Category Archives: Livestock

Feedback and Unintended Policy Consequences

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Today has been a day to reflect on the way things actually work and the perverse outcomes that sometimes obtain when we do what seems logical…meaning, of course, that unintended consequences are everywhere. —– Over the past 20 years or so, perhaps more, environmental advocacy groups (Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, etc.) have trained their guns on industrial agriculture, especially industrial ANIMAL agriculture, arguing that the larger our “animal factories” (their term, not mine!) become, the greater risk they pose to the environment. The logical conclusion they reach is… Read More →

NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award Program

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Do you raise cattle as your life’s vocation? Are you a dedicated steward of your land, cattle, air, water, and community? Are you a dedicated servant-leader of your fellow cattle producers (and agricultural producers generally)? If the answer to all three of those questions is “yes,” then maybe it’s time you thought about applying to the prestigious National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Environmental Stewardship Award Program! Here is the NCBA-ESAP Application 2016.  The 2016 Regional winners have already been selected, but it’s never too early to start thinking about a 2017 application.  In… Read More →

Dairies and Air Pollution

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Last week, at the invitation of Dr. Ellen Jordan (Extension Dairy Specialist, Dallas), I made a short presentation at the annual Dairy Outreach Program Area (DOPA) workshop in Stephenville.  Dairy producers in the Central Texas (Erath, Comanche, Johnson, Bosque, and Hamilton Counties) and East Texas (Hopkins, Rains, and Wood Counties) DOPAs  are required under their state water-quality permits to obtain a certain number of continuing-education units each year.  Because these CEU programs are a regulatory requirement, they’re usually well attended, and this year’s was no exception:  somewhere around 45… Read More →