Riding Herd
“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”
by LEE PITTS
– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
October 15, 2017 • www.aaalivestock.com
Volume 59 • No. 10
Vanishing Act
By Lee Pitts
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.
I
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
’m bewildered, bemused and just plain bumfuzzled that the society we live in wants to save purple frogs, pink fairy armadillos and leaping lesbian lizards but not the public lands rancher. And make no mistake, this sizable citizenry definitely needs protecting. Sixty five years ago there were 21,081 permittees on BLM land. Today there are half that number on the nearly 300 million acres controlled by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. (Those two agencies control more than 90% of the public federal land.) If an animal species had been cut in two with only 10,000 still alive you can bet environmentalists would be petitioning the government for endangered species status. But the ranchers are only tax-paying people so no one seems to care. According to writer Mathew Anderson in his essay, DUSTY TRAILS: The Erosion of Grazing in the American West, “The number of animal unit months (AUMS) authorized by the BLM across Western grazing districts is less than half of what it was in 1949. From 1949 to 2014, the number of grazing district AUMs authorized by the BLM plunged
from 14,572,272 to 7,160,432 – with some states seeing a drop of more than 70%. Such a sharp decline,” wrote Anderson, “not only impacts ranchers’ way of life, but has a profound and lasting effect on taxpayers, local economies and the environment.” Our federal government claims ownership of half the land in the west and the BLM admits the land is not being well managed. Many westerners think the rancher and the land would be saved if the land was transferred to the
states as the feds promised to do when the states joined the Union. Leaders of the state’s rights movement say such a transfer would ease the tax burdens of many rural western counties, improve their economies, protect the environment and preserve the great icon of America’s west, the two legged rednecked cowboy.
But would it? Over the years I’ve asked many public lands ranchers if they’d prefer their landlord
to be a state land trust rather than the feds. To my surprise, in nearly every instance the public land rancher vehemently said, “NO!” Despite the reductions in AUM’s, the hassles over turn-out times, the wolves, and putting up with gun-toting, arrogant BLM personnel, the public lands ranchers said they’d take renting from the feds over a state any day. Why? When prodded for an answer all they’d say was, “You gotta be careful what you wish for.”
Slumlords The reason permittees don’t necessarily want state trusts to be their landlord can be found in a working paper in 2015 issued by the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Moncontinued on page two
Kill Regulations to Save the Sage Grouse BY BRIAN SEASHOLES & TODD GAZIANO
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riving ranchers out of business could lead to habitat loss for the very bird the rules are designed to protect. Conventional wisdom holds that state and federal environmental regulation is better than either alone. But even with the best of intentions, federal, one-size-fits-all regulation that interferes with more-effective state and private wildlife conservation efforts can cause real harm. That’s true for the greater sage grouse, a chicken-size bird that is found on 172 million acres in eleven western states. Federal sage-grouse plans issued in 2015 both hurt the sage grouse and threaten thousands of productive jobs tied to almost 73 million acres of federal land in the West. Killing those federal rules will help the grouse. For an on-the-ground view of these issues, consider the case of Jack Farris, a third-generation rancher in Garfield County, Colorado, who grazes cattle on federal land and on private land he owns and leases. The Farris family has a long tradition of environmental stewardship, including controlling noxious weeds and hauling water to remote troughs to lure cattle away from environmentally sensitive streams.
Now, however, as part of the federal sagegrouse plan for Colorado, Jack Farris would have to reduce the number of cattle he can graze by 50 percent, which he can’t afford. “If they cut my cattle by 50 percent, I might be out of business,” Jack told us. Garfield County officials, in objecting to the federal sage-grouse plan for Colorado, observed what could happen if the plan forced ranchers like Jack Farris off the land: The unintended consequences of this action include driving more ranchers out of business, which results in subdivision of ranchland, which increases fire danger, noxious weeds, predators, non-native vegetation, and other factors that could result in harm to existing sage grouse populations. Private landowners are key to sage-grouse conservation because they own almost all of the wetland habitat the species depends on, and they are by far the largest number of grouse conservationists. If the goal is sagegrouse conservation, alienating ranchers and driving them off the land is the worst thing to do. “How do you conserve grouse that split their time between private and public lands?” continued on page three
Seen From Afar A
mericans collect things, everything from expensive wristwatches to empty food containers. Some collect things that cannot be possessed like bird and celebrity sightings, while others collect hard evidence of those sightings with photos and autographs. As for me, I collect sightings of famous and odd ducks not of the human variety. The ones I collect can be seen in rodeos, parades and zoos, and use their brains for something other than writing scripts for reality TV shows. In my day I’ve met up close and personal Monty Montana’s horse, a talking chicken, Jet Deck, a duck that could type, Peppy San Badger, and a two headed calf that was somewhat suspicious because I could see the stitch line where the second head had been sewn on. I’ve also met Bertha the Elephant, Poco Bueno and Borden’s mascot, Elsie the Cow. Although I suspect there was more than one Elsie because from one year to the next Elsie never seemed to recognize me. Ditto for the Budweiser Clydesdales who I simply adore. Any time they showed up within 60 miles of my house I was there. Collecting famous animals is dangerous business. You can’t just whip out a small notebook to get their autograph like you would with a fading Hollywood star or a washed up third baseman. I’ve been stepped on by a Lipezzan stallion, pecked on the top of the head by a $35,000 ostrich, spit on by a famous llama and nearly gored by a bull with the longest horn spread in the world. I was also nearly drowned by Shamu the Killer Whale when he did a belly flop in his tank at Sea World and drenched the crowd from head to tail. I swear I saw Shamu smile afterwards. I think he enjoyed it. My attraction to animal stars began early in my life when a nearby private zoo that rented animals to Hollywood declared bankruptcy and left
continued on page sixteen
www.LeePittsbooks.com
Page 2
Livestock Market Digest
October 15, 2017
VANISHING ACT
Doug Handley
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tana. In writing their report, “Divided Lands: State Versus Federal Management,” authors Holly Fretwell and Shawn Regan compared expenses and income on public land in four western states: Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona. Here are some of the conclusions they reached: • From 2009 to 2013 the four states earned an average of $14.51 for every dollar they spent managing state trust lands. A very commendable return by any measure. During the same period the BLM and Forest Service generated 73 cents on every dollar they spent. For the mathematically challenged, if you lose 27 cents on every dollar you spend the answer is not more volume! A concept federal bureaucrats can’t seem to get their head around. • “The BLM and USFS on average lose nearly $2 billion each year,” according to Fretwell and Regan, “with grazing losses accounting for a substantial portion of this shortfall. From 2009 to 2013 the BLM and USFS spent an average of $9.41 per AUM, while state trust lands in Arizona, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico spent $2.30 per AUM. At the same time, the average federal return per AUM was only $1.18 compared to the state average of $7.79.” • Income per state differed dramatically. “Idaho earned $2.80 for every dollar spent, while New Mexico made $41.” (New Mexico was blessed with petroleum. Idaho? Not so much.) • “From 2009 to 2013, the Forest Service generated 10 cents for every dollar spent on rangeland management, while the BLM generated 14 cents for every dollar spent. State trust lands, by contrast, earned an average of $4.89 per dollar spent on rangeland management. During that time, the Forest Service and BLM spent an average of $9.55 per animal unit month, while the states spent $2.30 per AUM. At the same time, the average federal return per AUM is only $1.22 compared to the state average of $7.79 per AUM.” Fretwell and Regan came to the conclusion that federal multiple-use lands have “enormous potential to generate revenues for the public good” if only they were managed like state land trusts. And there is our not-so-subtle answer as to why western permittees would prefer the feds as landlords over the state. They know if the states took over their rent would go up. Way up.
Apples And Oranges MARGUERITE VENSEL..Office Manager JESSICA DECKER..........Special Assistance CHRISTINE CARTER......Graphic Designer
It should be remembered that in comparing BLM and Forest Service ground to state land trusts we are comparing apples to oranges. Most BLM land was “the land nobody
continued from page one
wanted” whereas state trust lands are often more comparable to deeded ground. There are also huge differences in management. Fretwell and Regan explain. “State trust lands are the most common form of state-owned land in the west. Trust lands are the result of land grants made by the federal government to western states, mostly at the time of statehood, for the purpose of generating revenue to support schools and other public institutions. Although some states initially sold off many of these lands to provide much-needed revenue to schools, nearly 40 million acres of state trust lands remain scattered across western states today. “Similar to a fiduciary trust,” continued Fretwell and Regan, “state trust lands operate under a legal requirement that the land must be managed for the long-term financial benefit of a specific beneficiary. Public schools are the designated beneficiary for most state trust lands, but some trust lands also support universities, hospitals, and other public institutions. State trust lands earn revenues from a variety of activities, including timber harvesting, grazing, mineral extraction, commercial development, recreation, and conservation. “The agencies are required to generate revenues into perpetuity,” explained Fretwell and Regan, “which ensures long term management for sustainable production. Land sales are also authorized under certain conditions. However, the revenue from land sales must be deposited into a permanent fund along with the proceeds from nonrenewable resources such as oil, gas and minerals. The fund generates interest payments that are then distributed to the beneficiaries, ensuring that land sales and nonrenewable resource extraction continue to generate financial returns for the trust in perpetuity.” The federal agencies don’t operate under the same constraints. Fretwell and Regan wrote, “Federal land agencies are not required to generate revenues sufficient to cover their costs. Instead, Congress appropriates the bulk of federal land budgets. Federal land managers often have little or no incentive to generate more revenues or control their costs because the proceeds generally cannot be retained by the agency. As a result, the connection between revenues, beneficiaries, and long-term stewardship is unclear or missing on federal lands.” That is why, as Mathew Anderson wrote, “Not only do federal land agencies earn far less than state agencies, they outspend states by a wide margin on a per-acre continued on page three
October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 3
VANISHING ACT basis. Federal land expenditures are more than six times higher per acre than state expenditures. Moreover, state trust lands generate ten times more revenue per full-time employee than federal land agencies.” If “the land that nobody wanted” were to be transferred back to the states, and if it were to be run like a land trust, it would only accelerate the disappearance of the public lands rancher.
Who Made Him Mad? As the number of public land ranchers continues to decrease at an accelerated rate we hear no hue and cry that THE icon of the American west, the cowboy, is disappearing faster than a crop of lambs in wolf country. That’s because groups like Western Watersheds, are spewing fake news like, “Hobby ranchers and corporate-entities hold the lion’s share of grazing permits on hundreds of millions of acres of public lands. The time has come to end public lands ranching.” It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to convince the public just how important the public lands rancher is when you have professors (from Montana of all places) telling us how little we need them. Dr Thomas M. Power got his PhD from the ivy league halls of Princeton and most public ranchers wish he’d stayed there. After reading his economic analysis, Taking Stock
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Of Public Lands Grazing, one wonders who made him mad at us? Here’s a sampling: • “My empirical analysis demonstrates that grazing on federal lands contributes only a tiny sliver of economic activity to the local economies. Only about $1 out of every $2,500 of income (0.04%) received in the western states is directly associated with grazing on federal lands. One out of every 1,400 jobs (0.07%) is directly tied to federal lands grazing.” • “Changes in federal policy on grazing on public lands will not lead to a catastrophic collapse of the economies of the West. Only a tiny sliver of those economies rely on federal grazing • “For many of the western states, federal lands provide only a small percentage of the total feed needed to support cattle and sheep herds. California, Washington, and Montana, for instance, obtain less than 10% of their cattle and sheep feed from federal lands. Colorado, Oregon, and Wyoming obtain 20% or less of the feed for their livestock herds from this source. Overall, the eleven western states obtain only about a fifth of the feed needed to support their beef cattle and sheep herds from federal lands. From a national perspective, the reliance on western federal lands is dramatically lower: only 4% of the feed consumed by beef cattle is provided by grazing federal lands.”
• “The BLM studied the role of federal grazing in the economies of over a hundred contiguous counties in seven western states. Federal grazing leases in this region support about 5.3 million AUMs. Of the 102 counties, only 11 were found to have more than 1% of total income or employment associated with public lands grazing.” • “Nationally and within the Rocky Mountain region, almost 90% of the income received by farm and ranch operator families comes from nonfarm sources. Beef cattle ranchers in the western states also depend significantly on off-farm work to support their families, with 40 to 60% reporting their main occupation to be something other than rancher or farmer.” • “It is not that towns depend on agriculture but that agriculture increasingly depends on the vitality of urban and nonagricultural rural economies to provide the nonfarm income that keeps farm operations alive.” So which is it Dr Power? Are public lands ranchers millionaire hobby farmers and corporations or are they blue collar workers working for an hourly wage? You can’t have it both ways.
