'Fire them all,' Says R-CALF Chief

Max Thornsberry, the veterinarian who is president of the Billings, MT-based Rancher-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF, USA) Tuesday called upon BEEF magazine, Drovers, and Beef Today to fire editors and a writer for being "disparaging and immensely disrespectful" to those who want "marketplace enforcement by USDA." The three editors coming in for Thornsberry's wrath are BEEF magazine's Joe Roybal, Beef Today's Steve Cornett, and Drovers' Greg Henderson. Cornett and Henderson should be fired for what they wrote, the R-CALF chief opined. Roybal should be fired for publishing what Troy Marshall wrote. None of them is going to be fired or fall on their swords anytime soon. Roybal told Food Safety News "Troy Marshall's thoughts and those of the BEEF editorial staff are in harmony with what the vast majority of BEEF readership thinks." An online poll at www.beefmagazine.com shows 80 percent of 750 respondents thus far believe the proposed USDA Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule is negative for the U.S. beef industry. Roybal said Marshall has provided BEEF readers with "great insight" in reporting on GIPSA Administrator J. Dudley Butler's prediction that the new rules will "open the floodgates" to litigation in the U.S. beef industry, and on R-CALF founder Pat Goggins' opinion that the rules would be "a devastating blow" to the freedom of U.S. cattlemen...more

Rodeo entertainer aims to motivate kids

Duane Reichert is an unassuming guy. Always has been, according to him. But that changes once he puts his makeup on. For more than 40 years, Reichert has been a rodeo clown, a bullfighter and a barrelman, which comes as quite a surprise to people who ask him what he does. “I’m used to it,” he said about people’s reactions to his profession. A lot of times, he simply says he is a rodeo entertainer. Reichert started clowning when he was a senior in high school and fell in love with it. “I loved both the cowboy protection and the crowds and went from there,” he said. He has worked in 42 states, four Canadian provinces and at nine circuit-finals rodeos in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He has been a barrelman at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo and has worked in three National Finals Rodeo openings. Reichert is on the Contract Personnel Executive Council of the PRCA, the National Finals Rodeo Committee and the National PRCA Convention Committee. This will be the fifth year he has returned to the Denver National Western Stock Show, where he is the lead entertainer for the school tours. He speaks to thousands of children and adults each day of the stock show. For the past 20 years, school kids have gotten to know Reichert through his Backstage with a Rodeo Clown program, where he talks to kids about making the right choices in life. He developed that program after his sister-in-law, Sandy Deering, invited him to speak to children in the Douglas School System, where she taught...more

Song Of The Day #396

Ranch Radio continues with our country/bluegrass mix as they used to be played on country radio stations. Today's artists are Hank Snow and Mac Wiseman performing The Engineer's Child, Remembering, Golden Rocket and Crazy Blues.

Signs on Arizona interstate hwy. warn of smuggler dangers

The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state. The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego. They warn travelers that they are entering an "active drug and human smuggling area" and they may encounter "armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed." Beginning less than 50 miles south of Phoenix, the signs encourage travelers to "use public lands north of Interstate 8" and to call 911 if they "see suspicious activity." Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of major drug and alien smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and west, attests to the violence. He said his deputies are outmanned and outgunned by drug traffickers in the rough-hewn desert stretches of his own county. "Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona," he said. "They literally have scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and they literally control movement. They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has. "This is going on here in Arizona," he said. "This is 70 to 80 miles from the border - 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States."...more

Kane County Wins First RS 2477 Road

Kane County has achieved what is believed to be the first concession in Utah of the federal government agreeing to grant rights-of-way to a disputed road that crosses federal land. The court stipulated change allows the county to assert control and access over 27 miles of the 33-mile Skutumpah road, a road leading to Cannonville within boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The victory comes as a result of a stipulation made by Department of Justice attorneys that could pave the way to resolve such disputes through negotiation, rather than litigation. State Representative Mike Noel (R-Kanab) said this shows that the process can b simple and easy if the federal government cooperates in cases like these where you have roads that are easily determined to be the roads used and maintained within the county. RS 2477 public highway rights-of-way were granted to states and counties from 1866 to 1976 to facilitate the settlement of the West. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 repealed the statute but established "RS 2477" roads were grandfathered as valid existing rights-of-way...more

