Loose Ends

The 1999 Angora Goat Performance Test conducted by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station begins with delivery of animals February 22-23. The field day and potential sale following the 112-day test is set for July 19 at the Sonora Experiment Station.

Due to the lackluster mohair market, the number of goats on test has decreased in recent years. Therefore, the test will be conducted only if 10 or more different breeders enter a minimum of 50 animals. Breeders must notify the Sonora Experiment Station of their intent to enter goats by February 4 if the test is to proceed as scheduled.

If the test materializes, the animals are set to be shorn March 1 or 2, just prior to starting the test March 3. The goats will be weighed at the start of the test, again April 28 and finally on June 23 or 24.

Individual breeders are limited to no more than 12 animals, except by special permission. Though not required, officials suggest at least four animals be entered for each sire group.

Potential test animals should be 1998 spring-born intact male kids. They should be in-fleece on arrival at the Station. The animals' feet should be trimmed and owners should have taken steps to control internal and external parasites and vaccinated against soremouth and enterotoxemia.

The test fee is $130 per animal. The fee covers feed, shearing and laboratory fleece work. Any unused funds will be returned at the end of the test. Fees are due when the goats arrive at the station.

Further information is available from Drs. Dan Waldron, Frank Craddock or Chris Lupton at (915)653-4576, or Don Spiller at (915)387-3168.

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The winter tri-annual meeting of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association will be Saturday, February 20, in the Sonora High School Auditorium. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Registration will be $10 and includes the noon meal.

The TSGRA Woman's Auxiliary will meet at 9:30 in the library, which is in the same building as the auditorium.

TSGRA District 5 will hold its annual district membership meeting immediately following the TSGRA meeting and noon meal. Directors to serve the district for 1999-2000 will be elected at that time. District 5 is made up of Kimble, Menard, Schleicher and Sutton counties. Bob Brockman is District 5 chairman.

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The Bobwhite Brigade Wildlife Camps are now taking applications through April 15 for this year's three summer sessions. The Rolling Plains Camp is June 20-24 at the Krooked River Ranch north of Abilene. The South Texas Camp is set for July 18-22 on the 74 Ranch at Campbelton. The East Texas camp is scheduled for July 25-29 at the Pineywoods Conservation Center near Lufkin.

Camp applications are available from local county Extension offices or by contacting Dr. Dale Rollins at (915)653-4576.

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The 1999 Central Texas Pecan short course is set for March 23 at the Mills County Civic Center in Goldthwaite. More information is available from Danny Long, CEA for Mills County, at (915)648-2650.

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Agronomist Dr. Calvin L. Trostle has been appointed to the Texas Agricultural Extension Center at Lubbock. Trostle will plan and conduct educational programs relating to precision agriculture and peanut, grain sorghum, corn and small grain production in the 20-county South Plains district. He will also conduct applied research in those areas with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and will work closely with other Extension specialists, researchers, county agents and producers in the district.

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Fee increases for inspections by the New Mexico Livestock Board will go into effect on March 1. The fee increases were approved by the board at its December meeting. John Wortman, executive director of the board, says the increases to be collected beginning on March 1 are cattle inspection fee, 35 cents per head; horse inspection fee, 40 cents per head; hide inspection fee, 30 cents per head; sheep and goat inspection fee, 10 cents per head; pelt inspection fee, four cents per pelt; and swine inspection fee, 25 cents per head. The service charge for field inspection is $5 per inspection. There is no service charge at auctions. A form 1-H, which is a permanent horse inspection, is $10. The fee for recording and re-recording or transferring a brand is $50.

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Texas Farm Bureau will recognize February 9 as "Food Check-Out Day" — the day the average American has earned enough money to pay for his or her food supply for 1999.

"We work only about 40 days to pay for an entire year's supply of food. Without the affordable food produced by America's farmers and ranchers, the nation's standard of living would be greatly reduced," said Bob Stallman, president of the Texas Farm Bureau. "Our farmers and ranchers are the most productive in the world."

Statistics compiled by the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service indicate American families and individuals currently spend, on average, just 10.7 percent of their disposable personal income for food. That percentage is down from the 10.9 percent figure from last year. As much as $547 billion annually is spent by consumers for food produced on U.S. farms and ranches. However, out of every dollar consumers spend on food, a farmer's share is about 23 cents.

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A "Montana Grizzly Bear Notice" making the rounds appears at first glance to be the real thing, but upon further digestion carries the scent of a joke. It warns of increasing grizzly bear numbers in the Big Sky State and advises outdoorsmen to wear noisy little bells on their clothing "so as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them." The advisory also suggests that hikers and others venturing into grizzly country pack pepper spray for use in self-defense.

Finally, the notice recommends that people who spend time in the outdoors learn to distinguish between the droppings of black bears and grizzlies. Grizzly droppings, it notes, "have little bells in them and smell like pepper."

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A "national cattle identification system" will be proposed Feb. 13 at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association convention in Charlotte, N.C., notes the Texas Cattle Feeders newsletter. The proposed system is touted as "completely voluntary" and intended for "information sharing," with "source verification as a secondary benefit."

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The January issue of the journal Pediatrics reports that the majority of salmonella cases in children under four are not likely to be food-borne, but caused instead by contamination from dirt or contact with other family members. It is based on a survey of 50 Arkansas homes following a salmonella outbreak; contaminated food was found in only one instance, and that involved a block of cheese "repeatedly handled" by contaminated family members.

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"Global warming" doomsayers who have promoted 1998 as "the warmest year on record" may want to talk to folks in Alaska, who are finding this winter their coldest in 10 years. The Anchorage Daily News on Monday reported temperatures in one village 290 miles west of Fairbanks at 67 below zero and a windchill in Denali National Park of 107 below. The paper reported a string of problems ranging from dead car batteries to frozen pipes and broken household heaters, all in an area where such equipment is designed to take bitter, long-term cold in stride.

"It's kind of a return to the winters oldtimers remember," said a National Weather Service spokesman.

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