LMD Dec 2012

LivestockDigest

LivestockDECEMBER 15, 2012 • www. aaalivestock . com Volume 54 • No. 13

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

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

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DigestRiding Herd

by Lee Pitts

This Thanksgiving at a cattle-man’s house we feasted onlamb, instead of the tradi-tional turkey. Our hosts got

up at four in the morning toplace the lamb in a mud oven,made from adobe, straw andmanure. (At least the latter camefrom cattle, even if the mainentre didn’t.) Everyone ravedabout the meat and a commonquestion was heard around thedinner table: “Why don’t we evereat lamb?”I just hope 20 years from now

they aren’t saying the same thingabout beef.

Never Another Poor DayFor years I’ve been comparing

the concentration of the cattleindustry to what happened withpork and poultry, as they lost 90percent of their producers andthe remainder signed up withTyson and Smithfield to becomecontract producers. I hate toadmit this but I may have beenwrong. No, I wasn’t wrong aboutthe eventual outcome, just aboutthe species. Now it looks likewe’ll more likely follow the sheepto slaughter.Mind you, the results will still

be the same, it’s just that now wemay look more like the sheepbusiness in how we go aboutgoing out of business. Formerhead of the Packers & Stock-

whereas a hog or broiler onlyrequires the amount of land itneeds to turn around in. In thisregard it’s obvious that we aremore like sheep who also requirevast acreages. But as DudleyButler says, “They don’t have toown the land; they own thefarmer.”There are the other similari-

ties we have with the sheep folks.Predators had a lot to do with

the sheep business beingreduced to almost an after-thought, but this problem wasmanageable, in most cases, withcattle. Until, that is, the govern-ment started sponsoring maraud-ing wolf packs. If you don’t thinkthe wolves present a clear dangerof thinning out rancher’s ranksgo back and read our feature sto-ry from two months ago whenWashington rancher LenMcIrvin reported that wolveskilled 20 percent of his calves inone allotment.The national sheep herd also

shriveled because sheep rancherswere kicked off their grazingallotments with both the BLMand the Forest Service. The samething is happening to cattlemenand if they can’t kick you off, thegovernment, with its’ “Lock it upand let it burn” style of manage-ment, will burn you out of busi-ness. Add to all this the fact thatmore land that was previously

yards Division, Dudley Butler,says, “The same vertical integra-tion that has allowed corpora-tions to dominate the poultryand pork industries will happenin the cattle industry if it isn’tstopped.”The most common reason giv-

en as to why the beef industrywill not go the way of pork andpoultry is that the beef industryrequires huge amounts of land,

Following Sheep“The worse a

person rides the more likely he is to

blame it on the horse.”

continued on page six

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Skunked

Due to their fondnessfor asphalt, deercause more humandeaths annually than

any other creature and overthe course of a 40-yearcareer on the road I wasproud to say that I neverfilled my deer tag by hittingone on the highway. I mayhave accidentally flattenedmy share of snakes andsquirrels (who hasn’t?), butI’d never run over anythingbigger than a rabbit. I’vedriven the wild countryfrom the badlands to theBig Bend country, from theEverglades to the Oka -nogan without ever hittingan armadillo, reindeer, cat,yak, Hereford, PETA mem-ber, wild hog or domesticdog. Although I must admitI was tempted by the catand the PETA member.I’m proud to say I’d nev-

er dented my bumper onanything. Notice I used thepast tense. In the last sixmonths I’ve done $8,000 ofdamage to my car by hittinga pudgy and pungent pole-cat, and a deer with Booneand Crockett numbers.Both accidents were atnight and both happenednot far from my house,proving once again thatmost accidents really dohappen within 25 miles ofhome. Even if I could haverecovered the bodies for aproper burial they wouldhave had to have beenclosed casket funeralsbecause their bodies wereso disfigured. May they restin pieces.The deer and skunk paid

the ultimate price for theirjaywalking and my one-mankilling-machine escapadesare not something I feelgood about. In the case ofthe poor deer, which I got areal good look at becausehis face hit my windshield18 inches from my own, hetruly did have that “deer inthe headlights look.” Hisface still haunts my dreamsand I have flashbacks whenI drive by the accidentscene. I may need therapy.My Buick Lucerne,

which I love dearly, almosthad to be totaled and wasonly saved at the lastminute because some key

continued on page two

by RON ARNOLD, The Washington Examiner

President Obama — or should I say,@BarackObama — tweeted recently forAmericans to pressure Congress intokeeping the $2,000 middle-class tax cuts

in the face of the approaching “fiscal cliff”: “Callyour members of Congress. Write them anemail. Tweet it using the hashtag #My2K.”House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio

(@SpeakerBoehner) tweeted back: “FYI @White-House: House GOP voted to stop #my2k taxrate hikes & defend #smallbiz jobs. What spend-ing will Dems cut to stop #fiscalcliff?”Beyond this hashtagged and refined Twitter

trash talk, as the 112th Congress mud-wrestlesover the Budget Control Act of 2011 and thefiscal cliff, influential blogs are posting headlinessuch as “Return of the carbon tax?” and “Car-bon tax could be part of eventual tax reformpackage.”How is the carbon tax, a nonstarter among

congressional Republicans and Democrats alike,slithering out of the budget weeds again? Andwhy, even after the White House downplayedthe idea earlier this month, are perfectly sane

Is Big Green’s carbon tax a snake in the ‘fiscal cliff’s’ grass?

commentators predicting that “some form of acarbon tax may be the budget and climate poli-cy tool most ready for implementation as Con-gress begins fiscal cliff negotiations”?I asked Marlo Lewis, public policy expert at

the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Hereplied bluntly, “The Dumb Party has beenknown to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,and carbon tax advocates are nothing if nottenacious.” When he said “the Dumb Party,” hewasn’t talking about dumb Democrats.“Carbon tax proponents hope they can sugar-

coat the tax for conservatives, or at least enoughconservatives,” said Lewis. Then, paraphrasingthe Heritage Foundation’s David Kreutzer:“This proposed confection has two ingredients.First, the carbon tax is to be a revenue-neutralswap for some even more harmful tax. Second, acarbon tax would obviate the need for regula-tion of carbon dioxide and for subsidies to low-carbon energy.”“Wait a minute,” I objected. “ ‘Revenue-neu-

tral’ is supposed to mean that each dollar raised

continued on page five

Page 2 Livestock Market Digest December 15, 2012

used for grazing cloven hoof ani-mals is now being converted tocrops, and other rangeland ismistakenly being taken out ofproduction in the name of con-servation and environmentalism.Let’s just hope we have a little

more time to enjoy this goodmarket before the roof caves in,but that’s what the sheepherderswere thinking a year ago whenlambs were bringing over twodollars per pound! My friends inthe sheep business were buyingnew pickups and thought “they’dnever see another poor day.”Fast forward to the present whenlambs have lost nearly 60 percentof their value in just one yearthanks to the loss of competitionin the lamb market and the ever-gaping negative spread betweenwhat sheep producers get fortheir lambs, and what the con-sumer pays.

R SHEEPWe aren’t the only ones who

see a direct comparison betweensheep and cattle. R-CALF USAhas long believed that the sheepindustry, like the cattle industry,is being decimated by: “1) unre-strained imports; 2) the packersunrestrained exercise of abusivemarket power including captivesupply-facilitated price manipu-lation; and, 3) the amplifiedaffect of the packers combineduse of unrestrained imports, thatfunction as their captive sup-plies, to further leverage theirabusive buying practices to effec-tively force domestic sheepprices well below levels that acompetitive market would pre-dict. It appears,” says R-CALF,“that packer ownership of anexcessive number of feederlambs resulted in a marketmanipulation because privatelyowned feeder lambs were unableto be marketed and delivered topacking plants because the pack-ers were killing only the lambsthey owned and had contractedto be fed out.”Sound familiar? Anyone who

has ever fed cattle and thencouldn’t get them killed in atimely manner is familiar withcaptive supplies. But what is R-CALF, a cattleman’s organiza-tion, worried about the competi-tion for? After all, they aren’tcalled R SHEEP.After their captive supply

arguments fell on deaf ears foryears in Washington, D.C., R-CALF decided to dumb-it-downto make it easier for the bumblingbureaucrats to understand. Sincethe folks at the USDA and Jus-tice Department don’t seem to beable to recognize antitrust activi-ties in the cattle industry such assweetheart deals, manipulatingfed cattle prices, and refusing tobuy from independent feedlots orbuying with discounts, R-CALFhopes it might be easier for thedense bureaucrats in DC tounderstand it if they studied amuch smaller sample, such as thesheep industry, where the sameactivities have just about putsheepherders out of business.“Given the similarities betweenthe U.S. sheep industry and U.S.

cattle industry,” says R-CALF,“we believe a thorough, probinginvestigation into the U.S. sheepmarket will more readily revealthe extent to which the meat-packers have engaged in antitrustactivities and other unlawful anti-competitive practices to exploitboth producers and consumers.An investigation into the sheepmarket should provide valuableinsights into the antitrust andunlawful anticompetitive prac-tices also occurring in the U.S.cattle market.”

Killing The Golden CowDeclining consumption is

another area where beef andlamb share similarities. In 2010we ate 59.7 pounds of beef perperson, which broke the old lowof 59.8 pounds set in 1958, andwas 1.4 pounds lower than thelevel of 2009. Since then we’vehad two more years of drasticcutbacks in beef consumption

and in 2013 it’s estimated we’llbe getting dangerously close to50 pounds of beef consumed perperson. As bad as that looks, itstacks up very well indeed whenyou compare it to the four-fifthsof ONE POUND of lamb that isbeing consumed per personevery year in this country. Still, itdoesn’t mean we have a lot tofeel good about long term. Obvi-ously the beef business is NOT agrowth industry, to say the least,when you consider that the 2013U.S. calf crop will be the small-est since 1942 and cattle num-bers in the U.S. will likely fallbelow 90 million head next yearfor the first time in 60 years.Just as in the sheep industry,

it’s the small guys who’ve fallenfirst. According to R-CALF,35,000 independent cattle feed-ers have exited the industry since1996 and the only segment ofthe feedlot industry that is grow-ing is the largest segment withcapacities over 50,000 head, andthey are all getting dangerouslyclose to being completely verti-cally integrated by the largestpacker/feeders. “Large verticallyintegrated packer/feeders,” saysR-CALF, “are supplanting inde-pendent feeders and are biddingup the price of feeder calves forindependent feeders and thenmanipulating the price of fedcattle with captive supplies, withthe effect of squeezing the inde-pendent feeder’s margin to thebreaking point.”It is obvious to even the most

obtuse that we are currently wit-nessing a BIG change in thestructure of the cattle industryand according to R-CALF’s BillBullard, “If Congress does nottake immediate action, and if

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Following Sheep continued from page one

The national sheep herd also shriveled because

sheep ranchers were kickedoff their grazing allotments

with both the BLM and the Forest Service.

December 15, 2012 “America’s Favorite Livestock Newspaper” Page 3

USDA and DOJ do not initiateimmediate enforcement action,we will wake up one morningand all the independents will begone. It happened nearly thatfast in the hog industry.”

A Similar Fate?The sheep business has fallen

on hard times because one pack-er basically calls all the shots.The beef business isn’t muchbetter when you consider thatonly four firms control approxi-mately 82 percent, and one ofthem, JBS is also our nation’slargest feeder. The Brazilian-owned JBS recently becameCanada’s biggest packer whenthey took over XL Foods inCanada after that firm had torecall millions of pounds of beef.In the deal they also acquiredcontrol of two more U.S. pack-ing plants. We wouldn’t be sur-prised to see them shutter someof their U.S. plants in the futureas they have done in Australiawhere they bought a vacant abat-toir on King Island and is refus-ing to lease it, effectively causinga loss of a market to the rancherson the island.At the same time they are

shutting down acquired plantsaround the world, the world’sbiggest meat company will opensix additional slaughterhouses inBrazil over the coming monthsthat will increase its beef produc-tion capacity in Brazil by 15 per-cent. Says JBS President WesleyBatista, “The cost of raising ananimal in the United States istwice the cost of raising an ani-mal in Brazil.” Batista said theoutlook for Brazilian beef pro-duction is extremely positive withthe world’s biggest commercialherd of more than 200 millionhead. “Business in Brazil is moreattractive than abroad,” saysBatista. “We are increasing pro-duction in the place that offersthe best returns.” At the sametime this is happening higherprices for beef in the U.S. causedby high grain prices, and low sup-ply, is reducing the amount ofbeef we export. In Septemberexports of U.S. fresh/frozen beefwere down 16 percent comparedto a year ago. This was the ninthmonth in a row that U.S. beefexports posted a year-over-yeardecline. Imports are up, however,with lean grinding beef ship-ments from Australia up 71 per-cent in October compared with ayear earlier.Beef producers shouldn’t

expect any sympathy fromAmerican sheep producersbecause in 2011 the U.S.imported more lamb and muttoninto this country than was pro-duced here. Does beef await asimilar fate?

Critical MassIn business school the term

“critical mass” refers to a mini-mum size or amount of some-thing required to maintain thebusiness. After many years ofherd liquidation, we may havereached our critical mass. Theresulting cow liquidation fromtwo terrible droughts in 2011

and 2012 hasn’t helped, and aswe get smaller more auctionmarkets and feedlots go out ofbusiness and producers are leftwith fewer marketing outlets andless competitive bidding.According to Oklahoma econ-

omist Darrel Peel, cow slaughterhas averaged 17.6 percent oftotal slaughter since the mid-1980s but for the past four yearscow slaughter has made up 19percent of total slaughter. In2011 cows represented 20 per-cent of total slaughter and itcould hit that number again in2012 when the final tally is in.Simply put, we’re killing off ourcow herd and not replacing it.At the same time this is hap-

pening, beef and veal prices wentup five percent in the grocerystore this year after a 10 percentincrease last year. Consumerscan expect to pay an additionalfour percent more in 2013 andit’s not just because of the priceof corn. In fact, it probably hasmore to do with our dwindlingsupply. And even lower beef sup-plies are expected in the future.Sure, it’s good for ranchers in theshort term who enjoy higherprices, but those prices are also

driving more consumers awayfrom beef. In this tight economymany consumers will take beefoff the dinner table as retail beefprices hang around $5.00 perpound. And it’s the same story inrestaurants. “The national trendsare pointing to more chicken onthe menu because it’s cheaperthan the beef,” says Erica Papil-lion, with the Louisiana Restau-rant Association.

