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| Vol. 49 - No. 5 | Thursday, February 6, 1997 | $25 Per Year |
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Lamb Prices
Trying To Hold Firm
Fat and feeder lamb prices held fairly steady this
week, although with some up and down movement here and
there. After the rapid rise in prices the last month or
so on carcass lamb, fat lambs and feeder lambs, it
appeared that prices were trying to level out or seek a
satisfactory position to rest for awhile.
Plains Fed
Cattle Mostly $63 After Another Dollar Decline
It was another disappointing week in the feedyard
trade, at least through Wednesday, as packers scaled
prices back yet another dollar and feeders appeared
helpless to stop them. The Texas Panhandle moved 81,460
head through Wednesday afternoon, mostly on Tuesday and
mostly at $63.
Warren Live
Stock Looking To Farm Flock Sales For Survival
Warren Live Stock Company is one of the few large range
sheep operations that still exists today. Since its
beginning, the century-old ranching empire has kept herd
on its sheep 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. But
John Etchepare, company president, fears that the sheep
business as he’s known it is about to become a thing
of the past.
President Of
Cattle Feeders Offers Outlook On Cooperative
For all the talk of forming a livestock cooperative among
cattle feeders in Texas, it is not a new idea. The basis
of the idea can be traced back to the beginnings of the
Republic of Texas more than a 150 years ago, and it has
been under serious study by the Texas Cattle Feeders
Association for more than a decade.
Spat Shows Ecos
Are Selective In Their Reintroduction Fervor
Environmental activists are big boosters of reintroducing
plants and animals to areas where they no longer exist
— but only when those schemes further their agenda.
Otherwise, they can be downright hostile to the notion,
as backers of one such plan are discovering.
BLM Law Enforcement
Rules Proposal Strongly Opposed
Proposed changes in U.S. Bureau of Land Management
law enforcement rules are stirring up a hornets’
nest of opposition.
IBP Antitrust Case
Hearing Is Underway
IBP Inc., the nation's largest meatpacker, went
before an administrative hearing on charges it showed
pricing preferences to a group of feedlots while refusing
the same prices to others.
Mystery Disease
Killing Horses In Northwest New Mexico Region
The hopes of a veterinary team investigating the
cause of a deadly equine illness are riding on a horse
named "Hopeful." Twenty-two horses, including
Hopeful, were given a botulism antidote Sunday at a
boarding stable where 11 other horses had already died,
Navajo tribal officials said Monday.
High Court
Rules Pro And Con On Two Property Rights Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court last week issued two
property rights-related rulings that appear to set the
justices squarely on the fence in the "takings"
arena.
IRS Backs Down On
Regulation Prohibiting Deferred Payment
Farmers hung onto a big tax break as the Internal Revenue
Service agreed to delay enforcing a ruling that stops
growers from using commodity contracts to defer income.
Speaker:
Record High Grain Prices Backfired On Growers
Prospects for grain prices are good, but farmers should
not hope — or even wish — for the $6 to $7 per
bushel prices of last spring, a regional grain industry
official warns.
Rare Plant,
Animal Database In Wyoming Is Up In The Air
A privately funded database of information on rare plants
and animals in Wyoming could disappear by June without
legislative action, and one of its primary users said
that would be a great loss. Its critics disagree.
Farm Libel
Bills Get Hearing In North Dakota And Wyoming
If agriculture producers in two northern Plains states
get their wish, it could become costly for activist
groups to tell lies about farm and ranch products and
practices. Legislators in both North Dakota and Wyoming
are considering so-called "farm libel" laws
that would give ag producers protection from slanderous
statements.
Formal
Education Can’t Replace Common Sense In Receiving
Pen
It has always puzzled me that no matter how
old you are, there is always someone younger who knows
more. I was totally amazed that my mother could become so
intelligent and wise from the time I turned 16 to the
time I turned 22. Yep, in just six short years I noticed
that she actually knew what she was talking about.
Repeated
Blizzards Devastating To Plains Stockmen, Livestock
Even when this winter's blizzards are gone, stockmen in
the Dakotas will have to struggle for months with the
aftermath: devastating cattle losses, the threat of more
losses in spring and the possibility of spring floods.
Bush Plan Would
Cut Property Taxes And Raise Some Others
Like a traveling salesman, Texas Gov. George W. Bush hit
the road late last week in hopes of selling his property
tax relief plan. In Dallas on the first leg of a
five-city swing, Bush told business executives, lawyers
and educators that his proposal for school funding is
fairer than the current one.
New Mexico
Seeking Comments On Mountain Lion Management
The State of New Mexico is trying to come up with a
management plan for mountain lions, an animal that a
10-year study recently concluded is among "the most
difficult land mammals to manage in the world."
Lawmaker Wants
Actor Redford To Put Money Where Mouth Is
A Utah lawmaker wants actor-director Robert
Redford to "put his money where his mouth is"
and look at designating part of his Sundance resort as
wilderness.
Texas Lawmakers
Hear Warnings As Debate Begins On Water Plan
Even with water conservation measures in place, Texas
faces a potential shortage of water that could mean up to
$40 billion in losses to the state's economy by the year
2010, a Senate committee has been told.
Activists File
Suit To Stop Buffalo Plan
Five environmental activist groups turned to a
federal appeals court Friday in their effort to stop the
National Park Service from killing the buffalo that
wander out of Yellowstone National Park.
Earth Cooler In
1996, Warming Still Touted
You can question global warming
conspiracists’ grasp of science, common sense and
reality, but no one this side of a Middle East suicide
bomber can touch them for single-minded determination.
Angelo Sheep
Steady, Feeder Cattle Mixed
All sheep and goat classes sold steady this week
on receipts of 8536 head. Feeder steers and heifers
weighing under 600 pounds sold firm to $1 higher, heavier
weights weak. Slaughter cows and bulls were firm to $1
higher, stock cows sharply higher. Receipts totaled 5318
head.
On The Edge Of
Common Sense
By Baxter Black
It is the best of times. Calving at its
finest. The calling of those chosen to tend God's
creatures. To take part in simple miracles. To alter the
balance of life on earth by one small addition.
Unregistered Bull
in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of
Unregistered Bull.
There was something startling about John this week as
he sprawled in his usual lobby chair. He looked almost
contented. "What’s wrong with you," I
asked. "You look like an administration booster who
just thought of a crony who could lead an investigation
of government corruption without running a risk of going
to the pen himself. You must have got a tax refund."
Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
This country has produced a most peculiar
citizen. It's the only place in the world where a man's
goal is to work hard on the farm so he can get enough
money together to move into town so he can get a job to
make more money so he can go back and buy the farm.
Shortgrass
Country
By Monte Noelke
Only one first-calf heifer calved later than the
rest of the herd. I am never sure, but I always think
slow calvers and fast kickers go back to such ancestors
as the ones who jumped out in the railroad right-of-way
to hide their calves, or fell over in the squeeze chute
and sulked until they starved for water.
On Matters Of
... Equine
By Jim and Lynda McCall
Breeding season 1997 is shaping up to be an
exciting time in the horse business. There has been a
fury of activity throughout the fall; mare prices are up
and broodmare owners are calling, looking and talking
about stallions. Add this to the excitement of being able
to breed with transported semen, and stud farm managers
had better have a good handle on their stallions'
fertility quotient.