Long Gone We’d like to see Dr. Power face the good people in Harney County, Oregon, where, by his own admission “88% of their agricultural income
comes from livestock. Or Camas County, Idaho, and Humboldt County, Nevada, who rely on federal grazing for as much as 40% of their livestock feed. Or to ranchers in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Grazing there has declined by 30% over the last 20 years, corresponding with the loss of 81 jobs and a decreased economic output of over $9 million per year. In 2015, Garfield County was forced to declare an economic and scholastic state of emergency as droves of its citizens have left seeking employment elsewhere. Grazing continues its decline across the West while agricultural communities suffer.” All these mind-numbing statistics and yet there is no mention of all the things public lands ranchers do for free that we’d have to be paying Natural Resource graduates in green pickups to do if ranchers weren’t there. There is no mention that hikers hike on trails blazed by cows, or that tourists ride on roads first graded by ranchers. Wildlife drink from cattle troughs and ranchers respond to grass fires started by lightning or tourists. Mathew Anderson reminds us, “It would be almost impossible to quantify how many watersheds, how much wildlife, and how many acres of vital habitat these volunteers have saved over the years. They report suspicious and illegal activity to
local law enforcement; plant fire resistant species; and improve water sources. The continued decline of grazing operators and permittees has serious implications for the environment.” As currently contrived, firefighting uses up over half of the Forest Service and BLM budgets. Take away the free efforts of the public lands ranchers and the two agencies would surely use up the rest of their budgets fighting fires instead of improving the land. Don’t be surprised if the number of public lands ranchers is halved again in the coming decade. Look in the real estate section of any livestock periodical and you’ll see a plethora of public land ranches for sale as their owners are throwing in the towel and trying to exit gracefully, hopefully with enough money left over to buy some deeded ground somewhere the feds won’t be breathing down their necks. If there is such a place. In another generation the feds will be offering to pay people to run their livestock on public ground to eat the grass, thereby reducing the fire danger. The only problem is, the home ranch deeded ground will have been turned into either a resort, a playground for a tech billionaire, or a gated community and the last public lands rancher, who knew a little something about running a cow on land nobody wanted, will be long gone.
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Livestock Market Digest
Governor Sees ‘Repeal & Replace’ for Utah Monuments BY JENNIFER YACHNIN, E&E NEWS REPORTER
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tah Governor Gary Herbert (R) suggested in mid-September that the Trump administration could seek to divide Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument into a handful of smaller sites, calling the 1.9-million-acre monument an “example of abuse of the Antiquities Act.” The southwestern Utah monument is among the nearly two dozen sites that remain in limbo after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke submitted a report to President Trump last month proposing changes to potentially millions of acres of public lands (Greenwire, August 24, 2017). The report has yet to be publicly released, and neither Zinke nor the White House has commented on which monuments could face alterations. But during his monthly press conference streamed by Utah’s PBS station, Herbert said Zinke suggested that Grand Staircase-Escalante is likely to see reductions to its boundaries. “I think there’s the possibility of carving it up into smaller monuments, two or three, that actually protects the areas that need protection,” Herbert said. “We’ll have to see what his recommendation is, what the president does.” He noted that the site has drawn ire in the state since President Clinton established the monument in late 1996.
“The Grand Staircase-Escalante, [Zinke] indicated to me — as has been said by a number of people, and I’m one of them — that if there’s ever an example of abuse of the Antiquities Act and overreach, it’s the Grand Staircase-Escalante,” Herbert said. Clinton used the Antiquities Act of 1906 — which allows presidents to designate monuments to protect public land with historic, scientific or cultural value — to lock up a massive coal deposit in the area’s Kaiparowits Plateau while preserving cliffs, slot canyons and sandstone arches (Greenwire, July 13, 2016). “Yet the Antiquities Act says the smallest area possible to protect the objects that need protection,” Herbert said. “And you won’t find 1.9 million acres in the Grand Staircase-Escalante that need protection. ... To have the enhanced protection of a monument was, I think, overreach.” Herbert compared the monument changes to GOP’s to-date unsuccessful efforts to reform the health care law the Affordable Care Act: “It’s kind of a repeal-and-replace, if you think about it.” The Republican governor, who has likewise advocated for the reduction or elimination of Bears Ears National Monument, created by President Obama, said Zinke had not disclosed his final recommendation to Trump. Echoing Zinke’s comments from an interim report released in June, Herbert also emphasized a need to
establish a formal system of co-management for Native American tribes who view lands in those monuments as sacred. “I think we can find a way to have the win-win that everybody would like ... and have the protections necessary, maybe a smaller monument,” he said. Herbert did not answer a specific question about whether Congress will ultimately need to take action to change any of the monuments. Democratic lawmakers, legal scholars and conservationists assert that Trump lacks the ability to modify or eliminate any monuments. But others, including House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and conservative scholars with the Pacific Legal Foundation, claim that the Antiquities Act grants the president the ability to both create and dismantle monuments. Although presidents have reduced the size of some monuments — President Kennedy was the last to do so when he modified the Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico — none has done so since Congress authored the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. In addition, the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument could be more complicated, since Congress itself has amended the site’s boundaries, while also doling out $50 million to Utah in a land exchange agreement (Greenwire, May 2, 2017).
October 15, 2017
SAGE Patrick Donnelly, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, asked in a federal Sage Grouse Initiative publication. “With 81 percent of sparse summer habitat in private ownership, sage grouse success is inextricably linked to ranching and farming in the West.” The federal sage-grouse plans threaten numerous jobs other than ranching and unintentionally harm the sage grouse in the process. Fortunately, there are several potential fixes. The Interior Department is currently considering some administrative changes allowed by the existing rules. But very little can be done administratively without a four-to six-year process to modify the existing rules, which will probably be second-guessed by federal judges. Legislation is another option, but threatened filibusters in the Senate stopped previous legislative fixes. There is, however, a simple way forward. The most promising option for sage-grouse conservation is to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to sweep away the destructive federal plans, allowing state plans and private conservation efforts to work as intended and permitting federal regulators to consider substantially different management plans that work in tandem, instead of at cross-purposes, with state plans and private efforts. Private landowners are key to sage-grouse conservation because they own almost all of the wetland habitat the species depends on. They are by far the largest number of grouse conservationists. The federal sage-grouse plans, which were implemented with four main “Records of Decision” (RODs), went through most of the legally required steps before publication, but they were never formally submitted to Congress for its review under the CRA. Congressional awareness of rules does not trigger CRA review. For very good reasons, including the certainty needed to suspend important congressional procedures, the CRA provides that the congressional review period begins on the second of two events: publication, if required by other law, and formal submission to Congress by the relevant agencies of a report with the rule and certain other information. There is no doubt that the four RODs (two by the Bureau of Land Management and two by the Forest Service) are the type of rules that must be formally submitted to Congress for its review. There also is no doubt that the two agencies failed to do so — at least not yet. Congress was wrongly denied an opportunity to use the CRA’s expedited procedures to review the sage-grouse RODs in 2015, but the agencies’ failure can be corrected. Indeed, the agencies remain under a continuing duty to submit the RODs to Congress if they are to be enforced, because the
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RODs are not lawfully in effect until then. In short, we believe the RODs must be submitted for review whether or not the agencies want Congress to disapprove of them. When the RODs are sent to both houses of Congress and to the Government Accountability Office, as the CRA requires, each house will then have 60 legislative or session days to use the CRA’s expedited procedures to introduce and vote on resolutions of disapproval. Members of Congress in the Great Basin states may be particularly interested in seeking disapproval of the two RODs that cover their region. If so, the maximum time for debate is limited in the Senate, with a simple majority vote in both chambers sending the resolutions to the president for his signature. If the president signs the resolutions of disapproval, the CRA provides that the rules will be treated as if they never existed — reviving the previous federal management plans. The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service would be forbidden to reissue substantially similar sage-grouse plans for whatever regional plans were disapproved, but there are many better — though different — management plans the government could issue that would work well with the state and private conservation efforts for the sage grouse. One concern with eliminating the current sage-grouse plans is that doing so could trigger a reversal of the of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision in 2015 not to list the bird under the Endangered Species Act. That is not a realistic concern for several reasons, especially compared with the harm the federal rules are starting to have on the sage grouse. Moreover, the sage grouse is so numerous that it is currently hunted in most of the states in its range and has a minimum total estimated population of at least 425,000, which is based on the latest range-wide estimate, published at the same time as the federal sage-grouse plans in 2015. Finally, the federal government could encourage further conservation efforts on private land if the bird population started to decline — but the state plans, free from interference from D.C., would probably improve the situation for the sage grouse enough to make this unnecessary. The greater sage grouse is doing well, thanks primarily to state and private conservation efforts. It is time to do more for the environment by doing less: Remove the harmful federal plans and let states and landowners continue to conserve the sage grouse. Brian Seasholes wrote this piece during a policy fellowship with the Property and Environment Research Center. Todd Gaziano is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Pacific Legal Foundation and the leader of RedTapeRollback.com, dedicated to full implementation of the CRA.
October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 5
The High Cost of Trich the livestock producer to return to profitability.
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Cost & Return Estimate
richomoniasis (Trich) is a disease that can be economically devastating in a short period of time. Trich is caused by the protozoa, Tritrichomonas foetus, and does not cause the animal to show clinical signs. Additionally, there is no treatment to cure infected animals making the disease difficult to control if proper preventative practices are not followed. A susceptible cow that is bred by an infected bull will become infected with the organism, and will generally abort, resume cyclicity, and then may settle thereby infecting all bulls that breed her while she is infected. Infected bulls will then transmit the disease to the cows he breeds and the disease spreads rapidly through the herd. Trich is known to reduce herd fertility, and the economic impacts from reproductive losses can be substantial for the livestock enterprise with extensive implications for both production and economic sustainability. However, the full extent of economic damages associated with a Trich outbreak in New Mexico livestock operations has not been evaluated. Therefore, a series of factors that are impactful to the economic profile of the livestock production unit were considered in a recent survey of known positive premises across New Mexico. Physiological factors that were found to be most economically impacted included: calf crop percentage, conception rate, cull rates, weaning weights and re-establishment of the herd. Impacts associated with Trich are not oneyear recovery processes, but rather a long-term situation that requires intensive management by
A representative livestock enterprise was employed in the modeling process using the New Mexico State University cost and return estimate generator. The representative ranch had 400 mother cows, 1:20 bull/ cow ratio, 15 percent replacement rate, and a weaned calf crop. The comparative analysis cost and return estimate for a Trich infected herd had the same number of mother cows, 1:20 bull/cow ratio, 35 percent replacement rate and a 64 percent weaned calf crop. These values were determined through survey responses.
Economic Implications of Trichomoniasis in New Mexico The percentage of weaned calves in the Trich positive ranches across New Mexico fell by almost 37 percent after the disease was identified. Economic impacts associated with fewer calves are multi-faceted for the production unit. First, the reality of selling fewer calves has a significant impact on the return for the enterprise. Second, due to the extreme environment in NM, most producers find it necessary to raise their own replacement heifers in order to match their animals to the environment. A reduction in weaned calves will constrain the producer decision making process as forward planning is evolving. Not only were fewer calves weaned, but market calves were lighter with the presence of Trich thus further reducing gross returns. The result of lighter calves was representative of approximately $21 per cow. Overall,
Calculating the True Cost of Replacement Heifers BY KARA OOSTERHUIS / REALAGRICULTURE.COM
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hen penciling out the cost of replacement heifers, it’s easy to think of all of the obvious costs, the cash costs. But Kathy Larson, research economist with the Western Beef Development Centre, encourages producers to consider the opportunity costs of raising animals as well. “Opportunity costs are essentially non-cash costs. The biggest one being the money you gave up by choosing to keep [the heifer] when she was a weaned calf, rather than sell her,” says Larson. “That can be as much as 70 percent in those high price years of 2014 and 2015 when we had high calf prices. On average though it’s about 60 percent of the value of developing a replacement heifer.” Larson adds that this is a factor that is often overlooked. “When you see it up on a chart — for example the 2014-born heifers that you were keeping right off the bat — that it’s close to $1,500. That is her starting value, right off the bat. You’ve done nothing to develop her. And yes, that’s an alarming number.” When calf prices are high, it can take as many as eight calves to recover the cost of developing a heifer through to calving. Whereas, those heifers born in market lulls can be paid off in three or four years. “If I just do a basic scenario with some assumptions on what your cost of production is and what calf prices could be in the future going forward, it’s probably between five and six calves,” says Larson. “But it really depends on your own cost of production, and what you can reasonably sell your calves for.”
this research model indicated that economic impacts of Trich were in excess of $300.00 per cow on the representative livestock enterprise. Conception rates were 90.55 percent for the disease free enterprise, and 64.5 percent for the enterprise exposed to Trich. The physiological and economic impact is stated in weaned calves. When the disease is present, effects on conception are significant. Conception may be delayed by several cycles. It is estimated that every cycle that a cow does not breed reduces her calf’s weaning weight by as much as 50 pounds. In addition, many cows will not rebreed, and will have to be sold as open cows. Cows that were pregnant, at pregnancy check may abort at any point up to 240 days of gestation. Perhaps the most devastating is the loss in calf crop which can be 10 to 50 percent the first year depending on the rate of transmission in the herd which is largely dependent on the number of infected bulls. Replacement of the aggregate breeding herd holds economic challenges that are both financial and genetic. Trichomoniasis has been shown to alter the genetic composition of the breeding herd. New Mexico producers must select for cows that can produce in an environment where forage is often limiting, and it can take decades to build a herd adapted to the challenging environment. Thus, purchasing replacement heifers is not common for the majority of New Mexico producers. Generations of family choices relative to the development of the mother cow herd have been devastated by this Trich. This impact is very challenging to determine a specific economic
value through the implementation of the representative cost and return estimate, but reduced calving percentages associated with Trich makes it necessary to purchase replacement females. This additional cost is only partially offset with increased cull sales. Costs associated with the replacement of bulls was estimated to exceed $80,000 for the representative model.
concept and is the most effective method to eliminate or minimize spread of the disease.
