LMD June 2012

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

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL JUNE 15, 2012 • www. aaalivestock . com

MARKET

Digest I Volume 54 • No. 6

A Buck Or Two

by Lee Pitts

good case can be made for raising the beef checkoff to two dollars from a buck, after all, a dollar doesn’t buy what it did back in 1985 when the Beef Checkoff Program was voted in after two failed attempts. Economists say that it takes a $1.90 today to buy what $1 did in 1985, so a dollar raise certainly seems reasonable. With calves selling for way more than double what they did, why shouldn’t the beef checkoff be doubled as well? But let me hasten to add, there are equally compelling reasons to not raise it, such as the prospect of your hard earned bucks ending up like most of the rest of the checkoff dollars . . . in the hands of the NCBA.

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And The Survey Says . . .

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

From December of 2011 through January 2012 Aspen Media & Market Research was asked by the Beef Board to conduct a survey of 1,200 beef and dairy producers to find out their thoughts on the checkoff. Unlike audits by the USDA of their checkoff programs, these surveys seeking approval are performed with great regularity.

According to the survey, 75 percent of ranchers and dairymen approve of the program.

Surprisingly, that number has remained fairly consistent

“Always ride on the high side when there’s folks around that ain’t declared their intentions.” through the two up and two down market cycles in the past 10 years. If a politician got such good approval ratings he or she would probably be made King of the United States.

Cattlemen have always seemed to like the checkoff, even if a big chunk of them are no longer in business to benefit from it. And here’s a statistic you

won’t hear the Beef Board bragging about: since the checkoff began American consumers are eating 25 percent less beef! Here are a few more interesting results of the survey: ■ 14 percent of those surveyed disapproved of the checkoff, which is virtually unchanged from a year earlier. Producers’ dissatisfaction with the checkoff

peaked in January 2003, when 27 percent disapproved of it.

■ Producers who are “very” or “somewhat” well informed are more apt to support the checkoff. That’s why currently four percent of the checkoff is spent “preaching to the choir”, selling the checkoff to beef producers, instead of selling beef to consumers. “Increasing the understanding of how the checkoff works is a top priority for the checkoff,” they admit, “how it benefits them and their role as stakeholders.”

Some might suggest another word for educating the producer: propaganda.

■ 77 percent of those surveyed said they are confident the beef checkoff is on their side when the industry is under attack.

■ Surprisingly, in the wake of continued on page two

Flake seeks legislation on water for Tombstone

by JONATHON SHACAT, Herald Review

ongressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District and is a candidate for the U.S. Senate, has introduced the Emergency Water Supply Restoration Act in an effort to spotlight the City of Tombstone’s current water dispute with the federal government.

H.R. 5791 would ensure that state and local authorities are able to promptly make reasonable and necessary repairs to restore water supplies and infrastructure during a declared state of emergency.

According to a press release from Flake’s office, the need for this legislation is illustrated by the current conflict to restore the primary water source for Tombstone, which was damaged by flooding in the wake of the June 2011 Monument Fire.

Flake, a Republican, represents the Sixth Congressional District of Arizona, which includes parts of Mesa and Chandler and all of Gilbert, Queen Creek and Apache Junction.

During an interview with the Herald/

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Riding Herd

Review, Flake said he hopes to move ahead with the legislation, but he also hopes he doesn’t need to wait for that to happen.

“Sometimes the introduction of legislation simply prompts the agencies to reconsider what they are doing and that is obviously what we want to happen here,” he said, adding, “We hope the federal agencies reconsider because there is no common sense in what they are doing.”

He said he hopes the Obama administration realizes it has overstepped badly and that it will simply reconsider, if it doesn’t want hearings on the subject and to see a bill moving through Congress that would be, in all likelihood, a popular bill.

“This issue is certainly known around here and increasingly it has been out on the airwaves on Fox and CNN, but not many of my colleagues in Washington have focused on it and we’ve got to gin up some support in D.C. for a change,” Flake added.

In August of last year, Gov. Jan Brewer declared a state of emergency for Tombstone continued on page four

by LEE PITTS

Make Up Your Mind

’m confused. There are people who love cheese but don’t like cows, and folks who’ve made a religion out of wine and worship the fruit of the grape, yet they hate the agricultural industry. They love whole grains but detest wheat farmers. They blame beef and cow flatulence for all the world’s problems, yet they build expensive outdoor kitchens for barbecuing. I’m confused about meat-eating vegetarians who call themselves “flexitarians”, and lacto-ovo vegetarians who dine on brie and frappacinos.

There’s an entire network of television shows built around gardening and upscale stores are selling $40 trowels, composting systems and “organic potting soil,” (which my grandfather would say was pure you know what!). Everyone has gone gaga over gardens, yet they hire illegals to actually do the gardening for them.

I know kids who can text, but not type. They are obsessed with video games and shooting things on their computers and smart phones, and yet we’re surprised when the little darlings shoot their classmates at school. Their parents blame the NRA, not the video games or themselves.

Mothers and fathers say “they are really into their kids” and yet they let nannies, school teachers, daycare and Nintendo raise them.

Greenies leave behind tons of trash on Earth Day and blame the internal combustion engine for what ails the world. So they tow Smart Cars behind their 45 foot motor homes. It’s okay because their bumper says they gave to the Nature Conservancy and bought carbon credits. But I fail to see how that somehow erases their exhaust.

We’re obsessed with famous folks simply because they’re famous. We want to know every detail of their sick lives, right down to the natural color of their natucontinued on page thirteen

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Livestock Market Digest

Page 2

June 15, 2012

A Buck Or Two the hundreds of thousands of checkoff dollars being “misappropriated” by the NCBA, and reports that your checkoff dollars were spent on a spouse’s plane ticket so that she could accompany her NCBA husband to New Zealand, the survey said that two thirds of you believe the checkoff is being well managed, while 14 percent do not. Perhaps, after watching Congress in action, we’ve set our standards too low as to what constitutes “good management.”

Whoa Nellie!

After over 25 years of collecting a $1 a head the checkoff folks have been making lots of noise lately about wanting to raise it to two dollars. After all,

continued from page one

told us is in total charge of the checkoff, proposed a revision in the rules that would allow other organizations to apply for beef bucks. Previously this was not possible because the original rules demanded that in order to be a contractor the organization had to be in existence at the time the checkoff was started. So how did the NCBA end up with all the money when they weren’t in existence either?

Ah, a mere technicality, it seems.

The revision would make it possible for organizations that have been in business for at least two years to be eligible to contract with the Beef Board. Comments on the proposed revision had to be submitted by May 1,

. . . they said they wanted to know more about how the additional funds would be spent and how well they’d be managed.

We understand how you make your living, because it’s how we make our living. And tougher times call for smarter, careful thinking. That’s why, since 1916, New Mexico’s farmers and ranchers have counted on us for solid financial services when they need them most. We’ve been there. We’ll be here.

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what better time than now with prices near all time highs and ranchers in a very good mood?

After reading how much producers seem to like the checkoff one would think that it would be a slam dunk. Reason would say that twice as much would be twice as good. But when ranchers were asked if they’d be willing to double down on their checkoff bet 49 percent of them said they’d oppose a two dollar checkoff! That’s certainly a number you haven’t seen reported in any Beef Board press releases.

Another 11 percent said they were “unsure” about a two dollar checkoff and 29 percent said they’d “somewhat support” a raise. Only 10 percent of those surveyed said they’d strongly support the increase!

When asked if they’d support an increase to a buck and a half, 38 percent said “no” while 9 percent were unsure. That’s 47 percent of you who don’t even want to see the checkoff raised by 50 cents. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement. Why didn’t more of those surveyed support the increase? Get this: they said they wanted to know more about how the additional funds would be spent and how well they’d be managed.

We wonder what those numbers would have been if the NCBA hadn’t highjacked the checkoff? We’d suggest the raise to two dollars would be a slam dunk right now and that rancher’s reluctance to double down on the checkoff is a direct result of NCBA’s high profile role in spending your dollars. And the Beef Board folks know it!

Too Little, Too Late The Beef Board knows that the checkoff increase has no shot at passing a referendum as long as most ranchers think the NCBA has a total lock as the primary contractor to the Beef Board. So as a smokescreen, the USDA, who the Supreme Court

2012. Here’s what R-CALF USA had to say in their comments: “It’s far too little and far too late to achieve any meaningful improvement to the Beef Checkoff Program. In fact,” R-CALF said, “USDA’s overly simplistic proposal is a hollow and disingenuous gesture in light of the horrendous mismanagement and misappropriation of producer contributions that NCBA is known to have committed and for which USDA remains ominously passive and silent.

“Unless USDA has developed, or intends to develop, an additional strategy in addition to its current proposal to genuinely level the competitive playing field between the NCBA/Federation and any other eligible organization, the proposed rule will do little, if anything, to restore the integrity of the Beef Checkoff Program. If the USDA was serious about improving the checkoff they should change the rules so that “only organizations that have a majority of cattle producers on their board of directors can contract to receive Beef Checkoff Program funds.”

The NCBA, on the other hand, was really put on the spot on this issue. If they openly opposed the rule it would just reconfirm rancher’s fears that they wanted all the cash. So while they came out of their convention in support of the change, Alan Guebert reported in his nationally syndicated column that, “Despite laws banning the use of checkoff money for lobbying, three top beef checkoff officials attended the National Farmers Union convention in Omaha in early March to pressure NFU delegates to alter, drop or vote against a South Dakota resolution that endorsed a USDA plan “to expand the contracting authority” of the beef checkoff.

Why would beef checkoff officials continued on page three

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

A Buck Or Two fight against opening up contracting to more than just the NCBA, an organization that grabs nearly 90 percent of all beef checkoff dollars but sports fewer than three percent of all cattle owners as members?”

For the record the NCBA said, “We believe a multitude of ideas coming from several different organizations will enhance creativity and innovation regarding techniques to build and defend beef demand. Along with ideas, contractors must come to the table with the know-how and the resources to transform ideas into reality.”

We’re absolutely positive that the NCBA is being truthful when they say they’d like others to propose new ideas on how to promote beef. Then they would take possession of the idea and grab the cash from the Beef Board to implement it! We watched this exact set of circumstances play out years ago when the late, great, Mike Sweet who was working for the Livestock Marketing Association at the time, sought checkoff funds to implement a training program in which livestock producers would be taught how to defend their position when speaking to the press. Sound familiar? Of course, the LMA wasn’t given the contract and the NCBA stole the idea and implemented what has

continued from page two

since become a very effective program.

Anyone who thinks that other groups will receive anything but token funds from the checkoff, while the NCBA basically decides who get those funds, is naive.

See No Evil There were other changes the USDA could have proposed that would have made a two dollar checkoff much more palatable.

For example, The National Farmers Union passed a resolution in support of a rule that said no group should receive contracts for more than 50 percent of the total checkoff dollars on an annual basis. And back in 2008, Senator Jon Tester of Montana proposed changes that would have really helped a two dollar checkoff become reality.

He proposed that at least 30 percent of checkoff dollars had to be used to promote American born and raised beef and to require a referendum on the checkoff every seven years. That would have kept everyone honest.

It can be easily argued that the beef packers have been the primary beneficiaries of checkoff dollars and yet they are not required to pay one dollar for every head they own and process. Why not? If the Beef

Board really needs more money to get the job done, making the packers pay too seems like an obvious place to start. And why not a provision that allows for the promotion of U.S. beef, even if you have to stop collecting the

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and 160 head of equine (primarily horses) were intercepted by USDA officials along the Rio Grande.” To further complicate the situation, many of the normal import process for livestock entering Texas have been impacted by border violence, making the attempt to smuggle animals into the state even more tempting.

The investigation by USDA and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) is ongoing to determine not only the source of the horses, but the possible destination as well. The TAHC recently passed EP rules requiring testing of race horses prior to entry into a Texas track, and numerous other states have done the same because of recent cases found in that population of horses. “Racing Quarter horses with some connection to Mexico appear to be at highest risk of testing positive to the emerging disease,” according to Dr. Dee Ellis, State Veterinarian and TAHC Executive Director.

Although the interdicted horses were described as Thoroughbreds, they were considered to be more likely breeding type animals rather than race ready horses. Dr. Ellis went on to state, “This situation highlights the ongoing border security problems Texas is facing, which leads to an increased risk of disease introduction for the Texas livestock population when animals enter our state illegally. I encour-

offs without a question or an eyebrow getting raised. That was the case again March 30 when the Office of Inspector General at the USDA released an unusually brief-but highly critical-audit of the “possibility of weak over-

Do they vote to raise the checkoff, knowing that good work is being done and that inflation has reduced its effectiveness . . . buck a head from importers to do it. As it is, there is no incentive for the Beef Board, or the NCBA, to promote US beef as they get the money either way.

And on second thought, we’re quite sure the World Trade Organization or the NCBA would never give their approval to such a change. Heck, they don’t even want us to label our beef as to country of origin.

It will be a real fight to get the two bucks on a national level as long as there is misuse of funds.

Alan Guebert reported, “When federal auditors examine almost any aspect of the 18 checkoffs created by Congress, they usually find the worst of times: funds misspent on illegal travel, subcontracts used to funnel money for unauthorized bonuses, no procedures to track money and audit rules so porous that a checkoff-bought Sherman tank could clank through most check-

Smuggled Horses in West Texas Found to be Diseased .S. Border Patrol agents recently seized 10 adult horses and four yearlings as they attempted to enter Texas illegally by walking across the Rio Grande River near Indian Hot Springs, in southern Hudspeth county, south of El Paso.

The animals were turned over to the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Service (USDA/APHIS/VS) officials, who tested the horses in Presidio, Texas for a number of disease conditions that are considered foreign to the U.S. All 10 of the adult animals tested positive for Equine Piroplasmosis (EP). EP is routinely found in Mexico and numerous other countries around the world, but is not considered to be endemic to the U.S. The blood borne protozoal disease can be fatal to horses and could create major constraints to interstate and international movements if left undetected. EP does not affect humans.

According to Dr. Grant Wease, field veterinarian for USDA/APHIS/VS in El Paso, the illegal movement of animals is an ongoing concern in the vast open spaces of West Texas. “In some places the Rio Grande poses no barrier at all to foot traffic for man or animal.” According to the latest USDA information, Dr. Wease indicated that “In 2011, approximately 280 head of cattle

Page 3

age all citizens that witness unusual activity regarding livestock movement near the Mexican border to contact their local law enforcement or animal health officials as quickly as possible to report the situation.”

sight controls” of federally-chartered checkoffs.”

The only reason you don’t hear about more corruption is that the USDA and the government aren’t looking for it. The only time they do is when someone forces the issue. Wrote Guebert, “This hear-no-evil, see-no-evil approach meant that the Livestock and Seed program — the AMS umbrella over the beef, pork, lamb, soybean and sorghum checkoffs — “had not conducted a management review of any its boards in at least five years.”

