A while back, my wife and I were chatting with a female family member about the relentless passage of time. Nothing super deep or existential; just run-of-the-mill stuff like, “Can you believe how fast time flies?” and, “The kids are getting so grown up.”

There is never a shortage of world news that affects the cattle industry, and 2022 was no exception. Here are the biggest stories from the past year. 

On Nov. 2, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced over $223 million in grants and loans to support small to midsized meat processing facilities.

A recently published trade report analyzing the effects of American beef imports and exports highlights the strong economic value of the U.S. beef industry’s participation in a global marketplace.

On Oct. 4, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) called on the EPA to pause their Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rulemaking after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Sackett v. EPA, a case that will determine the EPA’s authority to regulate bodies of water under the Clean Water Act.

As a calf roper on the high school rodeo team in the early aughts, I used to scoff at other teenagers’ inability to throw a calf on the end of a rope. Countless kids would throw a beautiful loop, dismount gracefully, jet down the rope, and … struggle. “Hapless” is the word that comes to mind. 

You’ve been there, trying not to make your eyerolls too terribly obvious, as the guy who always, always has to make dang sure everyone knows just how much of a cowboy he is asserts control of the situation.