LivestockDigest

LivestockThe greatest homage we

can pay to truth is to use it. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

NEWSPAPERPR

IORITY HANDLING

by LEE PITTS

MARKET

DigestRiding Herd

by Lee Pitts

Often when two ranchers gettogether these days theconversation invariablyturns to the wrong path

this country is on, how financiallyand morally bankrupt we are, theineptness of our federal bureau-cracy and the socialist nature ofour Commander in Chief. Theworst part is, it seems like therenothing we can do about it.It recently dawned on me that

the exact same criticisms can beleveled at our own industry. Thesame laundry list of disparage-ments about whats wrong withour government is also true aboutthe NCBA: bumbling bureau-crats, staff driven, the same oldpeople in charge, the revolvingdoor between government, bigbusiness and past NCA/NCBAPresidents, influence peddling,wasted money, bloated salaries,centrally planned ideology, notransparency, few people callingall the shots, and on and on.Sound familiar? And yet there ishardly a dissent.The very same ranchers who

criticize our inept governmentraise not a word of protest aboutthe NCBA. And unlike our gov-ernment, there is actually some-thing we could do about it. Makeno mistake, Im no fan of ourPresident or our government butit seems to me that we should getour own house in order. What wecriticize about the feds, we toler-

far more dangerous to your liveli-hood than the knuckleheads inCongress and the White House.Yet the silence is deafening. The 27-year-old government-

mandated checkoff has becomejust another government-imposedtax that is doing more damage inthe hands of the NCBA than anygood it may have done. There Ivesaid it. Now Ill prove it.

Are They That Stupid?The Cattlemens Beef Board

Communications Director, DianeHenderson, recently told Feed-stuffs magazine that despite fewerdollars available for beef market-ing and promotion, beef demandremains strong.Really?The nonrefundable checkoff

program has spent more than$1.7 billion of your money toresearch and promote beef and inits 27 year existence the beefindustry has lost 40 percent of itsproducers and the consumptionof beef during the same perioddropped from 74 pounds toaround 50 pounds. Since theNCBA stole the checkoff throughthe merger the consumption ofbeef has gone down 13 percent.Its gotten so bad that not only isthe chicken industry looking atbeef in its rear view mirror, thisyear pork consumption will bebigger than that of beef.If a CEO of a business showed

those kind of results he or shewould be unceremoniously

ate within our own industry, yetwhat is wrong with the NCBA isan exact microcosm of what iswrong with America. Rememberthe old bromide, People who livein glass houses shouldnt throwstones? Well folks, we are livingin a glass house bigger than thePentagon and our own industryorganization, also financed withyour tax dollars, otherwise knownas the checkoff, is every bit as cor-rupt as the mess in Washingtonand in the short term may prove

In a Glass HouseIf you can smile when things

go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

continued on page six

www.LeePittsbooks.com

Dont Laugh

If you needed anothersign that America hasgone off its rockertheres the clown in Mis-

souri who wore a mask ofPresident Obama at thestate fair rodeo. When theannouncer asked if anyonewanted to see the clown runover by a bull a cheer wentup. The clown was clowningaround, trying to make peo-ple laugh, which prettymuch fits the job descrip-tion of a clown, but after avideo of the event went viralon You Tube the media gotinvolved and blew the inci-dent all out of proportion.Which fits the job descrip-tion of todays media.Before you know it thepolitically incorrect clownhad been permanentlybanned from ever appearingat a Missouri state fairrodeo, the president of theMissouri Rodeo Associationresigned, and the Missourichapter of the NAACPcalled it a hate crime anddemanded a federal investi-gation of the incident.The feds cant even keep

up with all the scandals inWashington, DC these daysand the NAACP wantsthem to investigate a clown?A word to the wise, all yourodeo clowns better declareall your income because Isee an IRS audit in yourfuture!I saw this story on the

evening news which was fol-lowed by a football gamewhere fans in the standsheld up huge masks of foot-ball players faces and yet,as far as I know, no one hasdemanded a federal investi-gation of Denver Broncofans. Congressmen on both

sides of the aisle fell overeach other trying to con-demn the incident and wereworried about the effect themasked clown may havehad on any children at therodeo. I suppose this meansthat any child who wears anObama mask on Hal-loween, as many did lastyear, will be placed on theterrorist list and have theircandy taken away. Anotherpolitician called the maskthe Ugly face of intoler-ance and ignorance andcompared it to an effigy ata Ku Klux Clan rally. A

continued on page two

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

One of the most devastating governmenttakings in the history of the U.S. is inprogress in Klamath County, Oregon.This movement to get farmers and ranch-

ers off their privately owned lands has beenbrewing for many years but came to a head aftera sequence of events this spring and summershut off long-time water rights and deprivedlandowners of their ability to irrigate or watertheir livestock.This area in Oregon runs more than 100,000

head of cattle in the upper basin (above Kla-math LakeOregons largest lake) during thesummer, and is farming country in the irrigatedland below the lake. The water use for ranchingand farming has had a convoluted history, whichfirst gained national attention in 2001. Usingthe Endangered Species Act as their tool, envi-ronmentalists, local tribes and federal authori-ties forced a shut-off of the water to the farmersbelow the lake, claiming this was necessary toprotect endangered fish.At that time, the rural community and ranch-

ers in the upper basin rallied around the farmersto fight a legal battle to avert that crisis andrestore irritation water to 1,500 farms below thelake. Eventually the water was restored to thefarms after much effort. The National Academyof Science showed that incorrect science had

Klamath County Water Crisisbeen used by the groups forcing the shut-off.Then government agencies, local tribes and cer-tain environmental groups took a different strat-egy to divest the upper basin ranchers of theirtraditional water usage.Roger Nicholson, a stockman in the upper

basin, says this is a huge issue and has thepotential of destroying every western ranch. Theprecedent here in Oregon could be used else-where to halt irrigation, eroding traditionalwater rights. The current issue might be charac-terized as the desire of the federal governmentto take over state water rights, aided by environ-mental groups that want the land to go back towilderness.As a bit of background, my familys ranch

has been here since the 1890s. Weve added oth-er ranches to it, but the majority of our landalready had state adjudicated water rights whichhad held up in court, says Nicholson. The Federal Government sued local ranchers

in the 1970s to try to gain water and water rightson the former Klamath Indian Reservationlands. This case became known as the Adair caseand was eventually tried before the Ninth Cir-cuit Court of Appeals.Even though the Klamath tribes did not have

a land base (having sold their reservation many

continued on page four

OCTOBER 15, 2013 www. aaalivestock . com Volume 55 No. 10

thrown out the door.Thanks in part to the NCBA,

the small and part-time rancher inthis country has become anendangered species. The NCBAwanted the beef industry to becontrolled by the big feeders andpackers and now that ranchernumbers have been reduced by40 percent the NCBA is wonder-ing why the money they getthrough the checkoff is so muchless. They wanted the small pro-ducer gone and some of theirNCBA brethren in the East alsowant the public lands ranchersgone, too. That means thered beless competition and higherprices for them. Besides, they ask,Why should they be getting suchlow rents from the BLM andForest Service?As the NCBA was acting as a

cheerleader for the monopolists Ialways wondered if they wereaware that they were cutting theirown throats. Even though theystill get checkoff dollars from thebeef imported into this country,its not as much as it would be ifthe beef was produced by ranch-ers in this country. Are they soobtuse that they couldnt see thata beef industry patterned afterthe monopolized chicken and hogindustries would result in fewerplayers, fewer transactions andtherefore fewer checkoff dollars?Are they that stupid?Only 26,000 out of 700,000

ranchers in this country chose tojoin the NCBA (not quite 4 per-cent according to my calculator)but the organization gets tospend 80 percent of the checkoffdollars collected at the nationallevel. That would be akin to let-ting the Sierra Club or PETAspend a big chunk of our federalbudget. (If we had one.) To arational person NCBAs relativelylow membership would seem toindicate that the NCBA is afringe organization, just like manyenvironmental groups with smallmemberships who want to dictateour national environmental poli-cy. Yet we bad mouth the greengroups yet say nothing when it ishappening in our very own indus-try.

