Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Found In Horses in Arizona

The Arizona Department of Agriculture has confirmed the diagnosis of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) in horses located in Cochise County in that state. The case-positive premises where VSV was discovered are now under quarantine. VSV causes blister-like lesions to form in the mouth and on the dental pad, tongue, lips, nostrils, hooves (coronet), and teats. These blisters swell and break, leaving raw tissue that is so painful that infected animals generally refuse to eat or drink and show signs of lameness. Severe weight loss usually follows, and in dairy cows, a severe drop in milk production commonly occurs. Affected dairy cattle can appear to be normal and will continue to eat about half of their feed intake. In 2009, Texas and New Mexico reported cases of VSV. In 2010, Arizona is the first state to detect the disease, which occurs sporadically on 5 to 8 year cycles...more

Obama Extends Moratorium; Agency Chief Resigns

President Obama said on Thursday that he is extending the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells for six more months, as the head of the agency that oversees offshore drilling resigned under pressure. S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, who took over as director of the Minerals Management Service last July, disclosed her resignation to colleagues on Thursday morning, just hours before the president was scheduled to hold a news conference to disclose his latest moves to respond to the enormous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This comes amid deepening frustration and criticism of the administration’s handling of the crisis. Mr. Obama’s order is intended to halt further permits for new wells for six months, delay planned exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the coast of Alaska, cancel an August lease sale in the western Gulf and cancel a lease sale off the coast of Virginia, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity before the formal announcement...more

BLM, Colo. Propose Unique Water Flow Regime for New Wilderness

At just over a year old, the Dominguez -- Colorado's newest wilderness area -- is one step closer to securing essential legal rights to both base water flows and seasonal swells that help sustain its diversity of species. In a decision hailed by environmental groups and supported by BLM, the Colorado Water Conservation Board last week advanced an unconventional plan that would be one of the first variable water rights ever granted in the state. The plan -- modeled after a proposal BLM pitched to the board earlier this year -- would protect the seasonally changing flows in the canyon while balancing the needs of upstream landowners who depend on the same source of water to graze cattle. While typical in-stream water rights in Colorado assign fixed flow rates for specific periods of time, the Dominguez proposal would allocate a fixed amount of water for upstream users and send all remaining water -- regardless of volume -- to Big Dominguez and Little Dominguez creeks. If finalized, the water right would be owned by the state and would eliminate the need for the Interior Department to declare its own water right -- a politically contentious move in water-strapped Western states...more

Two wolves roaming Boise Foothills kill 11 sheep

The foothills are the backyards to many bikers and joggers. Mike Sheppard covers several miles of trail daily and was surprised to hear wolves were moving in. "Typically not a whole lot to see as far as animals and wildlife goes," says Sheppard. Idaho Fish and Game found the sheep carcasses near the 8th Street gate known as the Hulls Gulch upslope. After identifying the kills there was no doubt they were wolf killings. These sheep belonged to a rancher from Wilder who says year after year the wolves are killing even more. "We're just moving onto the forest foothills, this of course is a little early to get hit, I think last year we had two kills on the Boise front side and this year I think we've already been hit four times," says Frank Shirts. And like many ranchers they feel the numbers are growing. "We're going to lose 150-200 head this year," says Shirts. He also says keeping track of hundreds of sheep is hard enough without adding wolves to the equation. Losing and replacing sheep could cost ranchers thousands of dollars, but some think curtailing the predators comes at the wolves expense and feel the ranchers are in the wolves territory. Wildlife officials say they can confirm that the sheep were killed by wolves "because of the way that lambs or ewes are killed." Coyotes normally kill sheep in the lower throat area while wolves attack adult sheep by biting their back and around the neck...more

Wolves take toll on cattle during study

Maintaining the wolf population at a level that prevents massive cattle predation is the key to allowing livestock and wolves to co-exist, an Idaho rancher says. In Idaho, that hasn't occurred, said Casey Anderson, manager of the OX Ranch near Council, Idaho. He talked about his experience as 28 wolves took up residence near his ranch. Anderson and other ranchers in Idaho and Oregon took part in a two-year study that tracked cattle and wolf interactions with GPS data. "The way it started for us is cattle behavior started changing, their habits were changing. I jumped on the bandwagon and agreed to participate in this study," Anderson said. Anderson documented the movements of 10 GPS-collared cows out of a herd of 450 and one collared wolf during the summer and fall of 2009. "The researchers were thinking of those 10 collared cows, only two or three would come into contact with the collared wolf, but in fact all 10 cows came into contact with that wolf 784 times during that period," Anderson said. "You can understand how many times all the cows in that herd are coming into contact with wolves, and why we are really noticing cattle behavior patterns and cattle distribution problems." In another herd of 317 mother cows, Anderson weaned only 255 calves in 2009. He attributes most of the missing calves to wolf predation. The ranch had 18 confirmed wolf kills last year, and lost at least 45 calves, five cows and two yearlings...more

