East Coast Carcass Lamb Now At $173
Fat and feeder lambs both lost a little ground this week, following the $3 decline late last week in the lamb carcass trade. Feeder lambs were mostly steady in Texas, but a couple of dollars off throughout the Midwest.

Plains Fed Cattle Give Up $1 As Plains Feeders Sell Early
Tumbling paper cattle melted feeders’ resolve this week and prompted some of the earliest fat cattle trading in months.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Rancher Finds Restoring Range Cost Effective And Profitable
Hill country rancher Steve Haverlah has developed a passion for restoring his native rangeland. His goal is to return his native range to the state it was in before settlers arrived.

Archer Daniels Midland Pleads Guilty To Price-Fixing Charge
Archer Daniels Midland Co. announced Monday that it has agreed to plead guilty to two charges and pay $100 million in fines to settle a federal price-fixing case.

Many Variables, Delayed Payoff Complicate Selection Of Bulls
Cow-calf producers must pay attention to who is buying their calves and what the buyer wants, says Dr. Ron Gill, Dallas-based Texas Agricultural Extension Beef Cattle specialist.

Backers Of Mexican Wolves Will Sue To Speed Release
An environmental activist coalition has announced plans to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, seeking to speed up the proposed reintroduction of Mexican wolves in New Mexico and Arizona.

Financial Study Finds Good, Bad News In Rural America
These are the best of times and the worst of times for rural mid-America.

Cattlemen In Montana Petition USDA To Take Antitrust Action
Montana ranchers late last week announced plans to petition Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to enforce antitrust actions against the nation's big three packing companies.

Drouth Watchers Hope Texans Learn Lessons From Dry Spell
Most of the familiar scenes of the 1990s drouth have washed away. Summer rains have quelled the wildfires, parched earth and dusty, sunburned fields of the winter and spring.

Beef Co-Op May Begin Killing Long Before It Has Own Plant
Slaughter of cattle from a regional cooperative could begin as early as January, although a new $40 million meatpacking plant will not be ready until late 1998 or early 1999, officials say.

Cougars On Increase In West; "Experts’" Advice: Look Big
Across the West, mountain lions are blocking trails, stalking hunters, slinking through suburbs and killing livestock.

Judge Hearing Suit Over Land Visits Site To See First-Hand
A federal judge from Denver has visited Dinosaur National Monument and the Mantle Ranch, which is surrounded by the federal enclave, in his search for a resolution in a land dispute.

Administration Subjects West To "Take No Prisoners" Policy
For the second consecutive month, President Clinton came West, sat in a beautiful place, surrounded himself with environmental leaders, and did an ugly thing.

Eco-Activists Vandalize Crop Of Genetically Altered Soybeans
Greenpeace protesters vandalized a test plot of genetically altered soybeans last week, raising a "biohazard" banner and trampling and spray-painting the plants to form a giant "X."

Grizzly Bear Numbers Rising, But Ecos Don’t Want It Told
Experts on grizzly bears are at odds over the meaning of new population figures for grizzlies in northwestern Wyoming.

Stock Pond Problems Yield To Management
Problems that can occur when cattle have access to an entire pond were more evident this summer when many stock ponds dried down to low levels. Murky water and foul odors can develop during the summer as cattle herds try to drink, cool off or rid themselves of flies in dwindling ponds.

Feeder Cattle And Calf Prices Generally Lower Across Country
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $2 lower around the country last week, instances $3-4 off on calves.

Superior Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 30,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction’s regularly scheduled video sale offered more than 30,000 feeder cattle from 24 states and Mexico.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Lower In Two-Day Trading Last Week
Slaughter steers and heifers were $1-2 lower in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week. Trade was inactive the first part of the week, becoming active late Wednesday and continuing Thursday as feedlots accepted lower offers.

Rodeo Competition Heats Up As Season’s End Approaches
Competition is heating up as the final days in this year’s rodeo season rapidly approach. Just a little more than $2000 separates the leader in the bull riding competition and even less than that in the heading category for team roping.

U.S. Ag Exports Headed For Record
Spurred by growing demand in Mexico, Europe and the Pacific Rim, exports of U.S. agricultural products are up 12 percent and headed for a record.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Weak, Cattle Lower
Feeder and slaughter lambs sold weak this week, slaughter ewes weak to $2 lower. Two day receipts totaled 15,565 head, predominantly ewes.