Where’s The Beef?While we do not agree with

the professors at the StockholmInternational Water Institutewho say that by 2050 the humanpopulation will have to switch toan almost vegetarian diet toavoid catastrophic global foodand water shortages, we do knowthat it’s an added pressure point.They say, “There will not beenough water available to pro-duce food for the expected ninebillion population in 2050 if wefollow current trends.” And JanetLarsen, director of research atEarth Policy Institute, says,“Meat eating is already on thedecline in the United States andbeef eating has dropped off themost. And the trend will contin-ue. We might go back to whenSunday night dinner was the

only time when you had a chick-en on the table.”Who knows, we might sit down

to a special Thanksgiving feastsometime in the future and some-one will ask, “Steak, what a treat!I’d forgotten how good it tastes.Why don’t we eat beef any more?”

Editor’s Note: At press time GIP-SA (the Grain Inspection. Packersand Stockyards Administration)announced they were opening aninvestigation into price manipulationin the sheep market, but the fewsheepherders left shouldn’t get theirhopes up. The Obama administrationhas been real good at launchinginvestigations and then failing to act,as they did when they held multiplelistening sessions across the countryand spent millions of taxpayer dollarsgathering evidence, only to do nothingwhen the multinational corporationsvoiced their displeasure at their con-clusions. Cattleman left the ranch,drove long distances and sat for hoursto get a chance to testify and voicetheir complaints about captive sup-plies. They presented enough evidencefor a good hanging but the ObamaJustice Department, in the end, didnothing. They wasted countless hoursand millions of dollars and got folk’shopes up but we’d all have been a bet-ter off if they did nothing while theywere busy doing nothing.

Graham To BeRemembered WithResearch CenterScholarships

To honor the lifetime ofservice of David Graham,the New Mexico StateUniversity (NMSU) Clay-

ton Research Center AdvisoryBoard is initiating a scholarshipin his memory. Dubbed the“David Grahman ResearchCenter Scholarships,” theannual award will be providedto a graduate student doingresearch at the ClaytonResearch Center.David Graham was a long-

time Union County ExtensionAgent who devoted many yearsof research to plants in relationto livestock usage, amongnumerous other things. David’swork was nationally known forthe improvment of the land andthe environment.Contributions toward the

scholarship fund may be madein David’s name to the NMSUFoundation, Box 3590, LasCruces NM 88003-3590 or toDr. Michael Hubbers, Super-intendent of the ResearchCenter.

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Following Sheep continued from page two

For years, the governmenthas gotten by without hav-ing to produce the kind offinancial statements that

are required of most significantfor-profit and nonprofit enter-prises, say Chris Cox, a formerchairman of the House Republi-can Policy Committee and theSecurities and Exchange Com-mission, and Bill Archer, a for-mer chairman of the HouseWays & Means Committee.As a result, fiscal policy discus-

sions generally focus on current-year budget deficits, the accumu-lated national debt, and therelationships between these twoitems and gross domestic product.

� We most often hear aboutthe alarming $15.96 trillionnational debt (more than 100percent of gross domestic prod-uct (GDP)), and the 2012 budg-et deficit of $1.1 trillion (6.97percent of GDP).

� As dangerous as those num-bers are, they do not begin to tellthe story of the federal govern-ment’s true liabilities.

� The actual liabilities of thefederal government — includingSocial Security, Medicare and fed-eral employees’ future retirementbenefits — already exceed $86.8trillion, or 550 percent of GDP.

� For the year ending Decem-ber 31, 2011, the annual accruedexpense of Medicare and SocialSecurity was $7 trillion.

� In reality, the reportedbudget deficit is less than one-fifth of the more accurate figure.

Why haven’t Americans heardabout the titanic $86.8 trillion lia-bility from these programs? Onereason: The actual figures do notappear in black and white on anybalance sheet. But it is possible todiscover them. Included in theannual Medicare Trustees’ reportare separate actuarial estimates ofthe unfunded liability forMedicare Part A (the hospitalportion), Part B (medical insur-ance) and Part D (prescriptiondrug coverage).Were American policy makers

to have the benefit of transparentfinancial statements prepared theway public companies mustreport their pension liabilities,they would see clearly the magni-tude of the future borrowing thatthese liabilities imply. Borrowingon this scale could eclipse thecapacity of global capital markets— and bankrupt not only theprograms themselves but theentire federal government.When the accrued expenses

of the government’s entitlementprograms are counted, itbecomes clear that to collectenough tax revenue just to avoidgoing deeper into debt wouldrequire over $8 trillion in tax col-lections annually. That is thetotal of the average annualaccrued liabilities of just the twolargest entitlement programs,plus the annual cash deficit.

Source: Chris Cox and Bill Archer, “Why $16Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt,” WallStreet Journal, November 26, 2012.

The 2012 American AgriWomen’s (AAW’s) VeritasAward was presented tojournalist Lee Pitts of Los

Osos, Calif., in early November.Pitts is a seeker of truth, who

looks at the whole picture, fromall angles. He has the unique abil-ity to make a complicated issueunderstandable, even when con-troversial. For the past 40 yearshe has been riding herd on theagricultural industry while servingas executive editor of a monthlylivestock publication, LivestockMarket Digest, headquartered inAlbuquerque, New Mexico.Pitts’ articles have been

reprinted in hundreds of newspa-pers and magazines and hisessays were regularly recited onPaul Harvey News and Com-ment and National Public Radio.A collection of Lee’s video essayswere featured on the Voice ofAgriculture television show andcompiled into an hour-longvideo, From A Western Point ofView. His essays also haveappeared in the Chicken Soup forthe Soul series of best-sellingbooks.Lee Pitts is the author of 11

books including People Who Liveat the End of Dirt Roads, BackDoor People, The I Hate ChickenCookbook, Essays from God’sCountry, A Collection of Charac-ters and his latest, A HandmadeLife. Harper Collins releasedPitts’ only hardback book, These

Things I Wish.Pitts graduated with an Ani-

mal Science degree from CalPoly University in San LuisObispo and was a Rotary Inter-national Graduate Fellow to theUniversity of New England inArmidale, New South Wales,Australia. He has seen the highsand lows of agriculture both as arancher and as a sheepherder.He began his writing and

speaking career while serving asthe state president of the Cali-fornia Association of the FFAand since then his work has beensyndicated in publications inItaly, Australia, England andCanada as well as all parts of theU.S. For 20 years he also was aco-owner and the voice of West-ern Video Market, the secondlargest livestock auction compa-ny in the country.Says Pitts, “In my life I have

been blessed with one good wife,a marginal horse, 14 worthlessdogs and a few dimwitted boss-es. That’s much more than anyman deserves.”Previous honors Pitts has gar-

nered include Westerner of theYear; Western Heritage Award;Livestock Marketing Association’svery first “Friend of the Industry”Award; California Auction Mar-kets Association first “Friend ofthe Industry” Award; R-CALF’sfirst entrant into their Hall ofFame; and R-CALF’s “WheelHorse Award” (for journalists).


by JEFF TUCKER, Rio Grande Sun Staff Writer

Attorneys for the federalgovernment argued thismonth to dismiss a keyportion of a lawsuit con-

cerning grazing rights on historicland grant areas in northern NewMexico. Plaintiffs say ifapproved by the federal judge,the motion would limit damagesthat could be recovered.The lawsuit, filed in January

against the U.S. Forest Serviceby the Jarita Mesa and Alamosalivestock grazing associations,two dozen Hispanic rancherswith permits to graze in the Car-son National Forest, and the RioArriba County commissioners,focuses on a 2010 decision byCarson National Forest El RitoDistrict Ranger Diana Trujillo tocut cattle grazing by 18 percenton the Jarita Mesa and Alamosagrazing allotments.“Plaintiffs and their ancestors

are Hispanic stockmen whosefamilies have been grazing live-stock in this area for many gen-erations,” the plaintiffs’ lawsuitstates. “In fact, most of theirfamilies were grazing livestock inthis area before the UnitedStates Forest Service existed.Grazing livestock is an integralpart of their existence and is acentral part of life in the villagesthey reside in and in all of north-ern New Mexico.”At a Nov. 9 federal court

hearing in Albuquerque, U.S.District Judge James O. Brown-ing heard the federal govern-ment’s motion to dismiss the

first count of the lawsuit, whichcharges Trujillo with unconstitu-tional conduct.Richard Rosenstock of Santa

Fe, co-counsel for the plaintiffs,said if the federal court dismissesthe First Amendment count ofthe lawsuit, it would limit theplaintiffs’ ability to seek reliefunder the Administrative Proce-dure Act, which is a body ofadministrative law governing thereview of federal agency deci-sions.Rosenstock said it is doubtful

the Act would allow sufficientdiscovery to prove discrimina-tion.Rio Arriba County officials

and ranchers say Trujillo retaliat-ed against them, violating theirFirst Amendment rights, by cut-ting grazing by 18 percent afterthe ranchers complained to theirlegislators and the forest serviceabout Trujillo’s management ofgrazing issues. They contend theforest service is trying to pushthem from land that has beenranched by their families for cen-turies, and that Trujillo veeredfrom normal practices by notimplementing the stocking levelsrecommended by forest servicescientists, which would have keptthe number of livestock headunchanged from 1980, withmodified rangeland improve-ment.“Livestock grazing has played

a central role in the cultural,social and economic fabric of theHispanic people in northernNew Mexico since 1598, becom-ing fully developed in the area bythe late 1690s,” the plaintiffs’

lawsuit states. “Prior to the Unit-ed States exercising sovereigntyover what is now northern NewMexico in 1848, most, if not all,of the land which now consti-tutes the El Rito Ranger Districtof the Carson National Forest,including the land where theJarita Mesa and Alamosa allot-ments are located, was commu-nity land grant land that support-ed the local communities.”

Grazing right reduction in effectThe 18 percent reduction of

grazing opportunities went intoeffect the 2011 season, and iseffective for about 10 years, untilthe forest service’s next environ-mental assessment of the JaritaMesa and Alamosa allotments.The plaintiffs sued Trujillo in

both her individual and officialcapacities. The ranchers contendTrujillo violated their FirstAmendment right to petitiontheir government for the redressof grievances.The forest service says man-

agement practices by the ranch-ers have contributed to the over-use of meadows, that fenceswere either poorly maintained orin disrepair on the two allot-ments, and that current grazinglevels are unsustainable.The ranchers say in the law-

suit the property rights of His-panics have been ignored and aninstitutional bias exists in the for-est service. The ranchers noted a1972 forest service policy, imple-

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

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Why $16 trillion only hints at the true U.S. debt

Agri Women Honor Lee Pitts

Feds File Motion to Weaken Ranchers’ Claim

continued on page five

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cuts another tax by a dollar. Butthis is politics. With neutrality,hundreds of billions of revenuedollars won’t be there to fill thespecial interest troughs. Support-ive Republicans would be com-mitting suicide.”“Exactly,” said Lewis, “and Lisa

Jackson certainly won’t tell herEnvironmental Protection Agencyregulators — who use climatefears to pressure the fossil fuelsector out of the national econo-my — to knock off the regula-tions. We have a carbon tax now.”Lewis continued: “A carbon

tax was never meant to be a rev-enue source, but to changebehavior, to stop the use of coal,oil and natural gas.”His point: Tax carbon, con-

sumers can’t afford it, use goes

down. But revenue goes down,too — so the feds raise the tax tofill the gap. Use goes downagain, revenue goes down againand the tax goes up again. It'slike the mythical dragon swallow-ing its own tail, only instead of adragon it's our only economicallypractical energy source.“Nobody knows how to run a

complex economy on biomass andwind and solar, no matter howvastly subsidized,” Lewis noted.“But House Speaker John

Boehner, Majority Leader EricCantor and Majority Whip KevinMcCarthy have signed a No Cli-mate Tax Pledge. Bad for thosepushing carbon taxes as part of abudget deal,” concluded Lewis.I asked Americans for Tax

Reform founder and pledge

author Grover Norquist what hethought was behind this suddenresurgence of talk about a car-bon tax.“Obama is not truly interested

in raising taxes on the rich,”Norquist told me. “His real goalis to impose an energy tax as theprecursor of a value added tax onAmerican taxpayers. An energy/carbon tax and/or a VAT, in addi-tion to the present income tax, isthe only way to fund the perma-nently larger government Obamais creating before our eyes.”With even ExxonMobil

reported to be giving support tothe fantasy tax-for-regulationswap, politicians need to realizethe carbon tax is a trap for foolseating their own tails.

Examiner Columnist Ron Arnold is executivevice president of the Center for the Defense ofFree Enterprise.

Carbon Tax continued from page one

Feds File Motion continued from page four

mented following a 1967 raid ofthe Tierra Amarilla Courthouseover unresolved land grantissues, which said Hispanic resi-dents of northern New Mexicohad a relationship with the land.The policy declared their culturea resource that must be recog-nized when setting forest servicepolicies.“(T)his loss of grazing permits

causes not only severe economicharm to plaintiffs, but also gravedamage to viability of the uniquecultural and social fabric of theirfamilies and communities, thepreservation and enhancementof which has been recognized bydefendant forest service as essen-tial, not just to the residents ofnorthern New Mexico, but tothe entire nation,” the plaintiffs’lawsuit states.Rosenstock said if the First

Amendment count is dismissed,it would prevent the plaintiffsfrom recovering compensatoryand punitive economic damages.He said, at best, an Act proceed-ing could result in a reversal ofTrujillo’s decision and limitedrestitution, despite the economichardship he says the ranchershave suffered and continue tosuffer under the 18 percent graz-ing reduction.Rosenstock also said if the

First Amendment count is dis-missed, it would prevent theplaintiffs from suing Trujillo fordamages as both a federalemployee and a private individ-ual, which Rosenstock said isnecessary to provide a significantdeterrent against First Amend-ment infringements by govern-ment officials.

