As Interior secretary, succeeding Colorado’s Ken Salazar, Jewell oversees an $11.5 billion annual budget, 70,000 federal employees and nearly 30 percent of the entire U.S. land mass, including national parks and wildlife refuges. Interior’s policies also impact live stock.

The Australian beef industry is experiencing a perfect storm of economic disaster. Drought, oversupply from closed markets, and ag policy gone awry have left Aussie producers scrambling to find an alternative to simply shooting the hundreds of thousands of excess animals which cost more to feed and ship than they’re worth at market.

The cash fed trade developed as a slow but steady trickle last week with reportable sales starting as early as Tuesday. Cattle sold for $126-127 live and $202-204 dressed, decreases of as much as $5-6 for both depending upon what part of cattle country one looked at.

Wholesale beef prices finally moved over the $200 mark and have remained there for the past five days. Last Thursday, Choice beef was $3.00 higher at $204.67 in the afternoon report. Trade volume has been light as everyone tries to adjust to this new price point.

Missed breeding opportunities are expensive because the next opportunity only comes around again in three weeks. Bulls need to have structural soundness and physical stamina to breed and conceive calves on a daily basis throughout the breeding season. No excuses need be made for questionable bulls.

For many people in the horse or livestock business, the operations have a history of losses, but the expectation is that future operations will be profitable. The IRS will want to see evidence that the taxpayer has taken steps to correct or abandon unprofitable strategies, and to demonstrates steps taken to improve operations.

Livestock under normal conditions are fairly adept at selecting forages with safe nutritional values based on preference, learned behavior and a function called “negative feedback” which basically is the memory that a plant generated illness, depressed condition, or discomfort when eaten.

In a conference call to reporters shortly after Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, announced the committee markup of the bill will be next Tuesday, Gillibrand, D-NY, said she believes the bill “will move to the floor as early as next week.

Nebraska Cattlemen (NC), Sand County Foundation and Cargill are proud to announce The Beel Ranch as the recipient of the 2013 Leopold Conservation Award, which honors Nebraska landowner achievement in voluntary stewardship and management of natural resources.

“We have seen the impact that variable climate patterns have had on production agriculture for the past several years. These projects will deliver the best tools available to accurately measure and respond to the effects of climate on beef and dairy production,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.