Just because I wrote a column idea in the dust on a piece of furniture because I didn’t have a pencil and paper handy, my wife thought I was making a critical comment about her housekeeping.“If you don’t like the way I clean house,” she said, “you can just start doing it yourself.” I don’t know why women complain so much about cleaning the house. They get to work in comfortable, mud-free conditions in which there are no snakes or flies, in most cases. Although it’s true that we men don’t routinely dust the furniture and wash the dishes, that doesn’t necessarily mean we couldn’t if we had to.

I’ve oft addressed the challenge of being true to the cowboy life. Remember, the cowboy’s dream is to be able to support himself throughout his life … without ever getting a job! This stubborn independence weaves them through a series of vocations as they travel down life’s trail. Vocations such as: team roper, cutting horse trainer, day-work wrangler, horse shoer, auctioneer, real estate broker, saddle maker, Heel-O-Matic rep, cowboy poet, stuntman, horse whisperer, even the ministry.

Cattle that graze on rangelands in the western U.S. may soon have a new forage option, thanks to work by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist.

The effects of last summer’s drought are still reverberating on the nation’s cattle. Cowherds are down, and many have moved from their homelands to other locations or were sold off.

With the high price of hay this past winter, many cow-calf operators were scrambling for ways to reduce their winter feeding costs.

Five prominent colleges of veterinary medicine located in the Western U.S. recently convened to create the Consortium of Western Regional Colleges of Veterinary Medicine. The consortium was formed to collaborate in the advancement of initiatives critical to the future of the veterinary profession.

Broulim’s Fresh Foods, Haggen Food & Pharmacy/TOP Foods, Harris Teeter Inc. and Safeway were awarded the National Retail Beef Backer awards at the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville. Funded by the Beef Checkoff Program, this effort recognizes grocery establishments that are doing an outstanding job of marketing and merchandising beef in the meat case.

There are several misconceptions regarding what is meant by the carrying capacity of a ranch or pasture.Disagreement concerning carrying capacity not uncommonly leads to litigation in ranching country, and I have professionally been involved in some of these disputes.

Animal Profiling International (API) has formally announced the launch of EarlyPreg28, a blood-based pregnancy testing service. The test is designed to detect pregnancy in cattle as early as 28 days post-insemination without invasive palpation. EarlyPreg28 testing offers cattle operations the unique opportunity to detect pregnancy earlier and with greater accuracy over traditional pregnancy testing methods while also reducing the risks of pregnancy loss due to palpation or ultrasound trauma.

Activists say a bill requiring people who file frivolous lawsuits against Indiana livestock farms to pay the farms' legal fees would make people reluctant to take action, even when they have legitimate complaints about smells or waste. The measure, which supporters call a right-to-farm bill, passed the House on a 57-39 vote and goes before the Senate judiciary committee for a hearing. It has strong support from the Indiana Farm Bureau and Indiana Pork Producers, but environmental groups are opposed.