LMD Sept 2012

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

MARKET

Digest A

SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 • www. aaalivestock . com

Volume 54 • No. 10

Where The West Ends

by Lee Pitts

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NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

by LEE PITTS

No Child Left Outside

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

t’s hard to believe that there was a time in this country when Kentucky was considered “The West” and people in the east believed that California was an island. When Greeley told young men to go west there was some question as to where exactly that was. Remington said the West began at the high plains, some say it’s beyond the Rockies, while the official position seems to be that it begins at the 100th meridian. But the real West cannot be defined by latitude and longitude. You’ll just know it instinctively when the sky starts getting bigger and the towns get smaller. You’ll begin to feel more elbow room out here “where the pavement ends and the West begins.” The mountains will be taller, the rivers longer, the plants will have more thorns, the trees will be older, and their leaves, if they indeed have any, will be plainer. Tourists need not worry about finding a room during “leaf season” in the West.

The roads will be straighter and the gas stations further apart. Out your window in the West you’ll see less corn and the beans will not be of the soy variety. The cattle will have to travel further to get a drink and the kudzu of the south will be noticeably absent. Instead you’ll see the proverbial tumbleweeds that pick up remnant cotton as

Riding Herd

“Some men are like the sky. The only time they are quiet is when they’re blue.” they do indeed, tumble across the highway. Easterners will swerve to miss them. You’ll see way more armadillos than license plates from Maine or Rhode Island and plenty of agricultural roadkill on the shoulder of the road, like squashed tomatoes and avocado guacamole, reminding you that this harsh land can

also be one of plenty.

You know you’re in West when you’ve left the humidity of the East and start to see cracks in the ground, and in your epidermis. It’s dry out here where, in the words of one old-timer, “it’s 100 miles to water, 20 miles to wood and six inches from hell.”

When you’re in the land of Custer, Cody and the Comanches you needn’t look too hard for signs of Indians. There will be large reservations where cigs are sold, trading posts where easterners buy Kachina dolls and turquoise jewelry made in China, and that sure sign of Indians in the 21st century, the casino, where the Indians finally take their revenge on addicted white folks with too much money.

Some foolish folks say the West does not even exist, that it’s just a myth. It’s true, the old days are long gone, but the landscape remains. And it’s out here where Mother Nature did her best work. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Yosemite, the Redwoods, a New Mexico sunset, an Alaskan glacier and a pristine Sierra lake; they inspire and define us. Men continued on page two

America can’t trust the public trust

by RON ARNOLD, Washington Examiner

n March 1972, in the case of Lynch v.

Household Finance Corp., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “A fundamental interdependence exists between the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property. Neither could have meaning without the other.”

For good measure, the high court added, “[T]hat rights in property are basic civil rights has long been recognized.”

In December 1973, professor Robert I. Reis told a conference at the liberal Albany Law School that the public trust doctrine was “an elastic and dynamic legal construct” that could expand so that “private rights or future privatization of rights would be precluded or significantly diminished.”

The public trust doctrine is the principle that the government holds title to navigable waters and maintains them in trust for the public’s reasonable use. The “elastic” part is what else besides navigable waters a lawyer can convince a court to define as being “cloaked with the public interest.”

Reis gloated over the then-recent case of Just v. Marinette County. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling was “the classic example of defining the property right out of existence. The landowner’s only right was to use

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the land in its natural state.”

Carol LaGrasse, founder and president of the New York-based Property Rights Foundation of America, attended that conference and wanted two minutes to rebut Reis’ presentation. Patricia Salkin — then-director of the sponsoring school’s Government Law Center — promised the time.

“However, I was denied the two minutes,” LaGrasse told me, “and when I spoke forcefully from the floor, I was ignored. It was embarrassing, but I plowed up to the podium and critiqued the public trust doctrine.

“I had to speak over booing faculty and trust fund students with fingers in their ears, screaming at the top of their lungs, ‘I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!’”

That 1973 episode remains the archetype of liberals’ “secret ego demanding to feel superior,” as science fiction author Frank Herbert once wrote. His legendary audacity bared liberals’ faux open-mindedness with this mocking mantra: “Only liberals really think.

Only liberals are intellectual. Only liberals understand the needs of their fellows.”

Two weeks ago, a California newspaper ran an op-ed titled “Restore public trust to water law” by San Francisco environmental attorney Antonio Rossmann. It began, “Trust. It’s the most severely

ny day now I expect to get a piece of junk mail that reads something like this: “Little Johnny took his first steps outside when he was only 13 years old. His knees were wobbly, a look of fear was on Johnny’s face, and he held his mother’s hand tightly as he looked up in the sky for the first time and asked, “Mommy, what is that big bright thing in the sky?”

“That would be the sun,” replied his mother. “I’m sure you’ve heard about it on the Internet.”

“And what’s that stuff blowing in my face that makes it burn?”

“That would be the wind Johnny. Once we go back in the house you can Google it and learn all about it.”

“Can we go back inside now, mommy? It’s uncomfortable out here,” said poor little Johnny. “Oh no, mommy, HELP! HELP! There’s something crawling on my arm!”

“Don’t cry Johnny, it’s just a lady bug. It won’t hurt you.”

“It’s gross. I want to go back inside right now! I want my X-Box.” Like millions like him, little Johnny suffers from Nature Deficiency Disorder (NDD), a serious disease that tragically affects millions of kids just like him.

Won’t you donate to the NDD Foundation so that we can stop the suffering and so that one day our kids can once again go outside and play without throwing a temper tantrum.”

Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but there really is such a thing as NDD and it’s all been caused by the government program, “No Child Left Outside.” Okay, so maybe I’m a little confused. That was No Child Left Behind, but NDD is a serious scourge across our land, nonetheless. So is something called Nintendonitis, which comes from playing Nintendo too long. Mostly it affects technosexuals, young people who love continued on page fourteen

continued on page five

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September 15, 2012

Where The West Ends

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To Match My Mountains, indeed. The easterners want to make us preserve our western gift, failing to notice that our landscape is far less altered by bulldozers than theirs. The landscape is both our blessing and our curse. It’s so pretty that those in the East can’t let it be taken care of by mere mortals like us. It’s as if they’re saying, “The experts are here now. We’ll take over.”

We have fewer towns named after Civil War generals and far fewer places where important people slept. On this date in history George Washington did NOT sleep here. The historical markers alongside the road reflect a far less military bearing.

When you stop to read a historical marker in the East it will probably say a military battle was fought there, either during the Revolutionary or Civil War, whereas ours might be the sight of an old stage stop. Or where some ghost town once roared, albeit briefly.

If you read only eastern academics, schooled at Princeton and Yale, we in the West have no history until their forefathers showed up. They write like the West didn’t exist until it was “discovered” by eastern whiteskinned explorers of European extraction. While our history may be closer to the surface, we do have one, I assure you. Historians, DAR members and Civil War reenactors tend to disregard our past because we weren’t Protestant or Pilgrims. They feel superior, with their noses in their smoggy urban air. And so government bureaucrats in big buildings thousands of miles away manage our lands, tell us how to produce, and slowly eat away our soul.

As I watched on the news the wildfires destroy so many acres and lives, it dawned on me that the feds just might have watched too many western movies: like an outlaw holed up in an old cabin, they’re trying to burn us out. In another century the Army gave Indians blankets tainted with smallpox in order to destroy an entire culture, or what they’d probably call an “ecosystem”.

Today’s politicians aren’t nearly as subtle, as the overgrown forests are seared to white hot, leaving behind only what publisher Caren Cowan calls “charcoal and dust.”

The West has always been an easy place to die, because we are much closer to the cruel gods of nature. We really don’t need eastern politicians and green geeks to make it any easier, with their wolves and their wildfires.

The massacre of Indians was directed by eastern politicians and military men trained at West Point. They ordered the mass killing of all the buffalo as a way to end the Indian empire in the West, and now they are trying to do the same thing to the cow and the cowboy.

You’ll know you’re in the West when you read the menu at

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the truck stops that are our watering holes between long stretches of concrete and asphalt. Chilies will replace chitlins and Hush Puppies are a brand of shoe, not something you put in your mouth. Order grits and the waiter will look at you like you just arrived from Mars. You’re officially in the West when the mayonnaise changes from Hellmanns to Best Foods. Same mayonnaise, but someone in the East probably figured they had to change the name and the recipe to dumb it down and account for our less avant-garde palate.

. . . the real West cannot be defined by latitude and longitude.

Out West artichokes are a good enough reason to hold a party and we build floats in small town parades that pay homage to wheat, cows, a fruit or a vegetable. In a western steak house the restrooms might be labeled, “Cows” and “Bulls”, or “Setters” and “Standers”. It’s a joke eastern tourists don’t get. They’re more sophisticated than that, and I suppose they are. But we’re comfortable in our skin.

Bill Owens, the fabulous western artist said the West is “no place for a gunsel.” I think that’s about as good a defining phrase of who we are as any.

Sometimes it seems like easterners and westerners are two different species. Larry McMurtry, a writer who knows, wrote that “There are only two classes of people in the West . . . middle and working.” And darn proud of it too. It’s just that our government’s war on the West has been particularly hard on the middle and working classes.

In the West you’ll see more hard hats and cowboy hats, more four wheel drive pickups, roustabouts and roughnecks. We dress more casual and wear work clothes more often because we are closer to our work. In many cases it’s right out the back door.

I think we are a more friendly people, too, although the South might have an argument there.

But we’re not New Yorkers, if you know what I mean. After touring America, Oscar Wilde, the famous Irish writer and poet, was asked what he liked best and he said, “The West I liked best.

The people are stronger, fresher, saner than the rest.” I hope that is still true.

I understand why eastern women who talk on TV despise the West. They consider ours a “male-centric” society. The truly great western writer Elmer Kelton called the West “man’s country.”

Elmer meant no disrespect, a true westerner would never disrespect a woman. A cowboy puts women on a pedestal. It’s just that out

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

September 15, 2012

Where The West Ends here a woman has to do a “man’s work” in addition to her own. We joke, with tongue in cheek, that in the West “the men are men, and so are the women.” Again, no disrespect intended. Western women had to be tougher to survive, and I think still do. There’s an old saying that “the West has always been fine for men, mules and horses, but hell on women and dogs.” In western Indian tribes the women did all the work while the men mostly went on hunting trips. Some things never change, I suppose.

In westerners I discern no accent like those who come from the bayou, Birmingham or Bean Town. If we speak with any accent at all it’s a Latin one.

Many of our towns are named after saints, Spanish radio blares from boom boxes of carpenters and roofers, and the clerks at McDonalds drift in and out of both languages. Some think everyone ought to speak English at all times, but keep in mind most of us live in what were Spanish and Mexican colonies. If you have a nanny, a gardener or order fast food out here, you’d best have a smattering of Spanish.

In answer to my original question, I suppose what I’m saying is that there is no one place where the West begins. The Dakotas appear on any map to be about half way between the left and right coasts, but they are far more “west” than Seattle or San Jose. California may appear to be further to the left but it’s not any more west than Texas, New Mexico or Montana. Simple sub-

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tleties define the West and it can even differ within a state. I’ve always thought of Ogallala as being about as western as a place can be. But Omaha? Not so much. Amarillo is definitely west, but not so Texarkana.

To be “of the west”, or “to be west”, is a state of mind. An attitude. To be a westerner is to be a pioneer, unafraid of the new frontier. Although I dislike the term, westerners have always been “on the cutting edge”. For better or for worse, Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft all began out here, and Hollywood could be no place else. To be a true westerner is to be plain spoken, independent and hard working. All of us may not live up to those standards but most of us try.

To “live western” is a lifestyle those in the east simply don’t understand. This has always been so. The career politician from Massachusetts, Daniel Webster, said of the West, “What do we want with this vast worthless area, this region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts and shifting sands, of cactus and prairie dogs?”

Sadly, many easterners still feel the same way today. To them we are The Great American Desert, The Empty Quarter, America’s Outback and the Land Nobody Wanted. Easterners have always had little regard for us. In their eyes we are still a profane race of saloon keepers, gamblers, fugitives, and con continued on page four

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Fox(s) In The Henhouse

by CAREN COWAN

t is one thing to have someone attack you and yours — it is quite another for you to invite them into your fold so they will help you harm your family and neighbors.

There is no telling when the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and their cohorts began infiltrating animal agriculture with the stated ultimate goal of elimination of the food animal business. Their attacks went big in the media with the Hallmark incident more than four years ago. Other groups of animal owners will tell you that the HSUS or groups related to them have been working to eliminate animal ownership for a long time.

The inroads these anti-use groups have made into the ability for Americans to have a safe and affordable food supply over the past year is nothing short of an all out call to arms.