Darned If They Do By hook or by crook the Beef Board and the NCBA will get their two dollars. Knowing they have no chance in a national producer vote to get two dollars, several states are now asking their producers to vote favorably on an increase to two dollars, with the caveat that the extra dollar will stay in the state.

This has all the look of an end run. Since ranchers trust the folks running their state checkoffs way more than they do the NCBA, the states will do the dirty work and collect the extra dollar based on their good reputations. While we believe the states have the best of intentions, the Federation of State Beef Council’s relationship with the NCBA is so incestuous that

they’ll figure out a way to transfer the extra money into NCBA bank accounts. Just watch. The states will deny it, of course, but we’d suggest you check back in a few years to see if the NCBA didn’t get their hands on the cash. Things change, after all, who’d have ever guessed 27 years ago when you voted in the checkoff that a new group, one that is looking more and more like a lackey for the meat packers, would be receiving the lion’s share of checkoff funds?

R-CALF has identified one easy way how the NCBA will get part of the extra dollar per head: “The Federation will charge state beef councils hundreds of thousands of more dollars for the privilege of having a seat on the Federation a ‘pay-to-play’ scheme that has all the elements of a sophisticated money laundering scheme: It siphons large sums of producer contributions that are intended to be used for beef promotion and research directly to the NCBA-controlled Federation, where it is then funneled indirectly to the NCBA.” R-CALF says that instead of proposing a rule that means nothing, “An obvious first step would be for USDA to immediately require the full and complete separation of the Federation of State Beef Councils from the NCBA.” Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Clearly, ranchers have been put in an unwinnable position here. Do they vote to raise the checkoff, knowing that good work is being done and that inflation has reduced its effectiveness, while at the same time there is the very good possibility that a chunk of that extra cash could end up in the hands of the NCBA? They are darned if they do, and darned if they don’t.

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 4

Flake Seeks Legislation and allocated funds for emergency repairs to the city’s aqueduct damaged by the fire.

According to Flake, Tombstone officials stated the aqueduct has accounted for between 50 and 80 percent of the city’s water supply in recent years and is critical to the health, safety, and economy of Tombstone’s 1,500 residents.

The U.S. Forest Service severely delayed and, in many cases, blocked Tombstone’s efforts to repair the water source, stated Flake. The 1964 Wilderness Act prevents the agency from issuing permits for use of “motorized” or “mechanized” equipment because it would disturb the surrounding wilderness.

“State and local authorities ought to be free from federal obstructions when working to quickly restore water to taxpaying citizens during a state of emergency. This bill ensures that the federal government won’t come between a disaster-stricken town and its water,” he states in the press release.

Recently, a federal court judge in Tucson ruled against Tombstone in its lawsuit that sought to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from interfering with its ability to adequately access the water in the Coronado National Forest in the Huachuca Mountains.

U.S. District Court Judge Frank Zapata felt that Tombstone failed to provide sufficient information entitling it to unfettered access to the 25 water

continued from page one

sources at issue, and that the city’s claims of a drastic water emergency related to public consumption and fire needs are overstated and speculative.

The judge also felt that the city’s water from the Huachuca Mountains has been substantially restored, and the city currently

are adhering to the standards that Flake would expect from the Forest Service.

“Employees of the Coronado National Forest have done a commendable job handling this situation within short time frames and in difficult situations with the city, while maintaining consistency with agency rules and regulations,” the letter states.

Kevin Proescholdt, conserva-

“State and local authorities ought to be free from federal obstructions when working to quickly restore water to taxpaying citizens...” has access to sufficient and safe water between its wells and the Huachuca Mountain water.

In April of this year, Flake wrote a letter to Tom Tidwell, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, to raise concerns about the limited progress of the repairs to the city’s water system and the delays stemming from the permitting process.

“Given the importance of the aqueduct to the city and its residents, I respectfully urge the Forest Service to work cooperatively with the City of Tombstone to ensure the necessary repairs are made expeditiously and in a cost effective manner,” he stated in the letter.

Leanne Marten, director of the agency’s Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers, responded to Flake’s letter on behalf of Tidwell in April. In the response, Marten stated they believe they

tion director with Wilderness Watch, told the Herald/Review in an e-mail that Wilderness Watch believes that Rep. Flake’s bill is an attack on wilderness, not just the Miller Peak Wilderness but wildernesses all across the West from which dozens, if not scores, of local communities rely for their water supplies.

“The damage to wilderness values that has already been done by the City of Tombstone at the two springs within the Miller Peak Wilderness should never have happened and didn’t need to happen,” he said.

“There may well be other options that could solve Tombstone’s water supply issue (such as drilling new wells) that would avoid further damage to our wildernesses. The Flake bill is a broad attack on wilderness that should never pass the Congress,” he added.

The Best of the Bunch

June 15, 2012

Conservation Easement problem lawsuit

By RUSTY DENNEN http://blogs.fredericksburg.com

division of the Silver Cos. is suing two conservation agencies and two of their employees over a conservation easement that was never completed near Fredricksburg, Va. Moss Neck Manor Plantation Inc., which purchased 1,209 acres surrounding the historic manor house in Caroline County in 2004, filed the civil suit in the county’s Circuit Court in March.

Defendants are the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and its representative Estie Thomas, and The Conservation Fund and its representative J. Reginald Hall III. The lawsuit centers on the preparation of a 300-acre conservation easement on the property, initiated by The Conservation Fund in 2010. The easement would have been part of the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program surrounding Fort A.P. Hill. The purchase price was $1.2 million.

According to the court papers, Moss Neck Manor Plantation Inc. filed an application, which was approved by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. Then the development company signed a contract with TCF to purchase the parcel with Army funds. Since 2005, Fort A.P. Hill has been buying conservation easements on land outside the base to discourage commercial and residential development that might threaten its training missions.

On the eve of the closing last fall, the suit alleges, Thomas and Hall “attempted to extract more restrictive conditions in the deed” than those agreed upon by the VOF board of trustees.

“They did this without authority and to further their own agendas: to try to force [the company] to allow a conservation easement to be placed on all of its 1,200 acres, rather than just the 300-acre parcel,” according

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to the lawsuit. That action, the company says, led to the deal falling through and the Army committing the $1.2 million earmarked for that easement to another project. The lawsuit alleges fraud, conspiracy and violation of a contract.

Moss Neck Manor Inc. asks that VOF be required to accept the easement, and that the agreed-upon purchase price be paid. It further seeks unspecified damages from Thomas and Hall for “fraudulent conduct,” $1.35 million in damages against TCF, and attorneys’ fees. Moss Neck Manor Inc. is represented by Spotsylvania County attorney Mark S. Gardner.

John D. Gilbody, a Virginia assistant attorney general, challenged the complaint on behalf of VOF, a state agency. He argues that sovereign immunity prevents such an action against a state agency, unless it is specifically waived. And though VOF was involved in the easement preparation, it was not a party to the purchase contract, among other things.

“The declaratory judgment count against Estie Thomas is simply nonsensical,” the response says. “The plaintiff seeks to compel Thomas to perform under a contract to which she or her employer are not even parties?

The claim simply makes no sense and should be dismissed.”

TCF attorney John L. Walker of Richmond argues on behalf of that conservation agency and Hall that there was no breach of contract because the sale was never completed. Further, he argues, Moss Neck Manor Plantation never executed the easement prior to the closing date, and the contract limits the amount of damages to $5,000.

He argues that the alleged fraud claim occurred after the closing date had passed.

No hearing date has been set.

JBS to host Summer Cow-Calf / Stocker Producer Meeting FROM THE PHOTO of his hand-tooled cover to the very last story, Lee’s newest book, A Handmade Life, is pure Pitts. In the tradition of Dirt Roads and God’s Country, Lee’s latest will entertain and inspire. Destined to be a classic.

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BS is offering an open invitation for cow/calf and stocker producers to visit Loveland, Colo., this summer and spend a day discussing key industry trends in the cattle and beef business.

The event will feature JBS’s divisional leaders speaking on cattle procurement, domestic and international beef sales, as well as worldwide meat protein conditions. A market outlook presentation and review of branded beef programs and cattle supply chains will also be provided.

The meeting will begin on the evening of August 7, with a reception and hors d’oeuvres. An 8:00 a.m. start is planned on the 8th, with speakers scheduled through early afternoon. Lunch will be provided for all attendees. The final hour of the meeting is

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blocked for a question/answer session with the audience and speakers. Adjournment is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

A block of rooms at the Embassy Suites Hotel (meeting location) has been reserved at the corporate rate of $94 per night. Please call 970/593-6200 and indicate that you are with JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding. Other lodging opportunities in the immediate area include Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites.

Please RSVP as soon as possible, as we expect large meeting attendance. Cow/calf and stocker producers won’t want to miss this informative and educational event!

RSVP information: Melissa Clinton, 970/506-8363 or email at melissa.clinton@ jbssa.com

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

June 15, 2012

Only global poverty can save the planet, insists WWF— and the ESA! WIND FARMS FOR ALL, BUT WITHOUT USING STEEL OR CONCRETE

by LEWIS PAGE www.theregister.co.uk, posted in Science

xtremist green campaigning group WWF [World Wildlife Fund] — endorsed by no less a body than the European Space Agency — has stated that economic growth should be abandoned, that citizens of the world’s wealthy nations should prepare for poverty and that all the human race’s energy should be produced as renewable electricity within 38 years from now.

Most astonishingly of all, the green hardliners demand that the enormous numbers of wind farms, tidal barriers and solar powerplants required under their plans should somehow be built while at the same time severely rationing supplies of concrete, steel, copper and glass.

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Planet Report for 2012 It’s a remarkable document, not least for the fact that it is formally endorsed for the first time by the European Space Agency (ESA) — an organisation which would cease to exist in any meaningful form if the document’s recommendations were to be carried out.

The report is also unusual in that it seeks to set policy on economics and energy, but doesn’t anywhere give any figures expressed in units of energy (watt-hours, joules etc) or currency (dollars, euros or what

have you). Instead the WWF activists prefer to base their argument on various indices invented either by themselves or by other international non- or quasi-governmental organisations.

For instance one key figure used in the report is the Living Planet Index, invented by the WWF, which apparently shows “trends in the overall state of global biodiversity”.

It does this by examining the number of individuals (or sometimes pairs) in various local populations of 2,688 selected species — of vertebrates only. Every two years WWF changes what species and populations are included, in large numbers: and anyone would acknowledge that a limited, localised picture of a couple of thousand vertebrate-only species is an utterly minuscule, extremely selective pinpoint on the picture of all the Earth’s life.

Nonetheless WWF think that their LPI number offers conclusive proof that “biodiversity has decreased globally”.

This is bad, because: Biodiversity is vital for human health and livelihoods . . . All human activities make use of ecosystem services — but can also put pressure on the biodiversity that supports these systems.

If that’s not enough for you, the document is liberally spattered with case studies showing how various animal populations

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have plunged. For instance there are now many fewer wild tigers than there were in 1970, which is plainly a bad thing for human health and livelihoods.

The report then assumes that global resources in general are limited, which is easily achieved by measuring them in terms of expressed in “biocapacity” hectares of Earth surface, and further stipulating that no resources can come from beyond Earth (which seems an odd idea for a major space agency to endorse, but there). WWF goes on to assign numbers showing how much of these hectareresources everyone is using, their “ecological footprint”.

In these terms, the only people on Earth who are living within their means are those in the poorest nations — their “footprint” exactly matches the “biocapacity” in their countries (doubtless a coincidence) offering a picture of the sort of life all human beings could aspire to in a WWF-run world. Middleincome nations use more “biocapacity” than they actually have, and high-income ones — all the ones where you as a Register reader are most likely to live — use nearly twice as many ecoresources as they produce.

What does this mean?

The Earth’s natural capital — biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services — is limited . . . Human demands

on the planet exceed supply.

The WWF eco-nomists also argue that human beings actually don’t — or anyway, shouldn’t — want to get richer, as people getting rich means economic growth and that (regardless of what all world governments and almost all economists think, especially right now) is a Bad Thing as it leads to consumer demand which leads to resources and energy being used.

“We need to measure success beyond GDP,” says WWF, an argument they’ve made before.

In particular the organisation argues that “human development” or the still-flakier metric “inequality adjusted human development” is a far better one than GDP per capita. (One may note that under the normal HDI (Human Development Index) it is better to live in Ireland, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea, Slovenia, Spain, Italy or the Czech Republic than in the UK.) As the green hardliners note: In countries with a low level of development, [HDI] development level is independent of per capita [ecological] Footprint. As development increases beyond a certain level, so does per person Footprint — eventually to the point where small gains in development come at the cost of very large Footprint increases.

Or, paraphrased, provided that development and consumption are both miserably low, you can achieve some development without noticeably increasing consumption. Of course only a cynic would suggest that the very design of the “human development” index — whether adjusted

Page 5 for inequality or not — ensures that there will come a point where only tiny increases in development can be achieved no matter the resources used. This is because the Human Development is on a scale from zero to 1, with 1 being unachievable.

It’s not just resources that are limited, in the WWF’s view: human potential itself is up against a hard limit beyond which the race cannot ever advance. Even progress thus far, as seen in the wealthy nations, has been achieved only by an unfair and wasteful over-use of precious resources: we rich Westerners are already beyond the practical limits that humans should ever aspire to achieve in terms of health, wealth — and even of education.

That’s not economics — that’s religion. And not very nice religion either.

All this is followed up with some standard rehashing of the standard carbon-driven apocalypse arguments, so setting the stage for WWF’s policy agenda.

Some of it is relatively uncontroversial: creation of nature reserves, efforts to control overfishing, efforts to ease deforestation.

But then we get onto the big stuff. First up, there must be an “immediate focus” on “drastically shrinking the ecological footprint of high income populations”.

That means you, Reg reader: you are to accept a massively lower standard of living, in order to reduce your “footprint” to match your nation’s “biocapacity”. Then you’ll have to take another cut, because your nation — being rich — has more “biocacontinued on page six

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WWF and the ESA pacity” than a poor country does (despite their claim that planetary resources are finite, WWF acknowledges that new “biocapacity” can be created in the form of cropland, forests etc), but this should be shared with the poorer lands under “equitable resource governance”.

That means less heating when it’s cold - no cooling at all, probably, when it’s hot. It means sharply limited hot water: so dirtier clothes, dirtier bedding and a dirtier you — which will be nice as you will also have to live in a smaller home and travel almost exclusively on crowded buses or trains along with similar smelly fellow eco-citizens. Food will be scarcer and realistically much less nutritious (milk for kids will be a luxury, let alone meat, fruit, coffee, that sort of stuff. Get ready to eat a lot of turnips, if you’re a Brit.)

