Bull Haulers

Sometimes I just hunt through the images stored on my computer until I come across one that catches my attention.  This is from when we bought a load of heifers and had them shipped in, but it made me think of shipping time and sending calves to wheat pasture, or the feed yard.

Shipping time;

Bawling calves;

Dust cloud;

Diesel roar;

Headed west;

Time for rest.

"Bull Haulers" get a lot of abuse because they are often short on sleep and look like they've been living in their Peterbilt or, Kenworth for weeks on end -- which they probably have.  They ought to get our respect though, because they are the ones who drive endless miles getting the livestock to the next point in the production chain.  Cattle aren't like a cardboard box full of some unknown consumer good that can sit in a warehouse, or in the back of a truck while the trucker sleeps; they need to get where they are going as quickly as possible to reduce the stress and get them to feed and water.  The driver is the pilot, flight attendant and sometimes gate attendant all rolled into one.  They get the animals to their next home safely and efficiently no matter the weather or, the conditions.  Just like the rest of us, they sometimes need a pat on the back.  Their job is just as critical as anyone else's when it comes to putting high quality beef on the table.

A Little Cow Science in a Poem

There are some things in nature

That are marvelous to see;

When you truly think of them

Astounded you will be.

Take a cow for instance,

How she wanders on four feet,

Just harvesting the grasses

When she wants something to eat.

Her tongue is long and rough

And perfect for the chore

Of gathering her sustenance

And going back for more.

It passes to her rumen

Where it is broken down

In a place so full of microbes

That really go to town

Breaking down the fibers

In this fermentation vat,

Releasing fatty acids

Where the nutrients are at.

And she has this strange reticulum

That looks like honey-comb

Where heavy objects lodge

Instead of passing on.

If you've seen her chew her cud

As she lies there in rest

It's because she's breaking up the lumps

And then she'll re-ingest.

And yes, microbial action

That is breaking down the grass

Produces lots of methane

And carbon dioxide she must pass.

Then passing from the rumen

The feed just marches on

Into what's called Omassum

Named for its many folds

That provides surface for extraction

Of the nutrient-laden juice.

Then into the Abomassum

Where it finds further use

From what is found in what once

Was grasses, leaves and weeds

And maybe here and there

The grains of all ripening seeds.

In the Abomassum, like your stomach,

There are acids and enzymes

That further break the feed right down

And I'm running out of rhymes

But, we'll keep going 'cause

It's interesting to see

How this mobile fermentation vat

Is made especially

For taking energy that's captured

In the leaves of growing plants

That came from the sunshine

Which excited chloroplasts

Which manufactured sugars

And other carbohydrates

From molecules within the air and soil

That end up on our plate

As something quite nutritious

And more tasty than a leaf;

And nothing beats the smell and taste

Of freshly grilled beef!

An FFA Presentation Challenged

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to a practice presentation by an FFA team as part of their preparation for contest.  There were 7 members of the team, 2 of which had come down with an illness and were unable to attend.  All 7 members of the team were young ladies.

The topic they presented was on reducing meat consumption to help prevent climate change.  Two members took the "pro" position, two the "con" position and one acted as moderator.  The "debate" was highly scripted.  After their presentation, it was our job as part of the practice opportunity, to ask questions.  Our group consisted entirely of beef producers who were obviously biased against reduction of beef consumption.

I felt sorry for these young ladies in a way because in our group was a PhD Animal Scientist, a PhD Microbiologist, 2 Veterinarians, a retired County Extension Agent, a Current County Extension Agent an Ag Banker, the owner of a Livestock Auction and me (I'm not sure what my qualifications were.)  The level of questions, which we had been instructed were to be extremely challenging, were mostly way over the heads of these youth.

It was an enlightening exercise.  The issue is complex and requires a fairly deep knowledge of physical science, chemistry, biology, environmental science, climatology, economics and who knows what other disciplines in order to fully understand the impact -- pro or con -- of changing our beef consumption, and possibly more importantly, production habits.

I applaud these youth for taking on such a difficult topic.  I wish them well in their future endeavors.  All of them desire to one day be in production agriculture.  They understand that feeding the growing population of the world in an environment of difficult challenges will be a critical and valuable career and they are preparing now for those challenges ahead.

A Tentative Spring and Extreme Climate Change

As I look around the countryside of Northeast Texas I see trees that are almost completely leafed out, flowers blooming in profusion and grass that is waist deep.  The birds are singing and the skies are blue, but there is definitely a chill in the air.

Just this week as I watched the weather map I saw that places like Amarillo were in the 90's on Monday and in the 30's by mid-week.  The front-range of Colorado saw as much as a foot of snow in places.  Wyoming faced a blizzard.