It started with the United Egg Producers (UEP) making a deal with the devil last year in agreeing to join HSUS in getting Congress to pass legislation to regulate egg production.

UEP is and was part of a new group called the United States Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) designed to educate and inform eaters about their food and the people who produce it. There were those who thought the USFRA and all of animal agriculture should intervene in some manner. There is that pesky “it’s a free country” thing that excused most from taking a position on the actions of UEP. Only the National Pork Producers (NPP) took a public stand against the alliance of UEP and HSUS. That made perfect sense because it seemed at the time that the pork people were the next in HSUS’s sights. To some degree that assumption has been correct. The media campaign against crated sows has continued as well the barrage of state legislation — never mind that it is an animal safe-

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ty issue.

A year has gone by, federal legislation was introduced and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) took the stand against the measures that their membership demanded. Currently the UEP/HSUS legislation is stalled — along with everything else before Congress.

A few weeks ago the entire saga took a stunning turn — Mike Callicrate and the Organization of Competitive Markets (OCM) filed injunction to halt the beef checkoff — with the help of HSUS. Demanding accountability is not new from Callicrate and other industry watchdogs. They have been trying for well over a decade to shed light on the checkoff as well as the strangling of the cow/calf producer. Their efforts have been applauded by the common man.

But unless you live on an island alone, there are always differences of opinion. Those differences may lead to conflict, but you don’t call in the bully from down the street to get the matter resolved your way. I can have a problem with my sister, but you better leave her alone.

In a statement from the US Cattlemen’s Association, board member Leo McDonnell said “While cattle producers have serious concerns about the beef checkoff, these issues would be better handled within the industry and by the industry itself.”

Callicrate and OCM’s have been the voice for those who find fault with current systems but their reasoning for aligning with HSUS is absurd.

“HSUS and their 11 million supporters want to help in our fight for family farm and ranch agriculture — the kind of food system that serves people, animals and our planet best. We agree that many people living in rural commucontinued on page four

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Where The West Ends men. They see it as their charitable cause in life to New Yorkify us; to save us from ourselves. So they send Washington bureaucrats among us as missionaries to teach us the green religion. The West is our home but to them it’s just a place to test their nuclear bombs, grow their vegetables, fuel their cars, house their endangered species and relieve their collective conscience. And they want to tell us all how to go about our business.

Can you imagine the uproar if we turned the tables and did the same to them?

General Sherman, who tried to obliterate the South once said, “The time is coming, and fast too, when there will be no West.”

I fear that he is right. Those from the East simply outnumber us.

Although they, too, had wolves in their midst at one time, now they want to lock up our land and let loose wolves and mountain lions in our backyards, not theirs. They want to manage our forests so they burn to a crisp, while greenies in more eastern climes don’t even get smoke in their eyes from the Armageddon their policies

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have created. They let our borders become war zones and feel more sorry for the illegal aliens than the citizen/rancher Rob Krentz, who they killed. Congressmen who’ve never been to Nevada want to tell Nevadans how to work, live and play, while folks in New Hampshire wouldn’t put up with that for one minute. They want to “live free or die.” Why shouldn’t we be accorded the same rights?

Do we have a chip on our shoulder as a result of the interlopers from back east? Darn right we do. We don’t suffer fools gladly. We are an independent clan and don’t like being told how to live. To put it bluntly, which is another trait of ours, we want those who live back east to keep their noses out of our business. We especially don’t like being dictated to by easterners who live in big city apartments and never venture beyond the city, who wouldn’t know the difference between a riparian area and a ripe banana. They’ve spoiled their environment and now want to “save” ours. They see our home as nothing more

than a Nature Disneyland to visit on vacations.

We resent the fact that so much of the West is owned by the government, while so little of the East is, and that we don’t have the same rights as they do.

And that no matter how many of us vote, there’s not a darn thing we can do about it.

Some say that the West never ends, that you can keep going in a westerly direction forever.

While that may be true of the West on a compass, it’s not true of the West, our home. The American West is a very special and sacred place. It’s not a mythical place. It’s where we live. And where our forefathers and mothers are buried.

To answer the question I posed initially, I can’t tell you with any accuracy where the West begins. But I can tell you with 100 percent confidence where the West will end. It will end in places like Rio de Janeiro, where George Bush the Second sacrificed private property rights of Americans by signing something called Agenda 21. It will end in that Monument to Marxism in New York City, the United Nations. And it will end in that city which no longer repre-

September 15, 2012 sents the common man, but special interest groups. The West simply cannot survive that cesspool of corruption, incompetency, payola and revolving door government, where know-nothing politicians, big business bureaucrats and liberal judges take turns shredding the Constitution, and our way of life. Make no mistake, If bureaucrats and pompous politicians keep lock-

ing up our land, burning it to a briquet, turning wolves loose to terrorize our citizens, enforcing silly regulations and rules to put farmers, foresters and fishermen out of work, the West will surely end in that eastern monument to everything that is wrong with this country. Forget what your map or GPS may say, Our West, no doubt, will end in Washington, D.C.

Fox(s) In The Henhouse nities caring for the land and livestock is better than a centrally planned, highly concentrated, industrial corporate controlled system exploiting and extracting wealth while enslaving the few people who remain,” Callicrate wrote. “95 percent of HSUS supporters eat meat, they just don’t want Tyson’s, Cargill’s and JBS’s meat, or the Pink Slime that gets added. HSUS supporters, along with many others, want to be able to buy from family farmers and ranchers. They are willing to support a local regional food system approach with their food dollars and votes.”

All Mike had to do was a simple search on the HSUS website.

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It took less than a minute to find the following: “The HSUS promotes eating with conscience and embracing the Three Rs — reducing the consumption of meat and other animal-based foods; refining the diet by avoiding products from the worst production systems (e.g., switching to cage-free eggs); and replacing meat and other animal-based foods in the diet with plant-based foods.” (emphasis added) As he licks his chops, what does the head of HSUS have to say about the Callicrate/OCM windfall?

Quoted in by the Brownfield Ag News, Wayne Pacelle says the reason his group is supporting a lawsuit against the beef checkoff is because of . . .

NCBA opposition to the socalled “egg bill” in Congress.

“We’re very upset that NCBA is lobbying against progress and science and animal welfare within the laying hen industry,” Pacelle says. “We don’t want to see diversion of checkoff funds to lobby against good programs like the one called for in the HSUS-UEP agreement.”

Reminded that there are firewalls in place to prevent checkoff funds from being used for lobbying by NCBA, Pacelle says, “if that’s the case, then we have no quarrels at HSUS — and I would think that NCBA doesn’t have much to be worried about.”

What NCBA has to worry about will be played out in the courts, but what is this vendetta costing the mostly rural families that grow beef for the nation and the world? The mis-use of the court system, a topic we have long criticized groups like HSUS for, is disgusting.

According to their website, OCM’s “mission, and our duty, is to define and advocate the proper role of government in the agricultural economy as a regulator and enforcer of rules necessary for markets that are fair, honest, accessible and competitive for all citizens.”

What do Callicrate and OCM hope to gain from this other than another 15 minutes of fame and the loss of respect of many of those who have supported them for years? Is their goal similar to that of HSUS — to generate funds via this conflict?

More likely, tired of winning some battles but losing the war they made a desperate and mistaken step and it backfired. The fox in the animal agriculture henhouse has been HSUS . . . now it is some of our own.

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Coalition Brings Suit to Protect Forest Management: Joining with other users of the National Forests, FFRC goes to court to stop misguided planning rule he Federal Forest Resource Coalition (FFRC) joined with a broad group of regional and national interests in a lawsuit to require the U S Forest Service to modify its new planning rule to avoid its devastating impacts on the health of the National Forests and the people who depend on them in mid August. The new National Forest Planning rules, adopted by the Forest Service on April 9, would shift the Forest Service away from a jobs and ecosystem approach. Instead, the planning rule would cement the National Forests in endless litigation over single species management, an approach that has been tried and failed repeatedly in the last three decades.

“The wood products industry tried very hard to convince the Forest Service that these new rules work against forest health

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and jobs, both of which are vital to rural economies. We commented at every stage in the process. These rules ignore the multiple use mandate given to the agency by Congress. Instead, they focus on single species preservation,” said Howard Hedstrom, President of Hedstrom Lumber in Grand Marais, Minnesota, and the Coalition’s President. “Going to court against the Forest Service was the last thing on our minds when we launched this coalition last year, but with the impact on jobs that will be caused by the planning rules, we had no other choice.”

“The new planning rules would extend approaches to land management that have worked badly in the West to the rest of the country,” said Tom Partin, President of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland, Oregon, and FFRC’s Vice

AMI Unveils Animal Care and Handling Guidelines Temple Grandin-Authored Guide Spurs Dramatic Changes In Livestock Handling at Meat Plants Over Two Decades

by AMERICAN MEAT INSTITUTE FOUNDATION

he American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF) unveiled the 2012 Recommended Animal Care & Handling Guidelines & Audit Guide, now in its 15th year.

Authored by leading animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, Ph.D., the audit guide has revolutionized the way the meat packing industry handles animals and measures animal welfare based upon simple core criteria.

The audit grew out of a report that Grandin did for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1996, in which she hypothesized that animal welfare did not have to be subjective, but rather could be evaluated objectively using numeric criteria. AMIF asked Dr. Grandin to author an audit based upon this concept, and the original version was released in 1997. By 1999, major restaurant chains began requiring audits as a condition of doing business and other customers soon followed.

Today, an estimated 95 percent of cattle, pigs and sheep are processed in plants that use the audit program. The guidelines and audit also are used globally and are a key component of major humane certification and labeling programs like American Humane Certified and Certified Humane.

In 2010, AMIF added a transportation audit to the plant audit program. The new guidelines refine the program based upon two years of field use. Modifications to the previous edition are detailed in the foreword to the 2012 edition. The 2012 Recommended Animal Care & Handling Guidelines & Audit Guide is available for free on Animal-

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handling.org.

During an address to the American Animal Science Association in July 2012, Grandin called the audit program “the most important accomplishment of my animal welfare career” because of its wide acceptance impact.

“In 1999 when the audit program really took off, I saw more improvements than I’d seen in the previous 25 years. Plants knew what they had to do. That had to hit clear numbers, much like speed limits. They had a clear goal and they learned to hit it,” she said. “The AMI guidelines have been a success because they are simple to use and they are objective. Assessing animal welfare in meat plants is no longer a matter of opinion, but rather is clear and objective.”

AMIF Chairman J. Patrick Boyle said the guidelines and audit program are a source of pride for the Institute. “Dr. Grandin’s unique insights into animal welfare and objective evaluation of animal welfare have helped this industry make dramatic progress in the way we handle the livestock we process for food,” Boyle said. “Our 20year partnership with her has benefited our industry immeasurably and the millions of livestock who whose welfare is enhanced by her approach.”

An overview of the new guidelines will be offered at the AMI Animal Care & Handling Conference, October 17-18, 2012 in Kansas City. To learn more about the conference or to register, visit www.Animalhandling.org.

President. “We’ve tried narrow approaches to species management in the Northwest. The result is endless appeals and litigation on every project. It’s not working for our forests, for our wildlife, or for our communities.

It’s regrettable that the Forest Service left us no choice but to use the Courts to force them to do it right.”

“On our actively managed Southern National Forests, threatened and endangered species are recovering, and game species are thriving. Unfortunately, because of the restrictive approach of the new planning rule, those conservation gains are at risk, along with the future of our struggling sawmills,” said FFRC Secretary Fred Stimpson, CEO of Scotch Gulf Lumber in Mobile, Alabama. “We would much rather focus on managing the forests than go to court, but

we’ve been left with no other options.”

Bill Imbergamo, FFRC’s Executive Director, added, “Forest Service Chief Tidwell and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have taken concrete steps to increase the pace and scale of management of our National Forests. That’s why we’re all the more perplexed by their decision to go down this path on the planning rule. Certain aspects of the rule would make it harder for the Forest Service to do the land management it knows it needs to do. If we don’t challenge, we are risking our legal rights and, more importantly, our long term ability to allow local Forest Service managers to sustainably meet the nation’s needs for wood products to build green homes and businesses.”

FFRC is joined in the lawsuit by a dozen other groups including the Public Land Council, the BlueRibbon Coalition of recreational users, and the Resource Development Council for Alaska.

The Complaint takes the Forest Service to task for elevating

America Can’t Trust the Public missing element in our public discourse.”

Juxtaposing trust as “faith in another” and a trust as “holding property for another,” Rossmann gave his pitch to place a public trust constitutional amendment on the 2014 statewide ballot.

The amendment would enshrine a 1983 California Supreme Court case, National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, which ruled that development “must be restrained by the public trust.”

