Fairer income distribution is crucial for achieving decent living standards at low energy use”

■■

“To reduce existing income disparities, governments could raise minimum wages, provide a Universal Basic Income, and introduce a maximum income”

■■

“We also need much higher taxes on high incomes, and lower taxes on low incomes”

■■ ■■ ■■

Move from “an animal-based to a plant-based diet”

■■

“Economic growth beyond moderate levels of affluence is detrimental for aspirations of sustainable development”.

■■

Move from “individual to collective transport” Move from “motorized to active” (walking and cycling) travel

“Degrowth... is an idea whose time has come”

According to the Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. home uses about 10,399 kilowatt hours, which is 37.4 GJ per year. Driving a car averaging 25 mpg, 15,000 miles per year requires 72.79 GJ. According to the study Americans another 100+ GJ per year on top of that. Reducing American energy use from 204 GJ to 27 GJ per year would require reducing our living standards to serf-like conditions, weakening our military and economic might, and abandoning fundamental freedoms in a way no American is prepared to endure.

Nor should we. Neither should the rest of the world.

“In short,” the study’s authors sum up, “we need to abandon economic growth in affluent countries, scale back resource extraction, and prioritize public services, basic infrastructures and fair income distributions everywhere.”

This kind of nihilistic Socialist economic thinking is incredibly dangerous. Do not write it off. This is the kind of radicalism that has taken over education, the United Nations, and has found its way into our government agencies.

We must rebut these destructive leftists forcefully and constantly with the facts. Socialism has failed every time it has been tried. Voluntary exchange in a free market is efficient.

Government control is not.

▫

RIGHT’S SPOKESMAN industrial complex,” he said.

“There’s a huge number of companies in the renewable energy industry that need government support in order to make their product viable, and the way to do that is to sell them as environmentally good. And so the climate industrial complex is now a huge promoter of the environmental movement. So this is a multi-billion dollar movement, which spends almost all of its money not on producing or selling goods, but it spends it all on lobbying in Washington.”

Ebell posited a question for all Americans to consider regarding government and the environmental movement.

“Is climate change more of a risk for the future, or are these

continued from page four

climate policies and these energy policies that will raise the price of energy tremendously, double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple the price of energy?’ he asked. Are those policies more of a threat than the alleged climate problem? I think the policies are much riskier than some climate change.”

Sierra Club President Michael Brune wrote that “Myron Ebell is…one of the single greatest threats our planet has ever faced.”

During the Talk Back show, Ebell extended his visit from one hour to the entire 90 minute program, as all of the lines were full for most of the program.

▫

Its Dry and Another Lockdown

Drought

T

he drought is officially here. Just now? Yes, according to the mainstream media. It arrived on June 20, for it was on that date that two national publications and one regional published major articles covering the drought in the West. The Washington Post brought us “Severe Heat and Droughts the Hallmarks of a Changing West.” CNN came with “The American West is Drying Out. Things Will Get Ugly.” and the Albuquerque Journal says “We’re Sounding the Alarm.”

The Washington Post piece, while addressing west-wide issues, focuses primarily on California and Arizona.

In Lake Oroville, California, little islands of land are appearing, larger boats can no longer be removed, and the launch ramp no longer reaches the water.

As a result of a poor snowpack and early seasonal heat causing evaporation of runoff, the onset of this year’s drought happened much quicker than those previous. Only twenty percent of the expected runoff made it to reservoirs. “I’ve seen it like this before, but only at the end of summer, never this early,” says one official. “This low will be historic.”

Each drought year is different according to Stanford University’s Felicia Marcus. “This one’s come on hot and quickly.

And that has created an acceleration of the problems you might otherwise see, in part because

Page 5

our ecosystems, our forests, our groundwater resources haven’t recovered from the last one.”

The article says that last year’s wildfires burned up 4.3 million acres in California, the largest area ever in the history of the state, and that twenty-five percent of California residents now live in “high fire risk zones.”

California farmers have been notified that both federal and state water allotments will be curtailed and that due to low water levels future electricity production is threatened. California officials are preparing residents for a summer of rolling outages.

It further says that for California, Arizona and Utah, the period from June 2020 through May of 2021 has been the driest ever reported.

This appears to be another year where the famed California monsoon has not happened and residents are now referring to it as the “nonsoon”.

In Arizona they are most worried about implementation of restrictions on use of the Colorado River. Based upon a compact reached years ago, Arizona farmers will be among the first to have their water allotments cut. Stephanie Smallhouse, President of the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation, says, “They’ll likely…have to fallow up to 40 percent of what was growing before.” Smallhouse, a fifth-generation rancher, spends every daylight hour hauling water, along with her husband and son. The process, she says, is “physically exhausting. And mentally? It’s tough. Because you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

CNN takes a different tact, using three different maps to demonstrate the severity of the drought. They also focus on Lake Mead, which has fallen to depths not seen since it was filled during the construc-

tion in the 1930s of Hoover Dam. The entire town of St. Thomas, which the government bought and then flooded, has reappeared. The maps show 88 percent of the West in some shade of red, while the East is unaffected and Lake Mead has fallen more than 140 feet since 2000 and sits at no more than a third of its capacity.

CNN does show how the government differentiates between “extreme drought” and “exceptional drought”. The criteria is different for each state, but take a look at the criteria they use for “exceptional drought” in California:

■■

Fields are left fallow; orchards are removed; vegetable yields are low; honey harvest is small

■■

Fire season is very costly; number of fires and area burned are extensive

■■

Many recreational activities are affected

■■

Fish rescue and relocation begins; pine beetle infestation occurs; forest mortality is high; wetlands dry up; survival of native plants and animals is low; fewer wildflowers bloom; wildlife death is widespread; algae blooms appear

■■

Policy change; agriculture unemployment is high, food aid is needed

■■

Poor air quality affects health; greenhouse gas emissions increase as hydropower production decreases; West Nile Virus outbreaks rise

■■

Water shortages are widespread; surface water is depleted; federal irrigation water deliveries are extremely low; junior water rights are curtailed; continued on page nine

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Page 6

Livestock Market Digest

July 15, 2021

USDA Announces $500 Million ...

more, and those in the middle are taking the difference.

Dominant companies can use their power to engage in abusive for Expanded Meat & Poultry Processing, Increase practices and make it harder for Competition, Level the Playing Field for Family Farmers farmers, ranchers, and consumand Ranchers, & Build a Better Food System ers to get a fair price. Farmers’ share of every dollar spent on SOURCE: USDA restoration of the Packers and food has declined consistently Stockyards Act, will begin to he USDA has an- level the playing field for farm- from 35 cents in the 1970s to nouncing it intends ers and ranchers. This is a once around just 14 cents in recent to make significant in a generation opportunity to years.

Concentration in food proinvestments to ex- transform the food system so it pand processing capacity and is more resilient to shocks, de- cessing has contributed to increase competition in meat livers greater value to growers bottlenecks in America’s food and poultry processing to make and workers, and offers con- supply chain, too. Just a few agricultural markets more ac- sumers an affordable selection meatpackers, with a few large cessible, fair, competitive, and of healthy food produced and processing facilities, process resilient for American farmers sourced locally and regionally most of the livestock that farmand ranchers. This is one of sev- by farmers and processors from ers and ranchers raise into the eral key steps that USDA will diverse backgrounds. I am con- meat that we buy. For example, take to increase competition in fident USDA’s investments in just four large meat-packing agricultural markets, pursuant expanded capacity will spur mil- companies control over 80 percent of the beef to President Biden’s market alone.