Is it global warming? -- well, proponents of the theory that this is all the fault of mankind polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses claim that global warming is a misnomer -- it should be called "extreme climate change".  I think the answer is that yes, we are going through some extremes in climate variation but, I don't accept that it is caused by the activities of mankind.

Should we as humans be aware of the potential impact of our activities on the climate?  Absolutely.  We should always be cognizant of our role as stewards of this planet.  After all, we are certainly the dominant species.  We are fulfilling the role assigned to us in the Biblical book of Genesis to have dominion over the earth -- to conquer it.  But, we are not always the best stewards of the resources in our care.  Often, our activities are very short-sighted.  That short-sightedness is symptomatic of the corporate Quarterly Report focus that drives the activity of most major corporations.

In recent years there has been much written about the role of livestock in generating greenhouse gasses.  Many studies have been conducted that showed they either were the worst culprit or they had little or no impact.  Outcomes seem to be driven by the source of funding.  Perhaps the answer is to take a common-sense look at it.

An easy example is that of cattle on the high wind-swept plains of the central U.S.  Today it is cattle, whereas in ancient times it was buffalo, elk and other grazing species.  In total, I suspect there is very little difference in the numbers.  Historically, the grasslands were maintained through grazing activity and periodic wildfires.  I don't see much difference today except that much of the livestock is more confined and much of the land has been converted to cropland which should mean a greater amount of carbon is stored.

If there is a place where human activity has impacted global warming it is in the cities.  Asphalt and concrete are reflective surfaces that return heat to the atmosphere rather than soaking it in.  High concentrations of automobiles generate various gasses that could contribute to the warming -- just look at the smog over most of our major cities.  Trees and grass have been replaced by buildings and roadways.  Yet, we never hear of articles pointing the finger at cities as the problem in spite of the fact that temperatures in the cities are often higher by several degrees than the surrounding countryside.  No, the finger is always pointed at rural activities -- even to the point of wanting to regulate the amount of dust that can be released by the act of plowing or driving down a dirt road.

I think the problem is envy.  After all, it is city folk writing the articles.

But, as to this seemingly very tentative Spring this year?  I suspect it is part of the millennial cyclicity of our planet's climate.  Or, perhaps it is George Bush's fault since he didn't support the Carbon Tax.....  That's what the media and the current administration in Washington would want us to believe I'm sure.

Howdy, Y'all!

For those few of you who are continued loyal readers of Panhandle Poetry and Other Thoughts, I thought that I should let you know that I haven't fallen off the end of the earth, I've just been out of pocket for a few days. I've been to Houston and then to Bellville, Texas, and am now in College Station, Texas. For most of the time I haven't had Internet service.

Hopefully, I will have a chance to do some posting while I am here in College Station for the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short course. This afternoon I was able to get in and set up our Trade Show Booth. I will be manning in through the end of the Short course on Wednesday. If any of you happen to be in town, stop by the Gold Standard Labs booth at the Trade Show in G. Rollie White Coliseum. I'd certainly be interested in meeting you.

New Competition for Beef

While traveling in Kansas this past week I had the opportunity to meet with several cattlemen and feedlot managers. The mood among them is somber to say the least. The market doesn’t seem to be adjusting to the realities of the new energy economy very quickly.

Transportation cost is one of the biggest factors impacting every industry across the country -- especially livestock feeding. When trucking companies are dealing with diesel prices in the neighborhood of $4.00/gallon, the cost of moving grain or animals or boxed beef becomes significant. If calves are being shipped from the Southeast to feedlots in the Plains, the cost of transportation must be figured into the price of those calves. The same issue affects corn – if it can be purchased at all.

On the other end of the supply chain we have the consumer. When gasoline prices are at record levels, groceries is one area where household costs are cut. We should be looking at ways to drive less or improve fuel efficiency but instead, we cut back on spending for higher priced food items such as beef. We don’t give up our gas guzzling habits very easily.

The result is that packing plants are looking at cold storage filled with boxes of unsold beef; the feedlots are looking at cattle that need to go to market but the packing plants aren’t willing to give them a price at which the feeder can make any money; cattle feeders are unwilling to buy calves to put on feed – and on and on. It all is driven by fuel in one form or another.

