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Feeder Lambs Weaken, Fats Get Stronger
Feeder lambs were a little weaker in most areas this week as feedlots tried to get back into the profit column. Fat lambs showed some strength, particularly in the Midwest, on the prospects of a stronger meat trade late this week.

Plains Fed Cattle Trading Stuck In Midweek Rut Again
In what has become the norm, Plains feedlots and their customers remained at least a couple of dollars apart at midweek, packers bidding $64 and feedlots asking $66-67.

PLAINS FEEDLOT SALES

RANGE SALES

Kansas Researcher Using Heat Sensing Technology In Feedlot
Like something out of a science fiction movie, Dr. Mark Spire with Kansas State University's Food and Animal Health and Management Center studies the wildly colored images on the television screen before him.

Glynn Riley Tallies 39 Years With ADC And Is Still Counting
Glynn Riley loves his job as a much as he did the day he started with the Texas animal damage control program almost 40 years ago. For Riley, it's never been a job, rather a way of life that he's thoroughly enjoyed.

Controlling Cost Is Best Way To Ensure Profitability
Producers attending a recent beef cattle meeting here were told that about the only sure-fire management decision a producer can be guaranteed to see results from is that of saving money.

Convicted Unabomber Applauds Other Violent Eco-Activists
Well, they say you're known by the friends you keep. The increasingly outrageous conduct of environmental activists may be costing them some of their gullible friends in academia, the news media and even in Hollywood, but they're still admired by liberal politicians and at least one serial killer.

Federal Brass Hear Complaints About Ag Concentration Issues
Farmers upset about increasing market concentration in the agricultural sector criticized government policy during a rare meeting with federal officials.

EU Ban On Genetically Modified Corn Trickles Down To Growers
Grain elevator operators in Illinois are grappling with how they will enforce a ban on certain genetically modified corn by two of the world's largest grain processors.

Navajo Sheep Raisers Struggle To Retain Niche And Heritage
The Churro sheep looked distinctly nervous. Lying on his side atop an old telephone wire spool, trussed front and rear to a weathered corral fence, he bleated helplessly as Irma Henderson carefully clipped long brown wool away. Henderson's husband Les Wilson stood nearby in case the wether decided it had a mind of its own.

EU To Ease "Mad Cow" Ban On British Beef
The three-year ban on British beef exports introduced at the height of Europe's ``mad cow'' scare may be significantly eased in June following slaughterhouse inspections, a European Commission spokesman said last week.

Texas House Gives Ag A Boost With One Hand, Boot With Other
The Texas House has voted to give the state's agricultural producers a boost on the one hand, even while it moves toward repealing a poorly-understood law intended to protect the industry against malicious detractors.

USDA Finds Pork Board, Grower Group Too Close For Comfort
A government audit raises questions about the close ties between a quasi-governmental board created to promote pork and the industry's trade association.

Aussie Farmer Claims To Breed Blue Sheep
A farmer claimed Tuesday to have produced the world's first flock of blue sheep without using any dye, the Australian Associated Press reported.

IBP Has "Exceptional" Earnings For Quarter
Strong performance in fresh meat operations and forays into the food service market produced ``exceptional'' first quarter earnings for meatpacking giant IBP, the company reported.

Top Pols Predicting Price Reporting Law
Two lawmakers predicted Monday that legislation requiring meatpackers to reveal the prices they pay will win passage in Congress this year.

Iowa State Senate Approves Bill For Packer Disclosure
Iowa state senators were among the latest to join the movement toward requiring packers to disclose the prices they payt for livestock.

Texas High Court Reaffirms State's "Free Range" Status
The Texas Supreme Court has reaffirmed the state's "free-range" law regarding livestock confinement, a ruling greeted with relief — a perhaps a certain degree of surprise — by industry groups.

Ranchers Facing Probe For Halting Illegals
Ranchers who rounded up and held 27 illegal immigrants from Mexico for authorities are under investigation, the U.S. attorney's office acknowledged.

Packers Elect To Try Electron Beams To Pasteurize Ground Beef
Gene W. Ray envisions a world where a child would no more eat meat that hadn't been decontaminated by low-grade electron beams than he would drink unpasteurized milk.

Eco-Lobbyists Up In Arms Again As Lawmakers Mull ESA Reform
Congress is once again considering reform of the federal Endangered Species Act, a law passed decades ago by well-intentioned lawmakers but long since corrupted by activists, bureaucrats and judges.

Lower Corn Planting Intentions Reflecting Weakness In Markets
USDA's initial U.S. planting intention report for 1999, released on March 31, indicated that farmers will plant 78.2 million acres of corn this year, down close to 2 million acres (2.5 percent) from 80.2 million acres planted last year, and down 1.7 percent from 79.537 million acres planted in 1997, but up 9.4 percent from 71.5 million acres planted in 1995 when corn prices reached 25-year highs.

