Free Republic

DALLAS (Reuters) – A vast swathe of Texas remains in the grip of a scorching drought, which has cost billions of dollars and is cleaving America's largest beef cattle herd. One county has seen its entire cotton harvest wiped out and losses for cattle, crops and the state's fast growing game farming industry are seen mounting with no relief in sight. Texas is second only to California in U.S. farm production and the sector's sales for the state topped $21 billion in 2007. The drought-stricken area straddles the central Texas hill country, near the capitol Austin, and stretches south through...

W hen Deerfield farmer Peter Melnik heard about a machine that would make energy from cow manure, he was immediately intrigued. Graphic Farming 'natural gas' Not only would using it make his dairy farm more environmentally friendly, the technology could bring in extra cash by converting methane, an odorous and potent greenhouse gas, into electricity that could be sold to the regional power grid. The machine, called a methane digester, has been popular in Europe since the 1970s, but the idea is just catching on in the United States. Six farms in Vermont have digesters that produce electricity, and Melnik...

Beef farmers can breathe easier thanks to University of Alberta researchers who have developed a formula to reduce methane gas in cattle. By developing equations that balance starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and other elements of feed, a Canada-wide team of scientists has given beef producers the tools to lessen the methane gas their cattle produce by as much as 25 per cent. "That's good news for the environment," said Stephen Moore, a professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science at the University of Alberta. "Methane is a greenhouse gas, and in Canada, cattle account for 72 per cent of...

JOHN DAY -- Ranchers and environmentalists have locked horns over cattle grazing for years. Now a battered economy and a looming court decision are fueling a full-on battle in Grant County. On one side, ranchers and the county chairman say proposed grazing limits could deal a knockout punch to more than a dozen cattle operations and, because of job losses and lost tax revenue, county social services.On the other side, an environmental group says wild steelhead are in decline because of stream bank damage caused by grazing cattle. "The mood here is not good," says Mark Webb, chairman of...

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A landowner shot and killed a wolf on private property near Hamilton over the weekend after he said he saw the animal chasing his cattle. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks investigated Saturday's incident and said the man's actions were warranted. Federal rules say wolves in the experimental wolf population area of Montana - which includes much of the southern half of the state - can legally be killed if they are seen killing or threatening to kill dogs or livestock. All incidents must be reported to FWP within 24 hours.

When an animal rights group sneaks a hidden camera into a livestock operation, it won't capture images of Stacy McLintock bringing nine calves into her kitchen to rub their legs and warm them during a winter storm. But that's exactly what she did this past winter. "They're our big kids," McLintock said Saturday of the calves born to her 100-head herd near Holton. "They're a lot of work but a lot of fun." McLintock was among the audience of cattle producers listening to Dr. Daniel U. Thomson, Jones professor of production medicine at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine,...

PEACH BOTTOM, Pa. — Jacci Cook is a big fan of the Hangin’ Tree Cowdog breed. Her husband, Herman Cook, has six of the dogs on their 164-acre dairy farm in southern Lancaster County. “With a dog on the job, I don’t have to help drive the cows into the milking parlor, I don’t have to help bring them in from pasture, and if they get out, I don’t have to help round them up. “I love our dogs.” And so does her husband, and their 25-year-old son, Jordan. Father and son manage their 190-head herd of milking cows, young...

The height of the Dexter bull is between 38 and 44 inches. The Dexter cow is between 36-42 inches. Because of their smaller size, some people mistakenly call them miniature. This is wrong. The Dexter Cattle Breed is a true breed. Dexters are, by nature, a smaller breed of cattle.

Farmers Panic About a ‘Cow Tax’ By Kate Galbraith Should their greenhouse gases be taxed? (Photo: Steve Ruark for The New York Times) The comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s exploration of greenhouse gas regulation ended last Friday, with farmers lobbying furiously against the notion of a “cow tax” on methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted by livestock. The New York Farm Bureau issued a statement last week (PDF) saying it feared that a tax could reach $175 per cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and upward of $20 for each hog. Such a tax would represent a...