Windfarms, tide barriers, panels to power solar EVERYTHING. But you can’t have any concrete or steel or iron or copper. Or glass. Or shipping either. Get on with it!

All this means more disease, and there will also be less health care (only rich nations can afford proper health care for all or most).

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will be a lot more expensive: materials, tools, books, booze, gadgets, clothes. Holidays will be bus trips to the seaside if you’re lucky, not trips overseas by plane or car. So it goes on.

Even this grim poverty-stricken dystopia, though, is not the biggest of the WWF demands.

The real biggy is that by the year 2050 all energy is to be supplied in the form of renewables-generated electricity, that is by means of windfarms, solar plants, tidal barriers and so forth. For almost all of human history and prehistory we have burned things to generate energy — it is one of the things that makes us human — but now, within a single generation, that is to almost completely stop. After a million years, the fires will go out.

That won’t be simple. At the moment, the great bulk of energy used by humanity is not electrical at all — it is generated directly by burning fossil fuels (a little, by burning biofuel such as wood). What electrical energy there is (only a tenth of the total even in countries like the UK) is also mostly fossil-generated right now, and the small proportion of this small proportion which isn’t fossil is mainly nuclear, not renewable — presumably to disappear for some reason under the WWF plan.

Then, regardless of the impression one gets from the media, it is not perhaps-dispensable things like aviation or gadgets which use most of our energy. Overwhelmingly, energy is used either in the home, by industries — including for example the health and construction industries — and for ordinary everyday forms of transportation.

And as even WWF acknowledges, billions of people worldwide have no access to any electricity grid at all.

Yet nonetheless — without giving any specifics as to how — WWF considers that just about everyone on Earth can be hooked up to an electrical grid and that these grids can be entirely powered by renewables; and the transport sector can be pretty much entirely electrified; and all of industry, all the mines and smelters and refineries and factories, all of it, can go electric.

All this, within 38 years.

There will need to be quite a lot of industry remaining. Even quite limited renewable power goals — for instance (pdf) getting the US onto 20 percent wind electricity by say 2030 (in other words achieving roughly 2 percent renewables power for the US) would require every year: About 6.8 million metric tons of concrete, 1.5 million metric tons of steel, 310,000 metric tons of cast iron, 40,000 metric tons of copper, and 380 metric tons of the rare-earth element neodymium.

Even this equates to 3 percent of current US domestic consumption of steel, iron and copper — much more in the case of

June 15, 2012

neodymium. To achieve full renewable power you would be talking about doubling or tripling production of concrete, steel and copper. At the moment these materials are produced by burning vast amounts of fossil fuels, so even if you managed to slash use of energy in all other sectors then huge increases in energy demand for materials to build the windmills would cause a massive further demand for more windmills and more materials for them and so on. And all this stuff would have to be hauled all over the place, as renewable plants normally have to be built in inaccessible locations — hauled by electric transport!

But in the WWF cloud-cuckoo-land all this steel and concrete and copper is probably, somehow, unnecessary. The 2012 report says that there must be: Ambitious energy demand management, especially in sectors with limited renewable options that are likely to be dependent on bioenergy.

(Aviation, shipping and high heat industrial applications are likely to be among these.)

“Demand management” is eco-nomics code for “rationing, or making mostly illegal”.

Rationed aviation is not a big deal except socially (no flying means a return to the days when only the rich and powerful ever got to travel other than for war and migration).

But rationed shipping, in a

world which needs to shift gigatonnes of iron and concrete and steel and copper about, is fantasy — the more so as much of the new infrastructure would have to be situated offshore.

And far worse still, “ambitiously” rationing “high heat industrial applications” means that you basically can’t have much concrete. Or steel, or copper. Or carbon fibre for your wind-turbine blades. Or glass for your possible solar plants either.

No: the whole plan is plain and simple barking lunacy, based on comedy made-up numbers that signify nothing.

And yet WWF is big stuff.

Reports of this type get picked up not just by the mass media but by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and used in official UN doom warnings (often much to the UN’s subsequent embarrassment, as in the cases of the non-melting glaciers and the non-burning rainforests). WWF turns over half a billion dollars a year: not much money in some contexts, but a very big budget in marketing or PR terms. WWF can sign up the ESA, for goodness’ sake. ESA astronaut André Kuipers — now in space aboard the ISS — is an official WWF ambassador, and his signature is in the front of Living Planet 2012. He writes: Looking out of my window and watching Earth from space comes with my job as an astronaut. Nevertheless, I

feel I am privileged . . . I will live on the International Space Station for five months . . . Seeing Earth from space provides a unique perspective. Our planet is a beautiful and fragile place, protected only by a very thin layer of atmosphere essential for life on our planet. And seemingly large forests turned out to be small and passed by very quickly. It was this perspective, and realization, that lie behind my motivation to become a WWF ambassador.

And yet the hundreds of billions it took to build the ISS, the lesser but still enormous sums that sent Kuipers up to live aboard it — there isn’t the slightest prospect that these resources would have been available in a world of the sort that WWF advocates. In a world where governments cared nothing for GDP and economic growth and surpluses, where rich nations or populations able to afford proper space programmes had been outlawed (and poor nations with small space programmes, like India, no longer got aid payments from rich ones) . . . in that world, Kuipers would never have got the chance to look down on Earth.

With WWF-mandated rationing on aircraft, most of his previous career as an aviation-medicine expert and airforce officer would also not have happened. continued on page seven

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A Day in the Life of a City ll in the same day the city newspaper carried stories about crime, predators, instant millionaires, mad hikers and oppressed artists.

Young Men Die and Killers Go Free: The front page picture shows a family holding up a photo of their murdered son. Ten witnesses saw who did it but none will testify. This took place in a neighborhood ruled by gangs. Any person willing to testify knows with certainty they will be targeted themselves in retribution.

Animal Control Efforts Debated: The USDA division of Wildlife Services in the last 6 years has trapped, poisoned or shot over ½ million coyotes and another 50,000 animals in “friendly fire” including dogs, eagles and bears. Animal rights groups are issuing demands to stop “needlessly killing non-targeted animals.” They suggest our culture of predator control exists because it is “macho to kill.” Livestock producers, the victims of predation, are trying to adopt “kindler, gentler,” methods of pest extermination. So far the most effective, but more gruesome methods prevail.

Family Feud Over Jackpot: A 76-year-old woman won $32 million in the lotto. She is suing her grown son, charging him with co-opting her winnings. Records show to date she has received $125,000 cash, an SUV and a house to live in. He pays her cell phone bill. The son has spent $2.3 million on four houses, bought 10 vehicles and has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars as gifts. She bought the ticket but he says he gave her

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the money.

County Agrees with Mountain Packers: For 200 years packers and outfitters have taken men into the high country of our National Parks. They have allowed many hundreds of thousands to reap ethereal and practical benefits of nature’s beauty.

Hikers are attempting to outlaw the use of horses to what they call “sensitive areas”. They realize their restrictions would shut out the majority of “back country lovers”, which, of course, is their intention.

Tattoo Shops Face New Regulations: The State government has decided that tattoo and body piercing businesses should be regulated like barber shops and restaurants. There has been no demand for the service and complaints are rare but the state wants to make it a public health issue anyway.

Summary: What can we deduce from these stories? First, we have neighborhoods in America that are as dangerous as Baghdad under Saddam Hussein. Despot’s rule because the victims don’t shoot back. Regarding reducing predator control, the ranchers should declare themselves “non-targeted animals” and sue. As for the disreputable son; just one more reason to believe that in the end God will dispense the proper justice. The packers vs. the hikers is a typical self-righteous “haves” trying to separate themselves from the teeming masses. And last, the public health issue; My question is, how many tattoo artists does it take to pay the salary and benefits for one more government employee?

June 15, 2012

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

Secretary Vilsack Names Members to the Council for Native American Farming and Ranching Council will Review Issues Related to Native American Participation in USDA Farm Programs griculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the appointment of members to the Council for Native American Farming and Ranching, a committee created to advise him on ways to eliminate barriers to participation for Native American farmers and ranchers. The Council is being appointed as part of the Keepseagle settlement.

“The Council for Native American Farming and Ranching will help Native governments, businesses, farmers and ranchers and tribal governments partner with USDA to create jobs, drive economic growth and strengthen tribal communities," Vilsack said.

Keepseagle v. Vilsack was a lawsuit alleging that USDA discriminated against Native American farmers and ranchers in the way it operated its farm loan program. The Obama Administration worked to settle the lawsuit in 2010 and the settlement was subsequently approved by the court.

The Council will suggest changes to Farm Service Agency (FSA) regulations and also provide internal guidance or propose measures that would pro-

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mote the participation of Native American farmers and ranchers in all other USDA programs and support government-to-government relations between USDA and tribal governments. The Council is a discretionary advisory committee established under the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture, in furtherance of the settlement agreement.

Those appointed to the Council include: Gilbert Harrison, Rancher, (Navajo Nation), Shiprock, N.M.; Henry Holder, Farmer/Rancher, (Choctaw Nation), Soper, Okla.; Michael Jandreau, Tribal Chairman, (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe) Fort Thompson, S.D.; Gerald Lunak, Natural Resources Director, (Blackfeet Nation), Cut Bank, Mont.; Jerry McPeak, Farmer/Rancher and State Legislator, (Muscogee Nation), Warner, Okla.; Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk, Inc., (Winnebago Tribe of Neb.), Winnebago, Neb.; Angela Sandstol,

Natural Resources and Conservation official, (Native Tribe of Tyonek), Tyonek, Alaska; Edward Soza, Farmer/Rancher, (Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians), Banning, Calif.; Mary Farmer/Rancher, Thompson, (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), Cherokee, N.C.; Sarah Vogel, Civil Rights Attorney and former Agricultural Commissioner for North Dakota, Bismarck, N.D.; Mark Wadsworth, Natural Resources/Range Management, (Shoshone-Bannock Tribes), Blackfoot, Idaho.

Four (4) USDA officials are also appointed to the Council: Dr. Joe Leonard, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights; Janie Simms Hipp (Chickasaw Nation), Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Tribal Relations; Bruce Nelson, Administrator, Farm Service Agency; Chris Beyerhelm, Director, Farm Loan Programs, Farm Service Agency; Members of the Council are appointed for two-year terms by

Page 7

the Secretary. The appointees include: Native American (American Indian and Alaska Native) farmers or ranchers; representatives of nonprofit organizations that work with Native farmers and ranchers; civil rights professionals; educators; tribal elected leaders; senior USDA officials; and other persons the Secretary deems appropriate.

The Council will hold its first meeting this summer. It will work with the Office of Tribal Relations, the FSA, and other USDA agencies to improve the success of Native farmers and ranchers who access USDA’s entire portfolio of programs to build and achieve profitability in their businesses. Under Secretary Vilsack’s leadership, USDA is addressing civil rights concerns that go back decades, and the recent announcement of the appointment of the Council for Native American Farming and Ranching is another step toward achieving that effort.

The Council for Native American Farming and Ranching will provide guidance that will ensure that all Native American eligible applicants for USDA programs are served in an equal and fair

manner. It will enable USDA to enhance business opportunities for Native American farmers and ranchers, tribal governments and the tribal communities they serve, and those interested in improving tribal economies through food and agriculture production.

Under Secretary Vilsack’s leadership, USDA has instituted a comprehensive plan to strengthen the Department as a model service provider and to ensure that every farmer and rancher is treated equally and fairly as part of “a new era of civil rights” at USDA. He and President Obama have made it a priority to resolve all of the past civil rights cases facing the Department, and the recent announcement is another major step towards achieving that goal.

In February 2010, the Secretary announced the Pigford II settlement with African American farmers, and in October 2010, he announced the Keepseagle settlement with Native American farmers. Meanwhile, Secretary Vilsack continues to advocate for resolution of all remaining claims of past discrimination against USDA.

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WWF and the ESA continued from page six

But people have a strange blind spot about WWF. They think it’s still the cuddly old World Wildlife Fund (CNN does, anyway — and so indeed does the ESA).

But it’s not the WWF any more, nobly trying to save the whale and the dolphin and the tiger. It has transformed into simply WWF — the initials, like those of global arms multinational BAE Systems, no longer stand for anything.

Today’s WWF is not really about tigers and dolphins any more, though they make excellent figureheads for fundraising. Just to show how much they aren’t, in fact, in step with everyone else, the organisation’s activists would be very happy if the present desperate efforts to end global recession were to fail; and this just as a prelude to making you (perhaps still more) miserably poor and launching a frankly insane effort to stop the human race using fire in just 38 years — by building windmills without steel or carbon, tide barrages without concrete and solar panels without glass.

Think about it, next time one of your kids asks if you can sponsor a dolphin, or the next time you hear “WWF says . . .” on the news.

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June 15, 2012

Farmers & Ranchers Lead Discussion On Food Production, Popular Culture And Science At The Food Dialogues: Los Angeles U.S. FARMERS & RANCHERS ALLIANCE ASSEMBLES LEADERS IN ENTERTAINMENT, FOODSERVICE, ACADEMIA AND AGRICULTURE FOR PANEL DISCUSSIONS JUNE 20-21, 2012 armers and ranchers are headed to Los Angeles — the entertainment capital of the world — for the second Food Dialogues event, June 20-21, 2012. Four separate discussions — held over two days — will bring together entertainment movers and shakers, chefs, academics, large restaurant operators, journalists, local leaders, farmers and ranchers for an in-depth conversation about food. All panel discussions taking place at the event entitled, “Lights, Camera, Food: Perceptions and Realities of Farming and Ranching in America,” will be available online (either live streamed or taped) at www.fooddialogues.com.

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“We are pleased to bring this type of conversation to the forefront in a pivotal location like Los Angeles,” said Bob Stallman, chairman of USFRA and president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We chose Los Angeles because of the influence the region and its opinion leaders have on popular culture and trends that affect the entire nation — including how we view our food. These in-depth discussions will not only move the conversation forward about how food is grown and raised, but it will also give those in the agricultural industry the opportunity to learn more from consumers and their needs and expectations for the food-growing industries.”

USFRA will announce the full list of panelists prior to The Food Dialogues events in Los Angeles. Two of the four panel discussions will stream live online on both Wednesday, June 20 and Thursday, June 21 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT, providing opportunities for farmers, ranchers and the general public to register to watch and participate in the discussion online.

