02/13/07 Bio-Legislation & Cattle Rustling

Bio-legislation & Cattle Rustling. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The U.S. House of Representatives wants to help find a way to make renewable fuels more compatible with the nation's existing petroleum-based energy infrastructure. Their first step was to pass legislation that would provide 10-million dollars for federal agencies to create research and development programs that could help increase use of biofuels. The overwhelming 400 to three vote would create a research program that would be conducted by the Energy Department - the Environmental Protection Agency - and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The legislation would help fuel distributors and retailers with the high cost of investing in new storage tanks and pumps needed to give drivers greater access to biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. An apparent case of cattle rustling and 2 dead sounds more like a Louis L'Amour story than an Oregon headline. But a squabble over the ownership of 4 head of cattle has led to one cowboy being shot off his horse and the shooter being killed by another cowboy in a case of self defense. After being confronted about the cattle by Dennis Beach and his son, Travis, hired hand Shane Huntsman shot Dennis Beach off his horse with a rifle. The son Travis fought with Huntsman, wrestled the rifle away and shot Huntsman. A fourth person, the sister of the ranch owner is being charged with aiding Huntsman. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. What's a cattleman to do, with the cost of feed skyrocketing and operating costs at an all time high, ranchers are tapping into their creative juices to find ways to increase their bottom line. Some have done well with fee hunting, others, like Jeff Faulkner, current president of the Idaho Cattlemen's Association look back to the roots of ranching for new sources of income. Jeff, profiled in the February Western Farmer Stockman publication, has tapped into the team roping by raising Corrientes,, (roping cattle) and putting on ropings at his ranch and at other venues. The last economic study on team roping completed ten years ago found it contributed over $ 770million to our economy. I would imagine it is nearly double that today given its growth as a family sport not mention the fact my family is a weekly contributor. Ranchers like Jeff Faulkner have figured out how to tap into the popularity of team roping and despite the fact that Corrientes won't wow anyone at the feedlot at least a good roping steer begins paying it's way nearly from the get go and the check from the feed lot in many cases is just a nice bonus. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.