Defenders of Wildlife ends wolf predation payments

A conservation group is ending its program to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves, prompting criticism from Idaho officials including Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. The program by The Defenders of Wildlife has paid out more than $1.4 million for losses from wolves and grizzly bears since it began in 1987. In a letter this month to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, group president Roger Schlickeisen said the group originally planned to compensate ranchers for livestock losses to wolves until state, federal or tribal programs took its place. "We've honored that commitment and have continued to pay compensation across the Northern Rockies and Southwest," he said. Now that the federal government has created a wolf predation compensation program, Defenders of Wildlife is phasing out its predation payments in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico. The Idaho Statesman reports that the group hopes to spend the money on its programs aimed at helping ranchers better prevent wolf predation in the first place. Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Cal Groen said Monday he remembers a different promise - to pay ranchers until wolves were no longer protected at all - and that the group was backing out of a commitment it made when wolves were reintroduced to Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in 1995. "I think we have a major credibility problem," Groen said. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter accused the group of being disingenuous. "Not only did the Defenders of Wildlife sue to overturn delisting and oppose state management, the group now has announced it will break one of its original promises devised to increase public acceptance of this species that was forced upon us by the federal government," Otter wrote in a statement distributed Tuesday. "The Endangered Species Act does not work and won't work as long as promises are broken."...more

Delays plague solar energy on fed lands

Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground. Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle. An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it. At a time when the nation drills ever deeper for oil off its shores even as it tries to diversify its energy supply, the federal government has, so far, failed to use the land it already has — some of the world's best for solar — to produce renewable electricity. Congress in 2005 gave the Interior Department a deadline: approve 10,000 megawatts, or about five million homes' worth during peak hours, of renewable energy on public lands by 2015. Reaching that goal was left to the BLM, which oversees federal land and knows oil, gas and mining leases but is new to solar...more

Burning Man fans say cops too heavy-handed

David Levin represents entrepreneurs, investors and developers in his legal practice. As an aside, he's a Burning Man barrister — offering free legal advice to those who run afoul of the law at the annual counterculture festival on the Nevada desert. The Palo Alto, Calif., attorney maintains law enforcement has become so heavy-handed at the eclectic art and music gathering that he was compelled to form a legal defense team known as Lawyers for Burners to help participants who were cited or arrested. He and other Burning Man fans accuse overzealous officers of destroying the quality of an otherwise peaceful celebration of radical self-expression to be held Monday through Sept. 6. Some 50,000 people are expected to gawk at offbeat artwork, wear bizarre costumes or nothing at all and torch the event's 40-foot signature effigy on the Black Rock Desert, about 110 miles north of Reno. Among other issues, Levin said, female undercover agents in costume have asked male Burners for drugs, drug-sniffing dogs and their handlers have roamed camps, and armed officers have "snooped" on revelers at dances. Last year, almost 300 Burners were cited or arrested by federal officers "It's a police state out there," Levin said. "There's very little criminal activity at the event, but they cite and arrest people in order to justify their existence." Officials from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Pershing County Sheriff's Department cite a new study by U.S. Park Police that concludes an even larger police presence is needed. The two agencies plan to have 80 officers at this year's event — far below the 144 recommended in the Park Police report...more

Environmental groups face their future in climate-change debate

On Thursday, some of the country's most respected environmental groups - in the midst of their biggest political fight in two decades - sent a group of activists to Milwaukee with a message. We're losing. They put on what they called a "CarnivOil" - a fake carnival with a stilt-wearing barker, free "tar balls" (chocolate doughnuts), and a suit-wearing "oil executive" punching somebody dressed like a crab. It was supposed to be satire, but there was a bitter message underneath: When we fight the oil and gas industry, they win. A year ago, these groups seemed to be at the peak of their influence, needing only the Senate's approval for a landmark climate-change bill. But they lost that fight, done in by the sluggish economy and opposition from business and fossil-fuel interests. Now the groups are wondering how they can keep this loss from becoming a rout as their opponents press their advantage and try to undo the Obama administration's climate efforts. At two events last week in Wisconsin, environmental groups seemed to be trying two strategies: defiance and pleading for sympathy. Neither one drew enough people to fill a high school gym...more