Environmental group threatens lawsuit over 100-mile run in bear habitat

Environmentalists are threatening suit if a 100-mile endurance run is allowed in the Swan Mountains east of Kalispell, saying the race might affect protected grizzly bears. U.S. Forest Service officials, meanwhile, have begun collecting information on the race, a process that could push well beyond the scheduled July 29 start date. "Our decision whether or when to allow the race isn't going to be based on the date of the event," said Flathead National Forest spokesman Brandan Schulze. Schulze said a public scoping period likely will last until mid-June, followed by an official assessment of possible environmental impacts. "I think we'll have a better idea of what's going to be required in about a month," he said. That means tight timing for race organizers, who already have collected registration fees but did not submit their permit application to the Forest Service until May 13. Similar races have been held in the past, Schulze said, and were allowed without any formal environmental review. But this year's event covers more miles and involves more runners, he said, "and so the impacts may be different."...more

50 racers have registered. That would be the equivalent of having one runner every two miles. Come on.

Forest Service may end ban on using firefighting aircraft at night

The head of the U.S. Forest Service told a Senate panel Wednesday that water-dropping helicopters would have been deployed during the critical first night of last summer's disastrous Station blaze if they had been available and that the agency is considering ending its decades-long ban on using federal firefighting aircraft after dark. Under sometimes pointed questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D- Burbank), Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell also defended the agency's handling of the fire the next morning, when a heavy aerial assault did not begin until several hours after daylight. He said aircraft alone would not have stopped the flames from racing through the Angeles National Forest. Schiff later expressed doubt that an earlier air attack on Day 2 would have been ineffective because of steep terrain, as the Forest Service determined after an internal review. "The conclusion that it would not have helped anyway is a little too facile," he said. Schiff said he was confident that the Forest Service would resume flying at night, a tactic it abandoned in the 1970s after a fatal crash. "We are moving toward a change in policy," he said...more

Prescribed burn on Ted Turner's NM ranch crosses into Colo.

Originally intended as a controlled burn in Vermejo Park Ranch in New Mexico about 50 miles west of Raton last weekend, high winds soon expanded the blaze into a two-state firefighting effort as the flames crossed into Las Animas and Costilla counties in Colorado. Smoke from the fire was noticeable Monday afternoon as far to the northeast as Trinidad, though by late Wednesday the blaze, estimated at 55 percent contained, had only spread as far into Las Animas County as the San Francisco Pass, a high-elevation area of rugged terrain in the southwestern corner of the county south of Stonewall and Torres. The fire began Sunday at about 11:20 a.m. when a prescribed burn on Vermejo Park Ranch — a 590,823-acre private ranch owned by media mogul Ted Turner that is mostly in western Colfax County but extends into Colorado — got out of control and spread outside the 600-acre planned area for the prescribed burn...more

The Coming War on Bacon

If the food police get their way, North Carolinians can kiss their country hams, bacon, and fresh Bright Leaf hot dogs goodbye. These Southern specialties might not disappear altogether, but, if the health agency’s crusade against salt is successful, they never will taste the same again. The Washington Post reports that the Food and Drug Administration plans an unprecedented effort to reduce gradually Americans’ salt consumption. In April, the Institute of Medicine advised the FDA to lower the recommended daily intake of sodium for individuals from 2,300 mg to 1,500 mg. It also recommended setting maximum legal limits on salt in all packaged and restaurant foods. The plan is “to slowly ratchet down the sodium level, so people won’t notice the change,” said Christina DeWitt, a food scientist on the IOM advisory panel. Still, critics of the proposal argue that, in isolation, limiting salt in the diet may not improve public health. Jacob Sullum, senior editor at Reason magazine, says there's little evidence linking low-salt diets to a reduced incidence of high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease...more

As Ben Domenech notes, this is the only form of pork the Obama Administration opposes.

