Lamb Prices Weaken As Easter Nears
With Easter this week end, lamb prices were a little softer in most areas of the country. Both fat and feeder lamb prices are still at near record high levels. San Angelo prices are around $18 above year-ago levels.

Fed Cattle Trade Slow Starter At Midweek, List Large Again
Feedlot trade this week started with all the earmarks of another wary staring contest, the sort of thing that has become common in the fed cattle trade over the past several months. After a little selling Monday and a stallout Tuesday, a flurry of activity began Wednesday afternoon. It was too early to predict how much volume might actually move.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Management Practices On Ranch Can Boost Feedlot Performance
An Oklahoma veterinarian says certain management practices on the ranch can help calves perform better when they reach the feedyard.

USDA To Investigate Current Standards On Lamb Labeling
Free trade agreements and a level playing field are terms that do not go hand in hand for some industries in today’s global economy. For American sheep producers, tilted playing fields are a given, particularly when it comes to dealing with imported lamb and wool.

Cattle Raisers Given Little To Cheer About At Convention
Cattlemen concerned about poor markets and drouth were given little to cheer about here last week at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association convention.

NCBA Asks USDA For Better Data On Beef Prices,
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has recommended actions to help assure competitive beef pricing and keep packer concentration from adversely affecting cattle producers.

Compromise Farm Bill Passes; Clinton Expected To Sign It
Congress gave final approval last Friday to a historic farm bill which would end the ingrained link between farm prices and government subsidies that has prevailed since the Depression.

Domenici Grazing Reform Bill Passed U.S. Senate Last Week
By a margin of 51 to 46, the U.S. Senate last Thursday passed S. 1459, the Public Rangelands Management Act, sponsored by Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico to bring stability to the management of livestock grazing leases on federal lands.

Perry Says Feds’ Feed Program Still Open Despite Farm Bill
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry announced late last week that Texas ranchers will continue to have access to feed for their cattle during dry conditions through a federal livestock feed program and with an extension allowing emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program lands.

Perry Says Feds’ Feed Program Still Open Despite Farm Bill
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry announced late last week that Texas ranchers will continue to have access to feed for their cattle during dry conditions through a federal livestock feed program and with an extension allowing emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program lands.

Import Shift Not Indicative Of Change In Trade Patterns
Lower than expected cattle imports from Mexico and higher than expected imports from Canada do not mean the United States is undergoing significant shifts in trade demographics, says an Oklahoma State University agricultural economist.

Impact Of "Mad Cow" Spreading; U.S. Industry Responds Quickly
Hoping to stave off the sort of hysteria that has brought the British beef industry to its knees, U.S. stockmen are voluntarily banning the use of sheep tissue and other animal parts in cattle feed that may be linked to "mad cow disease."

Steer Wrestler Mark Waltz Off To His Best Start Yet
In his 10-year professional rodeo career, steer wrestler Mark Waltz has finished anywhere from 17th to 20th in the Crown Royal World Standings five times. Off to one of his best starts ever, Waltz is hoping to improve on that record this year.

Feeder Cattle Trade Mixed; Grass Kinds Up, Fats Soft
Feeder cattle prices were mixed across the country last week. Steers and heifers weighing over 600 pounds sold mostly steady to $2 lower, calves under 600 pounds generally steady to $2 lower on those headed for feedlots; stocker calves thin enough for grass sold steady to $2 higher.

Producers Video Auction Sale Offering Totals 3650 Cattle
Producers Video Auction offered 3652 head of cattle in their regular video sale here last week. Consignments were from Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Montana.

Texas Fed Cattle Trade Lower, Most Movement Coming Tuesday
Slaughter steers and heifers sold $1 lower in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week.

Angelo Lambs Soft, Feeder Cattle Firm
Feeder lambs sold weak to $1 lower this week, slaughter lambs weak, slaughter ewes $3-4 lower. Receipts totaled 11,657 head.

Domestic Wool Slow, Aussie Finewools Up
Trading on domestic wool was slow last week with a weak undertone but too few sales for an adequate market test. Demand remained light, most buyers preferring to postpone new purchases until business develops enough to use up old inventories.

Corn Stocks Lowest In Nearly 60 Years
The nation's stockpile of corn has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 60 years, the Agriculture Department said last Friday in a report that sent corn futures prices surging to historic highs on the Chicago Board of Trade.

U.S. Meat Production Same As A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 796.6 million pounds, down 2.7 percent from the previous week but the same as a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was 2.9 percent more than during the same period last year.

Camp Cooley Brangus Sale Tops At $7750
Top price at the Camp Cooley Ranch Breeders Circle sale was $7750, paid for half interest and possession of a 17 month-old Brinks Brangus bull by Ronnie Link, The Eagle’s Ranch, Broussard, La.

Goldthwaite Feeder Lambs Sharply Lower
Feeder lambs sold $2-4 lower, slaughter ewes and bucks steady; Angora goats too limited to test; Spanish kids and nannies $3-5 higher, muttons and billies fully steady. Receipts totaled 4700 head.

Brownwood, San Saba, Mason Feeders Steady
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady last week in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba. Trade was active and demand good. Rains held receipts at the three sales to 1745 head.

Most Cuero Feeder Cattle Prices Steady
Good and choice feeder cattle sold about steady in good demand, lower grades still hard to move. Slaughter cows sold higher. Receipts totaled 1388 head.

Lampasas Feeder Steer, Heifer Prices Higher
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady last week, slaughter cows and bulls fully steady, stock cows and pairs steady. Receipts totaled 1000 head.

Fredericksburg Feeder Steers Off, Heifers Up
Feeder steers sold $2-3 lower, heifers $1-2 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $1-2 higher. Receipts totaled 802 head.

Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Trading Slow
Too few feeder steers and heifers sold in Kansas direct trade for an adequate market test last week. Eastern Kansas received some beneficial rains, and western Kansas had a little snow but remained cold and dry.

Most Junction Sheep And Goat Prices Off
Feeder lambs sold $3-5 lower, slaughter lambs scarce, slaughter ewes and bucks $2 lower; stock Angora goats $2-4 lower, slaughter kids and yearlings $2-3 lower; Spanish kids $2-3 lower, nannies $2-3 lower, muttons and billies $3-5 lower. Receipts totaled 5900 head.

Loose Ends

Hindsight

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
"Now that the gang-buster show looks like it’s about over in Washington," John said this week, "I guess the next really interesting thing on the program will be the government taking over the business of rainmaking."

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
Butch has a theory about hardcore born-to-rope ropers: as soon as they build a loop and take one swing, it kicks their brains out of gear.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
The EPA has banned poison for coyotes, DDT for insects, exhaust fumes for automobiles and truth serum for politicians. Of course, all these blemishes on the body of mankind have to be proven by truckloads of statistics and one or more lobbyists. Why don’t they wake up to the fact that we have been sleeping on one of the deadliest thorns in the side of mankind? The pickle. Wake up, America, before it’s too late to pucker!

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Trips overseas end lots of the time in a pre-dawn scramble to transfer to the airport to meet the two-hour advance check-in requirement for international flights. Folks wanting to leave four hours ahead of schedule are paired with the ones willing to dawdle around until the plane is loading to check their last piece of luggage. The fast getaway set is easy to spot. They chug-a-lug scalding coffee and bolt down cold rolls, setting off a charge of gastric gases unknown outside the rooms of antacid labs.