Summary Table 1 provides a summary of the economic impact of Trichomoniasis. The introduction of this disease in a livestock enterprise will have economic impacts. These impacts will change both liquidity and solvency. The overall impact of the study determined that all factors when combined will have a total economic impact to the livestock enterprise of greater than $400 per cow. Annualized return on investment would exceed 129 percent in this scenario. A return with a level of significance as presented allows the livestock enterprise owner/management team to make an easy decisioninitiate and sustain Trich testing. All with New Mexico State University, Department of Extension Animal Sciences & Natural Resources: Wenzel, J -Extension Veterinarian; Gifford, C.- Extension Beef Specialist; Hawkes, J. – Ag Economist and Department Head
Testing The only known way to eliminate the disease, and to prevent infection is to test bulls; thus, Trich testing is a positive investment for the livestock entity. The cost of a Trich test was estimated to be $46.21 per bull as determined by the survey average. Relative to the potential economic loss associated with the disease should the enterprise become infected, this cost would appear to be a positive return on investment. In addition, annual testing will also facilitate positive working relationships with neighboring livestock enterprises. Collaborative efforts to increase Trich testing in a region is an encouraged
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Monday, Wednesday, & Friday MONDAY: Beef Cattle WEDNESDAY: Dairy Cattle NTS IGNME CONS OME! WELC ore rm Call fo ation m r fo in g signin on con stock. r u o y
MIGUEL A. MACHADO President Office: 209/838-7011 Mobile: 209/595-2014
FRIDAY: Small Animals Poultry – Butcher Cows JOE VIEIRA Representative Mobile: 209/531-4156 THOMAS BERT 209/605-3866
CJ BRANTLEY Field Representative 209/596-0139
www.escalonlivestockmarket.com • escalonlivestockmarket@yahoo.com
Page 6
Livestock Market Digest
October 15, 2017
A Possible Solution to Gopher Problem in WA? Forcing Landowners to Pay Greenmail BY ANDREW KOLLAR YELMONLINE.COM
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he Mazama pocket gopher has caused outrage for many members of Thurston County since four subspecies were federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in April 2014. Under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, a species can be listed endangered or threatened by “the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range.” Mazama pocket gophers are listed as threatened because of the current and future destruction of its habitat. A question asked by the community has been, “How many gophers is enough?” USFWS Deputy State Supervisor Brad Thompson suggested asking a different question, “How many acres of mitigation is enough?” Mazama pocket gophers are difficult to track because they stay underground and move around. The USFWS does not currently have an accurate way to count gophers. Thompson said there have been groups that have attempted to do so but the numbers are inaccurate for gopher population. Thompson said counting acres for gopher habitat is a more tangible way to keep track of the species. “The Department of Agriculture has spent millions trying to control the gophers and the De-
partment of Interior is spending millions to protect the same critter,” Thurston County Commissioner Gary Edwards said. The Nisqually Valley News previously said the county commissioners have no jurisdiction over the gopher studies because the study falls under the federal Endangered Species Act. The county commissioners could have decided against gopher studies and allowed building on Mazama pocket gopher habitat, but if a house was built, the landowner and the county could be sued for the destruction of a threatened species’ habitat. The commissioners approved the interim gopher study process in May 2017. The interim process of determining gopher habitat requires a two-person team to assess the property between June 1 through Oct. 31. Each property requires two visits at least 30 days apart. If gophers are found on the property, owners have to purchase mitigation lands or write their own mitigation strategy, which was proven in the McLain case to be long and expensive. Deborah and Steve McLain discovered gophers on their property more than a year ago and have been stymied in the building process since. In order to obtain building permits, the McLains have been working with the USFWS to create a mitigation plan of their own on their eight-acre parcel. Their plan requires one acre of property to be designated as mitigation to off-
Prompt Proof BY AARON BERGER, NEBRASKA EXTENSION EDUCATOR, FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE HEREFORD WORLD
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he middle of summer is not the time when many cattle producers think about pregnancy testing. However, for producers that have yearling heifers that were bred early this spring, many of those heifers are
far enough along to be pregnancy tested. The minimum length to identify a positive pregnancy diagnosis is approximately 26 to 30 days post breeding utilizing either an ultrasound machine or a blood test. The minimum length to identify pregnancy through rectal palpation requires that heifers be at least 35-45 days
set the destruction of the gopher habitat. Mitigated property must be mowed and maintained, free of native and nonnative plants. The USFWS is working with the county commissioners to ensure future home builders do not have the same problems the McLains faced. Thompson said the answer to the problem is a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) created by the county, which will comply with the Endangered Species Act. Thompson said the USFWS is there to help the county commissioners devise a plan that will benefit the residents of Thurston County and the gopher. “I think the Endangered Species Act is a very well-intended piece of legislation that has been overtaken by radicalist groups in one fashion or another and they’ve used that in their radical agenda of gophers over kids,” Edwards said. An HCP uses a credit system to keep track of the land used for mitigation. Every credit is roughly one acre of land. If you have a house that disrupts one credit of gopher habitat, you must purchase one credit dedicated to gopher habitat to mitigate the destruction. Thompson said HCP’s have been widely accepted in many areas in the United States. One issue is cost. Who will pay for the HCP? The current price per acre of mitigation is $17,803 and the county is looking at a 30-year plan requiring them to purchase 120 acres per year (roughly 120 credits) to stay
on track with projected growth. The 30-year cost would be $64 million. One option is to use Conservation Futures funds to cover the cost of the gopher mitigation strategy. The negative aspect of doing so is there will be no money left to protect any other species, Edwards said. “We’re going to do an HCP. It has nothing to do with whether I like it or not. We have to,” Edwards said. “The federal guys have the big stick, we’re just the little guys and we don’t get to say if we disagree or not. We have to comply.” The second option Edwards brought forward is to impose a “gopher fee” for every homeowner in Thurston County to pay. The benefit of this program is that families like the McLains will not have to develop their own mitigation strategy and more people will get the opportunity to build without having to front the gopher fee by themselves. The drawback is there will be more fees for Thurston County homeowners. Commissioners Bud Blake, John Hitchings and Edwards are sifting through ideas to bring the price per mitigation-acre down. “Every dollar that we have to spend dealing with the gopher thing … whether it’s the permit, the inspection, the waiting period or whatever it is, is $1 less that we get to spend on our kids,” Edwards said. “Where’s the priority? What’s more important, kids or gophers?”
Thompson disagrees that the Mazama pocket gopher has become more important than local youth. He called the traffic issue at Yelm High School “horrible” and said the USFWS will help the school district develop a mitigation plan if gophers are found where the access road is planned. “We want to join with the city and school to clarify the needs and commitment of our agency if there are gophers,” Thompson said. Yelm Mayor JW Foster, Yelm City Administrator Michael Grayum, Thompson and other USFWS staff recently had a meeting to figure out a way to meet everyone’s needs. The meeting was in collaboration with the USFWS to ensure they are on the same page regarding the protection of the Mazama pocket gopher moving forward. There are multiple layers of the Mazama pocket gopher issue. One part of the issue Edwards and Thompson agree upon is the gopher will stay listed as threatened for a sustained period of time. This means county commissioners must create a mitigation strategy to comply with the Endangered Species Act, whether or not they agree the gopher should be listed. “Yelm’s motto is ‘Pride of the Prairie.’ You can be prideful in living side by side with something that is nowhere else in the world, a species that is federally protected,” Thompson said. “It’s a cool thing.”
post breeding.
last day of the breeding season to the bull would only be 30 days pregnant. Heifers that conceived early in the breeding season could easily be identified with palpation. Those that conceived late in the breeding season would require either a blood test or ultrasound in order to be confirmed as pregnant. In this situation, if palpation was being used to identify pregnancy, heifers identified as not being pregnant could have a blood sample drawn while still in the chute and sent off for analysis to verify the non-pregnant designation. It is likely that some of the heifers that were identified as non-pregnant through palpation are indeed pregnant, but are not far enough along to be recognized. The blood test would identify which heifers were non-pregnant and which are very early on in their pregnancy. There are a number of blood test options available on the market today. The following are three that are currently available.* • BioPRYN • DG29 • IDEXX Bovine Pregnancy Test and Rapid Visual Pregnancy Test
stress to heifers early in pregnancy can result in embryonic loss. Research has shown a pregnancy loss of 1-3.5% when palpation or ultrasound are used for pregnancy diagnosis at 40 75 days of gestation. Currently, this author is not aware of any studies that have evaluated the incidence of pregnancy loss using blood testing compared against either palpation or ultrasound for early pregnancy diagnosis. The stress of handling cattle through the chute with blood testing for pregnancy diagnosis could also contribute to early embryonic loss. In conclusion, early pregnancy diagnosis can provide opportunities to improve profitability. It has some risks associated with it in terms of potentially causing early embryonic loss. Evaluating all of the potential costs and benefits of early pregnancy diagnosis can help producers evaluate whether or not to utilize this in their operations. For more information on the potential advantages and risks of early pregnancy diagnosis see the web video “Early Pregnancy Diagnosis” (http://beef.unl.edu/ early-pregnancy-diagnosis). *Identification of names of blood test options for pregnancy diagnosis in this article is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement of these products.
Potential Advantages of Early Pregnancy Diagnosis • Heifers that are not pregnant can be identified and managed differently than their pregnant herd mates. • Non-pregnant heifers that are going to be retained can be implanted, improving average daily gain and feed efficiency. • Non-pregnant heifers could be moved off grass resources and sold. • Historically July, August and September are seasonally strong markets for feeder cattle, with prices tending to trend down in the fall. Early identification of non-pregnant heifers allows for selling into this market. The best method for early pregnancy diagnosis will vary based on goals, costs and resources available. A combination of methods may be used under some circumstances to identify pregnancy. For example, consider a group of heifers that were artificially inseminated and then exposed to a clean-up bull for 30 days. Pregnancy testing 30 days after the bull was removed would mean heifers that conceived to artificial insemination on the first day of the breeding season would be 60 days along. Heifers that conceived on the
Potential Disadvantages of Early Pregnancy Diagnosis Producers should realize that
October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Navy Seal Retreats
S
ecretary Zinke’s report to President Trump on national monuments has leaked to the press, and has been met with great disappointment by many in the West. Many of us who met with Zinke felt we had provided multiple reasons for the monuments to be downsized, and walked away from those meetings convinced the Secretary had understood and agreed with the reasons presented. Carlos Salazar, President of the Northern New Mexico Stockmen, tells me he “felt very comfortable after leaving the meeting with Zinke that he was sincere in that the Rio Grande Del Norte Monument and Organ Mountains Monument would be downsized.” David Sanchez, Vice-President of the group says they “identified and expressed the negative and cumulative impacts the monument would have on the ranch families of Northern New Mexico” and told Zinke the boundaries and size of the monument, “had not been justified by the BLM or any other body of government.” Those hopes were crushed when the contents of the report were made public. Of the 27 monuments reviewed, Zinke only recommended three of the land-based monuments have boundary changes: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah (where he had to follow the wishes of Trump and the Utah congressional delegation) and the Cascade Siskiyou in Oregon (where Interior is being sued because it contains O&C lands). In his report to Trump, Zinke says they found designations where the Antiquities Act definition of “objects” and “smallest area compatible” were either “arbitrary or likely politically motivated” and that “boundaries could not be supported by science or reasons of practical resource management.” Zinke also found that “certain monuments were designated to prevent economic activity such as grazing, mining and timber production rather than to protect specific objects.” Clearly, many of these areas were not in compliance with the Antiquities Act. But even with these findings by the Secretary, he has recommended, in effect, that Trump endorse these abuses of the Act. Congressman Steve Pearce says Zinke’s recommendation “fails to provide the solutions New Mexico needs” and leaves an “overly burdensome and harmful footprint” on the areas. Former Dean and current
holder of a distinguished chair at the Linebery Policy Center at NMSU, Jerry Schickedanz, is disappointed “that the Secretary of the Interior did not follow the review criteria in his recommendation” resulting in the monuments not being reduced in size In addition, Schickedanz says by not reducing the size of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, Zinke has left the community with the lack of “access for border security, flood control, and watershed management.” Carlos Salazar said, “we were misled by phony intent by a government official, Zinke. Some of us drove 8-10 hours to make this meeting to be let down.” Salazar also said,”Thanks to Congressman Steve Pearce for setting up this visit with the Secretary. We cannot depend on our two NM Senators for help on this government overreach.” The environmental groups who said this whole review was a “sham”, were correct. Zinke used the review process to take care of his political problem in Utah, and the rest is window dressing The political ineptness of this is amazing. Even though Zinke has agreed with almost 90% of what Clinton and Obama wrought, Trump will still be subjected to the same amount of enviro and media criticism as if he had made significant corrections. Zinke’s hero, Teddy Roosevelt, may have charged up San Juan Hill, but the Secretary has retreated behind the barricades of the establishment bureaucracy. Trump has said he wants to “drain the swamp”, but Zinke has only offered the President a thimble to work with. Grazing Language If nothing else, the Secretary has recommended some of the management language in the New Mexico monuments be revised. Changing the grazing language will help, but does not answer all the concerns of the ranching community. For instance, the language in the Proclamation that prevents offroad travel, even by nonmotorized means, is a great hindrance to the day-to-day operations of a ranching family. How do they get fencing supplies to a fence line? How do they get a trailer to a sick cow or horse? How do they transport equipment needed for an existing range improvement? In addition, the language in the Proclamation limiting new right-of-ways will certainly put a stop to new
range improvements like water pipelines, and in some instances prevent them from getting power to their property. Both monuments have terrible anti-grazing language in them. What remains to be seen, however, is how Interior proposes to fix this issue. It would appear to me they have three options: • Revise the proclamation to include language like that in the Basin and Range Proclamation, which makes it clear the monument designation has no impact on livestock grazing, • Revise the proclamation to remove the consistency language but still leave it vague as to how the proclamation affects livestock grazing, or • Not revise the proclamation and claim they can fix the issue through policy memos and internal guidance. If they truly want to protect the ranching families in these monuments, they will pursue the first option. The second option will give these families a better chance of surviving the designation, but still leave them vulnerable to lawsuits or other negative actions The third option is a total cop out. The consistency language will remain causing great vulnerability to lawsuits and anti-grazing policies of future administrations. We will be watching to see what Interior’s real intent is with respect to the future of ranching in these monuments. Trump The issue is now in the President’s hands. Will he only accept the Zinke recommendations, or will he listen to the views of others, especially those making their living off the land? As Carlos Salazar says, “President Trump, the common folk people from the rural communities need your help.” His colleague, David Sanchez, puts it this way, “We can only hope and Pray that President Trump makes the right decision.” Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.