CHARLESTON -- A federal proposal to tax cattle and hogs because of the methane gas they produce is causing a stink in the agriculture industry. West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass calls the plan ridiculous. The claim is that greenhouse gases, produced by the animals' belching or flatulence, create air pollution. People across the state have sent comments to the Environmental Protection Agency speaking out against the idea. "I don't think we should be taxing farmers whether their cows and pigs are producing methane gas," said Charleston resident Brittney Reiner. "Its one more thing they're trying to get money for."...

“With the economy in bad shape and the possibility of a deep recession looming, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to levy new taxes—on cows and pigs,” American Farm Bureau Federation Director of Regulatory Relations Rick Krause told Wyoming Farm Bureau members at their annual meeting. Krause spoke in Sheridan on Nov. 7. “This is no laughing matter,” Krause said. “The cow tax and the pig tax are parts of a larger scheme by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.” “Under the proposal, if a state charged the “presumptive minimum rate” from...

California's worst drought in decades is forcing the state's cattle ranchers to downsize their herds because two years of poor rainfall have ravaged millions of acres of rangeland used to feed their cows and calves. --snip-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought in May after the state recorded two years of below-average rainfall, a sharp reduction in Sierra Nevada snowpack and its driest spring on record. Late last month, state water officials warned local agencies that their water deliveries could be cut by as much as 85 percent next year. The drought has drained many reservoirs, left lawns and...

Have you ever noticed that herds of grazing animals all face the same way?Images from Google Earth have confirmed that cattle tend to align their bodies in a north-south direction. Wild deer also display this behaviour - a phenomenon that has apparently gone unnoticed by herdsmen and hunters for thousands of years.

Drought closes world's biggest cattle ranch in Australia By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 2:25PM BST 10/06/2008 The world's largest cattle ranch has been forced to sell off its livestock and mothball operations because of the severe drought gripping much of Australia. Drovers muster cattle at Anna Creek Station, South Australia. CHRIS MCLENNAN Anna Creek station, which is bigger than Israel, encompasses 9,267 square miles of scrub, sand dunes and savannah in the Outback of South Australia. It is normally capable of supporting 16,000 cattle but the "Big Dry" – the worst drought in a century – has exhausted...

REGINA -- A macabre mystery that pops up around the world has surfaced once again on a secluded Saskatchewan farm. The most recent case of cattle mutilation occurred in the Stockholm area, just yards away from where Heather Harris and her husband slept. Harris was out tending the cattle the next day when she made the grisly discovery. "It's hard to describe what she looked like ...," Harris said, recalling finding the cow's corpse. "I told my husband, 'You don't even want to see this.' " The pregnant cow was missing its rectum, female organs, udder, navel, top and bottom...

Estonian authorities have slapped a flatulence tax on farmers to compensate the country for the methane gas produced by cows. Farmers this week received their first 'fart tax' demands asking them to pay for the greenhouse gases their cattle produce.

April 4, 2008, 11:08PM Dueling demands for corn Cattle feeders say the growing need for it in ethanol is driving up the price and threatening their livelihood By BRETT CLANTON Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle TULIA — Ask John Van Pelt his thoughts on ethanol, and he's likely to pull out his adding machine and let the numbers speak for themselves. Van Pelt, the manager of a cattle feedlot in this town 50 miles south of Amarillo, is now paying $215 a ton for cattle feed — double what he spent just three years ago. With 20,000 cattle in his yard,...

Ever seen a cattle feedlot up close? Most are mud/manure filled lots with your next hamburger walking in them. The cattle are fed a mixture of things to 'fill them up'. Most have 7-way vaccinations, antibiotics,wormers and hormone treatments. Have I turned you off yet? Don't despair, grass fed beef raised on pastures and hay are making a comeback. As are the cowboys needed to raise them.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan elders may impose a fine on U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, payable in livestock, after a photo of her rival Barack Obama in robes dragged their people into the race for the White House. The picture, which appeared on a U.S. Web site, showed the Illinois senator in a white headdress and traditional Somali attire during a 2006 visit to Wajir in Kenya's remote northeast. Obama has battled a whispering campaign by fringe elements who wrongly say he is Muslim and his aides accused Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering" after the photograph was...

Warning graphic pictures of animals killed by wolves. Here is the truth with what living with wolves is really like. If you have a weak stomach don't view some very brutal pictures.

WINNIPEG, Canada – Like many Americans, I grew weary of the city life some time ago. I lost my taste for being a number. I don't want to be "controlled" by government. I don't relish being herded like cattle. I want to breathe clean air, shoot my guns when I feel like it and take care of myself and my family.