Chad Castillo Leads In Rookie Of The Year Rodeo Competition
In just eight seconds, 19 year-old bull rider Chad Castillo pocketed $6243 and made rodeo fans in Nevada sit up and take notice.

Texas Fed Cattle Prices Hold Steady On Significant
Slaughter steers and heifers sold mostly steady in Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma feedlot trading last week. Trade was active on Friday, turned slow until late Wednesday then moved fairly active through Thursday.

Cattle On Feed Up Three Percent In Seven Main Feeding States
Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter April 1 in the seven leading feeding states totaled 8.89 million head, up three percent from the same day last year but slightly below the figure for April 1, 1997.

Nation’s Feeder Cattle Prices Turned To Weak Side Last Week
Feeder steer and heifers prices turned weaker around the country last week. Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $1 lower, occasionally $2 off.

Angelo Feeder Lambs Lower, Cattle Higher
Feeder lambs sold weak to $3 lower this week, slaughter lambs steady, slaughter ewes uneven with fleshy ewes steady and thin ewes weak to $3 lower. Receipts totaled 11,674 head.

Lampasas Feeder Steer, Heifer Prices Decline
Feeder steers and heifers sold $2-4 lower, taled 900 head.steers and heifers sold $2-4 lower, slaughter cows fully steady, bulls $1 higher.

U.S. Meat In Storage 9% Above A Year Ago
Total red meat supplies in U.S. freezers on March 31 at 889.69 million pounds were up nine percent from a year ago and up three percent from February.

Most Llano Cattle Prices Called Steady
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady, slaughter cows and bulls steady. Receipts totaled 203 head.

Domestic Wool Slow, Aussie Wools Higher
Wool trading remains extremely slow. Shearing continues in all areas except when limited by the recent fast-moving snow and rain storms across the western, southern and central U.S. Both demand and seller interest remain limited with most wool being stored rather than sold.

Milano Feeder Cattle Prices Trend Lower
Feeder steers sold $2-4 lower, heifers $2-5 lower, slaughter cows and bulls steady. Receipts totaled 806 head.

Goldthwaite Feeder Lamb Prices Steady
Feeder lambs sold fully steady, slaughter lambs $3 lower, slaughter ewes $3-5 higher, stock ewes and lambs $5 higher; slaughter Angora kids $2 higher, other Angora classes $2 lower; slaughter Spanish kids and muttons $8-12 higher, other classes steady to $2 higher, stock nannies $3 higher. Receipts totaled 4500 head.

U.S. Meat Production 4.1% Above A Year Ago
Total red meat production under federal inspection last week was estimated at 865.9 million pounds, 2.5 percent more than a week earlier and 4.1 percent more than a year ago. Cumulative meat production for the year to date was up 1.6 percent at 13.26 billion pounds.

Kansas Direct Feeder Steers, Heifers Lower
Feeder steers and heifers sold mostly steady in Kansas direct trade, late sales weak to $1 lower. A general 1-2 inch rain fell over the area at midweek with temperatures in the high 20s on Friday. Sales were confirmed on 6953 head.

Abilene Feeder Steer, Heifer Prices Lower
Feeder steers sold steady to $1 lower, heifers $1-2 lower, slaughter cows and bulls mostly steady, stock cows mostly steady. Receipts totaled 1200 head.

Junction Feeder Lamb, Angora Prices Lower
eeder lambs sold $3 lower, slaughter ewes and bucks $1-2 lower; stock Angora nannies $3 lower, slaughter Angoras $2 lower; slaughter Spanish goats $2-3 lower, stock nannies $5-10 higher. Receipts totaled 4300 head.

San Saba, Brownwood, Mason Feeders Higher
Feeder steers and heifers weighing less than 450 pounds sold $1-3 higher in Mason, Brownwood and San Saba last week, heavier weights steady to strong, slaughter cows steady to $2 lower, bulls steady, pairs and bred cows $25-50 higher. Receipts totaled 1977 head at the three regular sales.

Mason Female Cattle Sale Offers 2137 Head
Receipts at Jordan Cattle Auction's annual spring replacement cow and heifer sale totaled 2137 head.

Fredericksburg Feeder Steers, Heifers Steady
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady, slaughter cows and bulls strong. Receipts totaled 923 head.

Colorado City Feeder Steers, Heifers Lower
Feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $2 lower, bred stock cows and pairs steady to strong. Receipts totaled 696 head.

Cuero Feeder Cattle Prices Termed Strong
Demand for feeder steers and heifers was strong on receipts of 1499 head.

Letter To The Editor

Loose Ends

Coming Up...
April 24 — Special Dispersal of Two Herds, Longview Livestock Commission Inc., Longview, Texas. April 24 — West Texas Spring Consignment Horse Sale, Lost Track Livestock Center, Talpa, Texas. April 24 — The Cooperative Extension Program at Langston University’s Goat Field Day, E Kika de la Garza Institute for Goat Researsh, Guthrie, Oklahoma. April 24 — Spring Horse Sale, Deming Livestock Auction, Deming, New Mexico.