Song Of The Day #321

Ranch Radio will close out this week of Memorial Day tributes by bringing you the #1 song of 1966: The Ballad Of The Green Berets by SSGT Barry Sadler.

Face of Fear at the Border

This is from the transcript of the Greta Van Sustern show:

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX CORRESPONDENT: This is the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the fence in Arizona. As you can see, it's very easy to get on there. There's trash on the other side. When you get over, you just climb down like this and you hop down. Welcome to America. And you walk out on John Ladd's ranch.

How many people are coming across in the last 10 years onto just your ranch, on this 10-mile southern border?

JOHN LADD, RANCHER: Well, there are -- around half a million have been caught on this ranch since 1999.

JENKINS: A half a million?

LADD: A half a million. And if you figure one out of four is what they're catching, that's two million people.

My concern is for my wife, my mom and dad, my boys. You know, my personal self, I can't be looking over my shoulder the whole time I'm doing work on the ranch. And if somebody wants to get me, they're going to get me. But to have to have my wife lock the doors all the time, not be able to do anything when I'm not around, is ridiculous. My mom and dad are in their 80s. Why do I have to have them worry about leaving their house for more than a couple hours or a day without having somebody come babysit the house?

JENKINS: How many times have you been broken into?

LADD: Well, we've had seven, and one house has been broken into four times...

Southern Arizona rancher testifies before Congress

Bill McDonald's the 5th generation on his family's 103 year old ranch that sits near the border. He says for the last 10 years he's been dealing with the serious problem of immigrants crossing his land. He brought those years of experience here to Capitol Hill to tell his story. "Although it's been a difficult place to make a living, it's been a peaceful place," McDonald said in his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. That peaceful place is now called ground zero for immigrants crossing into the U.S. through Bill McDonald's land illegally. He explained, "Wildfires get started on a regular basis, gates left down, fences cut and trails made by human traffic." And he described to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, when these things happen on his Ranch, he has trouble even calling for help. "Communications are abysmal," Bill testified. "When you're talking about land owner to agents or agent to agent or agent to other law enforcement agencies."...more

Here's the KVOA-TV video report:

Obama's Border Security Plan Falls Short, Ranchers Say

Arizona ranchers – still reeling from the recent murder of a fellow farmer – tell FoxNews.com that President Obama's plan to send 1,200 unarmed National Guard troops to the U.S./Mexico border won't provide maximum border security. National Guards will help with intelligence, reconnaissance and drug and human trafficking along the borders, but won't be on the front lines with Border Patrol and local law enforcement detaining illegal immigrants. Rancher Wendy Glenn, whose Malpai Ranch just east of Douglas, Arizona, has roughly 4 miles of border fence, says having guardsmen review statistics isn’t enough. "We need more people on the border," she told FoxNews.com. "We don't need people sitting at desks. We would rather see more people on a border road." Meanwhile, Roger Barnett, another rancher in the area who knew Krentz, said he has noticed no increase in surveillance near his cattle ranch in Douglas. He doubts that 1,200 troops -- on or off the border -- will make a significant difference. T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing 17,000 agents, agreed with Barnett's assessment. "People shouldn't be surprised if the violence continues," Bonner told the Associated Press. "They shouldn't expect that the announcement of up to 1,200 National Guard members will send a shock wave of fear in the cartels and they will start playing nice."...more

Rehberg wants to unlock gates, allow Border Control vehicles in non-motorized areas

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Montana), has cosponsored legislation to prohibit the Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) from preventing the U.S. Border Patrol from fulfilling its congressionally mandated mission to control our borders. Some DOI and USDA policies, including forbidding the use of motorized vehicles on certain lands, have seriously undermined border control efforts on the northern border. “Once again, bungling bureaucrats have put Montana families at risk,” said Rehberg, a co-chair of the House Northern Border Caucus. “As long as we have holes in our border security, they will be exploited by terrorists, drug smugglers and human traffickers. It’s one thing to deal with the logistics of protecting ourselves, but it’s another thing to enact policies that actively prevent controlling the border.” While Americans are demanding border control, inflexible environmental policies instituted on DOI and Forest Service lands have closed off large segments of the border to necessary control efforts. More than 1,000 miles of the U.S.-Canada border are on federal lands, crossing 13 states, 12 National Parks and 4 Indian reservations. Unfortunately, Border Patrol access has been limited by public land managers who have literally locked out Border Patrol vehicles. To address this serious problem, Rehberg joined Western Caucus colleagues in sponsoring H.R. 5016, which would prohibit DOI and USDA from impeding the Border Patrol...more

It's not just bureaucrats and policy. In many cases it is a law passed by Congress, such as the Wilderness Act, which prohibits all motorized traffic. Nothing will change until the law is changed.

