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LMD March 24

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Riding Herd Saying things that need to be said. MARCH 15, 2024 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 66 • No. 3

What’s Left of Us BY LEE PITTS

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NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

’ve always been a little off in my timing. Take the cattle business for example. We took over this newspaper one month short of forty years ago and the population of cattlemen in this country immediately went into a death spiral that has continued unabated to this day. Bill Bullard, the CEO of R - C A L F crunched the numbers contained in the recently released 2022 Census of Agriculture and found America lost nearly 107,000 beef cattle farms and ranches in just the past five years. The U.S. has now lost 665,000 beef cattle operations from 1980 until now. “That means,” said Bullard, “we’ve now lost well over half of all U.S. beef cattle farms and ranches in just over a generation and more than 5 of every 10 beef cattle farmers and ranchers in business in 1980 are gone today.” According to Bullard, “The U.S. beef cow herd has declined another 2.5 million cows, representing an eight percent reduction in the beef cow herd since 2017, and resulting in the smallest beef cow herd in decades.” Cattlemen aren’t the only ones going out of business, Bullard said the situation in the sheep industry is even worse. “The new sheep and lambs census reveals that nearly 500 fulltime sheep producers (those with a herd size of at least 100 head) have exited the industry since 2017, and the U.S. sheep

inventory, at only 5.1 million head in 2022, likewise represents the smallest U.S. sheep herd in decades. We’ve now lost more than 6 of every 10 fulltime sheep producers that were in business just over a generation ago.” Put a face, perhaps your neighbors, to all these numbers and the facts become downright depressing. But wait, the news gets even worse. The loss of ranchers is accelerating at

Wanna Bet?

So let’s explore a few of the reasons our herd is thinning and the best place to start is the number one reason there are far fewer of us. During the past 40 years we’re sure you’ve grown tired of our singing a constant song that the same thing could happen to the cattle industry as has happened to the poultry and pig businesses. But our detractors at the NCBA and elsewhere said, “NO, Never approach a bull that couldn’t possibly hapfrom the front, a horse pen because the cattle from the rear, or a fool business is different, from any direction. they can’t be raised from birth to death in a small, an alarming rate and if it keeps confined space like pork and up in the direction it’s going, in poultry. And Tyson can’t buy up 30 years there won’t be a single every cattle ranch in America.” American cattleman left. I’m just glad I’ll be long gone Turns out, they didn’t have to. by then because I don’t want to All the Big Four packers had live in a world without cowboys. to do is get a good portion of

State Lawmakers Want to Reintroduce Wolverines to Colorado BY: SYDNEY ISENBERG, SHANNON OGDEN / DENVER 7

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olorado State lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to reintroduce wolverines to Colorado. Wolverines are not wolves. Instead, they are the largest species of weasel. The animal was all but wiped out in the early 1900s from poisoning by ranchers who were trying to kill bears, mountain lions and wolves. Today there are only about 300 left in the lower 48 states. Senate Bill 24-171, which is sponsored by Senators Perry Will (R) and Dylan Roberts (D) and Representatives Barbara McLachlan (D) and Tisha Mauro (D), would allow Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) to begin a reintroduction process. Part of that process includes adopting rules for compensating livestock owners who suffer losses due to the wolverine. The North American wolverine received federal protection under the Endangered Species Act in November 2023. Plans to reintroduce the species in Colorado had been in the works for years but were put on hold while the state waited for the protected status ruling. In a statement to Denver7 in December 2023, CPW said, “We’re evaluating what the decision means for us. It’s been an agency goal for a few years to reintroduce wolvercontinued on page 3

ranchers to sign the same type of contracts that our pig and poultry brothers have done. But ranchers would never voluntarily do that, would they? After all, we even shared one 24 page poultry contract with you in which the packer’s responsibilities were outlined and summarized on ONE page. The other 23 pages delineated all the responsibilities of the producer. No, cattlemen in his or her right mind would ever sign a contract like that.

Wanna bet? Of course, the packer backers don’t call these contracts what they really are... indentured servitude, bondage or serfdom. Instead, they call them something sweet sounding like AMA’s, which stands for alternative marketing arrangements. See how much nicer that resonates? It makes it sound like you have options and alternative choices rather than marrying up with a packer. Call them what you will the fact remains, AMA’s are basically the same contracts the packcontinued on page 2

Bombshell Report Reveals Biden Has Secretly Flown 320,000 Illegals INTO the United States BY TYLER DURDEN / ZERO HEDGE

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Freedom of Information Act lawsuit has revealed that the Biden administration has flown at least 320,000 migrants into the United States in an effort to reduce the number of crossings at the southern border, according to Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies. “The aprogram at the center of the FOIA litigation is perhaps the most enigmatic and least-known of the Biden administration’s uses of the CBP One cellphone scheduling app, even though it is responsible for almost invisibly importing by air 320,000 aliens with no legal right to enter the United States since it got underway in late 2022,” wrote Bensman. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had initially refused to disclose information about the flights, which use a cell phone app, CBP One, to arrange. “Under these legally dubious parole programs, aliens who cannot legally enter the country use the CBP One app to apply for travel authorization and temporary humanitarian release from those airports. The parole program allows for two-year periods of legal status during which adults are eligible for work authorization,” Bensman continues. The flights resulted in illegal immigrants becontinued on page 4

by LEE PITTS

The Worst Jobs I’ve Ever Had Here are the ten worst jobs I’ve ever had. #10 - Turning over hay bales- As a teenager I worked on a ranch hauling hay from the fields to the hay shed. Before the bales could be stacked on the truck the bales had to be turned over so the elevator could pick them up. I walked along kicking over the bales knowing that under one out of ten bales there’d be a snake and in one out of ten of those instances it would be a rattler. Needless to say, it kept me on my toes! #9 - Smudging- I grew up in the “citrus capital of the world” and one of my jobs in high school was having my own smudge crew. Before it got down to 28 degrees I’d call up my team members and we’d go light smudge pots which burned a thick nasty oil that turned the air black in our valley. I darn near froze to death and I had a smoker’s cough at age 18 without ever having smoked anything. Smudging did have one bright side. The following morning we had to refill the pots and that was an accepted excuse for missing school. #8 - Mucking out stalls- I liked being around the horses but it was at a riding academy for rich girls. When they’d see me at school they’d look down their snooty noses at me and pinch them as if I stunk. I give this as the reason why I never had a single date in high school. #7 - Picking lemons- I did this for a rich lady my mom sewed for. I picked with a professional crew who could average 50 boxes per day, while the best I ever got up to was 19. This job also had a good side. The lady saw I was a hard worker and hired me to park cars for her when she had fancy parties. What other 16-year-old can

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