Audubon was Rossmann’s holy green grail — a decision that environmental quality should be preserved “whenever feasible . . . surrendering that right of protection only in rare cases.”

Noted property rights attorney Nancie Marzulla explained the Audubon case: “The public trust doctrine operates as a blank check,” she told me, “in which the state can take for its own use vested rights in water and property

species viability, ecological sustainability, and ecosystem services as mandatory National Forest management objectives above the five statutorily prescribed multiple uses (outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish) and for requiring recreational opportunities to fit the agency’s definition of “sustainable” in order to be allowed on national forest lands.

The new planning rule replaces a rule first adopted in 1982. Subsequent attempts to revise that rule in 2000, 2005 and 2008 were all litigated, enjoined or abandoned. According to FFRC, the 2012 attempt is also doomed to failure, largely because it significantly changes the emphasis of managing the national forests through an administrative end run around the statutory direction to manage the national forests for multiple use and establishes a costly, cumbersome process that will make it even more difficult than it is already for forest managers to do their job to improve the health of our nation’s forests.

continued from page one

merely by declaring that water or property is subject to the public trust doctrine.”

How is that so different from ordinary eminent domain? Marzulla answered, “By relying on the public trust doctrine, the state can take whatever privately owned property it wants without paying for it.”

Without paying for it! The public trust doctrine actually trumps the Constitution’s just compensation clause. It’s the police power inherent in government, not granted by the Constitution.

Should the public trust the concealed viciousness of so many liberal judges wielding such police power without constitutional fetters?

No, America can’t trust the public trust.

Examiner Columnist Ron Arnold is executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise

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EPA gets an earful at local hearing in Arizona

by DANA COLE, Sierra Vista Herald

t was standing room only at the Cochise College Benson Center on August 15, 2012, where representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency listened to strong opposition regarding the agency’s proposed emissions control regulations for three coal-fired power plants in Arizona.

Between 250 and 300 people packed the building for a public hearing where they voiced objections about the EPA’s proposed action that aims to reduce “regional haze,” a problem the agency says is impacting visibility conditions in numerous national parks and wilderness areas throughout Arizona.

The EPA has determined that one of the best strategies for achieving its visibility goal is to require selective catalytic reduction — or SCR — technology on older power plants. Along with the Apache Generating Station, located south of Willcox in Cochise County, two other power plants affected by the EPA’s proposal are Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns and the Cholla Power Plant near Holbrook. Combined, the three plants impact 18 of the Class 1 areas the EPA is proposing to protect, including the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest.

The Apache Generating Station, which is owned by Arizona Electric Power Cooperative and provides power to most of Cochise County, impacts nine of those areas.

The debate pits economics

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against a visibility benefit, with AEPCO estimating the proposed technology could cost as much as $218 million.

“This would translate to nearly a 20 percent hike in AEPCO’s wholesale power costs,” said Patrick Ledger, AEPCO’s chief executive officer. “These outrageous costs would be passed on

negligible benefit to human vistas,” Pierce said. “The EPA’s proposal will impose significant costs upon Arizona utilities . . . and result in no perceptible improvement over the ADEQ’s state implementation plan.”

Pierce is urging the EPA to withdraw the federal plan for the “three plants in question and

Griffin challenged the EPA to focus its regulatory efforts on pollution coming into Arizona from landfills in Mexico. to our distribution cooperative owners and would place an unacceptable burden on their rural consumer members.” Massive cost increases, he added, will impact the economic viability of Apache’s steam units, possibly resulting in a shutdown.

Gary Pierce, chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission, opposes the EPA’s proposal, but supports a state plan for emissions control that has been approved by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Pierce does not believe the environmental benefits of the EPA’s federal implementation plan come “even close to surviving a good faith cost-benefit analysis,” noting that the regional haze concern does not impact human health, only human vistas.

“Even if we were to accept EPA’s cumulative deciview model, which we believe is legally flawed, the EPA’s federal implementation plan would provide

work with ADEQ to remedy any deficiencies in the state implementation plan, as proposed.”

Eric Massey, director of the ADEQ air quality division, also urged the EPA to withdraw its proposed plan and “open a dialog with the state to constructively move forward in approval of the state’s plan.” In his opening remarks, Massey said, “Arizona has been a pioneer and partner in both establishing and achieving regional haze objectives in the West.” When looking at regional haze standards, Massey argued that a cost analysis needs to be considered in determining reasonable controls.

“What EPA is proposing is not only unreasonable, but unnecessary,” he said.

Arizona Senator Gail Griffin also spoke of the proposal’s economic impact to the area, stating “there is no way AEPCO can absorb these costs.” Griffin said if AEPCO is required to install

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September 15, 2012 the proposed technology, the cost will endanger the viability and sustainability of the power plant, which employs 250 residents in some of the county’s more economically depressed areas. Griffin challenged the EPA to focus its regulatory efforts on pollution coming into Arizona from landfills in Mexico.

She also pointed to the number of wildfires across the state in recent years, which she said are the result of “failed federal land management policies on federal land.”

Griffin concluded her comments with, “Now let’s look at the benefits of the EPA plan.

What are the benefits? The answer is, none.”

Also on the subject of the proposal’s economic impact, Robert Carreira, director of the Cochise College Center for Economic Research, addressed an appropriate balance between protect-

The debate pits economics against a visibility benefit . . . ing the environment and growing the economy, placing emphasis on timing. “Appropriate times are largely tied to the performance of the economy,” Carreira said. “The same goes for regulation.” While Carreira noted that the costs of compliance will have a considerable impact no matter when it’s done, he urged the EPA to wait until unemployment is below 6 percent. That way, if jobs are lost, it’s easier for people to find new jobs, he argued. “If we lose a considerable number of jobs now, or even in the next couple of years as compliance costs begin to accrue, the results could be devastating,” he warned. “I urge you to substantially delay implementation of this regulation or find a less costly way to achieve the results you’re looking for.”

In his statement to the EPA, Russell Smoldon, senior director of state government relations at the Salt River Project (SRP) Agricultural Improvement and Power District, described the three power plants as vital economic engines for the rural communities they serve. SRP provides electric service to more than 950,000 customers and operates the Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns, one of the three facilities affected by the EPA’s proposed action, Smoldon said. While SRP is in the final stages of installing $500 million worth of new pollution equipment at Coronado, the EPA’s proposed plan is calling for additional controls, even before the current equipment installation process is complete, said Smoldon, who referred to the EPA as “misguided and unsupported.”

The EPA also heard from Steve Lines, the general manager and CEO of Graham County Electric Cooperative, Mike

Pearce, CEO of Duncan Valley Electric in Duncan, Ariz., Kevin Short, general manager of Anza Electric Cooperative out of Anza, Calif. and Creden Huber, CEO of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative. The hearing drew lawmakers, community leaders, mayors from different towns, business and utility executives, educators, members of the medical field, economists and concerned citizens.

Of the nearly 50 speakers, all but two objected to the EPA’s proposal.

In a brief statement, Kevin Dahl, who introduced himself as program manager for the national parks system spoke in support of the plan, stating that the EPA’s pollution controls will protect air quality at national parks.

He said the agency’s approach will help achieve clear skies and enhance the health of plants, animals and the land itself. “Our parks are a great resource for us and we have an obligation to protect them,” Dahl said.

Barbara Warren, a physician, talked about the thousands of tons of nitrous oxide the three plants release in the air every year. “Pollution from these three plants contributes to $314 million in health costs in Arizona every year,” Warren said. The pollution causes cardiovascular disease and asthma in children, she added. Warren urged the EPA to enforce its pollution control proposal, calling the three facilities “antiquated toxic coal plants.”

While the EPA is proposing to approve a portion of Arizona’s emissions control plan, the agency wants more limits on nitrogen oxides, or NOx emissions, said Colleen McKaughan, associate director of regional air quality. She says it’s the NOx issue that is sparking the debate.

McKaughan said NOx emissions at the Apache Generating Station are 4,700 tons/year and that none of the three facilities are equipped with adequate technology to control NOx. Comments from the EPA hearings and public comment period, which extends through Sept. 18, 2012, will be reviewed and a decision regarding the EPA’s proposal will be made based on the information gathered, McKaughan said. The EPA is still in the process of collecting public input and will consider economic impacts and other concerns that have been raised before making a final decision.

The deadline for final EPA action is Nov. 15, 2012.

The EPA will be exchanging information regarding a proposed rule on regional haze during a public comment period which extends through Sept. 18, 2012. Comments can be sent to www.regulaions.gov [1] or by going to the EPA website, www.epa.gov/region9/air/actions/ littleaz.html#all [2]. For those who would prefer to write to the agency, correspondence should be sent to: Thomas Webb Air-2; Air Division Planning Office; U.S. EPA; 75 Hawthorn St.; San Francisco, CA 94105.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

September 15, 2012

‘Life after Drought’ IS THEME OF GRAZING SCHOOL here is grass and there will be grazing at the Management-intensive Grazing School, Oct. 2-4, at the University of Missouri Forage Systems Research Center (FSRC) in Linn County.

A panel will discuss “Life after Drought,” says Craig Roberts, MU Extension forage specialist.

“As always, we cover the basics, as this is a grazing school for first-timers.”

A new addition will be demonstrations of making ammoniated forage. This technique, used in times of short feed supplies, converts low-quality forage into feed with higher protein content. Davis says he probably ammoniate will drought-damaged cornstalks.

Usually the process involves wrapping stacked baled hay with a plastic tarp, sealing the edges and injecting anhydrous ammonia. The gas, a form of nitrogen, turns high-fiber forage into a tasty treat for cattle.

The school teaches how to improve pastures and boost grazing efficiency.

Historically, the school has

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taught thousands of producers to use moveable electric fences to control grazing. Moving cows through smaller paddocks boosts feeding efficiency.

Most of the available grass and legumes are eaten instead of trampled.

“During a drought it is more important than ever to not waste feed,” says Dave Davis, superintendent of MU FSRC. The school involves more than classroom talks, Davis says. Participants build fences and turn in cattle to graze. First, they calculate how much area to fence off in the pasture to supply feed for a day.

“That exercise is an eye-opener for beginners,” Davis says.

Participants will learn to measure dry matter content per acre available in a paddock. Then they will learn to “eyeball” a paddock to estimate available forage.

The basics cover everything from soil nutrients to forage varieties and water systems to fence building.

Other specialists will talk about a cow’s nutrient needs and applied economics of grazing.

Shorthorn Releases Three New $ Value Indexes horthorn genetics can now be selected via three new avenues of profitability. Association staff worked with USDA to formulate $ Value Indexes over the past year. The areas of emphasis were chosen based on the demands of the commercial producer: calving ease, profit on the rail, and cow production longevity.

Percentile ranks within the breed are also displayed to the right of each index as an additional assessment of the individual. Complete definitions of the indexes are available on the Performance page of ASA website. $ CEZ – $ Calving Ease assumes a bull will only be mated to heifers, not cows. The potential profitability of the sire is measured by the incidence of live calves at birth, but the index is also a good measure of Shorthorn females’ ability to produce calving ease specialists.$F — $Feedlot places strong emphasis on growth and carcass traits.

This multi-trait index assumes the sire will be mated to a mix of heifers and cows and attempts to measure profitability when progeny are sold on the fed market.$BMI — $ British Maternal Index, as the name implies, attempts to measure a bull’s potential profitability when complimenting the British cow base (Angus, Red Angus, Hereford, etc.). Shorthorn females can likewise be gauged at adding value to British or British-composite bulls of other breeds. A balance of growth and carcass traits is desired with a strong maternal component aimed at optimum reproductive efficiency and cow longevity.

Patrick Wall, Director of Genetic Improvement for the American Shorthorn Association (ASA) says the breed is working hard to expand its role within the beef cattle industry. He explained, “These indexes are a solid step in the right direction. They give the commercial industry solid multi-trait tools that highlight the breed as a strong source for maternal heterosis and feedlot profitability.”

According to the USDA Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) across-breed EPD adjustments, Shorthorns rank among the top breeds for Milk, Marbling, and Meat (via Fat & REA EPD).

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The MiG school is taught by MU specialists and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service staff.

Highly rated by participants are talks by former grazing school graduates who come back to share their stories.

Some NRCS payments for

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grazing practices, such as fence and water, require attendance at a grazing school, says Mark Kennedy, NRCS state grassland conservationist.

Fee for the three-day school is $250 per person or $375 per couple. The fee includes a Missouri Grazing Manual, teaching

materials, three lunches and two dinners. Applications are accepted first-come, with a limit of 50.

Apply to Joetta Roberts, Box 225, Missouri Forage and Grassland Council, 2000 E. Broadway, Columbia, MO 65201. Call mornings at 573/499-0886 or send email to mfgc@mchsi.com.

