November 19, 2009
November 17, 2009
Soft U.S. Prices For Live Cattle Lead To Lower Imports
11/17/2009
Mexican cattle imported into the United States are almost all cattle that have been fed on pasture and are being sold for further feeding, either in backgrounding operations or feedlots, in the United States. While year-to-date figures are above last year’s exceptionally low import levels, they are well below the 5-year historical average. Recent pasture conditions in Mexico have been mixed. Some areas near the Texas border have been experiencing the same dry conditions that have occurred in Southern Texas, while other areas further west and south have had better precipitation. Imports from Mexico have been lagging behind historical levels as feeder cattle prices in the Southern Plains remain low, partially as a result of drought conditions in Southern Texas.
Imports of Canadian cattle have also been dramatically lower year-to-date. According to AMS weekly reports, year-to-date feeder cattle imports have been down over 50 percent and slaughter steers and heifers nearly 20 percent. Price differentials between U.S. and Canadian cattle markets have been lower than in 2008 and 2007, adjusted for the exchange rate. Both U.S. and Canadian cattle prices have been lower than last year in U.S. dollar terms. However, with a lower price premium than is typical in the United States for Canadian producers, there is less incentive for Canadian cattle producers to market animals in the United States.
November 14, 2009
Ranches are focus of Fielder book | Greeley Tribune
John Fielder, famed Colorado nature photographer, will talk about his latest project and book, “Ranches of Colorado,” which features a Weld County ranch, at Colorado State University next week.
Fielder will be in the north ballroom of the Lory Student Center at CSU at 6 p.m. Nov. 20. A portion of proceeds from the event will support the work of the Legacy Land Trust, a nonprofit land conservation organization in northern Colorado.
The book is a collaboration between Fielder, Colorado Open Lands, and the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust to feature the landscapes of 50 working ranches across Colorado. In addition to capturing the beauty and rustic western heritage of these ranches, the book also asserts the need to protect these important and dwindling pieces of Colorado's history. Fielder will highlight his book in a multimedia presentation.
One of the ranches featured in the book Legacy Land Trust has helped protect is the Eagle Rock Ranch in the Chalk Bluffs area of northern Weld.
Suggested donations for admission are $7.50 and $5 for CSU students.
Fielder will be signing copies of “Ranches of Colorado” along with past works during the event, which is sponsored by Larimer County Open Lands, city of Fort Collins Natural Areas, and the Center for Collaborative Conservation.
Posted using ShareThis
November 11, 2009
RANCHES IN DOUGLAS & ELBERT COUNTIES WIN LOTTERY
Article Contributed on: 10/16/2008 1:23:25 PM
The Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Board has awarded two land trusts - the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) -- $945,000 in Lottery funds for conservation easements on two ranches in Douglas and Elbert counties.
The TPL project is Spring Creek Ranch in Douglas County. GOCO's $520,000 grant will be used to place a conservation easement on this horse ranching operation located within the Middle South Platte River watershed. Spring Creek runs through the ranch for about 0.8 miles and has nine acres of riparian habitat associated with it. There is habitat for elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, bears and bobcats. It is a buffer to the Pike National Forest and acts as a wildlife corridor into the National Forest from Perry Park. This project creates an opportunity to protect native grassland and forest that provide habitat to a wide range of animals in an area where an increase in land values is making it more and more difficult to protect larger properties like the Spring Creek Ranch.
The TNC Project in Elbert County to which GOCO awarded $425,000 is the Jumping Cow Ranch. A conservation easement will be purchased on 7,040 acres of the Ranch and is the first of two phases that will ultimately protect the entire 24,295-acre property. The area has rolling short- and mixed-grass prairie with cottonwood gallery forests, wet meadows, and small intermittent streams, including Wilson and East Bijou Creeks. It represents a unique mixed-grass prairie, one of the most altered and under-protected grassland systems of the Great Plains that is particularly threatened in Colorado because it occurs primarily along the Front Range. This project will provide a critical linkage for wildlife between the open expanses of eastern rural counties and the protected natural areas along the I-25 corridor. The Jumping Cow Ranch area still hosts unbroken wildlife corridors and expanses of prairie large enough to support wide-ranging species such as Pronghorn antelope.
Great Outdoors Colorado is the result of a citizens' initiative passed by Colorado voters in 1992. GOCO receives approximately $53 million annually from Lottery proceeds, and directs those funds to projects that protect and enhance Colorado's parks, wildlife, trails, rivers and open space. http://denver.yourhub.com/CastleRock/Stories/Sports/Story~535928.aspx
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