News Update

News Update
May 21, 2008

Bush Vetoes Farm Bill

President Bush announced this afternoon that he had vetoed the 2007 Farm Bill offered Tuesday by the House and Senate.

Although the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, H.R. 2419, passed the House of Representatives 318-to-106 and the Senate 81-to-15, the President quickly vetoed the legislation on grounds that the nearly $300-million package gave too much money to wealthy farmers at the expense of taxpayers.

Legislators can override the veto if enough votes are collected, something that has occurred only once during Bush’s time in office. Both the House and Senate are expected to hold veto override votes today.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner released a statement saying the legislation fails to implement meaningful reform to farm programs while increasing taxpayer spending by more than $20 billion.

“This massive spending package — in a time of escalating food prices and gas closing in on $4 a gallon — is simply unacceptable,” Conner said.

Conner said that as more of the 1,700-page spending bill becomes unveiled, “we learn more about the taxpayer abuses and unsound policy that is in this bill. Just recently it was brought to light that a $170 million earmark for the salmon industry was slipped into this bill at the last moment. It joins other egregious earmarks, such as millions for a ski resort in Vermont and $250 million for a federal land grab in Montana. And Congress has included last minute changes to the so-called ACRE farm subsidy program that likely will result in tens of billions of new government outlays in the future.”

Conner suggested Congress “extend the current Farm Bill rather than jeopardize America’s support for the farm bill with wasteful spending that fails to target payments to farmers who really need the support.”

The current extension of the 2002 Farm Bill expires Friday, May 23, 2008. 

Oilman Makes $100M Donation to OSU

Boone Pickens announced today a $100 million donation for academics at Oklahoma State University (OSU) — the largest academic gift in the state’s history.

The Texas oilman previously made headlines in 2005 when he contributed $165 million to the university’s athletic program. The gift drew criticism for its preference to athletics rather than academics, but today’s donation will provide funds to endow major faculty chairs and professorships, a university release stated.

In addition, the gift will be eligible for a dollar-for-dollar match through the State of Oklahoma’s endowed chair program, which will double the gift value to $200 million, according to OSU.

Predators Can Affect How Livestock Watch Over Their Young

Livestock are likely to spend more time on the lookout for predators soon after the loss of a calf and, therefore, have less time to forage for their food, according to a new study. Consequently, predators such as wolves, mountain lions, and coyotes can affect the economic solvency of livestock producers, according to an article in the May 2008 issue of Rangeland Ecology and Management, published by the Society for Range Management.

“Our results show that vigilance behavior in cattle is plastic,” write Bryan Kluever, Stewart Breck, Larry Howery, Paul Krausman and David Bergman in their article “Vigilance in Cattle: The Influence of Predation, Social Interactions, and Environmental Factors.”

In the article, they outline their findings after observing cattle during peak foraging hours for two summers in northeast Arizona. During this time, the researchers watched how predators affected the scanning behavior, or vigilance, of cattle. They found that factors affecting vigilance and foraging behavior include lactation status, herd size, and visual obstructions.

In the first three days after the loss of a calf, mother cows had higher vigilance rates but spent less time foraging. However, within 10 days of the calf death, their vigilance and foraging times returned to earlier levels.

Cattle have lower vigilance rates than wild ungulates, the researchers say, likely because of the domestication process. However, they “react to predators in a similar fashion to wild ungulates,” the authors write.

The type of predator also may affect vigilance levels, the researchers say. Cattle may be more wary of chasing or harassing predators than those who stalk or ambush their prey. “Understanding these differences could be important for livestock management practices,” the researchers write.

To read the entire study, “Vigilance in Cattle: The Influence of Predation, Social Interactions, and Environmental Factors,” visit www.allenpress.com/pdf/RAMA-61.3.pdf.

— Release provided by the Society for Rangeland Management.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.