Executive Order on One of the lespromoting compeUSDA also announced more than $150 sons from the tition and as part COVID-19 of USDA efforts to pandemic is million for existing small and very small build a more resilient that this syssupply chain and tem is too processing facilities.” better food system. rigid and too Together, USDA’s actions will help farmers, ranch- lions more in leveraged fund- fragile. When COVID slowed ers, farmworkers and consum- ing from the private sector and or shuttered meat processing, many farmers had no place to ers all get a fair shake. state and local partners as our Specifically, USDA an- efforts gain traction across the go. Farmers were forced to depopulate their animals, while nounced its intent to invest country.” grocery store shelves went bare $500 million in American ResThe announcement USDA cue Plan funds to expand meat made is part of the Biden-Har- and demand for food assistance and poultry processing capacity ris Administration’s historic spiked. These vulnerabilities so that farmers, ranchers, and commitment to fight monopo- are not new. And, given current consumers have more choices lization and promote competi- concerns about climate and cyin the marketplace. USDA also tion across the economy. They bersecurity, these risks are likely announced more than $150 are also aligned with USDA’s to grow even more sharply in million for existing small and vision of a food system that is the future. very small processing facilities fair, competitive, distributed, to help them weather COVID, and resilient, one that supports USDA is announcing the compete in the marketplace and health and ensures producers following initiatives to get the support they need to receive a fair share of the food increase competition in reach more customers. USDA dollar while advancing equi- agricultural markets, and is also holding meatpackers ty and combating the climate build more resilience accountable by revitalizing the crisis. In the coming months, supply chains: Packers and Stockyards Act, USDA will take additional Investing More Than $500 issuing new rules on “Product steps to promote competition million to Increase Competition of USA” labels, and developing and make a series of addition- and Capacity in the Meat and plans to expand farmers’ access al investments under USDA’s Poultry Processing Markets. to new markets.

Build Back Better Initiative fo“The COVID-19 pandemic cused on building a better food ■■ USDA will commit $500 million of USDA’s Build led to massive disruption for system.

Back Better Initiative growers, food workers, and confunds through the Amersumers alike. It exposed a food Market Concentration ican Rescue Plan to supsystem that was rigid, consoli- in Agriculture port new competitive endated, and fragile. Meanwhile, As key agricultural markets trants in meat and poultry those growing, processing and have become more concentratprocessing. USDA will preparing our food are earn- ed and less competitive, farmprovide grants, loans, and ing less each year in a system ers and ranchers are getting technical assistance to adthat rewards size over all else,” squeezed from both sides. Mardress concentration withsaid Agriculture Secretary Tom kets for farm inputs—like seeds in the meat and poultry Vilsack. “To shift the balance and fertilizer—are now domisectors and relieve supof power back to the people, nated by just a few companies. ply chain bottlenecks by USDA will invest in building Meanwhile, farmers and ranchsupporting new meat and more, better, and fairer markets ers have fewer and fewer oppoultry processing facilfor producers and consumers tions for selling their products. ities. These facilities will alike. The investments USDA The result is that often family create competitive opporwill make in expanding meat farmers and ranchers are gettunities for producers in and poultry capacity, along with ting less, consumers are paying local and regional food systems so that farmers and ranchers have access to better choices and fairer prices. USDA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit public input into its strategy to improve meat and poultry processing infrastructure and will hold targeted stakeholder meetings and other public engagement to better understand the needs, gaps, and barriers to fair and competitive meat processing markets.

small and very small meat processing capacity, benefitting smaller producers and processing plants.

USDA has made $55.2 million available for Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants to support expanded meat and poultry slaughter and processing capacity and efficiency while maintaining strong inspection and food safety standards.

T

“

Providing more than $150 million to Strengthen Existing Small and Very Small Processing Facilities and Help Them Weather COVID, Stay in the Marketplace, and Expand Capacity

■■

USDA will invest more than $55 million in strengthening existing

■■

USDA will dedicate $100 million to help small and very small processing plants weather the volatility and unexpected costs that COVID imposed.

With American Rescue Plan funds, USDA will provide $100 million to reduce the financial burden of overtime inspection fees for small and very small poultry, meat and egg processing plants, which provide farmers with local alternatives and greater capacity to process livestock.

Leveling the Playing Field for Independent Family Farmers and Ranchers

■■

USDA will revitalize the Packers and Stockyards Act to fight unfair practices and rebuild a competitive marketplace. The Packers and Stockyards Act was designed to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace and protect farmers against abuse at the hands of large businesses in the livestock and poultry industry. But the previous administration systematically weakened the law’s scope. To facilitate effective enforcement of the Act, USDA will be conducting three rulemakings. First, the rulemakings will clarify the conduct that USDA considers a violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act, including conduct that is unfair, deceptive, or unjustly discriminatory against farmers and growers. Second, they will address oppressive practices in chicken processing.

Third, the rulemakings will reinforce the longstanding USDA position that it is not necessary to demonstrate harm or likely harm to competition in order to establish a violation of the Act.

■■

USDA will develop a plan to increase farmers’ and ranchers’ access to new markets, and promote their ability to receive a fair return. As per the President’s Executive Order on promoting competition, USDA will develop a plan to increase opportunities for farmers to access markets, including by supporting value-added markets and local and regional food distribution systems. USDA will also analyze and recommend policies to address the impacts of concentration in seeds and in the retail sector on family farmers, and propose strategies to enhance transparency and accountability in key markets. Together, these initiatives will give farmers more choices on how they buy and sell so that they

aren’t at the mercy of a handful of dominant processors and distributors.

■■

USDA will issue new rules on labeling so that domestic farmers and ranchers don’t have to compete with foreign companies that mislead consumers.

On July 1st, USDA announced intent to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the “Product of USA” meat labeling term..

Building a Better Food System and Strengthening the Food Supply Chain Citing lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent supply chain disruptions, earlier this month USDA announced plans to invest more than $4 billion to strengthen critical supply chains through USDA’s Build Back Better initiative to strengthen and transform the food system, using funding from the American Rescue Plan and the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The $500 million commitment to invest in meat and poultry processing today begins to detail how the $4 billion will be deployed. The new effort will strengthen the food system, create new market opportunities, tackle the climate crisis, help communities that have been left behind, and support good-paying jobs throughout the supply chain.

A transformed food system will provide producers with a greater share of the food dollar and make agriculture a more compelling career. It will also improve nutrition and the health status of Americans, reducing the costs of healthcare and diet-related diseases.

Through USDA’s Build Back Better initiative, USDA will help to ensure the food system of the future is fair, competitive, distributed, and resilient; supports health with access to healthy, affordable food; ensures growers and workers receive a greater share of the food dollar; and advances equity as well as climate resilience and mitigation.

While USDA’s Build Back Better initiative addresses nearand long-term issues, recent events have exposed the immediate need for action. USDA’s actions to promote competition and the intention to invest in additional small- and medium-sized meat processing capacity will spur economic opportunity while strengthening resilience and certainty for producers and consumers alike.

This announcement also furthers the Biden-Harris Administration’s work on strengthening the resilience of critical supply chains as directed by Executive Order 14017 on America’s Supply Chains. USDA’s efforts to strengthen the food system is a vital component of the Administration’s whole-of-government response to address near-term supply chain challenges to the economic recovery. Through the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, of which Secretary Vilsack is a member, the Administration is convening stakeholders to diagnose problems and surface solutions—large and small, public or private—that could help alleviate bottlenecks and supply constraints related to the economy’s reopening after the Administration’s historic vaccination and economic relief efforts.

▫

July 15, 2021

Livestock Market Digest

REAL ESTATE GUIDE

www.scottlandcompany.com

Ben G. Scott – Broker 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!