SALE EVERY THURSDAY 11AM For more information call: Office
505-384-2206 Sonny
520-507-2134
UPCOMING FALL STOCKER FEEDER SPECIALS Sept. 7 Oct. 12 Nov. 16
Fax
load of calves 520-384-3955 &Semi yearlings • 2 1/2% 1020 N. Haskell Ave P.O. Box 1117 Willcox, AZ 85644
• 3 loads or more 2%
Call or visit our website for special sales
You can view our Auctions Online at www.dvauction.com
Page 7
Meat Price Pressure to Continue for the Near Term: USDA BY LISA M. KEEFE MEATINGPLACE.COM
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amped-up supplies will keep the downward pressure on consumer prices for red meat for the rest of the calendar year, although prices for all animal proteins are expected to increase moderately in 2018, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service’s Food Price Outlook report. As of August 2017, the U.S. cattle herd was at its largest since August 2008. Relatively large cattle placements in feedlots in the first half of 2017, as well as more cattle available outside of feedlots, has increased the forecast for commercial beef production, putting downward pressure on prices throughout the cattle and beef complex, the agency said in its report. ERS predicts beef and veal prices to decrease 2.0 to 1.0 percent in 2017 but increase 1.0 to 2.0 percent in 2018. Lower beef prices are adding pressure to lower pork prices, along with an anticipated 4.9 percent increase in pork production in 2017. Large pork supplies are expected to change retail prices in a range of 0.5 percent lower to 0.5 percent higher in 2017 but increase 1.5 to 2.5 percent in 2018. Beef and veal prices decreased 0.7 percent from July to August and are 0.8 percent higher than this time last year. In August, pork prices rose 1.4 percent from the previous month, and prices are 0.9 percent
higher than in August 2016. Despite declining ham prices, bacon prices increased 2.7 percent and pork chop prices increased 2.0 percent in August.
Poultry Prices for poultry rose 0.2 percent from July to August and are 1.0 percent higher than last year. Despite high broiler production, many broilers have low weights, which along with larger birds demanding higher prices, has contributed to higher retail poultry prices. While prices are expected to increase at the retail level, price increases are still expected to be lower than the 20-year historical average of 2.1 percent. ERS predicts prices to rise between 0.5 and 1.5 percent in 2017 and to increase an additional 1.5 to 2.5 percent in 2018.
CPI The all-food Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.1 percent from July to August, and food prices were 1.1 percent higher than the August 2016 level. The degree of food price inflation varies depending on whether the food was purchased for consumption away from home or at home: The food-away-fromhome (restaurant purchases) CPI rose 0.3 percent in August and is 2.2 percent higher than August 2016; and the food-at-home (grocery store or supermarket food items) CPI was flat from July to August and is 0.3 percent higher than last August.
Livestock Market Digest
REAL ESTATE GUIDE
Fallon-Cortese Land
NEW MEXICO P.O. Box 447 Fort Sumner, NM 88119 575.355.2855 office 575.355.7611 fax 575.760.3818 cell nick@ranchseller.com www.ranchseller.com
Andrew Bryan, Owner/Broker Office 541-523-5871 Cell 208-484-5835 andrew@bakercityrealty.com www.bakercityrealty.com Beautiful, secluded Eastern Oregon living in Granite, Oregon! This newer log home sits on 18.50 acres and features 2 bed/2 full bath. The open living space is complete with a laundry room and internet access. Enjoy the peace and quiet on the covered deck, or sit around the fire pit. Property includes a RV parking and an outbuilding used as a shop. Escape from it all in your slice of heaven!
Scott Land co. Ranch & Farm Real Estate
1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027 Ben G. Scott – Broker Krystal M Nelson –CO/NM QB#15892 800-933-9698 day/eve. www.scottlandcompany.com
Bottari Realty Paul Bottari, Broker
775/752-3040 Nevada Farms & raNch PrOPerTY www.bottarirealty.com
521 West Second St. • Portales, NM 88130
575-226-0671 or 575-226-0672 fax
Buena Vista Realty
Qualifying Broker: A.H. (Jack) Merrick 575-760-7521 www.buenavista-nm.com
SOCORRO PLAZA REALTY On the Plaza
Bar M Real Estate
SCOTT MCNALLY www.ranchesnm.com 575/622-5867 575/420-1237 Ranch Sales & Appraisals
HeAdquArters West Ltd. ST. JOHN’S OFFICE: TRAEGEN KNIGHT
Donald Brown
P.O. Box 1980 St. John’s, AZ 85936 www.headquarterswest.com
505-507-2915 cell 505-838-0095 fax
928/524-3740 Fax 928/563-7004 Cell 602/228-3494 info@headquarterswest.com
Qualifying Broker
116 Plaza PO Box 1903 Socorro, NM 87801 www.socorroplazarealty.com dbrown@socorroplazarealty.com
Filling your real estate needs in Arizona
WE NEED LISTINGS ON ALL TYPES OF AG PROPERTIES LARGE OR SMALL! WE CURRENTLY have in contract the 34,490 ac. ranch & the 22,639.44 ac. ranch. BUY THE IMPROVEMENTS – LEASE THE LAND! Union Co. – 640 ac. +/-, nice home w/landscaped yard w/matured trees, nice shop, cattle pens & modern pivot sprinklers. EXCELLENT OWNER FINANCING! ABERCROMBIE RANCH – Huerfano Co., CO – 7,491 ac. +/- of choice grassland watered by wells & the Cucharas River, on pvmt. FRONTIER RANCH – 6,423.45 ac. +/- in two tracts of 3,735 ac. & 2,688.45 ac., all deeded, approx. 7 mi. apart offered as one ranch, broker will assist w/contracts on either or both of the tracts, good country for year-round cow/ calf operation or summer yearling grazing, located in close proximity to the Grey Fox Ranch for addtl. acreage. GREY FOX RANCH – Guadalupe Co., NM – 2,919.85 ac. +/- of deeded land, all native grass, located in close proximity to the Mesa Del Gato Ranch for addtl. grazing. ALFALFA & LIVESTOCK – Tucumcari, NM - 255.474 ac. +/-, state-of-the-art huge hay barn & shop (immaculate), steel pens, Arch Hurley Water Rights, two nearly new sprinklers, alfalfa established. AIRPORT DRIVE – Tucumcari, NM – Choice 160 ac. +/-, on pvmt. w/beautiful home, roping arena, steel pens & 139.5 ac. +/- of water rights. TUCUMCARI VALLEY – 480 ac. +/-, w/292 ac. classified as cropland fully allotted to
wheat & milo, 365.9 ac. of Arch Hurley Water Rights, nice, combination farming/cattle operation, presently in grass for grazing. CANYON VIEW RANCH – 1,533 deeded ac. +/- just out of Clayton, NM, beautiful, good country, well watered, volcanic rock mining operation offers addtl. income, on pvmt. 24 MI. FROM TEXAS/NM STATE LINE – Box Canyon Ranch – Quay Co., NM – well improved & watered, 2,400 ac. +/-deeded, 80 ac. +/- State Lease, excellent access from I-40. LAKE VIEW RANCH – San Miguel Co., NM - 9,135 ac. +/- (6,670 +/- deeded, 320 +/BLM, 40 +/- State Lease, 2,106 +/- “FREE USE”) well improved, just off pvmt. on co. road., two neighboring ranches may be added for additional acreage! LITTLE BLACK PEAK - 37.65 sections +/- Central NM ranch w/good, useable improvements & water, some irrigation w/2 pivot sprinklers, on pvmt. w/all-weather road, 13,322 ac.+/- Deeded, 8,457 ac. +/- BLM Lease, 2,320 ac. +/- State Lease. CASTRO CO., TX – 482.5 ac. +/-, irrigated/ dryland farm, 2 circles, 1 mi. of frontage, 5 mi. south of Dimmitt, Texas on US 385. RANDALL CO. - 729 ac. +/-, w/280 ac. +/- of native grass & 479 ac. +/- of tillable dryland. Please call for details! PECOS CO., TX. – 640 ac. +/-, tremendous irrigation potential, excellent soil, not farmed in many years.
Please view our websites for details on these properties, choice TX, NM & CO ranches (large & small), choice ranches in the high rainfall areas of OK, irr./dryland/CRP & commercial properties. We need your listings on any types of ag properties in TX., NM, OK & CO.
TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES • 100 acres, Kaufman County TX, Long County Rd frontage, city water, excellent grass. $3750 per acre. • 240 acres, Recreation, hunting and fishing. Nice apartment, 25 miles from Dallas Court House. $3250 per acre. • 270 acre, Mitchell County, Texas ranch. Investors dream; excellent cash flow. Rock formation being crushed and sold; wind turbans, some minerals. Irrigation water developed, crop & cattle, modest improvements. Just off I-20. Price reduced to $1.6 Million. • 40 acre, 2 homes, nice barn, corral, 30 miles out of Dallas. $415,000.
Joe Priest Real Estate
1-800/671-4548
joepriestre.net • joepriestre@earthlink.com
Call Buena Vista Realty at 575-226-0671 or the listing agent Lori Bohm 575-760-9847, or Melody Sandberg 575-825-1291. Many good pictures on MLS or www.buenavista-nm.com
DOUBLE L RANCH – Central NM, 10 miles west of Carrizozo, NM. 12,000 total acres; 175 AUYL, BLM Section 3 grazing permit; Water provided by 3 wells and buried pipeline. Improvements include house and pens. Price: $1,500,000 X-T RANCH – Southeastern NM cattle ranch 40 miles northwest of Roswell, NM on the Chaves/Lincoln County line. Good grass ranch with gently rolling grass covered hills. 8,000 total acres, 200 AUYL grazing capacity. Partitioned into four pastures watered by 2 wells with pipelines. Call for brochure. Price: $1,750,000 RHODES FARM – Southeastern NM on the Pecos River east of Hagerman. Comprised of 480 total acres with 144 irrigated acres. Unique private drain water rights. Call for a Brochure. Price Reduced: $1,000,000 L-X RANCH – Southeastern NM just ten minutes from Roswell, NM with paved gated and locked access. 3,761 total acres divided into several pastures and traps. Nice improvements to include a site built adobe residence. One well with extensive pipeline system. Well suited for a registered cattle operation. Price: $900,000
BAKER CITY, OREGON Andrew Bryan, Owner/Broker Office 541-523-5871 Cell 208-484-5835
andrew@bakercityrealty.com www.bakercityrealty.com
521 West Second St. Portales, NM 88130 575-226-0671 www.buenavista-nm.com West of Portales, NM in Roosevelt Co. @349 S. Roosevelt Rd Y 80 acres of irrigated land that was in a past CRP program. It has a submersible pump, and a well, and concrete pipeline with 12” risers. Is currently in grass with good fence on the west end of property, and fence along south & west side needs repair, no fence on the north. There are structures on the property but they are being sold as is, with the property.
