Feeder Lambs Softer, Fats Shade Firmer
Feeder lambs in most Texas markets were on the lower side this week, buyers tending to be a little more selective. Competition on lightweight lambs from killers has slacked off considerably and feeder buyers can do a little picking and choosing. Midwest feeders were generally steady.

Fed Cattle Trade $1 Lower Despite Favorable Climate
Bait and switch is a time-honored — if underhanded — sales tactic. Now it may become a buyers’ tool as well.

Plains Feedlot Sales

Range Sales

Ranch To Rail Cattle Records Show Sickness Down This Year
It's May and time for Texas A&M Ranch to Rail cattle to go to the packing plant. Of the 1097 cattle in the Ranch to Rail North program at Randall County Feedyard between Amarillo and Canyon, 994 had been sold to IBP as May began.

Ranch To Rail Program May Add Grazing Element Of Some Sort
Texas A&M University’s Ranch to Rail officials are considering expanding the program. Conceived as an information feedback program so ranchers could see how their cattle performed in a feedyard and could get carcass data back on their animals, the program has collected an immense amount of information since its inception in 1991. But, as with most research, as answers are found, new questions arise.

"Biosphere Reserve" Opponents Portrayed As Crazies By Media
"In its more wild-eyed moments," says the lead sentence of an Associated Press story, "the case against including the Missouri Ozarks in the United Nations' Man and the Biosphere program goes like this: People will be forced off their land by blue-helmeted troops, possibly even to concentration camps outside St. Louis."

Official Reveals Eco Groups Illegally Concealed Funding
Montana’s commissioner of political practices says backers of a defeated 1996 water-quality initiative violated campaign laws by failing to report nearly $200,000 in donations.

WTO Rules In Favor Of U.S. In EU Beef Hormone Dispute
U.S. beef producers have won an important victory in their eight-year battle to overturn a European ban on the use of hormones in beef.

USDA To Give Wheat Producers Break On CRP Land Preparation
Farmers in winter wheat areas can begin preparing land idled in the Conservation Reserve Program for fall planting without losing their government payment, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced last week.

Two-Day Livestock Handling School Scheduled In Midland
Livestock handling stress costs ranchers money. Stressed cattle have more health problems and their gain efficiency is not as great as that of stress-free cattle.

Micheli Warns Wyoming Ranchers Wolf Comment Time Running Out
With time fast running out, the head of Wyoming’s agriculture department is urging the public — particularly livestock producers and sportsmen — to make their feelings known about a proposed statewide wolf management plan.

Ecos’ Resort To Friendly Court Buys Salamander Place On List
The Barton Springs salamander, caught in a tug-of-war between environmental activists and property owners, has gained a place on the endangered species list by judicial fiat.

PMCI Shows Some Profit After First Full Year In Business
After its first full year in operation, Producers Marketing Cooperative Inc. managed to show a slight profit. That was part of the message co-op spokesmen shared with members during PMCI’s recent annual meeting here.

TSGRA Votes To Petition Ag Commissioner For Referendum
Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association members at a special called meeting here recently voted to go forward with a petition to the state agriculture commissioner requesting a referendum for a voluntary statewide checkoff plan to raise funds for sheep and goat promotion, research and education.

Craig Proposes Panel On U.S.-Canada Beef
U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is suggesting a non-government solution to problems with cattle trade between the U.S. and Canada.

Angelo Feeder Lambs, Cattle Trade Steady
Feeder lambs sold steady this week, slaughter lambs not well tested, slaughter ewes generally steady. Receipts totaled 10,031 head.

Most Llano Feeder Cattle Sell Higher
Trading was active, lightweight feeder steers and heifers $2-4 higher, yearling steers 600-800 pounds $3-5 higher, yearling heifers steady, slaughter cows $1-3 lower, bulls fully steady. Receipts totaled 258 head.

New Mexico Cloud Seeding Approved
Cloud seeding will be allowed from this month through the summer in New Mexico’s Quay, Roosevelt and Curry counties in an attempt to wring more rain out of clouds over the parched land.

San Saba Replacement Cows Active, Strong
A total of 4204 cattle sold in the special female replacement sale at Jordan Cattle Auction. Prices were termed steady to strong compared to the April sale. Demand was strong on better quality young cows and bred cows and heifers.

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
The Sierra Club is back. Seeking more funds! I've got to give them credit. They don't think small. Now they want to drain Lake Powell and reclaim Glen Canyon.

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
"I see," said John, "where at a recent packers’ meeting, various speakers had a lot of unflattering things to say about the OPS. But while they were talking about price ceilings, they said if the OPS was going to enforce ceilings at all, it should clamp down on livestock as well as other things.

It's The Pitts
By Lee Pitts
We all keep them around ... old, wornout things past their prime. No, we’re not talking spouses ... simply stuff. The objects that clutter our lives that we spend a lifetime collecting. The rubble of our existence. A favorite flannel shirt that wouldn’t make a decent rag, or a lucky pair of socks with holes for toes. Even the poorest person has them, worthless but familiar things that we value more than gold.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
Here are a few more mysteries that will help clear up the miscommunication between what men say and what women should hear when they say it.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Two years ago, a friend and I took a season’s membership in the Austin Symphony. For a princely sum we were issued tickets so high in the balcony, the huge stage of the Bass Center looked like an architect’s conception for an orchestra shell.