■ RIMROCK RANCH - BUEYEROS, NM – 14,993.49 total acres +/- (12,157.49 deeded acres +/-, 2,836 +/- New Mexico State Lease).

Live water with five miles of scenicDigest Ute Creek.

Livestock Market Elk, deer and antelope to go along with a good cattle ranch!

■ ALAMOSA CREEK RANCH – Roosevelt Co., NM – 14,982 +/- acres (10,982 ac. +/- deeded, 4,000 ac. +/- State Lease). Good cow ranch in Eastern NM excellent access via US 60 frontage between Clovis and Fort Sumner. Alamosa creek crosses through the heart of the gently rolling grassland.

■ SARGENT CANYON RANCH – (Chaves/Otero Co.) – 18,460 +/- ac. - 200 +/- deeded, 2,580 +/- State, 11,200 +/- BLM, 4,480 +/- Forest permitted for 380 AUs year-round, well watered, good headquarters, very nice updated home, excellent pens & out buildings. Scenic ranch!

■ DRY CIMARRON – Union Co., NM – 1,571 ac.+/- of grassland on the dry Cimarron River, located on pvmt. near Kenton, OK just under the Black Mesa.

521 MILE West ROAD SecondRANCH St. • Portales, ■ FOUR – Borden NM Co., 88130 TX. – 575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax 939.37 ac. +/- in two tracts.

A good combination ranch for cattle, hunting & recreation.

Buena Vista Realty ■ PRICE REDUCED! QUAIL Broker: HAVEN along w/ Qualifying deer, turkey, & other 575-760-7521 wildlife – Borden A.H.antelope (Jack) Merrick Co., TX., 1,672.8 +/- ac., well located near Gail/ www.buenavista-nm.com Snyder, Texas on pvmt. & all-weather road, well improved.

■ SUPER OPPORTUNITY! One of the best steak houses in the nation just out of Amarillo & Canyon at Umbarger, TX., state-of-the- art bldg., turn-key • 83 acre wood home with barns, w/complete facilities in full operation at this time. meadows woods.

■ STRONG WATER!and Baca Co., COFronts – 640State ac. +/w/threeRd.pivot sprinklers & three irrigation well all $545,000 tied together w/underground pipe, fourth quarter in native grass permitted for irrigation according • 160 acre Ranger Eastland Co, to owner.

■ EAST EDGE OF FT. SUMNER, NM – a 900 $560,000 hd. grow yard w/immaculate 7.32 ac. +/-, a beautiful home, & other improvements w/a long 270 acre included, Mitchell onCounty, Texashd. line of• equipment pvmt. 6,000 permitted feedyard in the Texas Panhandle. ranch.

Investors dream; excellent

TATE GUIDE

alty

ker

40

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erTY

y.com

mitt, TX 79027 Scott - Broker lifying Broker am/10:00pm company.com

R SMALL!

uadalupe Co., eded & 519 anch on both g flow daily) mner; wildlife, buyer looking New Mexico

980 ac. +/past, land lays e of Hwy. 54. on Co., NM – and w/statey remodeled in very good n pvmt. . +/- heavily listing r livestockagent w/ 75-825-1291. ences etc., on ta-nm.com e front gate. ic ac. +/- on d by Lincoln in Pines & ed meadow Penasco. This uild a legacy

4 ac. irr., on exico, adjoins l.

POTENTIAL xline Special,

+/- w/water & a beautiful 3 bathrooms, etal shop.

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

Page 7

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

Selling residential, farm, ranch, commercial and relocating properties.

Selling residential, farm, COLETTA RAY ranch, commercial and Pioneer Realty relocating properties.

1304 Pile Street, Clovis, NM 88101

COLETTA RAY 575-799-9600 Direct Pioneer Realty 575.935.9680 Office 1304 Pile Street, Clovis, NM 88101 575.935.9680 Fax 575-799-9600 Direct coletta@plateautel.net 575.935.9680 Office www.clovisrealestatesales.com 575.935.9680 Fax coletta@plateautel.net www.clovisrealestatesales.com

230 SOCORRO ACRE GAME & RETREAT PLAZA REALTY that is a dream.

Lakes, woods,

SOLD

the Plaza meadows,Ongame galore, 35 miles Donald Brown out ofQualifying Dallas, Kaufman Broker County.

505-507-2915 cell @10,000 PA 505-838-0095 fax 116–Plaza 133 ACRES 24 Miles out of PO Box 1903 Socorro, NM 87801 $13,000 Dallas, ready to develop. www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com per acre 313 ACRES NORTH OF DALLAS AG LAND LOANS AGMAJOR LAND LOANS ON HIGHWAYS 121 & AsLow LowAsAs 3% As 4.5% 2.9% 69 – OPWKCAP Nice horse barn with living OPWKCAP 2.9% INTEREST RATESAS AS LOW AS 3% INTEREST RATES LOW 4.5% quarters. Scheduled $11,500 onon25AS Payments Scheduled 25 Years Payments Years 234 SHOW RANCH – 8,000.

Imaculate home, cattle show barn, Joe Stubblefield & Associates 2313830 milesWestern from Dallas $2.8MTX St., Amarillo,

SOLD

806/622-3482 • cell 806/674-2062 joes3@suddenlink.net Michael Perez Associates Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

Paul Bottari, Broker

775/752-3040

SCOTT MCNALLY

Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY

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

www.bottarirealty.com

AG LAND LOANS INTEREST RATES AS LOW AS 3.5% Payments Scheduled on 25 Years

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

twoRanch. noncontiguous of native grass rangeland separated by lands belonging to other ownership. Located Pastures, 40tracts tanks, and approximately 20 miles northwest of the small community of Elida, New Mexico in northeast Chaves County. lakes. Beautiful home, barns, CALIFORNIA RANCH Theandtwoother tracts are approximately apart as the crow flies. Access to both tracts isPROPERTY good by maintained improvements.

Some 2.5 milesNORTHERN 31 years in the ranch business - see www.ranch-lands.com for videos & brochures minerals, game Roadways. galore. All for $1.35 Chaves County The north tract, referred to as the Cothern Place, is comprised of approximately DUANE & DIXIE McGARVA RANCH: approx. 985 acres Likely, CA. with about 600+ acre gravity flood million.± deeded acres that is partially fenced 2,500 with PLUS one private well.542The south referred theareRippee Place, is irrigated pastures AU BLM permit.tract, About 425 acres so ofto the as irrigated level to flood excellent pastures with balance good flood irrigated pastures. NO PUMPING COST! Dryland is perfect for comprised of approximately 4,700 deeded acres and 640 State Lease fenced into three pastures, watered by expansion to pivot irrigated alfalfa if desired. Plus BLM permit for 540 AU is fenced into 4 fields on about 18,000 acres only 7 miles away.2.5 REDUCED PRICE - $3,125,000 year around cow country. two wells and pipelines. The two tracts are approximately milesASKING apart.

Excellent Joe Priest Real Estate RANCH: 82,000$345 acres - with deeded acres plus $2,484,000. contiguous USFS & BLM Grazing capacity is estimated to be 130BEAVER AUYL.CREEK Priced at about $370 per2,700deeded acre; permits for 450 pair; 580+- acres irrigated alfalfa, pasture, and meadow from Beaver Creek water rights and one irrigation well. 3 homes, 2 hay barns, 4 feedlots each w/ 250 ton barns, 2 large reservoirs, can run up to 500-600 cows YEAR ROUND. REDUCED ASKING PRICE - $5,400,000.