Missouri Land Sales See all my listings at: • NEW LISTING! 167 Acres, Cattle/Horses/Hunting Estate 5000 sq ft paulmcgilliard.murney.com inspired Frank Lloyd Wright designed home. 3 bed, 2 1/2 baths, full w/o finished Paul McGilliard basement, John Deere room, bonus room. This estate is set up for intensive Cell: 417/839-5096 grazing, 3 wells, 3 springs, 4 ponds, automatic waters. Secluded, but easy access, only 22 miles east of Springfield, off Hwy 60. MLS# 60081327 1-800/743-0336 Murney Assoc., Realtors • NEW LISTING! 80 Acres - 60 Acres Hayable, Live Water, Location, Springfield, MO 65804 Location! Only 8 miles west of Norwood, 3 miles east of Mansfield, 1/4 mile off Hwy 60. Well maintained 3 bed, 1 1/2 bath, 1432 sq. ft. brick/vinyl home, nestled under the trees. Full basement (partially finished), John Deere Room. This is your farm! MLS#60059808 • 139 ACRES - 7 AC stocked lake; hunting retreat. Beautiful 2BR, 1BA log cabin. Only 35+ miles northeast of Springfield. MLS#60031816 • HOBBY FARM Deluxe 30 acres, 3 bed, 3.5 bath, 3100 sq ft custom built, 1 owner home, Webster Co, Rogersville schools, 13 miles from Springfield. RV drive through barn, horse barn, large hip roof barn, kennel, & small animal barn, year-round spring-fed creek. This farm has it ALL! MLS#60043538
SOLD SOLD
O’NEILL LAND, llc P.O. Box 145, Cimarron, NM 87714 • 575/376-2341 • Fax: 575/376-2347 land@swranches.com • www.swranches.com
WAGONMOUND RANCH, Mora/Harding Counties, NM. 4,927 +/- deeded acres, 1,336.80 +/state lease acres, 2,617 +/- Kiowa National Grassland Lease Acres. 8,880.80 +/- Total Acres. Substantial holding with good mix of grazing land and broken country off rim onto Canadian River. Fenced into four main pastures with shipping and headquarter pasture and additional four pastures in the Kiowa lease. Modern well, storage tank and piped water system supplementing existing dirt tanks located on deeded. Located approximately 17 miles east of Wagon Mound on pavement then county road. Nice headquarters and good access to above rim. Wildlife include antelope, mule deer and some elk. $2,710,000 MIAMI HORSE TRAINING FACILITY, Colfax County, NM. Ideal horse training facility, 4 bedroom 3 bathroom approx. 3,593 sq-ft home, 332.32 +/- deeded acres, 208 shares of irrigation, all the facilities you need to summer your cutting horse operation out of the heat and far enough south to have somewhat mild winters. Approximately 6,200 ft elevation. $1,790,000 MIAMI HORSE HEAVEN, Colfax County, NM. Very private approx. 4,800 sq-ft double walled adobe 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with many custom features. 77.50 +/- deeded acres with 77.25 water shares, large 7-stall horse barn, large insulated metal shop with own septic, large hay barn/equipment shed. $1,500,000 MAXWELL FARM IMPROVED, Colfax County, NM. 280 +/- deeded acres, 160 Class A irrigation shares,
2 center pivots, nice sale barn, 100 hd feedlot. Depredation Elk Tags available. Owner financing available to qualified buyer. Significantly reduced to $550,000 MAXWELL FARM W/HOUSE, Colfax County 400 +/deeded acres with 101.2 water shares. Seller would consider split. $495,000 RATON MILLION DOLLAR VIEW, Colfax County, NM. 97.68 +/- deeded acres, 2 parcels, excellent home, big shop, wildlife, a true million dollar view at end of private road. $489,000. House & 1 parcel $375,000 MIAMI 80 ACRES, Colfax County, NM. 80 +/- deeded acres, 80 water shares, expansive views, house, shop, roping arena, barns and outbuildings. Reduced $485,000 COLD BEER VIEW, Colfax County, NM 83.22 +/deeded acre, 3,174 sq ft, 5 bedroom, 3 ½ bathrm, 2 car garage home situated on top of the hill with amazing 360 degree views. Reduced $425,000 MIAMI 20 ACRES, Colfax County, NM. 20 +/- deeded acres, 20 water shares, quality 2,715 sq ft adobe home, barn, grounds and trees. Private setting. This is a must see. Reduced to $375,000 FRENCH TRACT 80, Colfax County, NM irrigated farm with home and good outbuildings, $350,000 COLMOR PLACE, Mora County, NM 354 +/- deeded acres, I25 frontage, house, pens, expansive views. Ocate Creek runs through property. $275,000
October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 9
Beasts of Emotional Burden The founders of Horses for Heroes’ Cowboy Up! program think a four-letter problem like PTSD calls for a fourlegged solution. Here’s how they’re helping veterans transition from wounded warriors to successful civilians. BY ED KANE, PHD, DVM360 MAGAZINE, PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 11, 2017
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reen Beret and U.S. Marshal Rick Iannucci is a lifesaver—at least that’s what he’s been told by several military veterans who’ve been through his nonprofit program Horses for Heroes’ Cowboy Up! Cowboy Up! is a free program for all post-9/11 veterans and active military personnel that teaches horsemanship, personal wellness and neurological retraining. Iannucci and his wife, Nancy De Santis, started the program in response to what they saw as a growing need to help veterans adjust to life after combat. “Because of my background, I understand how the warrior relates to the world,” says Iannucci, executive director of Cowboy Up! “Once you’re a warrior, it’s very hard to dilute that warrior memory and those feelings. The warrior mentality can be especially difficult to disengage for men and women coming back from serving multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.” This is especially true for veterans who’ve experienced combat trauma, sustained physical injuries or are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Iannucci says.
From warrior to civilian Founded in 2007, Cowboy Up! uses American quarter horses to help bridge the gap between warrior and civilian. “Horses gently command us to be present in the here and now while also encouraging us to be meditative and peaceful,” says Iannucci. Cowboy Up! participants live in a bunkhouse on Crossed Arrows ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, and start working with the horses from day one, beginning with groundwork and progressing to riding. They also participate in other aspects of ranch life, including working cattle and experiencing camaraderie with other participants. This is all part of a process that Iannucci and De Santis have developed and trademarked called Skill-set Restructuring. “It’s the first nonclinical program specifically designed for posttraumatic growth in the nation,” Iannucci says. “It’s self-paced, objective and outcome-based. We’ve made everything analogous to the veteran’s military occupational specialty and have incorporated operational procedures that veterans are familiar with by rote so they can immediately relate ranch tasks to something they’ve done in the military.”
As a result, Cowboy Up! is far more than Horsemanship 101. It also incorporates Wisdom Way for Warriors, an equine coaching program developed by De Santis, who is certified as a horse instructor and equine gestalt coach, to specifically address challenges faced by veterans. “Our Native American veterans tell us that the horses are the bridge between the physical world and the spiritual world,” Iannucci says. “They carry us both physically and spiritually.
For many warriors, emotional feelings can get out of alignment when they try to transition to civilian life. Horses provide a ground, a center, that helps many veterans deal with the spiritual dissonance they’re experiencing.” Participants find a sense of inner peace and calmness by working with the horses, Ianucci says. “Veterans tell us that once they come through our ranch gateway, their blood pressure decreases,” he says. “As they start listening to the breath-
ing of the horse, they begin to connect with these magnificent, majestic creatures. They feel a certain softness.” De Santis says that veterans with combat trauma often experience tension and anxiety. “But regardless of the tension level, horses can help recalibrate their souls,” she says. According to De Santis, there’s no one-size-fits-all PTSD. “Here lies the eternal struggle for the warrior,” she notes. “For some, the first casualty of war is
often a wound to the spirit. For others it may be that their active combat survival skills aren’t serving them as well at home as they did in the field. Perhaps the veteran feels disconnected, dishonored or depleted. That is why we refer to PTSD as ‘posttraumatic spiritual dissonance.’ It’s better described as disconnect, distress or injury, not a disorder. It’s part of the human condition, a human response to stress or trauma.” continued on page ten
Page 10
Livestock Market Digest
October 15, 2017
BEASTS
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Memory modification The Cowboy Up! program is designed to modify these traumatic memories. “PTSD treatment, from a neurobiological perspective—and a lot of current research on PTSD is using this model—is that memories of any type are modifiable,” says Dr. Valentine. “They aren’t just static entities that you file away in your brain, then take out, access the information or experience the emotions attached to them, and put back into the filing cabinet of the mind without alteration.” Memories, says Dr. Valentine, are much more fluid and multidimensional. They can be continuously modified and updated by new experiences. To modify a traumatic memory, for example, you can try reexposing the veteran to that memory in the context of a new experience. The new experience “can’t be very distant from the traumatic memory, otherwise there is no activation of that trace, but only the encoding of a new memory that has no relation to the targeted one,” Dr. Valentine says. According to Dr. Valentine, the beauty of Cowboy Up! lies in that memory modification “sweet spot.” Skill-set Restructuring activates many combat warrior associations: situational awareness, teamwork, improvisation, preparation, decorum, rules of engagement and aesthetics (for example, cowboys, like military personnel, wear uniforms). “All of these things can activate processes that were engaged during combat or during the trauma,” Dr. Valentine explains. “It’s not direct reexperiencing, but reexperiencing aspects to sufficiently and specifically activate those memory traces that are combined with new experiences. It’s such a sweet spot that they don’t even know they’re receiving therapy for the trauma. It’s not in a clinical intervention setting and it isn’t framed as reconditioning, but it’s working on the fear response. And because the environment is so warm, inviting and supportive, the participants are likely to stay.”
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“PTSD is not a mental illness, per se,” explains Gerald Valentine, MD, of the Yale School of Medicine, who serves as the Cowboy Up! program psychiatrist. “Rather, it’s a reaction to extraordinary circumstances. Individuals with PTSD are suffering. It’s serious and causes severe distress. And while the diagnosis may be repeatable and valid, no one treatment fits every veteran’s needs or best matches the nature of their suffering.” However, Dr. Valentine thinks the program Iannucci and De Santis have created offers the ideal setting and method for treating PTSD. “Horses For Heroes’ Cowboy Up! program has so many things going for it because it is working on different aspects of PTSD, including reactions to traumas or moral injuries. For many veterans, not being able to reconcile behavior—either witnessed or perpetrated by themselves—that was in complete conflict with their deeply-seated beliefs about what’s appropriate or right causes deep suffering,” he says.
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The horses themselves play a vital role in the healing process. “There’s benefit from even shortterm interactions with horses,” says Dr. Valentine. “But developing a relationship with horses over time reinforces the benefit from a neurological and social engagement standpoint. Safe, meaningful interactions with another living being can be a social catalyst for veterans who feel threatened by human relationships. At the neurobiological level, the same type of mechanisms are engaged that make you feel close to your own children, to a spouse, to a good friend or to your parents.”
Oxytocin and PTSD Oxytocin is a powerful hormone that plays a role in regulating social interactions. “It promotes trust and bonding,” says Dr. Valentine. But many veterans’ oxytocin systems are damaged, making them feel withdrawn. “Veterans with PTSD can experience decreased oxytocin release as a consequence of traumatic experience or moral injury,” says psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Valentine. So activities that promote oxytocin release, like building relationships with horses, could be therapeutic. “As the veteran positively works with the horse, their nervous system reflexively responds, thereby releasing oxytocin and diminishing arousal symptoms. Just being in the presence of horses activates the oxytocin system.” And because Cowboy Up! takes place in a more realistic setting (as opposed to a clinical research facility), it may have a better chance of helping veterans’ oxytocin systems longterm, Dr. Valentine says.
Horses can also help veterans be present in the moment, which can be a struggle for many veterans with PTSD. “Dissociative experiences are a subtle hallmark of the PTSD experience,” says Dr. Valentine. “Veterans may not feel present—either physically, like they’re not quite in their body, or temporally, like they have a distorted sense of time. But when working with a horse, veterans have to be present and focused on these powerful, sensitive creatures.” Around horses, veterans who’ve been withdrawn around family and friends are able to gradually reengage the mechanisms of social engagement without threat, Dr. Valentine continues. This then affects their human interactions. “A lot of the magic happens when veterans are sitting around together after being with the horses all day,” he says. Horses can have a powerful physiological effect on veterans as well by reducing arousal and their fight-or-flight response. As a result, blood pressure, cortisol and muscle tension decrease.
Immersive learning “Horses provide vast opportunities for growth and learning about our world and the world around us,” says De Santis. “Working with them creates an environment where we can recognize and acknowledge our actions, how we learn, how we communicate and how we interact with others. Working with horses brings a deeper understanding and helps to provide a person with tools that can be taken into everyday life.” According to Dr. Valentine, all of this learning and understanding takes time and best occurs in an immersive setting. “When there is total immersion, veterans are less aware of their suffering because they’re so focused and absorbed by this new experience, which is why Cowboy Up! is so powerful,” he says. “It’s saving lives—and that’s not an overstatement.” Ed Kane, PhD, is a researcher and consultant in animal nutrition. He is an author and editor on nutrition, physiology and veterinary medicine with a background in horses, pets and livestock.
