by Rex Wilson
New Mexico Cattle Grower’s Association President’s Message
Dear Fellow Cattlemen,
Another month has come and gone and still no rain for most of us. We are past the time that it really should be raining for at least a few weeks. We will continue to pray.
It is hard not to know that New Mexico is the epicenter of the unwanted/abandoned/feral horse debate if you spend any time at all following the local. Several nights a week horse slaughter and/or animal cruelty is the teaser story. Animal cruelty complaints, found and unfound, are on a steep incline.
With all of this scrutiny, the stakes could become higher. The horse issue has brought ranchers and ranching into sharp focus. Couple this with the severity of the ongoing drought, people are likely look at every animal, including cattle, on our operations. We all have tough decisions to make, if we haven’t made them already.
From here way out West it doesn’t look like many are stepping up to the plate to face the reality of the mess our country is in. On our ranches, do more with less has been the charge for generations. A five percent spending cut is not a big deal.
If leadership was truly interested in addressing spending they ought to give that direction to their staffs and let them work it out. The current upheaval in the name of “sequestration” is an embarrassment to many federal employees who are left with no budget and no direction. Rather than knuckling down and making appropriate cuts, furloughs and other headline-making actions are taking center stage rather than prudent management. We spend a lot of time working with federal employees. There really are some good ones working on our behalf of our ranches and our families. They are just as frustrated as we are.
I would be remiss if I didn’t offer our prayers and support to our friends and neighbors in Oklahoma. I guess we are fortunate that we here in the Southwest don’t suffer from tornados, hurricanes and tsunamis. We just have drought. However one ranch wife made the comment with those sorts of disasters, even if you lose everything, you have a point to start over. With drought, it just wears you down.
The Mid-Year Meeting is just a few weeks away. I hope you all have made plans to come and share the fellowship and learning that will sustain us until the rains come.
See you there!
PS, A bit of good news. Membership in NMCGA continues to grow.
Sincerely,
Rex Wilson