The lawsuit also charges Tru-jillo violated various environmen-tal and administrative laws,including regional forest servicepolicy requiring that manage-ment decisions support the sur-vival of Native American andHispanic traditions. If the courtgrants the government’s motionto dismiss the plaintiffs’ FirstAmendment count, the remain-ing counts charging violations ofthe National Environmental Pol-icy Act, the National ForestManagement Act, the FederalSustained Yield Forest Manage-ment Act and forest service poli-cy would all fall under thepurview of the AdministrativeProcedures Act.“We asserted a claim for dam-

ages for the decision for thegrazing permit reduction,”Rosenstock said. “The judge canreverse the 18 percent reductionbased on finding Trujillo wasmotivated by retaliatory action.”

Fed’s argumentAssistant U.S. Attorney Ruth

Keegan argued to dismiss theFirst Amendment count, sayinga successful lawsuit such as thatfiled by the ranchers could para-lyze government officials withthe fear of being sued for anydecisions they make.Browning noted law enforce-

ment officers may be sued as pri-vate individuals, yet they manageto do their jobs.Keegan argued the U.S.

Supreme Court doesn’t allowfederal employees outside of lawenforcement to be personallysued for damages.The judge is expected to issue

a ruling in the near future on thegovernment’s motion to dismissthe First Amendment count.Rosenstock said if the First

Amendment count is dismissed,he and co-counsel Simeon Her-skovits, of Taos, would continuethe lawsuit through an Act pro-ceeding.The Rio Arriba County com-

missioners joined the lawsuitagainst the forest service to keepgrazing permits for local ranch-ers on federal lands. In addition,Rio Arriba County, along withlocal school districts, receivespayment in lieu of taxes from theforest service that are derived inpart from grazing fees.District III Commissioner

Felipe D. Martinez, who attend-ed the Nov. 9 hearing in Albu-

querque on behalf of the com-missioners, said the Countyreaps tens of thousands of dol-lars a year from the grazing feesand livestock taxes, in additionto increased economic activitythroughout the county andregion.“The lawsuit is a long time in

coming,” said Martinez, whosefather once owned a grazing per-mit on the Alamosa allotment.“For too many years, NativeAmericans and Hispanic Ameri-cans have not been able to bene-fit completely from the resourceson federal lands. The thing isthat we’ve been here the longest.Our ancestors shed a lot ofblood, sweat and tears to colo-nize this area.”“We’re hoping he’ll be fair, we

want a fair shake,” Martinez saidof the federal judge. “We wantthe judge to know we’ve beentreated differently, unfairly, thatwe are being retaliated againstfor expressing our right to freespeech and to petition for theredress of our grievances.”At a Nov. 4 public meeting in

Abiquiú, Rio Arriba countyattorney Ted Trujillo said thepublic land restrictions wouldresult in the extinction of His-panic and Native Americanranchers who have run livestockon forest lands for generations.He also said the grazing restric-tions would increase catastrophicforest fires due to over-growthand have a negative economicimpact on local agricultural com-munities.


� CAB’s Colvin ScholarshipFund will award six scholarshipsin 2013 totaling $20,000. Thefunds will be split among fiveundergraduate scholarships — inthe amounts of $5,000, $4,000,$3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 —and one $5,000 graduate-levelscholarship.College juniors and seniors

who have shown commitment tothe beef industry, either throughcoursework or activities, areencouraged to apply by theDecember 7, 2012, deadline.Applications are evaluated oninvolvement, scholastic achieve-ment, communication skills andreference letters. The graduate-level scholarship will be awardedto a full-time master’s or doctor-ate student conducting researchrelated to high-quality beef pro-duction. Applications for thataward are due January 11, 2013.For more details, interested

students should go online or con-tactTrudi Hoyle, CAB, at 800-225-2333 or [email protected].

Angus Internships� The American Angus Associ-

ation Activities and EventsDepartment is offering, for thefirst time, an internship thatfocuses on event planning to acollege sophomore, junior orsenior who has agricultural inter-ests. The internship will providea highly organized, detail-orient-ed college student the opportu-nity to gain real-world experi-ence planning and implementingeducational and social events forthe Association membership.Applicants should work well withall types of people and be a self-starter who can work individual-ly, as well as on a team. Thequalified candidate should beavailable to start the position onor before June 1, 2013. Sometravel is likely.To apply, send a cover letter,

resume and references to SheliaStannard, director of activitiesand events, American AngusAssociation, 3201 FrederickAve., Saint Joseph, MO 64506,or email [email protected] due Feb. 5, 2013.

� The American Angus Associ-ation Junior Activities Depart-ment provides a college sopho-more, junior or senior anoutstanding opportunity to assistwith preparations, communica-

tions and correspondence forjunior shows and events. Appli-cants must be enrolled in anagriculture-related major, andconsider themselves a self-starter, detail-oriented and anoutgoing individual who has theability to work well with others.Travel to the 2013 National Jun-ior Angus Show (NJAS), LeadersEngaged in Angus Development(LEAD) Conference and othershows and events is expected.The internship spans fromapproximately early-May to mid-August, with specific startingand ending dates depending onthe applicant’s availability.A cover letter, resume and ref-

erences are due Feb. 5, 2013, toRobin Ruff, director of junioractivities, American Angus Associ-ation, 3201 Frederick Ave., SaintJoseph, MO 64506. For moreinformation, contact Ruff at 816-383-5100 or [email protected].

� The American Angus Associ-ation Communications and Pub-lic Relations Department isaccepting applications from col-lege juniors or seniors studyingjournalism, agricultural commu-nications or related fields. Appli-cants should have strong writingand design skills, in addition tocompleted coursework in newsand feature writing, editing and

design. Experience in photogra-phy, video and social media is anasset in this fast-paced intern-ship. The internship spans fromapproximately early-May to mid-August, with specific startingand ending dates depending onthe applicant’s availability.Applications are due Febru-

ary 5, 2013. To apply, send acover letter, resume, referencesand writing samples to JenaThompson, assistant director ofpublic relations, AmericanAngus Association, 3201 Freder-ick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO64506. For more information,contact Thompson at 816-383-5100 or [email protected].

� Angus Productions Inc.offers a college student theopportunity to be part of the edi-torial team of various publica-tions. This 10-week, writing-intensive internship offers theselected intern an opportunity toparticipate in producing variouspublications, including theAngus Journal, the Angus Jour-naldigital replica, the Angus BeefBulletin (ABB), the ABBEXTRA, the Angus e-List, edito-rial websites, and social mediaefforts. The internship will beflexible enough to tailor to thestrengths and needs of theintern, but many duties can beexpected. Experience in newsand feature writing, editing andphotography are strongly sug-gested. The internship spansfrom late-May to mid-August,specific starting and endingdates will be negotiated with theselected candidate.Applications are due Febru-

ary 5, 2013. To apply, send acover letter, resume and writingsamples to Shauna Hermel, edi-tor, Angus Productions Inc.,3201 Frederick Ave., Saint

Joseph, MO 64506. For moreinformation, contact Hermel at(816) 383-5270 or [email protected].

Angus Scholarships� The Angus Foundation

offers general scholarships tostudents pursuing undergraduateand graduate degrees in highereducation. Eligible Angus youthmeeting the qualifications forthe Angus Foundation’s 2013Undergraduate and GraduateScholarship Programs will beconsidered by the Angus Foun-dation’s Scholarship SelectionCommittee. As in past years,other specific and special criteriascholarships administered by theAngus Foundation will also beavailable. Scholarship recipientswill be recognized at the 2013NJAS in Kansas City, Mo.Applications will be available

online beginning Dec. 1, 2012.For more information, contactMilford Jenkins, Angus Founda-tion president, at [email protected] or call 816-383-5100.

TO SUPPORT THESE CAUSES AND MORE, JOIN US!

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

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

Name: _____________________________________________________________________________________Organization: _______________________________________________________________________________Address: ________________________________________ City: __________________________ State: _____Zip: __________ Phone: __________________ Fax: __________________ Email: ______________________

936 West 350 North • Blackfoot, ID 83221 [email protected] • 208-681-6004www.westernlegacyalliance.org

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

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Working to Protect the Rich Tapestry of the West

parts were able to be located in a distant junkyard. As it was,I needed an all new front end, all because of one $8,000deer.As bad as the deer episode was, the skunk collision was

worse. Both the skunk and I froze just milliseconds beforeimpact and I remember thinking,” Nice kitty, please don’tdo it.” But the stinky cat did!I had to pull off to the side of the road because my car

was making strange noises after the impact. With my dressclothes on I tried not to breathe as I got on my back andlooked under the car. Mother nature did not cooperate byturning on her night light but I could barely make out partsof the dead polecat hanging from the fan blade, putting torest the theory that a skunk can’t spray while hanging fromits tail. The only solace was I remembered that my favoriteauthor, J. Frank Dobie, wrote that a hydrophobic skunkcouldn’t spray. At least I wasn’t going to get rabies!I think you can imagine my discomfort as I worked in the

aromatically-challenged environment to fasten the plasticunderbelly of my car back together again. It was some of thefastest mechanic work ever done and if you think NASCARpit crews are fast your should have seen this Pitts stop! Afterdriving 20 miles per hour to an all night convenience store,where there was more light, I was asked to vacate the prem-ises by the owner. My wife did the same thing when I finallylimped into home.I have a “Theory of Threes” in that I believe bad events

always happen in clusters of three. This means that I am dueto hit a cow or a horse next. The way I see it I only have twooptions: I can either walk everywhere I go or I can sell mywildlife-killing, roadkill-creating car. Therefore, I would liketo take advantage of the fact that this column appears inpapers across the country and offer up this free classified ad:“Unlucky Car For Sale: It may not have that new car

smell but I guarantee it will still turn heads. Frequent recentmaintenance with many all new body parts. Bumper stickerreads, “I don’t brake for wildlife.” Car is cheap and attrac-tive. (Suicidal wildlife find it really attractive.) A really gooddeal for someone with a poor sense of smell.”

Riding Herd CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

Angus Offers Internship & Scholarship Opportunities

The future of the cattle business is built on student leadersfocused on keeping the industry strong. And to be successful, ittakes practice. To provide that needed experience, the Ameri-can Angus Association® and its entities offer five paid intern-

ships and two scholarship programs for college students.Available internships offer students experience in the industry and

the chance to gain real-world working knowledge — a must-have intoday’s competitive market. Scholarship programs, established by theAngus Foundation and Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), rewardundergraduate and graduate students who are passionate about beefand the Angus brand. Deadlines and details for each internship andscholarship are listed below.

Deadlines Summary

• January 11, 2013: CAB Colvin Graduate Scholarship

• February 5, 2013 : American Angus Association Activities and Events, Junior Activities, Communication and Public Relations, and Angus Productions Inc. Internships

• May 1, 2013: Angus Foundation Scholarships


by KIM VALLEZ, KRQE TV

Two cowboys from south-eastern New Mexico havecreated a new energy drinkthey believe embodies the

“cowboy way.”Bert and Montie Carol

Madera of the Pitchfork CattleCompany near Jal joined forceswith Carlsbad’s Ryan Leon andcame up with Cowboy Up, an allnatural energy drink with anapple/beer taste.The Maderas, who started the

ranch in Jal in 1932, say they’renot only proud of the drink butof the mission behind it.“Everything we’ve done is in

the way of the cowboy; it’sintegrity,” Montie Carol says.“That is what we are trying topromote.”The Madera’s are proud of

the drink’s all-natural ingredi-ents. They say there is nothinginside that will hurt you, and it islow in sugar, which means it

doesn’t bring the crash that oth-er energy drinks do.So how did two cowboys from

southeastern New Mexico getinto the energy-drink business?They say they were looking for

something new to do, and that iswhen Ryan Leon came along.He’s a Carlsbad native who hasworked for three of the majorenergy-drink companies and waslooking to create his own prod-uct.“We tasted it and tested it and

liked what we saw and thought itwas a good fit,” says Bert.Along with growing their new

business, the Maderas are alsohelping encourage local kids tojoin the agriculture industry. Themore the business grows, themore they can help.Cowboy Up is available in all

Allsup’s stores and many smallergrocery stores.The Maderas hope to have

the drink in 200 more businessesby the end of 2013.

by TERESA CARSON, REUTERS

ACanadian environmental-ist accused of taking partin a campaign ofarsonattacks across the U.S.

West surrendered on November29, 2012 after a decade on therun to face charges in whatauthorities call the “largest eco-terrorism case” in U.S. history.Rebecca Jeanette Rubin

turned herself in to FBI agentsat the Canadian border inBlaine, Washington, the U.S.Department of Justice said in astatement. She is charged withhelping set a wave of arson firesbetween 1996 and 2001 thatwere carried out by self-pro-claimed members of the EarthLiberation Front and AnimalLiberation Front.“Rubin’s arrest marks the end

of her decade-long period as aninternational fugitive in thelargest eco-terrorism case inUnited States history,” the Jus-tice Department statement saidof the arson spree.Officials have given no reason

for her surrender.Prosecutors said at the time

that the case stood out for thenumber of fires set and damagecaused, which was estimated atmore than $40 million.Rubin, 39, faces arson,

destructive device and conspira-cy charges in Oregon, Californiaand Colorado. She was expectedto make an initial court appear-ance in Seattle before she isreturned to Oregon for trial inU.S. District Court.The government indicted

Rubin in 2006 of taking part in aconspiracy with 12 others involv-

ing 20 acts of arson.She is charged with partici-

pating in a 1997 arson fire at awild horse and burro facilitybelonging to the Bureau of LandManagement in Burns, Oregon,that was set to retaliate for whatthe group believed was poortreatment of the horses.Animals were set free and

firebombs placed around thefacility, according to a federalgrand jury indictment.She is also accused of partici-

pating in a 1998 attempted arsonat the Medford, Oregon, officesof U.S. Forest Industries.In Colorado, Rubin faces

eight counts of arson for the1998 firebombing of a Vail skiresort to stop an expansion thatthe group felt would encroach ona lynx habitat.She is also charged with con-

spiracy, arson and using adestructive device in a 2001 fireat a Bureau of Land Manage-ment horse and burro facilitynear Susanville, California.Ten of the other 12 defen-

dants pleaded guilty to conspira-cy and multiple counts of arsonin 2007 in Eugene, Ore, whiletwo, Joseph Dibee and JosephineOveraker, remain at large.If convicted on all charges,

Rubin could face a maximumpenalty of hundreds of years inprison, although the other defen-dants were sentenced to between37 to 156 months behind bars,Assistant U.S. Attorney StephenPeifer said.Rubin can consent to have the

charges from the three statesconsolidated and be tried in Ore-gon, or she can be tried in eachjurisdiction, Peifer said.