LITTLE RANCH Excellent cattle ranch located in southeastern NM approximately 50 joepriestre.netCOWBOY • joepriestre@earthlink.com

BEAR CREEK RANCH: Approx. 1,278 acres winter range ground and recreational property. Located on Bear miles northwest of Roswell on the Chaves/Lincoln County line.

7,455 acresbe with 2,600 deeded.

Creek and accessed from South Cow Creek Valleytotal Road. Should great hunting for deer, wild turkey, 150 wild AU pigs, quail & owner states good trout fishing in Bear Creek. Deeded access easement thru neighbor ranches. capacity. Livestock water is provided twoNowells; one electric submersible, one solar well with considerable water improvements & very private inside the ranch.

Now only $700 per acre pipeline scattered throughout the ranch. Fenced into two- $894,600 larger pastures and two smaller holding traps. Several large, open draws run through the ranch providing excellent areas.

Terrain is open andINC. rolling. Good BILL WRIGHT,overflow SHASTA LAND SERVICES, 530-941-8100 • DRE# 00963490 • www.ranch-lands.com turf cover. Had a good rain recently, all draws ran big. Come take a look. Not many like this on today’s market.

O’NEILL LAND, llc

in state lease. Excellent grass and water. Two plus miles of the Chico Creek meandering through the center of the property.

Additional wells and dirt tanks. Nice historic head quarters privately located with shade trees and excellent views of the property. Shipping pens in central portion of property. $2,837,318

home. Owns both sides of river in places. Horse/cow/chicken/ vegetable garden/greenhouse/orchard set up. Country living at it’s finest, in town, but in a world of your own. Very special on river. Appointment only. $650,000.

RATON MILLION DOLLAR VIEW, Colfax County, NM. 97.68

B

A.H. (J ww

Call

505-243-9515

for more information

14298 N

521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130

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

Buena Vista Realty

575-226-0671 www.buenavista-nm.com

See these Properties with details at www.buenavista-nm.com or call agent for info

575-226-0

AS PRO R

joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

Rural Properties around Portales, NM 1242 NM 480 - Nice home on 59.7 acres, grass 427 S Rrd P 1/2 - Large nice home, lots of barns 24+ ac FOR SALE Large Successful operating & Preschool in Portales, 1694– S RrdVery 4, Great home, barns, Daycare cattle pens, location 2344 Scomplete Rrd K east of Dora, NM, Business great - Near wind farms NM. Business with Assets, Premier with Excellent Reputation.

All properties homesis & can have horses, Barn Home — Built in excellent a Metal building, a unique setting for theetc. right buyer!!

Over 3400See sq. these ft. living space (2 story) in this huge metal building w/2 and other properties at www.buenavista-nm.com 14' metal doors giving a large garage in between 2 living spaces. Includes 5 bedrooms, 3 full baths on approximately 2 acres.

521 West Se

Advertise to Cattlemen and Ranchers!

As Low As 3.5% OPWKCAP 3.5%

521 West Second St., Portales, NM 88130

CALDWELL RANCH • 840 Immaculate, Hunt Co, TX. PRICE REDUCED First time offering of the Caldwell Ranch comprised of a

y limits of Roswell, NM. Six total acres ved with a 2, 200 square foot residence,

Bottari Realty

1-800/671-4548

cash flow. Rock formation being crushed and sold; wind turbans, some minerals. Irrigation water developed, crop & cattle, modest improvements. Just off I-20. Price reduced to $1.25 million.

1-800/671-4548

Bar M Real Estate

Joe Priest Real Estate

Scott McNally, Qualifying Broker ch that has been owned and operated s southeast of Corona, NM in Lincoln Bar M Real Estate, LLC M Lease Acres and 2,240 NM State Box 145, Cimarron, NM 8771488202 • 575/376-2341 • Fax: 575/376-2347 P.O. Box 428,P.O.Roswell, NM land@swranches.com • www.swranches.com UYL. Water provided by five wells and corrals. The ranch had a good summerOffice: 575-622-5867 CHICO CREEK RANCH, Colfax Cell: County, NM. 575-420-1237 NEW LISTING. CIMARRON ON THE RIVER, Colfax County, NM. 7.338 +/6,404.26 +/- Total Acres, Located approximately 10 miles east of deeded acres with 4.040 acre-feet per annum out of the for a brochure or view on my website. Website: www.ranchesnm.com Springer New Mexico. 3,692.60 +/- deeded acres with balance Maxwell-Clutton Ditch. Custom country-chic 2,094 +/- sq ft

R CT

Page 7

Qualifying Broker: A.H. (Jack) Merrick 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com Call Buena Vista Realty at 575-226-0671 or the listing agent

Lori Bohm 575-760-9847, or Melody Sandberg 575-825-1291.

Many good pictures on MLS or www.buenavista-nm.com

521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130

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

Buena Vista Realty

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

TABLE ROCK GEM! Elegant, quality, meticulously maintained, attention to detail - words do not do justice to this home. The finish work in this home down to the marble floors in each bathroom and hardwoods is spectacular. Walk into the living room with soaring ceilings (check the crown molding) and a wall of windows to view the beautiful lake. The gas fireplace (one of three) warms, warms a chilly morning. The chefs kitchen features custom cabinets, granite countertops, center island, pantry, wine fridge and lots of built in features. The formal dining and casual dining areas offer a serene view of the lake. The main floor large master also has a lakeview (and fireplace) with ensuite bath and walk-in shower, and separate jetted tub. Upstairs are two full bedrooms with beautiful lakeview. Also upstairs a non-conforming third dorm bedroom which accommodates multiple beds or serves as a separate living area. Downstairs features another living area, gas fireplace with a built in bar (second wine fridge), another bedroom with lakeview, and a large storage room with a safe/tornado shelter.

There is also a separate pool table/workout room, 3 car garage, central vacuum, three HVAC systems, on a corner lot with beautiful landscaping. Both covered decks with large outdoor fans face the lake.

You won’t find a better home on Table Rock Lake. MLS#60189891 10 ACRES OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY. Incredible highway visibility & access from either East or West directions on Hwy. 60, 3 miles East of El Rancho Truck Plaza & 4 miles West of Willow Springs. Natural gas may be available on site. LOCATION PLUS! This property is well suited for many types of businesses. (Restaurant, Retail, Motel, Business of any kind)! A Must See Property.

MLS#11402703

O’NEILL LAND, llc P.O. Box 145, Cimarron, NM 87714 • 575/376-2341 • Fax: 575/376-2347 land@swranches.com • www.swranches.com

WAGON MOUND PLACE, Mora County, NM 8.202 +/- deeded acres on western edge of I25/Wagon Mound has two homes, abundant water with one well, two springs and pond. Other outbuildings and many trees would suit many purposes. $190,000.

SOLD

RATON MILLION DOLLAR VIEW, Colfax County, NM. 97.68 +/- deeded acres in 2 parcels with excellent home, big shop, wildlife, a true million dollar view at the end of a private road. $489,000.

SOLD

MIAMI 20 ACRES, Colfax County, NM quality 2,715 sqft adobe home, barn, grounds, fruit trees and mature trees. Extremely private setting. REDUCED $320,000. This is a must see.

CIMARRON HIDDEN PLACE, Colfax County, NM. 1.66± deeded acres with a 2,304 sq ft home updated with recent remodels including large open kitchen vaulted tin ceiling, three bedrooms and two bathrooms, edge of town amazing views. $290,000

CONTRACT PENDING

E

E

COLMOR-OCATE CREEK, Colfax and Mora County, NM 853 +/- deeded acres split by I25 and Ocate Creek.

Suit cattle operation, with some wildlife drawn to water holes in creek. $617,000 EAGLE NEST ESCAPE, Colfax County, NM. 78.42± deeded acres in off HWY 64 overlooking Eagle Nest Lake, private pond, two elk tags, 3 bedroom home with and large shop garage able to store your RV and big toys.