Rockbrook Ranch Bulls Average $1749 Per Head
The Rockbrook Ranch annual Brangus sale averaged $1749 on 126 bulls and $565 on 75 females.

Average Retail Beef Price Up A Nickel
Average retail beef prices rose a nickel during the past month, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said today.

Goldthwaite Feeder Lamb Prices Steady
Feeder lambs sold fully steady, slaughter ewes and bucks $1-2 lower, stock ewes steady; stock Angora nannies $2-3 lower, muttons steady; slaughter Spanish kids and yearlings $2-3 lower, muttons $7-8 higher, billies steady, stock nannies $3-4 higher, billies steady. Receipts totaled 3500 head.

Corn Estimate Above Nine Billion Bushels
The nation's corn crop will brush past nine billion bushels this fall, the Agriculture Department said late last week.

Giddings Plain Feeder Cattle Prices Decline
Choice feeder steers and heifers sold steady, other grades $2 lower, slaughter cows and bulls $2 lower, stock cows steady. Receipts totaled 725 head.

Junction Feeder Lambs Higher, Angoras Mixed
Feeder lambs sold $2-3 higher, slaughter lambs fully steady, slaughter ewes steady; stock Angora nannies steady, muttons $2-3 lower, kids and yearlings steady, slaughter kids and yearlings steady to $2 higher, muttons and billies $4-5 higher, nannies $1-2 higher, thin fully steady; slaughter Spanish nannies fully steady, kids and yearlings steady, muttons and billies $3-4 higher, stock nannies steady. Receipts totaled 5000 head.

Milano Feeder Steers Steady, Heifers Lower
Feeder steers sold generally steady, heifers steady to $2 lower, slaughter cows and bulls steady. Receipts totaled 1330 head.

Most Lampasas Steers, Heifers Steady To Off
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $1 lower, slaughter cows and bulls steady to firm. Receipts totaled 1141 head.

Domestic Wool Slow, Aussie Finewools Off
Trading on domestic wool was slow under light demand last week. Shearing continued on fall shorn 12-month wools in Idaho, but no sales were yet confirmed.

Cuero Cattle Market Termed Active, Strong
Trading was active and prices strong on receipts of 2160 head.

Most Mason, Brownwood, San Saba Cattle Steady
Most feeder cattle sold steady in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, better quality steer calves over 500 pounds $1-3 higher, slaughter cows and bulls steady, stock cows active. Receipts totaled 3139 at the three sales.

U.S. Meat Production 3% Below A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 802.6 million pounds, .2 percent more than a week ago and three percent less than a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date at 33.287 billion pounds was .5 percent less than the previous year.

Llano Feeder Cattle Trade Termed Erratic
Feeder steers weighing 475-525 pounds sold $2 higher, heavy steers and heifers steady, fleshy heifers under 550 pounds $2 lower, lightweight steers and heifers under pressure, slaughter cows $2 lower, bulls steady. Receipts totaled 821 head.

Hindsight

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull. 
"Did I tell you," said John, "that I’ve got a thousand plain steers for sale? Well, it’s the plain truth, and I want it plainly understood that if you see anybody that looks vulnerable, send him around."

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
Motorists approaching Denver's now infamous International Airport (DIA) are immediately struck by the futuristic terminal rising from the rolling treeless expanse of plain. It could almost be a moonscape.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Every time someone wants to describe a real desperate situation for somebody else, a phrase comes to mind like, "He doesn’t have a prayer."

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Takes a light touch to visit in a person's home as long as I stayed at my friend's place in Costa Rica last month. With all this messy bed and breakfast business and busybody short term house swapping, you have to guard against going into overtime. Costa Rica is so near to being a paradise, spare bedrooms are a hardship. Distant relatives close the gap fast where the climate is so pleasant and the landscape virtually a flower garden.

Wildlife By Design
By Dale Rollins, Ph.D
We live in a world seeking instant gratification, silver bullets and quick fixes. A Pentium chip is now standard equipment in our computer because the 486 has become too slow. We fast-forward processes whenever possible. We want feed sacks and food plots to do for deer antlers what Polaroid did to photography and microwaves did to Tappan ranges.