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Letter to HSUS supporter ear Mr. Black, I’ve enjoyed your columns but I disagree with you about animal rights activists and the ACLU. I find it hard to find much fault with an organization that dedicates itself to ethical treatment of animals and one who protects our civil rights. I wish you the best.

David, My criticism of the Humane Society of the United States has grown as I have watched them over the last dozen years. I, innocently, thought they were a generous provider of care for abused or abandoned animals. You would think that was the case if you believed their ads showing lonely, orphaned dogs and cats. But I have watched local humane societies beg for assistance while regularly euthanizing millions of unwanted pets. Since the cessation of horse slaughter plants I have watched the abuse and abandonment of the once valiant species reduced to the status of road kill in our country. I hear the pleas of horse rescue people for more money because the travesty continues.

I look at feedlots full of unwanted, unadoptable wild horses that the government is paying land owners just to keep them fed.

Then I look at the richest Animal Rights Group the world has seen, and their 2010 tax report shows their total revenue at $148,700,000. Their declared contribution to “pet-shelter grants” according to the tax form is $528,676. That calculates out to be .418 percent of their budget.“You mean,” asked David, “less than one-half of one per-

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cent of their budget actually goes to the care, housing, feeding and eventual euthanizing of unwanted pets? Where does the other 99.5 percent of their donations go?”Other than salaries and benefits, which amounts to 25 percent of their budget, fund raising that eats up 37 percent and amassing $14,000,000 in their pension plan, they spend millions and millions to lobby politicians and fund endless litigations to achieve their fuzzy goal. That would buy a lot of cat food and horse hay.

In fact, I think the HSUS is just a big lumbering parasite that keeps turning up ways to keep their lawyers busy and their pensions safe. I find it necessary to switch the channel when I see them using injured, yearning pets to stuff their pockets.

Humanewatch.org will give you my side of the story. Watch HSUS commercials for their side. Knowing the facts, you decide.

As for the ACLU, years ago I, too, thought them to be a legitimate unbiased defender of the Constitution. Today it has become just another lobby group for special interests.I occasionally speak to the officers of these extremist special interest groups. We have civil conversations. As a given I have concluded that to try and find some middle ground one must exclude economic impact and common sense. I appreciate zealots, shucksters and shysters; they can be entertaining. But they can create havoc in their wake, and you can bet they won’t lift a finger or spend a pence to help you clean it up.

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

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

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 8

Working Ranch Cowboys Fund Mesalands Community College f the heritage and lifestyle of the working ranch cowboy is going to be passed on to future generations, then educating young people and setting them up for success is crucial.

That’s what’s driving the Working Ranch Cowboys Foundation (WRCF) as it partners with institutions like Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, N.M. On June 27 representatives from WRCF and the Working Ranch Cowboys Association presented a check for $10,000 to Mesalands Community College.

The donation by WRCF will be used to expand facilities for the

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Equine Studies Program and the Rodeo Program at Mesalands.

These academic programs will provide high quality education and training for students interested in career opportunities within the horse industry and related agri-business enterprises.

In addition, Mesalands will offer equine career training, life-long learning, and sustainable education through hands-on practicum, promoting quality community service and responds to the diverse equine needs of the region. Equine Studies courses are being offered during the 2012 Fall Semester.

WRCF is the benevolent arm of the WRCA and the Foundation has been providing assistance to ranch families for 14 years. The WRCF provides scholarships for working ranch cowboys and their family members and crisis assistance to injured or ill ranch cowboys or their families. Using funding generated by events like the WRCA Championship Ranch Bronc Riding and the annual World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo, Texas, WRCF works to ensure that the ranching lifestyle remains vibrant and healthy into the future. Scholarships are provided to working

September 15, 2012 ranch cowboys and their families.

Currently, 32 students are in the WRCF scholarship program.

In 2010, WRCF provided a $50,000 matching grant to the Ranch & Feedlot Operations Program at Clarendon College in Clarendon, Texas.

“The No. 1 thing we want this money to do, “ said Sam Daube WRCF chairman, “is directly impact those students and get them as good of an education as possible, and we want to make sure the program continues and grows. And, of course, we want people to understand what the Working Ranch Cowboys Foun-

dation is doing, so they will continue to support it.”

Through the scholarship program, WRCF has helped train tomorrow’s ranch managers, doctors, who hope to serve rural areas and lawyers who want to be advocates for the ranching industry. The crisis fund provides an important lifeline to cowboys who need medical treatment for them or their family members.

Crisis requests usually come from neighbors, family members and friends. The foundation grows every year, as does the number of students and crisis recipients that can be assisted.

New Mexico Man Honored by USDA eel Price, Wildlife Services Las Cruces District Supervisor, was recently honored by the Organization of Professional Employees of the USDA with an Unsung Heroes Award.

Price, who supervises eight counties in southern New Mexico for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) spent four months — from November 2009 to February 2010 — at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan working to mitigate wildlife aviation hazards at the base.

Price was a member of teams that rotate through several overseas military bases on a fourmonth schedule, conducting wildlife surveys, analyzing and assessing the hazards posed by wildlife in the area, then helping develop solutions. “We can do habitat manipulation, hazing of animals, even suggest changes to landing times or order to help prevent birdstrikes.”

He and his team of wildlife biologists and specialists were selected for the Unsung Hero Award for the commitment and sacrifice shown during fourmonth tours of duty since November 2009. Strikes at the bases have been reduced by 65

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percent and damage repairs costs have decreased. The team also received the Secretary of Agriculture’s 64th Honor Award for their work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Keel has unwavering patriotism and a sense of duty to our great country,” said Alan May, Wildlife Services State Director.

“This award is a great honor for Keel and the rest of the Wildlife Services team.”

The assigned duties of conducting an assessment of wildlife hazards on an airbase were made challenging by various factors, including limited access to standard tools of the work. During their deployment, team members worked 12-hour days, seven days a week. Given the base location in an active war zone, it was not uncommon for each of the duty stations to receive sporadic mortar, rocket and small arms fire from insurgent forces.

An Army veteran, Price was one of the first agency personnel to be selected for this overseas duty. “I volunteered because of my very strong desire to aid and support our military efforts, and was very impressed with the U.S. military personnel and their efforts.”

While at Bagram Air Force

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Base, he even had an opportunity to do some trapping, helping the Base get its jackal population under control. “That was a fun thing for me, I’ve been a trapper all my life and really enjoyed the chance to get out into the field.”

In October, he hopes to be redeployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. “I was so energized during my time there, and we worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week. It’s an experience that’s hard to adequately describe, but suffice it to say that every time they’ve put out a call since then, I have volunteered.

Unsung Hero Awards are given to employees who have demonstrated extraordinary effort in performing tasks, enthusiastically; who have unselfishly shared time and expertise, and consistently and willingly extended a helping hand. This year the association received more than 100 nominations. Ten other individuals from other agencies received awards.

(l to r) Mike Showalter, WRCF Foundation Director; Mandy Morton, WRCA Manager; Randy Norris, WRCF President & Foundation Director; Virginia Cates, Foundation Director; Pat Fitzgerald, Foundation Director; Gary Morton, Foundation Director; Kaycee Hooper, Foundation Scholarship & Crisis Coordinator; Patsy Grisham, Tucumcari Chamber of Commerce; Tyler McCormack, student Mesalands; Dr. Mildred Lovato, President Mesalands College; Dr. Aaron Kennedy, VP of Student Services; Ralph Lopez, Instructor.

Flake Livestock Auction Retires fter 46 years of livestock auction service to the Naschitti Livestock Association and individual livestock owners on the east side of the Navajo Nation, Flake Livestock Auction has announced its closure.

Flake Livestock extended sincere appreciation to all of the buyers and sellers who helped make the Nashitti sale the premier Indian cattle sale on the Navajo Reservation.

As Flake advised its customers that they should seek continued service elsewhere, it stated, “It is our hope that someone can step forward and assure continued success with future sales.

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Animal Welfare Groups Demand Action After 400 Pregnant Cattle from US Die en Route to Russia he Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Compassion in World Farming are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take immediate action following reports that 400 pregnant cattle among a total of 3,900 cattle being transported by ship from the United States to Russia have died en route. The groups are urging USDA to thoroughly investigate the incident and take all necessary steps to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

Compassion in World Farming received complaints from a Gibraltar supporter that the ship, called the Pearl of Para, was crammed with cattle and had docked temporarily on July 30. The supporter raised concerns because the ship reportedly smelled “awful.” The ship was on its way to Russia.

Accounts of the incident suggest that the animals may have suffocated on ammonia fumes due to a breakdown in manure removal and ventilation systems with no back-up system in place.

U.S. regulations require that ves-

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sels transporting animals for export have spare motors and fans available on board for each type of motor or fan used, in order to facilitate replacement or repair of the ventilation system if any malfunction occurs during the voyage.

To animal welfare advocates familiar with this type of disaster, an occurrence involving U.S. cattle was inevitable. Cattle exports from the United States have expanded rapidly in the past two years, as countries like Turkey, Russia, and Kazakhstan try to establish breeding herds.

According to USDA, last year approximately 100,000 animals — many of them pregnant dairy cattle — left from the east coast on voyages to Europe and Asia lasting more than two weeks.

During transport, many stressful experiences — including inadequate ventilation, noise, motion sickness, and heat stress — severely impact animal welfare and make the animals more susceptible to illness and disease.

“We don’t know how many animals become sick or injured

or, as happened in this case, die on these voyages,” said Dena Jones, farm animal program manager for AWI. “The suffering involved in the suffocation of 400 animals must be immense and shouldn’t be tolerated by the people or their governments on either side of the Atlantic.”

“This tragedy illustrates that it is impossible to ensure the health and welfare of animals on such long journeys. Cramming pregnant cows onto a ship for days on end is downright inhumane and unacceptable,” said Leah Garces, USA director for Compassion in World Farming.

“We hope USDA will take a long hard look at this incident and realize that is no justification for these nightmarish journeys.”

In early 2011, AWI and the World Society for the Protection of Animals — aware of the expanding trade in live animals from the United States — petitioned USDA to revise federal animal export regulations to include animal “fitness to travel” criteria. To date, USDA has not responded to the petition.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

September 15, 2012

2012 KS Carcass data project winners named ENROLLMENTS DOUBLE, GAIN AND GRADE SHOWCASED

by MEG DRAKE and STEVE SUTHER

he Kansas Angus Association 2012 Carcass Data Project (CDP) named winners and closed out its second year at McPherson County Feeders, Marquette, Kan., with plans to return this fall.

“We’re excited that our participation doubled this year,” said KAA Manager Anne Lampe.

She thanked Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) for partnering on the 79-head project, and for sponsoring awards of more than $1,200.

“It was another great year of feeding some of the best Angus cattle in the country,” said Landon Shaw, assistant manager at the CAB-licensed feedlot. “Having an Angus-sired pen that gains almost 4 pounds (lb.) a day, grades 93 percent Choice and makes 47 percent CAB certainly proves the value of the breed.”

Cattle in the pen came from nine consignors across the state: Hinkson Angus Ranch, Cottonwood Falls; Hobbs Ranch, Penokee; Jeff Klausmeyer, Clearwater; Thomas Klausmeyer, Conway

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Springs; Dean Larson, Tescott; Dan Melton, Walton; Andy and Mary McCurry, Burrton; Nemaha Valley Angus, Bern; and Howard Woodbury, Quenemo.

Final standings were based on the top three calves from any owner, taking gain and CAB acceptance into account. There were excellent cattle in each consignment, said Gary Fike, beef cattle specialist with the brand.

In a letter of congratulations to all, Fike noted that the top three gainers (regardless of grade) from each owner had an average range of 3.91 lb. to 4.86 lb. average daily gain (ADG).

“Anybody who tells you Angussired cattle cannot gain AND grade simply doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” he said.

Considering the individual carcass data received, there were no losers, but the formula of gain plus CAB acceptance highlighted a top cut for the CDP. “I’m glad my Dad won — that’s how it’s supposed to be — I’ll get my chance,” said Jeff Klausmeyer, whose cattle came in tied for third. The champions, winning $500 and CAB mer-

Food as Fuel very day that the drought continues garroting the American Midwest, the lunacy of turning corn into motor fuel becomes ever more obvious and ever more outrageous, says Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

■ Over the past six weeks, corn prices have soared by about 50 percent.

■ They recently hit $8.20 per bushel, an all-time high.

Several factors are influencing grain prices, among them the reduced mount of grain available in storage and increased meat consumption in the developing world. But there is no doubt that the corn ethanol mandates imposed by Congress are distorting the market, which will mean higher prices for everything from milk to cheeseburgers.