Sound Familiar?As the largest contractor of

checkoff dollars the NCBA isnow feeling the pinch. TheNCBA says that weve lost somany producers as a result thedrouths in 2011 and 2012, yet ifyou chart the decrease in thenumber of ranchers in this coun-try the skid began long before thedrouths ever did.Its estimated that the checkoff

dollars they get will fall by nearly6 percent in the 2014 fiscal year.As checkoff taxes have fallen tothe lowest point since the pro-grams first year, the NCBA isbeing forced to cut $4.3 millionfrom their budget. With thesmallest U.S. cattle inventory insixty years, and fewer taxabletransactions taking place as aresult of more contract produc-tion, there are fewer dollars tospend on salaries. Of course, thatgot the attention in a hurry ofNCBA staffers who went into a

big dither and their cries soundindistinguishable from those ofthe crybabies in the halls of Con-gress.A common complaint you

hear about the federal govern-ment and big business is thatthere is little transparency. In oth-er words, they are hiding whatthey are doing from the taxpay-ers. The NCBA is even less trans-parent. Other than what they volun-

teer, the only way we can find outthings about the NCBAsfinances is to file Freedom OfInformation requests, which takea long time. But back in 2008 agroup calling themselves CattleProducers of Louisiana filed justsuch a Freedom of Informationrequest and as a result they got tolook at NCBAs IRS Form 990.In 2008 the NCBA brought in$55.6 million of which $46.1 mil-lion, or 83 percent were checkoffdollars. Now this is important:the NCBA collected only $3.4million in total membership dues.Thats less than 6 percent of its2008 budget. In other words ifthey had to live off the incomethey generate the NCBA wouldbe broker than our Federal Gov-ernment. Except, instead of print-ing money, they steal it from youin the form of the checkoff!The great writer Alan Guebert

did even more digging intoNCBAs IRS form 990 and foundthat NCBAs top 14 officialsearned a combined $2.7 millionin salaries and benefits in 2008.Overall, that means four out offive dues dollars collected byNCBA went to just 14 of its 193employees. It also means thatNCBA is not a national cattle-mens group, wrote Guebert.Take away the 83 percent of itsrevenue, the checkoff dollars itgot in 2008, and NCBA doesnthave enough members or moneyto populate or operate an averagerural county in the U.S.Yet where, my friends, is the

outcry?

Thanks, SuckersBecause the NCBA has to cut

10 percent from their 2014 budg-et they offered voluntary separa-tion incentives to their employ-ees. In simpler terms, you arepaying for NCBA staffers to quit.Where have you heard of thatkind of action before? It soundslike a federal retiree program orthe infamous dairy buyout. Onlynow the tax checkoff dollars arebeing used to pay people to quitworking, not Holstein cows.Just like the sequester where

some federal bureaus were forcedto cut an identical 10 percentfrom their budgets, its highlylikely that those paying the check-off wont even know the employ-ees are gone. Which begs thequestion, if you cut 10 percent ofyour staff and no one can tell anydifference, why were they hired inthe first place?

You Are Not A VIPThe NCBA was counting on

getting their hands on a big

Page 2 Livestock Market Digest October 15, 2013

Glass House continued from page one

continued on page three

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chunk of the increase in thecheckoff to $2.00 per head in sev-eral states where there were pro-ducer votes to double the beeftax. Despite the fact that theCBB and NCBA say there isoverwhelming support for thecheckoff, the statewide votes todouble the checkoff did not go asplanned. Ranchers invariably vot-ed down the increase. So theNCBA had to come up with oth-er methods of creative coercion.To make up for the shortfall theNCBA devised a plan that shouldmake every cattleman and cattle-woman in this country madderthan if they got notified of an IRSaudit by Obamas tax collectors.At the NCBAs last conven-

tion they announced the develop-ment of a Voluntary InvestmentPlan (VIP). Under the programthe packers will pay up to$2.25/head if the cattle feederswill match it. So, the packersdont have to pay the beef check-off tax to be wasted on NCBAsalaries and such, even thoughthe packers are the biggest bene-ficiaries of the research and pro-motion. Instead they get to putthe money in a big slush fundwhere it will be off the books andout of the USDAs control.If you dont think were talking

about a big packer/big feederdominated NCBA listen to this:The board of the VoluntaryInvestment Plan will be made upof 4 packers, 4 feeders and 5 oth-ers. Even if they put 5 rancherson the board, which they wont,the big feeders and packers wouldstill have control. The NCBAmight respond, why shouldranchers have a say on the VIPwhen they dont put any moneyin the pot? To which we wouldcounter, why do the packers getto control the checkoff and use itfor their own needs when theydont put any money into it?The slush fund VIP money will

not go through the NCBA board.Supposedly this new pot of mon-ey will be used to take the fight tothe Humane Society, PETA andother such groups, no doubt try-ing to brainwash the general pub-lic that theres nothing wrongwith beef produced in the globalpackers industrialized factories.They will hide behind the ranch-ers good name just as they haveused your checkoff money to helpform the US Farmers and Ranch-ers Alliance to convince a generalpublic that theres nothing wrongwith beef produced with betaagonists, hormones and such.The final plan for the Volun-

tary Investment Plan will be pre-sented to NCBAs ExecutiveCommittee and it will be a PolicyDivision only vote. In otherwords, no checkoff people. Eventhough the NCBA comman-deered the checkoff and are pick-ing the pocket of the Beef Board,the NCBA isnt returning thefavor by letting the CBB in on thenew slush fund, evidently thinkingthat Beef Board and ranchers arenot VIPs.

Leaving Legacies BehindThe NCBA has come up with

other ways to get cash. The staff,

Glass House continued from page two

at the direction of the NCBAExecutive Committee, has elimi-nated the Youth Activities Pro-grams that have been so success-ful at the annual convention thelast 5 years. Farm Credit hasfunded the program up to about$60,000 this year and the NCBAstaffers see that as money theycould shove in their own pockets.So they killed the program.Evidently, training young peo-

ple for the future is less importantthan NCBA salaries and benefits.Either that or the NCBA mustthink there isnt going to be muchof a future in the cattle businessin this country, so why trainfuture leaders?Past NCBA President Andy

Groseta from Arizona was the

Godfather of the program and itwas to be his legacy. Not anymore. It seems a lot of NCBAleaders, past Presidents, TaskForce Members and founders arenow finding that the legacies theythought they were leaving behindarent what they had in mind.

You Gotta Be KiddingAnother good indicator that

the NCBA has too much of yourmoney to play with is the factthe NCBA has a Director ofSustainability. They are alsoworking on an Industry Sustain-ability Assessment and want tobuild a Beef Sustainability Cen-ter. All paid for with your beeftax dollars. Dr. Kim Stackhouseis the Director of Sustainability

and she said that the beef check-off-funded assessment is Thefirst time any food value chainhas ever documented the eco-nomic, environmental and socialfingerprint.The Beef Sustainability Cen-

ter, otherwise known as TheCenter for Research & Knowl-edge Management in theDepartment of Research, Edu-cation & Innovation of theNational Cattlemens BeefAssociation, will also befinanced with your checkoff dol-lars, To concentrate on bal-anced solutions, strategic part-nerships and collaborativeefforts to lead industry princi-ples on sustainability issues. Ifthat doesnt sound like some-

thing the federal governmentwould come up with I dontknow what does.Ranchers by nature are an

independent bunch and yet itsone of lifes big ironies that theNCBA, in hijacking the beefcheckoff, has turned them into abunch of helpless and hopelesstaxpayers whose leaders are nobetter than the clowns and foolsin Congress and the WhiteHouse.So next time you start com-

plaining about the corrupt politi-cians in Washington, D.C., justremember that our only hope ofreclaiming any future at all foryour children, and their children,is by starting to clean up themess in our own backyard.

Page 4 Livestock Market Digest October 15, 2013

years before), the Adair casegranted the tribe rights for hunt-ing, fishing and gathering sincethe Indians didnt specify thatthey were selling those rightswith the land when they sold it.The court system ruled that theydid indeed still have these rights,and granted the tribe a waterright for hunting, fishing andgathering, for a moderate stan-dard of living, as they used it in1979 and not historically. By doing this, the court

opened Pandoras Box. The 9thCircuit decision went on to saythey were not going to create awilderness servitude on the agri-

cultural land with this decision,but the end result is that itsbeen in court ever since. The 9thCircuit had established theparameters of the water right butleft the quantification to be donewithin the state courts, heexplains.This gave the State of Oregon

the empowerment to adjudicatethe Klamath Basin water. Thiswas the first time an adjudica-tion had taken place in the statefor Federal Reserve Rights(water on federal lands such asBLM and Forest Service), eventhough many agricultural rightshad already been adjudicated,he says. This led to decades ofstate court adjudication proceed-ings.The federal government took

a cheap shot in the closing daysof the Clinton administrationand sued us again and reopenedthe Adair case taking it to thefederal district court in Portland,Oregon. Judge Panner decidedthat case. He decided that themoderate standard of living wasmeaningless; he wanted to main-tain productive fish habitatthrough ideal flow in thestreams. We took Judge Pannersdecision back to the 9th Circuitcourt which unanimously over-turned it. Judge Panner was toldthat the Adair decision was to goto state court for qualification asoriginally authored, withoutinterference from any othercourt, Nicholson says.A state court of administra-

tive law was assigned to makequantification decisions. Thatcourt, in the quantificationphase used as a legal basis theJudge Panner ruling which hadalready been vacated. The netresult is that the state processessentially awarded all the waterto the Indians on the wrong legalbasis, explains Nicholson.Thus it goes into full force

