Volume 36 Number 45 • March 1, 2025
®
The Weekly News Source for Ranchers, Farmers and AgriBusiness Community • www.wylr.net
A Look Inside First lab-made milk product unveiled................... Page A13 USDA releases funding after reviewing IRA programming.... ................................ Page A18 Honeybee colony loss takes a toll on agriculture....Page B2
Gordon signs first round of 2025 legislative bills On Feb. 24, Gov. Mark Gordon signed the first bills of the 2025 Wyoming Legislation Session at Capitol Hill in Cheyenne. According to a news release from the governor’s
office later the same day, the first bill signed by the governor was Senate File (SF) 0020, Oil and gas bondingoptions and bonding pools, a bill providing support for producers in Wyoming’s
Local mail to stay in state for processing.................Page B7
core oil and gas industry. SF0020 was sponsored by the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, which benefits Wyoming’s energy industry and provides addi-
tional support for small oil and gas operators. The bill was formulated in response to the significant bonding requirements introduced during the Biden Please see BILLS on page A6
Con Man Gregor MacGregor pulls evilest ag fraud in history.................... Pages B4-B5 58th World Ag Expo highlights groundbreaking innovation and technology...Page B9
Market report
Quick Bits
Producers reminded to pay special attention to cattle nutrition between calving and rebreeding
Snow Report
In the 11th snow report for Water Year 2025, the state’s snowpack telemetry data reads 103% of median, with a basin high of 113% and a basin low of 49%. Last year, the state was at 89% and at 115% in 2023. The report and a map displaying basin snow water equivalent percentages of median for the state may be found at wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/nrcs/ nrcs.html.
At any stage in the production cycle, cows and heifers experience nutritional and environmental stressors and undergo periods of high and low nutritional demands. While nutrition is critical for the cow herd during all of these stages, the 70- to 90-day interval between calving and breeding is quite possibly the period of greatest nutritional demand. With many spring-calving herds already welcoming the 2025 calf crop, experts are reminding producers to pay special attention to proper nutrition for lactating females following calving and prior to rebreeding, especially in the midst of cold and snowy winter conditions. Meeting nutritional requirements In a Feb. 1, 2023 University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) BeefWatch Newsletter, UNL Beef Systems Extension Educator Troy Walz explains energy requirements of a mature, 1,200pound cow are relatively low at nine to 11 pounds total digestible nutrients (TDN) and two pounds crude protein (CP) per day.
Workshop The Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District and Medicine Bow Conservation District are hosting a Winter Workshop at the Platte Valley Community Center in Saratoga on March 4 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $20 and lunch will be provided. Topics include virtual fencing, federal funding and the importance of flood irrigation and wet meadow habitat. For more information or to RSVP, e-mail joe.sercd@ gmail.com or call 307-3268156 or 307-379-2221.
WCCA Gala
The Wyoming Collegiate Cattle Association (WCCA) will host its Second Annual Formal Gala and Auction on May 3 at 6 p.m. at the Black Fox in Laramie. WCCA extends an invite to all Wyoming Stock Growers Association members. There will be a live auction to help raise funds for WCCA trips and events and a prime rib dinner. To purchase tickets, contact Lily Stewart at lstew19@uwyo.edu or 719650-6127.
Farm Data
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, the number of farms and ranches in Wyoming in 2024 totaled 10,500, unchanged from the 2023 estimate. Total land in farms in Wyoming, at 28.8 million acres, and average size of farms, at 2,743 acres, are both unchanged from the year prior.
WYLR photo
Please see NUTRITION on page A14
Third annual WWGA ewe sale a success The Wyoming Wool Growers Association (WWGA) offered producers another chance at “the Best in the West,” during the Third Annual Select Bred Ewe Sale, held on Feb. 22 at the CAM-PLEX in Gillette. This year, the sale was also broadcast live online. Offering an elite selection of open ewe lambs and yearlings, bred two-year-olds and running-age and broken-mouthed ewes, WWGA ensures only the highest-quality range, commercial and purebred ewes are showcased in the annual sale. “Only the healthiest, highest-quality ewes from some of the nation’s premier breeders are accepted for the sale, assuring buyers our ewes are truly ‘the Best in the West,’” boasts the WWGA website. WWGA further notes, with the exception of open ewe lambs and yearlings, ewes were confirmed pregnant the day before the sale and strictly sifted based on their eyes, mouth, teeth, udders, teats, body and legs. Sifting was conducted by a panel of knowledgeable Western sheep producers and veterinarians. “While the Wyoming Select Bred Ewe Sale is about the business of transferring genetics within the sheep industry, it is also a time when sheep producers get together to visit, discuss the industry and renew old and make new acquaintances,” the website continues. “The two days spent in Gillette are intended to be fulfilling, informative and fun, and we hope to meet those goals each year.” Sale highlights According to the sale report, the Third Annual Wyoming Please see WWGA on page A13
ASI report highlights 2024 lamb market conditions In the February edition of the American Sheep Industry Association’s (ASI) Sheep Industry News, Texas A&M Agricultural Economics Professor and Extension Specialist Dr. David Anderson reports, “Mature sheep slaughter seemed surprisingly large in 2024 because the federally-inspected slaughter was the equivalent of about 4.3 percent of the ewe inventory compared to four percent in 2023.” This was the largest rate of slaughter as a percentage of the ewe flock since 2021, he mentions, and over the last decade, this percentage has been about 3.8 percent, on average. According to Anderson, on the lamb and yearling side, federally-inspected slaughter totaled 1.75 million head which was 0.7 percent larger than the year prior. Combined with slightly higher weights in the second half of the year, lamb production was about 2.5 percent larger than the previous year. Please see ASI on page A5
Cold stress discussed as winter persists Despite a big winter storm that blew through Wyoming late in the week, University of Wyoming Extension specialists braved the weather to gather with local producers in the southwest corner of the state for annual educational programming. Previously known as Wyoming Utah Ag Days, the event was rebranded as Southwest Wyoming Ag Day this year, held on Feb. 20 at the Roundhouse and Railyards in Evanston. The one-day conference featured discussions on current livestock markets, multispecies grazing and, to address the area’s recent cold snap and snowy winter conditions, Johnson County Extension Educator Micah Most outlined ways to
mitigate cold stress in livestock. Homeostasis and body temperature To begin, Most explained the concept of homeostasis, which he defines as “stability while adjusting to ever-changing conditions.” “Our body systems all operate in homeostasis, whether it is our body temperature or the amount of salt in our blood, our body is always regulating these things around a certain set point,” he stated. Most noted there are numerous external forces in play which pull body systems in and out of homeostasis and several which influence body temperature specifically, as the bulk of cold stress is
periodical
periodical
Please see COLD STRESS on page A12