Bucket calves. The wolf reintroduction lawsuit was unsuccessful (still love the attempt). Extremist Rep Rutinel and his ignorant smear about Ag. Speaker McCluskie, why give him any committee seats?
Bucket Calves
Apropos of nothing and shared because it's something I recently learned: have you ever heard of a bucket calf?
If you're like me the answer is no. At least not til now.
A bucket calf is a smaller-than-usual calf that, for a variety of reasons, is not getting raised by it's mom. It might have been rejected, or something else has gone on, but it's too small and needs to be raised by a human.**
Not an exact analogy, but think Wilbur in Charlotte's web--a runt of the litter.
I put a link to a Utah State University Extension one-sheeter below in case you're curious for more, but I would love it if someone that reads this and knows more about Ag than I do wants to chip in.
Feel free to add to the comments.
**According to one of my students the reason for the name bucket calf is because these calves are either nursed on a bottle or out of a bucket with a nipple attached. Some too are fed out of an open bucket.
https://extension.usu.edu/davis/files/BucketCalves.pdf
Hoisted with your own petard
And while we're on the subject of cattle, a group of cattle associations in Colorado sued Colorado Parks and Wildlife (along with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) in federal court to delay the introduction of wolves here.
Unfortunately (see the second link below), their effort was unsuccessful. A ruling came in last night that denied their motion.
Still, I had to chuckle when I read about the suit. To quote the story linked below,
"The authorization of the proposed release is'clearly a major federal action that is subject to NEPA requirements,' the associations stated in their release, referencing the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to determine the environmental effects of proposed actions. According to their announcement of the legal action, the associations seek to 'delay the release of wolves until the proper environmental impact review has been conducted.'”
Have you ever heard the expression "hoisted with your own petard"?
It refers to when something you thought would help you actually ends up hurting you.** I know it's not exactly the same but this is what I thought while reading about the suit.
How many times have environmentalists used a never-ending series of reviews and lawsuits to gum up projects?
I wish the judge had ruled differently on this one. I've made no secret of the fact that I think this forced reintroduction is a travesty and should not have happened.
I hope too that other groups in the future consider this strategy--the use of environmental reviews where and how they might get some traction.
After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
**Coming from a device, the petard, which was used to blow holes in doors and allow you in. They were notoriously fussy and quick to explode so getting blown up by the thing that you were planning to use to help you must have been a common occurrence. See the attached drawing from the internet.
https://kdvr.com/news/colorado/industry-groups-sue-to-delay-colorado-wolf-reintroduction/
https://www.cpr.org/2023/12/15/federal-court-rejects-ranchers-lawsuit-to-pause-colorado-wolf-reintroduction/
Extremist Rep Rutinel and his ignorant smear about Ag.
Let's round out the day with another post on Agriculture in this state.
On Twitter yesterday, I saw something that made me pretty angry. Colorado has a newly-appointed (not elected) representative by the name of Manny Rutinel.
He is an extremist on a number of issues including climate change, but the thing that made me angry were his words about agriculture, in particular animal agriculture.
I then reflected back to a Colorado Sun article which detailed the committees Rep Rutinel was appointed to by Speaker of the House McCluskie.
I sent Speaker McCluskie an email (copied below with the links in it so you can follow up and read for yourself what Rep Rutinel has to say about animal agriculture).
I urge you to follow suit. Send Speaker McCluskie your thoughts on what committees this young man should serve on and what role he should have in the Assembly. Right below this line you'll see her Capitol phone, capitol email, facebook, and Twitter.
Make your voice heard. Speak up for Ag in this state.
303-866-2952
Julie.Mccluskie.house@coleg.gov
https://www.facebook.com/McCluskieforCO/
@McCluskieforCO
Email follows.
Good morning Speaker McCluskie,
My name is Cory Gaines. I am a lifelong resident of Colorado, currently living in Logan County on the Plains.
I saw in a December 13th Sun article that you put recently-appointed (not elected) Representative Manny Rutinel on the Energy and Environment and State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs committees.
I wanted to write to you to inform you (in case you were not aware) of some of his rather disturbing statements about my fellow Coloradans, and to also ask you why you would appoint such a divisive extremist to any committee at all, let alone a couple of rather important ones.
I came out to live on the Eastern Plains some time ago to take a job as a teacher. Prior to that I lived in Denver and had little to no knowledge about agriculture save for buying food in a grocery store. After living here on the Plains and teaching at a college with an Ag department, I have a much better appreciation of the dedication, heart, and work that goes into producing food. The people that do this work are not an abstraction for me anymore; they are friends, colleagues, people that I see in the store buying my food.
When I read interviews like the April 2021 Q and A that Rep Rutinel gave I must say that I find them difficult to read without getting upset. The policy he proposes around greenhouse gases and Ag is bad enough for the harmful effect it would have on producers, big and especially small, around this state, but when I read things like (and here I quote Rep Rutinel):
"As it stands now, animal agriculture is a horrific, exploitive [sic] industry. It’s producing an incredible amount of harm, from chronic health conditions to pandemics, that affect farmers, laborers, animals, local communities, consumers, and people drinking water miles down the road."
I go beyond just mere upset. There are no other words to describe what Rep Rutinel says here than to characterize them as a smear. An unfounded, ignorant smear.
The people I know who work in animal agriculture are the opposite of exploitative. They work hard to be good stewards of the land they live on, the animals they tend, and the environment that we all share. They work hard to be decent to those they work with.
Why on earth, Speaker McCluskie, would you offer a committee assignment that handles anything more important than the lunch menu in the Capitol cafeteria to an extremist like this? Your house, your party, ma'am has a real problem with extremists and your choices of what to do with them offer a glimpse not only of your ability to lead but what your party values.
I urge you to rethink your committee assignments and keep this "gentleman" in a place where the harm he can do will be minimized.
Cory