and effect, and now you see theirrigated lands that satisfied theneeds of more than 100,000head of cattle are gone. It hasdestroyed our community.After the shut-off this springthere was not going to be evenenough water for livestock todrink.There is a provision in the

state water law that says during adrought designation livestockwater is put ahead of everythingelse. Because we have a droughtdesignation in our area this sum-mer, we do have stock water.But we had to take action toensure that we could water our

animals, and without a droughtdesignation in this part of thestate we will lose it; there is nolegal provision to maintain it, hesays. Many ranchers and farmersare in a serious situation.The water issue is now in the

quantification phase in the localcircuit court which will handle allthe exceptions to the OWRDorder that came through theadministrative phase. But thisphase is scheduled for about 10years. Ranchers cant hang onthat long and they cant affordattorney fees without any pro-duction from their land. Essen-tially this has put them out ofbusiness, including me, saysNicholson.Klamath County is huge and

encompasses a lot of grazingland. It is in the top 3 percent ofall counties in the U.S. for num-bers of stocker cattle andcow/calf operations. It also hasa tremendous connection withthe Sacramento and San Joaquinvalleys, with Klamath Countysupplying summer pasture andthe California counties supplyingwinter pasture. This water shut-off is affecting hundreds of fami-lies, and many agriculture-relat-ed businesses. I talked withsome of the businessmen in Kla-math Falls and their sales aredown 50 percent from what theywere earlier. The cattle situationwill have a dramatic negativeeffect on feedlots in the North-west; they are very dependentupon the cattle coming out ofKlamath County to satisfy theirneed for numbers, he explains.This nullification of tradition-

al water rights is a taking ofprivate property. But the oppos-ing groups will just say that theyhad never had their day in courtand now they show that we havenothing and that thetribes/environmentalists shouldhave had the water all along.The very dangerous part of this isthat there has been enough legalprecedent established at thispoint that if we dont totallyoverturn this, it will happenagain all across the West, wher-ever there are tribes that decidethey want the water. I recentlyhad two people call me fromMontana, emphasizing the factthat we have to overturn this, orthey may be vulnerable, too. Itwill be a taking of all water andwater rights across our cattlelands, and we cant survive with-out the water, says Nicholson.Its a huge case with tremen-

dous precedential implications

more than we can imagine.Seemingly the end justifies themeans for the state governmentof Oregon; they have facilitatedthis and enabled it to happenbecause of their desire to estab-lish full in-stream flows. Its apolitical decision, he says.They are trying to satisfy a

wide variety of interests andissues, mainly the fisheries andthe in-stream flow issues. Yet thein-stream flow issues were nevera real problem earlier. I can givean example, on a particular creekthat I was involved with, showingthe absurdity of their claims,Nicholson says. I have about 1,000 acres of

irrigated land that lie on the for-mer Indian reservation part ofthe allotments that were the for-mer Indian homesteads. The waythe reservation was set up, itallowed every Indian to have apiece of private property. As partof that process, the federal gov-ernment installed the first Indianirrigation project in KlamathCounty, on Fort Creek. Thetribe, assuming they owned allthe water at that time, deededout part of that water to theirindividual Indian people to con-vert them to an agricultural wayof life. Subsequently federal caselaw allowed those same Indiansto turn around and sell thatproperty, with the water rights,to gain more benefit from theirproperty if and when they didsell it, he explains.My family myself and my

father bought several of thoseallotments through the years,with the water. And now thiscourt decision essentially takesthat water and puts it right backinto the title of the tribe itself. Idont think thats a very Ameri-can way to do business, saysNicholson.The creek itself also demon-

strates the absurdity of the issue.Fort Creek, the stream that thewater was to come out of, flows75 second feet of water, springfed, year round. It never varies,year round, since theres no run-off water in it from snow melt.Its just spring water, from a veryproductive spring. But the state,for aquatic purposes, had the in-stream flow rights at 25 secondfeet of water from that stream.Out of the 75 second feet, weused 25 second feet. The netresult was a full-time flow of 50second feet in the creek whichwas twice what they said wasnecessary to support aquatic life.It was working fine the way it

was, but the state still shut offour water, he says.This has become an intolera-

ble situation. We have livestockwithout a home and yearlingsmoving to market early, peopleputting their cows on the mar-ket, and there doesnt seem to beany chance for positive resultsfor quite a while. Our onlychoice is to either continue withthe court case or somehowobtain a settlement. It needs tobe emphasized that this is not atemporary drought shut-off butinstream flow levels are set sohigh that this is a permanentshut down, he says.Even if the ranchers decide to

sell, their property isnt worthvery much now. The economistwho works for us says that thehit this year, with the decline inthe countys economy as well asland values is somewhat over$500 million. This is pretty hardto recover from, ever. Within thearea, the state of Oregon totallycontrols ground water. Theyveclosed this basin down and wonteven allow people to drill wells toremedy the situation. Not onlydo they not allow drilling newwells, but the governors officehas told us that theres a goodchance they are going to shutdown the existing wells, saysNicholson.It seems like the goal is to get

people off the land and have itgo back to wilderness, somethingthe 9th Circuit prohibited. Thissituation has been going on for along time, and Ive led variousgroups that have stood up to it.In 2005 we signed a settlementagreement with the Klamathtribe that would have avoided allof this. The agreement wassigned by the tribes and myselfin Washington, D.C. and washeralded as the end of thispotentially contentious situation.Two weeks later the Departmentof Interior announced that itwould not allow the Klamathtribe to settle, he says. Several weeks thereafter, a

high-ranking Interior official toldme that the reason they did thiswas that Interior feels there is ashortage of water all over thewestern states and this is theirchance to gain a major block ofwater simply for the price of liti-gation, realizing that the ranch-ers could not stay with the costof litigation. He stated that if itever went to the Supreme Courtwe would probably win, but theywould easily destroy us before itgot that far, says Nicholson.

Klamath County continued from page one

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In todays economy, its evenmore important to makegood decisions about thecare of our horses. The

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making our own decisions onour horses health and solicit-ing the advice of a veterinari-an?This is where Horse Side

Vet GuideTM comes in. HorseSide Vet Guide is a brand new

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diseases: lists ofobservations, skills,how-to videos, veteri-nary diagnostics,diagnoses, treat-ments, and so muchmore- available toyou Horse-Side.As we all know,

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owners are turning to theInternet more and more forinformation about horsehealth, sometimes instead ofcalling the veterinarian, saidThal. Sometimes this works,and sometimes it doesnt. Toooften, this approach results ina delayed diagnosis and ulti-mately increased cost to thehorse owner.It occurred to me that

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Horse Side Vet Guide wasmade with the horse owner inmind.Here is what HSVG can do

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much more. Start-ing with your obser-vation, HSVG getsyou oriented andeducated.

Educate. HSVGprovides an abilityto explore the worldof equine health-

care from an aerial perspective.You can browse any of thedatabase tables for concisedescriptions of hundreds of:Horse Owner Observations,Vet Diagnostics, Vet Diag-noses, Vet Treatments, HorseOwner Skills, or Horse OwnerSupplies. Again, HSVGsunique relational structureallows you to see the big pic-ture how one thing relates toanother- like no other resourceever developed.

Develop Skills. HSVG canteach you and your studentsand staff how to become com-petent partners in the healthcare of the horse. Users willalways have access to 114 care-fully selected skills on theirphones. This is done throughthe use of short, concisedescriptions, photos, diagramsand videos. 20 high qualityQuick Reference videos,dozens of anatomical drawings,and the whole database itself isresident on the phone withoutan Internet connection.

HSVG improves communi-cation between users and theirlocal veterinarian. The MyVets feature puts importantvet contact information at yourfingertips and encourages thedialog.

Customize the Content:Use the notes feature inwhich you can attach your ownpersonalized notes to any indi-vidual record within the data-base. This allows you to cus-tomize the database withinformation from othersources, especially content pro-vided by veterinarians and oth-er reliable sources.

Share function You canquickly and easily share(through e-mail, Twitter andFacebook) a topic from withinHSVG.

Quick Reference features

20 high quality videos demon-strating key examination andtreatment skills. Also includedis a group of anatomical draw-ings created especially forhorse owners and equine pro-fessionals. These images werecreated by Dr. Thal, and then aprofessional artist cleanedthem up and formatted them.

Quiz Take the quiz to geta sense of what you know. Inthe future there will be morequizzes.Horse Side Vet Guide is not

structured as a simple decisiontree that takes you down a sin-gular path based on your input.

