Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

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The sun rising on another hot day in the Big Sky. The colors it gave just made me feel hot. Taken by My Darling Wife on 7/29/2006.

We keep getting sold the whole bill of goods on NAIS by the constant chorus that Australia is doing it so we need to. According to the proponents of the system all is working out well Down Under and we should be meek little sheep and follow along. Let's take a brief glimpse at how it's working out Down Under.

Livestock tracking system `on track'

National Livestock Identification System chairman John Wyld has defended the system against claims that it was not working and offered producers no benefit.

Mr Wyld, of Victoria, said that Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers office bearers should focus on the interests of grassroots members in Tasmania rather than operate as "a mouthpiece for those constantly negative attacks emanating from another state".

In The Examiner earlier this month, Australian Beef Association chairwoman Linda Hewitt was quoted as saying that the nine million phantom cattle that no longer existed, but whose tags were still active, showed the system didn't work.

TFGA Meat Council chairman Laurie Appleby, too, was critical of the way NLIS was working.

He said that the only people making money out of NLIS were those supplying the system with tags or readers.

He questioned the value of an Australian tracking system whose participants received a lower price than their American counterparts who used no such system.

So, the chairman of the system thinks it's working great, but the people using the system see problems. 9 million tags still active but no cattle to go along with them. It seems they were slaughtered and the meat packers never removed the tags from the database like they should. Fun isn't it.

They also complain that there is no financial benefit to the system and that US producers are still getting more for their cattle and have no such system. How true this is I can't say but these are the people on the ground seeing this, so i imagine they have a good idea.

One last thing. The whole idea of this system is to be able to track an animal to it's place of origin in case of a disease. Is this working in Australia?

But former TFGA Meat Council chairman David Byard said that the recent hydatids cyst find at Killafaddy showed the system was flawed.

The cyst was found in a beast whose head had already been removed and there was no way of identifying the infected carcass or where it originated, he said.

"I'm afraid we've been sold a bunny - what's the use of a system that only traces a beast to slaughter," he said.

"The much lauded paddock-to-plate traceability doesn't exist."

They've been sold a "bunny." The disease trace back didn't work. So we are getting a disease trace back system forced on us, modeled on the Australian example, and that example has prove not to work. This is just wonderful.

The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it: so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. Elbert Hubbard

Crossposted to No Mandatory Animal ID

FROM THE PHOTO ARCHIVES
New not previously published

I'm still hoping winter pictures will bring cooler weather. It hasn't worked yet, but who knows.



Snow falling gently and peacefully. In a way a very soothing sight. Taken 1/8/2006.

Cattle groups pleased with halt of import plan

Officials with leading cattle industry groups in the state said they were pleased with the federal government's plan to halt, for now, an effort to expand cattle and beef trade with Canada because of mad cow disease. A leader of one of those groups, however, said the move doesn't go far enough.

Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture should suspend all beef and cattle trade with Canada until more is known about the extent of the disease in the Canadian cattle herd and officials reassess the risk continued trade poses to the U.S. cattle industry and to consumers.

The USDA pulled it's plan for allowing cattle over 30 months of age access to the US after the latest BSE case in Canada. R-Calf was sure pleased but want more imports stopped. Other cattle groups are a little more moderate and are glad to see this and comfortable with letting younger cattle in.

What really surprised me was this:

The executive vice president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Dennis Laycraft, said the decision appeared to be a matter simply of "due diligence." He expected the investigative work to be completed within weeks.

So The Canadian Cattleman's Association isn't even surprised or worried about this. Normally they are screaming and yelling about such a thing but not this time.

Personally I think it is a good move. My question still remains in the air. Why does Canada have such a greater prevalence of BSE in a much smaller total herd than the US. I would really like to know this.

Precaution is better than cure. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Boy the smoke was laying in here thick yesterday morning. I am not sure which fire it was from. I heard rumors there was one down towards the mouth of Tullock creek and the paper says there is one down by Lodge Grass. All I know is that it was smoky and miserable and HOT. Taken 7/27/2006.

A picture My Darling Wife got of one of the fox hanging around the place. As long as they leave me alone I will leave them alone but I keep waiting for them to go after My Darling Wife's chickens. Then I will have to thin the population down. Taken 7/24/2006.

Burns criticizes firefighters, says they didn't heed ranchers

Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" dousing a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.

Burns and the firefighters - members of the Augusta Hot Shots from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia -were at Billings Logan International Airport awaiting flights, according to Burns and Forest Service representatives.

Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had "done a poor job" and "should have listened to the ranchers," according to a report prepared by Paula Rosenthal, a state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee who was sent to the airport to speak with the senator.

This is a bad deal. Senator Burns needs to get his head out of his ass and talk to the right people. Criticizing the firefighting crews for how they fight the fire is like criticizing the troops for how the war is being fought in Iraq. The crews, like the troops, have no control over how they are used. They just do the job they are given by their superiors and do it to the best of their ability.

Senator Burns needs to be taking his complaint up with the management team that ran the fire fighting efforts, not the crews. When I had the big 30,000+ acre fire out in this country a few years ago I had a lot of complaints about the way the stupid idiots in the management team fought the fire. They didn't listen to what the landowner had to say and they did, time and time again try to chase me off the fire lines and leave the fire to them. I always ignored them when they told me to leave and I continued to voice my opinions even when they were ignored.

After they had the fire contained I warned the guys in charge repeatedly that the one area was dangerous and they needed to do a better job putting the fire out and fire lining it. They kept patting me on the head and saying everything was all right. I told them it was going to blow up there and that something needed done. They ignored me and went about there business. Two days later, while they were still mopping up the fire, the area I was concerned with blew up on them. It scorched an additional 2000-3000 acres before they got it under control again. I very politely told them, "I told you that was going to happen, why didn't you listen to me." They never would respond to what I said.

