Short Supply Holding Lamb Price Steady
Lamb prices held fairly stable this week at near record levels. A few prices faltered while others strengthened, but neither had much effect on general price levels. Slaughter ewes were also up and down but mostly on the strong side.

Fed Cattle Prices In Retreat, Packer Bids $54 By Wednesday
Some jobs are definitely tougher than others. It must be embarrassing, for example, to walk into a feedlot manager’s office and bid $54 for cattle that lot has tended, fed, doctored and worried over for three to four months. Especially when they have at least $10 more than that in them.

New Mexico Wool Sales Offer 2 Million Pounds
The warehouses at Roswell and Artesia offered approximately two million pounds of wool this week. Mike Corn, manager of Roswell Wool, said about 70 percent of the wool offered the first two days was sold.

Most Fredericksburg Cattle Prices Lower
Feeder steers and heifers sold $2-4 lower, slaughter cows and bulls $2-3 lower. Receipts totaled 1759 head.

San Saba, Brownwood, Mason Cattle Lower
Trade was slow and demand fair at Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, stocker steer calves selling steady to $3 lower, heifers $1-3 lower, steer yearlings $1-2 lower, heifers steady to $1 lower, slaughter cows were $1-3 lower and bulls $2-4 lower, stock cows steady to $20 lower, pairs steady to $25 lower. Receipts totaled 4170 at the three sales.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Working Cowboys’ Association Plans Ranch Rodeo Championship
One cowboy's dream is a step closer to reality today with the formation of the Working Ranch Cowboy's Association and a World Championship Ranch Rodeo here. "The idea comes as the result of Waddie Mitchell's dream to do something on a national level to showcase the American cowboy," says Terry Rich, president of the Working Ranch Cowboys Association.

Flint Hills Range In Trouble After Hard Winter, Dry Spring
For many years, April 20 has been the first day of grazing, when cattle trucked in from surrounding states are put to pasture in the Flint Hills of Kansas. This year, the cattle are on time. It's the pasture that's late.

Britain To Sue Over Beef Ban; EU Says Its Ruling Will Stand
The European Union last week brushed aside Britain's threat of a lawsuit over the ban on British beef exports, saying the measure, imposed due to fears about mad cow disease, stands.

All-Around Competition Still Tight With Joe Beaver Leading
Standings in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association all around competition remain tight early in the season. Calf roper Joe Beaver leads the pack with $53,021 earnings to date. He is followed by Herbert Theriot, Poplarville, Miss., with $43,804; Chad Klein, Jackson, La., $30,596; Brian Fulton, Valentine, Neb., $24,302 and J.D. Crouse, Yukon, Okla., $22,715.

Colo Ecos Agitate To Ban Most Traps
A wildlife activist group has launched a petition drive for a constitutional ban against trapping on most Colorado ranches and farms.

Glickman Encourages Planting Of Grain
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman is encouraging farmers to plant more crops to ease the grain shortage but only if it can be done without damaging the environment.

Oprah’s Anti-Beef Propaganda Raises Ire Of Cattle Industrys
Trash TV maven Oprah Winfrey would do well to stay in the Windy City for a spell — she sure doesn’t have many friends in cattle country.

Volume Doesn’t Help If Demand Not There, South Africans Say
"We have a diamond fiber, but unless we’re turning that it into a product, it’s worthless." That was the message presented by South African mohair producer and industry leader Denys Hobson, who also chairs Cape Mohair Holdings and is vice chairman of Cape Mohair and Wool.

New Hunting Season Proposals Draw Opposition In West Texas
When it comes to hunting regulations, West Texas landowners like things just the way they are, thank you. That was true, at least, for the vast majority of those who attended a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department hearing here last week.

Farmers Say There Will Be No Rush To Raise Corn Acres
Corn growers say not to expect a mad rush to increase acres of production despite sky-high prices and new planting flexibility under the farm bill.

Dems Don’t Want Expert Panel Second-Guessing Bureaucrats
Not yet in existence, an advisory meat and poultry inspection panel created by the new farm bill already is going through the grinder.

1995 Lamb Picture Was A Study In Mixed Prices, Tight Supply
Slaughter lamb price trends in 1995 were unusual, to say the least. San Angelo fat lambs worked downward to the lower $60s in late January then moved up to the upper $70s in February, only to stumble downward to the upper $60s as Easter neared. Newcrop lambs then boosted values back into the upper $70s in May. Prices were in the $80s by June and basically stayed there throughout the summer.

Wayward Wolves Leave Yellowstone Pronto
A lone wolf has moved 40 miles north of Yellowstone National Park into Montana, the furthest outside the park any transplanted Canadian wolf has traveled so far.

Clinton To Raise Fee For Rail Complaints
The Clinton administration is proposing huge increases in the fees that shippers must pay to complain about railroad rates.