It is not a substitute for yourlocal equine veterinarian. Itdoes not, and cannot, antici-pate and address all of the sub-tle variations and unique cir-cumstances associated withyour horses health. That isyour veterinarians job.Horse Side Vet Guide is

intended to increase the quali-ty of communication betweenyou and your equine veterinari-an for the benefit of yourhorse.To download the application

for iPhone or for further information, please visithttps://itunes.apple.com/app/id

663353024 www.horsesidevet-guide.com. Follow us atwww.facebook.com/horsesidevetguide and http://twitter.com/horsesidevet.

About Dr. Doug Thal. Doug Thal has been ahorseman his entire life. His father was asteeplechase rider and polo player. He grewup on a family cattle and horse ranch andhas been riding and training horses sinceearly childhood. He has been an equine vet-erinarian for over 20 years working on a mixof performance and pleasure horses. Hisspecial interests are lameness and surgery.Thal is board certified by the AmericanBoard of Veterinary Practitioners, in EquinePractice. He continues to manage his equineveterinary practice, Thal Equine, in Santa Fe,NM. You can see more about his veterinarypractice at www.thalequine.com.

October 15, 2013 Americas Favorite Livestock Newspaper Page 5

New App continued from page four

BY RON ARNOLD,

WASHINGTONEXAMINER.COM

My copy of the leakedfinal draft of theworlds most influentialglobal warming report,

despite authors of the highestreputation, reads like some-thing from a mental hospitalwith no doctors or nurses.

The 31-page Summary forPolicymakers of the UnitedNations IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Changeannounced the authors stun-ning concession that computer-modeled forecasts of imminentplanetary catastrophe were cat-astrophically wrong globalsurface temperatures haventrisen significantly in the last 15

years but, even with manyother doubts, also insisted thatthe IPCC is more confidentthan ever that global warming ismainly humans fault.Then European Union Cli-

mate Change CommissionerConnie Hedegaard told theLondon Telegraph that EU pol-icy on global warming is righteven if the science is wrong.Thats nuts, but thats BigGreen: Facts dont matter.I asked climate realist Marc

Morano, publisher of ClimateDepot and former Senate Envi-ronment and Public Works pro-fessional staff member, whetherthe leaked IPCC report wasindeed full of inconsistencies.It is, but you have to pity

the UN. The climate events of2013 have been devastating toits political narrative on globalwarming, Morano said.He reeled off examples as if

spooling out crime scene tape:Both poles have expanding ice,with the Antarctic breaking alltime records. Global tempera-tures have failed to rise for 15-plus years. Global cooling hasoccurred since 2002. Polar bearnumbers are increasing. Wild-fire numbers are well belowaverage. Sea level rise is failingto accelerate. Tornadoes are atrecord lows. Hurricanes are atrecord low activity. Caseclosed.I complained that none of

that was in the IPCC report.

Morano indicated that the factswere well known even ifobscured by jargon. As a result,former climate believers likeJudith Curry are growing moreskeptical by the day, Moranosaid.Its true. Judith Curry, head

of climate science at GeorgiaInstitute of Technology inAtlanta, this week publishedher analysis of the leaked IPCCdraft report and it sparked aninternational Twitter war.In view of the recent pause

[in warming] and the lowerconfidence level in some of thesupporting findings, Currysaid, it therefore made no sensethat the IPCC was claimingthat its confidence in its fore-casts and conclusions hasincreased. This is incompre-hensible to me, she said. Thescience is clearly not settled,and is in a state of flux.All this business about con-

fidence sounds like a sopho-moric game because it is. Itsthe IPCCs consensus-seekingprocess at work. Consensus is agroup decision-making processthat seeks the consent of allparticipants, and it is not partof the scientific method. Itgained popularity in thewomens liberation and anti-nuclear movements of the1970s.The only advantage of con-

sensus-seeking for the IPCC isthe political clout of being able

to say, The scientific consensusis . . ., thereby totally under-cutting the views of non-IPCCscientists.Its disadvantage to science is

that nobody knows by an up-and-down vote who disagreeswith major pieces of the scienceand why, instead devising ascale of confidence for eachset of results: weakly confi-dent, moderately confident,and extremely confident likemarking your kids heights onthe kitchen wall with short,taller and way tall.Curry recommended that the

consensus-seeking IPCCprocess be abandoned for amore traditional review, saying,I think that arguments for andagainst would better supportscientific progress, and be moreuseful for policy makers.One of the reports authors,

professor Myles Allen, directorof Oxford Universitys ClimateResearch Network, said, Theidea of producing a documentof near-biblical infallibility is amisrepresentation of how sci-ence works. He recommendedthis IPCC report be the last.With all the economic pain,

social divisiveness and resourcemisdirection the IPCC hascaused, the 195 governmentsthat funded it should get theirmoney back.

Ron Arnold, a Washington Examiner columnist, isexecutive vice president of the Center for theDefense of Free Enterprise.

Page 6 Livestock Market Digest October 15, 2013

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White House spokesman said itwas Not one of Missouris finermoments and Missouris gover-nor apologized. A political sci-ence professor said of theclowns act, It goes beyond thepale. Which is an interestingchoice of words if white folkswant to take offense.Henceforth any contractor or

subcontractor to the MissouriState Fair from here on out willhave to undergo sensitivitytraining. Wow, if folks had beenthis touchy when Nixon wasPresident our country wouldhave had a nervous breakdown.The backlash came from

Representative Steve Stockmanof Texas who said that liberalsare thin-skinned and totalitarianand invited the clown down toTexas to perform for rodeo fansthere. Because his name isStockman all people wearing acowboy hat and trying to get onan airplane in the future will bebulldogged to the ground byaggressive TSA officials andfrisked like they were a feeble89 year old lady.This incident shows some-

thing that as a humor columnistI have known for a long time:its getting harder to be funnywhen people are just looking for

an excuse to be offended. Withall this political correctness,America has lost its sense ofhumor. Were a nation of sour-pusses and have forgotten howto laugh at ourselves.Our vocabulary has shrunk

as more words are off-limits.You cant make jokes aboutoverweight Americans (fat), fol-licularly challenged folks (bald),or nontraditional shoppers(looters). I remember a fewyears ago when the Los AngelesTimes told its writers to avoidwords like deaf, handicappedand Canucks, unless its thehockey team. The word alienwas also off-limits when talkingabout our seasonal guests whohappen to be Mexican, which isalso off-limits even though theyare from Mexico, just as Ameri-cans are from America. Nowthey are persons of Latindescent.It seems that the only people

who are exempt from all thisbologna are persons of Holly-wood descent and politicians,excuse me, patriots serving ourcountry in a bureaucratic posi-tion. These are the same clownswho live in Washington, DCand root for a football teamcalled the Redskins.

Riding Herd continued from page one

IPCC authors confident their globalwarming predictions were wrong

BY LYNDEE STABEL

In a roomful of cattle feeders, anOklahoma State University(OSU) livestock marketing spe-cialist had everyones full atten-

tion as he said there is no wayaround it: In the next two to threeyears, the already short supply offeeder cattle will only get tighter.OSU Breedlove Professor Der-

rell Peel described the current feed-er cattle situation and the circum-stances leading to it at the eighthannual Feeding Quality Forum inOmaha, Neb., and Garden City,Kan., last month.With a U.S. cattle inventory at

levels not seen since 1952, Weremuch smaller than we ever intend-ed to be, Peel said. Drought andother circumstances led producersto liquidate their cow herds 15 outof the last 17 years, despite recentmarket signals to expand.Peel expects that to change.Throughout much of the U.S.,

drought conditions have improved,opening the door to herd rebuild-ing. Instead of looking for the likeli-est animals to cull, many producerswill begin looking for the bestheifers to keep.For the next several years I

would expect the [heifer replace-ment] percentage to be above aver-age, Peel said. And that has impli-cations to what happens to feedersupplies in the short run.Growing the cattle population is

the ultimate solution to the limitedfeeder supply, but it is not aninstant fix. Until a heifer starts calv-ing, each replacement kept is oneless animal available for feeding.

