Lamb Prices May Have Hit A Brick Wall
Lamb carcasses took another price jump last week with all weights on the East Coast moving at $201 and boxed carcasses $213-240. Carcass lamb is now fully $25 higher than just five weeks ago. With lamb meat at record high price levels more than double that of any other domestic meat, merchants fear some lamb eaters are being driven away. Retail demand is dwindling and buyers are cutting back because of the high prices.

Fed Cattle Stalled Once Again; Feedlots Flexing Their Muscles
My, what a difference a few weeks can make. Feedlots that only recently were getting wooled around like an old towsack in the teeth of a cur have had their feet under them the last couple of weeks. Short showlists, less pressure from grain and a generally bullish attitude have given them the strength to hold out until the packers pay their price.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Hemphills Combine Fire, Cattle To Put Squeeze On Prickly Pear
Zeno and Joe Pat Hemphill are taking advantage of what stockmen have known for many years — that cattle will eat prickly pear if it is burned.

Canadian Livestock Imports Up, Shipments From Mexico Decline
Canadian livestock imported into the U.S. for the first four months of the year are up substantially from a year ago while imports from Mexico are down sharply.

Grocer’s Beef Price Slash Draws Enthusiastic Response
A Wheatland grocer's decision to cut his beef prices to show support for cattle producers is generating a greater response than he expected.

High Court Sanctions "Takings" By Endless Bureaucratic Delay
Wyoming’s high court last week ruled, in essence, that the "taking" of private property by a government agency is acceptable as long as the agency does it the right way — by interminable bureaucratic stalling.

ESA Reform Unlikely This Year, But Habitat Tax Break Possible
Overhaul of the Endangered Species Act is unlikely to get through the House and Senate in the remaining months of this politically charged congressional session.

Dakota Cattlemen’s Meeting Gives Checkoff Thumbs -Down
Perhaps more telling than several hours of testimony earlier this week at a gathering here on the national beef checkoff was the show of hands at the end.

Packer Concentration Committee Lists Specific Recommendations
A federal advisory committee says the U.S. Agriculture Department is not adequately enforcing a law designed to protect ranchers and others from unfair trade practices in the meat industry.

Domestic Wool Slow, Steady, Aussie Finewool Sells Strong
Trading on domestic wool was generally slow last week, prices mostly steady and demand light.

BLM Sets NM Meetings On Range Guidelines
The federal Bureau of Land Management has scheduled a series of public meetings throughout New Mexico to discuss proposed standards for grazing and rangeland management recently released by the New Mexico Resource Advisory Council.

1997 Beef Checkoff Budget Recommended
The Beef Promotion Operating Committee has recommended a nearly $43 million budget for beef promotion and research in 1997.

Campaigning Babbitt "All Wet" In Canoe
U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, paddling the Susquehanna River to call attention to the need for environmental protection, was hardly out of his canoe before Republicans were calling him all wet.

Feeder Cattle Prices Boosted By Cheaper Grain, Higher Fats
Feeder steers and heifers sold $1-4 higher across the country last week as buyers continued an aggressive accumulation of numbers. Sharp price declines for grain during the forepart of the week buoyed attitudes concerning feeders, however, sharp grain price reversals late in the week came after most feeders had changed hands.

Texas Slaughter Cattle Higher, Movement Good, Mostly Thursday
Slaughter steers and heifers sold $1-2 higher in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week. Trade was slow except Thursday, when movement was brisk; most feedlots cleared their showlists. The week’s volume of 123,300 head included 18,200 formulated cattle.

Superior Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 15,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction’s regular video sale offered 15,000 cattle from consignors in 17 states. Demand was termed good and prices for yearlings strong.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Fall, Cattle Climb
Feeder lambs sold $5-10 lower this week, slaughter lambs untested, slaughter ewes $1-3 lower. Two day receipts totaled 15,781 head.

El Reno Feeder Lambs Trade Mostly Higher
Feeder lambs sold firm except for blackfaces, which were discounted because of concern over heat-related problems; slaughter ewes were $2-3 higher. Receipts totaled 1100 head.

Mason, Brownwood, San Saba Cattle Prices Up
Feeder steer and heifer yearlings sold $2-4 higher in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, steer calves $3-6 higher, heifers $2-4 higher, plain kinds $5-10 higher, roping type calves $10-30 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $3-5 higher, stock cows and pairs steady. Receipts totaled 2985 at the three sales.

Most Lampasas Cattle Prices See Increase
Feeder steers and heifers sold $5-7 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $2.50-3.50 higher, stock cows not tested. Receipts totaled 692 head.

Fredericksburg Cattle Prices Trend Upward
Feeder steers and heifers sold $4-6 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $2-3 higher. Receipts totaled 1138 head.

Cuero Feeder Cattle Sell Sharply Higher
Feeder calves and yearlings sold $5-10 higher, slaughter cows $3-6 higher. Receipts totaled 2022 head.

Westmoreland Brahman Sale Averages $1845
The complete dispersal of Westmoreland Ranch livestock totaled 318 Brahman lots for an average of $1845.84; 363 registered Hereford lots averaged $663.92, 147 commercial Hereford lots $585.37, 17 crossbred cows averaged $260.55. In addition, 363 Quarter Horse lots averaged $756.18.

U.S. Meat Production 3.5% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 824.1 million pounds, 13.2 percent more than the holiday-shortened previous week and 3.5 percent less than the same week a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was 1.8 percent more than a year ago.

Hindsight

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
It was John the Optimist who held forth in the lobby this week. "They say," he began, "you can find something to work up a grin about in anything that happens, if you look hard enough.

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
Look On The Bright Side
1. Corn is so high that the cost of a box of popcorn at the movies may be close to being a fair price.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Kingsport, Tennessee, is in the heart of sippin’ whiskey country. Several of the inhabitants have been known to do their sippin' from a large, economy-size jug. It's cheaper that way, because it can be bought wholesale. The story was passed along to me that several guys did so much elbow bending down on the banks of a creek that they couldn't tell their wholesale from their retail.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Day workers carry a lot of news from ranch to ranch. Transported by fancy dual-wheeled pickups, pulling sleek gooseneck trailers, these fancy costumed cowboys cover a wide territory during the roundup and shipping seasons. At a wage rate running somewhere around eight or nine bucks an hour for themselves and their horse, I prefer summaries of the local gossip instead of detailed reports. Nevertheless, the temptation is great to learn lamb crop percentages or rain gauge measurements before the figures change on the way to town to the post office or the wool house.