Grandpa Tommy was reminiscing, “It’s ashame everybody couldn’t go through theGreat Depression.”I know what he meant. I think. He didn’t

mean it like “It’s a shame everybody hadn’tbeen in a concentration camp or had polio.” Hewas remarking that most of us Baby Boomersand younger are unable to appreciate how tech-nology has pampered us. There was no safetynet back then. Grandpa Tommy spent theDirty 30’s in the depths of the Dust Bowl inSyracuse, Kansas. Then the first half of the 40’she was on a Navy vessel in the Pacific.He passed away without seeing our Osama-

Conomy. The hard times that today’s genera-tions are suffering under, began on 9/11/2001.We sank to the bottom immediately. Unem-ployment in 2002 was 7.5 percent. We pulledourselves out and by 2007 unemployment hadfallen to 4.5 percent. Then we over-reached andcrashed again in 2008, where we have wallowedfor four years with 8-10 percent unemploy-ment. But this whole series of events in the last11 years began on 9/11/01.During this OsamaConomy, a large percent

of our population has had to tighten our belts,however a smaller 10 percent has sufferedmightily. But, in Grandpa Tommy’s defense,just a very tiny percent of those of us caught inthe vise of OsamaConomy have gone hungry orhave no roof over their head. Present-day tech-nology has allowed the majority of the unem-ployed access to computers, cell phones, vehi-cles, televisions, emergency health care andschool for their kids.The safety net that is helping these “victims”

includes family, friends, churches, private giv-ing and government programs financed bythose still working and paying taxes. This safety

net has prevented any mass migration of theunemployed seeking work. If there had been amass migration, North Dakota and Wyomingwould have doubled in population! The ten per-cent unemployed have been able to stay infamiliar surroundings and are able to get tem-porary assistance to ride it out.The Great Depression had 25 percent

unemployment at its peak and lasted 9 – 10years. Only the outbreak of World War IIbrought an end to it.It is the prayer of all of us, that our founder-

ing leaders will get their collective heads out ofthe mud, step out of the way and let Americago back to work. It took us 5 years to recoverafter 9/11. In 2007 the federal government col-lected a record-high annual tax revenue fromthe private sector. That money came from peo-ple working and paying taxes, from Bill Gatesto the legal immigrant mowing his lawn.We all breathed a sigh of relief when our sol-

diers finally sent Osama Bin Laden to hell.There seems to be a lot of blame thrownaround about who should bear the burden ofour toxic economy. I don’t have any doubt. Itwas him. Osama was this generation’s Hitler,Ho Chi Minh, Yamamoto and Small Pox.In 2005 I went to New Orleans after Katrina

to muck out houses. There were two kinds ofpeople that showed up; those who came to helpand those who came to blame. In this Osama-Conomy we’ve been barraged with ads anddebates by those who come to blame. My headis ringing. But I know we will get out of thismess. Not because I have faith in the govern-ment, but because I have faith in those who getup every day and come to work, like GrandpaTommy did, just doin’ his part.Happy New Year and God bless you.

EELLMMMONDAY: Beef Cattle

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DUDLEY MEYER, Field Rep.209/768-8568

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THEIR NAME AND MISSION: COWBOY UP

Environmental activist long wanted in U.S. arson

attacks surrenders

The World Society for the Protection of Ani-mals (WSPA) uncovered a year-long investi-gation on the Cayman Turtle Farm, a populartourist destination in the Cayman Islands and

the world’s last remaining sea-turtle farm, revealingdisturbing cruelty and neglect of this endangeredspecies. All seven species of sea turtles are listed onthe International Union for Conservation ofNature (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Speciesas either endangered or critically endangered.“Life on the Cayman Turtle Farm is a far con-

trast from how sea turtles live in the wild,” said Eliz-abeth Hogan, oceans and wildlife campaigns man-ager at WSPA. “It’s horrific to see this neglect andcruelty of an endangered species at a tourist attrac-tion. Not to mention the fact that these foul condi-tions aren’t only affecting the resident turtles —humans could be at risk, as well.”Video footage and photographs from the farm

show thousands of endangered sea turtles beingkept in dirty, packed touch tanks. Swimming inwater filled with their own waste, the turtles fightfor food, bite each other and even resort to canni-balism. Many suffer from disease and birth defects,such as injured fins or missing eyes. Over the summer, WSPA met with the Cayman

Turtle Farm owners to discuss its investigation find-ings and propose a plan for the farm to transition itsbusiness to a sea turtles rehabilitation and researchcenter. To date, the farm is not willing to change.“The bottom line is that the farm is currently

posing great threats to sea turtle welfare andhuman health,” added Hogan. “We want to helpthe farm change for the better, but its unwilling-ness to meet us halfway is posing a great chal-lenge.”

Editor’s Note: We cannot make this stuff up.


Cliff Copeland, Nara Visa,N.M., was announced asthe new president of theAmerican Hereford Associ-

ation (AHA) during the AnnualMembership Meeting in KansasCity, Mo., recently.A Hereford enthusiast since

birth, Cliff currently co-managesCopeland and Sons LLC withhis wife, Pat; parents, Cliffordand Barbara; and Cliff and Pat’sson and daughter-in-law, Mattand Kyla.Copeland and Sons was

established in 1943, and cattleare its only business. The family’s500-head herd includes 90 regis-tered Hereford females, 80 cowsused to produce club calves and330 commercial Hereford cows.“I am extremely humbled by

being named the new presidentand I will try my best to bedeserving of the honor,” Cliffsays. “Demand for our breed isas high as it has been in over 30years. We have been rediscov-ered as a great choice to get ahybrid vigor boost out of thenation’s predominately blackcow herd, and not lose carcassmerit in doing so.”During his youth, Cliff was a

member of the American JuniorHereford Association board andserved as president. Committedto helping the breed, Cliff hashelped with Certified HerefordBeef (CHB®) promos in his area.Cliff served as the AHA vice

president in 2012 as well as chair-man of the show and sale com-mittee and was a member of theexecutive, breed improvementand member service committees.Selected to serve as the 2013

AHA vice president was SteveLambert of Oroville, CaliforniaSteve is a second-generationHereford breeder who was activeshowing cattle as a youth on thestate and national levels. Hisfamily owned and operatedCreekside Ranch, which was oneof the largest Hereford cattleoperations in California. TodayLambert Ranch is a diversifiedenterprise, growing high-qualitygrain, hay and Hereford andAngus cattle. A Gold TPR (Total

Performance Records) breeder,Lambert Ranch has bred severalDams of Distinction.Steve has served as a director

of the California/Nevada PolledHereford Association since2002. In addition, he has beenvery active in local governmentand other community organiza-tions, including serving as mayorof Paradise and being ButteCounty Supervisor. Steve hasthree children.Delegates elected three new

Directors during the member-ship meeting. Curtis Curry,McAlester, Oklahoma; JonnyHarris, Screven, Georgia.; andSam Shaw, Caldwell, Idaho, willserve four-year terms on the 12-member Board.

Curtis Curry: Oklahomabreeder Curtis Curry has been inthe registered Hereford businesssince 1989.Curtis and his family reside in

McAlester. They run approxi-mately 75-100 females in Okfus-kee and Pittsburg counties. Theysell mostly private treaty, mar-keting approximately 40 to 50bulls per year. Curry Herefordsalso hosted a BuyHereford.comsale last fall — making the Curryfamily the first to host its ownBuyHereford.com sale. The fam-ily has also consigned to mostNational Hereford sales throughthe years.Curtis’ marketing goal is to

obtain enough land to increasehis herd and be able to have thenumbers to host a productionsale each year. He’d also like tobe able to sell all bulls to oneoperation annually.Curtis and his family partici-

pate in national shows includingthe Junior National HerefordExpo, American Royal, Ft.Worth Stock Show and theNational Western Stock Show.He is currently president of

the Oklahoma Hereford Associa-tion (OHA) and has served onthe OHA board for 10 years. Hehas also served as the JuniorHereford Association of Oklaho-ma advisor for six years.Curtis is a member of the

Pittsburg County Cattlemen’sAssociation and the OklahomaCattlemen’s Association.He and his wife, Donna, have

two children.Jonny Harris: Fifth-generation

cattleman and farmer, JonnyHarris, Screven, Ga., owns andmanages Greenview Farms Inc.,a 3,500-acre diversified farm.Greenview Farms is the oldest,continuously active Herefordoperation in the state of Georgia,producing seedstock since 1942.In addition to Herefords, the

Harris family has been produc-ing F1 Brafords, crossing half oftheir 400 mama cows with Brah-

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

THE most effective advertising medium in ranching today!

To plan your advertising, contact Caren Cowan at:[email protected] or 505/243-9515, ext. 21

On the web at www.nmagriculture.org

Deliver your message NOW in the

Livestock Market Digest!

If you have livestock, a product or service that stockmen and their families need, they will find outabout it quickly if you advertise in the Digest. Digest

readers know value when they see it and they respondrapidly to a good offer.

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

The Digest caters to the most active readers in thelivestock world — who ARE the buyers and sellers oflivestock, 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.

2013 AHA Board: Pictured is the 2013 American Hereford Association (AHA) Board of Directors. Seated (l to r) are: Cliff Copeland, Nara Visa, N.M., president; Steve Lambert, Oroville, Calif., vice president; DaleMicheli, Ft. Bridger, Wyo.; Marty Lueck, Mountain Grove, Mo.; and Craig Huffhines, Kansas City, Mo.,

executive vice president. Directors standing (l to r) are: Keith Fawcett, Ree Heights, S.D.; Sam Shaw, Caldwell,Idaho; Jonny Harris, Screven, Ga.; Curtis Curry, McAlester, Okla.; Eric Walker, Morrison, Tenn.; Fred Larson,

Spring Valley, Wis.; Dale Venhuizen, Manhattan, Mont.; and David Trowbridge, Tabor, Iowa

Copeland Elected American Hereford Association President

continued on page nine

Slaughterhouse ownerssettle fraud suit

LOS ANGELES TIMES

The owners of a Californiaslaughterhouse that was thesubject of the largest beefrecall in U.S. history four

years ago as a result of an under-cover video agreed to pay$300,000 to settle a lawsuit thatalleged fraud against the U.S.government, an animal rightsgroup announced.Donald Hallmark Sr. and

Donald Hallmark Jr. were two ofnine defendants in a federalFalse Claims Act suit brought bythe Humane Society of the Unit-ed States. The organization in2008 released a video surrepti-tiously shot by an activist thatseemed to show workers at theHallmarks’ Chino (San Bernardi-no County) slaughterhouse usingforklifts, electric prods and high-pressure water hoses to forcecattle to their feet.The video sparked outrage at

the animals’ treatment and alsoled to food safety concernsbecause the Hallmark plant wasthe second-largest supplier ofground beef to the NationalSchool Lunch Program. TheU.S. Department of Agricultureat the time recalled 143 millionpounds of beef processed at theplant in the previous two years,about one-third of which had

gone to schools.The recall effort cost the gov-

ernment an estimated $150 mil-lion, according to a HumaneSociety release.The Humane Society sued the

plant and its owners under a fed-eral law that allows private citi-zens with knowledge of fraudagainst the U.S. government tofile a lawsuit to recover penalties.The group alleged the Hallmarksdefrauded the governmentthrough misrepresentation ontheir federal school lunch pro-gram contracts.The Hallmarks, according to

the release, will pay $316,802 tothe U.S. Department of Justiceover five years, and cooperate inthe suit against the remainingdefendants. A largely symbolic$497 million judgment is expect-ed to be entered against thebankrupt Hallmark Meat Pack-ing Co., according to theHumane Society.“It’s a deterrence judgment,”

Humane Society attorneyJonathan Lovvorn told the Asso-ciated Press. “It informs otherfederal government contractorsthat when your contract says youprovide humane handling, if youdon’t do that you’re likely to endup bankrupt as well.”

Investigation at Tourist Spot Reveals MistreatmentOvercrowding, neglect, and unsanitary conditions put rare species at risk in Cayman Islands


Available in early 2013.500 pages contained

in a beautiful hard cover edition with hundreds of

photos chronicling the agricultural industry and personal family history of

Patrick K. Goggins.Advance Orders:

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Aunique public-privatepartnership betweenWest Texas A&M Uni-

versity and industry profes-sionals marks a historic mile-stone utilizing Somatic CellNuclear Transfer (SCNT)reproductive technology tocreate cloned calves. A bullcalf produced from a steerwas born approximately 90days ago, and a heifer wasborn November 3, 2012.The animals from which

these calves were cloned weregraded Prime, Yield Grade 1,the highest quality and mostsought after animals in thebeef industry. The clones willbe used to develop a line ofcattle that will potentially pro-duce higher value carcassesthat reach USDA’s highestgrade for carcass quality andyield grade in a shorteramount of time using lessfeed resources.The project has certainly

leveraged the resources of sev-eral entities. The public/privatecollaboration involves WTA-MU’s agricultural science fac-ulty including Dr. TyLawrence, Dr. David Lust, Dr.John Richeson and Kelly Jones,a Ph.D. student at WTAMUpartnered with scientists fromViagen Inc. as well as JasonAbraham, Todd Stroud andDr. Gregg Veneklasen.“This will be a long-term

project that will requirebetween three and five years

to produce significant results,”Dr. Don Topliff, dean of theCollege of Agriculture, Sci-ence and Engineering, said.“We think this project will alsoprovide us with a model tostudy other genetic traitsbeyond quality grade and yieldgrade that are of high impor-tance to the sustainability ofthe beef industry.”Veneklasen added, “The

opportunities for new discover-ies that this project providesthe University and the industryare limitless. This is one of thecoolest projects I’ve everworked on.”Dr. Dean Hawkins, head of

WTAMU’s Department ofAgricultural Sciences, overseesthe project and said that stu-dents at West Texas A&M ben-efit from the project as well.“This project is the result of

a team of experts workingtogether for a common goal.The ultimate beneficiary willbe our students who are ableto be involved in a uniqueproject,” Hawkins said.Graduate student Kelley

Jones, who is the main care-taker of the calves, said thereisn’t another school in thecountry that he could attendand have access to this kind ofa project to gain invaluableexperience on the cuttingedge of science.“It has been very long

hours, but the payoff is goingto be unbelievable,” Jones said

The first annual AkaushiAssociation Conventionwas held in Bastrop, Texasin early November, 2012.