Protecting endangered species interfering with border security

A group of Republican lawmakers says policies aimed at protecting the grizzly bear and other cross-boundary species along the U.S.-Canada border are putting wildlife conservation ahead of national security on America's northern frontier. In a statement released this week warning that "the national security threat from the North is real," the Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives committee on natural resources alleged that agents with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol "are frequently unable to effectively monitor this land due to environmental regulations." They added: "These protections have enabled criminals to target the areas for illegal and other dangerous activities. This remote Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture land can be targeted by drug smugglers, human traffickers and potential terrorists." The Republican committee members, led by Utah congressman Rob Bishop, are insisting that border agents be permitted unfettered use of trucks or all-terrain vehicles along the Washington-British Columbia border, where some areas are currently deemed off-limits to protect grizzlies moving between the two countries...more

UTEP Students Killed in Juarez Laid to Rest

The violence in Juarez is to blame for the death of a current and former UTEP student. Today, those men were laid to rest in Juarez, with family and friends saying their final goodbyes. The bodies of Alejandro Ruiz and his friend Jorge Gonzalez Quintero were together for the last time. Friends, relatives and members of the Scouts Association showed up to a Juarez church this afternoon to say goodbye. We're told the two men were returning from a scout meeting in Chihuahua City when they were attacked and killed on Sunday. "They were good persons, and very good friends and I feel really bad for these things that happened," Luis Torres said. Friends say they think the shooters got confused and killed the wrong people in the attack...more

Feds Issue Terror Watch for the Texas/Mexico Border

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com. The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami. In 2008, the U.S. government designated Al Shabaab a terrorist organization. Al Shabaab has said its priority is to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on Somalia; the group has aligned itself with Al Qaeda and has made statements about its intent to harm the United States. In recent years, American Somalis have been recruited by Al Shabaab to travel to Somalia, where they are often radicalized by more extremist or operational anti-American terror groups, which Al Shabaab supports. The recruiters coming through the Mexican border are the ones who could be the most dangerous, according to law enforcement officials. Security experts tell FOXNews.com that the influx of hundreds of Somalis over the U.S. border who allegedly have ties to suspected terror cells is evidence of a porous and unsecured border being exploited by groups intent on wrecking deadly havoc on American soil...more

Fresno judge lifts delta pumping restrictions

A federal judge in Fresno on Tuesday temporarily lifted Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumping restrictions designed to help endangered salmon, siding with urban and agricultural water users who said the move would not harm the fish. The order by U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger will be in place until June 15. For west-side agriculture -- including farmers and ranchers in the Westlands Water District -- that could mean an extra 200,000 acre-feet of water, said Tom Birmingham, Westlands' general manager. In real-world terms, he added, it will mean an additional 75,000 acres of farmland could be put back into production -- and with it more people put to work. "I am thrilled with the ruling," he said. But in the complicated world of water law, whether the increased water deliveries actually happen is still unclear...more

Yellowstone wolf killed near Butte

Montana wildlife officials say a female wolf from a defunct Yellowstone National Park pack was shot by a rancher who spotted the wolf attacking cattle south of Butte. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wolf program director Carolyn Sime says the wolf was shot on the west side of the Highland Mountains, about 150 miles from the park. Yellowstone wolf project biologist Erin Albers says the 2-year-old wolf was the last of the Druid Peak pack still wearing a radio collar. The Druid pack began to fall apart last fall when the alpha female died, the alpha male left and the remaining members were hit by mange, a parasite that causes wolves to lose their hair. The pack had a litter of pups last summer that all died of mange. AP

Bighorns killed after mingling with domestic sheep

State wildlife officials killed two bighorn sheep southeast of Big Timber after the yearling lambs came in close contact with domestic sheep. Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists worried the lambs could carry disease from the domestic animals back to the wild herd. Biologist Justin Paugh of Big Timber says a rancher saw the bighorn sheep in his herd and contacted the department. After confirming the animals had been in close contact, the bighorns were shot Monday evening and their carcasses taken to the FWP laboratory in Bozeman. The agency says wild sheep cannot fend off some diseases carried by domestic sheep, any potential infections could affect an entire herd. AP