■ This year, about 4.3 billion bushels of corn will be converted into motor fuel, according to Bill Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions, an Omaha-based commodity consulting firm.

■ That means that nearly 37 percent of this year’s corn crop, which Lapp estimates to amount to about 11.6 billion bushels, will be diverted into ethanol production.

Compare those numbers to those of 2005, when corn was selling for just $2 per bushel.

That year, 1.6 billion bushels of corn — or about 13 percent of domestic corn production — was distilled into ethanol.

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But to fully understand why prices for grain-intensive foods are soaring, consider this fact: America’s corn ethanol sector now consumes about as much grain as all of the country’s livestock.

■ Lapp estimates that this year, 4.6 billion bushels of corn will be used for livestock feed.

■ That’s approximately equal to the 4.3 billion bushels that will be used for corn ethanol production.

■ Thus, American motorists are now burning about as much corn in their cars as is fed to all of the country’s chickens, turkeys, cattle, pigs and fish combined.

Despite all this, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is bending over backward to accommodate the ethanol industry, which is now producing too much fuel.

■ Gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol, or E10, has been sold for many years.

■ But with too much ethanol on its hands, the ethanol industry launched an intensive lobby campaign at the EPA to convince the agency to increase the permissible blend to 15 percent, or E15.

■ The agency gave final approval to the move to E15 last month even though only about 4 percent of all the motor vehicles in the United States are designed to burn fuel containing that much ethanol.

Source: Robert Bryce, “Food as Fuel,” Slate, July 31, 2012.

chandise, were from Thomas Klausmeyer’s consignment that included three calves from other son, Todd. The K3 Angus family represented nearly 18 percent of cattle harvested, and they were the right kind.

Eleven of the family’s 15 head were accepted for the brand, and the top three for the gain/grade combination were 100 percent CAB, marbling score 623 and 3.89-lb. ADG. Jeff’s trio, winning $200 and CAB merchandise, made 67 percent CAB, marbling at 577 and 3.85-lb. ADG. In fact, all other groups of three in the finals turned out with 67 percent brand acceptance.

Five calves were out of AI (artificial insemination) sires, the rest home-raised bulls that trace back to the top K3 cow family for moderation and marbling.

Nearly half of the steers were from first-calf heifers.

“I think we’re steering in the right direction,” Thomas said.

Cattle that competed in the CDP were backgrounded in a fall grazing program, he says: two weeks in a grass trap, then

rotating to an alfalfa patch before wheat-stockering and on to McPherson County Feeders.

The Klausmeyers rarely retain ownership of any cattle on feed, but after this showing, they may do more of it in the future. “With the genetics we use, it’d be nice to get paid for what we’ve put into them,” Jeff said.

Terry Hobbs came in second ($300 and CAB merchandise) in the CDP, just like last year even as the award switched from individual cattle to groups of three.

“We still came in second,” he said. “Like last year, and like next year, the steers are one sire group and out of first-calf heifers.”

The 2012 reserve champions were sons of Ironwood New Level out of the New Design line on their dams’ side. Superior marbling was the edge, with that score at 603 and ADG at 3.77 lb.

Dean Larson’s third-place ($200 and CAB merchandise) steers came from a group of five from heifers that were pasturebred to a calving-ease Green Garden Angus bull. “I didn’t breed them for growth, but they sure gained,” he said of the 3.77 ADG and 553 marbling score.

“We aim for moderate rather than the biggest cattle.” Larson said his 135 commercial cows all

Brahman genetics provide relief for drought-stricken herds wo summers of dire drought conditions in a vast majority of the U.S. has made drought relief a hot topic among the nation’s cattlemen. The importance of selecting cattle that fit the environment is more apparent now than ever before, especially considering the extremely hot and dry conditions, limited forage and high feed prices that have driven cattlemen to disperse their herds. Yet, even with the undesirable weather pattern, herd dispersal can be avoided. In fact, it has been avoided. Brahman and Brahman F-1 breeders have taken advantage of the American Brahman’s drought tolerance to keep their business afloat.

Nationwide, the value of “eared” genetics, especially in cow herds, is taking on a whole new meaning. As the No. 1 beef breed for heat tolerance, efficiency and hybrid vigor, American Brahman genetics are proven to increase drought resistance in their progeny. Brahman F-1s are even more adaptable, heat resistant and efficient than their non-Brahman parent.

That is why Frank Reznicek, manager of the 100-year-old Kachele Ranch, has been a long time user of Brahman F-1 cows.

Ranching in the rice country of Wallis, Texas, he’s no stranger to running cattle on compromised land with limited forage. He says that Brahman F-1s always adapt.

“I use the F-1 cow because she is a survivor,” said Reznicek.

“That cow can withstand weather and insect problems and live on anything.”

And although her survivability

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and adaptability are especially important to cattlemen who are enduring the current drought conditions, it’s the Brahman F1’s bred-in efficiency that puts money back in the rancher’s pocket, even in a troubled climate. The Brahman F-1 is known to utilize minimal forage and still wean heavy calves year in and year out. She’s also a leader in longevity in the beef cattle realm.

Texas cattleman Jim McCord of JM Ranches in Gause, Texas, has been running Brahman F-1s for more than 25 years for just those reasons.

“It is our goal to wean off calves that weigh 50 percent of their mother’s weight,” McCord said. “We have no trouble doing that on our Brahman F-1 cows . . . [and they] stay in production usually up through 15 or 16 years old.”

McCord’s program, goals and use of the Brahman F-1 equates to higher lifetime cow productivity and consequently more profit for JM Ranches. That extra profit from putting the Brahman F-1 female to work is available to all ranchers, regardless of conditions beyond their control. And now is the time to utilize those it.

Cattlemen need to consider restocking with genetics that will ensure they won’t suffer the same drought-caused losses in the future. Those who restock with high quality genetics from adaptable, long-lasting and efficient cattle will come out ahead.

Infusing the herd with Brahman blood is the key to turning a profit when drought becomes standard.

Page 9 have similar bloodlines from the same breeder.

“This was kind of a learning experience,” he added. “I’m proud of my cattle and those steers represented our herd. It’s nice to know they did well.”

Aside from the combination cash prizes, KAA recognized the top gaining group overall with CAB merchandise. These came from Nemaha Valley Angus at 4.26 ADG on 14 head that made 50 percent CAB. “I would like to think the bulls we kept for breeding stock would do even better,” said farm ownermanager Neal Haverkamp. “I entered the CDP to see how they stack up against other quality cattle and to get an idea about what traits we could improve.”

Lampe said the KAA mission in the project is, “that our participants gain valuable information that they can in turn use to improve and promote their programs and genetics.”

Haverkamp said, “I’d love to see over 100 entries this next year. Competition keeps us working hard to improve our product, and this is a good way to draw attention to the quality of Angus cattle in Kansas.”

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 10

Indexes — A New Tool for the Beef Industry

by HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

PDs have been the best selection tool for bull buyers during the past several decades, but now we have another tool that can be even more beneficial. Indexes are the newest thing; they are composites of the EPDs each breed association calculates. Economic weightings are placed on the various EPDs to create the indexes.

Wade Shafer, Director of Performance Programs, American Simmental Association (ASA), says indexes have been in use for a long time in other species like poultry, pigs, dairy, etc. but in the beef industry it’s new.

“This is probably the most powerful tool for making genetic selections for progress in a herd.

EPDs are great if you want to predict an animal’s genetic level for traits you are interested in.

They are the best predictor we have. But just predicting genetic levels doesn’t really answer the question producers want to know: how much more money will this bull make me than this other bull will?”

That’s the bottom line, when selecting bulls. “If you have 15 EPDs to compare, it’s a challenge, especially when you are sitting at a bull sale trying to make a decision. The indexes, by contrast, answer the question about how much a certain bull might make, compared to another,” says Shafer.

The indexes use all the EPDs and prices and costs — of corn, hay, the value of a weaned calf, etc. — and these are factored in.

“In developing the indexes we used price and cost data averaged over the previous 5 years as reported by Cattle Fax. Everything from cost of hay and corn to price grids on quality grade, yield grade and carcass weight is taken into consideration. It’s just genetic accounting, done in a way that is very precise and accurate, and allows commercial cattlemen to make better deci-

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sions,” he explains.

“Though we’ve had the benefit of EPDs for more than 20 years, having EPDs without economic selection indexes is like having superhighways without maps; you can drive fast but can’t be sure you are traveling in the right direction. Indexes provide the maps,” explains Shafer.

ASA’s first indexes, the Terminal (TI) and All Purpose (API) were created working in collaboration with USDA geneticist Dr. Mike McNeil, and published in their Spring 2005 Sire Summary.

“The API evaluates sires used on the entire cowherd (bred to both first-calf heifers and mature cows) with a portion of their daughters being retained for breeding and the steers and remaining heifers being put on feed and sold grade and yield.

All EPDs with the exception of tenderness are taken into consideration for this index,” explains Shafer.

“The API puts heavy emphasis on bulls with good STAY EPDs (an estimate of the likelihood of a bull’s daughters staying in the herd). Research has consistently shown that reproduction trumps everything else in economic importance. STAY improves your bottom line by reducing the need for replacement females. This allows you to market more young, high-value females, cuts your costs for heifer development, and changes your herd’s age structure so a larger portion of your females are in their most productive years (age 5 through 10),” he says.

“Direct and maternal calving ease also get substantial weight in the API. These EPDs are strongly associated with calf survivability and, to a lesser degree, female longevity. Milk is essentially neutral in the index, so we can conclude that the benefits of increased weaning weight due to milk are negated by the additional cost associated with increased milk production,” explains Shafer.

It’s often difficult for breeders

Indexes Work

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demand for your seed stock are: 1) your animals will make potential customers more money and 2) you have objective and easily understood proof of that fact,” he says.

“By themselves, EPDs only predict animals’ genetic levels — not which animals are superior.

To determine overall genetic merit, producers must utilize the array of EPD levels to predict the levels of all economically relevant inputs (such as cow intake, feedlot intake) and outputs (weaning weight, carcass weight) along with their associated prices and costs — hardly an easy task.

Due to the subjectivity typically employed in this process, we could put 10 sets of EPDs in front of 10 producers and easily have 10 different rankings of overall merit — hardly a recipe for universal consensus of superiority,” says Shafer.

“With economic selection indexes, producers have a consistent and objective means of evaluating superiority — a prediction of profit based on rigorous calculation. Economic indexes boil everything down into one trait — the most important trait — profit. You will find no better selection and marketing tools than economic indexes.”

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tomers wanted animals with high indexing values,” says Shafer.

“We’re having more success with our indexes than we had with EPDs. In the beef business, if you introduce science into the breeding process, it usually takes forever to get breeders interested.

The first Simmental EPDs were published in the mid1980’s and may breeders, including myself, were resistant to using them,” he says.

Since then, EPDs have become the industry’s most heavily used tool for genetic selection, but it took awhile for them to gain overall acceptance. Indexes are still fairly new, but already gaining a lot of interest.

both traits,” he says.

Besides being a good tool to improve seedstock, commercial producers can use these indexes to determine how much a certain bull is worth for their own operation, or how much they can pay for one bull compared to another. “When buying a terminal sire, a producer can quickly figure that a bull scoring +30 for TI is worth an extra $3,600 more than a 0 bull if both are exposed to 30 cows per year over 4 years ($30 x 30 head x 4 = $3600). But remember that index values, like EPDs are for comparison purposes only; they can’t tell us how much actual profit to expect.

Though you might net $30 more per cow exposed by using one bull over another, the matings could still be unprofitable for other reasons,” explains Shafer.

He also says you can’t compare ASA’s index values with those of other breeds. “Ours are only designed to compare Simmental bulls within our genetic evaluation.” Producers using other breeds would want to use the indexes for those breeds.

Shafer feels that economic selection indexes are a powerful marketing tool for purebred breeders who use them. “Two of the major keys in creating

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hafer says most commercial breeders still don’t understand how indexes work, but producers who have tried using them are excited about this new tool.

“Even after all our research showing the benefits, until some producers have actual experience with indexes, most people don’t think it could apply to their own operation.

It seems like an abstract concept.”

“When we came out with the indexes about 6 years ago, hardly anyone paid any attention to them. Then some of the breeders who use scientific tools started using them.

After these breeders started having success with the indexes, their commercial cus-

to understand why the API places downward selection pressure on growth. Increased growth is a good thing in terminal sires, but its strong association with increased mature size makes it less desirable in replacement female sires. Increased mature size increases cowherd maintenance requirements.

“Keep in mind that the positive benefits of increased growth in steers and cull females is accounted for in the API, but the index is telling us that the extra cost of maintaining larger cows outweighs the benefit of increased growth in other areas of the system,” he says.