Improvements almost half a mile off highway. Truly an escape. $795,000

CONTRACT PENDING

CON W

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Livestock Market Digest

“

— Guest essayist Anthony Watts is a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute and the founder and publisher of Watts Up With That, the world’s most-viewed site on global warming and climate change.

▫

Climate alarmists regularly claim we live in the ‘hottest decade ever.’ The news media are often fixated on disaster more than good news.”

ton State’s maximum temperature of 118℉ was recorded first in 1928 and tied in 1961, nearly 100 and 50 years of global warming ago, respectively. Forty states’ record high temperatures were set before 1960, with 25 of the record highs being set or tied in the 1930s

tire. The pump gets warm, not from friction but because the gas (air) is being compressed.

Conversely, aerosol cans get colder because gas under pressure is escaping and decompression occurs inside the can.

This is known as the Adiabatic process.

Advertise to Cattleman in the Livestock Market Digest

Riding

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he sta rs glow-in-t in this story k of has bee n the my life muscle-b he-dark kitty- are an auc cats, ound tionee chant of silk In the r. po-alle -spinning goa salmon, I have past 43 rgenic-co ts, hyIf you’ erless ws and fish mi of auc attended tho years re ridi chi ght pee tions and usands taking ckens. So wh feathof n’ so in th ah the gen auctions to spe e herd up you y have ak, e poo about r time are we , take ead mutan as a con from every seen ani t wild thereby creatin l, a look to belong mals that wo talking salmon. back AquaB g man, cle signor, buyer, angle oun On midway more on somuld seem their Aq ty was abl ly after then to every now & man and rk, auctionee ring e e circ r, gate they do freak show announ make su did FD uAdvantage to make eo more thaus the fro cer auctio fish ste A of re it’ nt page newspa rile proval. give their years tha n company a vidper? of a cat n sea The FD for 20 still th s tle doe ed tha Becau A also l of apmillion t sold nearly t sn’t get ere. head per half a you ma se in a few United for it to be sol demandits way. helped sho serpen y A “pout” t-li sell eve year. I have custom be creating rt years salmon States AquA d in the art to is rything protein ke fish with ize you roa s in its antifre a to Ameri technolo d cows using r own land-basemust be raiseddvantage only kin d graders and from eze er can con it to d tanks onl live in blood allowin d freaks gy that cre the same sum loo y of the ties k in ers auction at I haven’ , ate of non I -nature. d these By mixing gen freezing wa g is major AquaBounty . A clos- er one in Canad in two faciliters. in Panam ity-owned hogs. t worked is onethink a and the reveals strains es from A Game tra An it of othfor Althou a.

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by Bert quently per r do or she ommo for mended n South and Ruben Re med “he Tex es per vegetables ‘req alth yes advice ier” foo cal the abi as. My friends in fro accord orie’ than uire more res lity to sell increased m the US De ds prescribe had many ing to our glis d in rec in bot h and cpartm people a per a tea pre switch Spanish and h Enbased in stigious Carne m of scient realize, across all three son’s impact ent of Agricu ent bac on the lture ists orie int Pit gie Me factors same lot k and forth could enviro ake – even llon Un at the Eatin tsburgh, Pe on when ove nment The exp was reduced. iversity was bid depending on the etables g a healthier nnsylvania. rall cal ding. die cou who ing and erts examined environm ld actually t rich in fru Th transp e lea how it tions are st dangerous study has ent than con be more har and veg- and household orting food; growing, pro mf cesssuming sal the env storage claimed. you’d thi cake auctio aucironm some meul to the and use es and servic Lettu ns at, a US e; all tak Paul Fis ent for dif might be nk that gun auc and house gasce is “over thr professor chbeck, stu ferent foods. e a toll on emissions ee times but aut the most dan tions ing to dy co-aut worse of soc tha ger o res becaus auctions are ous Universit earchers fro n eating bacon” in green- “Lots of com ial and decisio hor and CM e they . Not mon m th sour U’s yw ns , ac

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Curiously, another record wasn’t trumpeted by the news media. After the heat-dome high pressure moved east, Seattle and Portland saw record rates of cooling. The National Weather Service office in Portland reported a new all-time record cooling.

“Huge cooling Monday evening inland, with temperatures falling from above 100 deg to the 60s/70s. Portland set a new record, with a drop of 52 deg, breaking old record of 48 deg set in Sep 1988. Cooler today, with highs 85 to 93 inland, and 60s on the coast.”

This all-time record cooling didn’t get much press because it goes against the groupthink narrative that “climate change” causes only bad things. Plus, the news media are often fixated on disaster more than good news.

When record heat and record cooling both happen within a 24-hour period, that’s inarguably weather, not climate.

NOAA describes it well, stating, “Weather reflects short-term conditions of the atmosphere while climate is the average daily weather for an extended period of time at a certain location. … Weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season.”

Finally, in a hugely ironic twist, Scientific American, the same outlet that claimed the heat wave was driven by “climate change,” confirms what NOAA and I just told you, in a blog post, titled “Don’t Be Fooled: Weather Is Not Climate.”

You can’t have it both ways.

“

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night. These factors bias mea- alone. New high-temperature sured nighttime low tempera- records have been set in only tures upward, shifting the daily two states since 2000, meaning averages up. more states’ record highs were The U.S. Climate Reference recorded in the 1890s than in Network, a network consist- the first two decades of the ing solely of current centuhigh-qualiry. ty, unbiased Climate Oregon’s record temperature alarmists regmeasuring claim high temperature ularly stations, has we live in the shown no “hottest deof 119 was recorded sustained cade ever.” increase in The records twice, both times in daily high do not support temperathat claim. The 1898, more than 120 Dust Bowl tures in the United years of the States since mid-1930s reyears of global it was estain the title of tablished in hottest decade warming ago.”

2005. in recorded The previous all-time record history, at a time when carbon high for Portland was 107. Se- dioxide concentrations were attle’s all-time high was 103. approximately 300 parts per Medford, Oregon tied its all- million (PPM), far below the time record of 115 degrees on approximately 410 PPM today.

Monday. It didn’t get hotter It is often said that weather there than ever before because is not climate, which is true. It Medford was south of the cen- is particularly true in this case. ter of the high-pressure dome.

The heat wave was entirely The record-high tempera- a weather pattern issue, not tures for Washington and Or- a climate problem. A large egon have yet to be certified, high-pressure dome (somealthough the media has trum- times called a heat dome) over peted them as fact. Some of the PNW is not unheard of, the high-temperature records but this one was particularly have already proven to be erro- strong. In fact, it was a result neous because of faulty equip- of a perfect storm of weather ment or observation, according pattern confluence. Similar to a Tweet from the National unique weather pattern confluWeather Service. ences happen each year, causWhat I find most interest- ing major blizzards, torrential ing is when you examine offi- floods, and tornado outbreaks. cial statewide maximum tem- That is business as usual for peratures since record keeping Earth. began in about 1895, only two High pressure rotates clockout of fifty have occurred in the wise, causing sinking air, and in twenty-first century. Most of the PNW it creates downslope the high-temperature records winds, which heat up because across the nation happened in the air compresses as it flows the first half of the twentieth down the slope of the Cascade century. According to govern- Mountains from east to west ment records, Oregon’s record towards Portland and Seattle. high temperature of 119℉ was It is like the infamous Santa recorded twice, both times in Ana winds of Southern Cali1898, more than 120 years of fornia. It’s the same effect as global warming ago. Washing- using a bicycle pump to fill a

ITY H AN

Climate Change Did Not Cause Recent Record Heat Waves

ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirms this.

