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| Vol. 48 - No. 7 | Thursday, February 15, 1996 | $25 Per Year |
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Fed Cattle
Trading Stalls When Packers Back Off Bids
It was another one of those "window of
opportunity" weeks, when the bulk of Plains fed
cattle trade was conducted in the time it takes to empty
a single pot of coffee. A small pot.
Seattle Family
Finds A Niche In Sheep Byproducts Business
Michael Mayo’s great grandfather might be defined as
an opportunist. Some 65 years ago he started a family
business by making a profitable commodity out of an
animal byproduct that at the time was considered
worthless at best.
Senate Passes
Farm Bill, But Only After Tinkering
President Clinton found little he liked in
Senate-passed farm legislation but wouldn't threaten a
veto because "we've got to have a farm bill."
Ag Loan
Mediator Sues USDA, Claiming Audit Is
"Vendetta"
The administrator of Texas' farm mediation program has
sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging an
audit of the program's confidential files is illegal and
motivated by a vendetta.
Senate Farm
Bill Vote Tied To Presidential Politics
It was classic Bob Dole: working the Senate floor
not only to carry a farm bill victory into the Republican
presidential caucus campaign in Iowa, but also to deeply
embarrass rival Sen. Phil Gramm.
Federals
Change Their Minds; Rancher Must Liquidate Herd
Rancher Kit Laney says a new Forest Service order
would cut his herd of 800 cattle to 300 and put him out
of business. "If we comply with what they tell us to
do, it'll definitely bankrupt us," Laney said by
telephone from the Diamond Bar Ranch, 70 miles west of
Truth or Consequences.
Old Drug Gets
New Application Against Infertility In Horses
With Thoroughbred farms a multi-million dollar industry
in Florida and horse breeding season starting,
researchers reported a timely breakthrough in treating
equine infertility.
Court Rules
Eco-Enforcers Not Subject To Basic Laws
Following the Congressional elections of 1994,
many thought that the restoration of a proper balance
between people and the planet, between economic growth
and environmental goals, between property rights and
prohibitory laws and regulations was weeks away.
Ag Lending
Agency Facing Last Chance
Congress is making what may be its final attempt
to create a successful secondary market for farm loans.
Grazing Slash
Data Riddled With Errors
Errors in Forest Service data "seriously
erode the credibility" of a proposed 42 percent
reduction in grazing on the east slope of Boulder
Mountain, a panel of mediators has concluded.
Health Food
Source Of Poisoning Cases
Mention food poisoning in general or Salmonella in
particular and people are conditioned to automatically
suspect meat. State public health officials, however,
have traced a Salmonella poisoning outbreak to alfalfa
sprouts grown from contaminated seeds.
EU Attacks
German Ban On Brits’ Beef
The European Union clearly has two sets of
standards when it comes to trade barriers erected on
flimsy scientific evidence — one set of standards
for its own members and an entirely different set for
everyone else.
Swedish Farmer
Finds 2500 Pigs On Bender
Talk about stinking drunk! Farmer Birger Moquist
was shocked by what he saw when he walked into the barn
of his hog farm in southern Sweden: his 2500 pigs were
drunk.
Desperate
Ethanol Backers Playing Global Warming Card
Last week, as all-time record cold gripped most of
the nation, would seem like a strange time to embrace the
questionable concept of "global warming."
Warming prophets have gone so far off the deep end,
however, that these days they’re even claiming
blizzards as "proof" that the world is getting
hotter.
Merck’s
NZ Drench Ad Creates Uproar
A television commercial for a cattle drench has
been withdrawn from broadcast after viewers complained it
satirized the 1963 assassination of United States
President John F. Kennedy.
Eco Groups
Appeal Grazing Bid Denial
Two environmental groups threaten to go to court if the
state Land Office turns down their appeals of its
decision to reject their bids for grazing leases, a
spokesman for one of the groups says.
Roy Duvall Making
A Comeback In Steer Wrestling Competition
In 1969 a young steer wrestler named Roy Duvall
won the steer wrestling competition at the Southwestern
Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth.
Superior
Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 14,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction offered 14,000 feeder
cattle in regular trading here last week. Trading was
termed active and demand good, prices steady to higher on
most weights. Delivery was mostly current to May.
Angelo Feeder
Cattle Higher, Lambs Steady
Feeder lambs sold steady this week, slaughter
lambs steady to $2 lower and slaughter ewes firm.
Receipts totaled 7902 head.
San Saba
Heifers, Steers Rise $1-3
Trading was active and demand good, feeder steers
$1-3 higher, heifers $1-2 higher, calves steady,
slaughter cows and bulls $2-3 higher.
On The Edge Of
Common Sense
By Baxter Black
That they would find each other would have been
as unlikely to predict as the fall of communism or the
good sheep market. She was old and a lifelong Southern
Baptist. They were young on a mission for the Mormon
church.
Unregistered Bull
in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of
Unregistered Bull.
John licked a fresh cigarette, reached for a match,
and broke the sad news: "Get ready to kiss me
adios," he said. "I’m liable to have
to leave for Washington any minute."
Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Norfolk, Virginia: This city has its share of
Southern gentlemen. A banker here told me of his trip to
a farm, during the Great Depression, to foreclose on a
$3900 mortgage or get a payment.
Shortgrass
Country
By Monte Noelke
Federal regulations now require the same hour
and a half check-in for domestic flights as for foreign
connections. Agents make the deal more sinister by
inquiring whether the passenger is carrying any packages
for strangers.
Answers To
Wildlife Questions Confounded By Many Variables
By Dale Rollins
I sense your frustration, and can surely relate to
it. A simple answer to a simple question, that's all
you're looking for, right? Unfortunately, wildlife
ecologists are a bit like economists. If you laid them
all end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion!
Wolf Teeth
Fine For Wolves, But Horses Are Best Without
By Dr. Jim and Lynda McCall
Having wolf teeth is a definite plus for a wolf, and
canine teeth are a great advantage for meat-eating
members of the canine species, but why in the world
should horses have either?
Emergency
Plumbing Not High On Brummett’s Aptitude Scale
By Curt Brummett
Have you ever noticed that when you are really trying
to do something right, things have a way of going
slightly wrong? It is a well-established fact that I am
not a plumber. It is just not my type of work.