NEWS ROUNDUP

Drought-stricken farmers cash in on wind Mixed in with the sound of meadowlarks, tractors and the hum of the wind on Colorado's southeastern plains is a low, steady beat: "whoop, whoop, whoop." It comes from a line of towering, pinwheel-like turbines that are producing electricity used across Colorado. The sound coming from a ridge south of this farming town has become a beckoning call for people struggling through a fifth year of crop-killing drought....
2 livestock brokers are behind bars Missouri cattle brokers George Young and Kathleen McConnell, who cost banks and investors $183 million in the largest cattle fraud in U.S. history, reported Monday to federal prisons in North Carolina and Illinois, even as they are appealing the lengths of their sentences. "It's been a long time coming," said Richard Fox of Broken Bow, Neb., who lost around $120,000 in the fraud. About 130 banks, individuals and businesses were victims....
Cattlemen appeal reversal in Tyson case Cattlemen who won a landmark price-fixing verdict against the nation's largest beef packer, only to have it thrown out by a federal judge, have filed an appeal claiming the judge wrongly substituted his judgment for the jury's. U.S. Senior District Judge Lyle Strom had said the cattlemen failed to show sufficient evidence to prove Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. used contracts with a select few beef producers to manipulate cattle market prices. Strom's order reversed the Feb. 17 verdict of a federal jury in Montgomery. But in their appeal, filed June 9, attorneys for the six cattlemen asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to find that the jury based its decision on a reasonable review of the evidence....
Corral your coolest buckaroo Does it take a 10-gallon hat and a pair of well-worn boots to make a cool cowboy? Does the coolest cowgirl need to be a champion barrel racer or equine expert? The Columbian is searching Clark County for the coolest cowboy and cowgirl, and we need your help in roping them in. Send us your nominations for the cowboy or cowgirl that fit that "coolest" image....
It's All Trew: Everybody and their dog tended chickens Women tend chickens, men work chickens much like working livestock. We worked chickens twice a year on the Trew place. Roundup was accomplished by not opening the chicken house door in the morning. Mother set up a card table just outside the door with all her chicken equipment in place. My brother and I entered the chicken house with a long wire hook in hand. We chose a hen, hooked and handed her to Dad outside. He held the hen on her back while Mother laid her fingers on the egg-laying-end of the chicken. A three-fingers-wide space on the pelvis meant the hen was laying eggs every day and was worth her weight in golden egg yolks. A green plastic ring was placed around her leg just above the foot identifying her as a keeper. Her feathers were dusted with an insect powder and she was released. Another hen was handed out. A two-finger-wide hen meant she laid only every other day or less. Her age and condition determined whether she was a keeper and a blue or red ring was placed on her leg. A one-finger-wide hen was not laying eggs and received a red ring meaning she was destined for a future pot of chicken and dumplings....