Author: Rachel Gabel
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COLUMN: American dairy producers lead the world
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A country that can feed itself is a country that can defend itself. Algeria is rich in oil and gas, but food security and producing enough food in dry conditions remains a challenge. The African country grows a great deal of dryland crops like wheat…
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COLUMN: Pheromones and their effect on stress and anxiety
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Sometimes the simple solution is the best. For most livestock producers in the state, fall is weaning time for calves, which is a stressful but necessary event for livestock. Now, the only essential oils I’m into are the ones that run out of a taco,…
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COLUMN: Recognizing the dignity of hard work
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save I’m currently researching and writing a history of the National Western Stock Show’s Catch a Calf program to mark its 90th year. The program began in 1935 with a group of boys who had entered the fat steer show that year. Among them were Joe…
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COLUMN: Dispute highlights ag industry questions
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A show cattle operation in Pueblo County is locked in a battle with the Commissioners and Planning Commission about whether their cow-calf operation is technically a feedyard or not. Much of the fight seems lost in translation, and at the end of the day, an…
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COLUMN: Legendary agriculture advocate deserving of honor
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Marlin Eisenach is an institution in Colorado 4-H and FFA circles. I assume the Colorado State Fair, National Western Stock Show, and Morgan County Fair would, in fact, occur if he weren’t present, but I don’t want to risk it. Eisenach, who is the Morgan…
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COLUMN: Ranch wives know the terrible impact of wolf reintroduction
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save The voices of the wives of ranchers are rarely heard, save for the periodic social media post or the whispered discussion in the produce section between women who understand what is asked of them and their families daily. Amanda Cerveny and Nikki Day have been…
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COLUMN: The importance of the state’s cattle industry
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s $3 million campaign to urge Denver residents and visitors to eat less meat to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) is tone deaf at best. There is no need for widening the divide between people and where their food comes from, especially here…
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COLUMN: Grass fires impacting Colorado’s Western Slope
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save On the plains, grass fires rip across miles of pastures, fueled by wind and drought, two things that carouse around together like two drunks with a pocketful of whisky money. Fires move fast and burn hot, fought by small volunteer crews, farmers pulling discs to…
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COLUMN: States battling over South Platte River Compact
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save It’s a red state vs. blue state court case over the water that both states’ agriculture industries depend upon, with the most affected areas in Colorado being in Sedgwick, Logan, and Washington Counties. The state of Nebraska has filed a suit with the U.S. Supreme…
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OPINION: Former Agriculture Secretary recalls ’80s farm crisis
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save My favorite interview last week was 90-year-old Illinois farmboy John “Jack” Block. Block was former President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Agriculture from 1981 until 1986, the worst of the domestic farm crisis. He recently published a memoir, Pigs, Politics, and Persistence: The Life and Legacy…