Feeder Cattle Prices Plunge As Grain Surges To New
Slaughter cattle prices took a beating last week as grain prices continued to establish new highs. Other negative factors in the feeder cattle markets also failed to show any improvement.

Superior Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 17,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction offered more than 17,000 head of feeder cattle in their Gulf Coast Classic III video sale. Consignments were from 20 states and Mexico.

Cattle On Feed Down 1 Percent In Seven Major Feeding States
Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter April 1 in the seven leading feeding states totaled 8.29 million head, down one percent from April 1 of last year but four percent above the same date in 1995.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Drop As Locked-In Sales Reach 35%
Slaughter steers and heifers sold $2 lower in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlots last week. Trade was active on Tuesday and slow otherwise.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Steady, Cattle Off
Feeder lambs sold steady this week, a few oldcrops sharply higher, slaughter lambs scarce but the few on hand sharply higher, slaughter ewes steady to $5 higher, the full advance on fats. Receipts totaled 7454 head.

Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Prices Lower
Feeder steers and heifers sold weak to $3 lower in Kansas direct trade last week. Confirmed sales totaled 9117 head. Western Kansas is still dry.

Junction Lambs, Stock Angoras Mostly Steady
Feeder lambs sold steady, slaughter lambs scarce, slaughter ewes and bucks $1-2 higher; stock Angora goats steady, slaughter nannies and muttons $2-3 higher, fat kids and yearlings fully steady; Spanish kids $2-3 higher, others steady. Receipts totaled 5300 head.

Most Lampasas Feeder Cattle Sharply Lower
Feeder steers sold $6-8 lower, weights under 600 pounds $2-3 lower, heifers $4-6 lower, slaughter cows $2-3 lower, bulls generally steady. Receipts totaled 1100 head.

March Meat Production Down 7% From Year Ago
U.S. commercial red meat production totaled 3.51 billion pounds during March, down seven percent from a year ago. March this year had two weekdays more than a year ago and one less Saturday.

Domestic Wool Steady, Aussies At Season Low
Trading on domestic wool was moderate last week at fully steady prices, however, the undertone was weak in view of the declining Australian market. Demand was light, some buyers still on a wait-and-see basis.

U.S. Meat Production 4.3% Above A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 840.1 million pounds, 2.9 percent more than the previous week and 4.3 percent more than the same week a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was three percent more than the same period last year.

Better Cuero Feeder Cattle In Good Demand
Good and choice feeder steers and heifers sold to a good demand in active trade, lower grades hard to move. Receipts totaled 2750 head including 1000 bred stock cows.

Goldthwaite Feeder Lamb Prices Steady
Feeder lambs sold steady, slaughter lambs $2-3 lower, slaughter ewes and bucks steady; stock Angora goats steady, slaughter nannies and muttons steady, kids and yearlings $3-4 higher; Spanish kids $2-3 lower, nannies steady to $2 lower, muttons and billies steady. Receipts totaled 6100 head.

Gardiner Angus Bull Tops Sale At $50,000
The Gardiner Angus Ranch’s 17th annual production sale offered 665 lots grossing $1,124,450.

Red Meat In Storage 14% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat supplies in freezers on March 31, at 714,081,000 pounds, were down nine percent from a month earlier and 14 percent below the same date a year ago.

Letters To The Editor

Hindsight

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
"After making a round through some of the rest of the country," said John, "I’m sure glad to be back here in Texas with the rest of you scabby characters."

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
"So, how'd yer dad git that big dent on the door?" I asked Dave. Truth is, it was quite an accomplishment for one single dent to stand out from all the other wear and tear, deterioration and assorted damage that covered his 1981 Ford Ranger diesel pickup truck like elephant tracks on a styrofoam cooler.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
There are several dates that are etched in the memory of mankind for good reason. December 7th, Pearl Harbor, is the second sneakiest attack in history. April 15th, of course, is way out ahead. It is significant that it comes right after April Fool’s Day and during the same season as the presidential primaries.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Cold rains and late snow and sleet brought sadness across the land the Indians called "Fallow Nest." Two weeks ago, "a scattered thunderstorm" forecast turned into a 30 degree day of hard sleet and whirling snowflakes.

On Matters Of Equine
By Dr. Jim and Lynda McCall
Initial contact with the term "gluconeogenesis" usually occurs in a college level nutrition class. It is one of those impressive words. You know, the kind of word folks go to college to learn; a word with 15 letters and seven syllables; a word that, worked into a conversation, instantly makes you sound highly educated.

Wildlife By Design
By Dale Rollins, Ph.D
Okay, everyone who likes to eat quail and quail eggs raise your hand, or paw, or talons, or hoof, or fangs, or mandibles, or rattles! If you stood tall in the saddle at six inches, weighed just under six ounces, and built your nest on the ground, you could appreciate a quail's dilemma: everybody and everything likes you ... for dinner!