Additionally, individuals with a Twitter account can follow all of

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the panel discussions by following @USFRA using #FoodD. The full list of panels is as follows:

Day One: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 ■ 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT, Hollywood and “Vine”: The Intersection of Pop Culture and Food Production. Panel Description: Cooking shows, food competitions, online content, books and documentaries — these are only a few examples of the many ways the entertainment world is addressing the topic of food. But, as more Americans turn to entertainment to influence their food-purchasing and consumption decisions, are they getting the full story? Are these entertainment properties providing content that is fair or accurate? Has entertainment played an important role in our society by raising people’s consciousness about food? Should farmers and ranchers be a bigger part of entertainment ventures? This event will feature entertainment

decision-makers, farmers and ranchers for a conversation about the portrayal of food and agriculture in popular culture. Live streamed (www.fooddialogues.com).

■ 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. PDT, Meeting of the Minds: Touring Hollywood’s Urban Farm.

Follow this panel discussion on Twitter @USFRA using #FoodD to participate in a live-Tweeting of the event activities as they happen. This event will be taped and content from the panel will be available in late June 2012.

Panel Description: Communities across America, including major metropolitan areas, are embracing urban farms and community gardens. The role these urban farms play is important to the communities where they operate, often addressing a larger societal/community need. Equally important is the direct connection the farm/garden gives to consumers interested in learning more about how food is grown and raised. What can larger, conventional farms learn about best practices from urban farms — and vice versa? Join farmers and ranchers — large and small, urban and rural, as they tour Wattles Farm in Hollywood. This intimate discussion will take a look at best practices and shared techniques, no matter the farm size, and the role that urban farms/community gardens play in feeding the stomachs and souls of American communities.

And discover how rural and urban farmers can work together to provide healthy choices for people everywhere.

Day Two: Thursday, June 21, 2012 ■ 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT, The Great Debate: Science, Technology and Food. Panel Description: What technologies are farmers and ranchers using to produce food while protecting the environment? Is more research the answer to biotechnology in agriculture? Join a panel of leading scientists and academics, farmers, ranchers and thought leaders for a dynamic conversation about the role science and technology play in agriculture. Live streamed (www.fooddialogues.com).

■ 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. PDT, The REAL Chef Challenge: Understanding How Food is Grown and Raised. Follow us on Twitter @USFRA using #FoodD to participate in a liveTweeting of the event activities as they happen. This event will be taped and content from the

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Decker, vice president of marketing for RMEF. RMEF was founded in 1984 to help ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat.

Its 184,135 members are 95 percent hunters fueling a conservation effort that has protected or enhanced more than 6 million acres across public and private lands.

FFA, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America, was founded by a group of young farmers in 1928. Their mission was to prepare future generations for the challenges of feeding a growing population. They taught that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting — it’s a science, it’s a business and it’s an art.

FFA continues to help the next generation rise up to meet those challenges by helping its members to develop their own unique talents and explore their interests in a broad range of career pathways. Today, FFA membership nationwide stands at 540,379 in 7,489 chapters.

Eighty-nine percent of FFA members are in grades 9-12,

For additional information about USFRA and The Food Dialogues events taking place in Los Angeles, visit www.fooddialogues.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/USFarmersandRanchers. To attend an event in-person, call 888/25-USFRA (87372) or e-mail rsvp@fooddialogues.com for additional details. Follow USFRA on Twitter @USFRA, using #FoodD.

Book Review

by Jesse Mullins

Cowboy Heroes of the Southwest

BY JIM OLSON • ISBN No. 978-0-9853756-0-7 • ON SALE NOW!

“Did you know John Wayne owned a ranch in Arizona? Have you heard the story of the first ever World Champion All Around Cowboy, Earl Thode? Have you heard the story about “Cundo,” who is in a wheelchair during the week then competes in roping competitions ahorseback on weekends?

Read about these, and the stories

FFA, RMEF Launch Relationship for Conservation he Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has formed a new relationship with the National FFA Organization and the National FFA Alumni Association that opens the door for more than 500,000 students of agriculture to learn more about elk, habitat, hunting and conservation.

Through a gift made to the National FFA Foundation, RMEF will support two major FFA events in 2012 — as an exhibitor in October’s 85th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Ind., and July’s National FFA Alumni Development Conference in Bozeman, Mont. Together these events offer a chance to engage thousands of young and continuing leaders in the strong connections between sustainable agriculture and sound wildlife conservation.

“A partnership between these two organizations is exciting because it has the power to help both of us serve our respective members and missions more directly, and in the near term as well as the future,” said Steve

panel will be available in late June 2012. Panel Description: Each day, individuals across the food chain — from farmers and ranchers to grocers and chefs — play unique roles in delivering the food we eat. How have these roles changed given Americans’ appetite for more information and preferences about how their food is sourced? What unique circumstances and challenges must be addressed in order for chefs, restaurateurs and grocers to continue delivering products their customers want? Do chefs have enough access to the farmers who grow and raise our food?

This intimate roundtable will bring together farmers, ranchers, chefs, and others to discuss how food sourcing impacts how they grow, raise, buy and serve healthy choices for people everywhere.

while 70 percent live in rural areas. The 85th National FFA Convention will be held in downtown Indianapolis, October 2427, 2012.

The National FFA Alumni Association acts as a support arm for FFA, agriculture and agriculture education, with an unwavering commitment to supporting and sustaining both FFA and agricultural education. The association was founded in 1971, and today boasts 52,555 members from 1,394 local affiliates in 44 states. The FFA Alumni Development Conference, held July 11-14 in Bozeman, Mont., allows participants to explore ways to strengthen their own personal skills and their local FFA Alumni affiliates through workshops, speakers, and group interaction.

RMEF also will be involved in the National Association of Agricultural Educators. By communicating with over 10,000 agriculture teachers, RMEF hopes to become a teaching resource and integrate elk-country conservation lessons into appropriate curriculums.

of over thirty other southwesterners, who have each accomplished great things in their own special way.” his was a book that fairly begged to be written. No one was better acquainted with these subjects, or better equipped to tell their stories, or more simpatico with their values, than Jim Olson. There are names here you’ll likely recognize, and some you won’t — but all have stories are worth savoring. From legends, to larger-than-life figures, the individuals sketched in Cowboy Heroes of the Southwest are real, colorful, and unforgettable. All Americans owe it to themselves to hear the real story of Rob Krentz, an Arizonan killed on his border ranch and ignored by mainstream media. There is the poignant portrayal of the author’s now-deceased best friend, Tod Storey, and the rollicking exploits of Bill Clark, ‘cowboy entrepreneur,’ a man who once bought an entire town in Alaska and on one occasion was ‘thrown through the window of his own saloon during a bar fight.’ Even the Duke himself, John Wayne, strides through some of the pages of this fine volume. Olson savvies his subjects in a way few others could, and he shares his insights in a style that moves easily from in-depth reportage to humor to wistfulness to heartfelt tribute. Our Western literature is beholden to Olson, who has helped to preserve some of the best of our nation’s cowboy culture — and given us some role models and heroes we can all hope to emulate.”

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Jesse Mullins is editor and author, Editor-inChief (1994-2009) of American Cowboy magazine

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

June 15, 2012

Fishermen Fire Shot in California Water Wars

by WILLIAM DOTINGA courthousenews.com

alifornia fishermen and crabbers called the federal decision to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta “a charade devoid of any effective environmental review,” in Federal Court.

The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association sued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation for violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. The 1,100-square mile Delta, formed by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, is the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast.

The fishermen object to the Bureau of Reclamation’s environmental assessment (EA) and the adoption of its Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), a “charade” necessary to deliver eight water service contracts in the next two years.

The groups claim the reports violate NEPA because they assume that Reclamation has no discretion to reject the contracts, reduce the quantity of water diverted from the Delta or increase the price of the contracts to force a reduction in water demand.

“Reclamation’s environmental review thus conveniently ignores the growing environmental impacts its water exports are having on the Delta’s increasingly imperiled salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and other fish and wildlife affected by the signing of the interim contracts. Because Reclamation considers continued water delivery — at present quantities and prices — to be the environmental baseline, the EA and FONSI conclude that water deliveries under the interim contracts will have no effect on the environment. Consequently, the Bureau failed to consider any alternatives or mitigation measures that would reduce the interim contracts’ impacts or even seriously to examine those impacts at all,” the complaint states.

“To add insult to injury, Reclamation’s erroneous premise that it lacked any meaningful discretion regarding the interim contracts was based on an outdated water needs assessment, which is not representative of current conditions. Reclamation’s EA process was thus reduced to nothing more than a meaningless charade, devoid of any effective environmental review of the interim contracts’ adverse effects, and of alternatives and mitigations that would avoid or reduce those effects.”

The groups say that since passage of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act in 1992, the Delta’s Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, North American green sturgeon and Delta smelt have been driven to

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the brink of extinction. The winter-run Chinook salmon, listed as a federally threatened species in 1990, was declared endangered in 2005 because of continuing population declines.

Seventeen species of fish indigenous to the Delta have become extinct and just 12 indigenous species remain, the fishermen say. Excessive water exports, usually to the southern San Joaquin Valley and to Southern California via the California Aqueduct, decrease freshwater flows, which result in increased salinity and the more concentrated runoffs of herbicides, pesticides and toxic agricultural products in the Delta, the fishermen say.

A 2009 biological opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service informed Reclamation that based on scientific and commercial information, continued excessive water exports from the Delta “are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of federally listed: endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley springrun Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley steelhead, threatened Southern Distinct Population Segment of North American green sturgeon, and Southern Resident killer whales (who feed on the salmon),” according to the complaint.

The National Marine Fisheries Service also concluded the exports were “likely to destroy or adversely modify” the listed creatures’ habitats, the fishermen say. (Scientific names omitted; parentheses in complaint.)

The groups claim that Reclamation’s water deliveries, used largely for agricultural irrigation, contribute to the pollution of ground and surface water in the

San Joaquin Valley. The polluted discharge from farms is drawn back into the California Aqueduct and into the drinking water supply of 20 million Californians.

The fishermen say the approval of short-term interim

line, it concludes that the signing of the interim contracts will have no effect on the environment.

Similarly, the EA concludes without substantive analysis that the interim contracts will not violate any other federal environmental laws on the grounds that Reclamation lacks discretion to disapprove them, or to reduce

SEVENTEEN SPECIES OF FISH INDIGENOUS TO THE DELTA HAVE BECOME EXTINCT AND JUST 12 INDIGENOUS SPECIES REMAIN. water contracts has been a way around Reclamation’s NEPA review of long-term contracts, which is mandated by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. In the 20 years since the act was passed, the Bureau has never completed a NEPA review or approved a long-term contract.

Instead, it has repeatedly granted interim contracts “devoid of adequate environmental review in a series of nearly identical EAs,” the groups say.

“The informed approval — or disapproval — of these shortterm, interim contracts is within the discretion of Reclamation,” according to the complaint.

On Feb. 29 this year, Reclamation issued its FONSI and EA for the eight interim contracts and approved the contracts.

Water delivery commenced the next day. In its environmental assessment for the contract, the bureau claimed it lacked any discretion to deny the contracts or reduce delivery volumes.

“Based on this faulty premise, the EA analyzes only two alternatives, the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative, both of which continue water diversions and deliveries in the same amounts. Because the EA considers continued water delivery to be the environmental base-

deliveries of water if they are approved,” the complaint states.

“The EA improperly limits its study area for the interim contracts to their delivery or service areas. By doing so, Reclamation ignored the interim contracts’ principal environmental impacts, including their impacts on the Central Valley Project’s source watersheds — including the American, Trinity and Sacramento rivers — and their imperiled fish and wildlife, and on the Delta itself.”

The fishermen say the Central Valley Project Improvement Act gave the Secretary of the Interior three years to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement under NEPA that analyzed direct and indirect impacts and benefits of implementing the Act, including fish, wildlife and habitat restoration actions. The agency had to conduct the same analysis for the potential renewal of all water contracts.

It took the Department of Interior seven years to complete the programmatic EIS. Its report did not assess the environmental impacts of long-term contracts.

That report took another six years to be released, and since 2005 the agency has done nothing to complete its environmental review of long-term contracts,

Grocery and Restaurant Executives Surveyed About Issues in Animal Agriculture Results Provide Opportunity for the Supply Chain to Support Retailers with Information esults of a recent survey of grocery and restaurant executives signals an opportunity for the supply chain to provide retailers better support and alignment to address challenging issues in animal agriculture.

Conducted by the Center for Food Integrity (CFI), the survey asked questions of QSR and procurement managers from 10 leading food industry retailers, including Walmart, McDonalds, Burger King, Marsh Supermarkets, Bob Evans, Giant Eagle, Wakefern Food Corp., Sodexo, Inc., Brinker International and Harris Teeter.

Using quantitative and qualitative methods, conducted both by phone and online, the survey was intended to provide feedback and stimulate discussion in an effort to improve supply chain alignment on critical issues facing animal agriculture.

Specifically regarding meat, milk and eggs, each respondent was asked for their thoughts regarding practices “on farm” and “during processing” that result in safe food; humane treatment of animals; sustainable protection of natural resources and; the nutrition of products.

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Further, the survey asked about their thoughts on the safety of food derived from animals treated with antibiotics; animals treated with hormones and; foods using biotechnology in their production.

Responses to each of those questions showed a significant need for additional, factbased information about these issues, created to support retailers and restaurateurs.

“I see it in our stores. People are examining labels. I find myself doing it, too. Consumers want to know what’s in their food,” said one survey respondent, noting that animal agriculture can provide that support. “We need to help them with positive information on why they can trust what they’re buying from us.”

“This research illustrates a significant opportunity for those in animal agriculture to provide greater coordination and communication to help improve supply chain alignment and serve as a resource for retailers on challenging issues,” says Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity. “Retailers can then serve as a direct point-of-contact, providing consumers the information they need to make informed choices.”

Page 9 the fishermen say.

“Further, Reclamation’s claimed lack of discretion is based on an outdated water needs assessment, which was prepared in 2006. Since 2006, the contractors’ water needs have changed significantly, based in part on retirement of farmland caused by drainage problems.

Without an accurate and current picture of the contractors’ water demands, Reclamation’s analysis of purpose and need violates NEPA. Reclamation’s purported justification for its claimed lack of discretion in selecting alternatives or rejecting the contract altogether is unsupportable.”

The bureau’s claimed lack of discretion “caused it to ignore and trivialize the interim contracts’ environmental impacts, and the alternatives that would avoid or reduce these impacts, rendering its EA an empty exercise,” according to the fishermen. Its environmental assessment also fails to “consider the effects of diverting and delivering massive quantities of water, versus halting or reducing those deliveries, on Reclamation’s compliance with other environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The EA’s analysis likewise ignores the cumulative impacts of all of the interim contract renewals.”

The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the agencies broke the law by issuing a FONSI based on an assessment that is legally inadequate and without preparing an environmental impact statement, an order requiring them to withdraw the FONSI and prepare proper documents, and an injunction ordering the environmental review be done expeditiously.

They are represented by Stephan Volker, of Oakland.