Last Updated: Sunday, 13 January 2008, 10:11 GMT Chrysler's stampede into Motown By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News, Detroit auto show Farmers have been driving into Detroit for the cattle race The American car maker Chrysler plans to drive a herd of cattle through the centre of Detroit on Sunday to launch its new Dodge Ram pickup truck. But the truck, which goes on show at the Detroit auto show, is likely to face stiff competition in a shrinking market, analysts said. Pickup truck sales, perhaps more than other car models, are suffering from the rising price of oil....

Government meddling threatens cattle industry’s futureBy John Queen Once upon a time, the 2007 Farm Bill was going to be about free-market reforms that would reward the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit of our nation’s farmers and ranchers. Time and again, we heard top officials in Washington, D.C., talking of the need to loosen government’s grip on American agriculture. As a National Cattlemen’s Beef Association member, this was music to my ears. NCBA embraces the philosophy of less government control and interference in our industry. But now the heavy hand of government threatens to make this farm bill a disaster for cattlemen....

PRAY - For rancher Randy Petrich, the removal of gray wolves from the endangered-species list - a move that would open up the animals to hunting in the Northern Rockies for the first time in decades - couldn't come soon enough. Petrich has seen fresh wolf tracks almost every morning this fall - close enough to threaten his cattle. "I believe that any wolf on any given night, if there happens to be a calf there, they will kill it," ... Just 12 years since the wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park ... federal officials say the sharp rise...

WHITEFISH, Mont. — William P. Foley II pointed to the mountain. Owns it, mostly. A timber company began logging in view of his front yard a few years back. He thought they were cutting too much, so he bought the land. Mr. Foley belongs to a new wave of investors and landowners across the West who are snapping up open spaces as private playgrounds on the borders of national parks and national forests. In style and temperament, this new money differs greatly from the Western land barons of old — the timber magnates, copper kings and cattlemen who created the...

The Michigan Department of Agriculture inspectors were back at Greg Niewendorp’s Michigan farm this morning to gauge the results of their test for bovine tuberculosis administered Monday, and he says they found two cattle that had positive responses.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture at long last force-tested and tagged Greg Niewendorp’s twenty head of cattle today. About twenty supporters and six media representatives were in attendance, Charlevoix County Sheriff George Lasater told me late this afternoon.

Ranchettes have replaced working ranches in much of California, and now there are pint-sized cows to match. In the past two years, Bev Boriolo, 72, and her husband, Don, have built a herd of 12 miniature Hereford cattle, all well under 4 feet tall. The couple, who live on a grassy 30-acre parcel near Plymouth, are raising animals for a small but growing niche in the livestock business: little cattle for little ranches. The smallest of the miniature breeds stand less than 3 feet tall, full grown. They're cute, they keep the weeds down, and, as Boriolo says, "they're as...

For the last six months, since he formally opted out of Michigan’s cattle testing program for bovine tuberculosis and its mandatory enforcement of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), Greg Niewendorp has been waiting.

The Humane Society of the U.S. has, for years, been trying to frighten people away from consuming meat, milk and eggs -- but its recent testimony before a congressional committee reached a new low when the HSUS president, Wayne Pacelle, made the unsupported claim that pigs could be harboring the infamous and deadly British ‘mad cow” disease. Swine veterinarians quickly pointed out that “mad cow,” or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has never occurred naturally in swine. At the height of the British “mad cow” epidemic, both swine and cattle were exposed to the tissues from thousands of infected cattle and the...

It’s been only a few hours since the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) made its voluntary-to-required debut in Michigan, and already a farmer is challenging its underpinnings. The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) quickly responded by quarantining his farm. Here is what happened: Greg Niewendorp, owner of a 160-acre farm in East Jordan in the upper peninsula, made good on his pledge, stated in my “Farmers Say No to Animal Tags” BusinessWeek.com article in December, to resist all MDA orders related to NAIS.

The black and white calf may look unremarkable. But Dundee Paradise is evidence that clone farming - designed to deliver supersize cows producing an astonishing 70 pints of milk a day - has arrived in Britain. Her birth last month exposed glaring gaps in the Government's system for policing livestock farming. It raises the prospect of milk and meat from the offspring of clones reaching the shops without proper safety checks. Though not a clone herself, Dundee Paradise is the daughter of a clone. Her mother was created in the U.S. using cells from the ear of a champion dairy...

