Lamb Prices Falter, Kill Numbers Rise
Fat and feeder lambs were under price pressure across the country this week, declines reaching as much as $5 on both classes. Kill volume was 89,000 head the last two weeks and at the highest level since April of last year.

Fed Cattle Trade Stalled Again After Big Volume, Higher Prices
All was quiet on the fed cattle front at midweek. Last week’s $3 jump in fed cattle prices pulled more than 127,000 head out of Panhandle area yards, including some cattle originally slated to go next month. That left the nearest thing to a vacuum that’s been seen so far this year, and feedlots felt no pressure to sell anything this week unless the terms were favorable.

PLAINS FEEDLOT SALES

RANGE SALES

Export Figures Show Mexican Diet Change
The total number of slaughter livestock exported to Mexico through the Texas port facilities for the year to date through Tuesday was 91,639 head, up 34 percent from the same time a year ago.

Beef Quality Audit For 1995 Little Improved Beyond 1991
After two Beef Quality Audits, the beef industry isn't getting appreciably better. Dr. Jeff Savell, head of Texas A&M's meat section, was involved in both the 1991 Beef Quality Audit and the 1995 audit. Comparing the results of the two studies, he says the beef industry still has problems.

Food Protection By Irradiation Held Up By Poor Understanding
Food irradiation, which has been around for decades and studied extensively by researchers, may finally join the arsenal of ammunition to fight the food safety battle. Unfortunately, the very name of the technology has hindered its acceptance as it evokes unfounded association with radioactivity and nuclear power.

Lawmakers Propose Legislation To Retaliate For EU Beef Ban
Congressmen from North Dakota and South Dakota are proposing a ban on European meat imports to force an end to restrictions on sales of American beef.

Midwest May Be Sharing Drouth That Southwest Has Long Hosted
Three summers ago, it was flooding in the Midwest. Now, Kansas and Missouri, along with much of the region, may be in for a taste of the drouth that the Southwest has been experiencing for a couple of years or more.

J.P. Moore Has Top Indexing Ram; 24 Head Average $678
A total of 24 Rambouillet bucks sold for $16,275 and an average of $678.13 per head at the annual Sonora Experiment Station ram performance test sale here last week. The sale average was down from the previous year’s average of $931.90 on 29 head.

Ted Turner’s Employees Taped Harassing Neighboring Hunters
Two hunters from Spokane, Wash., have formally complained to state officials that Ted Turner employees confronted them while they were on state land in the Alder area last fall.

Jury Grants $5M Punitive Award In West Texas Sludge Libel
A company that spread New York City sludge on a West Texas ranch was awarded $5 million in punitive damages in a libel suit over an episode of the satirical television show "TV Nation."

USDA May Drop Requirements To Test Meat For Salmonella
The government may drop a plan to make slaughter plants test raw poultry and red meat for salmonella, the major cause of sometimes deadly food poisoning, in favor of cheaper tests for different "indicator" bacteria.

Judge Orders Agency To Ignore ESA Hiatus
A U.S. district judge ruled last month that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s insistence on gathering scientific evidence before bestowing protected status on a subspecies of hawk was "arbitrary, capricious and unlawful."

GOP Frustrated With Delays On Farm Bill By Democrats
A frustrated Rep. Pat Roberts says House and Senate negotiators should begin meeting this week to work out a long-sought compromise on the farm bill.

Idaho Governor: Suit May Block
Gov. Phil Batt is raising the possibility of filing suit to block reintroduction of grizzly bears into Idaho's Bitterroot Mountains.

Senate To Deal With Grazing Reform Legislation This Week
The U.S. Senate this week could consider a grazing reform bill aimed at protecting the West's ranching lifestyle by giving cattlemen more say in range management.

EPA Using 1958 Delaney Law For Massive Pesticide Ban
Using an antiquated law left over from 1958, the Environmental Protection Agency has moved to ban certain pesticides on apples, grapes, plums, wheat and other crops. And those bans are only the beginning.

U.S. 1995 Ag Trade Surplus Set Record
Gains in most categories of exports pushed the U.S. agricultural trade surplus to a record $25.8 billion last year. That was 37 percent higher than the 1994 surplus.

Don’t Lose Heart Yet; Things Can Get Worse
Drouth, cheap cattle, expensive feed — San Angelo Stock Show Association president Skipper Duncan says casual talk at this year’s recently concluded show all ran toward gloom and doom.

Taxpayers To Cough Up Illegal Alien’s Bills
Chances are good that a farmworker was in the United States illegally when he was injured on a Malta farm last December, according to a federal official.

Wyoming Lamb Plant Stock Sales Halted
Backers of a proposed lamb slaughtering plant near Worland have halted their sale of stock for the plant, they have announced.

Meat Substitute Firm Suing Texas Prisons
Manufacturers of VitaPro Foods, Inc., have filed a countersuit to force the state of Texas to live up to its agreement to buy up to $33.6 million worth of the soy-based meat substitute over a five-year period.

Fish Farmer Closing Huge Well On Aquifer
A catfish farmer under fire for his water use has sold his fish and shut off his well to avoid another lawsuit threatened by the Edwards Underground Water District.