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 10

The continuing failure of green conceit resident Obama and his allies in the environmental movement have promised to usher in a green economy that will create millions of new green jobs. Under the wise leadership of our energy bureaucracy, government officials have invested millions in taxpayer money in renewable energy providers, claiming to be providing the jobs of tomorrow, says Kenneth P. Green, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

However, such promises are disingenuous and fail to deliver for a labor market that is hungry for job creation. This failure can be predicted by economic theory and proven by empirical results.

■ Economic theory emphasizes that government bureaucrats do not have magical knowledge of which technologies are going to outperform any other technologies.

■ The idea that bureaucrats have such knowledge is an exam-

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ple of what Friedrich Hayek called “the fatal conceit,” and granting them power to act on knowledge they do not possess leads to inefficiency by misallocating capital to suboptimal ends.

■ Economic theory also tells us that jobs are not created by governments: governments merely transfer good fortune from one sector to another.

■ In this regard, to call any government action a “job creating measure” is to misrepresent the truth: that government stimulating jobs in one area robs them from somewhere else.

The employment and cost data coming out of the green energy sector is consistent with what economic theory predicted, namely that government action yielded too few jobs for too much money.

■ When talking about our bold green energy future, President Obama held up Spain as an example of what America should

be doing.

■ Yet researchers at Spain’s Universidad Rey Juan Carlos found that if America followed Spain's example, for every renewable energy job that the United States managed to create, the country should expect a loss of at least 2.2 traditional jobs on average.

■ They also found that green jobs are costly: each green job created in Spain’s effort cost about $750,000, and only one in 10 of the new green jobs were permanent.

■ Thus, creating even 3 million new green jobs would cost $2.25 trillion dollars.

Most telling are the results on the ground: the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports that in Michigan, federal stimulus money amounting to $34.5 million managed to create a mere 183 jobs amongst 14 companies.

Source: Kenneth P. Green, “The Continuing Failure of Green Conceit,” The Blaze, May 13, 2012.

Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally he typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, according to a USA Today analysis.

■ Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set

by Congress.

■ A U.S. household’s median income is $49,445, the Census reports.

The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits.

Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial

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statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.

■ The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules.

■ The official number was $1.3 trillion.

■ Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government’s books.

Other key findings include: ■ Social Security had the biggest financial slide. The government would need $22.2 trillion today, set aside and earning interest, to cover benefits promised to current workers and retirees beyond what taxes will cover. That’s $9.5 trillion more than was needed in 2004.

■ Deficits from 2004 to 2011 would be six times the official

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total of $5.6 trillion reported.

■ Federal debt and retiree commitments equal $561,254 per household. By contrast, an average household owes a combined $116,057 for mortgages, car loans and other debts.

Source: Dennis Cauchon, “Real Federal Deficit Dwarfs Official Tally,” USA Today, May 24, 2012.

June 15, 2012

USDA Poultry Plan Violates Federal Law, Union Contend he USDA’s proposal to largely outsource poultry inspections functions and drastically speed up the visual inspection process violates federal law and must not be allowed to proceed, the nation’s largest federal employee union said in official comments on the proposal.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents thousands of federal meat and poultry inspectors, submitted comments to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service on May 25. More than 2,000 comments were submitted before the comment period ended May 29.

The USDA’s budget-cutting proposal would allow poultry companies to inspect their own chickens and turkeys, leaving a single federal inspector responsible for examining up to 175 birds per second as they speed down the line.

“It exceeds the bounds of logic and common sense to reasonably contend that one person can carefully examine more than 80,000 chickens per workday when the carcasses are whizzing past the inspector at a rate of 3 chickens per second,” AFGE Assistant General Counsel Matthew Milledge wrote in the union’s official comments.

Contrary to the agency’s assertion that these changes would improve food safety, Milledge wrote that the proposal

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“will ensure that increased numbers of adulterated poultry enter the marketplace thereby endangering the health and safety of the American consumer.”

The proposal violates the 1957 federal law that established the current poultry inspections process, which requires federal inspectors to perform a “careful examination” of the carcass of every bird processed to determine its fitness for purchase, Milledge wrote.

Not only will federal inspectors be physically incapable of examining every carcass, the proposal eliminates the current requirement that federal inspectors examine the internal organs, or viscera, of each bird. Many of these parts are sold for human consumption, including chicken livers and giblets.

“Under this new system, poultry parts will be sold to the public that have never been inspected by a federal inspector in violation of federal law,” Milledge wrote.

AFGE and other concerned consumer groups have denounced the proposed regulations and organized petition drives and other protests. More than 16,000 people have signed a petition on the White House website urging the Obama administration to withdraw the proposed rule.

AFGE’s complete comments, along with a link to the White House petition, are available at www.letthemeatchicken.com

National Western Stock Show Names New Chairman Adds Two Members to Executive Committee on Williams has been elected Chairman of the Board of the Western Stock Show Association (DBA, National Western Stock Show). The announcement was made by Paul Andrews, President and CEO of the National Western Stock Show and Complex. “We lost a great man with the passing of Jerry McMorris, but today the board has added another great leader in Ron Williams. Ron will be a real asset to the leadership of the Executive Committee and was a unanimous choice for Chairman at our annual meeting earlier today”, said Andrews.

Ron is the President and CEO of The Gary-Williams Company and has been in partnership with Sam Gary for 35 years. He was raised in rural Nebraska and moved to Colorado upon graduation from college in 1967. Ron owns and manages a cow/calf operation in the “gyp hills” of southern Kansas. Ron has been a member and treasurer of the Executive Committee of the National Western for eight years. Along with his ties to the ranching community and his strong leadership within the Denver business community, Ron, as a long time member of the Children’s Hospital Foundation Board

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chaired the Board’s Capital campaign that successfully secured the private funding for the building of the new state of the art Children’s Hospital at the Fitzsimmons campus. He continues his philanthropic involvement by serving as the vicechairman of the Piton Foundation, a private operating foundation that comprises the community investment division of the Gary-Williams Company.

The Piton Foundation, as its name implies, founded in 1976

by Mr. Gary provides opportunities for families and children to move from poverty and dependence to self reliance.

The Board also ratified the recommendation to add two new members to the Executive Committee in Don Elliman and Gail H. Klapper.

Don Elliman currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus and runs both the downtown and the medical campus. Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Elliman as the state’s COO and he was Director of the State of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development. Elliman had a 30year career with Time, Inc., was the CEO of Ascent Sports, owners of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Pepsi Cen-

ter, and worked for Kroenke Sports Enterprises as their President after Ascent Sports sold the enterprise to Stan Kroenke.

Ms. Gail H. Klapper founded The Klapper Firm and serves as its Managing Principal. Ms. Klapper is the Director of the Colorado Forum — founded in 1978, the Colorado Forum is a group of CO chief executives officers and leading professionals whose goal is to create an informed, objective voice on critical public policy issues. Klapper founded Public Education & Business Coalition. In 1976, she was appointed by President Ford as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior. Klapper served as a member of Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm’s Cabinet. Ms. Klapper currently serves on the Board of Maxim Series Fund, Inc. a subsidiary of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, as President of the Board of the Hyatt Regency at the Convention Center Authority. Ms. Klapper brings extensive expertise and knowledge of the Colorado economic, political and business environment. Klapper is also active in the equestrian world and has been on the National Western Stock Show Horse Classification Committee for many years.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

June 15, 2012

Page 11

National Monuments — More Than Meets the Eye

by CALLIE GNATKOWSKI GIBSON

t’s hard to be opposed to protecting history, but with National Monument Designations — as with almost anything else — there is more to it than meets the eye, according to Dr. Jerry Schickedanz, who started researching the issue after getting involved with People for Preserving Our Western Heritage (PFPOWH), a group formed to represent ranchers’ interests in Doña Ana County.

Schickedanz, who now serves as PFPOWH Chairman, also works to promote the range livestock industry in his role in the Tom and Evelyn Lineberry Endowed Chair at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Ongoing efforts by activist groups to “protect” lands in Doña Ana County, prompted him to take a look at the national monuments, what they are, how they are formed and how they impact land use.

The problem, Schickedanz said, is that the general public does not understand the difference between a Wilderness, a National Park and a National Monument. “When the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance realized that their Wilderness proposal was basically dead, they started looking for another way to lock up these lands with a federal designation and turned to the President and his authority to designate a National Monu-

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ment through the 1906 Antiquities Act.” The number of different plans that have been introduced regarding land in southern New Mexico has made the issue even more complicated. Proposals have included efforts to create Wilderness Areas, a bill introduced by Congressman Steve Pearce to designate 58,000 acres in the Organ Mountains as a National Monument and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance’s effort to create a 600,000 acre National Monument. “There’s no question that people support some kind of permanent protection for the Organ Mountains,” he said.

“I think if you asked anyone on the street in Las Cruces they would agree.”

The land in question is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for multiple use. National Monument designations typically protect historic sites, like buildings and battlefields and in New Mexico are managed by either the National Park Service or BLM. Management specifics are laid out in each monument’s management plan.

According to Schickedanz’ research, multiple use is severely restricted in all of New Mexico’s 12 current National Monuments, which doesn’t give much hope for ranchers and recreationalists options in any new designation. Specific restrictions are outlined below, and more information can be found at www.peopleforwesternheritage.com.

Hunting: Hunting is prohibited in 11 of New Mexico’s existing National Monuments, and the management plan for the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument is still being developed. NPS policy is to protect wildlife within their boundaries.

Grazing: Grazing is prohibited in 11 New Mexico National Monuments.

Grazing was prohibited at Bandelier National Monument in 1930, at White Sands in 1940, and at El Malpais in 1997. NPS policy is to phase out commercial grazing whenever possible.

Pets: In general, NPS policy for pets — except for guide dogs and hearing ear dogs – prohibits pets from: entering national monument buildings (including visitor centers); ranger led activities; using trails, and all backcountry areas. In those instances where they are allowed on trails, they must be kept on a leash at all times. Pet regulations are strictly enforced – fines $50-250.

RV Camping Overnight: Overnight RV camping is prohibited at ten of New Mexico’s 12 National Monuments. El Morro has nine sites for RVs and Bandelier has 94 sites, but no hookups for water and lights.

Backpack Camping: Overnight backpack camping is prohibited at nine of New Mexico’s 12 National Monuments.

White Sands has 10 established sites for tents and advance reservations are

required. Bandelier allows overnight backpack camping with a permit and El Malpais has tent camping.

Fees: Fees are charged at nine of the 12 National Monuments. Only El Malpais, Prehistoric Trackways and Salinas Pueblo Missions do not charge a fee.

Fuel Wood Gathering: Generally, fuel wood gathering is prohibited.

Motorized Vehicle Use: Motorized vehicles are prohibited on trails. Baby strollers are prohibited on trails at Capulin Volcano and bicycles are prohibited during regular hours on the road up Capulin. NPS policy is to not allow motorized vehicles on trails because they violate the soundscape resource with unnatural sounds.

Horseback Riding: Bandelier limits riding on trails and limits the number daily to 2 groups of 6 horses.

Law Enforcement and Border Security: Currently, Law Enforcement and Border Patrol have access in the NMWA proposed Organ Mt.-Desert Peaks National Monument. However, if done under a blanket proclamation, the law officers could be blocked under National Monument rules that in Arizona have limited law enforcement routine patrols.

2006 NPS policy states: ”that within the national park system boundaries, the Service will fulfill its law enforcement responsibilities using NPS employees”.

DNA: an arriving tool for beef cattle

by MIRANDA REIMAN

ight now, it’s hard to imagine how future tools will change the beef cowherd. Today, heifer development costs are high and getting higher as ranch profit goals demand efficiency while consumers want quality.

DNA technology is one of the emerging solutions for beef production, in line with the role it has played in agronomy.

“It takes so much time to develop a herd of cattle — a lifetime, honestly — that’s designed to be feed-efficient or have high reproduction,” says Cody Jorgensen, of Jorgensen Land and Cattle, Ideal, So. Dak. “The more knowledge you have about DNA to help you make the right decision, the better.”

His family has DNA-tested standout Angus bulls and donor cows for years, but he plans to step it up a notch this fall.

“It’s going to be a tremendous tool to add, along with the quantitative genetic research that we do,” Jorgensen says. And although the registered cattle world will be quicker to use the tool, he says the new lower-density, lower-cost tests “could impact commercial cattle heavily.”

“Data is a power,” he says.

“You get a lot of cost and time and energy stuck into a bred female, and every day that it may be in the wrong group, it’s very expensive. If a guy knew early in a calf’s life if it had the abilities we want, it would definitely improve the costs of raising

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replacement heifers.”

Larry Kuehn, geneticist at the USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., says DNA is the best forecasting tool available right now for young calves.

“It basically helps you skip time,” he says. “You’re trying to increase your accuracy earlier.

It’s potentially cheaper to pay for a test to increase accuracy when a bull is born, for example, versus waiting for it to be ultrasounded itself, and especially waiting for it to be progeny-tested.”

The technology has gotten better and cheaper in the last five years, says Bill Bowman, American Angus Association COO and president of Angus Genetics Inc. “With some of the very early DNA tests, we were using individual genes or individual markers and in many cases they didn’t account for very much of the genetic variations.”

Researchers streamlined the process when they began looking at changes in the DNA sequence — or “snips” (from singlenucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) — and how they impact specific traits. That’s when the 50K tests were born, looking at 50,000 of these snips.

Scientists hope that even higher-density tests and genome sequencing will allow them to find “functional mutations,” the specific points of differentiation from one animal to another.

That will be important in trying to apply DNA tests across

breeds, Kuehn says.

The accuracy of the high-density tests improves confidence in more basic, less-expensive ones that draw on a reduced number of snips. An example is GeneMax®, from Certified Angus Beef LLC, that evaluates gain and grade potential in commercial Angus cattle.

Today, DNA works especially well in predicting carcass traits.

“The genetic correlations derived at AGI suggest that 30 percent to 40 percent of the variation within a given carcass EPD is explained by available genomic tests,” Kuehn says, adding that there are other profit-related traits of interest as well. Reproduction, longevity and animal health top the wish list.

“Just a few percentage changes in fertility would have a much higher impact in wholesystem profitability than most of these carcass measures we’re talking about,” he says.

The Angus breed is working on measuring longevity and survivability currently.

“Once you get data and ways to measure traits like that, then a DNA test is soon to follow,” Bowman says.

Jorgensen dreams of a system similar to what has shaped the crop side of their business.

“If we could genetically select for all the things that challenge us — if that’s the fescue grass or the elevation — if we could understand DNA that could handle that type of environment or that was resistant to respiratory disease — just imagine that. It

would be a game changer.”

E. coli resistance. Fertility.

Ability to handle “hot” rations.

Tests for these traits are all on the horizon.