LOL! Not From Texas News

WHEN CATTLE FUTURES ARE THE FUTURE: HILLARY CLINTON'S COW TRADES AS PROGNOSTIC(Why we must defeat the clintons NOW: part3) by Mia T, 9.25.06 QUID PRO COAL2:CLINTON CORRUPTION + THE SEQUESTRATION OF GASEOUS FOSSILS (HILLARY DOES COAL AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB)by Mia T, 4.27.06 Herd instincts: Hillary's investment profits - ethics of Hillary Clinton's cattle futures investments National Review Feb 20, 1995 Caroline Baum When Newt Gingrich told a Republican audience recently that his lucrative book deal paled in comparison with Hillary Clinton's cattle-trading profits, the Speaker's comments were greeted with wild applause and raucous laughter. Opened to public...

Entire Darfur village of 55,000 flees after raids by Janjaweed gunmen By David Blair in Menawashi (Filed: 04/02/2006) Exhausted refugees were building ramshackle shelters in a dry river bed yesterday after 55,000 people fled a raid mounted by the Janjaweed militia in the Sudanese province of Darfur. It was the biggest movement of refugees there so far this year. The victims, many of whom have fled attacks twice or even three times before, are camped around the town of Menawashi in southern Darfur. They abandoned the nearby town of Mershing after two attacks from the pro-regime militia in the space...

Back in the 1970s, it was a major event when a Mexican cow would wander on to the Palominas border-front ranch of Jack Ladd and his son, John. But after tightened border security in San Diego and El Paso began to funnel illegal immigration though Arizona in the early 1990s, holes began to appear more regularly along the 10 miles of barbed-wire fence separating the ranch from Mexico. The holes, cut by individual migrants or blasted out by fence-crashing vehicles, also created an easy passageway for cattle. So, in an effort to keep Mexican cows out and their own cows...

The Agriculture Department said yesterday that it would scale back testing for mad cow disease by about 90 percent, saying the number of infected animals was far too low to justify the current level of surveillance. “It’s time that our surveillance efforts reflect what we now know is a very, very low level of B.S.E. in the United States,” Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said as he announced the new testing program for the disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy. After the disease was found in a Canadian-born dairy cow in Washington in December 2003, the department tested more than 759,000 animals over...

The government is extending NAIS and similar regulations to household pets. Pets are already included in the form of horses, pot bellied pigs, llamas, fish and pet livestock. Some states are expanding the definition beyond the USDA's original list to include dogs, cats and caged pet birds. NY Bill A09775 applies to cats & dogs. PA SB865 applies to any domestic animals. MD HB709) applies to any domestic birds. Read more in this article. RI seeks to spay and neuter all cats. Los Angeles seeks to spay and neuter all dogs. You can bet good money that within a few...

Before it was terrorism. Then it was mad cow disease. Now the government is using fears of Avian Influenza (H5N1 or bird flu) to scare people into accepting reductions in their freedoms and more government control over our lives. The latest trampling of our constitutional rights is in the form of Premise ID and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Maryland has bill HB709 to register all domestic birds including pet birds. Vermont is pushing Premise ID for bird flu prevention. ABC plans to do a TV movie about Avian Flu. Everyone wants in on the fear mongering....

Today the Vermont House Agriculture Committee met with USDA represenative Dr. John Wiemers by telephone regarding the USDA's proposed draft of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I greatly appreciate the questions raised by the Committee members to the USDA representative Dr. Wiemers this morning. They clearly pointed out the double-speak of the USDA which is being very slippery about this and other issues related to NAIS and Premise ID. The USDA is trying to reassure people out of one mouth while their other mouth, and written word, says something very different. The April 2006 USDA documents make the program...

McDonald's Greed I recently read the rather interesting article "McDonald's exec: BSE testing adequate, ID needed" with interest. A market driven program is the way NAIS should be done. If you wish to sell a product you must produce it to the buyers specifications. Unless you have a virtual monopoly like Microsoft but that is a different issue. “We feel very strongly about animal ID. From our expectations (of NAIS), yesterday would have been a better timeline” to implement the mandatory ID system." -McDonald’s Corp. spokesman Robert Cannell The confusion is that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) should NOT...