The TI is designed for evaluating a sire’s economic merit when bred to mature cows and all offspring go to the feedlot, and sold grade and yield. “Maternal traits like milk, stayability and maternal calving ease are not considered in this index,” he says.

Indexes calculate the estimated differences between bulls in net dollars returned per cow exposed.

“For example, a bull with a + 23 TI and a + 1 API would be expected to return $23 and $1 more per cow exposed than a bull with 0 for

September 15, 2012

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“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

September 15, 2012

Page 11

Evolution of Performance Testing and Genetic Selection he process of selecting beef animals to produce the next generation has evolved dramatically over the past century. Prior to performance testing, an animal was considered breeding stock if it had desirable “breed characteristics” as determined by visual evaluation and was assumed to be purebred because it was included in its respective breed registry.

In the early years of performance testing, measurements such as weaning weights were used — regardless of how the growth and weight were accomplished (creep feeding, nurse cows).

“Eventually we realized that adjusting records for factors independent of animals’ genetic merit (such as age, sex, age of dam) allowed for more valid comparison between animals.

Comparing weaning weights on a calf out of a heifer to one out of a mature cow was only fair if we adjusted the heifer’s calf upward,” says Shafer.

It also became apparent that herds of cattle could have widely different adjusted measurements based on their environment (climate, nutrition, management, etc.). To even the playing field, ratios became the common way to compare animals.

“The evolution from actual measurements to ratios of adjusted measurements was a small progress. But valuable information such as heritabilities and genetic correlations, relationship among relatives, the genetic level of contemporary groups and mates was not being utilized — which was a major shortcoming in gauging genetic level. Then a combination of

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brain and computer power crossed paths with profound ramifications,” says Shafer.

During the 1960s and ‘70s a researcher from Cornell University, Dr. Charles Henderson, was developing theories that would revolutionize livestock selection.

“. . . cattle could have widely different adjusted measurements based on their environment.“ “His theories were very complex.

They combined all available information on a population of animals to provide the best possible prediction of their genetic level. The theories evolved into a statistical methodology we now know as Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP), which is the methodology we use today to calculate EPDs,” explains Shafer.

“A BLUP analysis on a large population requires millions of equations to be solved simultaneously. It was not until the mid 1980’s that the fastest computers in the world became powerful enough to implement Dr. Henderson’s methodology on an entire breed. Dr. Henderson lived long enough (1989) to see his theory implemented into practice. His successors at Cornell University, Drs. Richard Quaas and John Pollak, per-

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formed the beef industry’s first wide-scale BLUP evaluation—on the ASA database. The calculation of EPDs revolutionized animal breeding. Since they are calculated using all available information, EPDs are the most accurate estimate of an animal’s genetic level possible,” he says.

“Though EPDs are the best possible gauge of an animal’s genetic level for any trait they are calculated on, by themselves they do not tell us which animals to select for breeding purposes.

It is not enough to simply have a handle on genetic levels (which is what EPDs do for us) when making selection decisions; we must determine what levels, and combination of levels, are most desirable. By making those determinations and applying them to an animal’s EPDs we arrive at an estimate of its overall genetic merit — which is what we need to make selection decisions,” says Shafer.

“Coming up with a measure of overall merit has historically

been achieved through a highly subjective process. We have all sat on bull sale bleachers studying reams of information on prospective herd sires as they come through the ring — mulling over how much calving ease we can sacrifice to get extra growth or what level of milk production is desirable. These are valid issues in determining overall merit; however, this approach is largely based on opinion — and opinions can be off target,” he says.

There is a better way to determine overall genetic merit. Dr. Henderson’s graduate advisor, Lanoy Hazel, at Iowa State College (which became Iowa State University) published a paper in 1943 describing a process that would come to be accepted by animal geneticists as the most effective method of determining overall genetic merit — the economic selection index.

In his paper, Dr. Hazel made the case that the merit of an animal should be based on the

cumulative impact the animal’s genetic levels have on profit.

“He also demonstrated the methodology mathematical required to make that determination. The process is best described as genetic accounting.

By combining estimates of animals’ genetic levels (EPDs) with cost and price projections, the economic selection index predicts animals’ genetic potential for profit, which allows for the selection of animals to maximize the bottom line,” says Shafer.

By the late 1940s the poultry industry began using Dr. Hazel’s methodology. The swine and dairy industries followed suite a few decades later. “Today, virtually all chickens, pigs and most dairy cattle in this country are bred via an economic selection index. Use of the economic selection index has resulted in these species making dramatic genetic progress over the years — much more progress than the beef industry has made using our highly subjective approach to selection,” according to Shafer.

2013 National Junior Limousin Show & Congress and All-American Limousin Futurity heads to Springfield, Missouri he 2013 National Junior Limousin Show and Congress and All-American Limousin Futurity will be held at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield, Mo., June 29-July 5, 2013. While the cattle shows are the main attraction, the week also includes a showmanship competition, junior activities and a variety of lifeskills contests.

“The National Junior Limousin Show and Congress is an exciting event for Limousin youth and their families across the country,” says Bobbi Hartwig, activities director for

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the North American Limousin Foundation. “This is more than just a traditional cattle show. It’s an event that challenges youth to build life-skills and develop longlasting relationships.”

Sponsored by the Missouri Limousin Breeders Association and junior Limousin association.

The theme for the 2013 show will be “Reunion of the Decade.” The weeklong, family-oriented event will kickoff Sunday, June 30 at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds.

The La Quinta Inn and Suites Airport Plaza will serve as the host hotel for the event. Rates for the hotel are $68.99/+tax for single

queen, $75.99/+tax for single king, $79.99/+tax for two queens, and $99.99 for king suites. Please mention the North American Limousin Junior Association when reserving your room. You can contact the hotel at: 417/447-4466.

The All-American Limousin Futurity (AALF) also will take place at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds July 5, 2013. The AALF open show is one of NALF’s four major Medal of Excellence (MOE) shows. To request information about and entry forms for the AALF shows, contact American Cattle Services (ACS) at 580/597-3006.

Who gets rich off high gas prices? ith the average price of gas in America hovering around $3.50 per gallon for regular unleaded, it costs more than $50 to fill a typical car’s 15 gallon tank this summer. It is in situations like this that blame is immediately levied on greedy oil company owners and gas station administrators.

However, further analysis shows that these parties deserve little blame, says Drew Johnson, a senior fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.

This is first true in the sense that the portion of gasoline prices that are siphoned off by oil companies and gasoline stations is relatively small.

■ Crude oil costs make up about 76 percent of the cost of gasoline, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

■ Thus $2.66 of a $3.50 gallon of gasoline is set by global markets reacting to supply and demand.

■ Further, the refining process, in which gasoline is extracted from crude oil and other ingredients are added, is responsible for 6 percent of the cost of gasoline, according to the EIA. ■ Distribution and marketing — this includes the shipping and transportation of the gasoline, a markup to cover retailers’ expenses,

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and any advertising created to appeal to customers — constitutes another 6 percent of gas prices.

■ The remaining 12 percent goes directly to federal, state and local governments in an array of sales and excise taxes.

This distribution of the profits of gasoline is encompassed in the following comparison: Exxon, the quintessential oil company that is vilified for high prices, made profits of seven cents per gallon in 2011, while governments at every level reaped 50 cents per gallon through taxation.

Furthermore, this exploitation of a necessary good for taxation purposes seems poised to continue to increase over the near term. Local tax jurisdictions are increasingly levying taxes of their own, adding to already existing state and federal taxes.

In California, local sales and excise taxes on gasoline average 3.1 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times. That works out to about 12 cents in local taxes for each gallon of gas, based on the state’s current average of $3.80 per gallon. Las Vegas has enacted a similarly burdensome 10-cents-per-gallon tax of its own.

Source: Drew Johnson, “Who Really Gets Rich Off High Gas Prices?”

Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2012.

Livestock Market Digest

Page 12

Horses in Crisis

by RUSTY COOK, President of the New Mexico Horse Council

orses seem to have been caught in the “perfect storm” this summer.

National economic woes have resulted in many people being out of work, and many with jobs have suffered reductions in income. The cost of everyday goods and services has increased, gasoline for the family car being a prime example. On top of all that, the drought being experienced by over half the country has meant that if hay is available at all, the price has skyrocketed. When parents have to make the choice between feeding their children and feeding their horses, the horses come out on the short end. In New Mexico this has resulted in more horses being underfed, or even starved, and the seizure of many horses by the New Mexico Livestock Board. Subsequent placement of seized horses at the licensed New Mexico equine rescues has risen dramatically in recent months, and the rescues are being severely strained.

There is no turnaround in sight for any of these problems.

The sheer number of unwanted horses is staggering. It should be remembered that horses have a life span of 20 to 30 years. In 2006 approximately 105,000 horses went to slaughter in the U.S. In 2010, 138,000 were exported for slaughter. The number going through New Mexico on their way to slaughter in Mexico is estimated to be close to 1,000 per month. Five years after U.S. horse slaughter plants closed due to elimination of USDA funding for inspections, there are just as many, and perhaps more, horses being slaughtered. According to a 2011 GAO report, the number being shipped to and killed in Mexico has risen over 600 percent!

The cost to support unwanted

H

horses is even more staggering.

In 2007 the Unwanted Horse Coalition estimated there were at least 170,000 unwanted horses in the country. Today that number is almost certainly much higher. The average cost of caring for a horse is $2,300/ horse/year, as estimated by the American Association of Equine Practitioners. To care for all the unwanted horses would cost at least $400 million annually.

. . . horses have a life span of 20 to 30 years.

Horse owners are faced with some very tough decisions. If they choose to get rid of their horses, they may be very surprised by the lack of options.

Selling them might be the first choice, but there are few buyers and prices are very low. Euthanasia by a veterinarian and subsequent disposal costs $300 or more. Sale at auction for whatever they will bring, and subsequent slaughter, is again a possibility with recent Congressional action approving USDA inspection of horse processing plants.

But the USDA is dragging its feet in approving any horse slaughter permits.

Many of the most vociferous opponents of horse slaughter argue that “someone” should take in and support unwanted horses. To put this into perspective, between 6 and 17 million dogs and cats are euthanized each year which costs animal shelters over $1 billion annually, nearly half of which comes from city and county governments.

However, there is no public funding for equine euthanasia, and disposal of such large animals generates another set of problems.

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Some might choose to give away or donate their unwanted horses, or to simply turn them loose to fend for themselves.

Donations to equine rescues and

September 15, 2012 Council of its members, nearly 94 percent are in favor of humane and regulated slaughter in the U.S., with just over 6 percent opposed. The processing plant at Roswell, N.M. applied for a permit to process horses, and met with long delays in the approval of that permit. On August 14, after waiting four

It is extremely unlikely that there will be public funding for any solution to the unwanted horse problem . . . shelters are on the rise. As of 2009, 63 percent of rescues were at or near capacity and reported turning away 38 percent of the unwanted horses brought to them. Again, these figures are probably higher today. Of those horses accepted by rescues, nearly half remain at the rescues for life at a cost of millions of dollars. Over 80 percent of the operating funds for rescues come from donations or from the owners’ personal finances. This is not sustainable. Domestic horses turned loose on public, private, and tribal lands do not know how to survive on their own, so this is not a responsible option.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the often-controversial animal rights group known for ad campaigns like “fur is murder”, unexpectedly said last November that domestic horse slaughter facilities are preferable to shipping horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said the U.S. should never have banned horse slaughter and that the amount of suffering it created exceeded the amount of suffering it was designed to stop.

In a recent survey conducted by the New Mexico Horse

months, the family-owned business withdrew its’ application and will return to slaughtering cattle.

Governor Susana Martinez expressed her unalterable opposition to horse slaughter in New Mexico, but has proposed no alternative solution. It is extremely unlikely that there will be public funding for any solution to the unwanted horse problem, yet horses continue to be seized by the New Mexico Livestock Board. Those horses are “placed” with an equine rescue pending legal action to transfer ownership. The NMLB has no money to pay for the board of those seized horses, the rescues are already at or over capacity, and raising the money to pay for feed and care has become a significant burden.

In the long term, breeding fewer horses seems to be key.

Along with this come some common sense guidelines. Horse breeders need to produce only the number of foals that can be successfully marketed. They need to commit to keeping a horse for life if it cannot be sold, or seeing to its’ disposal. Horses need to have a job. Breeders need to identify both a primary and a secondary job for horses they breed,

so that if they are not successful at the first they can fall back on the second. In addition, not every mare should be bred, and not every stallion is worthy of breeding. Most colts should be gelded, with only the very best siring another generation.