Over 200 members attend theevent traveling from Californiato Florida and Canada to Brazil.Phil Davis, Davis Cattle Com-

pany an Akaushi producer fromIdaho, said he appreciated theentire convention because it wasa representation of leaders in theAkaushi industry that are seeingthe benefits of the breed for whatthey are — quality, flavor andhealth benefits — without anyapparent loss of production.Dave Myklegard and his wife

Diane Davis Myklegard alsofrom Idaho said it was enlighten-ing to learn more about the his-tory of the breed itself and itspotential here in the UnitedStates. “The beef is one of a kindin its quality, flavor, taste andtexture. The health factors werealso impressive with loweramounts of the LDL cholesterol.

This is a new breed for our familyand we appreciate learning aboutall the facets of it’s industry.”Friday was a casual day of

golf and resort activities endingwith a Tradeshow Reception anda “Taste of Akaushi Dinner”.Saturday started early with a

welcome from Bubba Bain,Executive Director of the Ameri-can Akaushi Association and anopening prayer from AustinBrown II. Colin Woodall fromthe NCBA, talked about the“Post Election analysis and itsImpact on Cattlemen”, MattCherni, DVM followed with hisassessment of “Managing Risk inBeef Production without CME”,Cassie Webb, with her uniqueperspective, described how herbelief systems underwent a trans-formation from the media-misin-formed views currently shared bymany consumers to those whichare scientifically ascertained. Dr.Stephen Smith — Texas A&M —reviewed his Akaushi research in

his presentation, “The Impor-tance of Akaushi Beef in theAmerican Diet” and Dr. KeithBertrand — Univ. of GA — helpmembers understand the impor-tance of EPD’s, “NationalGenetic Evaluation Programs forBeef Cattle”. Bill Fielding —CEO of HeartBrand Beef —talked about “the Greater GoodOf Akaushi” and then lead a pan-el discussion that includedAustin Brown III — producer,Lanny Binger- feeder, TrevorCaviness — packer and JordanBeeman — distributor. Thesegentlemen fielded an array ofquestions from production toconsumer expectations.The Akaushi Beef was served

in a variety of ways — Fajitas,Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches,Barbeque Beef and Sausage, anda beautiful New York Strip Steak.There were numerous commentson the consistency, delicious fla-vor and tenderness of the differ-ent cuts of Akaushi Beef.

man bulls, since 1981. Alongwith the cattle operation, theyalso manage timber, annual for-ages, hay, haylage and row cropsincluding cotton, corn, peanutsand soybeans.One of the family’s goals is to

continue producing seedstockwith quality to meet the pure-bred breeder’s needs and quanti-ty to serve the commercialbreeder and supplying both withthe information they need tomake their selections.Jonny is currently a Georgia

Hereford Association director.Other leadership roles includeUnited Braford Breeders direc-tor and former treasurer, formerGeorgia Cattlemen’s Association(GCA) regional vice presidentand executive committee mem-ber, Florida Cattlemen’s Associ-ation member, former WayneCounty Livestock Associationpresident, former SoutheastGeorgia Cattlemen’s Associationpresident, Wayne County Farm

Bureau director and WayneCounty Supervisor.He represents GCA on the

National Cattlemen’s Beef Asso-ciation property rights and envi-ronmental committee, has testi-fied at a USDA, EnvironmentalProtection Agency and Depart-ment of Interior listening sessionand has participated in twoWashington, D.C. fly-ins pro-moting sustainable agricultureand conservation.Jonny and his wife, Toni, have

three children and six grandchil-dren.

Sam Shaw: Sam Shaw, Cald-well, Idaho, has been involved inthe Hereford business sincebirth. His family owns and oper-ates Shaw Cattle Co. The Shawfamily has been in the Herefordbusiness for 68 years, and Sam’schildren represent the fourthgeneration involved with Here-ford cattle.The Shaws currently run more

than 1,250 cows including regis-tered Herefords, Angus and RedAngus. Two-thirds of the Shawherd calves in the spring with the

remainder calve in the fall. TheShaws host an annual productionsale in the spring and market 500bulls and females. They also sellprivate treaty throughout the year.The Shaws’ breeding philoso-

phy is based on their customers’needs including production,soundness and performance.They have an extensive artificialinsemination (AI) program. Allfemales are synchronized onceand then heat detected for a sec-ond cycle. They also collect feedintake data using the GrowSafeprogram. The entire crop of bullsfrom their fall calving herd isplaced in the program.Growing up, Sam was active

in the American Junior HerefordAssociation, serving as presidentof the junior board. He repre-sented AHA at the Young Cat-tlemen’s Conference (YCC) in2003 and served as chairman ofYCC in 2004. He served as theIdaho Cattlemen’s Associationpurebred council chairman from2006-2008.Sam and his wife, Janel, have

three children.

Copeland continued from page eight

American Akaushi Association Holds 1st Convention

WTAMU Marks Historic Scientific Accomplishment with Cloned Calves

6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Postedby PENNY STARR, CNSNEWS.COM

It’s Friday morning, and so far today, the Oba-ma administration has posted 165 new regula-tions and notifications on its reguations.govwebsite.In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regula-

tions and notices — an average of 68 a day.The website allows visitors to find and comment

on proposed regulations and related documentspublished by the U.S. federal government. “Helpimprove Federal regulations by submitting yourcomments,” the website says.The thousands of entries run the gamut from

meeting notifications to fee schedules to actualrules and proposed rule changes.In recent days, for example, the EPA posted a pro-

posed rule involving volatile organic compound emis-sions from architectural coatings: “We are approving alocal rule that regulates these emission sources underthe Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act),” the proposedrule states. “We are taking comments on this proposaland plan to follow with a final action.”Another proposed rule will provide guidance for

FDA staff on “enforcement criteria for canned ack-

ee, frozen ackee, and other ackee products thatcontain hypoglycin A.” (Ackee is the national fruitof Jamaica; unripened or inedible portions can betoxic.)Some of the proposed regulations revise regula-

tions already on the books.The website also links to a video of a speech

President Barack Obama gave at the U.S. Cham-ber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 7,2011, in which the president promised to remove“outdated and unnecessary regulations.”“I’ve ordered a government-wide review, and if

there are rules on the books that are needlessly sti-fling job creation and economic growth, we will fixthem,” the president said.A number of groups, including the Competitive

Enterprise Institute, expect a rush of new regula-tions now that Pres. Obama has won a second term:CEI expects the EPA to move ahead on delayed

rules on everything from greenhouse gas emissionsto ozone standards. “Rules from the health care billand the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill willalso likely make themselves known in the weeks tocome,” the group said on its website.


by MIRANDA REIMAN

Change doesn’t have to bedramatic and sweeping tomake an impact.Bill Rishel, a registered Angus

breeder from North Platte,Neb., says little gains in efficien-cy, functionality and carcassmerit all add up.For easy math, he uses a 100-

head example.“As a cow-calf producer, the

number one traits for profitabili-ty are fertility, reproduction andherd health,” he says.If an average herd has 90

head survive to weaning, whatwould five more mean?“Five additional head, because

you had a little more fertility, youhad a little better health or man-agement — that’s about a $3,000bump,” Rishel says.Calving ease is one easy place

to make that gain: “Years ago theonly tool we had was pheno-type,” he says.“Today, when you add the

genomics into the EPDs [expect-ed progeny difference], we’re alot further along than ever beforein my life.”Tools are available to pick the

“right” sires and drive improve-ments in other areas, he says.Those 95 calves move on to

the industry average 205-dayweaning, at 2.5 pounds (lb.) ofweight per day of age (WDA).At just over $1.48 per hundred-weight (cwt.), that’s $757.But what if they gained more?“That 5 percent increase,

along with the five more calves —now you’re talking about somereally big money,” Rishel says.Such a percentage gain in

weaning weights means WDAmoves from 2.5 to 2.63 lb. Thatmay not seem like much, he says,but figuring in all multipliersmoves total calf price to morethan $797, and $7,585 to theherd’s bottom line.A boost in gain and efficiency

could show up in the feedyard,too. Increasing average daily gain

(ADG) by that 5 percent wouldturn 3.4 lb./day into 3.57. On a600-lb. total gain, that changesthe per-head value by just $4.53,but measured on that 95 head itadds up to more than $430.Feed efficiency can have

much more effect, as improvingfrom 6.2 lb. to 5.89 lb. of feed to

gain a pound of beef, just 5 per-cent, creates a $35/head valuedifference. That’s $3,357 on theentire herd.Efficiency and quality can be

achieved in tandem, Rishel says,noting one last place to make animprovement: the cooler.“Using genetic tools to make

changes with highly heritabletraits, now we can do somethingthat impacts the entire industry,”he says.Citing an Oklahoma State

University sire evaluation study,he says 16 bulls with superiorcarcass traits added an average of$3.27/cwt. to the carcass value.“I took that number and

applied it to an 850-lb. average

by BILL PORTER, www.bostonglobe.com

The veterinarian came before dawn, and Louthe ox was quietly euthanized. The decisionby the small liberal arts college in Vermont inearly October to slaughter its beloved pair of

oxen and serve their meat in the campus dininghall had sparked worldwide outrage.The euthanasia of Lou, who was suffering from

an injury, was performed on the campus farm by alarge-animal veterinarian between midnight anddaybreak Sunday, according to Philip Ackerman-Leist, director of the farm and food project atGreen Mountain College, in Poultney, near theborder with New York State.“It was hard for him to get around,” Ackerman-

Leist said, adding that with winter approachingthings would only get worse. “We wouldn’t want tosee him suffer anymore.”The other ox, Bill, remains at Green Mountain’s

Cerridwen Farm. Ackerman-Leist said he was notsure whether Bill would go back to work “as a sin-gle ox or not.”He said Lou was buried at an undisclosed loca-

tion off campus.“We decided it was safest to do [the euthanasia]

under the cover of darkness,” he said. “With all thepublicity and all the threats, we had to protect allthe parties involved, including the vet.”The storm of protest, most of it from outside the

college, was directed at students, faculty, andadministrators, and some of it was threatening.Online alerts and petitions had pleaded for the ani-mals to be sent to a sanctuary.Sunday’s announcement about the 11-year-old

oxen, who had become a symbol of the college’sfarm program, was sent to students, faculty andstaff at Green Mountain, Kevin Coburn, director ofcommunications, said in an emailed media advisory.The college seeks to teach and model small-

scale farm production that is ecologically, econom-ically, and socially sustainable.“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t handle the sit-

uation the way we thought was best because ofoutside pressure,” said senior Alison Putnam, whosupported the decision to slaughter the animals.Putnam is a member of the farm crew, consistingof students and staff, which she said made the ini-tial decision. The administration supported thefarm crew’s decision, Putnam said.Meiko Lunetta, a senior who also supported the

decision to slaughter the oxen, maintained thateven some of those students who had disagreedstill defended the college.“A lot of students are feeling frustrated,” she

said Sunday. “How is this better? It’s just upsetting.It didn’t have to happen this way.”Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the

Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, which hadposted an online alert about Bill and Lou, said,

“That’s excellent,” when informed of the college’sdecision Sunday.“I think that they will receive high marks from

pretty much anyone who has a heart. If [Lou] waseuthanized due to an injury, then that’s under-standable.”Veganism is the Next Evolution Sanctuary in

Springfield, Vt., had offered to take the oxen.“If you narrow the scope of options to two, both

involving death, then euthanasia is definitely moremerciful,” said sanctuary cofounder Miriam Jones,who said that at least one other sanctuary, FarmSanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y., had also offeredto take the oxen. “But we do not agree that onlytwo options existed for Lou.”Earlier this year, Lou sustained a recurring

injury to his right rear hock and could no longerwork. Consultations with veterinarians in the sum-mer and fall “have consistently indicated that Lou’scondition would not improve and that his qualityof life would only continue to diminish,” Coburnsaid.Green Mountain said its decision to slaughter

the animals was postponed until after the start ofthe fall semester so the full college communitycould have an opportunity to contribute to the dis-cussion.“The college’s original timetable to process Lou

and Bill for meat in October was disrupted by out-side organizations seeking to appropriate theimages of the oxen for extremist agendas, includingthe abolition of animal agriculture in Vermont,”Coburn said.He added: “These groups also harassed and

threatened local slaughterhouses, making it impos-sible for them to accept our animals and carry outour decision expeditiously. One of the few AnimalWelfare Approved slaughterhouses in the area wasforced to cancel our appointment as a result ofthese hostile threats.”An online petition asking for the oxen to be sent

to a sanctuary and sponsored by the Green Moun-tain Animal Defenders had collected 50,000 signa-tures as of Sunday.Among those who signed it, Joslin Murphy of

Brookline, said that she was heartbroken aboutLou but that it was “certainly better than the col-lege’s original proposal.”But she worried about Bill.“I suspect that the surviving ox will suffer deeply

from the loss of his partner,” she said. “Wouldn’the be much better off in sanctuary, where he canform new bonds with more permanent residents?”Veterinarian Deborah Cogan, whose practice is

in Peabody, said she was relieved that Lou had beeneuthanized and it was the most humane solution.“It’s exactly what I would have chosen,” said

Cogan, a vegan and PETA member who signedone of the petitions. “There’s no comparisonbetween euthanasia and being taken to slaughter.”

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Lou the ox is euthanized at Vermont collegeInjured animal put down, buried in early morning; second ox’s fate undertermined

carcass weight,” Rishel says. “Theadded value per carcass was$27.80.”That’s another $2,641.“So let’s add this up,” he says.

The greater value from 5 percentimprovements at every stopcomes to $14,013.65.“If you calculate that by the

number of cows, that’s actuallyabout $140 per cow gained onthat operation,” he says. “As apercent of the total carrying cost,that’s a big deal. A very big deal.”It’s not just an on-paper exer-

cise, Rishel says, noting manytop customers who have proventhe better-at-every-turn philoso-phy works.“They just nail this every time

out, due to genetics and theirgood management. They doeverything right.”Their reward is obvious. With

loads that are more than 60 per-cent Certified Angus Beef®(CAB®) and Prime, they consis-tently reap premiums of morethan $100 above average.“For those of us in the seed-

stock industry, it’s a balancingact to put all of these traitstogether in one package,” hesays, but history shows an abilityto move the needle in all areas.Some of today’s balanced siresare proof of that, he adds.“We selected those cattle for

function and soundness andreproduction, and then when wegot in the sire evaluation work,we selected for carcass traits fromthat population,” Rishel says.Careful selection of available

genetics, tools and managementby commercial cattlemen couldput the 5 percent factor to workon their bottom lines.

