Lamb Trade Making New Price Tops
Fat and feeder lambs moved higher in most areas this week, reaching record high levels in several spots. Slaughter ewes were mixed, Texas prices mostly higher while Midwest prices faltered.

Fed Cattle A Bit Stronger After Three-Day Tug Of War
The Plains slaughter cattle trade finally broke open about midafternoon Wednesday, nearly three days into a tug-of-war that kept movement at a standstill as packers offered $59 and feedlots asked anywhere from $60 to $62.

Some Texas Mohair, Wool Trades Hands
Parrish Wool and Mohair, Eden, offered 135,000 pounds of wool at sealed bid Tuesday and sold about 91 percent. Original bag 12-month wool ranged from 45 to 86.125 cents and averaged 74 cents. Most of the finer wools moved at 80-83 cents.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Traditional Cattle, Careful Stocking Work For Hemphills
Zeno Hemphill and his son, Joe Pat, have no magic formula for success in the cattle business. Their prescription is hard work, close attention to the bottom line, no-frills cattle, and taking care of their country.

Good Management Most Critical When Effort Seems Most Futile
Good cow-calf management is important in the best of times. In today's market, it is critical. "I'm not sure any of us are having a lot of fun in the cow-calf business right now," says Dr. L.R. Sprott with studied understatement. Sprott is a professor and Extension beef cattle specialist at Texas A&M.

Former Ranch Cook Remembers Long-Gone Pie Eaters Fondly
Beatrice Quimby Franklin was a young housewife in the early 1940s. She and her husband, Bill Quimby, lived and worked on the sprawling Barnard-Chapman ranch in Osage County near Pawhuska.

1995 U.S. Cattle, Calf Death Losses Pegged At 4.38 Million
U.S. cattle and calf death losses from all causes amounted to 4.38 million head last year, including 1,635,100 cattle and 2,745,300 calves. The losses cost ranchers and farmers a total of $1.8 billion.

Engler, Cactus Feeders Sue Oprah, Guest Over Comments
A cattleman has filed a lawsuit against TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey and one of her guests for implying that the public "should be very afraid of the beef that is produced in this country."

Judge Gives Tentative Okay To ADM Price-Fix Settlement
A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a $45 million settlement of a civil lawsuit accusing Archer Daniels Midland Co. and competitors of fixing prices for a livestock feed supplement that speeds muscle growth.

April Slaughter Hits Record, Pushed By Drouth, Scarce Corn
The nation's packing houses turned out record amounts of beef in April, reflecting high prices for feed and an effort to cut down on future herd size.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Lower Last Week, Movement Said Good
Slaughter steers and heifers sold $1 lower last week in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading.

TSCRA Members Set To Meet June 14-15
The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association will focus on ways cattle producers can overcome the current harsh financial times at their summer meeting scheduled for June 14-15 here.

Corn Pinch Prompts Detox For Aflatoxin
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the current grain shortage has led to what may have been the first successful "detoxification" of aflatoxin-contaminated corn.

Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Prices Softer
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $2 higher in Kansas direct trade last week on confirmed volume of 5588 head. Weather conditions were warm and dry.

NCBA Reports Average Beef Price Declining
The retail price of beef continued to decline this month, a survey by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association showed.

Domestic Wool Slow, Steady, Aussies Quiet And N.Z. Firm
Trading on domestic wool was slow to moderate last week, prices mostly steady and demand generally light.

Feeder Cattle Price Trends Varied By Weights Last Week
Feeder steers and heifers were generally steady to $2 lower last week, instances $3-4 off on calves in most areas. Yearlings occasionally managed to hold steady, however, and even moved $2 higher in Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Higher, Cattle Lower
Feeder lambs sold $2-3 higher this week, slaughter lambs too limited for a test, slaughter ewes uneven, mostly steady to $3 higher. Two day receipts totaled an estimated 18,500 head.

Cuero Cattle Prices Were Mixed Last Week
Good calves weighing over 300 pounds sold in an active trade, weights under 300 pounds lower, plainer kinds slow, heavyweight slaughter cows higher, thin cows near steady. Receipts totaled 2628 head.

Brownwood, San Saba, Mason Feeders Lower
Lightweight feeder calves sold steady to $5 lower in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, heavyweights steady. Slaughter cows sold steady to $2 lower and bulls $2-4 lower, stock cows and pairs steady. Receipts totaled 3130 head at the three sales.

Goldthwaite Feeder Lambs Trade Lower
Feeder lambs sold $2-3 lower, slaughter lambs steady, slaughter ewes and bucks $2-3 higher, stock ewes steady; stock Angora goats not well tested, slaughter nannies and muttons $1-2 lower, fat kids and yearlings steady; Spanish kids steady to $1 higher, others steady. Receipts totaled 6300 head.

USWMA-PMCI Wool Sale Moves Only 30 Percent
The U.S. Wool and Mohair Association and Producers Marketing Coop. Inc. together offered 2,740,665 pounds of wool here Monday, and only 30 percent sold. Another three percent was still pending, leaving 67 percent still in first hands. Most of the unsold wool is finewool.

Most Lampasas Feeder Cattle Prices Lower
Feeder steers and heifers sold $2-3 lower, slaughter cows and bulls $3-6 lower, cows with calves $3-4 lower. Receipts totaled 1800 head.

Most Fredericksburg Cattle Prices Lower
Feeder steers and heifers sold $3-5 lower, slaughter cows and bulls $3-5 lower. Receipts totaled 1736 head.

U.S. Meat Production 2.1% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was 821.8 million pounds, 2.5 percent less than a week earlier and 2.1 percent less than the same week a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date at 17.3 billion pounds was 2.2 percent more than for the same period a year ago.

Hindsight

Loose Ends

Letters To The Editor

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
"These OPS economists," said John, "beat anything I ever saw when it comes to figuring out the cow business down to the third decimal point."

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
"Hey buddy, maybe you'll rope better after your horse foals. Ha ha!"
"Thanks, pal. I had a horse like yours once. But his brain was so small his head caved in and he bit his own ears off! Look, it's starting in yours... see that indention?"

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
At a recent meeting in Atlanta for people who make a living pokin' fun at life, I chanced to meet the chief writer for Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller. Her name is Mary McBride. Mary is not pushing 40; she admits to dragging it behind her. She looks a lot like Goldie Hawn, thinks like Jay Leno, and absorbs quips like Einstein did relativity.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Dry winds have blown so hard and long at the ranch, they have made themselves nervous. So nervous, the voices of the gales quaver and tremble, trilling the flute holes in the window jams and yodeling the train whistles in the eaves. Far into the nights, the ranch house rocks and rattles against the never-relenting gusts. The old door latches give way and bang loose, and the floor vibrates like foundations above subway tunnels.

Wildlife By Design
By Dale Rollins, Ph.D.
Cacti pose a "prickly paradigm" for wildlifers. Aldo Leopold, the "father of wildlife management," once proffered that "the last word in ignorance is the man who asks of a plant or animal, ‘what good is it?’" I often take his advice to heart when I debate conventional wisdom regarding some rather unsavory critters, namely broomweed, sandburs, junipers, feral hogs and even coyotes. Today's chapter in this continuing saga centers on pricklypear.

On Matters...Equine 
By Dr. Jim and Lynda McCall
Do worms literally pilfer feed right out of our horse’s gut? If so, how can we tell when it’s happening and what should we do about it? For most horse folks, these simple questions may seem almost rhetorical; however, the answers are not as obvious as you might think.