The New Mexico Horse Council is not waiting around for someone else to take steps to help solve the unwanted horse problem. In the late fall the NMHC will sponsor an “Operation Gelding” clinic at which up to 20 stallions can be castrated at low cost to owners. A grant from the Unwanted Horse Coalition has been approved and the participation of veterinarians has been solicited. Planning is in the early stages, and more information will be forthcoming soon.

Animal Protection of New Mexico can help horse owners on a temporary basis through their Emergency Feed Assistance program. Horse owners having trouble affording hay should contact them before the situation becomes abusive.

Short term measures will not solve the problem. It’s going to take a lot of cooperation between equine rescues, horse owners and breeders, the USDA and other government agencies, the American public, and horse processing facilities to reduce and control the number of unwanted horses. While some solutions for dealing with unwanted horses are unsavory to many Americans, they are necessary for dealing with the vast numbers. Those seeking to eliminate some options need to provide viable alternatives, and the funding to support them. Without economically sustainable options for disposal, the unwanted horse problem will continue.

The current situation is deplorable. Our horses deserve better.

American Angus Association® to Host Annual Meeting merican Angus Association members and Angus enthusiasts will gather in Louisville, Ky., Nov. 10 through 13 for the 129th Annual Convention of Delegates and related Angus activities in conjunction with the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE).

“Louisville is the central meeting point of our membership each year,” says Shelia Stannard, director of activities and events. “It’s the perfect opportunity to learn about the latest happenings at the Association, see high-quality Angus genetics, and visit with friends, both new and old.”

Events include the Annual Meeting, educational sessions, top-notch speakers, social events and a 2012 Super Point Roll of Victory (ROV) Angus Show. Special events hosted by the American Angus Auxiliary and the Angus Foundation are also on the agenda.

The Annual Meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12 in the KFEC South Wing C. Elected delegates from across the United States and Canada will meet to conduct the business of the Association, including the election of officers and five new directors.

The meeting allows all members to listen to fiscal year reports of the Association and its entities — the Angus Foundation, Certified Angus Beef (CAB) LLC, Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI),

A

and Angus Productions Inc. (API).

Following the meeting is the annual Angus Awards Banquet at 7 p.m. in the Crowne Plaza, which features Certified Angus Beef ®.

Honorary Angus Foundation inductees and the National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) Outstanding Leadership Award are recognized during the dinner. Century Award recipients are also honored for herds involved in the Angus business for 100 years or more. Visit the registration desk at the CrownePlaza to purchase tickets to the event.

The Crowne Plaza serves as Angus headquarters for the Annual Meeting and all related events, but rooms are reserved for delegates, alternates, and Association officers and directors. Others may want to make reservations at the Hampton Inn or Springhill Suites, where the Association also has room blocks reserved.

All NAILE shows begin at 8 a.m. in the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center (KFEC) Freedom Hall. The junior heifer show takes place Sunday, Nov. 11. Randy Perry of Fresno, Calif., will judge the show. The ROV bulls show Monday, Nov. 12; and all ROV females, including cow-calf pairs, show Tuesday, Nov. 13. Brian McCulloh, Viroqua, Wis., will judge the ROV show, which is also the 2013 National Angus Show.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

September 15, 2012

Worst case scenario? dreamed of fresh-smelling rain that beat waves against windows and swept slowly through fields to fill every crack before moving on to refill ponds and kick-start the creeks.

Dawn light fell on a full rain gauge. I thanked whoever had left their windows open, washed a truck, mowed a sparse third cutting or made plans to load cattle out of some dirt-road pens.

But then I woke to a challenging world of drought and record heat, more nightmare than restful dream.

This is not the new “normal,”

I

but it tells us something new and forces us to adjust expectations.

The extremes range far from ideal, far from average and maybe far beyond our outdated worstcase scenarios.

There’s nothing worse than to stand by and watch a wreck unfold into our world, regardless of the form it takes.

Waiting for a rain or better prices while you do nothing different in selection or management — that’s a true worst case.

We can’t fight the weather, but we can do more than watch and wait.

Are you trying anything new

this year? Opportunities are the silver linings of challenges.

Agronomists have a dream year for collecting data on how different varieties and hybrids respond to these conditions.

Ponds that have yet to receive the foreseen runoff could be repaired or cleaned out while the sun shines.

In the feedlots, shade and sprinklers have seen wider use this year as innovative managers find the perfect year to see how much difference these small comforts can make to cattle.

Positive impacts will add black ink to the closeout, from gain to grade and consumer acceptance.

Early weaning on the ranch was just an interesting concept until now. This could be the year to jump that up by a month or two, on at least some of your calves. Research proves it saves feed costs while setting cows up for a better next year as calves live up to their feedlot and carcass potential.

Cows may have been hard

Page 13

pressed to maintain pregnancy in the heat and perhaps nutrientdeficit environment that developed at the expense of the calf they should have been carrying.

You probably can’t find feed for a nickel a pound. It may cost three times that or more — can you afford to feed it to open cows?

Pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasound or blood test can work after just a few weeks and palpation generally takes 12, but by any means this is a great time to be sure when you can.

If your resources are stretched too thin, it’s a great time to cull for greater efficiency or ability to thrive in spite of everything. I’m sure going to take a look at

which cows weaned the heaviest calves this year and compare to their historical records.

On the other hand, let’s recognize the departure from average weather on the farm and in the feedlot. Those gathering data often discard the outlier results, even though some other kind of “500-year event” comes up every few years.

Don’t discard a promising program or practice based on one year. Let the extremes inform rather than instill worry.

This year simply presents unique opportunities to learn.

My vision of rain will come around to real. I have resolved to make ready the flood gaps and fix that hole in the barn roof.

The

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Livestock Market Digest

Page 14

Beauty for Ashes eathly quiet. The wind no longer whispers through the trees. The ground is covered with an almost white powder. No, it is not snow. Ashes.

Ashes cover the ground for miles around. They are gray, black and white. Through the ashes rise toothpicks of trees. It is forever changed. The Little Bear Fire of 2012 has changed the Lincoln National Forest and surrounding communities for generations to come.

LaMoyne and Opal Peters have ranched in the area for years.

They were not the only ones who refused to evacuate, many other families chose to stay and protect their homes. When their children finally convinced them to leave, they were unsure if they would ever see their beloved home again.

“I have never seen a fire burn so fast and hot in all my years of living in this forest,” says LaMoyne Peters, 92, who is one of the lucky ones. “We have lost half of our ranch land, but our cattle are safe. My wife, children and I are also safe. That is what matters to me.” He and his wife, Opal Jones Peters, have been married for 72 years and lived their entire 92 years in a 10 mile radius.

Thursday afternoon the Peters assured their great-granddaughter that the fire was not moving in their direction and that she did not need to come stay with them for a few days. Little did they know that when they awoke the next morning, the fire would have burned up to the back of their church and through their church camp and would be heading in their direction.

The family was evacuated for four days, but this did not stop the ranch work that had to be done.

Cattle still had to be checked, especially those that had been evacuated from homes.

Between Capitan and Ruidoso lie the forest communities of Angus, Bonito and Nogal. The Peters grew up here and continue

D

to call this area home. They have spent their lifetime carving out a lifestyle and a legacy for their family in this beautiful area that began many generations even before they were born.

The Peters’ family roots go much deeper than many of the trees that recently burned. Opal’s parents traveled by covered wagon in 1915 to begin a new life in this area. At one time, her parents owned a large portion of the land that recently burned between Highway 37 and Highway 48.

When her parents passed away, the ranch was divided among the 10 children.

LaMoyne was an only child.

His grandparents and greatgrandparents moved into the area in the 1880s. Gold drew them to the Bonito area, but roots were put down in a homestead and ranch. LaMoyne and his family established their ranch along both sides of Highway 48.

LaMoyne spent five years working for the Forest Service. In those early days, any rancher who had a grazing allotment was required to fight any fire that burned in the area. He reminisces about fighting fires, perhaps 50 or more. The men who fought the fires were required to pack in by walking or ride horseback into the forest as soon as the fire was spotted. Their job was to have the fire out by morning. LaMoyne believes that things have changed over the years.

A close friend and fellow Church of the Nazarene member was not so lucky. He lived in Bonito Camp. He reports being awakened in the middle of the night and told to evacuate as soon as possible. When he looked outside, he could see a wall of flames coming over the top of the mountain. The trees were lit up like Christmas trees, only it was not December. It is June.

“I figured I could walk into my house and the cream separator would still be sitting there,” Howard Ours said. He did not

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find the cream separator. The fire burned so hot that it melted the separator’s metal base. Ours was one of the many who returned to find their home and all belongings in ashes.

“It was just a house, and those were just things. I do wish I had a few more minutes to gather up some items. I was planning to move to Colorado Springs eventually, but I guess God says the time is now,” said Howard Ours.

Ours cannot believe the outpouring of support for the families that have lost their homes. The funding, love and support have made a huge difference in how Ours faces losing his home. He jokes, saying that he no longer needs help to move; he is packed into one suitcase.

The church that Howard Ours and the Peters called home for many years also suffered during the blaze.

“Lord, do in me what you must do in order to do through me what you want to do.” The Angus Church of the Nazarene clings to this prayer. It has been the prayer of the church since the beginning of the year, but now it takes on a completely new meaning. A majority of the Bonita Park Nazarene Camp and Conference Center campground that is operated by the New Mexico Nazarene Church District was lost.

Bonita Park Nazarene Camp, along with its and Conference Center, has changed many lives over the last 74 years. The park staff was given only a few minutes’ notice to evacuate the center. The staff worked hard to move all people who were attending camp, as well as those who lived on the grounds, off the campgrounds.

The staff did not have time to return to their homes in the park and a majority of them lost everything they owned.

The Little Bear fire has burned 44,330 acres of land, and 254 structures were lost. The number of structures lost in this fire makes it the most destructive fire ever seen in New Mexico. The 2000 Cerro Grande fire that burned in the Los Alamos area follows the Little Bear fire as the second most destructive fire. The WhitewaterBaldy Complex fire is the largest fire in state history. It has burned 297,845 acres or approximately 465 square miles; the WhitewaterBaldy fire continues to burn.

More than 1,200 firefighters fought the Little Bear fire, along with the help of many volunteers and lots of equipment. There were no life threatening injuries sustained by evacuees or firefighters.

The fire continued to burn in the Lincoln National Forest for weeks.

The Peters have driven the areas that the fire burned and can name almost every home and family in the area. Through the devastation, LaMoyne remains positive because he believes fire cleanses the earth, and while he knows he will never see the forest returned to its former beauty, that

Through the ashes white as snow rise toothpicks of trees.

the uniqueness of the area remains. The ashes will not remain forever. A new beauty awaits. All who were affected have many days of hard work ahead of them, but they can, and will, trade beauty for ashes.

Riding Herd

As he stands atop his mountain, LaMoyne sadly gazes down at what was once a lush and green forest, and he firmly states, “It will always be my home; no matter what happens, I still love it here.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

technology more than they do the opposite sex.

The problem is, even when kids do go outside they aren’t really communing with nature. On the news the other night there was a story about emergency rooms across the land being overrun by young people who walked into walls, crashed into windows and fell down holes while they were walking and staring at their “smart phone”. (If that’s the case I think the phone really is smarter than the one staring at it.)

In other news, some people in my county want to spend $50 million on a botanical garden to teach children about plants. I have a better idea. Give every first grade teacher in the county a Mason jar and an avocado seed.

(Note to teachers: An avocado seed can be found inside an avocado. It’s the hard thing in the middle. A Mason Jar is what mothers used to use for canning. Canning is a method of food . . . oh, never mind.) Have the kids pour some water in the jar and attach toothpicks to the seed and let it rest on top the jar with its bottom in the water.

As if by magic something will start to come out of the seed. That’s a plant! And just like that, we just saved $50 million.

Or you could just take the first graders outside without their phones.

When I was in school we had an exchange student program where an American kid would go overseas and a kid from where they went would come to live with an American family. I don’t know if they still have them but I think we need a variation of that program now days. A city kid would go live in the country for a year and learn about plants, feeding animals, chores, FFA, getting up at five or six, and all the things country kids learn by riding the bus to school. In turn, a farm kid would live in the city where the city kids would teach the farm kid about urban things like rap music, tattoos, marijuana, sleeping until ten, tongue studs, no chores, and an allowance.

On second thought, maybe we should just let Nature Deficiency Disorder run its natural course.

“America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper”

September 15, 2012

Page 15

Research Woes: Ag research has obstacles

by CLAY COPPEDGE, Country World Staff Writer

hether its eradicating a crop pest like the boll weevil or developing a product that absorbs 200 times its weight in water, agriculture researchers have helped make American agriculture the envy of the world. That continues to be the case, but funding for agriculture research has leveled off in the last 30 years, while other countries, most notably China and Brazil, now spend more public money on agriculture research than the United States.