Small change$, big returnsTHE 5 PERCENT EFFECT COMPOUNDS IN YOUR BOTTOM LINE


by PHIL BROWN, iowastatedaily.com

Ahorse is a horse, of course,of course. Or, at least, sosaid the theme song forMr. Ed. People around

the country and around theworld have very contentiousviews on what being a horsemeans, however.A great many people view

horses as inherently differentthan other livestock, garnering agreater respect than animalssuch as donkeys and cattle. Justlooking at product lines such as“My Little Pony” can attest tothis, not to mention claims suchas that of New Mexico AttorneyGeneral Gary King, who said,“Horses are different and shouldbe treated differently.” King wasspeaking in regard to a horseslaughterhouse proposal inRoswell, N.M.Horse slaughter, or the har-

vesting of horse meat for humanconsumption, strikes a greatmany people as wrong, in fact. A2006 Public Opinion Strategies

poll showed that 69 percent ofAmericans surveyed did notapprove of human consumptionof horse meat. The poll alsofound that 71 percent of thosesurveyed thought horses were “apart of America’s culture” andshould not be treated as live-stock.Horses, historically speaking,

were not raised because theymake good friends. They were abeast of burden used for travel,as a farming and ranching tool,for sporting events, and yes, evenfor food.There have even been some

claims that horses are uniquelyunsuited for slaughter. As theASPCA said in a February 2012press release, the “biology ofhorses makes them difficult tostun.” Who could argue againstsuch compelling “science”?Certainly, there were some

real problems with horse slaugh-ter in the United States. In 2007,the last remaining horse-process-ing plant in America was closeddown, due to local disapproval

and heavy pressure from nationalanimal rights groups. Until thatplant was closed, there wasstrong evidence for mistreatmentof horses in the United States.Horses all over the nation

were underfed, many were notgiven adequate health care, somewere transported inhumanely,and a great many others weregenerally neglected and abused.Thankfully, when we finally cameto our senses and stopped treat-ing horses like meat, all of thisstopped.Oh wait. It didn’t.Despite the complete lack of

horse slaughter within the Unit-ed States today, horses are stillbeing mistreated. The HumaneSociety of the United Statesacknowledges that with respectto criminal neglect charges, themost common way to take actionagainst animal cruelty, horsescomprised 7 percent of cases in2007, after U.S. horse slaughterwas stopped, 6 percent in 2006,and 8 percent in 2005.Current figures available at

In November 2011, Patrick K.Goggins was inducted intothe prestigious Saddle andSirloin Portrait Gallery in

Louisville, Kentucky, and hisportrait hung alongside approxi-mately 350 other portraits pay-ing homage to the greatest lead-ers to impact the livestockindustry since the mid-1700s.Most of the inductees’ contribu-tions pertained to one particularfacet of the industry — they werebig in the packing industry, orthey had been influential as aknowledgeable college professor,or they had been a star in theshow ring, or they had been anoted auctioneer, or they hadraised breed-changing seedstock. In that regard, Pat is a bitof an anomaly because during

his life he has been one of theWest’s best known purebred auc-tioneers, the owner of threeMontana auction yards, a well-known rancher with several largeMontana ranches, an Angusseed stock producer of merit,and the publisher of several well-read weekly ag newspapers inwhich, as the spokesman forAmerica’s cow-calf producersand independent feeders, he haswritten more than 5,000 weeklycolumns. In his spare time, hedid his civic duty as a bank boarddirector, held various officer slotsin several state and nationalorganizations, volunteered histime for the benefit of 4-H andFFA, made numerous trips toWashington, D.C. on behalf ofthe livestock industry, attended

Mass every Sunday, and raisedsix fine children.As the industry giant Les

Leachman wrote, “The followingbiography merely reflects thehigh points of a career of a self-made successful man, provingthat the American dream is aliveand well in these United States.”Filled with numerous photo-graphs and newspaper clippingsreflecting Pat’s full and produc-tive life over eight decades, the500-page hardbound book hasbeen assembled painstakingly byPat’s editor Linda Grosskopf.Available early in 2013, the bookis being presold for $50 postpaid.

To get your copy, make your check out to:Western Ag Reporter and mail it to Book Order,PO Box 30758, Billings, MT 59107, or call us406/259-4589 with your credit card number.

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The shale-oil boom can help the United Statessurpass Saudi Arabia as the largest oil supplierby 2020, according to the International EnergyAgency (IEA). Such a change could have major

ramifications for U.S. politics and diplomacy. Inshort, the global energy map is being reconfigureddue to the resurgence of America as a major gas pro-ducer, says the Wall Street Journal.The IEA is joining other forecasters such as the

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries (OPEC) and the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration in predicting the sharp rise in U.S.oil production in the coming years.

� U.S. oil production is projected to be at 11.1million barrels a day in 2020.

� The IEA says natural gas will displace oil as thelargest single fuel in the U.S. energy mix by 2030.Kevin Book, managing director at Clearview

Energy Partners LLC, observes that Americanenergy policy is still influenced by the experiencesfrom the 1970’s supply shocks. However, the cur-rent reality is the age of energy adequacy.

� According to an analyst at Raymond James,the question is: will federal regulators allow theseexports to materialize?

� Allowing exports could be politically tricky. The

crude export ban was designed to ensure U.S. ener-gy security following the Arab oil embargo in 1973.The current ban will create limitations.� The United States could soon be awash in

easier-to-process domestic crude oil — with no wayto get rid of the excess supply, because U.S. lawgenerally bans crude-oil exports.

� That would force new investment in refiningcapacity for lighter, sweeter grades of oil.

� Nonetheless, to realize America’s full poten-tial as an energy supplier while boosting the econo-my, it must commit to global markets.Regardless of the limitations facing export,

there is a strong domestic market.�Made-in-USA oil is already displacing imports

of similar crude from West Africa, and the marketfor it could be saturated as early as 2013.

� Within a decade, the IEA forecasts U.S. oilimports will fall by more than half, to just 4 millionbarrels a day from 10 million barrels a day currently.OPEC will continue to be the powerhouse of

global production, the agency said, but a growingportion of its output will go to nations like Chinaand India instead of North America.

Source: Benoit Faucon and Keith Johnson, “U.S. Redraws World Oil Map,”Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2012.

www.pet-abuse.com show thathorses comprise 1,096, or 14 per-cent, of the 7,627 recent cases ofanimal neglect/abandonment.This does not mean that the

end of horse slaughter in theU.S. necessarily caused a floodof mistreated horses, but it alsodoes not point to horse slaughteras the cause of horse abuse.Claims that allowing horses to beused for human consumption inthe United States encouragestheir mistreatment and promotesabusive ownership simply havenot been proved true.Yet that is the impetus for the

numerous legislative proposalsthat would legally ban horseslaughter in the United States.Proponents such as the HumaneSociety cite numerous cases ofmistreatment found while horseslaughter was occurring, com-monly while horses were beingtransported for slaughter.

Such transport does not endwith a nationwide ban on horseslaughter, though. Every yearhorses are transported to slaugh-terhouses located on the bordersof Canada and Mexico, whichbuy American horses and sell themeat to overseas buyers. Manyof these slaughterhouses havebeen found to use less-than-humane techniques in killingtheir stock.That would be a very good

reason to argue against slaugh-terhouses in the United States,except any slaughterhouses herewould be regulated by our gov-ernment. Any instances of inhu-mane practices could actually beaddressed, as they cannot be cur-rently.All occurrences of animal

abuse are terrible, terrible things.Animal cruelty is a disgustingreality, but it is just that — areality. Banning the human con-sumption of horse meat and theregulated slaughter of horsesdoes not change it.

U.S. redraws world oil map

Pat Goggins: As I Saw It

Brown: A horse is a horse, of course, of course


Shorthorn exhibitors hit thegreen chips once again forthe North American Inter-national Livestock Exposi-

tion (NAILE) in Louisville, Ken-tucky, which also served as theNational Shorthorn Show thisyear. Cody Lowderman,Macomb, Illinois, and associatejudge Bob Goble, Alto, Michi-gan, evaluated 347 head — 292females and 55 bulls, for the pres-tigious event.Grand and Junior Bull Calf

Champion distinction was award-ed to SULL Red Knight 2030ET, exhibited by Sullivan Farms,Dunlap, Iowa. The February2012 bull calf is sired by CF Solu-tion X ET. Reserve Grand andJunior Bull Champion was award-ed to CF BCL HBO X ET,exhibited by WHR Shorthorns,Van Alstyne, Texas; RobinettFamily Cattle, Jay, Okla.; andSimon Farms, Rockford, Ohio.The March 2011 bull is sired byWHR Sonny 8114 ET.

Grand and Senior ChampionFemale distinction was awardedto CF Margie 119 SOL X ET,exhibited by Autumn Robison,Markle, Ind. The February 2011female is sired by CF Solution XET and was also named SupremeChampion Shorthorn. ReserveGrand and Reserve SeniorChampion Female was awardedto SULL Dream Big 1126 ET,exhibited by William O'Sullivan,Maple Lake, Minnesota. ThisJanuary 2011 female is sired byWHR Sonny 8114 ET.

Bull Divisions:Senior Champion Bull: SULL

Master of Rose, exhibited by Sulli-van Farms.

Reserve Senior Champion Bull:R-C WG Damn Proud, exhibited byRC Show Cattle, Eaton, Ohio.

Reserve Junior Champion Bull:PB Ice Berg ET ET, exhibited byKolby Berg, Osage, Iowa.

Intermediate Champion Bull:DMW Diamond Mine ET, exhibit-ed by DAV-MAR-WAY Farms, Jer-seyville, Ill.

Reserve Intermediate ChampionBull: MAV Bayou 136Y, exhibitedby Ashley D. Vogel, Hartley, Iowa.

Senior Bull Calf Champion:CVF Imax 106Y, exhibited by AidanRaab, Markle, Ind.

Reserve Senior Bull Calf Cham-pion: GJD Swagger, exhibited byJerry Duvelius & Family, Hamilton,Ohio.

Reserve Junior Bull Calf Cham-pion: SBF Hennessy 32Z, exhibitedby Duane B. Truss Family, Wabash,Ind.

Early Spring Bull Calf Champi-on: KOLT-KLUG Premium BSH71, exhibited by Reece Klug,Columbus, Neb.

Reserve Early Spring Bull CalfChampion: M&E Major 844 ET,exhibited by M & E Shorthorns,Winnsboro, Texas.

Late Spring Bull Calf Champion:CF Focus X, exhibited by BenWarfield, Marriottsville, Md.

Reserve Late Spring Bull CalfChampion: Little Cedar VerlanderET, exhibited by Little Cedar CattleCompany, Beaverton, Mich.

Female Divisions:Junior Champion Female: SS

Dream Lady 161 ET, exhibited bySamantha Marie Schrag, Marion,SD.

Reserve Junior ChampionFemale: CF Caroline 157 RD X ET,exhibited by Jacob Boyert, Seville,Ohio.

Intermediate Champion Female:CF Revival 1105 BS X, exhibited byNP Farm, Pekin, Ind.

Reserve Intermediate ChampionFemale: SULL Mona Lisa Wow ET,exhibited by Renee Lock, Avon, Ill.

Senior Heifer Calf Champion:GCC Lucky Sunshine 153 ET,exhibited by Lauren Corry, Xenia,Ohio.

Reserve Senior Heifer CalfChampion: V8 CF Mona Madness1124, exhibited by Cole Whisman,Illinois City, Ill.

Junior Heifer Calf Champion:CYT Isobella CY 2107 ET, exhibitedby Kailey Davis, Glenville, Minn.

Reserve Junior Heifer CalfChampion: SULL Crystal's TootieET, exhibited by Sara Rose Sullivan,Dunlap, Iowa.

Early Spring Heifer Calf Cham-pion: CF Countess 252 TP X ET,exhibited by Cole A. Clanton,Bucyrus, Kan.

Reserve Early Spring Heifer CalfChampion: CYT Rayflower 2130ET, exhibited by Joshua Darbyshire,Morning Sun, Iowa.

Late Spring Heifer Calf Champi-on: KOLT Gentry 363 ET, exhibitedby Nathan Kolterman, Seward, Neb.

Reserve Late Spring Heifer CalfChampion: CF HHF Margie 2106HC X ET, exhibited by SimonFarms.

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The federal government isreviewing whether a popu-lation of killer whalesshould be taken off the

endangered list. But there’s atwist: the review was sparked bya legal challenge from CentralValley farmers.You might not expect farms in

California to be concerned withkiller whales off the coast ofWashington.“We’re awfully surprised by it,

too,” says Damian Schiff. “Butit’s a connection the federal gov-ernment itself has already made.”Schiff is an attorney with

Pacific Legal Foundation, agroup that advocates for less gov-ernment regulation. He filed thepetition to delist southern resi-dent killer whales — a populationthat lives in the Puget Sound.“The Feds reason that water

projects in the Delta negativelyaffect salmon and other fishspecies that are prey for this

killer whale population,” Schiffexplains.The southern resident killer

whales are the only orcas pro-tected by the EndangeredSpecies Act. Schiff says, recentresearch indicates that they’renot genetically distinct from thelarger group of Pacific Oceankiller whales, so they shouldn’tbe treated differently.Brian Gorman, of the Nation-

al Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration, says the agency’sdecision to review the killerwhale’s status doesn’t meanthey’ll delist them.“It’s part of a process,” he says.

“We’re going to spend the nextnine months looking at it verycarefully, and then we’ll make acall about whether we shouldcontinue with an extra step.”If the killer whales were

removed from the endangeredspecies list, they would still beprotected by the Marine Mam-mal Protection Act.

