Columnists

Seasonal price weakness likely muted Cattle price increases slowed or stalled last month, pressured by extreme heat limiting cattle movement and packers reducing production in an effort to boost wholesale beef values. Heading into fall, prices typically come under seasonal pressure, although dwindling cattle numbers will likely lessen the impact.  ...

Indianola: Gone with the wind Indianola already had a great future behind it when a hurricane blew it away in 1886, 40 years after its founding as Indian Point on Matagorda Bay. The U.S. Army established a base there because it was the nearest port to San Antonio, where the ...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The highly anticipated new waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule released by the Environmental Protection Agency will remove scores of water bodies from regulation under the Clean Water Act.       Absent from the new rule is the “significant nexus” test which had been part of WOTUS since the ...

Hopefully, it looks like we have finally made it through the summer of 2023. This past week, a cool front, not acold front, made it into Texas and dropped the temperatures down from 108 into the high 90’s which is a welcome relief for most of us. In fact, we received anywhere from a half inch to over an inch of rainin the Hill Country but it’s still not the measurable rainfall we desperately need before our first killing freeze, which hopefully won’t occur until the end of November. I’m 65-years-old and I can honestly say, I’ve never seen a year likethis! In Llano and Mason counties, we were green and lush at the beginning of July and in 60 days without anyrainfall, no cloudy days whatsoever and over 100 degrees every day…it dried out faster than I’ve ever seen it. The Llano ...

On Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, the temperature reached 100 degrees or hotter in San Antonio for the 60th time in 2023. This surpasses all the previous years recorded in history. AND IT’S JUST AUG. 27! This is not the kind of record you want to break. A popular record people seem ...

J.O. Langford’s Hot Springs J.O. Langford was sickly and despairing when he made his way from Midland to Alpine in 1909. He had forsaken his native Mississippi for Texas because he suffered frequent bouts of malaria in his home state and he thought the arid West Texas air might be ...

    Last week I attended my favorite annual cattle event, the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course (BCSC).  It’s always good to go back to College Station and see all the new facilities under construction and to see and learn about the most up-to-date information concerning the cattle industry. Once again, my ...

A lot of what we can say about Clark Stanley or Charlie Bigelow would come off today as a left-handed compliment or even a downright insult. Where’s the glory in being history’s best-known snake oil salesman, or even the original Drug Store Cowboy? Stanley and Bigelow have been called both ...

Notwithstanding the weekly push and pull of grain market wonderments and beef packers reining in production to boost boxed beef prices, cattle prices continued beyond the expectations of many last month. The already bullish outlook grew even brighter. USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) increased projected feeder steer prices (750-800 lbs. ...

The last time I wrote to you was during our family trip to Maine. For those of you who didn’t read it, I will remind you that we have a motor coach and drove there and back. Google Maps says that from our storage facility near Boerne, to Freeport Maine ...