Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

571 pounds on the steers and I contracted them at 575.
521 pounds on the heifers and I contracted them at 525.

Pretty accuarate guess since the contract was written months ago.

Interesting news from the vet but I can't say anything until the official announcement. Suffice to say I got my cattle out of here just under the wore.

With the remants of the cold and a terrible migrane since before lnuch I think I will go lay dwon and dei now.

update: Saturday Morning. Boy was my spelling bad. A migraine does that. Here's the text spelled right in case you couldn't figure it out.

571 pounds on the steers and I contracted them at 575.
521 pounds on the heifers and I contracted them at 525.

Pretty accurate guess since the contract was written months ago.

Interesting news from the vet but I can't say anything until the official announcement. Suffice to say I got my cattle out of here just under the wire.

With the remnants of the cold and a terrible migraine since before lunch I think I will go lay down and die now.

Why is it that as a private individual if I risk money in the stock market for retirement and the market takes a turn for the worse, I am out the money and no help is available but the Government risks money in the stock market for retirement and the market takes a turn for the worse, I, as a taxpayer, have to bail the system out?

The question you're not supposed to ask is the important one. Mason Cooley

Coast turns to stranded cattle, livelihood

Ranchers on Tuesday banded together and focused on rescue, but as they carted trailers full of cattle northward past pasture after ruined pasture, the troubles ahead were never far from their minds.

"It means profit and loss," said third-generation rancher Russell Greene, of Little Prairie. "If you have the backbone to stick it out, you'll start over. But a lot are going to get out."

From Lafourche to Calcasieu parishes, estimates of dead cattle start at 15,000, and as many as 30,000 could be in danger, said Bob Felknor, head of the Louisiana Cattlemen Association.

...

Boney-rumped and skittish, his 10 cows hesitated for more than 20 minutes before any would load into a trailer. Stan Dutile, an LSU Agricultural Center official in Lafayette Parish, said that many of the cows were supposed to be pregnant, but the stress of the storm and ensuing days without water could have caused miscarriages.

Even after ranchers pull cows from the flood, it will take some time for the malnourished and dehydrated animals to recover.

To do that, they need fields to graze on -- a commodity that's become precious as coastal pastures sit in several feet of salt water and neighboring land fills with evacuated cattle.

...

There was no way for Boudreaux -- also a carpenter and rice grower -- to rescue his cows, so he boated out and brought feed and fresh water to those they could find.

A larger scale feed drop is in the works for Vermilion Parish thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

The agencies worked Tuesday in Cameron Parish, where flooding was even more severe, locating stranded animals and dropping them bales of hay.

Sylvia Trahan of Forked Island gave a USDA agent the location of 90 cattle trapped south of the Intracoastal Canal. The animals, which normally drink 15 gallons of water daily, have not had a fresh drink for three days.

Trahan said that in her region, saving cattle is second only to saving human life.
"After that, definitely," she said. "This is our livelihood."

Pray. To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. Ambrose Bierce

I know shipping isn't until tomorrow but we finished all our preparations yesterday to get the job done. I always like to be ready a day or two early in case there is a problem i have time to take care of it. The last big thing we had to do was get the steer pairs back in after sorting them.

They are always a pain in the ass to get back in since they are so suspicious after we sort them. I fixed them though, they were trailing along real easy here because they thought they were getting away. They weren't, I had a trap ready for them and got them turned around and back down the fence to where they belonged. Normally it's hell on a horse to get the steer pairs in their so onery but this time it wasn't. Hell, I even rode my old horse I knew my trick would work so well.

He never even broke a sweat.

Hope everything goes as good Friday.

Planning lies with men; success lies with Heaven. Chinese proverb

When the Governor and the Legislature decided to limit the sale of cold and allergy medicine to consumers I was afraid of one thing and sure enough it's happening. All of my kids have allergy problems along with My Darling Wife and I so we have been using the maximum we are allowed to buy of these medicines for allergy medicines every month and since we can't buy enough some of us have been suffering for it. Now the whole household is coming down with a very nasty cold bug and we are unable to buy cold medicine since we have all ready used our monthly allowance buying allergy medicine.

It is really going to make shipping and working cows fun with a terrible cold and no medicines to relieve the symptoms along with a household of sick kids moaning and groaning and throwing up and no medicine to help.

So, I have one thing to say: Continue reading "I Was Afraid of This" »

In Niger, Hungry Are Fed, but Farmers May Starve (NY Times Free Subscription required)

Quite an interesting article about how aid flowing to the hungry in Niger could cause a collapse of the farm system by competing against the bumper crop just starting to hit the market.

But now, after a season of good rains, Niger's farmers are producing a bumper crop of millet, the national staple. This should be a cause for rejoicing, yet in one of the twists that mark life in the world's poorest countries, the aid that was intended to save lives could ruin the harvest for many of Niger's farmers by driving down prices.