What is driving the fuel prices? I am amazed that our Congressional leaders in all of their wisdom feel compelled to bring the heads of multiple oil companies to Washington to berate them over the cost of fuel. Of course, most of the Congressmen and Senators don’t have much training in economics. In fact, I think they must be trained in anti-economics – or at least anti-free enterprise. Most of the laws coming out of Washington seem to hinder business rather than help. The cost of every regulation and every hair-brained pork-barrel scheme gets passed on to the consumer in some form or fashion. Sometimes it is a direct tax but more often than not, it as an indirect tax created through regulatory action on business.

It is the growing economies in India and China, domestic regulations concerning fuel additives, mandatory targets for bio-fuels, market uncertainty due to political unrest, burdensome regulation on building new refineries and infrastructure, the high cost of building refineries, environmental regulations, closure of certain areas to oil exploration, the devaluation of the dollar, and all of the other global factors that impact the energy business that are driving fuel prices. Why do we think we can solve the problem by making ethanol from corn? Oh, and did I mention the booming economies of India and China? A few hundred million individuals with the most disposable income at their finger tips that has been seen in those countries ever – want to spend it on some of the finer things in life – like automobiles and meat.

Our consumer spending habits are enabling those countries to build thriving economies that produce goods that must be transported to the U.S. by ships burning diesel. I’m happy their economies are growing. We just have to realize that we are paying for that growth.

The current ethanol mandates drive up the price of corn. That’s really all they do for our energy situation. Has the price of gasoline come down? The high price of corn was good for corn farmers – last year. The cost of farm inputs has now normalized (adjusted) due to the higher fuel costs and the margins for farmers will be much slimmer this year. Their business is extremely fuel intensive. Their input costs – such as for fertilizer and diesel – have gone through the roof.

The mandates are hurting cattle producers. They are suppressing demand for beef because now – put this in your pipe and smoke it – beef is competing against energy. The consumer dollar will choose energy over beef because of the need to heat and cool our homes and drive to and from work. In the past, beef competed with pork and poultry. Now it must also compete with energy because the primary cattle feed ingredient is being converted to fuel.

Isn’t it great what misguided regulations do for you?

Global Warming Again

I can't decide what to think about "global warming". I don't trust the media, I don't trust politicians, I don't even trust the so-called scientists. They all have an agenda they are pushing which biases their positions. I think there are certainly observations and measurements of climatological factors that indicate that the earth is in a warming cycle -- at least some areas of the earth. Is the warming man-made, or part of the natural rhythm of the earth's climate?

I had a lot of training in statistics when I was in college. The old adage that "the figures don't lie, but liars can figure" is appropriate to consider, and certainly relevant to the question of climate change. If you have a particular point of view that you believe to be correct, the research that you conduct will be conducted in such a way that you will likely prove your point -- especially in an area that has as many variables as the earth's climate. If you believe that the polar ice caps are melting, you will look until you find evidence that they are melting. If you believe that the earth is warming, you will look until you find evidence of warming -- even if you have to measure the temperature in a thousand locations to do it! All research begins with the biases of the researcher. They cannot be removed from the process. I know that you "scientists" out there will disagree with this, but keep in mind that your disagreement is a bias in itself.

My training is in economics. Economics is a so-called social science. It is the study of the allocation of resources. It uses scientific methods to the extent possible. However, all economic problems are affected by huge numbers of variables. The larger the number of variables, the more inexact the conclusions. The large number of variables is one of the biggest problem with climatology. In economics, quite literally, the price of eggs in China can potentially impact the futures market for corn in the United States. Why? One possible scenario is that a high price for eggs in China could cause a shift in chicken raisers from meat production to egg production. This in turn could create a demand in China for imported chicken. Perhaps the chickens are imported from the U.S. as frozen, boxed chicken. The increased demand for chicken from U.S. suppliers could cause a price rise in chicken meat in the U.S. causing a shift in consumption by U.S. consumers from chicken to beef. In the feedlots of the U.S., corn is one of the primary feed ingredients. Therefore, the quantity of corn demanded would increase and the cash price of corn would increase -- at least temporarily until the farmers responded by planting more corn. The cash price increase would create a speculative increase in the corn futures market. An endless number of other scenarios can be concocted by any good economist that would provide the same or a different answer. It is likely that none of them are completely true.

Now all of that was said for this reason. How many variables affect the weather? Even solar flare activity affects the weather on earth. There is no way that scientists can know with certainty that human activity is causing global warming.

Al Gore has come to the forefront as one of the biggest "fear-mongers" of global warming. He's also making a lot of money in that role. Is he also running for President based on the questionable fears that he is creating in the American public? The general public notoriously follows the media. The media tends to give favorable treatment to the most liberal of ideas. It all just makes me suspicious.

It's time for the American people to take our country back from the vultures. If we don't, they'll soon be picking over our bones.