Editorial / Opinions

As I was browsing through some obscure news stories last week, I stumbled across one from San Francisco that both interested and infuriated me. It seems that our government (you and me, the taxpayers) recently spent more than $200,000 of our money to transplant a single shrub from the path of a proposed superhighway to an undisclosed plant sanctuary where, mind you, tens of thousands more dollars will be spent to assure it lives the rest of its life in secret safety.

You know you’re getting old when you were thrown from a horse nearly a month ago and can still feel the affects. Don’t worry I’m all right, just not a spring chicken anymore despite how much I try to ignore it.

As I was browsing through some obscure news stories last week, I stumbled across one from San Francisco that both interested and infuriated me. It seems that our government (you and me, the taxpayers) recently spent more than $200,000 of our money to transplant a single shrub from the path of a proposed superhighway to an undisclosed plant sanctuary where, mind you, tens of thousands more dollars will be spent to assure it lives the rest of its life in secret safety.

Cattle theft reports are in the news nonstop in Missouri and even in Oklahoma and Arkansas as cattle prices continue to rise in the Ozarks. In March alone, the Livestock Marketing Association has listed six reports in Missouri, two in Oklahoma and one in Arkansas. And that doesn’t include the thefts that go without being reported. What can we do to prevent this from happening on our farms?

A couple of years ago we built on to our house and had a sand pile in the front yard. Some of the biggest cat tracks were seen in that sand pile and my brother-in-law who has hunted all his life said he thought I had a cougar passing through. I’ve given you my opinion on why the Arkansas Fish and Game won’t admit there are wild cougars or mountain lions in the state because if they did, they’d have to count and protect them since the eastern cougar is an endangered species. That would cost millions of dollars and they won’t bite on the bait.

   

I admit that I’m more than a little superstitious. I’ve been known to turn around in the middle of the road and take another route to my destination just to avoid the path of that black cat that had scampered across the highway ahead of me and I try to avoid any important plans whenever Friday the 13th rolls around. As far as stepladders and umbrellas go – they scare the heck out of me. It’s precisely because of these phobias that I knew I’d made a major blunder a couple of weeks ago when a neighbor asked, “How’s your calving season going, Jerry?”

Cattle theft reports are in the news nonstop in Missouri and even in Oklahoma and Arkansas as cattle prices continue to rise in the Ozarks. In March alone, the Livestock Marketing Association has listed six reports in Missouri, two in Oklahoma and one in Arkansas. And that doesn’t include the thefts that go without being reported. What can we do to prevent this from happening on our farms?

Granted, after almost 30 years of marriage, it’s difficult to be surprised by anything my wife does around the house or farm. Through the years, I’ve been shocked by; opening the dishwasher and finding a cow skull staring back at me, because she thought it would make an attractive wall hanging, if only she could get it clean; Or, jumping over the fence in her best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a calf that I had just pulled and pronounced it, “beyond help.” She saved the calf.

Recently, I visited a friend in St. Louis, Mo. While staying with my friend I found myself visiting with her roommate, who was born and raised in St. Louis. Naturally the roommate wasn’t very familiar with farming and she was intrigued by my occupation and lifestyle. As an animal lover, she was a little concerned with the way farmers are portrayed in the media in regards to how they treat their livestock. During our conversation I learned that she makes buying decisions based on what the media portrays. Wanting to become more education on the matter she asked my opinion and of course I was happy to share.

They say it was the third warmest winter we’ve ever had in the Ozarks. Nothing unusual about that, weather runs its course and besides La Niño in the Pacific Ocean has lots of control on our weather. Meteorologist tell us that though we had a mild winter it is by no means a sign we have another drought coming. No one can predict that despite all the forecasting aids available.