The newly harvested millet and the donated food will reach market stalls at the same time, and with prices depressed, poor farming families may be forced to sell crops normally set aside for their own use and use the money to pay off debts. The effect would be a new cycle of hunger and poverty.

I alway call something like this the law of unintended consequences. All the aid will hurt in the long run, who would have guessed.

What I really found interesting is this.

A Bush administration proposal that sought to deliver a portion of American food aid more quickly and at lower cost to starving people around the world appears headed for defeat in Congress, though there is still a narrow chance a scaled-down version will survive in the Senate.

The administration asked for authority to use a quarter of the $1.2 billion food aid budget provided to the Agency for International Development to buy corn, wheat and other commodities in the developing countries facing hunger crises, or in neighboring countries, rather than from American producers.

Now, the government must buy the food in American markets and send most of it on American-flagged ships.

Now I understand why American aid is structured this way, to "help" American farmers. Let me give you a little hint though, transportation costs are why I got out of the wheat business and the amount of aid that can be supplied would be much more if the transportation costs were less. But, I guess the idea is to keep the African nations in poverty instead of boosting them up and helping them get going.

As a "farmer" I am very proud of the fact I raise food that feeds people. No food, no people. It's tough to see farmers failing when they are bringing in a bumper harvest.

As poverty has been reduced in terms of mere survival, it has become more profound in terms of our way of life. Raoul Vaneigem

Update: It occurred to me later that the President has been called racist for Hurricane Katrina and it's aftermath in New Orleans, but here he wants to get more food aid quicker to the poor in Africa while at the same time helping boost local economies. So, is he racist or not? I think not.

Only 90 days in jail for raping a girl? Frank Brown got off light, such contemptible behavior deserves much more than that. But, he is an "athlete" so the "judge," who is the problem, let him off easy, can you say castration.

Rape fattens on the fantasies of the normal male like a maggot in garbage. Marge Piercy

Well, we finished sorting the steers for the heifer pairs. We did a real big bunch, greater than 200, yesterday so we would be able to finish today. They actually worked real well. The only thing I didn't like was the number of calves I've had to doctor.



One calf would be more than usual but we've had to doctor 6 now, that's just unacceptable. What I can do about it I'm not sure but I don't like it.

One last thought to keep with you. Yesterday I about froze to death and I was wearing my wool long johns so I wore them again today. Wool long johns and 75 degree temperatures don't go together real well. I just thought you would want to know.

To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Branding on way out as ID for Montana cattle

Branding on the way out? Not a chance. Even when, yes I say when even though I don't like it, the whole Herd Identification System (HIS) is implemented branding will not go out. It is the easier more accurate way to identify your cattle when you are out on the range. Their fancy new HIS requires you to scan the ear tag with fancy electronic equipment which you can't carry around with you all the time and requires you to get close enough to the animal to scan it which on the open range just don't happen very often. Hell, it might be miles to the nearest containment facility, corral, to capturize the critter and scan the stupid ear tag that they have prove works less than 90% of the time.

I can read a brand from a long ways away with out any special equipment but my normal glasses so it is not going to die. The Government might have decided it won't work for their fancy, all electronic, nobody can understand, government controlled, push the little guy out, where the hell am I supposed to find electricity to run the damned thing, HIS but the brand will still be too handy for those who survive the transition to quit using.

Doubt, it seems to me, is the central condition of a human being in the twentieth century. Salman Rushdie

We took a day off from working the cattle today. There is a couple of extra days in the schedule for shipping so I saw no reason to get all cold and wet today when I will be able to finish in plenty of time. I needed a day off too. It felt good.

A day lays low and lifts up again all human things. Sophocles

The countdown is on. If there is no big problems by this time next week the calves will be on the road to their new home in Kansas. We have been busy all week gathering the cattle down to the shipping corral and today we began to sex the calves into different pastures. Today we got about 150 head done, after we gathered the last bunch down to the pasture next to the corral, so it's a good beginning. The picture is after we were done for the day and driving the heifer pairs down to their new home.

I've had a few more sick calves than I would like to see but overall they are looking great. I sure am tired, between the work and worry, but it's a good tired.

We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength. Charles Stanley

I can't believe this person is a "parent." Sounds more like a misguided a**hole. At least somebody cares.

Judge Rory Bellantoni said he would sentence the woman to six months in jail and 10 years' probation if she convinces him on Oct. 26, the sentencing date, that she understands the seriousness of the crime.

Rape charges against the men are pending.

They know not, poor misguided souls,
They, too, shall perish unconsoled.

Andrew Lang

You might remember my Announcment dealing with how I felt about my Chevy. I now have a new Announcment to make. Continue reading "New Announcement" »

Guess Who is one year older today??????? Continue reading "One year Older!!!!!" »