When the first U.S. case of mad-cow disease was discovered in December 2003, then-Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman pledged to hasten creation of a national identification system for tracing livestock quickly during a disease outbreak. She said she asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief information officer "to make it his top priority." Today, more than two years later, the U.S. still has no national ID system for most farm animals, including chickens and beef cattle. The USDA, which has been discussing a system for nearly a decade -- and has spent $84.7 million to develop it -- now...

May 31, Rapid City Journal (SD) — Atypical strain of bovine spongiform encephalopathy found in U.S. cattle. The two cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) found in U.S. cattle over the past year came from a rare strain of BSE found largely in Europe that scientists are only beginning to identify, according to research by a French scientist. Researchers in France and Italy who presented their work at an international conference in England reported two rare strains of BSE that are harder to detect and affect mainly older cattle. Thierry Baron of the French Food Safety Agency presented research indicating...

Cattle's Call of the Wild: Domestication may hold complex genetic tale Bruce Bower A new investigation of DNA that was obtained from modern cattle and from fossils of their ancient, wild ancestors puts scientists on the horns of a domestication dilemma. The new data challenge the mainstream idea, based on earlier genetic and archaeological evidence, that herding and farming groups in southeastern Turkey or adjacent Near Eastern regions domesticated cattle perhaps 11,000 years ago. According to that view, these groups then introduced the animals throughout Europe, so current European cattle breeds would trace their ancestry directly back to early Near...

Cattle ranchers in the Paradise Valley say shipping weights have declined since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. They say their cattle stay close to gates instead of grazing entire pastures. Wary animals tend to eat less than relaxed animals.

News from Nine MSN, Australia's ABC Rural and Bernama reports that three abattoirs have been given the seal of approval by a Malaysian religious body to perform halal slaughter of beef, which can then be exported to Malaysia. The abattoirs are Stanbroke Beef Pty Ltd, based in Grantham, Queensland, and two from Victoria - Tasman Group Services, Brooklyn, and Victoria and Novic Food Processing, in Wodonga. On June 4 last year, Malaysia suspended its beef imports from Australia, as it was decided that normal humane methods of killing bovines did not conform to halal standards. Traditionally, halal meat has to...

March 28, 2006 India's Vultures Fall Prey to a Drug in the Cattle They Feed On By AMELIA GENTLEMAN NEW DELHI, March 27 — Until recently the vulture was an integral part of the Indian landscape. Vultures were so abundant that ornithologists never even thought to monitor their population. But conservationists are now warning that a drug used to treat sick cows in South Asia is killing the scavenging vultures by the millions. They say the drug is responsible for a 97 percent decline in the species in India during the past decade. Wildlife experts have criticized what they call...

What is NAIS? NAIS is the USDA's National Animal Identification System Draft Strategic Plan to let the government track the births, deaths, co-mingling and all movements of all livestock in the United States. http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/about/pdf/NAIS_Draft_Strategic_Plan_42505.pdf Which animals are covered? Currently horses, cattle, goats, poultry, sheep, swine, alpacas, llamas, bison, deer and elk. NAIS is not limited to these animals and may also be extended to include dogs, rabbits & other animals. See documents at: http://nonais.org/index.php/2006/02/18/ Who must participate? Anyone with one or more of the covered animals will be required to register their home or business for a 7-digit Premises Identification...

Do cows really eat fish? Do they eat fish eggs? I have personally replied (on behalf of clients) to multiple Draft Biological Opinions regarding two national forests where U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologists made these claims. They claimed that cows destroyed the nests (redds) of fish species that don't build nests, stepped on fish, and muddied the water of fish that spawn only in muddy water. They also designated dry washes as critical habitat for endangered species of fish.

Every time I bring up the Holocaust, the same thing happens. Some of the people want Hitler's genocide to be the archetype of a people's suffering, denying others their right to bring similar atrocities to light. Some want to deny it (like current Iranian President Ahmadinejad). Some want to straddle the line or apologize: "There would have been no Hitler if not for the reparation payments put upon Germany after World War I." What are we to do, create a chart ranking peoples' suffering: "mine was worse than yours?" These were all horrors. Calling one a genocide while not allowing...