Many climate activists immediately pointed to “climate change” as the cause of the recent PNW heat wave, even though the heat dome would have been a record weather event with or without the recent modest warming. It is said “climate change,” aka global warming, added about 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century. The recent PNW temperature increase far exceeded that.

The temperatures were so high that the small warming of 2°F of climate change was dwarfed. In cities, the “urban heat island effect” (UHI) was also a bigger cause in this case.

Portland and Seattle hit supposed all-time highs of 116 GUEST ESSAY BY and 108 Monday, while LytANTHONY WATTS / ton, Canada surged to a naCLIMATE CHANGE WEEKLY tional record of 118. nprecedented The EPA reports, “… the Heat Wave heat island effect results in in Pacific daytime temperatures in urNor t hwest ban areas about 1-7°F higher Driven by Climate Change,” than temperatures in outlying the headline in E&E News, areas.”

WOWT-TV, WorldNewsNetThe UHI effect is wellwork, and other media outlets known and extensively docurecently, couldn’t possibly be mented. Many weather stations less scientific. With absolutely used to calculate climate values no analysis, no have been historical concomprotext, and nothing mised by High (and low) but conjecture, the enauthor Anne C. croachtemperature Mulkern, in her ment of article for Scienurbanizarecords are nothing tific American, tion, as I eschewed science rted new. These factors bias rine p o2009 for advocacy in her coverage of the measured nighttime low with the brief Pacifpublicaic Northwest tion of temperatures upward, “Is The (PNW) heat wave at the end U.S. Surof June. shifting the daily face TemIf the temperature perature records Record averages up.” hold up to scruReliable?” tiny and reanalysis, the heat and confirmed with an analwave did set some all-time high ysis presented in 2015 at the temperature records in Wash- American Geophysical Union ington, Oregon, and Canada. convention. When examined, But consider this: at best, we more than 90 percent of the have about 150 years of reli- surface stations used by the able weather records for the National Weather Service PNW, so a “black swan” outli- (NWS) to record surface temer event like this isn’t surpris- peratures and by the National ing. It has happened before, Oceanic and Atmospheric Admost certainly. We just weren’t ministration (NOAA) to plot around to observe it. After all, temperature trends violate the Native Americans did not keep NWS’s standards for reliable written weather records. measurements, with thermomHigh (and low) temperature eters not being a minimum of records are nothing new. Data 100 feet away from biasing show us more high tempera- influences such as artificial ture records were set during sources of heat or impervithe first half of the twentieth ous surfaces such as concrete century than during the past which absorb heat during the 50 years. Even the U.S. Envi- day only to release it slowly at

July 15, 2021

RIOR

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July 15, 2021

HERD

Livestock Market Digest

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continued from page one

looking for any fruit whose stem wasn’t clipped. He did this to me about five times a day just for sport.

I pumped gas for awhile in high school and back then you had to also wash the windows, check the oil and put air in the tires if needed. The first day on the job my boss showed me how to wipe oil from the dipstick with my thumb so that when I showed the dipstick to the driver it always looked like the the engine was about a quart low.

I was forever getting in trouble for not selling my “quota”.

After my junior year in high school I worked on a citrus ranch getting $1.25 per hour for what amounted to child abuse.

The owner worked me like a draft horse, gave me no breaks from the hot sun and I couldn’t wait until summer was over so I could quit. I heard when he died there were two people at his funeral, the mortician and his wife and she couldn’t wait to leave either.

The worst boss I ever had was an editor who didn’t think I could write a lick. The only aspiring writers who advanced under his tutelage were those who licked his boots or buttered him up. These are skills I’ve never been able to master. Every story I sent in he sent back to me with multiple changes. I’d had about enough of this guy, who’d never had a creative thought in his life, so one time I sent a story back to him and asked, “Is this better?”

He wrote back and asked, “Now then, isn’t the story much better after all my suggestions?”

The thing is... I hadn’t changed a single word!

For you young folks just starting on your career path just remember that BOSS backwards stands for “Sorry SOB.”

WESTERNER

continued from page five

water prices are extremely high; wells are dry, more and deeper wells are drilled; water quality is poor However you color it, that is an ugly picture.

The Albuquerque Journal, of course, looks at New Mexico, with a focus on the Rio Grande and Elephant Butte Dam. The dam was built from 1912-1916.

This year, farmers in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) will only receive four inches of project water. EBID manager Gary Esslinger says that is just enough for one irrigation cycle.

“If we get lucky and monsoons come in, we could extend our season past July 1,” Esslinger said. “But right now, we may be out of water by June 25.” Their season began June 1.

The feds estimate the dam is eight to ten percent full and could drop down to one percent of capacity after the irrigation season is complete.

Climate lockdown Some are speculating we will have a Climate Lockdown in our future. On just what basis do they make this outlandish claim? They base it on an article written by an employee of the World Health Organization (WHO). Her name is Mariana Mazzucato. She is a professor of economics at University London, but also heads something called the Council on the Economics of Health for All, a division of the WHO. Here is what she wrote: As COVID-19 spread […] governments introduced lockdowns in order to prevent a public-health emergency from spinning out of control. In the near future, the world may need to resort to lockdowns again – this time to tackle a climate emergency […] To avoid such a scenario, we must overhaul our economic structures and do capitalism differently.

Not only was the article published, it has been republished by the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates and a publication backed by George Soros. That is what has people worried.

I have a solution. Let’s Lockdown the Lockdowners.

Flank’em high . . . three wraps and a hooey . . . and leave’em where they lay. If your pony spooks and drags them through the dirt a little bit, why that is okay too.

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

▫

.www.LeePittsbooks.com

Baxter

BLACK

ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE

www.baxterblack.com

Ted’s Big Steer

T

ed and his dad needed some cows to stock their little ranch in Oklahoma, and they needed ‘em right away.

A local trader solved their problem and injected a couple loads into them. By fall Ted began to notice one calf that stood taller than the rest. Must’uve had some Chianina blood coursing through his veins. They called him Alf. They got the big calf castrated and branded and watched him grow like a weed. After several months Ted gathered a bunch to ship. But Alf ducked back. Ted shook out a loop and gave chase.

“Let ‘im go!” said Dad, “We’ll get him next time!”

Early spring they went to feedin’ cake to the herd. Alf was now a yearlin’. Ted kept thinkin’ he’d get a rope on him but Alf was too smart. He’d hang back ‘til the truck pulled forward then he’d hit the cake. “Yer better off

just lettin’ him go,” said Dad. “We’ll get him eventually.”

Over the next two years Ted became a master of the bait - trap - ambush - sneak attack methods of capturing a wild beast. He actually tricked Alf into a set of corrals only to see him clear the 4 1/2 foot board fence like a hunter-jumper.

His last fall, Alf was big as an army ambulance.

He let himself get gathered with the cows knowing he could escape at will but Bwana Ted had reinforced his alleys making them too high for Alf to jump out of. Ted sorted off all the cows but one leaving her in the alley with Alf. You could almost hear the chalk squawkin’ on the blackboard inside Ted’s brain.

He backed a closed top stock trailer into one end of the alley and opened the tailgate. He figgered he would take both to the sale if both accidentally loaded.

Sure nuf, one loaded. The cow of course!

Alf was circlin’ like a hammerhead shark in the shallow end of the pool. Rust and metal filings flew out Ted’s ears as he plotted his next move. With Dad’s help as a diversion (bait,

some would say), Ted snuck into the back end of the alley driving the tractor with the loader bucket six feet in the air. Suspended from the bucket with chains was an eight foot steel panel. It just cleared the sides of the alley. Ted drove slowly down the alley until Alf was six feet from the open trailer tailgate. Alf was bouncing off the boards and metal.

