Things are looking moderately up following the On Feed Report last Friday. In the meantime….
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMERICA!
With the 4th of July on the weekend, most of you will be reading this column on or just after the 4th celebrations. It’s one of the biggest celebrations of the year for farm and ranch communities. A good share of the communities are having parades, rodeos, and/or reunions all across America.
This 4th of July is seeing one of the best slaughter cow and bull markets we’ve seen in a long, long time. Last week across western America many of the markets that we report on look like they are $3 to $5 and maybe $6 per cwt higher than they were the previous week. As I look at the receipts at the various auctions, they look good, and the prices look better.

Funding for National Bio-Defense Facility stripped
Remember the move to relocate the Plum Island Bio-Defense Laboratory inland? After some fierce competition between a handful of states to become selected as the site for the new laboratory, Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, emerged as the choice. As it turns out, there may be a struggle for money to fund construction because the House of Representatives is signaling that it is unwilling to cough up the millions needed.
Last week the U.S. House of Representatives stripped $36 million in construction funding for the $450 million laboratory during an appropriations bill vote. At least one Kansas Representative, Todd Tiahrt, says committee members withheld the funding because of worries that the lab could release foot and mouth disease into the state’s livestock population. "These and any other concerns will be fully addressed following the release of another threat assessment currently under way," Tiahrt said in a press release. "I look forward to working with our Kansas senators and House colleagues to resolve this funding issue in coming months."

Value your freedom!

by Ernest Tooke

Americans celebrate Independence Day in a variety of ways: picnics and barbecues, camping, baseball games, rodeos, sightseeing trips, fishing, watching and shooting fireworks, or just loafing. The Fourth of July is, most likely, the biggest celebration day of the year. How many Americans pause during the festivities and give careful thought to what Independence Day really represents?
History teaches us that the Declaration of Independence was adopted by 56 members of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. That group of brave men represented the 13 Colonies, and signing the document branded each man a traitor to the British Crown. Breaking away from King George and England provoked inevitable war between the Colonists and Great Britain, a war that the Colonists were ill prepared to fight. Colonist warriors were few in number compared to the might of King George's army, they were short on arms and ammunition, and Great Britain boasted a large naval force while the Colonists had no warships. On paper, it appeared to be the biggest mismatch since David pocketed a few stones and went forth to do battle against Goliath.

Monsanto loses another appeal in alfalfa case

A U.S. appeals court refused June 24 to lift the ban on planting genetically modified (GM) alfalfa until the federal government finishes its study on how the product could affect organic and conventional crops, the environment, and economic well-being of farmers. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined a request by the Monsanto Company to rehear the appeal. The decision affirmed an earlier court decision, which found that planting of GM alfalfa could result in potentially irreversible harm to other varieties of crops, the environment, and farmers. “The court decision is good news for farmers,” said Todd Leake, a farmer and spokesperson for WORC, the Western Organization of Resource Councils, from Emerado, N.D. “The decision reaffirms that farmers should have a voice in decisions affecting their livelihoods.”

Despite rising consumer demand, small slaughterhouses continue to decline

A new report issued June 24 by Food & Water Watch examines how the slow demise of local small slaughter and processing operations in the U.S. is preventing farmers and ranchers from fully satisfying rising consumer demand for meat from sustainably raised  livestock. Entitled “Where’s the  Local Beef?” the report identifies the reasons for the disappearance of  small plants, presents examples of the next generation of processors, and offers policy solutions to rebuild the small slaughterhouse sector of the meat  industry.

Your editor has always been a big fan of Hereford babies, and this heifer - born June 7 at the Sparks Ranch at Plevna, Montana - is a perfect example of why they’re my favorite babies... also Longhorn babies. This baby is a registered Hereford, and her mama is 14 years old this year. Thanks to Katy Sparks for sharing this very nice photo.