October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 11
Wildfires Have Burned an Area the Size of Maryland BY BEN GUARINO AND TIM CRAIG, WASHINGTON POST
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very night smoke rolls into Seeley Lake, Montana, like a ghostly flood tide. A wildfire on the ridge above the valley town has blazed since July. The smoke descends on a wave of chilled night air and settles. “It’s been described to me in apocalyptic terms,” said Sarah Coefield, an air quality specialist with the Missoula City-County Health Department. “Visibility has been down to less than a block.” Seeley Lake set a record for its worst air quality ever recorded, at 18 times the particle pollution limit deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. The air was so bad that, for five hours, the air monitor in Seeley Lake could not measure the particle concentration — it was above the device’s limit. This fire season, wildfires like the one above Seeley Lake have burned through nine states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Through early Friday, there have been 47,705 wildfires reported since the start of the year, slightly below the 10-year-average for this point in the season, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center, which oversees the state and federal response. But many of the fires quickly grew in size, putting the United States on pace to exceed the average acreage burned annually over the past 10 years. Fires nationwide have consumed 8,036,858 acres — about 12,550 square miles, larger than the size of Maryland — since January 1, 2017. In an average year, 5,516,000 acres would have burned through this point of the fire season, according to agency statistics. Many of the large fires this year have been concentrated in the northern Rocky and Cascade mountain regions, two areas that are experiencing their worst fire seasons in years. Twenty fires have started in Montana’s Glacier National Park, said Mike Johnson, a fire
information officer at the park. “Eighteen of those we were able to get under initial attack,” he said. The other two, the Adair Peak fire and the Sprague fire, withstood 143,600 gallons of water poured from helicopters. The fires have been blazing since a lightning storm on August 10. Smoke and low visibility has grounded the helicopters, Johnson said. A predicted low pressure system should blow some of the smoke clear in the next few days. This will aid firefighters, but will also invigorate the wildfires choking beneath the cloud. Meanwhile, the Sprague fire recently claimed a century-old chalet. The park itself remains open, Johnson said, though western sections, including parts of the Going-to-theSun Road, are closed. In early September Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and 11 other Democratic and Republican senators sent a letter to Senate leaders Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) to improve the federal response to the fire. The Forest Service, low on money, will have to reallocate up to $300 million from different accounts, the senators warned in the letter. The diverted funds would have been used for protective measures, like stopping emerald ash borer beetles from eating New York trees. Or for curbing future fires. “Because we haven’t seen fires of this magnitude — I can’t recall ever seeing fires of this magnitude — we have got to use this moment,” Wyden said, speaking at the Multnomah County Emergency Operations Center at Troutdale Police Station in Oregon. Wyden and the other senators have asked Congress to provide sufficient funds to the Forest Service, so the agency can react to both suppress and prevent wildfires. For much of the West, the year began with an exceptionally wet winter and spring. In arid regions, grasses sprouted up, providing fuel for future fires. Then the season changed — harshly.
“We went from waterlogged to wilted,” said John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist at the University of Idaho who studies how humans have made wildfire more severe. A stubborn ridge of high pressure hovered above the region all summer, he said, making it very hot and mostly rain-free. Several states set records for heat or dryness: California and Oregon had their warmest July and August temperatures on record. In Montana, July and August were the state’s driest months ever. “This is the perfect recipe for drying out fuels quickly, making the landscape susceptible to igniting and carrying fire, and very clearly has enabled the busy fire season,” Abatzoglou said. Fire has seared more than 640,000 acres in Oregon, nearly three times the area that burned last year. Near the state’s Eagle Creek Canyon, teenagers lobbed a smoke bomb into dry brush, sparking a blaze that turned 30 square miles to ash. The “Chetco Bar” fire in southern Oregon has been burning for nearly two months and has consumed 180,000 acres. The fire, sparked by lightning, forced hundreds of residents from their homes in mid-August but it remained just five percent contained in early September. On August 20, the fire rapidly advanced toward Brookings, a heavily-wooded oceanfront town of 6,000 residents. Shortly before dusk, authorities rushed through the outskirts of town urging residents to immediately leave their homes. “It was a pretty scary thing because it was just an hour’s notice, and we had to get out,” said Sue Gold, a local resident and vice-chairwoman of the Curry County Board of Commissioners. “The fire was coming at us so quickly, and we didn’t have the forces to fight the fire.” Gold, 70, said it was only after authorities rushed in firefighting reinforcements but “only after they realized the whole town was in danger.” Gold returned home three days later. The fire, she said, should “have been taken care of a lot earlier.”
PRCA Clear Bag Policy for the NFR
F
ollowing the lead of the National Football League, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PCA) has announced that they will have a “clear bag” policy at the 2017 National Finals Rodeo (NFR) slated for December 7 through 16 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rodeo fans will be limited to one clear bag: • no larger than 12” x 6” x 12”; • a one gallon freezer bag, a Ziploc or similar bag, no larger than 12” x 12”; • a small clutch bag no larger that 4.5” x 6.5”; or • an Official NFR Merchandise bag 20” x 20”. The prohibited list of bags includes, but is not limited to, backpacks clear or otherwise, binocular cases, camera bags, tinted plastic bags, fanny packs, purses, over-sized tote backs, printed pattern plastic bags and mesh bags are prohibited and will be will be allowed into Thomas & Mac Center. There is an exception for medically necessary items and diaper bags which will require thorough bag inspections at the entrance. Any refusal for inspection will lead to denied access into the area. All items are subject to search. All prohibited items will be denied admittance. Prohibited bags may be left at Bag Check. If you check a bag you will be provided a generic clear back for personal items. Of course the NFR and the Thomas & Mack Center are not responsible for lost or stolen items or property damage. The PRCA says their policy is consistent with industry standards nationwide.
“When it barely started, when it was a quarter acre, they could have taken a couple helicopters in there, dropped water, and that would have been it,” said Gold, noting parts of the area are still under an evacuation order. “A lot of individuals here are very upset, especially the ones who lost their homes.” More than 1.1 million acres have burned through Montana as the state struggles through its most destructive fire season in at least 20 years. The severity of this year’s fires can be partially traced to the drought in central and northeastern Montana, where lightning and sparks can easily ignite thousands of miles of moisture-starved grassland. Glasgow, in the northeastern part of the state, is experiencing its driest year on record with just 3.72 inches of rain and snow, according to the National Weather Service. Small-town football games and other athletic events have been canceled in many parts of the state. In Kalispell, the sixth annual Montana Dragon Boat isn’t taking place “due to unhealthy air conditions caused by forest fire smoke,” its website announced. “Unfortunately, we have fallen victim to the ravages of Mother Nature, and the air quality in the area has become too compromised to hold the event,” Diane Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention & Visitor Bureau, said in a statement. Though officials caution the precise costs will take months to compile, the federal costs of battling the fires this year appear largely in line with past years. Jessica Gardetto of the National Interagency Fire Center said the U.S. Forest Service has spent about $1.75 billion on fire-suppression efforts this year. The Department of Interior, which includes the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, have spent another $400 million. The two agencies spent a
combined $2 billion last year and $2.1 billion in 2015, according to federal data. A combination of climate change and land management have fueled an increase in wildfire activity dating to the 1980s, climate scientists reported in the journal Science in 2006. A decade later, Abatzoglou and his Columbia University colleague A. Park Williams calculated how climate change made more dry fuel available in American west. The increase in fuel “approximately doubled the western U.S. forest fire area beyond that expected from natural climate variability alone” between 1984 and 2015, they wrote. “Man-made climate change is making things incrementally hotter and allowing for fuels to dry out that much faster,” Abatzoglou said. “We have certainly seen more years favorable to large fire outbreaks — like the one we’re experiencing now — over the past half century.” Add this to a “legacy of fire suppression and fuel accumulation,” and the result is a “perfect storm for big fire seasons.” The county health department issued a recommendation for residents to leave Seeley Lake, but some residents remain. Many who have stayed are in a lower economic bracket than their summer neighbors who have left lake homes for Missoula, Coefield said. “There are people living in that smoke. There are children, there are babies, there are the elderly. These are people who should not be breathing smoke,” she said. The smoke delayed the start of school for a week. In that time the building installed filters to scrub the air of particles. The effort to get filters to Seeley Lake spurred a movement to get filters into schools across the state, a call taken up by nonprofits like the American Lung Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield. “It’s amazing now to have all of those nonprofits stepping up,” she said. “It’s been frantic. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
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Livestock Market Digest
The View FROM THE BACK SIDE
Rancher’s Parasites BY BARRY DENTON
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riginally I wanted to write an article about a “rancher’s paradise”, I looked hard, but I could not find one. They have been disappearing way to fast. No, I am not claiming that ranchers personally have parasites. If you are wondering what
type of parasites those might be, they would probably fall into the species of “know it all city slickers” or folks that have no clue how a ranch works. It has been my experience that ranchers are very willing to explain their profession to people who are genuinely interested and would not consider explaining it to those
who are not. The first sub species of parasite I would like to recognize is the recreational ATV’er. ATV of course stands for “all terrain vehicle.” While these vehicles are very useful and fun to ride, they have become the scourge of the West. The United States Forest Service (USFS) even encourages ATV use on their trails. The ATV allows people to access remote areas that were once only accessible to hikers and horse backers. Since ranchers lease vast amounts of ground to run cattle on or many private ranches are surrounded by government land, ATV access has turned the rancher’s life into a nightmare. We know the USFS has rules in place for the ATV’ers, but they have no way of policing and enforcing the rules.
October 15, 2017 Sound familiar? It’s the same thing the government does with our national parks on the southern Arizona border. Now, they just erect signs and tell American’s that their national park is not safe to enter. This just does not make any sense that non tax-paying people from south of the border can make our national parks unsafe for taxpayers. The same thing is happening to tax-paying ranchers. The ATV’er does not pay for any leases on government land and yet they can ride there. Why are they allowed to ride on leased land? Why not keep the ATV’ers riding on government land that does not have a lease or give them access to specific areas where there is no livestock? This goes back to a statement from one of our former democrat Arizona governors, “logic has no place in government” according to her. It does not say anywhere in a government lease that you have to share it with ATV’ers. The least the government could do to rectify the situation is to charge a lease fee to ATV riders directly paid to rancher’s who hold the lease. This would help fund the damage caused by the ATV’er. Many ATV riders are on a destructive mission and have no regard for the land they are riding on. The rancher has been safe guarding and managing these lands for many years to keep a good yield on his cattle. The ATV’ers tear up grass pastures, shoot holes in water tanks and personal property, they also have a tendency to loot whatever they come across of value. I am writing this from personal experience in case you were wondering. Now, my guess is that maybe 30 percent of ATV riders, actually follow the rules, stay on the trails, and do not wreck what does not belong to them. Uninvited parasites are not any fun to deal with. Funny thing, but many times the ATV’ers when confronted say that they have a right to access public land, but then they think nothing of wreaking havoc on your private land as well. The second most invasive parasite is the “alleged hunter.” In other words a hunter that is not serious about hunting, but just likes to act like a wild banshee around your livestock. I have hunters that have been coming to our area for 50 years just like clockwork. They normally stop in and check where our livestock are, where the deer are, and where a good place to camp would be. Many times we help them out with water, gasoline, the phone, etc. They help us out by keeping their buddies in the right areas, respecting our fence lines, and putting out their camp fires when they leave. These have become good friends and now their grandson’s families are hunting this area. It works just great when people respect each other. The “alleged hunter” you will never see hunting, but will be driving back and forth in front of your house trying to shoot a deer out of their pickup. Funny
thing, but no deer can be seen from the road during hunting season. I do not understand why they do not just stay in town and drive up and down the road. They would have just as good of luck trying to kill a deer. I have even had hunters complain because the deer were in one of my private pastures with the cattle. They ask if they can hunt in the cow pasture populated with cattle. Then they ask if they can pay me to hunt on my land. When I say sure, here is my tax bill they get offended. Why should “alleged hunters” be allowed to hunt on land they do not pay for? I do not go on their land. The third and last parasite I will describe is a slightly new phenomenon within the last few years. These are the bicycle riders dressed in their rainbow leotards, Jiminy Cricket glasses, and kid helmets. We live in the mountains so pulling a load of cattle in a stock trailer on the way to the sale barn can be a challenging feat, especially on the many miles of dirt road we have. Just about the time you are pulling 3 mile hill with a good head of speed, you go around a blind curve and in the middle of the road is some gaily colored bicycle rider. Your rig slide sideways trying not to hit them and of course you have to come to a stop and restart again. The guy on the bicycle has his little headset with the music going and is oblivious to you entirely. You start out once again and when you catch back up with him, you blow your horn for him to get out of the way. Of course, he is scared to get too close to the side of the road because of the bar ditch. You finally creep by him and you have lost all momentum to get up the mountain. I always thought dressing in female circus clothes and riding a bike down a highway was pretty stupid, but doing that on a back road with a bunch of ranchers around is even worse. Quite frequently you hear of these bicycle riders getting hit by cars and killed. How do reasonably sane people get addicted to riding bicycles in unsafe environments? It must be like the tobacco industry and they have something in the bicycle seats that make folks do stupid things. Who knows, maybe the riders will eventually sue Schwinn? I am afraid this article about rancher’s parasites could continue for several more paragraphs, but I thought I would just get a few of the most unpopular ones out of the way. Ranchers have had to endure many negative changes in the last 20 years with the North American Free Trade Agreement being the most egregious. Let’s hope President Trump gets that straightened out and I know he is working hard on it. The liberal city slicker elites are trying hard to get ranchers out of business. I guess they figure they can buy their food from a foreign country, but we ranchers are not gone yet!