Splinters flew, welds broke, bolts came loose, cannons boomed, flags fluttered, palm trees bent and waves crashed as Alf turned the earth into a whale wallow!

Ted invoked the cowboy spirit and leaped up into the loader bucket. His eyes blazed with fury, his body tensed, his mind temporarily left the scene of the impending wreck. He was almost eyeball to eyeball with the raging behemoth. Alf paused in surprise. Ted rose to his full height and screamed at the top of his lungs!

Alf tucked his tail and loaded like a milk pen calf.

When he crossed the scale at the sale the next day, he weighed 1750. Brought nearly a thousand dollars. Dad’s still trying to talk ted into getting’ some more like him. www.baxterblack.com

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Page 10

Livestock Market Digest

BRAND FOR SALE

July 15, 2021

The View FROM THE BACK SIDE

Recorded for 2021

$5000 firm $5000 firm Contact Susie Schreiner at (406) 321-1452 or susiesch1961@msn.com

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Bradley 3 Ranch Ltd. Charolais Bulls & Angus Bulls

— BULL SALE — FEBRUARY 12, 2022 At The Ranch NE of Estelline, Texas

www.bradley3ranch.com M. L.: 940/585-6471 James: 940/585-6171.

Ranch-Raised Bulls For Ranchers Since 1955

BEEFMASTER

210.732.3132 • beefmasters.org 118 W. BANDERA ROAD BOERNE, TX 78006

BRANGUS

W

e are in the process of putting in a new electronic gateway to our ranch because people are too stupid to know what “Keep Out” and No Trespassing” actually mean. Many also do not understand what private property is.

The area we live in has gone from being remote to being well accessed on the weekend in just the last ten years.

I’m calling it remote as we still drive 28 miles to get our mail.

The road in front of our ranch used to see about three cars a day, but it now sees about 50, plus various razors and dirt bikes on the weekend.

Down the road from us are two different ranches that subdivided and sold off. I understand why they did it, but it has ruined our happy ranching community to some degree. I understand that things will change over time, but not always for the better.

We presently have a pair of gates that swing together and meet in the middle with a chain to hold them. You would think that it would keep people out. It really only keeps out the rural folks who know gate etiquette. The city slickers are too stupid to read signs or to have any respect for someone else’s property.

For example, the other day I came up over a hill after checking cattle and there in the middle of one of my cow pastures was a van with six bizarre looking city people standing around it, all on their phones. I could tell they were city folks by the way they wore their hair and trousers.

Believe me, we have Ranchers, Mexicans, Indians, Cowboys, Miners, Mennonites, but nobody in our area looks like those folks. My cattle really had a funny look on their face, kind of like the circus had arrived. The thing is, there is no cell phone reception in our area and six city folks could not figure that out.

I asked if I could help them,

P

520/384-3654 4995 Arzberger Rd. Willcox, Arizona 85643 Willcox, AZ

BY BARRY DENTON

and why were they were in my cow pasture? They explained that their GPS had led them there. I asked them if they just blindly go where their GPS tells them to, and they said yes. I asked them which sign on my front gate could they not read?

Did they see the stop signs, the no trespassing signs, the keep out signs, or the private property signs? Yes, they saw them, but the GPS told them to go this way. I said where is GPS telling you to go next?

They said up over that mountain, but they could not see a road. I asked if they thought their GPS could be wrong, and they were in utter shock that I could ask such a thing.

In these folks eyes I think GPS has replaced Jesus as the way to get to the promised land.

I turned to ride away and they said wait, where do we go from here? I said, just ask your GPS. They asked where I was going and I told them to call the sheriff to get these nuts out of my pasture.

These types of instances are getting to be commonplace, and I certainly get tired of it as I am sure that you do too. Another thing I always ask these fools is when was the last time they saw me drive my vehicle on their property?

The next toughest thing to deal with on the ranch are hunters. Most of the time hunters are city guys that like to go out in the countryside to wander around and shoot things.

However, in our area the majority of hunters drive up and down the dirt road expecting to see game to shoot from their car. Of course, the deer just stay out of sight and go a little deeper into the rocks and canyons when they start seeing the hunters driving up and down the road repeatedly.

I’m just wondering if there’s a book out called, Road Hunting For Fat Guys that all these guys read? I am convinced that the weekend after hunting season ends they go over to their buddy’s garage

Meat Substitutes Not the Same as Beef, Nutritionally Speaking

BY KATE GIBSON / MEATINGPLACE.COM

R.L. Robbs

No Trespassing!

lant-based meat substitutes may achieve taste and texture akin to beef, but their nutritional content is not the same, according to new research from Duke University.

Nutrition labels on the products make the foods appear to be equivalent, in terms of vitamins, fats and proteins.

But they are as different as plants and animals when it comes to other components of nutrition that aren’t listed on product labels, researchers found.

Researchers at Duke used

a scientific tool known as metabolomics to compare 18 samples of a popular plantbased meat alternative to 18 grass-fed ground beef samples from a ranch in Idaho. An analysis of 36 cooked patties found 171 out of 190 metabolites measured varied between beef and plant-based alternatives.

The beef contained 22 metabolites that the plant substitute did not. The plant-based substitute contained 31 metabolites that meat did not.

The greatest distinctions occurred in amino acids, dipeptides, vitamins, phenols, and types of saturated and un-

and tell hunting stories. I am certain they all get a beer, sit around with the garage door up and tell about all the deer they didn’t see, but brag on the 6,000 miles they drove on a dirt road when last year they only drove 5,000 miles.

The other type of hunter that gets me is the alleged polite one who calls to see if they can hunt on your land.

In my book that’s pretty damn stupid because our headquarters consist of a few hundred acres, but the Forest Service land that completely surrounds us consists of about 300 square miles.

You can walk or drive about 65 miles southwest from our place and never run into another ranch and damn few fences. Don’t you think that is where the deer might be?

Then I get the other guy that calls up to ask about hunting on the ranch and offers to pay me. I always say sure, about $10,000 would be just about right. The hunter thinks this is outrageous and asks why so much.

I explain to him that is just about our tax bill each year. It sounds very fair to me. Then you get the guy that whines and cries and says that ranchers own all the land to hunt on. This guy is a few bricks short of a load, as only 16 percent of land in Arizona is privately owned. The rest of it is government land, most of which you can hunt on.

I am really excited about my new gateway as we are building it heavy enough to stop a freight train and we are putting rows of tire knives in the ground to puncture the tires of anyone who comes in or out that I don’t like. I may even put in a line of replacement tires. This will help pay for the gate. Perhaps I will even sell you a cold beer while you wait.

Ranchers used to be helpful and friendly people, but those days are over folks. Stupidity seems to be prevailing at every turn.

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saturated fatty acids found in the products, according to the study published this week in Scientific Reports.

“It is important for consumers to understand that these products should not be viewed as nutritionally interchangeable, but that’s not to say that one is better than the other,” said Stephan van Vliet, a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. “Plant and animal foods can be complementary, because they provide different nutrients,” said van Vliet, a self-described omnivore who enjoys a plant-heavy diet but also eats meat.

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July 15, 2021

Livestock Market Digest

Peek receives 2021 Livestock Marketing Association Industry Icon Award

E

llington Peek, Cottonwood, California, was recognized as the recipient of the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) Industry Icon Award at the 2021 LMA Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

“LMA is blessed to have members like Ellington, who have a devout passion for livestock marketing, inspiring others and advancing competition in all that they do” LMA President Larry Schnell said.