Cool-Down Phase

America's media are largely uninterested in what a scientific association is saying about the United Nations' climate change panel. Which tells you that the findings are, indeed, worth knowing. The InterAcademy Council, an Amsterdam-based association of the world's top national science academies, reported Monday the results of its review of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its criticism of the IPCC, held up as the divine and inerrant voice on climate change, irrevocably tarnishes the panel's credibility and weakens the case for man-made global warming. While the Inter-Academy Council did not "redo the science," as its chairman said, it did scrutinize IPCC practices and methodologies and recommended a "fundamental reform" of its management structure. IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, whose resignation we've called for, dismissed the council's findings, saying "the scientific community agrees that climate change is real." We dismiss his comments as those from someone struggling to hang on to a cushy position from which he can continue to enrich himself through, as reported by Britain's Telegraph, his interests in "banks, universities and other institutions that benefit from the vast worldwide industry now based on measures to halt climate change." Rather than react arrogantly, Pachauri should be fully focused on the "two kinds of errors" the council found in the IPCC's work...more

Helicopters to remove $1M worth of pot plants from Forest Service land Wednesday

Officials are planning to use a helicopter Wednesday to remove thousands of marijuana plants -- worth more than $1 million -- found over the past two days on public land in the mountains west of Lyons. SWAT officers with Boulder County and Longmont police returned Tuesday to the remote national forest area near the towns of Raymond and Riverside, where they had found 3,500 marijuana plants worth $500,000 on Monday. They discovered an even larger stretch of 4,000 marijuana plants, said Boulder County Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough. Officers spent much of Tuesday pulling up plants at the second site, which covered about five acres, he said. Authorities left the scene just before dark Tuesday and planned to return early Wednesday to fly out the uprooted plants using cargo nets and two helicopters supplied by the Colorado National Guard, Brough said. Officers found the first set of plants Monday and launched a massive search for a man "known to be heavily armed" who was suspected of being involved in the illegal growing operation. SWAT teams didn't find the suspect -- described as a 5-foot-6 Hispanic man weighing about 150 pounds -- on Monday or Tuesday, but officers discovered evidence that multiple people are involved in the operation, according to Brough...more

Cloned cattle crowned Iowa State Fair champs

In a way one Siouxland Steer took a top prize at the Iowa State Fair, not once but twice. Their names? Wade... and Doc. You can bet these cloned cattle have many seeing double. This is Wade, the 2008 Iowa State Fair Champion Steer. This is Doc, the 2010 Iowa Champion Steer. Look familiar? Well they should, that's because Doc is a Wade's Clone. "It may sound like science fiction to outside parties but to those in the cattle barn it's really a common occurrence," says Dr. Faber. Dr. David Faber a veterinarian by education, bought Wade for his son at a farm like this a few years ago. Faber liked the steer so much he wanted another, so he just made one. "We decided he was a high quality animal that we wanted a genetic copy of," says Dr. Faber. "Now none of these animals are clones but if a farmer wanted they could be all they'd need to do is take a cell sample from their ear," says Forrest. From there the cattle DNA is extracted from the cell, placed in a embryo, and fertilized. It can be a bit costly at about 17 grand a piece, but you'll still have the genetic reserves if you decide to clone again. "We produce a cell line that has cells that are genetically identical to the elite animal and they can use that cell line repeatedly in the years to come," says Broek...more

Rancher rides herd on effort to name border collie the Oregon state dog

Passing through Oregon cattle country, you see a lot of four-legged companions working with the ranchers. No, not horses -- cattle dogs, many of them border collies. Prized for their intelligence, agility and herding instincts, border collies are a big part of everyday life here and have been for a long time. The connection between rural Oregon and these dogs is so profound, one man has embarked on a campaign to have the border collie declared Oregon's state dog, which means the border collie could join the American beaver, the chinook salmon, the Western meadowlark and the Oregon swallowtail as an official state animal by early next year...more

Colorado ranch horse mutilation investigated (video)

Two horses found mutilated August 11, 2010, by their ranch owners in Rush, Colorado, were investigated by Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Field Investigator Chuck Zukowski. Two other ranch animals who apparently survived the attacks - a dog and another horse - were found with "unknown marks." A high "electro-magnetic field reading" was measured on the dog. The rancher's wife reports unusual sounds two days prior to the discovered mutilations. Zukowski produced a video about the events and his investigation there - including an interview with the rancher's wife...more

Here is the video:

It's All Trew: 'The Farmers' Almanac' a good guide for life

Among my early memories as a boy was watching my parents and grandparents consult "The Farmers' Almanac" before commencing any serious work. Whether planting crops, working livestock, planning farm work, going fishing or even going to the doctor, out came the almanac for study. Why was this effort important? Because its predictions and advice were almost always right, and if you did not adhere, you probably paid the price. Another publication that was consulted without fail was the feed store calendar that hung on the wall by the crank telephone. This displayed the signs of the moon, any notations of things in the past, such as the date the milk cow was bred, financial obligations to be paid and bills already paid. Research shows that Robert B. Thomas designed the first edition of "The Farmers' Almanac" in 1792, for publishing in the early spring of 1793, during the term of George Washington, our first president. This is the longest publishing tenure in American history. As a reminder of the respect awarded to the originator, Robert B. Thomas, none of the 11 editors since that time have added their names to the book. It is still under his name...more

Song Of The Day #395

Today Ranch Radio features Cowboy Copas doing the country and Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mtn. Boys doing the bluegrass.