October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 13
More Fuel for the Food/Feed Debate New study H indicates umans face mounting challenges when it comes to finding ways to sustainably feed an exploding population. As populations become wealthier and more urbanized, the demand for animal products continues to climb. Although supply chain efficiencies improve, livestock are considered a resource drain, requiring a large amount of feed, which could also be used by humans, to produce a relatively small amount of meat. A new study in Global Food Security found that livestock place less burden on the human food supply than previously reported. Even stronger, certain production systems contribute directly to global food security because they produce more highly valuable nutrients for humans, such as proteins, than they consume. “As a Livestock Policy Officer working for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, I have been asked many times by the press to report on the negative environmental impacts of livestock,” explained lead investigator Anne Mottet, PhD. “Doing so, I came to realize that people are continually exposed to incorrect information that is repeated without being challenged, in particular about livestock feed. There is currently no official and complete international database on what livestock eat. This study contributes to filling this gap and to provide peer-reviewed evidence to better inform policy makers and the public.” While there have been vast improvements in food systems, people still go hungry. In 2015 alone, approximately 800 million people around the world were undernourished. Animal food sources make a vital con-
livestock production is a much smaller challenge to global food security than often reported
tribution to global nutrition and are an excellent source of macro- and micronutrients. Meat makes up 18 percent of global calories and 25 percent of global protein consumption and provides essential micro-nutrients, such as vitamin B12, iron, and calcium. Livestock use large areas of pastures where nothing else could be produced. Animals also add to agricultural production through manure production and drought power. Further, tending livestock provides a secure source of income for people in many in rural areas. Despite these benefits, raising livestock is often pointed to as an inefficient system because animals consume food that could potentially be eaten by people. Some previous studies, often cited, put the consumption of grain needed to raise 1 kg of beef between 6 kg and 20 kg. Contrary to these high estimates, the current investigation found that an average of only 3
kg of cereals are needed to produce 1 kg of meat. It also shows important differences between production systems and species. For example, because they rely on grazing and forages, cattle need only 0.6 kg of protein from human food to produce 1 kg of protein in milk and meat, which is of higher nutritional quality. In addition, this study determined that 86 percent of livestock feed, which includes residues and by-products, is not suitable for human consumption. If not consumed by livestock, the study points out, these “leftovers” could quickly become an environmental burden as the human population grows and consumes more and more processed food. Researchers also analyzed land use and herd management. Global Livestock Feed Intake “The media often reports how consumers’ choices can contribute to sustainable development, like through a vegetarian diet; however, erroneous information is provided regarding livestock feed requirements,” noted Dr. Mottet. “We hear statements, for example, that to produce 1 kg of beef, we need large amounts of cereals. While we need to ensure that our diets are sustainable from a health and environmental point of view, the public and decision makers need accurate information to guide their choices.” Livestock production is growing fast because demand for animal products is rising, particularly in developing countries. FAO estimates that we need 70 percent more animal products by 2050 to feed the world. Therefore, the area of land needed to raise animals will also increase if feed conversion
Protein Preferences in North America: Nielsen BY RITA JANE GABBETT, MEATINGPLACE.COM
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s consumers across North America pay more attention to the label claims on the food and beverage products they purchase, one claim has gained momentum among consumers: protein. As consumers continue to focus on their overall health and wellness, food and beverage products that are rich in protein have a unique opportunity to resonate with today’s shoppers and the retailers that stock them on their shelves, according to a new survey by The Nielsen Company. In the United States, 35 percent of households say they follow a specific protein-focused diet such, as high protein, Paleo, low carb, etc. Meanwhile, half of
North Americans say they eat a form of protein with every meal, and around one-third agree that the source of protein matters. Protein claims are also winning at the cash register. In the United States, products labeled an “excellent source of protein” grew 12 percent in the recent year, while those listed as a “good source of protein” grew four percent, according to Nielsen. Among both Americans and Canadians, meat, eggs and dairy are the top three protein sources, with seafood and legumes/nuts/seeds falling to fourth and fifth place, respectively. Findings from a recent Nielsen survey among consumers in Canada and the United States found that consumers on both sides of the border intend to eat more
fish, seafood and legumes. However, 20 percent of Canadians plan to eat more legumes, nuts and seeds (compared with 15 percent of Americans), while 78 percent of Canadians plan to eat the same amount of meat (compared with 53 percent of Americans). On the other hand, 22 percent of Americans plan to eat less meat, compared with only 15 percent of Canadians. “Manufacturers whose products contain protein should continue to invest in marketing that puts protein claims front-and-center of packaging labels,” the survey report concluded. “There are clear growth opportunities to satisfy consumers’ protein preferences, and that goes for protein-hungry consumers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.”
ratios (FCR) are not further improved. Steps have already been taken through feed formulation, genetic selection, and better veterinary services to improve FCRs over the last 30 years, but continued progress is needed to make the system more sustainable. In addition, it is essential to improve the recycling of food wastes and by-products into livestock feed as well as to increase feed crops yields. “Animal production, in its many forms, plays an integral role in the food system, making use of marginal lands, turning co-products into edible goods, contributing to crop productivity and turning edible crops into highly nutritious, protein-rich food. Quantifying the land and biomass resources engaged in livestock production and the food output they generate, but also improving our modeling capacity by including trends in consumer preferences, shifts in animal species, climate change impacts, and industrial processes to improve the human edibility of certain feed materials is arguably basic information needed as part of further research into the challenge of sustainably feeding 9.6 billion people by 2050,” concluded Dr. Mottet. The article is “Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/ food debate,” by Anne Mottet, Cees de Haan, Alessandra Falcucci, Giuseppe Tempio, Carolyn Opio, and Pierre Gerber, (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. gfs.2017.01.001). It appears in Global Food Security Volume 14C (September 2017) published by Elsevier and is freely available. Full text of this article is openly available at http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.gfs.2017.01.001. About Global Food Security Global Food Security publishes papers that contribute to better understanding of economic, social, biophysical, technological, and institutional drivers of current and future global food security. It aims to stimulate
debate that is rooted in strong science, has strong interdisciplinary connections, and recognizes tradeoffs that occur in reconciling competing objectives and outcomes that may differ depending on spatial and temporal scale. Given this focus, Global Food Security is an invaluable source of information for researchers, lecturers, teachers, students, professionals, policy makers, and the international media. www.journals.elsevier. com/global-food-security Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray’s Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries.
Page 14
Livestock Market Digest
Wanted: Cowboy
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’d like to meet the ol’ boy that wrote that ad. You can almost picture him in your mind. We’re all acquainted with somebody that fits his description. He might be willing to give you a month off to go see your ailin’ mother but better not ask
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kin’ with nature than you’d read in thousand BLM pamphlets. He probably wouldn’t have much sympathy if you bucked off one of his colts but if yer wife’s in the hospital he’ll make sure you have everything you need.
October 15, 2017
He’d look the other way if you got picked up by the deputy for gettin’ rowdy in town but if you don’t get the salt scattered in the right place there’ll hell to pay! The person that answers that ad ought to know better than to set down and start askin’ about paid holidays, days off, cost of living escalators and a five year contract. However, if I don’t miss my guess, he’ll get a day’s pay for a day’s work, good grub, a warm bunk and that kind of “family feelin’” that comes with cowboyin’. There’s plenty of good hands that could answer that ad and
fit right in. If he gits the job you can bet yer silver snuff can lid he’s a cowboy. A reporter asked me awhile back if I was a cowboy. I said no. That name is reserved for them that make their livin’ punchin’ cows. It didn’t bother me to be mistaken for a cowboy, matter of fact I’m proud of it. But that honor belongs to that particular feller who gits up everyday, puts on his spurs and goes to work. Them that writes “COWBOY” in the blank space after ‘occupation’ on the IRS form; they’re what I’m talkin’ about. Real cowboys; the backbone of the cattle business.
Surveillance Photo of Fuels Tensions Between Ranchers & Yakama Nation BY HAL BERNTON SEATTLE TIMES STAFF REPORTER
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photo has caused a big stir in this small ranching hamlet in southern Washington. Posted on Facebook and forwarded to law enforcement, it shows a man in uniform standing next to a fire that is consuming a wooden water gate. A surveillance camera grabbed the image August 18 on Yakama Nation land. It was put there by a small irrigation company that sends water from tribal lands to ranches outside the reservation. Company leaders had been concerned that someone this summer had been trying to sabotage the structure that funnels water from Cougar Creek, where they hold water rights, into a canal. So they set up the camera. The camera took a series of photos of what appears to be a Yakama Nation official setting
fire to the wooden irrigation gate without so much as taking the badge off his shirt, according to the irrigation company and a Yakima County sheriff’s detective who reviewed images. The man’s face is visible in a shot that an irrigation-company board member posted online to try to identify him. Other photos include images of the man stacking wood by the water-diversion gate and the blaze starting as he walks away, according to ranchers and the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, which plans to forward the case to the FBI. “This is pretty troubling, and we will be making sure they are aware of this,” said Detective Sgt. Mike Russell, of the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office. David Quesnel, prosecutor for Klickitat County, which includes Glenwood, said he also reviewed photos and was concerned by what he saw.
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Neither law enforcement nor siderable depth of experience the tribe has publicly named the negotiating thorny issues of this person in the photo posted on kind,” said a statement released Facebook. Because the man’s by Dan DuBray, the bureau’s face is shown in that photo and public affairs chief. Ranchers earlier this month no charges have been filed, The Seattle Times is not publishing said they hoped to start talks with tribal officials. that image. “We believe that any issues The fire occurred at the tail end of a difficult growing season that the tribe has, we can solve for the ranchers who own Hell — if given the opportunity, ” said Roaring Irrigation. They reside Hathaway, the irrigation-compain a remote southern Washing- ny board chairman and a Glenton valley where there have been wood-area rancher. Tribal chairman Goudy did long-running tensions as the tribe challenged the boundar- not respond to requests for comies set between reservation and ment from The Seattle Times. state lands. This summer, a water dispute Tribe halts access flared as the Yakama Nation shut Fewer than half a dozen off part of the irrigation flows the ranchers are the major users of ranchers normally access on trib- the Hell Roaring Creek Irrigaal lands. Then in August came tion water. the fire that destroyed a strucThey live around Glenwood, a ture that diverts creek water into tiny southern Washington coma canal. munity that on a clear day offers Ranchers wondered whether spectacular views of Mount Adthe torching was a rogue action, ams looming over pastures and or might somehow have been hay fields. sanctioned by the tribal council. Much of the water comes “We were shocked to see what from two creeks on tribal land. was going on,” said Dan Hatha- For each, the tribe approved way, board chair of the Glen- easements that for alon ... atidecades public tockwooden wood-based irrigation company. lowed the structures s e v li ative The Yakama Nation t inform that funnel water into an irrisTribal st’s mo e w th u incident will be CouncilThsays gation canal that traverses tribe Sothe investigated. al lands. The water then heads ET RK MAto “The Yakama Nation has south the ranches, where the learned of unauthorized and water is needed for fields and potentially harmful activities of cattle. A portion of this company a Yakama Nation employee,” water is available for other users, wrote JoDe Goudy, chairman of including the Conboy Lake Nathe Yakama Nation Tribal Please Coun- subscribe tional Wildlife me to Refuge. cil, in an Aug. 23the announcement. The state Livestock Market Digest for: recognizes the irri“These actions, if at they are found gation company’s water rights on 1 Year $19.95 2 Years at $29.95 to have happened, endangered the Yakama Reservation, accordthe health and well-being of peo- ing to Joye Redfield-Wilder, a pleNAME and resources.” Department of Ecology spokesEven before the fire, the woman. ADDRESS struggles with the tribe ranchers’ But the irrigation company drew the attention of politicians. also needs tribal permission for PHONE Jamie Rep. Herrera-Beutler, easements. R-Vancouver, whose congresThis year, a water dispute E-MAIL district sional includes Glen- flared over one of the easements wood, has been trying for several that allowed the irrigation comMC months to bring both sides to- VISApany to reach Big Muddy Creek, gether to talk about their con- an important source of late-seacerns. son water for ranchers. CARD NUMBER At her request, the Interior That easement expired Department sent a high-ranking in 2008. Even so, the irrigaEXPIRATION DATE official from Washington, D.C., tion-company workers continued to SIGNATURE meet with ranchers and trib- to have access to the creek-diveral officials in an August trip that sion site. Payment Enclosed or 25 letter signed occurred just before the surveilBut in a May subscribe lance photos were reviewed by by Goudy, online the Yakama Nation @ chair notified Hell Roaring the irrigation company. SEND PAYMENT TO: tribal AAALIVESTOCK.COM “Interior Market has been fully en- that the company no longer had Livestock Digest gaged … led access to Big Muddy. P.O. Box 7458by acting Bureau Mexico 87194 ofAlbuquerque, ReclamationNew Commissioner Goudy wrote that the ranchAlan Mikkelson, who has a con- ers trespassed in their twice-year-
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ly use of heavy equipment to channel creek flows into the irrigation ditch. His letter said that violated tribal water code and the federal Clean Water Act. “I am responsible for the lands and people of the Yakama Nation, including those things that cannot speak for themselves,” Goudy wrote. “I write to notify you of the Yakama Nation’s Tribal Council refusal to consent to your request for a new road right of way and any continued manipulation of the Big Muddy Creek stream bed.” Hathaway said Muddy Creek has a rocky stream channel, and moves around each year. The heavy equipment work was needed, he said, to ensure that water kept flowing through the diversion. “This has been our practice since 1941. Why did it suddenly become an issue?” Hathaway said.
Security camera
Ranchers say the loss of Big Muddy water has significantly reduced their ability to grow forage for their cattle. They say this will be a big economic hit to ve livest ati their operations. s most inform st’ e w th ou signs of the water They The Ssay shortage can be seen just outside MAR of Glenwood. Cattle graze in a pasture with patches of brown. And a pond that sometimes does double duty as a source of water for fire fighting is now dried up. Please subscribe me Even afterthe they lost access to Digest fo Livestock Market Big Muddy, the 1 Year atranchers $19.95 contin- 2 Years ued to have a valid easement to reach the Cougar Creek diverNAME sion. Though on tribal land, that access had not been contested. ADDRESS They expected to be able to use this second water source without PHONE problems. But in recent months, they E-MAIL say, someone repeatedly pulled out wooden planks that channel the water from CougarMCCreekVISA to their canal. tore our stuff out seven CARD“He NUMBER different times this summer,’ said Keith EXPIRATION DATE Kreps, a Glenwood rancher who gets water from the Hell Roaring Irrigation. SIGNATURE They weren’t sure just who Payment Enclosed the vandal might be. When the surveillance photos showed a SEND tribalPAYMENT uniform,TO: a new question @ AAA emerged. Livestock Market Digest did this happen? That’s P.O. “Why Box 7458 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87194 the million-dollar question,” Kreps said.