Shorthorns name National Champions at NAILEValley Farmers Versus Killer Whales


Farms & Ranches

AgrilandsREAL ESTATE

541/473-3100JACK HORTON

www.agrilandsrealestate.com

BOTTARI REALTY • WELLS, NEVADA

Bottari RealtyPAUL D. BOTTARI, BROKER

www.bottarirealty.com • [email protected]/752-3040 • Cell: 775/752-0952 • Fax: 775/752-3021Bottari Realty & Associates • 1222 6th St., Wells, NV 89835

OUT WEST REALTY NETWORK AFFILIATE

113 RANCH NEAR PANACE, NEV.: Approximately 632 deededacres of which approximately 500 acres are irrigated with center pivots

and 4 shallow irrigation wells. This area of Nevada typically getsaround 7 tons per acre per season. The property has exceptional

improvements including a 4,000-ton hay barn; a 3,000+ sq. ft. home onone level with covered porch full-around. Other improvements include a concrete horse barn with stalls inside and out; a large shop/storagebuilding; a large garage near home—large enough to house a motorhome and approximately 8 cars; a 400-head feedlot with concrete

bunks, scales and chutes and alleys. Price: $2,800,000

For more information and other properties, check out our website at www.bottarirealty.com

MR.COWMAN!Come to Our Country!WORKING COW andHORSE RANCHES

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1-800/343-4165E-mail: [email protected]

DAVID P. DEANRanch: 432/426-3779 • Mob.: 432/634-0441

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NEED RANCH LEASES andPASTURE FOR 2013!

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TEXAS & OKLA. FARMS & RANCHES

Joe Priest Real Estate1205 N. Hwy 175, Seagoville, TX 75159

972/287-4548 • 214/676-69731-800/671-4548 • Fax 972/287-4553

joepriestre.net • [email protected]

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

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

• 98.2 acres Dallas Co., $375,000. SOLD• 256 Acre Texas Jewel – Deep sandy soil, high-rolling hills, scattered good quality trees, & ex-cellent improved grasses. Water line on 2 sidesrd., frontage on 2 sides, fenced into 5 pastures,5 spring fed tanks and lakes, deer, hogs &ducks. Near Tyler & Athens. Price $1,920,000.Make us an offer!

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

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

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

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

Scottand co.L

1301 Front Street, Dimmitt, TX 79027Ben G. Scott/Krystal M. Nelson – Brokers

1-800/933-9698 day/nightwww.scottlandcompany.com • www.texascrp.com

LOW ROLLING PLAINS OF TEXAS:

TO BE SOLD and CLOSEDBY DECEMBER 31ST, 201210,000± ac., large lake w/permits fordam and right-to-impound in place toadd tremendous esthetic quality to

the ranch together w/hunting, boating, fishing and commercial and residential development

potential. Please call for details!

CAPITAN FOOTHILLS RANCH:

A working ranch on an all weatherroad w/excellent homes, barns,pens, livestock water and fences.4,822± ac. deeded, 18,942± ac.BLM, 1,800± ac. State Lease and160± ac. uncontrolled nestled in thefoothills of the Capitan Mountainswith rolling hills, canyons and

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JOE STUBBLEFIELD & ASSOCIATES13830 Western St., Amarillo, TX • 806/622-3482

Cell 806/674-2062 • [email protected] Perez Assocs

Nara Visa, NM • 575/403-7970

AGUA NEGRA

RANCH16,400 Deeded Acres

Santa Rosa, New Mexico

CHARLES BENNETT

575/356-5616

� Water Rights (Ditch & Sprinkler)� Extensive Improvements� Pre-Conditioning Facility� 3 Additional Houses� Rolling Hill Country� Sub-Irrigated Meadows� Headquarters is a Historic Stagecoach Stop

� Deer and Antelope Hunting� Indoor Arena � Outdoor Arena� Horse Stables � Horse Walker� Running Water � Springs

www.vista-nueva.com

Call forPrice

ASA elects Board of Directors, announces awards

THE LIVESTOCK MARKET DIGEST

Real Estate GUIDETo place your Real Estate Guide listings,

contact RANDY SUMMERS at 505/243-9515 or at [email protected]

Missouri Land Sales� 675 Ac. Excellent Cattle Ranch, Grass Runway, Land Your OwnPlane: Major Price Reduction. 3-br, 2ba home down 1 mile private land.New 40x42 shop, 40x60 livestock barn, over 450 ac. in grass. (Owner runsover 150 cow/calves, 2 springs, 20 ponds, 2 lakes, consisting of 3.5 and 2ac. Both stocked with fish. Excellent fencing. A must farm to see. MSL#1112191

� NEW LISTING, 327 ACRES: Cattle/horse ranch. Over 225 acres ingrass. 3/4 mile State Hwy. frontage. Live water, 60x80 multi-function barn. 2-bedroom, 1-bath rock home. Priced to sell at $1,620 per acre. MLS #1204641

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

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

PAUL McGILLIARDCell: 417/839-50961-800/743-0336

MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORSSPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

Selling New

Mexico

RICHARD RANDALSQualifying Broker

TOM SIDWELL Associate Broker

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

have the tools.

O: 575/461-4426C: 575/403-7138F: 575/461-8422

E: [email protected]

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615 West Rt. 66Tucumcari, NM 88401

LLC

6221 QR AL Tucumcari, NM. 3 bedroom brickhome with 80± acres is located 5-1/2 miles East ofTucumcari. Of the 80± acres, 50± acres has ArchHurley Conservancy District surface water rights. Barnand guest house. Price $275,000.

Pajarito Farm. There is a total of 73.90± acres. Ofthe 73.90± acres, there is 40.45± of Arch Hurley sur-face water rights. Live water on this property, thePajarito creek. Wildlife, whitetail and mule deer, wildturkey. Tucumcari, NM. Price $120,000.

Western Drive Stables. 24 years established HorseMotel, very nice and well maintained property. Thereis a home, 3,000 square foot barn with stalls and4.20± acres. The stalls are very nice. There are stallswith run/semi-covered and boxed stalls and turnouts.Tucumcari, NM. Price $350,000.

REAL ESTATE COMPANY

To place your ad, contact Randy at505/243-9515 or [email protected]

Members of the Ameri-can Shorthorn Associ-ation (ASA) gatheredin early November for

the ASA Annual Meeting andNational Show held in con-junction with the North Amer-ican International LivestockExposition (NAILE) inLouisville, Ky.Among the first order of

business at the annual meetingwas the election of board ofdirectors. Ed Kruse of Kimball,Neb., and James Freed ofChickasha, Okla., were twomembers elected to the ASABoard of Directors for a three-year term. Mike Bennett ofDucor, Calif., was re-elected tothe board for a second termand also elected to serve as theVice President of the ASA.Other returning board mem-bers include: Les Mathers,Mason City, Ill., president;Ricky Guidry, Bell City, La.,executive director; Billy ZackTaylor, Salem, Ky., director;

Lynn Nelson, Albert Lea,Minn.; Mark Gordon, Middle-town, Ill., director; and MartyLoving, Pawnee Rock, Kan.,director.Two retiring ASA board

members were recognized dur-ing the National ShorthornShow on Monday, November12. Boyd Strope of O’Neil,Neb., and Virginia Davis ofFranklin, Ind., were recognizedfor their dedicated service tothe ASA from 2006 through2012.One of the most prestigious

awards announced every yearduring the National Show andAnnual Meeting is the Herds-man of the Year award. A tro-phy belt buckle is presented tothe winner in memory ofLawrence Grathwohl. JessRecknor of Cyclone Trace Cat-tle Company in Clarion, Iowa,was voted this year's recipientby fellow Shorthorn breeders.The Century Club award

was also announced during the

National Show between thebull and female shows. Theaward recognizes breeders whohave registered over 100 headof Shorthorns in the past year.The following breeders wererecognized for their achieve-ment:Loving Polled Shorthorns,

Pawnee Rock, Kan.; SullivanCattle Company, Dunlap,Iowa; WHR Shorthorns, VanAlstyne, Texas; Jungels Short-horn Farm, Kathryn, N.D.;Byland, Loudonville, Ohio;EA-RA-BA-H Farm, Liberty,N.C.; Peak View Ranch, Inc.,Fowler, Colo.; Sneed Short-horns, Sedalia, Mo.; J. PhillipBowman & Family, GreensFork, Ind.; Keith H. Lauer,Abilene, Kan.; Cyclone TraceCattle Company, Clarion,Iowa; JDMC Cattle Company,Renville, Minn.; Hugh W.Moore, Jr. & Sons, Jerseyville,Ill.; Martindell Shorthorns,Hardyville, Ky.


National Western Stock Show leaders, joinedby Mayor Michael B. Hancock and othercity officials, announced today they arecommitted to keeping the iconic and centu-

ry-old Stock Show in Denver.“Denver has been the Stock Show’s beloved

home for 106 years, and our complex is a time-honored destination for visitors worldwide,” saidPaul Andrews, the National Western’s Presidentand CEO. “We want to enrich and educate thelives of millions for another century, and we believeour future exists right here where we began. Byworking with our dedicated city partners, we willfind the best option to create a sustainable futurefor the world’s greatest stock show.”The National Western’s intention is to remain at

its current location in Denver’s Elyria-Swanseaneighborhood and explore forging stronger part-

nerships and greater coordination with Art & Ven-ues Denver and VISIT DENVER.“We thank the National Western for its dedica-

tion to our city and those who have supported theshow throughout the years,” Mayor Hancock said.“The National Western is a cherished cultural andeconomic asset that enriches our Western heritage.We stand at the ready to help them find a sustain-able model that will deliver long-term success tothe complex and the surrounding neighborhood.”Last winter, Mayor Hancock requested detailed

information from the National Western, includingbusiness, financial and facilities plans, to betterunderstand the National Western’s current andfuture needs. Following receipt of those docu-ments, the Mayor asked the Denver Urban Renew-al Authority to provide an independent review ofthe data.

In 2009, the most recent yearfor which global data areavailable from the UnitedNations Food and Agricul-

ture Organization (FAO), 311million hectares in the world wasequipped for irrigation but only84 percent of that area was actu-ally being irrigated, according tonew research conducted by theWorldwatch Institute for its VitalSigns Online service (www.worldwatch.org). As of 2010, thecountries with the largest irrigat-ed areas were India (39 millionhectares), China (19 million),and the U.S. (17 million), writesreport author Judith Renner.

The irrigation sector claimsabout 70 percent of the freshwa-ter withdrawals worldwide. Irri-gation can offer crop yields thatare two to four times greaterthan is possible with rainfedfarming, and it currently pro-vides 40 percent of the world’sfood from approximately 20 per-cent of all agricultural land.Since the late 1970s, irriga-

tion expansion has experienced amarked slowdown. The FAOattributes the decline in invest-ment to the unsatisfactory per-formances of formal large canalsystems, corruption in the con-struction process, and acknowl-edgement of the environmentalimpact of irrigation projects.The increasing availability of

inexpensive individual pumpsand well construction methodshas led to a shift from public toprivate investment in irrigation,and from larger to smaller-scalesystems. The takeoff in individ-ual groundwater irrigation hasbeen concentrated in India, Chi-na, and much of Southeast Asia.The idea of affordable and effec-tive irrigation is attractive topoor farmers worldwide, withrewards of higher outputs andincomes and better diets.“The option is often made

even more appealing with offersof government subsidies for ener-gy costs of running groundwaterpumps and support prices of irri-gated products,” said Renner, asenior at Fordham University inNew York. “In India’s Gujaratstate, for example, energy subsi-dies are structured so that farm-ers pay a flat rate, no matter howmuch electricity they use. Butwith rising numbers of farmerstapping groundwater resources,more and more aquifers are indanger of overuse.”If groundwater resources are

overexploited, aquifers will beunable to recharge fast enoughto keep pace with water with-drawals. It should be noted thatnot all aquifers are beingpumped at unsustainable levels –in fact, 80 percent of aquifersworldwide could handle addi-tional water withdrawals. Onetroubling aspect of groundwaterwithdrawals is that the world’s

major agricultural producers(particularly India, China, andthe United States) are also theones responsible for the highestlevels of depletion.Another problem with pump-

ing water from aquifers and redi-recting flows for irrigation is theimpact on delicate environmentalbalances. Salinization occurswhen water moves past plantroots to the water table due toinefficient irrigation and drainagesystems; as the water table rises,it brings salts to the base of plantroots.Plants take in the water,and the salts are left behind,degrading soil quality and there-

fore the potential for growth.A potentially better alterna-

tive is drip irrigation, a form ofmicro-irrigation that watersplants slowly and in smallamounts either on the soil sur-face or directly on roots.Usingthese techniques has the poten-tial to reduce water use by asmuch as 70 percent whileincreasing output by 20-90 per-cent. Within the last twodecades, the area irrigated usingdrip and other micro-irrigationmethods has increased 6.4-fold,from 1.6 million hectares to over10.3 million hectares.With predictions of a global

population exceeding 9 billion by2050, demand for higher agricul-tural output will put more strainon already fragile water reserves.Even without the effects of cli-mate change, water withdrawalsfor irrigation will need to rise by11 percent in the next threedecades to meet crop productiondemands.Reconciling increasingfood demands with decreasingwater security requires efficientsystems that produce more foodwith less water and that mini-mize water waste. Intelligentwater management is crucialespecially in the face of climatechange, which will force the agri-culture industry to compete withthe environment for water.Further highlights from the

report:� The share of the area

equipped for irrigation that isactually under irrigation rangesfrom 77 to 87 percent in Asia,Africa, the Americas, and inOceania, but is only 59 percentin Europe. More reliable rainfallallows farmers in northern andeastern Europe to rely less onexisting irrigation infrastructurethan is the case in drier or morevariable climates.

� Worldwide, the most com-monly used irrigation techniqueis flood irrigation, even thoughplants often use only about halfthe amount of water applied inthat system.

� India claims the lead in irri-gated area worldwide, irrigatingalmost 2 million hectares of itsland using drip and micro-irriga-tion techniques.

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The message emerging fromthe “A One HealthApproach to AntimicrobialUse & Resistance: A Dia-

logue for a Common Purpose”symposium, held in mid Novem-ber in Columbus, Ohio, wasclear: Antibiotic use and antimi-crobial resistance are the respon-sibility of all communities —human health, animal health andenvironmental health — and solu-tions will require collaboration ofthese health communities.At the end of the three-day

symposium, which was coordi-nated by the National Institutefor Animal Agriculture, presen-ters and participants agreed onnumerous points:

� Antibiotics dramaticallyimprove human, animal andplant health, and increase lifeexpectancy.

