Heavy Lamb Now Priced Like Lights
Is there a lesson to be learned here or are we missing something? Heavyweight lamb carcasses jumped $45 last week and are now $60 above just three weeks ago. Lightweights moved up $7 last week and middleweights were up $10-17. Now all weights are $182. Three weeks ago heavies were $122, a $50 discount from lights. In April all weights were at $190. Lightweight carcasses during that period ranged from $172 to $195, heavies $122-190. Why such radical changes?

Fed Cattle Gain $1 On Plains By Midweek After Early Delay
Plains fed cattle trade was Wednesday developing this week, but it developed in the cowboys’ favor when it finally came about. That was despite last Friday’s bearish on-feed report, detailed elsewhere in this issue.

PLAINS FEEDLOT SALES

RANGE SALES

Spade Ranches Practices Unique Approach In Developing Heifers
"No dummy is going to put a bull back on a heifer five or six days after pulling the calf and then try to market those 60 day-old Jersey calves to a roping contractor. I’m not necessarily recommending it for anyone else, but it works like a charm for us."

Bovine Respiratory Diseases Costly But Complex Problem
Bovine respiratory disease continues to be a major challenge for the beef industry. A recent survey found that respiratory disease accounted for 31.1 percent of calf deaths. Its economic impact was $644 million dollars.

Diverse Group Seeks Ways To Protect Open Stretches
Ranchers and environmental activists who joined forces earlier this summer to protect Wyoming's ranchlands from sale and subdivision are looking at different ways to preserve the state's open spaces. Much different ways, in some cases, even though they all profess the same goal.

Buffalo Management Framework Agreed Upon; Details Sketchy
State and federal officials know how they want to manage wild buffalo that migrate from Yellowstone National Park but they are not yet sure how much the plan will cost, in part because most details are yet to be finalized.

Most Recent Water Law Changes Place Emphasis On Groundwater
For farmers and ranchers, this may be the most important part of the new water legislation. Article 4 is almost a third of Senate Bill 1. As in the Edwards Aquifer legislation, Senate Bill 1 in Article 4 clearly recognizes the hydrological connection between surface water and groundwater. Article 4 gives the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission the means, through legislation if necessary, to create an underground water district where one does not exist. 

Stockmen’s Frustrations Mount With Continued Wolf Attacks
Wolves have killed 30 sheep in six weeks in Montana's Tobacco Valley northwest of Whitefish, making ranchers even more hostile to the wolf reintroduction program.

Colorado Wild Horse Numbers To Decline
The number of wild horses in northwestern Colorado will be cut back from about 560 to 165, officials say, because of conflicts with ranchers.

Arizona Land Board Rejects Ecos’ Bids On Grazing Lands
Only people who actually plan to run livestock on state lands may bid for grazing rights, Arizona State Land Department officials said last week in rejecting environmental activists' bids for grazing leases.

Committee Continues To Study Privatizing Grading System
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association continues to explore privatization of the federal beef grading system.

Cattle Price Outlook Bullish, Cattle-Fax Spokesman Predicts
Rebounding cattle prices are here for a while and likely will show even more strength by next spring, the head of the nation's main cattle-market information service told cattlemen here late last week.

Co-Op President Says Veto Was Vindictive
President Clinton's first use of the line-item veto was "a sad day for American agriculture," says the head of Amalgamated Sugar.

Boy’s Killing Prompts Cougar Control; Ecos Turn Deaf Ears
The cougar-mauling death of a 10 year-old Colorado boy has hit home with wildlife officials in neighboring Utah, who want to reduce the number of the big cats roaming into the populous Wasatch Front. Animal rights activists, on the other hand, appear unmoved by the killing; they are up in arms over the cougar control effort instead.

As Annual Reunion Approaches, Matador Hands Recall The Past
When the hands who worked at the Matador Ranch here gather for their reunion August 30, they won't remember the name Bill Bilberry. They will remember the name Wrang.

Superior Livestock Video Sale Offering Totals 80,000 Cattle
Superior Livestock Auction offered more than 80,000 feeder cattle in its regular sale here. Consignments were from 27 states and Mexico.

Fed Beef Challenge Provides Taste Of Cattle Feeding Biz
This week will see the results of five months of cattle feeding efforts for 52 youths in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

NCBA Launches Plan To Regain Market Share From Competition
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association plans to regain market share by the year 2005 by becoming more like a company with a branded product.

California Court Interferes With ESA Species "Delisting"
Critics of existing "endangered species" laws argue that the statutes as written and enforced today do little to protect rare plants and animals, serving instead as vehicles for environmental activists to regulate land use and behavior. Doubters of that assessment are referred to California, where the state program has only managed to "recover" one protected species in its entire 27-year history.

Cody Ohl Leads In All-Around, Etbauer Top Pikes Peak Rider
Reigning world champion saddle bronc rider Billy Etbauer took center stage in his event at the recent Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs.

E. Coli Scare Leads To Record Recall Of Ground Beef Patties
Trying to pinpoint what caused an outbreak of E. coli bacteria, the U.S. Agriculture Department has dispatched a "SWAT team" of food inspectors to the Nebraska plant involved in a recall of 1.2 million pounds of hamburger patties.

Little Consensus In Meeting To Hash Out Bangs Situation
It seemed no one could agree on a common solution to the Yellowstone buffalo problem at a recent "common ground" symposium here.

Nebraska CRP Opened To Haying, Grazing
Due to dry conditions, federal conservation acres in nearly half of Nebraska's counties have been released for haying or grazing.

Pitchfork Takes Top Honors At Ranch Rodeo
Long-time Texas Ranch Roundup competitor Pitchfork Land & Cattle Co. of Guthrie took home top honors last week for the second time in 11 years.

Abilene Feeder Steer, Heifer Prices Steady
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady, slaughter cows and bulls steady, stock cows slightly higher, pairs slightly lower. Receipts totaled 1629 head.

San Saba, Brownwood, Mason Feeders Uneven
Choice feeder steers weighing under 600 pounds sold steady to $3 higher in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, heavier weights steady to $2 lower, heifers steady to strong with Brangus heifers active. Slaughter cows and bulls were steady, choice stock cows strong, plain and older kinds weak. Receipts at the three sales totaled 2882 head.

Llano Feeder Steers Steady, Heifers Off
Feeder steers sold steady, heifers $2 lower, slaughter cows weak to $2 lower, bulls steady. Receipts totaled 334 head.

Unregistered Bull in a Hotel Lobby
Choice gleanings from 45-plus years of Unregistered Bull.
Fella came in the office the other day, propped his boots up on the desk, and fanned himself briefly with a several-gallon hat. He was wearing a pair of dark green glasses.

On The Edge Of Common Sense
By Baxter Black
"Mama, when's Daddy comin' home? Is it time to worry yet?" "By supper, darlin'. Eat your Cheerios." He rode out this morning early. 
Like he does six days a week 
I always make him tell me where he goes
'Specially when I know he's headed over on the canyon side
At least I know I'll have a place to start
So in case he doesn't come back I can hunt for him myself
Or go for help if I get faint of heart.

Pokin' Fun
By Doc Blakely
These are from test papers and essays submitted by kids:
1. When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire.
2. H20 is hot water, and C02 is cold water.

Shortgrass Country
By Monte Noelke
Alfred Wallace found a natural boundary in the Malay Archipelago in the 1860s. He discovered that marsupials like the kangaroo ranged to the west in Australia and tigers and primates lived to the east in Borneo and Java. He observed how the wiry Malaysian oriental differed from the heavier aborigines of the Southern Hemisphere.