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October 15, 2017
Livestock Market Digest
Page 15
Climate Scientists Are Not Noble, Stop Paying Them SOURCE: NCOLUMBIA-PHD.ORG
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veryone assumes climate scientists are noble. Fighting to save the planet. What nonsense. Not even close. Me included. I (Dr. Duane Thresher) am a climate scientist too. As I have said I went into climate science so I could study what I wanted, get paid, and be left alone, and that is one of the better reasons to go into climate science. Even the ones (see ahead for the others) who, like myself, honestly put in the years of courses and research necessary to be a real climate scientist are often twisted by it, made much less than noble. They put in a lot and give up a lot. And then nobody takes them seriously, not even other scientists. Men climate scientists for instance. I’m tempted to name names and tell tales out of school here. But for now let’s just say a lot of men climate scientists missed out on dating as graduate students and are determined to make up for it when they become senior scientists. And a lot of young women grad students are recruited by them into climate science these days. And as we learned from Hurricane Harvey, correlation is causation. Nah, I’m sure it’s just because those men climate scientists think women are smarter than men so will be better scientists.
Climate scientists are academics. Academics living in ivory towers — elites living a privileged life away from the harsh practicalities of the real world — is a common expression because it is so true. They often have never had any other jobs except at universities, which take very good care of them (best health insurance I ever had). Academics live in their heads (and it’s often not pretty in there!) not in the real world. Climate scientists are so thrilled with having any power, they don’t even think about the billions of poor who will suffer based merely on their opinion that carbon emissions should be drastically cut. Duh, who do they think is going to suffer the most if carbon emissions are cut? The poor. Yeah right, they are going to carbon tax the rich and give it to the poor to make up for their losses. Grow up. Robin Hood is a myth. That money will end up back in the pockets of the rich and the poor’s quality of life will get worse. Real heroes those climate scientists. And then there are the not qualified who become climate scientists. When the science bureaucrats (if you can’t do real science be a science bureaucrat) decided global warming was the next big thing, there was a huge influx of money, which meant a huge influx of unqualified into climate science since there just
weren’t enough qualified and the money HAD to be used. Enter opportunists, carpetbaggers, the corrupt, the ignoble. Physicists and mathematicians who couldn’t make it in their own fields, like James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt (who actually told me one reason he became a climate scientist was because he couldn’t make it in his degree field of mathematics). People who just wanted instant success as fake heroes or showmen rather than doing years of hard slow obscure real science. Given the save-the-planet nature of the field, the unqualified included herds of do-gooders, particularly women. (Note: Dr. Claudia Kubatzki agrees with this assessment.) They love committees. Protection by the herd. Power without sticking your neck out. Science by committee. The IPCC for example. Yeah, that’s going to work. Particularly when you have unqualified people on the committee to begin with. Scientific committees spend their time compromising to get — God save us — scientific consensus. 32 (ft/sec/sec) for gravitational acceleration is hard to remember, 100 would be better but all, except for the deplorable deniers, agree to compromise on 50. Now demand that be implemented in NASA’s programs since it is by scientific consensus (and the committee was diverse).
Zinke Orders More Access to Hunting, Fishing on Public Land ROB HOTAKAINEN, E&E NEWS REPORTER
C
iting a decrease in the number of hunters nationwide, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed a secretarial order today that will require federal agencies under his jurisdiction to develop plans to expand access for hunting and fishing on public land. The National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service will have 120 days to produce the plans, under Zinke’s new order, Secretarial Order 3356. And within a year, the agencies will be expected to “cooperate, coordinate, create, make available, and continuously update online” a single “one-stop” department database showing “available opportunities” for hunting, fishing and recreational shooting on their lands. Zinke’s order also directs Interior bureaus to amend national monument management plans to ensure the public’s right to hunt, fish and target shoot, as well as expand educational outreach programs for “underrepresented communities such as veterans, minorities, and youth.” It comes after Fish and Wildlife unveiled a survey that found there are 2.2 million fewer hunters in the United States than in 2011. “Hunting and fishing is a cornerstone of the American tradition and hunters and fishers of America are the backbone of land and wildlife conservation,” Zinke said in a statement. “The more people we can get outdoors, the better things will be for our public lands.” He added a personal touch.
“As someone who grew up hunting and fishing on our public lands — packing bologna sandwiches and heading out at 4 a.m. with my dad — I know how important it is to expand access to public lands for future generations. Some of my best memories are hunting deer or reeling in rainbow trout back home in Montana, and I think every American should be able to have that experience.” Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association, endorsed the new order, saying Zinke is “continuing to follow Teddy Roosevelt’s sportsman legacy by opening more land and water to hunting and target shooting.” And Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said it will help Americans “continue our rich sportsmen’s heritage.” “For too long, sportsmen’s access to our federal lands has been restricted, with lost opportunity replacing the ability to enjoy many of our best outdoor spaces,” she said. Randi Spivak, public lands program director with the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized the latest move by Zinke and said, “Teddy Roosevelt would be ashamed.” “What’s best for those who hunt and fish on America’s public lands is protecting and restoring wildlife habitat,” she said. “This is a PR stunt intended to distract from the fact that the Trump administration is accelerating logging, fracking, mining and livestock grazing that damage public lands and destroy crucial wildlife habitat.”
What did happen to the Mars Climate Orbiter? (Yes, I know, it was a mix-up of English and metric units but that could have been caused by the committee to force Americans to adopt the metric system. I like rocket units with pounds in it; so much more descriptive than newtons. And remember, I worked for NASA so I am a rocket scientist.) This influx into climate science of unqualified also meant they threw out good scientific practices, like not pretending climate models can actually predict climate when they were just invented to study it by experimentation. That inconvenient truth was such a hassle for the fake heroes and showmen of climate science. Things really didn’t start taking off until they got rid of that. And then when failing celebrities started to help, oh my! What to do? Stop paying climate scientists. The good ones are so into their science they will work for food, maybe less, maybe even pay to do it. French President Macron has invited the rest to move to France so they will be fine. He’ll probably even provide free burqas for the women climate scientists. Oh, wait, the women won’t be allowed to work. (Anybody ever notice how the leaders destroying Europe don’t have any of their biologically-own kids so no real reason to care about the future but they are always accusing Holocaust deniers, I mean climate change deniers, that if they don’t believe in global warming they don’t care about their kids?) Then let climate scientists make some clear predictions for 5 years into the future, not 50 when they won’t be around any more to take responsibility. When they are wrong they have to give back their taxpayer-provided salaries, with interest, and quit climate science. Or go to prison, like the seismologists in Italy. There —
actually like seismologists everywhere — they wrote their funding proposals stressing the (impossible) prediction aspect way too much. Then an unpredicted earthquake, as they all are (forever), hit with a major loss of life. It had to be somebody’s fault. A cautionary tale for California seismologists. When San Francisco is leveled it’s going to be your fault. Join the “Admit You Can’t Predict” movement before you go to prison! Start with defunding NASA GISS where this whole global warming nonsense started. It was started by James Hansen, formerly head of NASA GISS and considered the father of global warming. It was continued by Gavin Schmidt, current head of NASA GISS, anointed by Hansen, and leading climate change warrior scientist/spokesperson. I know from working there for 7 years that NASA GISS has almost been defunded several times in its life anyway. It’s a small group over a restaurant (Tom’s Restaurant from the TV comedy Seinfeld!) in New York City, nowhere near any other major NASA facility. Just the dedicated data link to the nearest NASA facility, GSFC in Maryland, is a big expense. GISS is the Goddard Institute for SPACE Studies. If you don’t need a rocket to get to it, it’s not space. Besides, NASA GISS is a monument to bad science that truly should be torn down. Take the money and buy a rocket. P.S. NASA GISS is paid for with your money. If you have not been cowed into silence, email NASA and demand they defund NASA GISS: robert.m.lightfoot@nasa.gov, lesa.b.roe@nasa.gov, cscolese@ nasa.gov, thelylesgroup@earthlink.net, diane.rausch@nasa. gov, paul.k.martin@nasa.gov, sumara.m.thompson-king@nasa. gov, rebecca.l.lee@nasa.gov, tom.cremins-1@nasa.gov
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RIDING HERD
continued from page one
all the old animal movie stars to fend for themselves. Some monkeys who had starring roles in Tarzan movies were sighted in the trees at a high school but I, and several thousand other residents, were far more interested in the lion and tiger stars that were rumored to be in the general vicinity. This was far more interesting to me than going to Disneyland because all the animals there had steel for bones and wires for brains. I never did get to see Lassie, Mr. Ed The Talking Horse, or the Lone Ranger’s mount, although I did get to see Trigger at Roy Roger’s museum. (The stuffed horse deal kinda creeped me out.) At a supermarket grand opening I did see from afar the sailor who drew pictures of Popeye and many other cartoon characters on TV,
attention to them. But then, I can say the same thing after meeting Baxter Black or Bob Tallman for the first time. The only physical proof I have that I’ve ever met a really famous animal is the photo I have of me as a two year old mounted on Gene Rambo’s horse at a rodeo my grandpa put on. At least that’s what Grandpa told me, for all I know the nag could’ve belonged to one of the pick-up men. Oh, and perhaps some scientist can lift some famous DNA from the faded spot on my good shirt that, how should I say this delicately, was shat upon by the gaseous Grand Champion bull with projectile-like diarrhea through the bars of a Cow Palace sale ring.
all while talking to a colorful parrot on his shoulder. When the sailor showed up without the parrot 300 kids aged four through 12 rioted in the streets. It was no great loss because later I learned the parrot was real full of himself and cussed worse than any sailor ever did. Although in retrospect, I might have learned a few words they didn’t teach us in English class. Although I don’t have a lot of famous autographs some heir can sell for lots of money on eBay, I do have memories of meeting Arlinda Chief (Holstein), Big Sky Guy (Angus), Lerch, (Hereford) and the “Angus” steer that won Denver but after the dye faded was determined to be at least half Charolais. Had I had any idea they were going to be as famous as they became I’d have paid more
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October 15, 2017
Values That Keep Farm Kids Safe BY RODNEY PIERCE / INVENTORY & EQUIPMENT SUPERVISOR, NOBLE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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rom the time I was 6 or 8, I was helping my dad out on our family’s farm. We raised cattle and grew peanuts and wheat. My earliest jobs were helping my dad feed small square bales, hoeing peanuts and many other basic tasks related to operating a farm. Over time, I became more involved in every aspect of the operation. Now, I raise a few cows on a small place in Leon, Oklahoma, in addition to supervising equipment maintenance and repair at the Noble Research Institute. Safety was something my dad hammered into me from an early age. I remember him pointing out different things on the farm, like a rotating PTO shaft on the tractor, and saying “That’ll kill
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1 Respect livestock. Animals’ size and weight can make them dangerous. It’s important to give animals their space and to be extra cautious with males and mothers with offspring. Dad also taught me the importance of “always having a way out,” in case an animal gets aggressive. That’s something I’ll teach my children as they get older and start working more closely with the cattle.
2 Respect equipment.
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you, son.” It’s a blunt statement, but there’s a lot on the farm – from equipment to animals – that could hurt an adult or child. Safety was part of our everyday life conversations; it was a mindset my dad learned from his dad. Now that I have children who help me on the farm, I am constantly thinking about keeping them safe and passing that safety mindset on to them. In recognition of National Farm Safety and Health Week, I want to share with you some of the farm safety values passed down in my family.
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Know what equipment is designed to do, and don’t push it beyond those boundaries. This goes for both adults and children. As a grownup, it’s neat to put your child in the tractor with you. But if you don’t have a buddy seat, you shouldn’t have a passenger. Another piece of equipment commonly misused is a side-by-side utility ATV. I teach my children that these vehicles are pieces of equipment designed to help us work. They aren’t toys.
3 There’s a lot of equipment you don’t need to be close to if you’re not using it. I tell my kids they should stay at least 60 feet away from me if I’m using the lawnmower or weed-eater. They know not to come up to me from behind. If they need to get my attention, they can get my attention from a distance.
4 If you don’t know what something is, don’t mess with it. This knocks out a lot of hazards. My dad always told me, “If I haven’t told you about it, it’s not your business.” I keep power tools and chemicals out of reach, when possible, but I also teach my children they shouldn’t touch things if they don’t know what they are or if they were told not to touch them. My dad’s refrigerator to this day has a shelf in it for cattle vaccines. He made sure we knew from a young age what that shelf was for and not to touch it.
5 If you can’t see my eyes, I can’t see you. I watch for my kids constantly, but kids can come out from nowhere. If you’re in a tractor, it would be very easy to not see or hear them come to the field. That’s why I tell my kids to be sure I know if they’re in the field and that I see them. If they can’t see my eyes, then I can’t see them either.