“Any places we can increase efficiency by selling one more calf, because we have one more fertile female,” Kuehn says, “or have one more calf sold for slaughter because he made it through the feedlot without respiratory disease, or fewer foodborne pathogens are advantageous — those sorts of changes are a boon for the industry in terms of perception and environ-

mental footprint.”

Jorgensen has been pulling DNA samples for their files, “just in case” they want to analyze them.

“It’s not like the poultry or swine business where they can do 2.4 turns per year,” he says.

“You just can’t make that much progress in a year’s time. It’s critical to know whether those cattle will do it or not.”

It matters to individual ranchers and to those further down the beef production chain.

“Meat demand is not going down, especially worldwide, Kuehn says. “It’ll take focus if we’re going to keep beef competitive to other protein sources.”

Livestock Market Digest

Page 12

Sustainability he idea that life on earth can be sustained by limiting the growth of the world’s population has been around for a long time. “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man,” wrote Thomas Malthus in his famous 1798 treatise, “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” says Kevin Mooney, an investigative journalist for the Pelican Institute in Louisiana.

Malthus argued that population growth was harmful to the earth and a threat to human populations. His view continues to resonate today among the academics and political figures who are well-positioned to influence national and international public policies.

This movement formerly focused its efforts on demonizing the fossil fuels industry in the name of protecting the world from climate change. However, when it came to light that much of the scientific evidence for global warming was unreliable, the movement lost steam.

■ A 2010 Gallup poll showed 48 percent of Americans believed the seriousness of global warming was exaggerated, up from 31 percent in 1997.

■ Similarly, 42 percent of Germans feared catastrophic warming, down 20 points from 2006.

■ Only 26 percent of Britons believed in manmade climate change.

Instead, the environmental lobby now focuses its efforts on a two-pronged strategy: lessening the impact of man’s activities on the environment, and reducing the number of people who perform those activities. The prior is addressed by the everyday tactics of the Environmental Protection Agency, but the latter remains the business of well-funded nongovernmental organizations.

■ Population Connection is

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an organization based in Washington, D.C. (claiming 140,000 members) that advocates that the global fertility rate of 2.5 must be reduced to a sustainable 2.1 via family planning education.

■ The Worldwatch Institute, with partners in 40 countries and millions in revenue, dominates U.N. environmental conventions by arguing the accelerated population growth of the past decades a wedge between drove mankind’s long-term sustainability and its present course of action.

■ Perhaps most heinously, the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Great Britain manipulated data to justify global warming alarmism, helping to give rise to the entire movement.

The argument that the earth is incapable of providing for an expanding human population is without scientific basis and falls under the lightest of scrutiny efforts. Governmental entities should be sure to protect themselves from the influence of such alarmists.

Source: Kevin Mooney, “Sustainability,” Capital Research Center, April 2012.

Minimize stresses of weaning lambs by preparing for the transition in advance eaning lambs to dry feed can be a stressful transition for young lambs. Supplying adequate levels of lamb-specific milk replacer and mapping a weaning strategy prior to the switch can help to ensure that the changeover goes smoothly for young lambs while ewes transition to the parlor.

Begin planning for weaning well in advance of when milk replacer is removed from the lamb’s diet by granting grain access to young sheep. Dairy sheep producers can add forages and grains by three weeks of age when the natural conversion to solid feeds begins.[1] At that time, the developing rumen can start to break down small amounts of grains, so starter feed mix should be offered.

Starter feeds are typically protein-based palatable grain mixtures that are offered free choice to young livestock while they are still on milk. If the lambs remain with the ewes for part of the day, the starter feed should be fed in a specific feeder with openings too small for adult sheep but large enough to fit growing lambs. Lambs that are separated from adult ewes to be fed milk replacer can receive the grain in

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Farm Kids, Allergies and Asthma ids growing up around cattle may have fewer allergies and asthma than kids raised nearby but not on a farm, according to a new study in Europe. The new findings help identify, at least in part, what specifically may protect some farm-raised youngsters against developing asthma or allergies.

“People have grown up with animals and in outdoor environments for eons, and maybe our immune systems are tuned to developing normally in that sort

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P.O. Box 7458 Albuquerque, NM 87194 505/243-9515 Fax 505/998-6236 www.aaalivestock.com

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June 15, 2012

of environment,” James Gern, a childhood allergy researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madiso, said.

The researchers surveyed the parents of nearly 80,000 children who grew up in rural areas of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. More than 9,600 of the kids were raised on a farm, 18,000 visited other people’s farms and 52,000 never spent time on a farm. They found that 11 percent of the farm-raised kids had asthma, compared to about 16 percent of the kids who visited farms but weren’t raised on one.

Among the children who never spent time on a farm, 18 percent had asthma. Similarly for hay fever, about 5 percent of farm kids had the seasonal allergy, compared to close to 11 percent of kids who visited farms and 15 percent of kids who didn’t spend time on a farm. Wheezing and eczema were also less common in farm-raised kids, according to findings published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The researchers found that having contact with cows and straw and drinking milk that came from the farm was linked with a 21-26 percent reduced risk of developing asthma compared to non-exposed kids. Kids who had contact with cows and drank their milk also had a lower chance of getting hay fever.

To read the report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, visit http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00916749 12005167.

feeders or troughs.

Dave Thomas, Ph.D., of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, says that, since the young lambs are not fully functioning ruminants, the dry diets need to be low in fiber, high in energy and protein and processed into a pellet or meal.

tion to Ultra Fresh® Lamb Milk Replacer will help young lambs become accustomed to water before the milk replacer is removed from the diet and can help prevent dehydration during this transition period.”

Earleywine adds that ration and pen changes should be avoided two weeks prior and two

“The combination of high-protein grains and a quality milk replacer early in life can help alleviate the stresses of weaning.”

Mike Neary, extension sheep specialist at Purdue University, says that a starter feed should contain at least 14 percent crude protein (with 18-25 percent crude protein levels being ideal) that includes high energy content, balanced minerals and elevated palatability.[2] A viable starter feed option listed by Purdue University includes: 80 percent grain sorghum, 10 percent oats and 10 percent oilseed meal with alfalfa hay available at all times.

Still, it is important to remember that rations should be formulated based on individual needs of a lamb crop and available feedstuffs. For instance, Thomas recommends a 22 percent crude protein diet that is high in corn grains and also includes: soybean meal, liquid molasses, feed grade limestone, ammonium chloride and a salt vitamin mineral mix formulated for sheep.[3] Whatever ration is selected, dairy sheep producers are encouraged to monitor Vitamin E levels in the diet to promote efficient growth. Further, urea should not be used as a protein source in pre- and early postweaning diets of young lambs as the ingredient cannot be broken down in the developing rumen.

Urea can typically be added to the ration when the lamb reaches 65 pounds.[4] By monitoring consumed starter feed levels, producers can determine a weaning timeline. The transition should occur based upon individual lamb growth and consumption rates rather than group age.

Neary adds that lambs are typically able to break down solid feeds in their rumens once they consume starter feed levels that equal 1 percent of their body weights. For example, if a lamb weighs 20 pounds, he or she should consume at least 0.2 pounds of starter feed before being weaned.

Along with starter feed, lambs should have access to free choice water.

“Prior to weaning, the majority of liquid in a lamb’s diet comes from lamb-specific milk replacers,” says Dr. Tom Earleywine, director of nutritional services for Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Products. “Supplying clean, fresh water to the lambs in addi-

weeks after weaning as consistency and cleanliness can prevent added stress. For the same reason, potentially taxing procedures, including vaccination, castration, worming and tagging, should be completed at least two weeks prior to the weaning day.

Through both periods, it’s encouraged to keep groups of lambs together. Lamb groups should not be broken as hierarchy and group bonds have already been formed.

By keeping stress levels low and supplying starter feeds and adequate levels of lamb-specific milk replacer, artificially-reared lambs can be weaned from milk replacer as early as 30 days of age. At this point, lambs should have consumed approximately 20 pounds of milk replacer powder and weigh at least 25 pounds.

“It all comes back to management,” Earleywine adds. “The combination of high-protein grains and a quality milk replacer early in life can help alleviate the stresses of weaning and help this year’s lamb crop begin the next step into joining your milking flock.”

For more information on Ultra Fresh® Lamb Milk Replacer, visit www.lolmilkreplacer.com or call 1-800/6186455. To order Ultra Fresh® Lamb Milk Replacer, lamb producers are encouraged to ask their local feed retailer.

Since 1951, when Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Products Company developed the first calf milk replacer, the company has been committed to creating the best milk replacers from the best technologies and quality ingredients. Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Products Company is a division of Land O’Lakes, Inc. a national farmer-owned food and agricultural organization.

[1] Schoenian, Susan. “Weaning Lambs.”

Sheep 201: A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Sheep. 23 Feb. 2011. www.sheep101.info/ 2011/about.html.

[2] Neary, Mike. “Management of Ewes and Lambs at Weaning.” Purdue University. 23 Feb. 2011. http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/ sheep/articles/manewes.html [3] Thomas, David L. “Husbandry of Dairy Animals: Sheep: Replacement Animals.” University of Wisconsin-Madison [4] Umberger, Steven. “Feeding Sheep.” Virginia Cooperative Extension. 1 May 2009. http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/410/410-853/410853.html

June 15, 2012

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

What end of Bush Tax Cuts means for you he so-called Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. While these cuts have been characterized by the Obama administration as being largely beneficial to the wealthy, this is a mischaracterization. Rather, the package of tax cuts contains taxalleviating assistance for broad portions of the population.

Thus, letting them expire would have numerous negative

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consequences, says Yahoo!

Finance. First, there would be higher income taxes for all (not just the wealthy).

■ The existing 10 percent bracket will go away and the lowest “new” bracket will be 15 percent.

■ The existing 25 percent bracket will be replaced by the new 28 percent bracket.

■ The existing 28 percent bracket will be replaced by the

Solving the electric car puzzle or the electric car to be anything more than a plaything for rich environmentalists — and have any impact on energy security or the environment — it has to succeed in the mass market. Unfortumanufacturers are nately, approaching the electric car as another new product when what they really need is a new business model. Two neglected factors — battery depreciation and power-grid management — must be addressed, or costly efforts at improving e-cars and charge spots will fail in the mass market, says Ron Adner, a professor of strategy at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business First, while much attention has been paid to the appeal of electric cars to new buyers, an equally important question will be their appeal to used-car buyers. n Here the major determinant is battery technology.

■ Electric car batteries are extremely expensive — they can account for one-third of the cost of the vehicle — and offer limit-

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Riding Herd

Source: Ron Adner, “Solving the Electric Car Puzzle,” Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2012.

dividends will skyrocket to 39.6 percent.

■ Furthermore, the unbeatable zero percent rate that currently applies to long-term gains and dividends collected by people in lowest two rate brackets of 10 percent and 15 percent would increase to 10 percent on gains and 15 percent and 28 percent on dividends.

Third, the expiration of the cuts would increase the marriage penalty, which can cause a married couple to pay more in taxes than when they were single.

■ Right now, the bottom two tax brackets for married joint-fil-

t DigesClassifieds

ing couples are exactly twice as wide as for singles.

■ Starting next year, the jointfiler tax brackets will contract, causing higher tax bills for many.

■ Currently, the standard deduction for married joint-filing couples is double the amount for singles.

■ Starting next year, the jointfiler standard deduction will fall back to about 167 percent of the amount for singles.

The expiration of the cuts will also see the return of the phaseout rules for itemized deductions and personal exemptions.

Source: Bill Bischoff, “What End of Bush Tax Cuts Means for You,” Yahoo! News, May 16, 2012.

To place your Digest Classified ad here, contact CAREN COWAN at caren@aaalivestock.com or by phone at 505/243-9515, ext. 21

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Rodent Control

SALT CREEK HYDRAULIC CHUTE with scale and Honda hydraulic pump $10,000, 530/681-5046.

BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG PROBLEMS? Don’t risk having to do it over again with ineffective products. Rozol Prairie Dog Bait is a restricted-use pesticide approved for use by state certified applicators on blacktailed prairie dogs in CO, KS, ND, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX and WY. Made with food-grade winter wheat, a preferred food source, to ensure quick rodent acceptance and control. No pre-baiting required. Proven in university trials on over 11,000 burrows to provide over 94% control in a single application. For use in-burrow only. It is the responsibility of the user to read and follow all label directions. Protect your range and pastureland from damage with Rozol.

BE AN AUCTIONEER – Missouri Auction School, world’s largest since 1905. Free CD and catalog. Call toll-free 1-800/8351955, ext. 5. www.auctionschool.com.

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To place your ad here, call Caren Cowan at 505/243-9515, ext. 21, or email caren@aaalivestock.com

NEW HOLLAND pull type bale wagons: 1033, 104 bales, $5,100; 1034, 104 bales, unloads both ways, $4,400; 1044, 120 bales, $3,700; 1063, 160 bales, $10,800; 1010, 56 bales, $1,200. Also have self propelled wagons. Delivery available. 785/ 336-6103, www.roederimp.com.

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To list your herd, call CAREN COWAN at call 505/243-9515, ext. 21 or email caren@aaalivestock.com

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

g•u•i•d•e BRANGUS

RED ANGUS

angus

Bell Key Angus Dennis Boehlke 208/467-2747 Cell. 208/989-1612

A few Choice Bulls Available at Private Treaty. NAMPA, IDAHO

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A SOURCE FOR PROVEN SUPERIOR RED ANGUS GENETICS 14298 N. Atkins Rd., Lodi, CA 95240

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Our Next Bull Sale: February 16, 2013 at the Ranch NE of Estelline, TX

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SELLING RANGE BULLS IN VOLUME (TOP REPLACEMENT HEIFERS)

See our ad in the April issue!

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M.L. Bradley 806/888-1062 Fax: 806/888-1010 • Cell: 940/585-6471

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Santa Gertrudis Cattle Polled and Horned

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I can’t even keep track of who’s who anymore with bisexuals, sex change operations, men marrying men and transvestite men dressing up like women.

Folks get so worked up about their “bad cholesterol” and if their home is Feng Shued properly that they have to take high blood pressure medicine due to all the stress in their nonstop lives. People want to do the right thing, I think, but too often it simply costs too much or takes too much of their time. There’s barely enough time as it is to save the fairy shrimp and cool off global warming.

The luckiest and richest amongst us won’t have to choose between which rest-home warehouse to die in, like the rest of us will. It’s too bad, really, that the super-rich won’t get to watch the tax-exempt foundation they left all their billions to spend it fighting capitalism and human initiative, as they multiply regulations, build brick walls and glass ceilings, and help create a world where it’s impossible to duplicate their success.

We know we can do better but it’s difficult deciding which would do more to cure what ails the world . . . pilates, yoga class or running in one place at the gym.