That troubles Dan Upchurch, Southern Plains Area Director for the USDA’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS).

Upchurch, who is based in College Station, notes that these trends are occurring at a time when a booming world population is expected to increase demand for agriculture products — food — from 70 to 100 percent by 2050.

“By 2050, we will have to double the world’s food supply,” Upchurch said. “That’s mindboggling when you think about it.”

Studies on the value of agriculture research in this country have found returns of 40 to 60 percent on every dollar spent but a recent study by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) found that public investment in agriculture had declined and, along with it, the growth of agriculture productivity. “The rate of investment growth has slowed from 3.63 percent a year (after inflation) during 1950-69 to 1.79 percent from 1970-89 and to 0.94 percent from 1990 to 2009,” the study noted. At the same time, according to the same study, agriculture productivity growth

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has slowed to less than 1.2 percent per year.

“Spending has been effectively flat since 1990,” Upchurch said. “In real dollars — not adjusted for inflation — spending has been literally flat for nearly 10 years.”

Craig Nessler, director of Texas AgriLife Research, said that research there has been hit with a double whammy. First, funding has been reduced in an effort to balance the state budget. Earmarks, which often provided the seed money for research projects, were eliminated. He said that AgriLife is now looking to the private sector to help fund its research projects.

“We’re fortunate that Texas A&M and AgriLife have been recognized by industry for doing very important work,” Nessler said. “We’re participating with a number of companies to take up some of the slack. This is research into products and technologies that can be used in Texas and across the country.

We are very careful to make sure we’re not selling science to the highest bidder.”

Upchurch said that many of the most valuable ARS research projects revealed their value over a long period of time. He cited the development in 1976 of a product known as Super Slurper, so named because it absorbs 2,000 times its own weight in water, and which now has thousands of applications. Since it is a polymer derived from corn, it has greatly increased the market for corn. The Super Slurper turned out to be one of the most commercially successful ARS patents ever.

Upchurch also cited research

by ARS scientists Mike White, Daren Harmel and others at the Blackland Research and Extension Center in Temple that

resulted in a tool used by the State Soil and Water Conservation Board to manage nutrients and water quality in Texas.

Called the Texas BMP (Best Management Practices) Evaluation Tool (TBET), it is a simulation model that provides producers with “what if” scenarios in regard to their soils.

Harmel said that TBET is valuable in that it shows exactly what benefits the model’s users are getting from their management practices.

“It allows the state to take credit for its accomplishments.

They (users and state officials) can actually see what they're getting out of it,” he said.

Upchurch said that TBET results have been impressive.

“It’s been applied to 183,000 acres in Texas and it’s estimated to have removed 300,000 pounds of nitrogen, 61,000 pounds of phosphorous and 21 tons of sediment from Texas waterways,” he said. “That’s a tremendous return on investment for just one tool, for one natural resource. The benefits it provides to farmers and society is enormous.”

Nessler said it’s easier to do research with private companies than it used to be because genomics and genetic markers make it much easier to screen plants and seeds for the traits they are looking for without conducting lengthy research only to find that a variety doesn't have the right genetics for the project.

“We’re excited about applying some of these tools to livestock breeding, too,” he said. “They haven’t been used in beef cattle as much as they could be, and we’re working with people in animal sciences and veterinary sciences to use these tools with livestock.”

Texas AgriLife Extension and

Research have a long list of successful projects under their collective belts, dating back to the days of Texas fever in cattle and the recent boll weevil eradication program. Nessler cited the development of hybrid sorghum, module cotton collectors that keep untold pounds of cotton from flying out from cotton trailers, and water purification technologies as some recent examples of research that has paid big dividends not just to farmers but, ultimately, to society.

“Texas varieties of wheat are being grown in the most productive wheat growing regions of the country,” he said. “Texas varieties are number one in Kansas, which is a tribute to the scientists here who developed them.”

AgriLife Research is also involved with the development of non-food sources of biofuels like algae. Nessler said the scientific research is balanced with economic research to make sure the products are not only functional but profitable.

“We don’t want to lead anybody down the garden path,” he said. “We have to be able to demonstrate the value.”

While U.S. spending on agriculture research has been stagnant, China and Brazil have greatly increased spending in the same area. China has committed $47 billion to agriculture research and development over

the next 10 years. The ARS and the National Institute of Food Agriculture (NIFA) operate on about $2 billion annually, Upchurch said. Brazil, with a fraction of the population of the U.S., has allocated $2.6 billion a year to agriculture research.

Upchurch has mixed feelings about this.

“It hurts from a national pride standpoint,” Upchurch said. “It bothers me that smaller, developing nations are outspending us. That has implications on a global scale. On the one hand, I’m glad that investments are being made in agriculture around the world, but I wonder if it will place us at a competitive disadvantage. “ Upchurch said that agriculture and research related to it has been so successful in this country that he thinks society is often complacent about it.

“We’re so effective that we’ve become a victim of our success,” he said. “Farmers know this, but I’d like to see commodity and producer groups talking to civic clubs about the risks we’ve faced and how we overcame them with research and how that research has helped give us safest, most abundant and affordable food supply in the world.”

“A wise man once told me that agriculture is the only essential industry,” Nessler added.

“The producers and the people who raise food and fiber make everything else in society possible. It couldn’t be any more important.”

Thanks .. . for the memories!

After 46 years, FLAKE LIVESTOCK AUCTION will be retiring...We want to thank the Naschitti Livestock Association and the individual livestock owners on the east side of the Navajo Nation for their business and to all the buyers and sellers who helped make the Naschitti Sale the premier cattle sale on the Navajo Reservation.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING THE CONTINUED SUCCESS OF THESE CATTLEMEN AND WOMEN IN THE FUTURE

NJAA Internship Deadline October 1 ollege students looking for experience planning events and working with youth across the country can now apply for the National Junior Angus Association’s (NJAA) January — August internship. New to the NJAA this year, the program allows students to spend eight months assisting with junior programs and shows, and traveling to a number of events.

“This new internship offers students a chance to practice their skills in a real-world working environment,” says Robin Ruff, American Angus Association® director of junior activities. “We’re looking for a detail-oriented, outgoing individual who would enjoy being part of the Angus team.”

The deadline to apply for the paid internship is Oct. 1. Aimed toward college sophomores, juniors or seniors, applicants must be enrolled in an agriculture-related major and have the ability to move to Association headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo., during the entire internship.

“The eight-month time period really allows for the selected intern to take more ownership in their project, carry out details from start to finish, and bring a fresh perspective to our

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NJAA programs and events,” Ruff says.

Responsibilities include daily in-office tasks, preparation for NJAA sponsored shows and conferences, working with the Green Coats: Coast to Coast program, and much more depending on the intern’s interests. They will also assist with the NJAA website, Directions newsletter, National Junior Recognition Program, and other programs available to the NJAA membership.

Travel to the National Junior Angus Show (NJAS), Leaders Engaged in Angus Development (LEAD) Conference and other shows and events is expected.

To apply, submit a cover letter, resume and references to Robin Ruff, American Angus Association, 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO 64506. All applications must be postmarked by October 1, 2012.

The January through August internship does not replace the summer-only internship offered by the Association. More details will be released regarding that opportunity later in the fall.

For more information, contact Ruff at 816/383-5100 or rruff@angus.org.

ROLF M. FLAKE, AUCTIONEER • 602/615-3993

Livestock Market Digest

Page 16

BLM Extends Deadline for Private Land Wild Horse Ecosanctuary Proposals he Bureau of Land Management announced that it is extending its deadline for private land wild horse ecosanctuary proposals from August 29 to September 19, 2012.

The ecosanctuaries, to be publicly accessible with a potential for ecotourism, would help the BLM feed and care for excess wild horses that have been removed from western public rangelands.

Each proposed ecosanctuary must be able to support at least 100 wild horses.

The official notice of solicitation can be found at www.grants.gov under opportunity number L12AS00140.

For more information, please contact Susan Kaller, Grants Management Officer, at 775/861-6559 or Zachary Reichold, Senior Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, at 202/9127261.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily

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located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends.

In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM’s multipleuse mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.

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

THE most effective advertising medium in ranching today!

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

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

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

September 15, 2012

Make Culling Decisions to Protect Cattle Herd Genetics by: SARA BROWN, Farm Journal Livestock and Production Editor (Beef Today)

rought covering the major cow-calf states has put a halt to heifer retention and put many cull cows on the fast track to greener pastures. This year, cow-calf producers with low forage supplies may need to do some deep culling to the herd to keep feed costs in check.

The goal is to keep your operation in the black while protecting your herd genetics. Rick Rasby, University of Nebraska-Lincoln beef cattle Extension specialists, advises producers to take a structured, sequential approach to culling cows.

“Forage conditions right now are tough,” Rasby says. “There is quite a bit of early weaning going on in Nebraska, producers are identifying animals to cull, and some are headed to market. Producers are securing feed options for winter. Our challenges right now is to get to corn stalks. We’ll have some corn stalks to graze in Nebraska, because but producers are trying to figure out how to get from now to corn stalks, and then secure feeds after corn stalks are fed.”

“Producers should take opportunities to wean early, which takes the pressure off the cow and the grass or forage base,” Rasby says. “If there were any cows you had marked down to cull at weaning, those would be the cows to target first.

“This is the time that individual cow records really come into play,” he says. “Look at the last two to three years and see, based on comparable production measurements, like weaning weight, or 250-day adjusted weaning weight average. The cows that were in the bottom third for two out of those three years, they’re records tell you that the cows don’t really fit your production environment very well.”

Next, look at age and condition. Mark cows that may not have very many more years of production left, or have bad udders, teeth or feet.

Remember, you want the most productive animals to remain — this is the nucleus of the herd.

Tennessee cattleman, Nick Korn isn’t shy about pulling the cull card. “Any cows that give us trouble, we cull them right away. My wife and I are both in our 70s and we don’t want to fool with unruly cows,” he says.

Korn culled 15 to 20 head from his 100-plus Angus-cross herd this spring, not knowing that a drought was in the wings. “I got rid of all of my 10

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and 11-year-old cows — they were bringing a good price and we felt like we ought to cut back a little bit — course we had no idea that we were going to have a drought. Consequently, by cutting back all of our older cows, we’re still in pretty good shape.

We rotate our pastures, so we are staying in good grass and we aren’t grazing our pastures too low that we can’t come back on a spot with in five or six weeks.

“We’re pretty strict,” Korn adds. “If cows don’t raise a good calf, they don’t stay. We don’t keep a cow around and give her a second chance to get pregnant. If she misses, she goes.”

“Usually we do not sell cull cows in the fall, because that’s when they are the cheapest,” Korn adds. If we have an open cow, we’ll carry her into spring grazing corn stalks and wheat, and usually by spring they are in pretty good condition. When they sell, they more than pay for the cost of overwintering.”

Is she bred? As early as you can after pulling the bulls from the herd, identify any non-pregnant cows, Rasby adds. “If you have any late-breds, you don’t want to cause any abortions, so wait about 40 days and preg check cows. In times of drought, you don’t want to feed expensive hay or feed to cows that don’t have a calf in them. So identify them as soon as possible and market them.”

“This is what is difficult for cattle producers,” Rasby explains. “They work so long and hard at putting together breed and breed combinations that fit their production area and now they have to potentially make some beef stocking decisions, but yet they want to maintain the nucleus of their cow herd.”

“It’s not the first time that cattle producers have had to go through a drought,” Rasby says. “How widespread it is — that is what makes this year different than droughts in the past. Our producers are pretty resilient and resourceful, so we’ll manage through this.”

You have to be pretty careful how you come back to that grass resource. It depends on your area, but some grasses are on soils that fairly fragile. Like everything else, the though process is sequential, and you need to be cognizant of the fact that, depending on how severe the drought is, it make take more than one year to recover fully.

That grass resources is the great resource for our cow-calf producers, and we can’t afford to damage it long-term.

COWBOY UP! HORSES FOR HEROES – NM, INC. WWW.HORSESFORHEROES.ORG

Deliver your message NOW in the Livestock Market Digest!

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

On the web at www.nmagriculture.org

The American Competitive Trail Horse Association is proud to partner with Horses For Heroes – NM, INC. (501c3) on November 10th & 11th 2012 for our first annual Ride to Remember. Hit the trails and join us in a nationwide remembrance and tribute to our service men and women. EVERY ride will assist in raising much needed funds for those nonprofit organizations that support our wounded warriors.

For futher information please visit: ACTHA RIDE TO REMEMBER — WWW.ACTHA.US/RTR