Cattle feeders already competingfor a piece of that small supplyknow but dont relish the fact, butit will get worse before it gets bet-ter. Even so, Peel is optimistic about

the growth rate of the nationalherd. Many producers were forcedto cull heavily during the drought,but they did not do it at theexpense of their herds quality.Many heifers were kept and oldercows were sold.Weve probably got this herd as

young and productive as maybe ithas ever been, Peel said. Whenwe do start to expand, we have thecapability for a year or two toexpand faster than what we couldhave probably seen otherwise.Growth will still take time. Peel

expects it to be 2017 before herdnumbers can even recover to 2011pre-drought levels. Strong marketsfor feeders will continue to pull in ashare of animals and moderateherd growth.Cattle imported from Canada

and Mexico make up only a smallportion of the feeder cattle market,but Peel said the industry cannotexpect extra animals from thesesources to help supplement its ownlimited supply.Mexico contended with its own

extreme drought and liquidatedmuch of its herd, many of thoseanimals entering the U.S.Last year we got just short of

1.5 million head of cattle fromMexico, Peel said. That is not asustainable number. Those exportswere at the expense of their abilityto produce in the future.Already the results are evident,

with 450,000 fewer head imported

from Mexico, year-to-date com-pared to last year.And with Canada rebuilding its

own national herd, those importswill remain relatively low.All these factors lead Peel to

believe the coming years will see thenumber of feeder cattle fall even fur-ther than the 3.5 percent decline pro-jected by the end of this year.Even though overall herd num-

bers have been declining since the1970s, the number of cattle on feedhas not followed the same pattern.The industry has been able to keepthose numbers up by feeding cattlemore intensively and at a youngerage so cattle move more slowlythrough the feeding process. Forevery calf on feed during the early70s and 80s, there were threemore available to replace it. By lastyear, less than two calves wereavailable for every one calf on feed.Years of cheap corn prices made

it profitable to buy smaller calves tofeed over a longer period of time.The question is, what has to go

on to go forward, because over thelast few years, that hasnt beentrue, Peel said. He projected pricerelationships between cattleweights and cost of gain, given arange of corn prices that shouldtrend lower.All these circumstances may

lead to other unusual premiums. Ithink there is a good chance thatwhen we get really low with herdexpansion, we will see much lessdiscount on heifers relative tosteers, Peel speculated. You mayeven see heifers bring premiumsthis year because the breedingfemale demand on top of thetremendous demand for the feeder

animal will be there.Such strong market signals for

more feeder cattle would typicallysend producers into high gear toexpand their herds and calf crops,but for many American cattlementoday the situation is not that sim-ple. Most producers are more than62 years old, and at this point in lifethey are not looking to increasetheir workload.When you show a lot of older

producers the potential that is outthere from the cow calf standpoint,they say, Yeah, I see all of that, butit aint going to be me. Its going tobe someone else, Peel said, butwho will that someone else be?Getting into the cattle business isnot an easy task.

The next generation of cattle-men cannot borrow enough moneyto get started, so Peel said it is up tothe older ranchers to help get themin business. He suggested lookingat different financial arrangementssuch as long-term contracts or leasearrangements to transfer equity tothe next wave of producers.No matter who takes on the

challenge, the fact remains that themarket needs more feeder cattlethan are available today. Now thequestion is how far do we need togrow, and how fast can we do it,Peel said.

The Feeding Quality Forums were sponsored byCertified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), Feedlot Magazine,Purina Animal Nutrition, Roto-Mix and Zoetis.More details and coverage at CABpartners.com.

October 15, 2013 Americas Favorite Livestock Newspaper Page 7

Herd expansion means tighter supply first

BY TOM DEWEESE

THE NEWAMERICAN.COM

Conservation easements: TheGreen Mafia tells us this isthe only way to save thefamily farm. Without their

tax credits and restrictions ondevelopment rights, America willbe paved over and Astroturf willreplace sod. Were in crisis, theytell us. However, as H.L Menck-en once warned, A plan to savehumanity is almost always a falsefront for the urge to rule.Conservation and environ-

mental groups openly advocateconservation easements as theanswer to saving farmland, as dostate departments of agriculture,farm bureaus, and the federalgovernment. A full court press ison to lock in millions of acres ofprivate property under the blaz-ing headline, Save the FamilyFarm.Theres no question that the

family farm is under assault. Tax-es, international trade agree-ments, inflation, and governmentregulations are eating away atthe ability to keep the farm oper-ating. Ive never met a farmerwho wanted to give up and stopworking the land that perhapshis ancestors first acquired. Inmost cases its agony for a farmerto decide to sell his property. Onthe other hand, the land is hismain asset. To provide a goodlife for the family, selling theland, many times to developers,is necessary for survival.However, there is now a

much more lethal threat facingsmall farmers, and the outra-geous fact is, this threat is beingdisguised as a way to help them.The real threat is the green solu-tion conservation ease-ments. And farmers are fallinginto this trap across the country.Conservation easements are

promoted by land trusts andenvironmental groups. Taxbreaks are promoted. Even cashis offered those farmers willingto sell their development rightsunder the argument that this willdrive away the temptation to sellthe land to nasty developers,thus keeping it farmland. Theclever slogan, Farm land lost isfarm land lost forever, helps sellthe case for easements.The promoters of such ideas

are very good with the salespitch. If it were politically correctto do so, one could actually hearGod Bless America playing inthe background as the promisesto save the family farm roll offthe pitchmans tongue.Say proponents, A conserva-

tion easement is a voluntary per-petual agreement that restrictsnon-agricultural uses such asmining and large scale residentialand commercial development.They boldly promote the ease-ments by promising that thelandowner continues to own, liveon, and use the land. They evenpromise that the land can bepassed down to heirs, along withgenerous tax credits. Whats notto like? Desperate farmers are

flocking to the pitchmans wagonto buy his life-saving potion.Of course, as another famous

pitchman, P.T Barnum, oncesaid, theres a sucker born everyminute. Farmers beware theslick talker who has the answersto your woes. His answers maywell be your demise and yourfarms. Its wise to read the fineprint of a conservation easementagreement. Here are some facts.

The Facts about Conservation EasementsIn a typical conservation ease-

ment, a private Land Trustorganization purchases some orall of the bundle of a propertyowner's rights. The bundleincludes development rights forthe property; the ability to over-rule the owners choice of how touse the property, includingadding more buildings or reno-vating or rebuilding existingbuildings; in the case of farmers,it may include decisions onwhich fields to use for planting,or even which crops to grow andthe technique to be used. All ofthese things come under thecommand of the easement. Andall of it may become the decisionof the Land Trust, because oncethe conservation easementagreement is signed, the ownersrights are legally subservient tohis new partner, the Trust.True, in exchange, the proper-

ty owner receives charitabledeductions on federal taxesbased on the difference betweenthe values of the land before andafter granting the easement. Theproperty owner receives relieffrom federal estate or inheri-tance taxes. Many states provideincome tax credits and propertytax relief. And the ownerreceives a payment for his devel-opment rights.In the beginning it all sounds

good: Money in the pocket, thefarm safe from development, andthe ability to practice thebeloved tradition of farming.Well, maybe.The fact is, under the ease-

ment, the owner has sold hisproperty rights and therefore nolonger has controlling interest inhis property. Through the restric-tions outlined in the easement,property usage is now strictlycontrolled, including everydaydecisions on running the farm.In many cases, the conservationgroup that controls the easementdemands strict adherence tosustainable farming practices.That means that strict controlson how much energy or watercan be used in the farmingprocess, access to streams for thelivestock, use of fertilizer, etc.,are all under the direction of theLand Trust. And theres more.Certain details werent revealedto the landowner as he signed onthe dotted line. For example:

n Trusts often re-sell the ease-ment to other conservationgroups. They sell and resell themlike commodities. The farmermay not know who holds thecontrol over his land. For these

groups, the easements become asignificant profit center as theyrake in fees for each new ease-ment they sign up.

n Worse, the conservationgroup may work directly withgovernment agencies, helping toestablish new regulations whichalter best-management practices,driving up compliance costs.Eventually these cost increasescan force owners to sell theirland at a reduced price.

n This is especially effectivewhen trying to dislodge alandowner who has refused tosell his land to the governmentor sign a conservation easement.The Nature Conservancy is amaster at this trick, creating mil-lions of dollars of income for thegroup. Its favorite practice is totell the landowner that the gov-ernment intends to take theland, but if they sell to the Con-servancy then it will guaranteethat the land will stay in privatehands. But of course, since thegovernment intends to take theland it is now worth much less.So they get the landowner to sellat a reduced rate. Then the Con-servancy calls the governmentagency to tell them the goodnews that they have the land.And the agency pays the Conser-vancy full market value. They callthat Capitalism with a heart!!

n Because ownership rightsare muddled between taxes,restrictions, and best-practicesrequirements, it can be difficultto find a buyer willing to pay afair market price for the land. Ina sense, once the easement issigned, the owner has just ren-dered his land worthless on theopen market.

n Conservation easementdeeds use broad language thatexpands the trusts control butvery specific language that limitsthe landowners rights.When productive land is tak-

en off the tax rolls, a revenueshortage is created that has to bemade up by other taxpayers,causing rate hikes in propertytaxes.

