Hey Ruttledge

[countryguy]

I dare ya to phone Don and Miles in Ste.Rose and ask them what breed the high selling 6-7 weight steers were last week.

In case they didn't realize WHAT they were selling (like you apparently) I will give you a hint.

They were an exeptional group of black HAIRY steers.

[kato]

Kind of like Don?

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I got to see my first Welsh Black bull and his calves up close and personal for the first time ever yesterday. I was impressed. 7 and 8 weight June steers on nothin' but forage and a couple pounds of rolled barley. Good depth, good length. I can't see why any feeder wouldn't want them on the lot. I'll be running one of those short little hairy bulls on my baldy and Angus/Simm critters this summer.

Rod

[rkaiser]

Good morning Rod. Glad to here you had a good day yesterday. So did we. In fact it was F*&^%(* amazing. Some of the original proposals in the post I made a while back were turned upside down, but consensus was easily made. I got shit from one of our potential members for posting the plan here on Agriville, so I won't be diving into details of the meeting. Twisted his lid enough to stay home. What a loss. Suffice to say this thing has wings. It won't be long til Roy Rutthead will be buying calves for our program and trying to sneak them in the back door.

Could anyone send me a contact adress or phone for Don and Miles. We will need to find as many of these AntiRoyAttitude folks as we can. Too bad Old Roy woulndn't join us here on Agriville. He threatented to rake me over the coals after that little paper I wrote and I said to bring it on. You want to talk entertaionment value on Agriville boys and girls. That would be entertaining.

rpkaiser@telusplanet.net

[rkaiser]

Anyone see Roy's new run at old Pot Smokin Kaiser in the latest AB magazine. I hope that the editors will again print my rebutt. Thought he would give up, but he must be a sucker for punishment.

[lakenheath]

Roy Rutledge is from my hometown (Assiniboia). He has pissed off a lot of people in a short time with his big mouth. What is it that you guys have against Roy? I would like to know who he is pissing off now and why?

[Willowcreek]

Hey Kaiser- Roys reputation proceeds him- as he is even known down here south of the 49th...Personally I never met the guy- but one thing I've found from every Canadian I talked to- everyone has an opinion about Roy- either good or bad- no inbetweens....LOL

[just_wondering]

Cattle people by Roy Rutledge
September, 2006
Alberta Beef Magazine
I wonder why Roy never put this in his bull pen online
He definitely has his opinions
I don't know what Roy said about your cattle but this should get him a earfull

In Saskatchewan we have an organization called S.A.R.M. It stands for Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. I call it HARM. Sure, there are some very well meaning people involved with this group but by and large it is a mostly a grain farmer group. It mainly looks after the perceived needs and wishes of grain farmers at the expense of the rest of us. For example, they finance short line railroads at rate payers (property owners) expense. Of course they contribute some too. How much good does an old semi abandoned railway do for the general public, cattle ranchers or anybody but a small percentage of grain farmers? None that I can think of. They are just a nuisance that we get to tolerate at our own expense. We are programmed to live with this type of thing here. However, if the cattle rancher wants to do something that could be a nuisance to the grain farmer that is not to be tolerated. Grain farming was king in this province for so long that they still think they are Royalty. They know that they have fallen into the throne and could be flushed anytime but they can't get over it.

Try putting a Texas gate on a road where any dusty old farmer travels. It is akin to treason. We all have to slow down or stop for all the two bit, seldom used railroad crossings but a farmer can not be bothered by a Texas gate no matter how remote the road is. He will travel down the same road grossly overloaded or with over width equipment with no mirrors or lights and never look back, but Texas gates are a plague.

Where do grain farmers get this attitude from? They claim that the are right winged, free enterprise risk takers. No doubt there is a lot of risk involved in planting crops that are worth little, and then have to depend on the weather to make it grow. A lot of them could change what they are doing. Some could try cattle or at least more cattle and less cultivation but they won't. Ever wonder why? I have.

The only reason that I can see for them to not make some kind of change would be that they are afraid of missing out on some farm social programs. You always need a permit book to be eligible for those. Is grain farming actually a business or is it a social program? When these risk takers vote for a government, they tend for the most part, to vote for the party that they believe is offering the most lucrative agricultural social programs. Ironic, isn't it?

During the last election down at the local watering hole a farmer was telling me that if the Conservatives get elected they are going to pay us forty five dollars per acre." Oh!" say I, "I have never heard about that press release." He replies, "Well, they haven't said it yet, but that is what they are going to do. They always do that". I say, "Isn't that nice. Would that be on grass land too or just cultivated land?" You can guess the answer. I thought for a brief moment that I would pick up an easy windfall without buying the lottery ticket. I am just never eligible for these government bail outs. Who cares? Subsidies are just as addicting and debilitating as drugs.

Indeed a lot of people, agricultural columnists included, thought that there would be a pay out of ten, twenty or thirty dollars per acre after the election. The Agricultural Producers association of Saskatchewan, better known as APAS (another whiny Saskatchewan farmer group that rips me and others off, for about six hundred dollars a year through the mill rate system) was lobbying for a seventy five dollar per acre hand out. I have even read comments since the election proclaiming "We voted you in, we can vote you out".

One day while driving down the road listening to the news, it was mentioned that Harping Stevey's new government was not going to honor Smarten Paul's commitment of issuing five billion dollars to Chief Phil Fontaine's Assembly of First Nations. Later in the same day there was a press release that Saskatchewan aboriginal groups wanted to start farming a lot more of the land they own rather than renting it out to non Aboriginals. Isn't that interesting? If the Liberals are in power they get money because they are Aboriginal. If the Conservatives are in power they will get money because they are farmers. These guys have the system figured out. Of course, if by chance the NDP gets in, we will all be drinking that free bub-a-lub and eating that rainbow stew.

In defense of the Aboriginals I will quote one of my Aboriginal friends. He said, "Hey. I didn't make the rules. I am just playing the game." Why wouldn't he? I can't say anything in defense of grain farmers. They tell us how tough it is, but statistically tractor sales are up thirteen percent this year. Some of them are pulling sixty, seventy and even eighty foot air drills. Those must cost three hundred thousand dollars or more. Now add on the cost of the tractor. What if I bought that many dollars worth of cattle liners and run them two or three weeks of the year? Would it be feasible? Maybe it is time for some to realize that grain farming the way it is done today, is not sustainable. Instead of throwing good money after bad it is time someone sat down and figured out a more sustainable way of growing things in the Palliser Triangle.