Lamb Meat Price Soft After $10 Drops Last Week
After an eight-week period at a record high of $201, last week’s $10 decline on East Coast lamb prices was not really a surprise. The major question now is just how far it will go down before finding a resting point. Indications are it will soften further this week, observers say.

Packers Are Finally Forced To Cough Up Money On Cattle
Their supply of captive cattle dwindling after weeks of dipping deeply into them to hammer the market, packers were finally forced this week to ante up and play the cash game. The result was early trading and a quick $2-3 added to the going price for fed cattle.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Forage Management Recommended At Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Meet
With low cattle prices and high feed grain costs, an Oklahoma forage specialist is looking for ways Sooner ranchers can make it through the winter.

Loss of Market Share Must Be Main Focus For Beef Industry
Loss of market share to competing meats should be the primary concern of the beef industry. That was the message presented by market analyst Andrew Gottschalk at the recent National Cattlemen’s Beef Association summer conference.

Bonds Approved To Attract Beef Plant To Oklahoma City
A proposed beef processing operation could bring as many as 1000 jobs to Nowata County, but some questions remain about who would run the business.

USDA Announces Plan To Expand Cattle, Beef Price Reporting
Declaring that "information is power," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said last week the department will expand cattle price reporting so ranchers can have more bargaining clout with meatpackers and feedlots.

Brucellosis Cases Increase In June
The number of brucellosis-affected cattle herds recorded nationwide climbed to 51 as of the end of June, says USDA’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service. The count had decreased to 44 at the end of March. Texas led in the increase with 34 herds under quarantine, up from 30 in March.

NCBA Directors Vote To Limit Outsiders
Bowing to pressure from disgruntled producers, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association directors meeting here last week voted to limit representation of packers and other outside interests within NCBA.

Cheaper Grain Prospects Boost Feeder Cattle Trade Last Week
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $2 higher around the country last week, calves enjoying the most consistent price gain from area to area. Prospects of cheaper grain coming in the new crop provided a more bullish attitude for both calf and yearling buyers.

Texas Fed Cattle Mostly Steady Last Week In One-Day Movement
Slaughter steers and heifers sold steady in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week. The bulk of the trading was done on Wednesday.

Superior Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 77,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction offered more than 77,000 feeder cattle in their Royale IV video livestock auction here. Consignments were from 28 states.

Steers, Heifers Firm To $1 Up In Angelo Special Sale Monday
Steers and heifers were firm to $1 higher Monday in the season’s fourth special feeder sale at Producers Livestock Auction.

Domestic Wool Near Standstill, Trade On Foreign Markets Mixed
Trading on domestic wool was nearly at a standstill last week, only limited clean-up activity noted.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Lower, Cattle Higher
Feeder lambs sold $4-6 lower this week, slaughter lambs untested, slaughter ewes firm. Two day receipts totaled 15,475 head.

Junction Stock Angora Goats, Lambs Steady
Feeder lambs sold fully steady, a limited supply of slaughter ewes steady; stock Angora goats steady, slaughter muttons and billies $2-4 lower, thin about steady, kids and yearlings steady; Spanish kids mostly $2-4 lower, stock nannies steady, slaughter nannies $1-2 higher, muttons and billies generally steady. Receipts totaled 12,000 head.

Kansas Direct Feeder Cattle Prices Steady
Feeder steers sold mostly steady in Kansas direct trade last week, heifers steady to weak. The weather in western Kansas has been wet and cool, as much as seven inches of rain in some areas. Confirmed sales totaled 17,920 head.

Goldthwaite Sheep, Goat Receipts 6500
No trend comparison was available. Receipts totaled 6500 head.

Most Lampasas Cattle Prices Steady To Up
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to instances $1-2 higher, slaughter cows and bulls steady to instances $2-3 higher. Receipts totaled 2000 head.

Most Fredericksburg Cattle Sell Higher
Feeder steers and heifers sold $2 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $1-2 higher. Receipts totaled 2302 head.

U.S. Meat Production 4.2% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 782.5 million pounds, .1 percent more than the previous week but 4.2 percent less than the same week a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was .7 percent more than the previous year.

Brownwood, San Saba, Mason Cattle Steady
Choice feeder steer and heifer yearlings and calves were in good demand and steady at Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, plain or poor quality kinds $8-15 below choice. Packer cows enjoyed good demand. Receipts at the three sales totaled 2529 head.

Cuero Cattle Prices Higher Last Week
Trading was active and prices higher on receipts of 2518 head.

Hindsight

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull. 
"Do you remember," said John, "when the rank and file of people had a habit of bragging on the intelligence of their favorite animals? If you do, then it’s a good sign you’re no longer eligible to belong to the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
Catching avocado rustlers is sort of a cross between the Gulf War invasion and coon hunting.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
I've always wondered why someone didn't start a real original chain letter. I'd like to do it myself, but the postal rates on chain would make it prohibitive. But, every once in a while some genius comes up with a linkable chain letter. The following came yesterday:

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Longterm drouths such as the current one bring on strange behavior. One morning, I just drove over to the Devil’s River mill and hung a thermometer on a cedar post. I knocked out the bugs from the glass in the rain gauge and put the tube back in upside down. In the past three months, we measured eight-tenths of an inch of rain at that watering. The mill is on the very head of the Devil’s River watershed. If the luck up here is any indication of the fortunes downstream, the running part of the river is sure living up to its name.