Some Are More Equal Than OthersAll of the combined dangers

from conservation easements,and all of the combined powerfulforces of Land Trusts and gov-ernments seemed to land on thehead of one innocent, lovely ladynamed Martha Boneta. Her sto-ry made national headlines lastyear and led to a colossal battlein the Virginia state legislature a battle that continues to ragetoday without resolution.In Fauquier County, Virginia,

where Martha (and I) reside, thechief conservation group is abehemoth called the PiedmontEnvironmental Council (PEC).They have managed to worktheir way into every nook andcranny of the county, specificallyin the county government. PECpeople have bored deeply intothe county development officeand other country agencies; theyconverge on farmers to pressure

the establishment of conserva-tion easement, and they make aton of money from them. Itsgood to be king.In fact, PEC holds sway over

nine Virginia counties and theybrag that they have succeeded inhelping citizens protect nearly350,000 acres of land with vol-untary conservation easements.PEC calls it one of the most dra-matic private land conservationsuccesses in the nation. It isinteresting to note that thosenine counties, in particularFauquier County, are the maincenter of the famous Virginiahorse country where, throughoutVirginia history, the rich landedgentry have had the pleasure ofriding their horses across vast

open land in organized foxhunts. These horsy people arerich and powerful with vastestates in the countryside. Manyhave contributed to the PECland conservation effort as a wayto keep open space available fortheir fox-hunting pursuits.It is also interesting to note

the comments and attitudesoften expressed by these peopleconcerning newcomers to thecounty. Say the horsy gentry,there must be a way to curtailnew people from coming intothe county and buying or devel-oping property. Thats because,they charge, these newcomershave no understanding or

Page 8 Livestock Market Digest October 15, 2013

Conservation Easements and the Urge to Rule

continued on page nine

respect for the age old traditionof riding their horses over theland that now gets fenced in orblocked by these unwantedintruders. How dare they do thatto their own land! The answer totheir desire to stop it thePEC.At a January, 2013 meeting

of the Fauquier County plan-ning commission, it wasrevealed that 96,600 acres ofcounty land is in conservationeasements (or 23 percent of thetotal land area of the county).A little research revealed aninteresting detail. It seems that,as the conservation easementsare sold to the public as a wayto save the small family farm, inreality, of the 23 percent of theland, only two percent of it isactually small family farms. Therest is basically the vast estatesof the landed gentry who havefound a way to not only keepthe land open for their foxhunts but to also reducetheir property taxes.Last year, when I presented

these statistics in a talk in Rich-mond, Virginia, a member ofthe Piedmont EnvironmentalCouncil commented that henever thought he would hear aconservative advocate class war-fare. Actually, I was trying toprevent it.

Marthas PlightInto this atmosphere, enter

Martha Boneta. If one were towrite down all of the require-ments as expressed by theGreens for their idea of the per-fect small farmer, Martha Bone-ta would be their poster child.Martha just wanted to farm.She loves it. And she is very cre-ative about it. It was her dreamcome true when she found thesmall farm in Paris, Virginia. Ithad been on the market for atleast six years. And so she wasable to purchase it at a veryreduced price from the Pied-mont Environmental Council.Everything was looking great

for a lady anxious to get herhands in the dirt. She is intoorganic farming just like thePEC advocates in their publica-tions, on their website, and onbumper stickers Buy Fresh,Buy Local. Martha made thefarm a haven for rescued ani-mals. She restored the heavilydeteriorated barn and turned itinto a small farm store to sellher products items producedright there on the farm.Oh yes, there was just one

small detail brought up at thevery last minute during the clos-ing meeting for her mortgageloan as she was purchasing theproperty. The Piedmont Envi-ronmental Council slipped in aconservation easement on theproperty. This specific easementdid not pay any cash to Marthanor did it provide any tax cred-its. All the benefits went toPEC. Martha signed the docu-ment because she had been toldconservation easements were away to protect the farm frombeing developed. She was for

that.But there is one major aspect

of Marthas value system thatdoesnt fit the PEC profile forthe perfect small farmer. Shebelieves in private propertyrights. And thats when thetrouble started. Space does notallow a full description of thebattles Martha has faced overher attempts to farm her land.Here is the Cliff notes ver-sion:Martha does not live on the

farm, she owns a home inanother location. The conserva-tion easement she signed saidshe could have a small 1,600-square-foot residence on theproperty. She never used thefacility as a residence.The Fauquier County plan-

ning board suddenly issuednotice that Martha would befined for selling items that werenot produced on her farm,something she never actuallydid, and that she needed anoth-er permit in order to use thefacility for events.She was immediately threat-

ened with fines of $5,000 foreach violation brought by thecounty. The evidence usedagainst her by the county was aphoto of a childrens birthdayparty that Martha had postedon her Facebook page, allegedlyproving that she had rented outthe barn for a party. in fact, itwas a private party for friends.No money exchanged hands forthe facility, but the battle wason.Martha began to learn what

a powerful weapon conservationeasements can be in the handsof those who wanted to controlher actions. The easement gavethe PEC the right to occasional-ly inspect the property for vio-lations of the easement. Sud-denly Martha was informed thatPEC inspectors would visit thefarm to investigate the livingquarters. Rather than a randomoccasional or annual visit, PECcame back again and again;demanding to look into her pri-vate closets; even banning herright to videotape the inspec-tions on her own property.The PEC found fault with a

simple water nozzle Martha hadpurchased to use in washing heranimals. Somehow that was aviolation. There is an old ceme-tery on the property dating backto 1832. In it are buried thefamilies of former residents ofthe area and black slaves. Tokeep the farm animals fromwalking though the cemetery,Martha installed a simple fence.Violation, said PEC, It dam-ages the view shed. On and onwent the harassment over suchidiotic claims. Along with itcame thousands of dollars oflegal expenses as Martha foughtto defend herself.Eventually, as a result of

non-stop pressure and thethreat of fines from the county,plus the pressure from PEC,Martha was forced to close herfarm store, seriously damaging amajor part of her ability to earn

income from the farm.What was her real crime? She

had challenged county planningrestrictions. And in doing so,she had become a threat totheir authority and that of thePEC, which is the driving forcebehind county controls over pri-vate property.

Non-Governmental Control= Government CorruptionEvery American, especially

farmers, should learn this lessonfrom Marthas story: Conserva-tion easements, comprehensiveplanning, and controls over pri-vate property, while always soldas a way to help, are actually aTrojan Horse of corruption.If there is a poster child in

this story it is the government ofFauquier County. Corruptionbegins with the absolute influ-ence and power unleashed by anon-governmental organizationlike the Piedmont Environmen-tal Council. It is aided by anelite few who seek to use gov-ernment power for their ownpersonal gains. And it isenforced by a compliant countyBoard of Supervisors that willuse that power as a weapon tocrush anyone who dares standup against them.Beware America! Unfortu-

nately, Marthas story is notunique. Every community hasits own version of the PiedmontEnvironmental Council callingthe shots behind the scenes.Their very agenda of power, andthe corruption it brings, is nowshowing itself in every local andstate government all underthe overused and unsubstantiat-ed excuses of environmentalprotection and local planning.

Tom DeWeese is one of the nations leadingadvocates of individual liberty, free enter-prise, private property rights, personal priva-cy, back-to-basics education and Americansovereignty and independence. Go to ameri-canpolicy.org for more information

October 15, 2013 Americas Favorite Livestock Newspaper Page 9

Conservation Easements continued from page eight

The Arizona National Live-stock Show is pleased toannounce the addition of aSteer and Heifer Jackpot

Show set for December 31, 2013.This event will take place duringthe 66th annual Arizona NationalLivestock Show which will be heldDecember 27-31, 2013 at the Ari-zona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix.The Jackpot Show is open to all

youth exhibitors from any stateand will also be sanctioned bySouthern Arizona InternationalLivestock Association (SAILA).

Our vision is to create an elitejackpot show for beef exhibitorswhich gives young people anopportunity to showcase their ani-mals, Dean Fish, President-Electand Co-Chair of the Jackpot Showshared.Exhibitors may enter upon

arrival and cattle that are pur-chased in the Shows Feeder Steerand Heifer Sale are also eligible toparticipate. Weigh-in begins at 8a.m. on December 31 and cattlewill be released after the Show iscompleted.

New Arizona National LivestockShow Steer & Heifer Jackpot Show

BY JILL JAGELSKI,

WWW.BEARTOOTHNBC.COM

For the first time ever, the state ofMontana has received a federalgrant to fund preventative workfor wolf-livestock conflicts.The money will not only go

toward non-lethal projects, but it willalso pay ranchers for lost livestock.Since wolves were re-introduced

into Yellowstone National Park in thelate 90s, property owners and envi-ronmentalists have been trying to finda compromise.Ron Aashiem with Montana Fish,

Wildlife and Parks says, How do youaddress the livestock loss thing? Thosefolks have every right to protect theresources they manage and the live-stock theyre growing.The Montana Livestock Loss

Board formed in 2008, and survivedsolely on donations for 2 years. Since2010, the board has managed to getby with a one-time federal grant, aswell as some additional state funds.Now, thanks to a $170,000 federalgrant, the board can breathe a sigh ofrelief.George Edwards: This is the first

meaningful amount of money thatthe board has ever had since theirinception to fund a loss prevention

project so this is huge for our board.Montanas Fish Wildlife and

Parks has helped in removing wolvesthat have harmed cattle, and supportsthe federal grant.Aashiem: Were always looking

for ways to prevent depredation.The money will go toward non-

lethal preventative projects, like car-cass removal, and will also help payverified wolf damage claims. Edwardssays there is potential for counties suf-fering the greatest loss to receive themost amount of money.This grant will allow us to possible

fund some, say the carcass removalprogram and get on started in sayLewis and Clark County.In 2012, the board reported 11

livestock deaths in Lewis and ClarkCounty, costing more than $10,000,and ranking the county third in theentire state. But with sequestrationcuts, the potential for similar grants inthe future looks grim.Our board will be going to the

next legislative session with a fundingbill to try to fund these preventionactivities and try to keep this as anongoing process.But the board has its work cut

out, last session, state lawmakersfailed to pass an essential funding billfor wolf projects.

