Feeder Lambs, Fats And Lamb Meat Decline
Lamb carcasses took a licking last week. 
Weights under 55 pounds were off $5 and 55-65 pounds off $4. Heavies were the only class that held steady. The breakers finally did what they have been trying to do for several weeks: put a good discount on the increased number of lightweight lamb carcasses. In the distributive trade, carcass cutout values showed a $5.40 difference with 65 pounds and down at $197.18 and heavies $202.58.

Fed Cattle Trade Coasting Following Massive Movement
The fed cattle trade stood at ease through midweek following a huge selloff last week.
The Texas Panhandle unloaded a record-shattering 205,401 head last week by Texas Cattle Feeders Association count. The bulk of sales, mostly low-percentage choice offerings, went at $70-71, but nearly 30,000 head brought $72 before trading ceased on Thursday.

Cape Mohair Sale Firm, Moves 95%
South Africa’s second Cape mohair sale of the winter season cleared 95 percent of 958,000 pounds offered. Prices tended to be uneven, says the Mohair Council of America, but generally were a little stronger. Adult hair was stronger, young goat mixed, average kid up and fine kid hair down.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Sitz Family Ranches Combine Deeded, Forest Service Land
The Sitz Ranch, a forward-looking family operation, traces its roots to Will and Frieda Sitz. The patriarch of the family, Will Sitz, has passed away but his bride Frieda turned 100 years old this summer. She lives in nearby Bozeman.

Marfa Rancher Credits Success To Herefords And Grama Grass
Hereford cattle and grama grass, coupled with a good family and lots of hard work, determination and an optimism that won’t quit. That’s been Jim White’s recipe for success.

Wyoming Farm Bureau Challenges Feds’ Wolf Scheme With Lawsuit
The Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation is pressing its demand that the federal government be ordered to remove the Canadian wolves released the past two winters in Yellowstone National Park.

Rains, Better Cattle Market Foster Retained Ownership
After the precipitous cattle market collapse this past season, recent rains and signs of a cattle market improvement may mean that retained ownership enterprises could be profitable this winter season.

Forest Service Official Delays Report Supporting More Logging
Agriculture Undersecretary James Lyons claimed late last week that he postponed release of a draft plan to ease logging restrictions in California because it didn't fully reflect new scientific data and would have been susceptible to legal challenges.

Easterner’s Version Of Grazing Reform Bill Unpopular In West
A watered-down rangeland reform bill introduced in the U.S. House by an upstate New York representative is unacceptable to western interests, U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin said.

Probe Into Corruption At USDA Under Clinton Picks Up Steam
A special prosecutor’s investigation into corruption, bribery and payoffs at USDA under the Clinton administration is picking up steam.

Meat Goat Meet Set For September 28
The North Central Texas Meat Goat Symposium is set for September 28 at the Copper Penny Ranch beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Pesticide Applicator CEU Audits Planned
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry says commercial pesticide applicators should prepare for an audit of their continuing education credits.

CBOT Grain, Protein Futures In Decline
Soybean and corn futures prices fell late last week on the Chicago Board of Trade as fears of an early Midwestern frost faded.

Feeder Cattle Prices Up Again As Stronger Fat Market Reigns
Feeder cattle and calf prices around the country were steady to $1 higher last week as the long-awaited "hole" in the slaughter cattle numbers showed up after several months of meager feedlot replacements.

Superior Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 60,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction offered 60,000 head of stocker and feeder cattle Friday and Saturday in its Rocky Mountain High video sale. Consignments were from 28 states.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Higher, Movement Sets New Record Level
Slaughter steers and heifers were $3 higher last week in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading. Trade was active the previous Friday, slow to moderately active on Monday and Tuesday, then active again the rest of the week.

Feeder Cattle Steady To $1 Up In Angelo Special Sale Monday
Steers and heifers were steady to $1 higher Monday in the season’s sixth special feeder sale at Producers Livestock Auction.

Angelo Feeder Cattle Steady, Lambs Lower
Feeder lambs weighing under 60 pounds sold $2-3 lower this week, heavyweight lambs steady, slaughter lambs not tested, slaughter ewes weak. Receipts totaled 9768 head.