Perry Seeks Haying On CRP To Slow Fires
Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry has urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to grant and extend waivers on Conservation Reserve Program land that would help prevent the spread of grass fires in rural Texas and provide necessary feed for livestock.

Most Grazing Cattle Higher, Feeder Weights Lose Ground
Prices for feeder cattle were uneven last week. Steers and heifers suitable to turn out on grass this spring and summer were generally steady to $2 higher while feedlot-bound offerings ended up mostly steady, instances $1-2 lower.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Higher Last Week Under Strong Demand
Slaughter steers and heifers sold $3 higher in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week.

Angelo Feeder Cattle, Lambs On Weak Side
Feeder lambs sold weak to $2 lower this week, slaughter lambs weak to $1 lower, slaughter ewes uneven, mostly steady to $2 lower. Receipts totaled 12,984 head.

Junction Lambs Steady, Stock Angora Goats Off
Feeder lambs, slaughter ewes and bucks sold steady, other classes scarce; stock Angora nannies $1-3 lower, muttons and kids steady, slaughter classes steady; Spanish kids $1-2 lower, nannies, muttons and billies $2-4 lower. Receipts totaled 8400 head.

U.S. Meat Production Same As A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 826.7 million pounds, 2.4 percent more than the previous week and unchanged from a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was 3.1 percent more than the same period a year ago.

Dry Grazing Pushes Giddings Cattle Lower
Widespread dry range conditions aided in pushing all cattle prices fully $2 lower here. Receipts totaled 660 head.

Goldthwaite Feeder Lamb Prices Steady
Feeder lambs sold steady, slaughter lambs $2-4 lower, slaughter ewes and bucks steady, stock ewes steady to $5 higher; few stock Angora muttons steady, slaughter classes steady; Spanish kids and nannies steady, muttons and billies $2-8 higher. Receipts totaled 6200 head.

Brownwood, San Saba, Mason Feeders Steady
Trade was active and demand good last week for feeder cattle at Mason, Brownwood and San Saba. Feeder steers sold steady, heifers steady to strong, slaughter cows and bulls steady, stock cows weak. Receipts at the three sales totaled 2983 head.

Braunvieh Cattle Sale Avg. $12,436 Per Head
A total of 55 lots of Braunvieh cattle brought $684,000 for an average of $12,436 per head at the second annual Progressive Braunvieh Sale here. Half interest in a fullblood bull topped the sale at $175,000, going to Tom Harper, Kentucky.

USDA Offering Early Out On CRP Acreage
Farmers are being offered an opportunity to get an early release from some conservation reserve program contracts.

Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Prices Lower
Feeder steers sold $1 lower last week in Kansas direct trade, instances $2 lower early, heifers steady to mostly $1 lower.

Most Lampasas Feeder Cattle Prices Lower
Feeder steers sold steady except steers weighing over 600 pounds $1-2 lower, heifers $1-2 lower, slaughter cows and bulls $2-3 lower, few cows with calves $30-40 lower. Receipts totaled 1100 head.

Most Cuero Feeder Cattle Sell Steady
Trade was active and demand good for good and choice feeder steers and heifers, demand for lower grades soft. Receipts totaled 1982 head.

Domestic Wool Slow, Aussie Wools Softer
Trading on domestic wool remained slow last week, sales too few to establish an adequate test. Demand was poor as most mills were disappointed about the prospect of new orders. Shearing occurred most days with only some disruption due to cold, wet weather.

HINDSIGHT

Loose Ends

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
"Boys will be boys," reflected Jack, as he told me a story from his youth. Seems when Jack was a teenager back in Ripley, Oklahoma, he and his teenage friend were serious about becoming bull riders. They had helped fix up the local rodeo arena and that gave them chute privileges.

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
It was John the Sociologist who spoke from his throne in the hotel lobby this week. "All this business about the way Mexicans are treated in this country," he said, "seems to be doing more harm than good for the Mexicans — not only the Mexican nationals that work or want to work in this country, but also the United States citizens of Mexican descent — some people call ‘em Latin-Americans, which I understand makes some Mexicans plenty sore.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Montana is way up the country from Texas, but the juice flows downhill in these mountains. A big electric cooperative sends electricity to farmers, ranchers, and Crows (the kind that necessitated Custer's last stand). The administrator for the REA and I had a chance to share in the festivities of a stockholder's meeting, to pull some legs and get some of the same.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
The next leg of the winter trip to Peru meant over-nighting in Iquitos and arising at five a.m. to take the plane to Cusco high in the Andes. Part of the layover was needed to shift the winter weight gear to my backpack and store the mud-splattered jungle clothes in a plastic sack in my big suitcase.

On Matters... Equine
By Dr. Jim and Lynda McCall
DNA testing is fast becoming the modern method of identifying the parentage of horses. Even though this method is relatively costly, it appears to be one of the most accurate. In some cases, this makes it the first best choice but in other situations, less technical methods can be more useful. This lesson was learned while acting as the general manager for an operation that included a 30-broodmare breeding farm.

Wildlife By Design
By Dale Rollins, Ph.D
Maybe you should think of a hunter as "a sheep in camouflaged clothing." I'd never make it as a sheep rancher. For one thing, I just don't have the right frame of mind when it comes to sheep. My limited experiences suggest that sheep are stupid, cantankerous and prone to die at the drop of a feather.