“Ellington played a significant role in paving the way for fu-

Mexican Gray Wolf Makes Long, Risky Journey From Eastern Arizona to Flagstaff Area

BY RYAN HEINSIUS / KNAU.ORG

A

n endangered Mexican gray wolf from eastern Arizona has taken a risky journey over hundreds of miles to the Flagstaff area. It’s a rare instance of a wolf roaming so far westward away from the federally protected recovery population.

The 1-year-old wild-born male was fitted with a radio collar as part of the endangered population. Wildlife managers have used it to follow his movements for months. The Arizona Game and Fish Department recently attempted to relocate the wolf from the Woody Mountain Road area near Flagstaff using a helicopter but wasn’t successful.

Jim deVos is the agency’s Mexican wolf coordinator and says its proximity to humans poses a threat to the animal.

“Given its propensity to stay in and around housing we wanted to move it away take it back to eastern Arizona where there was a much higher likelihood of finding a mate,” he says.

Wolf advocates, however, want to see it left alone and say it’s an invaluable opportunity to study a rare dispersal to the Flagstaff area.

“We know that scientists have long concluded that this area is actually really good wolf habitat and is necessary for the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf,” says Emily Renn, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, which advocates for expanded Mexican wolf territory.

Wildlife officials say they’re waiting to see where the wolf travels next and don’t have any immediate plans to relocate him.

Last year seventh graders in Utah took part in a national naming contest for Mexican wolf pups put on by wildlife advocates. For this particular wolf, they decided on Anubis, the Egyptian god of the underworld.

At last count in early 2021, there were at least 186 Mexican gray wolves roaming eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, representing a 14 percent percent population increase last year.

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turistic methods of buying and selling livestock and remains an unshakable advocate for the auction method of selling livestock. The auction industry is certainly better because of his contributions.”

Born in Stockton, California, Peek grew up in the cattle business but pursued coaching first as a career. He later returned to the cattle business and in 1956 entered the livestock marketing industry, purchasing Old Anderson Livestock Auction Yards for $3500.

He founded Shasta Livestock Auction Yard in 1964

Page 11

and has been a member of LMA for over 50 years.

In 1989, Peek co-founded Western Video Market, Inc. (WVM), expanding opportunities for fixed facility auction markets to broaden their services in support of producers of all sizes. Today, WVM works with 20 affiliate auction yard companies, with over 60 individual representatives who consign cattle from the 16 Western states.

Peek is only the fifth recipient of the LMA Industry Icon Award since it began in 2009. Former recipients of the

award include Pat Goggins (2009), E.H. Fowler (2013), Billy Perrin (2015) and Ernie Van Hooser (2017). The LMA Industry Icon Award is presented to individuals who, through their remarkable impact on livestock marketing and leadership contributions, have advanced the mission and ideals of LMA and its members.

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Page 12

Livestock Market Digest

Hard Work, Partnerships Bring Expansion for Bar-G Feedyard

BY KATIE JAMES / DROVERS

J

ohnny Trotter owner of Bar-G Feedyard in Hereford, Texas, is a busy man. Not only does he manage the day-to-day operations of the 125,000-head capacity yard and keep a crew of 120 motivated, but he also stewards the surrounding land to grow wheat and provide for further expansion, operates a trucking company for shipping livestock and feed, and a cattle financing company. But he doesn’t stop there, Trotter is also owner of a local car dealership, breeds racehorses, owns a racetrack, sits on the boards of several local banks and is a skilled team roper.

Soon, he’ll have a new accolade under his belt as a newly inducted member of the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame, which

will take place in conjunction with the NCBA Convention and Trade Show in August, a title he accepts with humility.

“It’s just who I am and what I do,” Trotter says. “I’m flattered that people voted for me.

I’m humbled and really thrilled about it. I appreciate it.”

Trotter has had a lifelong love of horses, but his journey as a cowboy and cattle feeder started with a move to Hereford, Texas.

During his sophomore year in high school his family moved from Dumas to Hereford, and he had the chance to work at several different feedyards that were being built. As a senior, Trotter took an opportunity to care for cattle on wheat.

In the ’70s he had the opportunity to lease a preconditioning yard and began backgrounding

cattle with several partners, which then eventually led to the purchase of the yard that is now known as Bar-G in January of 1983.

“It had been closed down for four years, and it was in pretty dilapidated shape, but we rebuilt the mill, and we rebuilt the yard and got going with a 40,000 capacity,” he says.

He and Shirley Garrison then put a group of businesspeople together that ran cattle on wheat that would be able to put cattle into the feedyard, including Stanley and David Schaeffer, Harvey Garrison, Eddie and J.W. Sutton and Roy Bryan.

From there, the growth began. Trotter and his partners expanded the yard until it could hold 85,000 head. In 2000 they bought the nearby 7X yard which increased their capacity to the 125,000 it stands at today.

“Shirley Garrison and I were partners for years, and we formed a cattle company together, Bar-G Cattle Company, and that’s what we called the little yard,” Trotter says. “We had

July 15, 2021 a good reputation for keeping calves alive and we had a pretty good following over there for starting cattle on wheat and then bringing them back and growing them.”

That hard work and reputation fueled long-term relationships with packers and crew alike. Trotter has people he’s partnered with or had working for him who have been there for over 35 years.

“I’ve had guys who are retiring now that have been with me over 35 years,” he says.

“The people are the main thing, whether it be the customers who fed cattle with us, our guys that partnered with me and believed in me and believed in this company. The ownership of the company has been the same ownership until around the turn of the century, I started buying those guys out.”

“My right-hand man, Kevin Bunch, has been with me since the beginning,” he continues.

“People comment about how much we’re alike, but we’ve grown together for almost 40 years now. It’s all about the peo-

The Best Advertising Value In Western Livestock Industry!

continued from page four ple. Anytime you hear me say anything, it’s going to be praising the people that have crossed my path, and I don’t feel like that’s an accident, it’s part of God’s plan.”

Investing in technology and adopting new practices for efficiency’s sake has also helped keep Bar-G going. Trotter and his team were one of the first to endorse a turnkey accounting system for feedyards and helped develop its programs.

In addition to improvements in feed tracking and management, shifting from paper feed cards to wirelessly transmitted data coming off the feed truck, Trotter’s crew was one of the first in the industry to ask Temple for a customizable tag.

“We asked for a tag we could print the lot number on, that had the individual number on each tag,” he says. “And that way we color coded the tags, and we had individual tags 25 years ago.

We could run a medicine check on cattle we were going to ship and know we weren’t shipping something we shouldn’t. And now, that’s the deal for everybody. I take a little pride thinking that I had something to do with facilitating that.”

Looking at long-term goals for Bar-G, Trotter hopes the packing industry can grow to the point that there’s sustainability, not only for his business, but all operations. continued from page eleven

“I would hope that we’ve built an empire here that can be, maybe not under my direction and leadership, but can be sustainable for the next 25 to 30 years,” he says. “I like to think of myself as a progressive, forward-thinking guy, and that’s the reason we put all this farmland together, for the water, because it became obvious to me early on that that would be a limiting factor.”

“We’ve got a relatively good relationship with the packing industry and don’t have any more trouble than a lot of people in marketing the numbers we need to,” he says. “At times it’s difficult, but I hope this enterprise has been constructed in a way that it can be a continuing business for the next 25 to 30 years.”

To those hoping to step into cattle feeding, Trotter’s advice boils down to working hard and being willing to give a helping hand.

“I can’t emphasize enough how far in life a good work ethic will get you,” he says. “As well as being a team player. There’s no limit to what you can achieve when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit. You’ll get a lot further when everyone is playing offense.”

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