U.S. Meat Production 4.7% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 849.7 million pounds, 19.7 percent more than a week earlier and 4.7 percent less than a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was up .1 percent at 30 billion pounds.

Goldthwaite Angora Nannies Sell Lower
Feeder lambs sold mostly steady, slaughter ewes and bucks $1-2 lower, stock ewes fully steady; stock Angora nannies $3-4 lower, muttons steady, slaughter nannies steady, muttons and billies $3-4 lower; slaughter Spanish kids and yearlings steady to $2 lower, muttons and billies $3-4 lower, stock nannies steady to $2 lower, billies steady. Receipts totaled 3400 head.

Lampasas Feeder Steer, Heifer Prices Steady
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady, slaughter cows and bulls steady. Trade was active and demand good on receipts of 850 head.

Mexican Feeder Cattle Movement Near Trickle
Feeder cattle movement from Mexico to the United States has dwindled to almost a trickle.

Most Mason, Brownwood, San Saba Cattle Steady
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, replacement heifers 300-600 pounds $4-9 higher, thin turn-out cows $5-10 higher. Receipts at the three sales totaled 2418 head.

Domestic Wool Slow, Aussie Prices Lower
Trading on domestic wool was slow under light demand last weeks. A few clips were reported to have sold in Montana, but full details were not available.

Haythorn Averages $2309 On Fillies
The Haythorn Land and Cattle Co. annual weanling foal sale offered 112 colts. Fifty-two filly colts averaged $2309.62 and 30 stud colts averaged $2371.05.

Fredericksburg Cattle Prices Trend Higher
Feeder steers and heifers sold $2-3 higher, slaughter cows and bulls $2-3 higher. Receipts totaled 1400 head.

Junction Stock Angora Goats Mostly Higher
Feeder lambs sold $2 lower, slaughter ewes fully steady; stock Angora nannies steady to $2 higher, muttons $2-3 higher, slaughter kids and yearlings fully steady, muttons and billies $3-4 lower, nannies $2-3 lower, thin kinds steady; slaughter Spanish kids and yearlings $2-3 lower, nannies fully steady, muttons and billies $3-4 lower, stock nannies $3-4 lower. Receipts totaled 6350 head.

Llano Feeder Cattle Prices Trend Lower
Lightweight steers and heifers sold about steady, others $2 lower, replacement heifers fully steady, slaughter cows steady to $1 lower, bulls steady to $3 higher.

Cuero Cattle Market Prices Turn Higher
Trading was active and cattle prices were higher on receipts of 1314 head.

Hindsight

Letters To The Editor

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull. 
"There’s a persistent rumor going around," said John, "to the effect that everything that goes up has to come down. Some people will argue half a day at a time that it’s true. Personally, I’ve got so many skinned places on me from being hard-headed, I’m sort of cautious about everything, including this. Looks like to me there’s room for a lot of debate on the question. Take the materials in the construction on top of Pike’s Peak. They started at the bottom and went up several thousand feet. Whether they ever get back down remains to be seen.

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
You were just a dog. But a good dog.
Right from the start. Your loyalty was never in question. And what you didn't know, you didn't know because I never took the time to teach you.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Somewhere in the paper, I read of how the post office got started checking packages for illegal things being sent through the mail. They hired a fellow to check, at random, packages that didn't look right. They all looked normal, but he picked up a large one that started to make a loud ticking noise, like pecans falling on a tin roof. He called a buddy. The longer they listened, the more regular the sound became ... tick, tick, tick, bang, tick, plop, tick, tick.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Over on the east side of Spring Creek, one herder claimed he received 18 inches of rainfall in August. On Highway 67, reports of 10 and 12 inches set the average. Up where I live, lows ran four inches and the highs a little over six inches. The important part was how slow the rain fell and how much topsoil washed down the draws over the torn-up fences.

Wildlife By Design
By Dale Rollins, Ph.D
Pity us poor wildlifers, especially those with a fetish for trophy white-tailed deer. We are products of our environment.

On Matters... Equine
By Dr. Jim and Lynda McCall
Making a stallion a successful investment in today's marketplace involves making several critical management decisions. Each stallion creates his own unique situation where his strengths and limitations blend together to determine his marketability. To begin to seek an answer to the big question of "where to stand the stallion," step back a moment and take an objective look at your stallion's assets and liabilities.