Americans are buying more beef, pork, poultry, and lamb than ever as increased time at home during the pandemic sent meat grocery sales soaring by 20 percent (IRI) from 2019 to 2020. The national analysis recently released shows that three out of every four Americans agree meat belongs in healthy, balanced diets (up by nearly 20 percent since 2020), and […]
Thank a ‘Vet’
This past May 31, 2021, we celebrated Memorial Day, during which we recognized and honored Vets (Veterans, that is) who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. On July 4, we will demonstrate our patriotism, in part, again by honoring Veterans on this 245th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, as we do every […]
Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Receives Honorary UW Degree
The University of Wyoming will confer its highest award, the honorary doctoral degree, upon two individuals who will be recognized during UW commencement ceremonies May 14-15. They each will receive the Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Honorees are Jim Magagna, the longtime executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and advocate for Wyoming ranchers; and recently deceased Northern […]
Worker Wages are not the Cause of Higher Food Prices
After my first year at the Big U, I returned to the southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth for a summer of work. The first task, however, was to ask my father to double my hourly pay from 50-cents an hour, the amount I’d been paid through high school, to $1 per hour. “Well,” Dad said calmly, “a dollar […]
Cattle Chaos
When I was a kid, we were working pairs in a fence corner with cattle carrying a certain brand to be sorted and trailed up the Lodge Grass Canyon for summer grazing. Those cut back would be trailed into the high country a week later. Cowboy etiquette called for the boss to work into the herd and coax outliers to […]
Only YOU, and Cattle, Can Prevent Wildfires
Driving across Montana in mid-June looked eerily like rolling into August. The grass in much of the state has headed out and is turning brown. To make matters worse, one of the hottest days of the year was combined with massive winds just days after a lightening storm. Needless to say, multiple wildfires blew up across Montana last week. Fortunately, Sunday we […]