 |
 |
| Vol. 48 - No. 1 | Thursday, January 4, 1996 | $25 Per Year |
|
Lambs Open New
Year On Strong Note
Only minimal trading has gone on the first few
days of the new year with most markets closed or just
beginning to operate. Midwest markets were around $1-2
higher on fat lambs, and a limited number of slaughter
ewes and feeder lambs sold $1-3 higher. Price improvement
was also noted on all classes during last week’s
abbreviated trading.
Fed Cattle At
Standstill, Feeder Trade Still Quiet
Neither fed cattle nor feeders offered much in the
way of news through midweek. Packers and feedlots were
staring each other down over a dollar, and feeder trade
simply hadn’t spooled up yet after the long holiday
hiatus.
Hartley Feeders
Manager Wants New Year To Bring More Packers
While most cattle feeders want $70 or $80 fat
cattle in the new year, the manager of Hartley Feeders
has his own ideas now that 1995 has passed into the
history books.
Editorial
Govt.
Shutdown, Such As It Is, A Far Cry From Comprehensive
A "government shutdown," it appears,
is in the eye of the beholder. For weeks now, the popular
press has been wringing its hands and or gnashing its
teeth over the "sorry spectacle" of the federal
budget standoff and the "childish behavior" of
reform-minded congressmen who have supposedly brought
government to a halt.
North Dakotans
Aim Buffalo Meat Marketing Toward Europe
The crowned heads of Europe may soon be feasting on North
Dakota buffalo. "Game has always been the meat of
kings in Europe," says Ken "Doc" Throlson,
chairman of the board of the North American Bison
Cooperative. "Our bison fit right into that."
Texas Cattle
Feeders Compile Top 10 Stories For Past Year
The Texas Cattle Feeders Association has listed the
following as its top 10 news stories in the industry and
around TCFA for 1995.
Annual Average
Beef Price Off Last Year
1995 was a good year for Americans who like beef,
the National Cattlemen's Association points out. A good
year, that is, unless they also happen to raise beef
animals.
Cattle Feeders
Analyst Looks Into Crystal Ball For New Year
Losses feedyards during 1995 averaged about $10 a head,
and that was the good news. It was a bit of an
improvement over the losses of 1994 in the cattle feeding
industry, says Jim Gill, market director for the Texas
Cattle Feeders Association. The last two years have been
painful.
New AI
Technique To Allow Choice Of Sex In Calves
Cattlemen will be able to predetermine the sex of
calves with a new artificial insemination technique
developed in part by Colorado State University
researchers.
By Whatever
Name, Bill Mitchell Remained A Fugitive To The End
The Nelson Mitchell family, originally from
North Carolina, settled in a bend of the Brazos River
about 12 miles south of Granbury, the county seat of Hood
County, Texas, in 1868. The Hood County courthouse burned
in 1875, and there is no record of when Nelson Mitchell
(nicknamed Cooney) bought the land in what was later
called Mitchell’s Bend.
Bull Dodge
Bodacious Retires, But Not Before Winning Honors
Only the best of the best compete at the National Finals
Rodeo, professional rodeo’s most prestigious event.
And that includes the bucking stock.
NCA Applauds Action
On Property Rights
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s passage late
last month of S 605, the Omnibus Property Rights Act of
1995, advances cattle producers’ goals of mitigating
takings impacts, providing litigation relief and
requiring compensation, says the National Cattlemen's
Association.
Livestock
Exports To Mexico Dismal
Livestock exports to Mexico through the six Texas
port facilities in 1995 were dismal compared to the 1994
figures released by USDA. Total exports were down 74
percent to 283,470 head compared to 1,104,028 head in
1994. The record for total exports was established in
1991 at 1,317,210 head.
1.6 Million
Mexican Cattle Enter In 1995
A total of 1,602,990 cattle were imported from
Mexico in 1995, including 1,530,557 feeder cattle and
72,433 slaughter cattle. These figures do not include
1205 in-bond cattle that were documented prior to the
elimination of that program.
Resolution
To Improve Game Management Should Be SMART
They say that nothing raises more false
expectations than the first hours of a diet; for many of
us, New Year’s resolutions run a close second.
On The Edge Of
Common Sense
By Baxter Black
My friend, Andy, called from his car phone late
last fall. He said, "Bax, I just sold three loads of
steers at the Ogallala sale. They weighed 631 and brought
seventy-six fifty.''
Unregistered Bull
in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of
Unregistered Bull.
John sat watching the sand whip up against the lobby
window. "Everybody comes in here," he ventured,
"talks about how dry it is. It’s got so a lot
of them have started wonderin’ whether these
rainmakers will be able to do us any good with their
machines for sprayin’ the clouds or somethin’
or other.
Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Now that we have little to do except watch a
couple of dozen bowl games and make some new year’s
resolutions during halftime, I resolved to see if my eyes
would still focus at short range. I picked up a magazine
and discovered some interesting things about myself.
Shortgrass
Country
By Monte Noelke
Mother took care of the holiday baking all of
her life. Toward the end I cooked the turkeys, but she
still furnished the cornbread for the dressing and
oatmeal rolls for the feast. She apprenticed on a wood
stove on a windmill tank water system. The first yeast
bread she made failed to rise. Not wanting to give the
hands or her husband a chance to tease her, she buried
the dough in the back yard. She went on to become an
expert at baking breads and pastries.