Alaska Sen. Murkowski concedes primary

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) conceded her primary race Tuesday night after she failed to close the gap on attorney Joe Miller in the ongoing vote-counting process. Murkowski gained just 38 votes on Tuesday, coming up well shy of what she needed to win her party's nomination. With new votes tallied across the state, Murkowski cut her deficit early on, but by the end of the day she still trailed Miller by 1,630 votes with approximately 15,000 more ballots counted. Another 10,000 or so are to be counted later. By conceding, Murkowski becomes the third incumbent senator to lose re-nomination this year and the second to lose a primary. Miller enters the general election as a strong favorite to succeed Murkowski. He faces underfunded Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams (D). A GOP poll this week showed Miller leading McAdams 52 percent to 36 percent...more

PRV Positive Feral Hogs in Eddy County

Our Wildlife Disease Biologist, Justin Stevenson, reported this today.

We have a positive feral hog PRV (pseudorabies) sample from Eddy County. This disease is not a human health concern but is the one that will kill cattle, sheep, canines and other carnivores if they are exposed to it. It can live in water on feed and in the air for a certain length of time making it a bad one. It doesn't usually kill feral hogs that are infected with it but will kill domestic swine exposed to it.

This is the second county with PRV we've found. Seven feral hogs, all from the same area in Quay county, tested positive for PRV last fall.

Questions should be directed to Justin at 505-346-2640.

Alan May
State Director
USDA/APHIS/WS
8441 Washington St. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
505-346-2640

Independent Audit Panel Slams U.N.'s Climate Group

Acknowledging flaws in its reports and growing public skepticism toward the theory of manmade global warming, the United Nations hired an independent review panel in March to audit its climate-science arm. The group found plenty of problems. The InterAcademy Council, an independent group of scientists representing agencies from around the world, presented the findings of its five-month investigation Monday morning at the United Nations. The group took issue with the structure, methods and leadership of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- the group responsible for a 2007 report that erroneously forecast the imminent melting of Himalayan glaciers, the rate of melt of polar ice caps and dwindling Amazon rainforests. "The IPCC has raised public awareness of climate change, and driven policymakers," said Harold Shapiro, chair of the IAC Committee to Review IPCC and former president of Princeton University. But the controversies that have erupted, and revelations of errors, have put the group under the microscope. "We recommend some significant reforms," he told the U.N..."We found in the summary for policymakers that there were two kinds of errors that came up -- one is the kind where they place high confidence in something where there is very little evidence. The other is the kind where you make a statement … with no substantive value, in our judgment."...more

Corny Capitalism

Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued another one of those announcements read exclusively by government bureaucrats and green policy wonks. The EPA decided to delay a decision to increase the concentration of ethanol legal in gasoline from 10% to 15%. So-called E15 fuel would have to wait for approval until November. It was a little-read regulatory decision that barely made a splash in the media. But it was also a rock thrown at Washington's hornets' nest of food and agricultural lobbyists. "We are disappointed," warned food giant Archer Daniels Midland. "We find this further delay unacceptable" and a "dereliction of duty," harrumphed ethanol lobbying group Growth Energy. By delaying the decision, the EPA punted on a crucial decision. The pressure brought to bear against the agency by the agriculture industry has been incredible. It's also been applied well; the EPA will most likely still approve E15 fuel in the fall. That's bad news for any American who likes to drive. In a country powered by the automobile, E15 is an enormous question mark. Since the 1970s when ethanol was first regulated by the feds, concentrations of alcohol in fuel above 10% have been illegal. But the government, lost in a dream world where cars can run on corn, has tied itself in regulatory knots trying to force ethanol into the fuel supply. The history of ethanol is a sad torrid affair of crony capitalism and green fantasies. By jumping in bed with the agriculture industry and blindly slapping on new regulations, the government artificially propped up an industry and put itself in a bind from which there may be no return...more