� Antimicrobial resistance isnot going to go away. A histori-cal look at antimicrobial resist-ance shows antimicrobial resist-ance is not a new phenomenonbut existed before mankind.

� The topic of antimicrobial

resistance can be subtle, com-plex, difficult and polarizing. It ismore than science and evidence.It’s about politics, behavior, eco-nomics and conflicting opinions.Antimicrobial resistance is not

merely a consequence of use; it’sa consequence of use and misuse— and each community — ani-mal health, human health or envi-ronmental health — is responsi-ble for antibiotic stewardship.

� The finger pointing andblame for antimicrobial resist-ance need to end. The time hascome to work together.“Finding a solution is not

about compromise; it’s aboutreaching agreement,” stated Dr.Lonnie King, Dean of The OhioState University College of Vet-erinary Medicine. “We (animalhealth, human health and envi-ronmental health communities)need to focus on interests andnot positions and initiate optionsfor mutual gain. We need to findcommon ground — somethingwe all can agree to when we dis-agree on other issues.”Topics addressed by the 13

animal health, human health andenvironmental health expertsduring the symposium covered:

� Overview of antibiotic use� History of antimicrobial

resistance� Antimicrobial resistance

Global Irrigated Area at Record Levels, But Expansion Slowing

Salinization occurs when water moves past plant roots to the water table due to inefficient irrigation and drainage systems;

as the water table rises, it brings salts to the base of plant roots.

National Western Stock Show Commits to Stay in Denver

Antibiotic Use, Resistance Calls for Collaborative “One Health” Approach

surveillance� Environmental contamina-

tion with antimicrobial residues� Interplay of animal and

human antimicrobial resistantpopulations

� Nationally funded antimi-crobial resistance research proj-ects

� Alternatives to antibiotics inagriculture“The symposium’s four inter-

active sessions allowed presentersand attendees to provide input toquestions that moved the groupto consensus,” stated Dr. LeahDorman, co-chair of the sympo-sium, and Director of Food Pro-grams at the Ohio Farm Bureau.“In the end, it was extremely evi-dent that the dialogue among theanimal health, human health andenvironmental health communi-ties is critical to a solution.”“A ‘One Health’ approach is

important. Plus, we need thinkin a much larger dimension.”Dr. Jennifer Koeman, sympo-

sium co-chair and Director ofProducer and Public Health withthe National Pork Board,agreed, adding, “It’s about mutu-al gain and not a victory for anyone community.”

Presentations by symposium speakers willbe available at www.animalagriculture.org. Awhite paper is being developed and will beavailable online at NIAA’s website as well.


reporting by LEAH SCHNURR.

editing by CHIZU NOMIYAMA,

Reuters, www.cattlenetwork.com

Forecasters cut their expec-tations for U.S. economicgrowth in the fourth quar-ter, though the labor mar-

ket was seen holding on torecent improvement, a surveyreleased on recently showed. Economists expect the econo-

my to grow at an annual rate of1.8 percent in the current quar-ter, down from the previous esti-mate of 2.2 percent growth,according to the PhiladelphiaFederal Reserve’s fourth-quartersurvey of 39 forecasters.

While that left estimates forgross domestic product for theyear unchanged at 2.2 percent,growth in 2013 looked modestlyweaker with economists forecast-ing 2 percent, down from 2.1percent. Over the next three quarters,

growth was seen averaging 2.1percent, down from earlierexpectations of 2.2 percent. The unemployment rate was

forecast to come in lower thanexpected, averaging 7.9 percentin the fourth quarter from theprevious estimate of 8.1 percent.The monthly unemployment ratereleased by the government was7.9 percent in October.

Still, unemployment was seenstuck at 7.9 percent in the firstquarter of next year, and holdingat 7.8 percent in the second andthird quarters. Economists raised their fore-

casts for inflation this quarterwith the headline consumer priceindex seen averaging 2.3 percent,up from earlier estimates for 2.0percent. For the year, CPI wasexpected to average 1.9 percent,up from 1.8 percent. Core CPI, which strips out

volatile energy and food prices,was expected to rise by 1.8 per-cent in the fourth quarter, downfrom the previous forecast of 2.0percent.

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P.O. Box 7458, Albuquerque, NM 87194

FEATURING THE . . .

JOHN MADAY, Managing Editor / Drovers CattleNetwork

Close to a third of U.S. farm households gener-ate income by engaging in off-farm businessventures and on-farm activities independentof commodity production, according to a new

report from USDA’s Economic Research Service.Of the 687,000 farm households pursuing on-farmor off-farm non-commodity businesses, over290,000 engaged only in on-farm diversificationactivities in 2007, earning an average of about$14,400 per farm from these activities.On-farm diversification activities described in

the report include:� Custom work in which farmers rent out their

technical skills and farm equipment to other farmoperations.

� Agritourism such as guided farm or ranchtours and other entertainment services, hospitalityservices, and outdoor recreation including hunting,fishing, and bird watching.

� Sale of forest products, such as firewood andtimber.

�Direct-to-consumer sales of food commoditiesthrough farmers markets, on-farm stores, roadsidestands, and pick-your-own operations.

� Sale of value-added goods produced on thefarm, such as jellies and jams, sauces, and otherprepared items.

� Sale of food commodities through communi-ty-supported agriculture buying clubs.

Family farms involved in on-farm diversificationtend to be on the larger end of the scale, averagingover 660 acres, which is twice the average size offarms not engaged in any alternative entrepreneur-ial activity. Those alternative enterprises do requireextra work, and the study shows farm householdsengaged in on-farm diversification devoted an aver-age of 1.4 full-time equivalents (FTEs) to the totalfarm operation, almost 50 percent more than anaverage of 0.9 FTEs for farm households notengaged in such activities.Type of operation clearly plays a role in deter-

mining its ability to engage in particular on-farmdiversification activities. For example, custom workgenerated the largest share of non-commodityincome for field crop producers, amounting toalmost $1.5 billion in income, compared with $860million in income for livestock producers from cus-tom work. Livestock producers however, earnedalmost 60 percent of agritourism dollars in 2007.On-farm diversification allows some farmers

and ranchers to capitalize on their skills andresource base to earn additional income, but off-farm businesses are, on average, more lucrative. In2007, about 396,000 U.S. farm households operat-ed off-farm businesses. The report refers to theseas “portfolio entrepreneur households.” Theseoperations earned incomes averaging $140,200 peryear, nearly twice the average of $72,610 for farmhouseholds not engaged in alternative income-gen-erating business activities in 2007.

by RICK ORLOV, Staff Writer/www.dailynews.com

From the City Council thatdeclared war on trans-fatsand fast-food restaurantscomes the latest way to

make residents feel, well, guiltyabout what they eat.The Los Angeles council, in a

14-0 vote on recently, adopted aresolution urging residents toadopt a personal pledge to havea “meatless Monday.”While it does not have the

force of law and police will notbe checking what you brought towork for lunch, city officials saidthey hope it will start a trend,make residents healthier andreduce the impact on the envi-ronment.“This follows the ‘good food’

agenda we recently adopted sup-porting local, sustainable foodchoices,” said CouncilwomanJan Perry, who has called for aban on new fast-food restaurantsin South Los Angeles to fightobesity.“We can reduce saturated fats

and reduce the risk of heart dis-ease by 19 percent,” Perry said.“While this is a symbolic gesture,it is asking people to think aboutthe food choices they make. Eat-ing less meat can reverse some ofour nation’s most common ill-nesses.”Councilman Ed Reyes, who

joined with Perry in proposingthe resolution, said one of hissons has been diagnosed withdiabetes.“The issue is how does a local

municipality engage in this andhow do we create change,” Reyessaid. “If we do it one plate attime, one meal, one day, we areratcheting down the impact onour environment. We start withone day a week and then, whoknows, maybe we can changeour habits for a lifetime.”The proposal was developed

by the Food Policy Council,which has a goal of “creatingmore and better food jobs” andencouraging food companies andsmall food enterprises as part ofa bigger agenda to encouragehealthy foods in the city.

by STEVE BROWN, Capital Press

Lawyers for rancher JoeLemire and the stateDepartment of Ecologyargued before the Washing-

ton Supreme Court Nov. 13 in acase both sides say could havefar-reaching ramifications forfarmers and ranchers.The controversy began in

2003, when Ecology officials firsttold Lemire to fence off a streamrunning through his southeast-ern Washington property to keephis cattle away from it.At issue is whether that

requirement constitutes a “tak-ing” of private property.Ecology appealed a Superior

Court judge’s dismissal of a 2009state Pollution Control HearingsBoard order that requiredLemire to avoid the risk of pollu-tion from his 29 head of cattle inPataha Creek.Lemire, with the financial and

moral support of fellow ranchersand county and state FarmBureaus, has mounted a legalbattle that he said is intended to

protect the rights of landownersacross the state.“I don’t compromise,” he said

after the court hearing. “If I lose,I’m willing to gamble it all. Whynot? I have no backup plan.“There are thousands of peo-

ple backing us. If we lose here,we all lose,” he said.Laura Watson, a lawyer from

the state attorney general’s officerepresenting Ecology, arguedthat addressing a substantialpotential for water pollution isnot a “per se taking.”When Justice James Johnson

repeated the Superior Courtjudge’s statement that there wasno proof of actual pollution,Watson said the state has theauthority to take correctiveaction over potential pollutionbefore it impacts public health.Lemire’s description of a tak-

ing as “the use of property beingimpacted” has never been upheldin court, she said. The requiredfencing would have gates allow-ing the cattle access to other pas-tures. The ranch also has accessto well water, she said.

Los Angeles City Councilendorses ‘meatless Mondays’

Economists cut U.S. Q4 growth forecasts

Alternative enterprises boost farm incomes

Washington Supreme Court hears arguments on water pollution

Speaking for Lemire, attorneyJames Carmody told the justicesthe issue is significant to thefarming and ranching communi-ty, that prohibiting access to astream “is going to destroy thatagricultural undertaking.”

http://www.capitalpress.com/content/SB-Supreme-Court-water-111312-art


these times may not be practicalfor some production systems dueto crop type or logistics of opera-tion.”Because available water is

scarce during a drought, there isa tendency to irrigate withoutalso thinking about leaching theaccumulated salts from the soilsurface.“It is important to note that a

build-up of salts can occur onthe farm if insufficient water isapplied to leach out the excesssalts,” Idowu said. “Salt accumu-lation can affect yields and cropquality. To avoid salt accumula-tion in the surface soil, youshould know the salinity level ofyour soil and the quality of yourwater that will be used for irriga-tion and then calculate theleaching requirement along withthe crop demands for water.”Selection of the crop is also a

factor to consider, such as mov-ing away from water-intensivecrops, and selecting early matur-ing and drought-tolerant vari-eties.“Forage crops such as alfalfa

and corn have very highdemands for water,” Idowu said.“In situations with limited water,it becomes difficult to raise thesecrops with a high level of output.An alternative is to transitiontemporarily to crops that con-sume less water and are moredrought-tolerant, such assorghum and millet.”The publication has a table

that lists various crops, the criti-cal period for irrigation and thecrop’s level of sensitivity todrought.“Early maturing and drought-

tolerant varieties can also helpgrowers cope with drought,” hesaid. “It is good to carefullyselect crop varieties that willmature earlier in the growingseason. Although varieties thatmature later tend to have higheryield, during a drought the yieldadvantage may be lost due toinsufficient water.”How the land is worked can

also help offset the impact ofdrought on the plants.“Compared to conventional

plowing and disking, reducedtillage has been shown to helpconserve soil moisture andimprove soil health,” Idowu said.“Reduced tillage emphasizes areduction in the depth and totalarea of the farmland that is beingintensively tilled.”Many reduced tillage options

are available to farmers, such asstrip-till, no-till, zone-till, chisel-ing and permanent beds. Thetype of reduced tillage that willfit each farming operation willvary.“Some reduced tillage meth-

ods may involve acquiring newtillage tools,” Idowu said. “There-fore, reducing tillage should beseen as a long-term strategy toconserve moisture and improvesoil quality.”

To learn more about these topics, the full pub-lication Guide A-147 may be obtained fromNMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer andEnvironmental Sciences website at http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_a/A147.pdf or by ebookat http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/ebooks/ _a/wel-come.html.

As incidences of droughthave become more recur-rent in the Southwest overthe past decade, farmers

across New Mexico need to beprepared to effectively cope withit in order to remain productiveand profitable.Since farming in a drought sit-

uation is not business as usual,New Mexico State University’sCooperative Extension Servicehas released a new publicationentitled “Agronomic Principlesto Help with Farming DuringDrought Periods” to give agricul-tural producers some suggestionsto help them develop strategiesto cope with drought.“New Mexico’s climate is nor-

mally hot and dry, but drought

conditions and higher-than-aver-age temperatures can makefarming even more challenging.A variety of strategies can beused to ensure that your farmremains productive duringdrought,” said John Idowu,NMSU Extension agronomist,who co-authored the publicationwith Extension specialists MarkMarsalis and Robert Flynn. Idowu’s research and Exten-

sion activities are focused on sus-tainable field crop productionand soil health management inNew Mexico.The publication addresses

aspects of planning for droughtconditions, such as good plan-ning, scaling back on acreage tobe planted, moving away from

water-intensive crops, selectingearly maturing and drought-tol-erant varieties, using reducedtillage practices, watching out forsalinity of soil, and properlyscheduling irrigation.A key point of the strategy is

to plan only for the water thatyou have or are assured of receiv-ing.“An important consideration

is to analyze the economics ofthe situation since it is differentfrom normal years,” Idowu said.“The focus should be to optimizeyour economic returns with thewater that is available. Don’t betoo ambitious by planting moreacreage than your allocatedwater can support, hoping thatthe situation will improve

through in-season rainfall.”Drought is a time to match

the water allotment with the sizeof the area to be planted.“Calculate the amount of

acres that your water allotmentcan successfully support and lim-it your production to thatacreage,” Idowu said. “Knowwhat the maximum water use foryour crop is during the peakwater demand time of the seasonand adjust acres down to meetthis demand.”How the water is applied is

also critical.“If possible, schedule your

irrigation during early morningor late evening to avoid evapora-tion losses,” he said. “However,scheduling irrigation during

NMSU publication gives strategies for farming during drought conditions

LMD Dec 2012

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