Sunday, March 22, 1998

West Texas Brangus Breeders to roll on Saturday in Abilene

By J.T. Smith / Farm Editor

A major cattle sale is less than a week away.

The West Texas Brangus Breeders Association (WTBBA) will stage a superb sale at Abilene Livestock Auction at noon Saturday.

Cattle will be available for viewing both Friday evening and Saturday morning prior to the sale at the auction pens.

The Hitchin' Post will make food available both Friday and Saturday in the downstairs cafeteria at Abilene Livestock Auction.

Doak Lambert of Coppell will serve as auctioneer.

There will be a tremendous selection of both registered and commercial animals going through the sale ring.

In the offering will be 80 registered Brangus bulls, 60 registered Brangus females, 10 show heifers/show steers and an impressive lineup of 650 commercial females with Brangus influence.

This farm writer visited with Abilene rancher Tommy Milliorn this past week - and he told me the quality in this auction will be excellent.

Lanny Vinson of Vinson Ranches at Ovalo also noted the top-notch offering in this sale.

Only recently, Jack Luther's El Dorado Brangus Stock Farms of Abilene came through with the "Grand Champion Pen of Three Bulls" for all classes at the Texas Brangus Breeders Bull Sale at the Old Stockyards in Fort Worth.

Doyle Whitaker of the Gunsolus Creek Ranch in Breckenridge won second place in the summer yearling class, and Cleber Massey of River Bend Ranch in Abilene won second in the junior yearling class of bulls there.

In fact, West Texas breeders really cleaned up the honors at Fort Worth.

The many consignors for this coming Saturday's sale are far too numerous to list here - but that should give you an idea of the depth of quality in this auction.

The WTBBA actually has spread far beyond its geographical name with member breeders from Haskell to College Station, and from Sterling City to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Abilene Livestock Auction is just off Northeast Interstate 20 in Abilene.

You can get far more information on this big event this week by calling Milliorn at (915) 698-7014, office; or home, (915) 692-6306.

John Maurer of Bryan will be the overall sales manager for the registered cattle. (409) 589-2912.

Randy McCrea of Sterling City is president of WTBRA.

Texas Parks & Wildlife effort unfairly criticized

The president of Texas' largest farm organization said Friday that an effort by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to develop a voluntary, land-owner based approach to habitat conservation is being unfairly criticized and distorted.

"Some groups are more concerned about preserving their own fledgling membership base than finding a workable solution to this issue," said Bob Stallman, president of the Texas Farm Bureau.

Stallman, a Columbus farmer, said the Farm Bureau has been working alongside other agricultural and natural resource groups in helping TP&WD develop a draft of a proposal called the Central Texas Rare Species Conservation Plan.

The goal of the plan is to offer landowners an opportunity to voluntarily designate portions of their property as habitat for endangered species.

In return, landowners are assured "regulatory certainty" that no further habitat designations will be made on their property - even if additional habitat might be created by normal rangeland practices in the future.

"Throughout the drafting process, the TP&WD has provided landowners an opportunity to review the proposal, asking them to compare the state plan with the current regulatory provisions of the federal ESA (Endangered Species Act) as they exist today," Stallman said. "When given that choice, landowner prefer the state plan because it is <I>voluntary<I> and because it prevents the federal requirements of ESA from being instituted on their land."

Stallman said it is unfortunate that groups such as the American Land Foundation and Liberty Matters are misleading their members and the public by releasing information that scares landowners and boosts their memberships.