TSCRA Lends A Strong Hand
Where You Need It Most

IMPROVING BEEF QUALITY. 2005. TSCRA continues its leadership in providing free training for ranchers through the Texas Beef Quality Producer program. Now in its fifth year, the program has enrolled producers who collectively manage more than 750,000 head of cows and stocker cattle annually. These producers have benefited from reductions in lost income due to beef quality defects―an improvement valued at $18.4 million annually. Thus far in 2005, 11 training sessions have been scheduled for producers and one for veterinarians.

MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS. 2005. TSCRA provides local opportunities for cattle producers to meet, visit, get some good information and earn CEUs. Non-members are encouraged to attend the free, casual gatherings to learn more about TSCRA. Thus far in 2005, TSCRA has scheduled nine meetings in different locations around the state 

ESTATE PLANNING. August 2005. TSCRA helps with a two-day seminar that explains how the new law affects ranch estate planning. Participants learn how to draft a will that can save beneficiaries income tax dollars; benefits of a living trust; benefits and drawbacks of estate tax deferral and gifts. They also learn about corporations and partnerships, special land use valuation, rules for deferring estate tax payments, and life insurance and its role in estate planning.

TRADE. July 2005. TSCRA calls on the Bush administration to pursue World Trade Organization action against countries that have not yet lifted bans on U.S. beef. TSCRA says the United States significantly exceeds World Organization for Animal Health standards for a BSE controlled risk country. “It is high time that all available international remedies be brought to bear so that beef trade may resume as soon as possible.” 

FEVER TICKS. June 2005. TSCRA expresses support for efforts made by the Texas Animal Health Commission and USDA/APHIS Veterinary Services for surveillance, examination and treatment of any species that may serve as a host for fever ticks and encourages adequate funding for these tick-borne disease control programs. TSCRA also opposes construction of any livestock facility that would contribute to fever tick migration in Texas and encourages state regulatory agencies to be aware of the impact a new livestock facility within the existing quarantine zone could have on the cattle industry in Texas. 

BSE COURT CASE. June 2005. TSCRA signs a friend-of-the-court brief to ensure that science accepted by BSE experts around the world is represented in the appeal of R-CALF’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The lawsuit was filed to prevent USDA from implementing its “minimal risk regions” rule that would allow imports of live cattle from Canada. TSCRA says, “After reading Judge Cebull’s opinion, which states BSE ‘presents a genuine risk of death for U.S. consumers,’ it was clear that either the court was presented with flawed information or the science was inadequately defended.”

ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT LEADERS. May 2005. TSCRA hosts a meeting at its headquarters with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and 25 ranchers from TSCRA, Texas Cattle Feeders Association and Texas Farm Bureau. During a round-table session, the ranchers and the Secretary discuss trade and other timely issues.

MEMBER INFORMATION. May 2005. TSCRA activates a “Members Only” section on its Web site to provide access to Association information and exchange information among members. A discussion forum includes areas for members to share their thoughts on current industry issues or ask questions that may be answered by TSCRA leaders, staff members or other members.

TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR. May 2005. TSCRA asks the Legislature to pass 11 amendments to Trans-Texas Corridor legislation that would make the plan more acceptable to landowners. Most of the points are included in the bill that is subsequently passed.

TOWN HALL TALKS. April and May 2005. TSCRA helps update more than 750 cattle producers on the latest industry issues at 12 town hall meetings held throughout Texas. Representatives from TSCRA, Texas Beef Council and Texas Cattle Feeders provide information and answer questions on state and national. Meeting sites include Alice, Brownwood, Canadian, Childress, Dalhart, Hallettsville, Llano, Nacogdoches, Paris, Pleasanton, Sanger and Seymour.

Range Management. April 2005. TSCRA and partners offer a two-day “Showcase of Rangeland Management” at the legendary Four Sixes Ranch. Participants get a first-hand look at the exemplary rangeland management strategies that benefit both livestock and wildlife on the historic ranch. They also hear from university livestock, range and wildlife specialists and professionals from the Four Sixes, hunting and allied industry. The unique event is a partnership effort of TSCRA and Texas Wildlife Association, with professional support from Texas Tech and Texas A&M universities.

