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THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.

Our government and our Congress are coming up with a new "wrinkle" almost every week, whether it's the health bill and all of the promises of how it's going to help people save money, or the 15 billion dollar jobs bill recently passed, trying to encourage businessmen to hire folks that have been out of a job for a while, and they'll get tax credits for it.
It appears as though most of these programs would be an attempt to get more votes for their particular side come 2010 election and, even more importantly, the 2012 national election.
I'm reminded of that old saying again about leading a horse to water but how do you make him drink. The American labor force and the American business sector are all being led to water in an attempt to get votes and preference down the road politically, but I wonder how well it's going to work as a whole. So far, it has kind of backfired, in my opinion, and there are more people turning away from these bribes each and every week.

Johanns expresses frustration over JN beef ban
Last week Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) expressed his frustration with the Japanese ban on U.S. beef when he drew a parallel with the safety of Toyota vehicles. The Japanese government banned imports of U.S. beef after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered in a Canadian cow that had been imported into the U.S. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Toyota safety issues, Johanns said he wondered how the Japanese would like it if the U.S. banned imports of Japanese cars until the Japanese government proved they're safe.

FWP & politicians volley on wolf mitigation

By Lisa Schmidt

Idaho is allowed to spend federal funds to reimburse livestock producers, but Montana is not. This discrepancy makes Montana livestock producers, and a few politicians, wonder whether the state's wolf managers comprehend the financial and emotional distress that wolves foist on to Montana's ranchers.
The latest wolf population survey confirms that wolves held their own, even in the face of Montana's first legal wolf hunt. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates the 2009 minimum population count of about 500 wolves in 34 packs, compared to 497 Montana wolves in 2008 and 422 wolves in 2007.

MSGA responds to sage grouse decision

On March 5,  the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the greater sage grouse a "warranted but precluded" species in regards to the Endangered Species Act. The sage grouse will be placed on the "candidate species" list, which means the status of the sage grouse will be reviewed each year.
"We have a healthy sage grouse population in Montana," said Jay Bodner, Natural Resource Director for the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA). "One of the reasons for this is the well-managed grazing and conservation efforts of Montana's family ranchers on both private and federal land."
Vicki Olson, a director of the Montana Public Lands Council, listed many specific efforts undertaken by Montana ranching families to protect sage grouse, include monitoring of rangeland conditions and sage grouse populations, grazing management plans, fence flagging, water trough escape ramps, and water development. "Many ranchers that graze in sage grouse habitat include rotations in their grazing management plans to minimize their impact and provide the right vegetation structure favored by sage grouse and other grassland birds for their habitat," Olson said.

Trans-Pacific FTA...
USCA testifies before USITC

U.S. Cattlemen's Association (USCA) Executive Vice President Jess Peterson testified March 3 before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on behalf of ranchers across the country. The USITC had requested testimony on the probable economic implications of a potential U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam - the seven countries that the United States has identified with which they will engage and negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Specifically, the USITC was asking for the potential economic effect of providing duty-free treatment for imports of products from the seven TPP countries on both U.S. competitive products, their industries, and U.S. consumers.
Following are highlights of USCA's written and oral testimony:

On a chilly day in Montana's Paradise Valley, siblings Ava and Koyle Malone help feed cake to the cows.