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rally dyed hair. Yet if these same people showed up on our doorstep we wouldn’t let them in the house. Protestants have concrete Buddhas in their “reflective gardens” and have “friends” they’ve never met, except on Facebook. On Main Street you’ll find homeless who want five dollars for a cup of coffee and some food for their dog. And where’s the logic behind paying more money for jeans that come preripped and faded and look like they came out of the rag bag?

Gourmets are joining Weight Watchers, moderate Democrats are voting for Republicans and liberal Republicans vote for Democrats, while the Independents don’t vote because they don’t want any of the blame.

AA members are going on drugs to kick their drinking habit while we urge our kids to “Just Say No to Drugs” and then assign them Ritilin in school. Our nation’s best and brightest are going into BIG debt getting college degrees and then moving back in with their folks and becoming baristas at Starbucks.

They go back to school to get their Doctorates and MBAs so they can teach others how to follow in their bankrupt footsteps.

ed driving range.

■ While some car buyers may give little thought to resale value, or plan on refurbishing their cars for many years, for mainstream buyers resale value is crucial: Lousy resale value means goodbye to the mainstream market.

Second, while intense public attention and investment have been focused on rolling out plugin charge spots, these efforts have been decoupled from investment in the smart-grid technology needed to assure that power generation and distribution can actually support mass charging.

■ As long as only a handful of drivers plug in each morning, the current grid will hold.

■ But if 5 percent of cars in Los Angeles County were to plug in simultaneously, they could place a 750-megawatt load on California’s already strained grid, equivalent to the generating capacity of two midsize power plants.

new 31 percent bracket.

■ The existing 33 percent bracket will be replaced by the 36 percent bracket.

■ The existing 35 percent bracket will be replaced by the 39.6 percent bracket.

Second, there would be higher capital gains and dividends taxes for everyone.

■ Currently, the maximum federal rate on long-term capital gains and dividends is only 15 percent.

■ Starting next year, the maximum rate on long-term gains is scheduled to increase to 20 percent and the maximum rate on

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 14

CHS Foundation Awards $75,000 in Scholarships he CHS Foundation has awarded 75 $1,000 scholarships to college students studying agriculture. This year’s recipients include 50 high school seniors and 25 two-year college students from 27 states.

The CHS Foundation is the major giving entity of CHS Inc., (Nasdaq: CHSCP) the nation's leading cooperative, owned by farmers, ranchers and co-ops across the United States.

“The CHS Foundation values the opportunity to help build the next generation of leaders in the production, science, technology and business of agriculture,” says William J. Nelson, CHS Foundation president. “We are proud to support these promising students who will play an important role in the future of agriculture.”

An independent, external committee selected recipients based on their career goals, essays, extracurricular involvement, transcripts and reference letters. See below for a complete list of high school and two-year college scholarship recipients.

Alaska: Morgan Summers of Anchorage, attending the University of Vermont Alabama: Chandler Mulvaney of Opelika, attending Auburn University Arkansas: Harlee Danielle Ray of Cecil, attending the University of Arkansas — Fayetteville California: Lindsay N. Brown of Watsonville, attending Montana State University — Bozeman Colorado: Kody Michael Anderson of Akron, attending Northeastern Junior College; Kristen Lyn Schmidt of Greeley, attending West Texas A&M University; *David Dorwin Leitz of Windsor, attending Northeastern Junior College Iowa: Crystal Ann Krapfl of Colesburg, attending Iowa State University; Matthew David Schulte of Dorchester, attending Iowa State University; Clayton Arnold Miller of Latimer, attending North Iowa Area Community College; *Cale Garrett Juergensen of Churdan, attending Iowa Lake Community College; *Royce Herman Stortenbecker of Hastings, attending Iowa Western Com-

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munity College; *Tara Ann Gray of Toledo, attending Kirkwood Community College Idaho: Heather Madison Skovgard of Kuna, attending California Polytechnic State University Illinois: Samantha Bolen of Carrollton, attending Kansas State University; Megan Elizabeth Bloemer of Bloomington, attending University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; *Evan P. Sheppard of Pearl, attending John Wood Community College; *Tyler Braun of Columbia, attending Southwestern Illinois College Indiana: Katie Marie Barnett of South Whitley, attending Purdue University; Nolan Allan Sampson of Union Mills, attending Purdue University; Jenna P. Benzing of Fort Wayne, attending the University of Findlay; *Cody Andrew Beck of Bainbridge, attending Butler Community College Kansas: Carl Alan Clawson of Englewood, attending Kansas State University; Lucas Allan Goddard of Penokee, attending Kansas State University Louisiana: John Dorvis Crain, III of Angie, attending Louisiana Tech University Michigan: Caitlin Jane Weathers of Fowlerville, attending Michigan State University; *Evan Blonde of Homer, attending Michigan State University Minnesota: Erin Morrison of Belle Plaine, attending Purdue University, Samantha Welu of Milroy, attending South Dakota State University; Connor McCormick of Caledonia, attending St. Olaf College; Sarah Marketon of Howard Lake, attending the University of Minnesota; Katelyn Asfeld of Kimball, attending the University of Minnesota; Jacqueline Nicole Martin of Reading, attending the University of Minnesota; Justin Siewert of Lake City, attending the University of Minnesota; *Alex Henry Bakker of Balaton, attending Ridgewater College; *Ryan Horstmann of Winsted, attending Ridgewater College; *Makayla Jenkins of Winnebago, attending Ridgewater College, *Melissa Sue Miller of West Union, attending Ridgewater College; *Jacob Scott Sjostrom

of Lafayette, attending South Central College North Carolina: Caroline Wade Clement of Clinton, attending North Carolina State University; Lindsay Carlisle DeMers of Sophia, attending Virginia Tech; *Lydia Lauren Register of Zebulon, attending North Carolina State University; *Tyler Keith Douglas of Washington, attending North Carolina State University North Dakota: Karlie Jo Matejcek of Brocket, attending North Dakota State University; *Emily Christina Paul of Rugby, attending Bismarck State College; *Daniel Benjamin Deck of Harvey, attending Bismarck State College Nebraska: Justin Wesley McCullough of Berwyn, attending the University of Nebraska — Lincoln New York: *Mary-Elizabeth Foote of Harford, attending State University of New York at Cobleskill Ohio: Mariah Caitlin-Jo Carey of Mount Gilead, attending The Ohio State University- Agricultural Technical Institute; Luke James Winner of Sidney, attending The Ohio State UniversityAgricultural Technical Institute; *Nathaniel Mark Birkhimer of Hanoverton, attending The Ohio State University-Agricultural Technical Institute; *Lisa Sutton of Minerva, attending The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute Oklahoma: *Larriann Lee Chambers of Atoka, attending Eastern Oklahoma State College Oregon: Jeromy Albert Lee of Oregon City, attending Oklahoma State University Pennsylvania: Garrett James Richardson of Glen Campbell, attending The Pennsylvania State University; *Lindsay Rae Upperman of Chambersburg, attending Butler Community College South Dakota: Emm Christensen of Big Stone City, attending South Dakota State University Texas: Sarah P. Titus of Keller, attending Tarleton State University; Matthew Chase Childress of Sealy, attending Texas A&M — College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Eliza-

2012 Arizona National Livestock Show Dates he Show Committee for the Arizona National Livestock Show recently approved the dates for this year’s event.

The Show will be held December 27 through December 31, 2012 at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix.

The Show will kick off December 27 with the Prospect Steer Show followed by the Show Dedication and opening of the 24th Annual Cowboy Classics Western Art & Gear Show.

This year’s featured Cowboy Artisan and Saddlemaker is Skeeter Hughes of Stitching Post Leather. A third-generation ranch-

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er, Skeeter has spent a lifetime as a working cattleman, rancher and horseman. At some point in a rancher’s career, you have to repair a broken saddle, busted cinch, or make a headstall. “Making repairs just came naturally to me. I found I always enjoyed it,” says Skeeter, who opened Stitching Post Leather in Dewey, Arizona with his wife Patti.

The action packed five-day show will include Market Steers, Market Swine, Market Lambs, Market Goats, Junior Market Auction, Breeding Ewes, Feeder Steer Show & Sale, Open Cattle and Open Sheep Shows. Special events

include a Chuck Wagon Cook Off, Dutch Oven Cook Off, Farm Experience for youth to learn about agriculture, Li’l Buckaroo Rodeo, Arizona FFA Public Speaking Contest, FFA Parliamentary Procedure Contest, and Youth Poster Contest. The Ranch Events include Replacement Heifer Sale, two Ranch Rodeo performances, and a Working Ranch Horse Competition.

Admission to the Show is $10 per car which includes admission and parking. This is a fun family event.

For more information and a full schedule of events, visitwww.anls.org, or call the Arizona National office at 602/258-8568.

June 15, 2012 beth Ann Wishert of Magnolia, attending Texas A&M University; Klarissa Cantu of Linn, attending Texas A&M University; Brady Paul Arthur of Ralls, attending West Texas A&M University Utah: Calee Lott of Oakley, attending Montana State University — Bozeman Washington: Palmer Robert Phillips of Ritzville, attending Washington State University; Miranda E. Bean of Ridgefield, attending Washington State University; Bethany Anderson of Harrah, attending Yakima Valley Community College; *Turk Bates of Othello, attending Walla Walla Community College Wisconsin: Levi Wedig of Dar-

lington, attending Iowa State University; Keaton Jordan Anderson of Clintonville, attending the University of Wisconsin — River Falls; Shea Robert Esser of Bloomington, attending the University of Wisconsin — River Falls; Elizabeth Barbara Boesl of Boyceville, attending the University of Wisconsin — River Falls; Connor James Moore of Gratiot, attending the University of Wisconsin — Madison; Benjamin Julka of Rosendale, attending Fox Valley Technical College Wyoming: William Taylor Dalles of Laramie, attending Casper College denotes two-year scholarship *recipients; all others are high school scholarship recipients.

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate GUIDE

WWW.RANCHLANDCO.COM

Broker in Texas, New Mexico & Oklahoma 430 West Beauregard, Ste. C San Angelo, Texas 76903 Office: 325/658-8978 Mobile: 325/656-8978 Mobile: 480/458-6550 Fax: 325/658-2400 E: ranches@ranchlandco.com

AFFORDABLE RANCHES IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO

Nice little sand country ranch in Southeast New Mexico.

160 deeded acres. 50 head BLM permit. Highway frontage. $260,000.

Call Berry Lucas 575/361-7980 or Caroline Yeager 575/361-7355.

Call Me For All Your Farm & Ranch Listings

NICK CORTESE

FALLONCORTESE LAND Office 575/355-2855 Cell 575/760-3818 Fax 575/355-7611

BERRY LUCAS 575/361-7980 • berryc_lucas @yahoo.com

RANCH & FARM REAL ESTATE

Ben G. Scott & Krystal M. Nelson, Brokers 1301 Front St., Dimmitt, TX 79027 1-800/933-9698 day/night ➤ www.scottlandcompany.com ➤ www.texascrp.com

ATTENTION LAND OWNERS: We have sold ranches and other related properties in the Southwestern United States since 1966. We advertise extensively and need your listings (especially larger ranches). See our websites and please give us a call to discuss the listing of your property.

We have a 1031 Buyer for a $2,225,000± ranch in Central, Southern or North Texas, Western and Central Oklahoma.

Missouri Land Sales ■ 675 Ac. Grass Runway, Land your own plane: Major Price Reduction. 3-br, 2ba home down 1 mile private land. New 40x42 shop, 40x60 livestock barn, over 450 ac. in grass. (Owner runs over 150 cow/calves, 2 springs, 20 ponds, 2 lakes, consisting of 3.5 and 2 ac. Both stocked with fish. Excellent fencing. A must farm to see. MSL #1112191 ■ NEW LISTING, 327 ACRES: Cattle/horse ranch. Over 225 acres in grass. 3/4 mile State Hwy. frontage. Live water, 60x80 multi-function barn. 2-bedroom, 1-bath rock home. Priced to sell at $1,620 per acre.

MLS #1204641

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

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

■ 483 Ac., Hunter Mania: Nature at her best. Don’t miss out on this one. Live water (two creeks). 70+ acres open in bottom hayfields and upland grazing. Lots of timber (marketable and young) for the best hunting and fishing (Table Rock, Taney Como and Bull Shoals Lake) Really cute 3-bd., 1-ba stone home. Secluded yes, but easy access to Forsyth-Branson, Ozark and Springfield. Property joins National Forest. MLS#1108090

Place your Real Estate ad in the 2012 FME (Including the DIGEST 25) 5 0 5 / 2 4 3 - 9 5 1 5

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✴ Special Real Estate section ✴ Full-color, high-gloss magazine with internet visibility ✴ Appears on the internet for 12 full months after publication ✴ www.aaalivestock is the top-ranking website in the Yahoo and MSN search engines

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“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

June 15, 2012

Page 15

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate GUIDE

Farms & Ranches INTEREST RATES AS LOW AS 3%. PAYMENTS SCHEDULED ON 25 YEARS

TO PLACE YOUR LISTINGS CONTACT CAREN COWAN at 505/243-9515, ext. 21 or email caren@aaalivestock.com Selling New Mexico

LLC

REAL ESTATE COMPANY RICHARD RANDALS Qualifying Broker TOM SIDWELL Associate Broker

We may not be the biggest, the fanciest or the oldest but we are reliable and have the tools.

4,408± Deeded acres with 328± State Lease.

Ranch is located 21 miles west of Tucumcari, N.M. Well-improved ranch, 2,000 sq. ft. home, 2 sets of pens, one with scales, 4 wells. This is a beautiful Mesa Ranch, with your own mesa and lower country.

Nice ranch. Price: $1,608,920

O: 575/461-4426 • C: 575/403-7138 • F: 575/461-8422 • E: nmpg@plateautel.net www.newmexicopg.com • 615 West Rt. 66, Tucumcari, NM 88401

RANCH

JOE STUBBLEFIELD & ASSOCIATES 13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX • 806/622-3482 Cell 806/674-2062 • joe3@suddenlink.net Michael Perez Assocs Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

New Mexico/ West Texas Ranches Campo Bonito, LLC NEED RANCH LEASES & PASTURE FOR 2012 & 2013 DAVID P. DEAN Ranch: 432/426-3779 • Mob.: 432/634-0441 www.availableranches.com

16,400 Deeded Acres Santa Rosa, New Mexico

❙ Headquarters is a Historic Stagecoach Stop ❙ 3 Additional Houses ❙ Extensive Improvements ❙ Indoor Arena ❙ Outdoor Arena ❙ Horse Stables ❙ Horse Walker

Call for Price

❙ Running Water ❙ Springs ❙ Pre-Conditioning Facility ❙ Rolling Hill Country ❙ Sub-Irrigated Meadows ❙ Water Rights (Ditch and Sprinkler) ❙ Deer and Antelope Hunting

CHARLES BENNETT United Country / Vista Nueva, Inc. 575/356-5616 • www.vista-nueva.com

Properties and Equities, Inc. Cottonwood, California • 1850-acre winter ranch, barn with custom living quarters, stalls, 200x400 roping arena, creek, reservoirs, $2.2 mil.

