Buying Time for Truckers

by Kayla Sargent On August 1, the ‘Minibus’ Appropriations Bill was passed in the Senate, carrying with it another win for livestock haulers.  Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) added an amendment to the bill that would delay the implementation of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) for livestock haulers one more year.  Livestock haulers are currently operating on a delay of the […]

Judge Gives a Dam to Eastern Montana Farmers

by Kayla Sargent After a long, drawn out battle, farmers and ranchers in Eastern Montana were awarded a victory over environmental groups in finding a working solution for the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project. Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed lawsuit over the protection of the endangered pallid sturgeon, claiming that the proposed fish bypass channel around […]

Farm Bill Headed to Conference

On July 31, the U.S. Senate voted to move the farm bill to conference. The House agreed to do the same two weeks ago.  Conferees from both parties and both chambers of Congress will reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation. This process may prove difficult given the major differences between the two bills, particularly in the nutrition title. The […]

ESA and ‘Fake Meat’ Lead NCBA’s Conversation

As 700 cattle industry leaders from across the nation gathered in Denver, CO last week, two topics of discussion surfaced to the top – fake meat and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). At the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Summer Business Meeting the board of directors adopted mid-year policy positions on issues including the regulation of fake meat, modernization of […]

Thoughts from the Editor

Last week, several headlines came across my inbox about “WeWork Going Vegetarian”.  I had never heard of this company and decided to do a little research.  A simple “Google” resulted in handfuls of news stories praising this company for deciding to go vegetarian.  Publications like TIME Magazine, Washington Post, Bloomberg, and CNN picked up the story. It’s a wildly popular decision […]

Leaders Engage in Angus Development Under the Big Sky

By Bailey McKay The National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) first started Leaders Engaged in Angus Development (LEAD) in 1994 in Estates Park, Colorado. The goal of the conference was to develop Angus youth across the country to help usher in new eras of Angus breeders. LEAD was, and still is, designed to open communication lines between juniors and introduce them […]

2018 Taking Action for Animals Conference Aims at Agriculture

The Animal Agriculture Alliance released a report detailing observations from the Taking Action for Animals Conference, held July 20 – 23 in Arlington, Virginia. The event was organized by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). “Farmers, ranchers, and food companies are under constant pressure from animal rights activist groups who want to eliminate meat, dairy, and eggs from […]

Checkbooks, Guns, and Baloney

The day U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the White House plan to spread $12 billion of taxpayer salve on its festering tariff wound, November soybean futures ended their day completely unimpressed – down a sleepy 2.5 cents. Farmers echoed the market reaction, they, too, were unimpressed with the bailout. “Trade, not aid,” was their polite, but pointed take […]

Donkey – It’s What’s for Dinner

America’s framers based our constitutional republic on individual liberty and by limiting government they have set forth conditions where anyone with an idea and ambition can swing for the bleachers.  Your lot in life is entirely your choice and to believe your race, creed, sex, or national origin locks you into a prescribed socio-economic slot is a lie. Sadly, progressives garner […]

Cattle Buyer Blues

This is the time of year when cattle producers are busy marketing their cattle. Although technology has opened up many more options for marketing cattle such as internet live auctions, internet static auctions, drone film, etc., it is kind of tragic that the days of showing the cattle buyer around the ranch are pretty much bygone. I wrote this poem […]