This calf was only a couple of hours old this morning to its 2 year-old mother. Both have the necessary instincts to survive. She has carried it for nine months and now it’s learning to trust her instructions as she heads to the feed grounds, it trailing behind, before we intercepted them with a couple of flakes of hay near a shade tree. All’s well.
PEAK EVERYTHING, OVERSHOOT, & COLLAPSE—Chapter-19-CA-aquifer-depletion.jpg
California has the law it needs
to retire Mom and Pop (early)
when they can’t find the fees
to fund its application—
let the citrus hang on trees,
fill the furrows with oranges
when they can’t pay
to drill a deeper well
if there’s any water left
after the Big Dogs drink,
leave and let the farm ground sink
clear to hell.
Posted in Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal
Tagged acquifer depletion, California, poetry, SGMA, subsidence, water
Tag 5029
Tag 5026
Tag 5007
Surprised to see three ‘first calves’ this morning from our first calf heifers, photographed to substantiate our Age and Source Verification Program required for our exported beef. We have begun our new year!
The recent notion to import more beef to lower the price of hamburger to consumers in this country also lowers the price to producers who are facing higher prices for fuel and fertilizer, many of whom are in a drought.
INSIDER:
America’s largest trade association of cattle producers says President Donald Trump’s plan to lower beef prices is political theater
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which represents more than 175,000 cattle producers and feeders, said on Friday that the strategy would do more harm than good for the industry. Earlier that day, Trump said the US would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of beef to be imported with no out-of-quota tariff over the next 90 days.
“Today’s announcement is not about helping producers,” the association said on X. “It’s not about putting their finger on the scale for one cattle industry group or another. It is 100% about the 74 days between now and the midterm elections.”
In the same X thread, the association said that encouraging more beef imports undermines American cattle producers at a time when they’re making decisions about rebuilding their herd numbers for next year. The association also said the administration’s “repeated whiplash on trade policy and beef imports” directly affects rural cattle producers.
“US farmers and ranchers need stability,” the group said. “Unlike spur-of-the-moment trading decisions made based on White House social media posts, the decisions and investments ranchers make in their herds are made YEARS in advance, not days or weeks.”
drycrikjournal 