So I know what the Senator was talking about. The fire managers don't listen to landowners and do try to chase them off. But chewing in the crews is wrong. All you do with the crews is thank them profusely for fighting the fire and helping you out. They are under their boss's orders and if they don't do what they are told, they don't get paid so criticizing them is useless.

Burns never did strike me as very intelligent and this just proves it. Shooting his mouth off like this is just like shooting himself in the foot. It's only going to hurt him and show people that he is not very careful or thoughtful person.

One last thing. The fire fighting crews did a great job in getting the fires in the area under control and I thank them for it even if our Senator doesn't.

There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Japan lifts ban on U.S. beef imports

apan on Thursday announced the resumption of U.S. beef imports, ending a ban imposed in January due to concerns about mad cow disease that had strained ties with Washington.

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer immediately welcomed the move, which reopens Japan's lucrative market to a select list of American meat exporters, saying that it resolved an issue of primary importance to the United States.

I have been reading all week, story after story about how this was going to happen. I really got tired of reading the story. I was just waiting for the announcment that it did happen, and it fisnlly came this morning. I really and truly thought Japan would weasel out and not open the market back up. I was wrong.

Opening the market was the easy part, now it's time to build market share, that's the hard part.

Reality is easy. It's deception that's the hard work. Lauryn Hill

So which image do you think California milk producers want you to think of?

Real California Cheese Happy Cows

Heat causes pileup of livestock carcasses

The state's record-setting heat wave has killed thousands of dairy cows and other livestock, leaving farmers with piles of carcasses and creating a backup at factories that turn the dead animals into pet food.

I always have to laugh at the happy cows commercials that I see on TV. Does anybody really believe that California dairy cows are out frolicking in green pastures, content with life. Dairy production in California, for the most part but I'm sure there are exceptions, is a feedlot intensive operation and the cows never see any green grass. Just the dirt under their feet in the feedlot.

These poor cows must really be suffering under this heat. I feel for them. I know mine aren't comfortable but the can move around and lay in the shade to get away from the heat to some degree. I've heard of ranchers that don't want any trees on their place because they say, "if a cow is laying under a tree in the shade, she is not out grazing and gaining weight." Personally I would rather see them laying under the tree in the shade them killing themselves in the sun. It's supposed to be almost 100 here today so I'm sure they will be laying under the trees resting today. Good for them.

If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back? Steven Wright

Threatening clouds. It's been a while since I saw this. I even got a little scared. Water drops fell from the sky and hit me. I thought the sky was falling. Then I remembered this thing called rain and decided that was what was happening. Got a good 1 inch rain out of it. You know what I mean, one drop every inch. Better than nothing I guess. Taken 7/25/2006.

Flash news notice. Big story in the Billings Gazette today that is really informative.

Dryness bad sign for fires

[sarcasm]I would have never known dryness was a bad sign for fires if they hadn't told me.[/sarcasm] I'm sure glad they keep me up on such things.

Don't get me wrong, I understand they are reporting on the dryness of the fuels but the headline could have been a little better if you ask me. This one is like a no shit Sherlock moment to me.

To spell out the obvious is often to call it in question. Eric Hoffer

2 girls found starving; have well-fed siblings

Two emaciated girls who told police they ate only when their father wasn’t traveling on business were hospitalized after police found them in an advanced state of starvation.

“It’s the worst case of malnutrition I’ve ever seen,” said police Lt. E.J. Bastian. The 6- and 7-year-old girls were found Friday in a home’s basement, were they were kept.

The girls’ stepmother, whose biological children were found healthy and well-fed upstairs, was taken in for questioning. Their father, traveling on business, was to be questioned when he returned, police said.

No wonder step mothers get such a bad reputation when assholes such as this gal live in the world. Starving the kids when dad is not home. Is Dad totally blind? He has had no indication something like this is going on? Maybe but I kind of ******* doubt it.

I just don't understand how people can hurt children like this. It just somehow seems backwards. As adults we are supposed to protect children and I cannot for the life of me figure out how people can hurt them like this. How do they get so screwed up?

You see my opinion, fix the problem permanently.

Child abuse and neglect offend the basic values of our state. We have a responsibility to provide safe settings for at-risk children and facilitate permanent placement for children who cannot return home. Matt Blunt

An alert Lucky. It's not very often that we manage to get a good picture of Lucky. He is always on the move. I didn't think he knew how to sit still. Taken 7/22/2006.

Mom gets 60 years in death of toddler

A woman whose daughter was abused to death - suffering a skull fracture, a broken arm, burns to her fingers, dehydration and numerous pinch and nail marks - has been sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Macalia Blackburn pleaded guilty to being an accessory to second-degree murder. She was sentenced Thursday by Fremont County District Court Judge Norman Young.

Twenty-two-month-old Marcela Hope Yellowbear died at a hospital in 2004. "This is the worst case of child abuse anyone has ever seen," County Attorney Ed Newell said.

He said that with good behavior, Blackburn could be released in 40 years.

For all that happened to this little girl she should have gotten more. What really galls me is this statement.

Friends and relatives of Blackburn said she never hurt the girl.

So, do these "friends and relatives" think that her allowing the father to abuse the child this way is not hurting the girl? These "friends and relatives" really need a lot of help. By her allowing him to do these things she is as gulity, if not more so, than he is. A parents responsibility is to protect thier children, not allow it to happen. This statement is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard.

People place such importance on the external. It's disgusting. Tab Hunter