Editorial / Opinions

Recently, I attended a County Cattlemen’s meeting and was very impressed with the turnout.

I can buy a Farmer’s Almanac or listen to TV weathermen, but either way I am getting concerned about weather patterns. Have you noticed how every time since last spring when they talk about getting a soaking rain, we get two drops and some get nothing? That means all the signs were right for us to get rain in the usual pattern but it has not happened. I am not picking on meteorologist because they have a tough job. I did it for several years on the radio and TV, but weather predictions are like puzzles pieces, except some are not coming out like they should. Rain goes under, west or east of us.

Both of my sons are finished with their collegiate careers – FINALLY! The holidays were a particularly joyous occasion since it was the first time, in three years, we had them both home at the same time and I used it as an opportunity to bring them up to date on what was new around the farm.

I, Byron Wheeler, of Wheeler & Sons Livestock Auction in Osceola, Mo., take offense to the article titled “Ways to Select the Right Bull.” I agree with much of the article until the last paragraph saying, “You should never buy a bull from a sale barn.” We at Wheeler & Sons Livestock Auction semen test and trich test every bull sold to go home for breeding or it is sold to slaughter only and marked with a 'K' for kill.

At the beginning of the New Year, Congress announced that the 2008 farm bill will extend until September 30, 2013, a decision that was made months after the farm bill expired. The nine-month extension measure was attached to the bigger fiscal cliff bill and passed by the Senate on January 1.

Both of my sons are finished with their collegiate careers – FINALLY! The holidays were a particularly joyous occasion since it was the first time, in three years, we had them both home at the same time and I used it as an opportunity to bring them up to date on what was new around the farm.

At the beginning of the New Year, Congress announced that the 2008 farm bill will extend until September 30, 2013, a decision that was made months after the farm bill expired. The nine-month extension measure was attached to the bigger fiscal cliff bill and passed by the Senate on January 1.

I had a chance to hear the new Arkansas Congressman Tom Cotton speak at the statewide Arkansas Electric Coop meeting. In my opinion he is a very smart young man. His concern with the Mideast is impressive. Without a script he named all the leaders in place over there, in what I call the sand piles, and what their bone of contention is. I liked his father who had a livestock farm in central Arkansas. We can all stand behind a person who knows our part of the business and the problems we have. There are of course lots more city congressmen, so a voice to represent us is always good.

Twenty-something years ago, when I was still teaching school for a living, I can remember delivering a lecture dealing with farm management. The reason I remember it so vividly is the constant questioning I received from one student in particular.

As you may remember in my last column I wrote about the power of grandma’s apple pie. The first thing my grandma said to me on Christmas was, “ I loved your last column,” which I kind of figured she would.