• 160-acre ranch set in foothills, custom home, large reservoir, custom kennels, views, $795,000.

• 409-acre ranch, 1 mi Cottonwood Creek, valley oaks, 40 acres irrigated pasture, $1,750,000.

• 5-acre custom lots, views, horse property, $149,000.

Red Bluff, California • 80 acres Class II soil, orchard suitable, income $545,000.

• 100 acres Class II, in hay, orchard suitable, $795,000.

Modoc County, California • 785 ac, 400 ac pivot, 30 ac wheel line, 46 ac flood irrigated, add’l grazing ground, 2 large hay barns, home. $1,250,000 R.G. Davis, Broker, 530/949-1985 Jeff Davis, Realtor, 530/604-3655 Tonya Redamonti, Realtor, 530/521-6054 19855 S. Main St., Cottonwood, CA 96022 530/347-9455 homeranchpropertiesandequities.com

Jake Marbach, Broker

Farm, Ranch, Residential EACH AGENCY IS INDIVIDUALLY OWNED AND OPERATED

TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES Associated Professionals, Inc. 1205 West Pierce Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220 Business 575/885-9722 • Cellular: 575/706-4533 Fax: 575/885-1358 • Email: marbachhay@live.com

Paul Bottari, Broker • 775/752-3040 www.bottarirealty.com

Agrilands

NEVADA FARMS & RANCH PROPERTY

541/473-3100

Farm near Wells, NV: 90 acres in hay; 2 homes; shop and storage three miles from town. $450,000

REAL ESTATE

RANCH SALES P.O. Box 1077 • Ft. Davis, Texas 79734

AGUA NEGRA

Bottari Realty

• 735 acres Paris, Texas, excellent pasture, paved road frontage, huge lake, mansion home. $2,750,000.

• 274 acres in the shadow of Dallas. Secluded lakes, trees, excellent grass. Hunting & fishing, dream home sites. $3,550/ac. Can add 300 more acres, only 30 miles out of Dallas.

• 1,700-acre classic NE TX cattle & hunting ranch. $2,750/ac. Some mineral production.

• 256 Acre Texas Jewel – Deep sandy soil, highrolling hills, scattered good quality trees, & excellent improved grasses. Water line on 2 sides rd., frontage on 2 sides, fenced into 5 pastures, 5 spring fed tanks and lakes, deer, hogs & ducks. Near Tyler & Athens. Price $1,920,000.

Make us an offer!

• 146 horse, hunting cattle ranch N. of Clarksville, TX. Red River Co. nice brick home, 2 barns, pipe fences, good deer, hogs, ducks, hunting. PRICE REDUCED to $375,000.

• 535 ac. Limestone, Fallas, & Robertson counties, fronts on Hwy. 14 and has rail frontage water line, to ranch, fenced into 5 pastures, 2 sets, cattle pens, loamy soil, good quality trees, hogs, and deer hunting. Priced reduced to $1,750 per ac.

• 10 Wooded Acres with a 6-bedroom, 3.5 bath and a 2-car garage and shop for $185,000, owner financed with 10% cash down.

• 134 acres Wortham, Texas, $1,750/ac. Hunting and cattle. Fronts FM Hwy.

UN D ER CONTRACT

Joe Priest Real Estate 1205 N. Hwy 175, Seagoville, TX 75159

972/287-4548 • 214/676-6973 1-800/671-4548 • Fax 505/998-6236 joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com

JACK HORTON www.agrilandsrealestate.com

NEW MEXICO RANCHES FOR SALE Best Priced Cattle Ranch in the West ~ $4,600 per animal unit. 10,300 acre southeastern New Mexico cattle ranch with 169 animal unit capacity. All new or remodeled improvements. Excellent water system.

Backhoe tractor, feed truck and lease back option. Price reduced from $811,200 to $774,000 PRESENTS Estate Liquidation ~Southwestern New Mexico ~ 19,683 total acres comprised of 13,283 deeded and 6,400 acres assured New Mexico state lease. Scenic rugged canyons, ridges, and mountainous area balanced by wide draws and open grassland. Oak, juniper, cottonwood, and willow cloaked canyons and hills. Numerous springs and water wells. Land owner elk permits, deer, lion, javelina, and quail. Two hour drive from El Paso. Price reduced from $380 to $300 deeded acre Central New Mexico Mountain Ranch ~ 640 deeded acres at a cool mild 7,000 elevation within the Gallinas Mountains adjoining to National forest at Corona. Cozy 2 bedroom residence, metal shop, hay barn, corrals, and strong water well. Land owner elk permits, deer, bear, lion, and turkey. $650,000 New Listing ~ 21,595 total acres with 7,760 deeded controlling the vast rugged and scenic Franklin Mountains south of Silver City. Private control for up to 350 cattle grazing and at 5,000 ft. elevation a comfortable healthy lifestyle. Headquarters has a spacious well appointed 4,100 sq.ft. residence, guest house, garage, in ground pool, managers residence, and top end pipe pens with cattle scales. Outstanding mule deer habitat shared with javelina, coyotes, lion and quail. $3,200,000 See these properties, other listings and YouTube videos at www.nm-ranches.com

Keith L. Schrimsher O: 575/622-2343 • srre@dfn.com C: 575/520-1989 www.nm-ranches.com

Rivalé Ranch Realty LLC Raymond Rivalé Broker / Qualif ying Broker BARNEY RANCH: West of Clayton, ~3,010 D, ~680 NMSL, in the canyons.

Very scenic, good water with a variety of big game. Price reduced to $550/acre, taxes ~$.055 CAPULIN RANCH: ~23,840 D ~1,780 NMSL. Great ranch for yearlings or cows with good improvements and water. $450/acre.

KIOWA MESA: ~616 D nestled in the beautiful volcanic outflows of northeast New Mexico with excellent deer hunting, and small cabin. $525,000 QUINTANA RANCH Southeast of Raton ~2,400 D, ~880 NMSL in the Pineys.

Excellent hunting and grazing with good water and very beautiful landscape.

UNDER CONTRACT P. O. Box 217 • Des Moines, N.M. 88418 • rivale@bacavalley.com • 575/207-7484

HEADQUARTERS WEST LTD. Con A. Englehorn See details at www.headquarterswest.com || 602/258-1647

Kimble Ranch Southeastern Arizona 40 miles NE of Douglas on U.S. Hwy 80.

9,228 ac deeded, 9,352 ac Arizona State Lease, 747 ac New Mexico State Lease, 4,470 ac U.S. Forest, and 1,356 ac BLM. Estimated carrying capacity 550 AU yearlong. Elevation from 4,100' to 5,800'. Well improved with two building sites and 20 pastures with permanent water in each. This is an excellent ranch that has been in the same family for three generations. Price $3,800,000.

This ranch is also offered as two units: ■ East Ranch – 6,507 ac deeded, 3,255 ac Arizona State Lease, 747 ac New Mexico State Lease, 1,356 ac BLM, and 4,470 ac U.S. Forest, Two building sites. Estimated capacity 380 AU yearlong. Price 2,700,000 ■ West Ranch – 2,721 ac deeded, 6,097 ac AZ State Lease.

No buildings. Estimated capacity 170 AU yearlong. Price $1,200,000

Livestock Market Digest

Page 16

June 15, 2012

Oil Production: U.S. is capable of out-producing world What do you know about LWCF?

by JOSE VARELA LOPEZ

WCF stands for the “Land and Water Conservation Fund”, created by Congress in 1964 to allow federal, state and local governments to purchase land, water and conservation easements from willing sellers for properties they deem to be of benefit to the American public.

The fund is authorized up to 900 million dollars annually, receiving congressional appropriations derived mainly from offshore oil and gas drilling royalties. Over the years, 9 billion dollars has been used to purchase over 7 million acres of private property around the country. A small portion of the acquisition monies have been used to match funding for local and state parks, but the overwhelming majority of the funding goes to either the US Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management or Fish and Wildlife Service to purchase properties within a nationally designated area of protection.

Sometimes it is easy to determine that an area is nationally designated, such as wilderness, national scenic trails or national monuments. At other times it is not, especially when one of the previously mentioned federal agencies doesn’t use the word “national” in association with the proposed Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), Conservation or Recreation area.

The point is that these agencies need to go through a public process to create one of these nationally designated areas.

So, if your property happens to be inside the proposed boundary that they are seeking to establish, you should be aware that once the area is formally designated the agency is eligible to receive Land and Water Conservation Fund monies to purchase property or easements from private landowners within the boundary to bring the lands under federal control.

Over time your neighbors are bought out and the land management around you changes to uses that become incompatible with your ranching operation, and then one day you become an “in-holding” and the next “willing seller”.

L

Editor’s Note: Several Wilderness areas, Conservation areas and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern are either being proposed or expanded throughout N.M. at this time.

News With A View & A Whole Lot More . . .

THE most effective advertising medium in ranching today!

I

f you have livestock, a product or service that stockmen and their families need, they will find out about it quickly if you advertise in the Digest. Digest readers know value when they see it and they respond rapidly to a good offer.

Before you plan your advertising budget, think hard about how to stretch your dollars and where they are spent the most efficiently. Are you paying more to reach fewer qualified potential customers than you would receive in the Digest? The Digest’s circulation is concentrated in the most important livestock producing states: Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington and Texas.

The Digest caters to the most active readers in the livestock world — who ARE the buyers and sellers of livestock, the ones who show up and speak up. It is the ONLY place to get Lee Pitts’ perspective on the world and how we are going to thrive into the future.

Deliver your message NOW in the Livestock Market Digest!

To plan your advertising, contact Caren Cowan at: caren@aaalivestock.com or 505/243-9515, ext. 21

resident Obama has repeatedly asserted that the U.S. cannot drill its way to energy independence. This claim has been used as justification for extensive and costly efforts to develop renewable energy sources, says Investor’s Business Daily.

However, a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) undermines the president’s assumption. Focusing on the Green River Formation in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, GAO Director of Natural Resources and Environment Anu Mittal told Congress recently that just one small part of the U.S. is capable of out-producing the rest of the planet.

■ The Green River Formation has been dubbed America’s Persia on the Plains — an area with

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recoverable oil in an amount estimated at four times the proven resources of Saudi Arabia.

■ Given the current U.S. daily oil consumption of 19.5 million barrels, the staggering amount of Green River reserves would by itself supply domestic oil consumption for more than 200 years.

■ The USGS estimates that the Green River Formation contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil.

■ The Rand Corporation estimates that 30 percent to 60 percent of this oil can be recovered.

This discovery undermines the president’s oft-repeated claim that the U.S. contains only 2 percent of the world’s proven reserves.

Simultaneously, it begs the question as to why the federal government is doing its best to restrict the development of this government resource and create

The cost of ever-increasing federal regulations he federal government’s reach extends well beyond the taxes Washington collects, and its deficit spending and borrowing. The laws that it promulgates, especially those that affect our everyday lives, act as a means of control that greatly expand its role in society, says Clyde Wayne Crews, vice president for policy and director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Federal regulations cost hundreds of billions — perhaps trillions — of dollars every year over and above the costs of the official federal outlays that dominate the policy debate.

■ Estimated regulatory costs, while “off budget,” are estimated to be $1.75 trillion and are equivalent to over 48 percent of the level of federal spending itself.

■ Regulatory compliance

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costs dwarf corporate income taxes ($198 billion), exceed individual income taxes ($956 billion) and even surpass pretax corporate profits ($1.3 trillion).

The issuance of such regulations and the rapid expansion of government in the private market has been a signature style of the Obama administration since 2009. During his tenure, the president has unleashed federal agencies to regulate at will and to grant the government dominance over broad swathes of economic activity.

■ The 2011 Federal Register finished at 81,247 pages, just shy of 2010’s all-time record-high 81,405 pages.

■ Agencies issued 3,807 final rules in 2011, a 6.5 percent increase over 3,573 in 2010.

■ Of the 4,128 regulations in the works at year-end 2011, 212 were “economically significant,”

an artificial choke on fossil fuels.

Indeed, actions by the BLM, EPA and President Obama himself seem bent on making domestic oil production as difficult as possible.

■ Seventy-two percent of the oil shale within the Green River Formation lies beneath federal lands managed by BLM, meaning that the government holds the reins to the oil’s extraction.

■ Ninety-four percent of federal onshore lands and 97 percent of federal offshore lands are off-limits to oil and gas drilling.

■ In fact, the Obama administration recently rescinded 77 oil and gas leases in Utah.

Source: “GAO to Obama: More Oil than Rest of the World,” Investor’s Business Daily, May 14, 2012. Anu K. Mittal, “Unconventional Oil and Gas Production: Opportunities and Challenges of Oil Shale Development,” Government Accountability Office, May 10, 2012.

meaning they generally wield at least $100 million in economic impact.

■ The total number of economically significant rules finalized in 2011 was 79, down slightly from 2010 but up 92.7 percent over five years, and 108 percent over 10 years.

■ These costly regulations do not only hit companies that can afford them — 822 of those 4,128 regulations in the works would affect small businesses.

Large sections of the Federal Register are filled with individual pieces of massive legislation, such as the health care reform and the finance regulatory bill.

However, the next year will have its own behemoth pieces: the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule and the Department of Transportation’s Fuel Economy Standards.

Source: Clyde Wayne Crews, “Ten Thousand Commandments 2012,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, May 15, 2012.

Working to Protect the Rich Tapestry of the West What They are Saying About Us… • The $206,098,920 Endangered Species Act Settlement Agreements — Is all that paperwork worth it?

• Leveling the Playing Field: Support for the Grazing Improvement Act of 2011 • Support for the Governmental Litigation Savings Act of 2011 — Reform of Excessive Litigation Pay-outs • Foreign & Domestic Train Wreck in the Making — More of the ESA • The Secret World of the Animal Rights Agenda TO SUPPORT THESE CAUSES AND MORE, JOIN US!

I am/our organization is committed to protecting the open spaces, private property, private businesses & ensuring the responsible use of public lands. Please list me/my organization as a member of the Western Legacy Alliance.

I have included my membership dues and my $____________ additional contribution.

Name: _____________________________________________________________________________________ Organization: _______________________________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________ City: __________________________ State: _____ Zip: __________ Phone: __________________ Fax: __________________ Email: ______________________

Individual Membership: $25 Association Membership: $500 Corporate Membership: $1,000 Help You Can

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