State Receives Funding for Livestock Loss Prevention

Page 10 Livestock Market Digest October 15, 2013

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The Nevada Press Associa-tion recognized journalisticexcellence September 28,during its annual conven-

tion in Elko, and conveyed majorawards upon RANGEmagazine.RANGE received 20 awards: 12first place, four second, and fourthird. The first place awardsinclude the coveted Freedom ofthe Press and Outstanding Jour-nalist and Outstanding VisualJournalist awards. The ArizonaPress Association judged thecompetition.

RANGE is devoted to issuesthat threaten the West, its peo-ple, lifestyles, lands and wildlife.No stranger to controversy, formore than 20 years RANGE haspresented thought-provoking,commonsense stories on theenvironmental and politicalproblems facing westerners andtheir lands and families. FREEDOM OF THE

PRESS is a major editorial recog-nition awarded for upholding theprincipals of the First Amend-ment and protecting the publicsright to know. The judge com-mented: RANGE went aboveand beyond to make sure animportant story that fell betweenits quarterly publication dateswas not overlooked by the press.The important story dealt

with the Hage ranch familyslegal battles with the U.S. ForestService (USFS) and the Bureauof Land Management (BLM).RANGE had been following theHage saga since its inception,including a Reno court appear-ance in summer 2012, whichwas summarized in three editori-al pieces in the magazine: Jus-tice for Hage, writer Julian Stone(www.rangemagazine.com/Fall2012). Up Front: Storming thebeaches of the Toiyabe, writer C.J. Hadley(www.rangemagazine.com/Fall2012). Eye of the Storm, writerRamona Hage Morrison. 2012. Eye of the Storm, writerRamona Hage Morrison(www.rangemagazine.com/Win-ter 2013). The Freedom of the Press

award means a great deal, saysRANGE publisher Caroline JoyCJ Hadley. Freedom can onlyexist when media outlets protectthe publics right to know by dili-gently pursuing and relating thetruth. We discovered during theprocess of keeping the publicinformed that it is also impera-tive that we look at the value ofgovernment news releases andthe process by which the mediacan sometimes be manipulatedby official sources. Rather than a daily publica-

tion, RANGE, a quarterly maga-zine, was there when Chief Fed-eral District Court Judge RobertC. Jones chastised the federalgovernment for more than threehours in a Reno courtroomabout its conspiracy to deprivethe Hages of their ranch and

referred the agencies for a crimi-nal investigation. Instead of waiting for our

next issue, which was not dueout for many weeks, Hadleysays. I felt the public had a rightto know immediately what hadtranspired and disseminated anaccount of the court proceedingsto print and electronic media. Ina sense, RANGE acted as a poolreporter for other news organiza-tions. Sometimes in the compet-itive news cycle, we need toremind ourselves that we arehere to serve the public and bevigilant in our need to protectFreedom of the Press.

EDITORS NOTE & BACK-GROUND:The Hages, a Tonopah, Nev.,

ranching family, have been fight-ing a 35-year-old battle in twomajor cases: U.S. v. Hage, a 22-year-old case involving the Con-stitution Fifth Amendment tak-ing of their vested water rightsand improvements on their750,000 acre ranch by the BLMand USFS. On appeal theHages prevailed in defendingtheir property rights and much ofthe $14 million judgment award-ed them by the U.S. Court ofFederal Claims.The summer 2012 courtroom

action covered in RANGEsFreedom of the Press Award pri-marily deals with a retaliatory2007 case brought by the BLMand USFS, U.S. v. Hage, whichalleged trespass charges againstthe Hages. In a widely circulatedBLM press release, the agencysview of earlier events involvingthe Hages were erroneous, mis-leading and presented a skewedversion of the governments con-duct. In the courts published deci-

sion and a separate contempt ofcourt hearing, both agencies andemployees have been told theyclearly overstepped their author-ity in what has been called a his-tory-making battle, and one thatcould have consequences forproducers who use public landsacross the West to raise food forsupermarket shelvesand con-sequences for the consumerspocketbook.In the Nevada Press Associa-

tion competition, the newspapercontestants were divided by cir-culation and frequency andincluded the Las Vegas ReviewJournal, Las Vegas SUN, andReno-Gazette Journal. Electronicsubmissions and magazineswere judged in a separate cate-gory.The magazines are a diverse

group, with the majority fallingin the lifestyle or travel editorial.RANGE is a national publica-tion devoted to sustainableresources and environmentalissues. Produced in Carson City,Nev., it is often controversial,political, and has been describedas the voice of reason amidst acacophony of madmen.

RANGE magazine receivesFreedom Of The Press Award

The Amish have manyadmirable traits; generosi-ty, a work ethic, a Godlydiscipline, thriftiness and a

small footprint on the ecology.Talk about recycling!They put us glass, tin can,

cardboard, energy-hungry prac-titioners to shame. We use somuch diesel, gas and oil driving,hauling, mashing, crushing andcondensing the messes we makeits probably not an even trade!The Amish dont make a

mess in the first place.An example of their leave no

mess philosophy was demon-strated when Amish Joe decidedto sell a cull cow at the local salebarn in rural Indiana. Joe hireda man to haul her. Joes son Jackand his brother-in-law, Amos allwanted to go. They could onlyfit three in the pickup so Amosclimbed in the stock trailer withthe cow. It was November, thetrailer was a solid body goose-neck with full doors so therewas no danger of Amos getting

cold.Once they reached the auc-

tion and parked in the unload-ing line, Joe and Jack went intothe barn to visit. Amos waitedpatiently for them to comeback, till finally he beat on theside of the trailer. This racketwoke the driver, who came backand opened the trailer gates.Amos stepped out into the

daylight, paused, and the cowran out over the top of him! Shetrotted through the parking lotand as truck doors opened sheshowed them all her tail! Outonto the four lane highway, shelooked back with pride, and wasblindsided by a well-used fadedgray Toyota Camry!When Joe reached the scene

of the collision he noted thatthe hood was dented and oneheadlight had a black eye. Joeoffered to take the victimsinformation, but he took onelook at the dazed cow and said,No thanks!Before anybody could grab a

rope, the cow struggled to herfeet and ran into a newly har-vested soybean field. The chasewas on! The pursuers never hada chance, bogged down, slingingmud and stumbling over eachother. Then, the Indiana StatePolice arrived! One officerstayed to monitor the radio, theother, Officer York, had justcome on duty. His hat wasclean, his shirt was starched, hisbrass was polished and his shoeswere shined. I aint goin outder, said Officer York, butwith your permission I willrestrain the cow. He drew hisGlock 22, chambered for .40S&W and began firing at thecow 20 yards away.After a few stray shots he

handed the pistol to Joe, whobrought him down with one bul-let. The policeman asked aboutdisposal of the carcass. Joe saidhe would take care of it. After a30 minute trip to WalMart hereturned to the scene of the gunbattle with a roll of plastic,Coleman lantern, meat saw andsome butcher knives. By 2 amthey were putting a cowful ofwrapped primal cuts in hispropane freezer back home inthe milk barn.We can all learn a lesson

about real recycling from Joe.As to what Joe learned, heremarked that if he was everbeing pursued by the statepolice hed prefer it be OfficerYork, especially if gun fire wasinvolved.

Amish Recycling

October 15, 2013 Americas Favorite Livestock Newspaper Page 11

IINNTTEERREESSTT RRAATTEESS AASS LLOOWW AASS 33%%PPaayymmeennttss SScchheedduulleedd oonn 2255 YYeeaarrss

JJooee SSttuubbbblleeffiieelldd && AAssssoocciiaatteess1133883300 WWeesstteerrnn SStt..,, AAmmaarriilllloo,, TTXX880066//662222--33448822 cceellll 880066//667744--22006622

joes3@suddenlink.netMMiicchhaaeell PPeerreezz AAssssoocciiaatteess

NNaarraa VViissaa,, NNMM 557755//440033--77997700

Bottari RealtyPaul Bottari, Broker 775/752-3040

www.bottarirealty.com

NEVADA FARMS &RANCH PROPERTY

Farm near Wells, NV:90 acres in hay; 2 homes;

shop and storage three miles from town. $450,000

Scottand co.LUNION CO. NM Just south of Clayton, 352.73 ac. +/-

of choice grassland, well fenced & watered w/a good set ofsteel pens, on pvmt.

