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| Vol. 49 - No. 16 | Thursday, April 24, 1997 | $25 Per Year |
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Lamb Meat Prices Up And Down
Lamb carcass prices did a little jiggling this week. Weights
under 55 pounds jumped $5 while weights over 65 pounds lost $5. Middle
weights held the line. There are four weight bracket prices now, and
there is a $20 difference between the lights and heavies.
Fed Cattle Sell Early Again, And Once
Again It’s Costly
If Plains feedlot managers need reminding why so much of the
trade the last year or two came late in the week, they need only look
at this week’s scorecard. It marked the second week in forever that
cattle traded early, and both times they gave up money doing it.
Mohair Producers Apprised Of New
Domestic Promotions
Mohair producers meeting here recently got a preview of a
special promotion program being developed to encourage the use of
mohair in catalog merchandising sales.
Craig Cameron Still Learning Every
Time He Trains A Horse
Craig Cameron is a work in progress. "I don't think
you'll ever get to the end of it if you're trying to get better,"
says the veteran horse trainer.
Comparisons Of Recent Sheep Counts
Shows Striking Decline
It doesn’t take much vision to determine that the U.S.
sheep industry is sick, floundering or just dying of old age. The real
question is which one?
Activists Demand That Agency Give Names
Of Their Opponents
Apparently bent on retaliating against its opponents, an
Austin environmental activist group has sued federal officials,
accusing them of violating the Freedom of Information Act by
withholding the names of people who lobbied against listing a
salamander as an "endangered" species.
Survey Lists Top Priorities In View Of
Cattle Producers
Correcting the costly inequities between federal beef and
poultry processing regulations, and expanding exports are top policy
priorities of beef producers, says the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association. Showing consumers how beef fits into a healthy diet and
protecting private property rights were also rated as high priorities
for the industry.
Editorial
"Mad Cow" Nonsense
Hammered Beef Futures, Then Faded Away
The average American consumer remained blissfully
unaware last week that "mad cow" disease was running rampant
in the trading pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Coyote Killed After Attacks On Two
Children In Arizona
Authorities shot and killed one coyote last week and were
trying to trap another after two boys were bitten in the first such
attacks ever reported in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Phil Gramm Badly Bugged, Vowing To
Fight Fire Ants
U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm said he's so concerned about getting
rid of the state's fire ants that it's affecting his sleep.
Feds Call For Logging Halt On Private
Land Under ESA
After insisting for years that the federal Endangered
Species Act was no threat to private landowners, government
bureaucrats last week dropped the pretense and went straight for the
jugular.
Ecos Win Suit In California To Shut Down
Flood Recovery
California Gov. Pete Wilson got a lot more than he bargained
for when his administration suspended the state Endangered Species Act
after devastating floods in January 1995. And eco-activists got a lot
more than they bargained for when they challenged Wilson in court —
and won.
A Careful Count Is Critical When
Unloading Wild Cattle
I met a couple of bull haulers the other night and we
got to talking about loading, unloading and hauling members of the
bovine species.
Montana Governor Trying New Tack With
Yellowstone Buffalo
Montana Gov. Marc Racicot wants authority to sell healthy,
live buffalo that wander out of Yellowstone National Park, but the
plan is being opposed even before it has been formally presented.
Race Driver Unser Seeks Help From
Congress In USFS Battle
Calling the U.S. Forest Service "worse than the KGB in
Russia," racing champion Bobby Unser appealed to Congress last
week in a fight over his arrest for snowmobiling in a wilderness area
during a blizzard that he says nearly killed him.
Walker New Director Of Angelo Facility
Dr. John W. Walker has been appointed resident director of
the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center here effective July 1.
Water Bill Passed Texas Senate, But
Faces Scrutiny In The House
A bill that would give Texas its first-ever water
conservation and drought management plan passed the Senate without
controversy, but that may not be the case in the House Natural
Resources Committee, where the bill is now being considered.
Recent Bluestem Grass Release
Outperforming Older Varieties
The excellent moisture most of Texas has received since late
winter has focused the attention of many stockmen on reseeding
drouthed-out range and pasture. A variety of Old World bluestem long
under study but only recently available to the public in quantity has
shown be be superior over older versions in several ways.
Angelo Feeder Cattle, Lamb Trade
Weakens
Feeder lambs sold weak this week, slaughter lambs not well
tested, slaughter ewes uneven with good and choice $2-5 lower and
others steady. Receipts totaled 13,257 head.
San Saba, Brownwood, Mason Feeders
Higher
Choice feeder steers and heifers sold $2-4 higher last week
in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba, other classes steady, slaughter cows
and bulls steady, replacement heifers $1-5 higher, stock cows in good
demand. Receipts totaled 1524 head at the three sales.
Gardiner Angus Bulls Average $4080 Each
A total of 240 bulls averaged $4080 per head at the 18th
annual Gardiner Angus Ranch production sale, including 201 head of 18
month-olds at $4154 and 39 yearlings at $3705.
Nature Conservancy Buying W. Texas Land
The Nature Conservancy of Texas announced earlier this month
that it is buying 32,000 acres of a historic and "ecologically
significant" ranch in the Davis Mountains in West Texas.
Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
John looked through the lobby window and watched the cars
splashing along the wet street. "I’d like to know what the
sheep and cattle market is this morning," he said.
On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
Now that the smoke has cleared from the National Western
Stock Show furor over Leon Coffee; now that the circling cloud of
special interest/media blowflies have picked the story's bones clean
and moved on to another crippled victim; now that it has occurred to a
few of you, "Wait a minute ... there's got to be more the
story," let me say a word about Leon.
It's The Pitts
By Lee Pitts
I could tell the gentleman sitting at the truck stop counter
was a veterinarian even before I took a whiff and saw that his boots
were covered in mud and blood. He had that overworked, hang-dog look
about him, like he was ready to fall asleep in his coffee.
Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Horses are wonderful animals. They are just dumb enough to
stay in a pasture with one wire around it and just smart enough to
keep you from catching them in anything but a squeeze chute.
Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Shortgrassers know now why the mesquite trees waited to barely leaf
out in late April. Temperatures dropped below 30 degrees last week.
The evening prior to the first night's freeze, I mowed out a swath to
the trash barrels and to the garage and forked over toward the barn to
expose snake runs in a greenery so thick and sappy, the motor chugged
like a river boat going upstream. About dark, I gave up and stalled
the mower in a tall stand of wire grass. Had there not been a killing
frost in the night, the grasses were growing so fast, I'd had to have
left my mower abandoned outside the shed until winter.