UNION CO. NM Amistad area, 976.42 ac. w/612 ac.formerly under pivot irr., presently enrolled in new CRP con-tract @ $45.60 per acre, per year, for 10 yrs., irr. wells &pivot points all connected w/UG pipe. PRICE REDUCED!

HORSE MOTEL TUCUMCARI, NM Known coast-to-coast and in all parts in between 4 ac. +/- on the edgeof town. Nice metal frame horse stables w/pipe-rail pens.Nice brick home, 3 bdrm., 2 bath. Excellent opportunity!

Ranch & FarmReal Estate

Please call for details on these properties & large NM ranches.

1301 Front StreetDimmitt, TX 79027

Ben G. Scott BrokerKrystal M. Nelson

NM Qualifing Broker

800-933-9698 day/eve.www.scottlandcompany.com

www.texascrp.com

We have listed four choice ranches in the high rainfall area ofCentral OK & have access to several other choice ranches both

large & small w/excellent, up-to-date improvements. We need your listings of all sizes of agricultural properties any-

where in NM, Colorado, Texas or Oklahoma.

Missouri Land Sales 675 Ac. Excellent Cattle Ranch, Grass Runway, Land Your OwnPlane: Major Price Reduction. 3-br, 2ba home down 1 mile private lane.New 40x42 shop, 40x60 livestock barn, over 450 ac. in grass. (Owner runsover 150 cow/calves, 2 springs, 20 ponds, 2 lakes, consisting of 3.5 and 2 ac. Both stocked with fish. Excellent fencing. A must farm to see. MSL#1112191

113 acres SOLD / 214 acres REMAINING: Snooze Ya Loose.Cattle/horse ranch. Over 150 acres in grass. 3/4 mile State Hwy. frontage. Live water, 60x80 multi-functionbarn. 2-bedroom, 1-bath rock home. Priced to sell at $1,620 per acre. MLS #1204641

NEW LISTING - RARE FIND - 226 ACRES 1.5 miles of Beaver Creek runs along & thru this "Ozark Treas-ure." Long bottom hay field, walnut grove, upland grazing, excellent hunting, deep swimming hole, 4 BR, 2BAolder farm house. Don't snooze and loose on this one. Call today! MLS #1303944

See all my listings at: paulmcgilliard.murney.com

PAUL McGILLIARDCell: 417/839-50961-800/743-0336

MURNEY ASSOC., REALTORSSPRINGFIELD, MO 65804

#3+4 '9#4'9%'..'052#4563' 2#7'& 31#& (3105#)' *6)' .#-'/#04+10*1/'

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645$'#65+(6..+7+0) 3+0+5:1605: "0'9551#7:31%-'55#5+10#.13'45'#65+(6.*1/'5*#5.11-417'3#0+%'#%3'.#-'5310)8'..&''2)3#44#304%#55.'2'04..(13

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W-RRANCH

18,560 ACRES20 MILES NORTHEAST OF ROSWELL, N.M.

CHARLES BENNETTUnited Country / Vista Nueva, Inc.575/356-5616www.vista-nueva.com

680 Deeded Acres 17,900 State Lease Acres 927 BLM Acres 300 Animal Units Year Long Good fences; 4-strand barbwire Newly remodeled

Southwestern Home

Good water; windmill and submergible tanks

$1,800,000

SOUTHERN PLAINS LAND

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Paul Stout, Qualifying Broker(575) 760-5461pkstout@gmail.com

Enjoy country living and spectacular views in this beautiful 3100 plus square home contain-ing many custom features overlooking the far west reaches of Ute Lake on 33 acres, or buildyour own dream home on choice of eight 40 +/- acre lots.

MELROSE 1121 E. ABO HIGHWAY

TUCUMCARI 7351 QUAY ROAD AI

A Little Bit of Country in a Small Town!Come see this 3 Bedroom, 2 bath home in Melrose. Complete with garage, carport and 30x40barn. Arena style pen for boarding horses and/or roping. All on 2.2 acres.

BY SID MAHER AND

LAUREN WILSON,

THE AUSTRALIAN

Public servants are drawingup plans to collapse 33climate change schemesrun by seven departmentsand eight agencies into just threebodies run by two departmentsunder a substantial rewrite of theadministration of carbon abate-ment schemes under the Coali-tion.Coalition climate action

spokesman Greg Hunt briefedpublic servants on the dramaticrestructure of the federal climatechange bureaucracy before theelection was called and yesterdayconfirmed the Coalition wascommitted to proceeding withthe plan.Under the simplification, the

Department of the Environmentand the Department ofResources and Energy will run allof the climate change programsunder the Coalitions direct-action program.The move is forecast to save

the government tens of millionsof dollars. The Coalition budget-ed for savings of $7 million thisfinancial year rising to $13m ineach of the next three years for asaving of $45m across the budg-et period.The changes will see all car-

bon abatement schemes run bythree bodies: the AustralianRenewable Energy Agency,which will be overseen by theDepartment of Resources andEnergy; and the Clean EnergyRegulator and Low Carbon Aus-tralia, which will be run by theDepartment of the Environ-ment.The Climate Change Author-

ity, which sets emissions caps,the Climate Commission, whichhas conducted research into cli-mate change, and the CleanEnergy Finance Corporation,which funds renewable technolo-gies, are all slated to be abolishedunder the plans.Treasury has responsibility for

Low Carbon Australia and theCEFC, while the IndustryDepartment has control over arange of clean technology pro-grams. The Department of Agri-culture runs a series of carbonfarming programs, while theDepartment of Families runshousehold assistance packages,home energy savings programsand the remote indigenous ener-gy program.Under the Coalition, Low

Carbon Australia will be respon-sible for purchasing emissionsreductions under the Coalitionsdirect action program.What weve said is we will

commence the merger as soonas the process of appointing theministry and swearing in theministry has been complete,

Mr. Hunt told the 2GB radiostation in Sydney yesterday. Tobe frank, during the course of thepre-election period, when wewere allowed to consult withdepartments, we laid out the factthat there would be a merger.We were express and clear andabsolute about that, and we indi-cated we would like it to beginright from the outset. I imaginethat the public servants arepreparing to do that. Our agendawas clear and open and that is anofficial process well go throughas soon as possible.The moves came as Tony

Abbott continued briefings withsenior public servants, includingthe secretary of the Departmentof Prime Minister and CabinetIan Watt, as he continued histransition-to-government plans.The CEFC confirmed yester-

day it had stopped making loansfor energy efficiency and cleanenergy programs. Staff at the$10 billion green bank are seek-ing a meeting with the incomingAbbott government as a top pri-ority.The CEFC congratulates

the new government upon itselection and will welcome theopportunity to consult with theincoming responsible ministers,the banks chief executive OliverYates said. The CEFC hasapproached the Coalition toengage in consultations aboutthe transition and looks forwardto engaging with the new govern-ment concerning how its activi-ties can best be supportive oftheir policy priorities underDirect Action.The Coalition will need to leg-

islate to abolish the CEFC,which has amassed a $560minvestment portfolio and lever-aged $1.6bn in private sectorinvestment. But the bank isunderstood to be lobbying aCoalition government to utiliseits staff and assets as part of itsDirect Action scheme, andchange its investment mandateso it could work within theframework of the Coalitions pol-icy.An Abbott government will

need to legislate if it seeks toabolish the Climate ChangeAuthority, which is proceedingwith work on a draft report aboutemissions reductions targets thatis due to be completed nextmonth. In the wake of Labor andGreens declarations that theywould oppose the abolition ofcarbon pricing, Mr. Abbott saidhe expected the parliament torespect the mandate that thenew government has.It will obviously be an issue

(for the Labor Party) . . . whetherit learns from its mistakes andwhether its prepared to acceptthat it simply got it wrong whenit came to these toxic new taxes,Mr. Abbott said.

Australian Coalition takes axeto climate programs

R.G. DAVIS, BROKER 530/347-9455JEFF DAVIS, REALTOR 530/604-3655

TONYA REDIMONTI, REALTOR 530/521-6054

530/347-945519855 S. Main St., Cottonwood, CA 96022

homeranchproperties.net

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Page 12 Livestock Market Digest October 15, 2013

FROM WWW.WATERWORLD.COM

The Obama Administration pro-posed a rule to restore protec-tions to small streams and wet-lands under the Clean Water

Act (CWA) after those protectionswere eroded following two SupremeCourt decisions. The ruling has beensupported by