LOCAL OUTREACH. March 2005. TSCRA unveils a new regional association promotion program. Purposes are to provide a structured grassroots interface for the association, increase participation, improve communication and increase membership and retention.

STUDENT MEMBERSHIP. March 2005. TSCRA creates a student membership program to cultivate committed future members and provide opportunities for involvement with the association and its members.

LEGAL INFORMATION. March 2005. TSCRA holds a free seminar on laws that affect rural landowners and agriculture operations. Included are presentations relating to water law; enforcing private regulation through litigation; estate planning for ranchers; risk management issues; what ranch owners need to know about oil and gas, water and wind leases; and employment issues for the cattle raiser.

TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR. March 2005. TSCRA conducts an open question-and-answer session on the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) between TSCRA members and Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission. Transcripts of the exchange are published in The Cattleman magazine and sent to newspapers throughout the state. One newspaper editor commends it as, “An excellent primer for the staggeringly complex issue....” TSCRA Attorney Ed Small later says that the printed information had a lot to do with changes that legislators made in the TTC to protect property owners.

School for Successful Ranching. March 2005. TSCRA expands the curriculum for its 11th annual school. Included are a day-long workshop on low-stress cattle handling and a half-day with 12 classes comprising four tracks: Ranch Resource Analysis, Ranch Resource Management, Feeder Cattle Management and Focus on the Consumer.

TRADE. February 2005. TSCRA asks for congressional support to help the cattle industry resume international beef trade. Leaders of TSCRA and Texas Cattle Feeders Association ask officials in Washington, D.C., to impose economic sanctions on Japan because of its unwillingness to open its market to U.S. beef.

ESTATE PLANNING. January and February 2005. TSCRA helps support four estate planning seminars across the state. The seminars are designed to help people learn how to lower their tax burdens and ease administrative burdens that affect passing their estates to their loved ones.

Legislation. January 2005. TSCRA’s Legislative Task Force shares concerns with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Speaker Tom Craddick, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rick Hardcastle, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Jackson and other key Texas political leaders during a two-day session of meetings in Austin. Discussions include school finance reform, ground water and agriculture’s valuation for ad valorem taxes. Meetings with Sen. Todd Staples, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, and Robert Nichols, Texas Transportation Commissioner, focus on the need for improvements in plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor project.

Enhancing Extension. January 2005. TSCRA receives Texas Cooperative Extension’s Partnership Award for “significantly enhancing the outreach and impact of Extension programming. TSCRA is recognized for its role in developing the Texas Beef Quality Producer program, supporting Extension’s risk management effort targeting cattle producers, the Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership (TALL) program and horse theft prevention.

CONSERVATION. January 2005. TSCRA forges a cooperative partnership with the Texas Section Society for Range Management to conduct a stewardship award program. The program showcases and promotes the good conservation work being done by members of both organizations.

Law EnforcemenT. 2004. TSCRA Inspectors investigate 1,124 theft cases in Texas and Oklahoma during 2004. They recover or account for $4.03 million worth of stolen and stray livestock and ranch equipment, including 2,447 head of cattle, 62 horses, 12 trailers, 17 saddles and 514 items of miscellaneous ranch property.

IMPROVING BEEF QUALITY. 2004. TSCRA plays a major role in expanding the Texas Beef Quality Producer program, which provides free training to help beef producers become more competitive. Six regional Beef Quality Updates help previously trained producers maintain their certification. Four training sessions especially for veterinarians show them how to help their clients meet the requirements for TBQP certification. Twelve Level I/II training meetings‑11 in Texas and one in Oklahoma‑are scheduled for producers who want to get involved in the program.

MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS. 2004. TSCRA provides local opportunities in 16 locations around the state for cattle producers to meet, visit, get some good information and earn CEUs. Non-members are encouraged to attend the free, casual gatherings to learn more about TSCRA.

TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR. December 2004. TSCRA leaders meet with Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst to express concerns about condemnation powers, acquisition of land and questions about access to private property raised by the enabling legislation for the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor.

Law Enforcement. December 2004. TSCRA’s law enforcement division gets a conviction in the trial of a serial thief who eventually confesses to 23 thefts in Texas and Oklahoma over a period of 18 months. While investigating the case TSCRA Inspectors recover and return a volume of property, including 80 head of cattle, 10 trailers, saddles, cattle panels and numerous tools.

BSE Surveillance. December 2004. TSCRA urges USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to revise several aspects of the BSE Surveillance Plan to minimize processing and announcement delays. TSCRA says USDA should assure immediate transport of samples with inconclusive test results to the National Veterinary Service Lab, begin processing the samples upon arrival and complete its after-action report as soon as possible to identify and implement improvements in the program. TSCRA favors immediate announcement of inconclusive results outside of market hours, saying rumors and uncertainties are far more damaging to the market than known facts.

Property rights. October 2004. TSCRA asks the Texas Legislature to amend the Natural Resources Code during its 2005 session to provide a simple landowner notice provision for oil and gas exploration and production operations. TSCRA says that adequate notice, with a little planning and consultation, can eliminate many conflicts between the surface owner and the mineral owner and their respective oil and gas operators, particularly those conflicts associated with livestock and farming activities.

PREVENTING HORSE THEFT. October 2004. TSCRA’s efforts to combat and prevent horse theft are featured on “America’s Horse,” a weekly television program produced by the American Quarter Horse Association. The show presents interviews on the law enforcement activities of TSCRA inspectors and describes plans for TSCRA’s expanded Horse Identification Program.

National Animal ID PROGRAM. October 2004. TSCRA discusses development of a national animal identification program at its fall meeting. Of particular interest is the Texas-Oklahoma-Osage Nation pilot program and the role TSCRA will play in helping to field test an electronic identification system. An auction market component will test how to tag and scan cattle without slowing down the speed of sale. Another component will test systems, tags, scanners and protocols for cattle sold by private treaty. State animal health agencies will install databases to track cattle movements, making sure that they work efficiently and ensure producer confidentiality.

Property Rights. October 2004. TSCRA provides property owners with in-depth information on their rights during its fall meeting. Included are sessions on rights of non-mineral owners, challenges in dealing with mineral extraction activities and legislation on purchasing development rights.

GROUND WATER RIGHTS. October 2004. TSCRA encourages the Texas Legislature, state regulatory agencies and the courts to take “appropriate and reasonable actions” to prevent ground water pollution in the state as soon as possible and to recognize the value of ground water and ground water rights in pollution cases.

Preserving Rangeland. August 2004. TSCRA tells the National Resources Conservation Service that it supports the Grassland Reserve Program as a means of preserving grass- and rangeland. TSCRA encourages USDA to allow states to evaluate and rank applications based on broad national guidelines and to allocate funds to the states to address concerns that make sense for the conservation issues and landowners of each state. TSCRA also suggests that more lands be made eligible for enrollment in the program by allowing lands that have oil and gas exploration.

HORSE SLAUGHTER. August 2004. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the U.S. House Agricultural Committee, contacts TSCRA during debate on the emotionally sensitive American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. TSCRA describes the work of its inspectors stationed at the two horse-processing plants in Texas and emphasizes the integral role of horses as working partners, companions and family members. TSCRA says, “It would be a mistake to let this issue be clouded by emotion,” and opposes passage of the act.

IMPROVING BEEF QUALITY. 2004. TSCRA plays a major role in expanding the Texas Beef Quality Producer program, which provides free training to help beef producers become more competitive. Six regional Beef Quality Updates help previously trained producers maintain their certification. Four training sessions especially for veterinarians shows them how to help their clients meet the requirements for TBQP certification. Six Level I/II training meetings are scheduled for producers who want to get involved in the program.

MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS. May 2004. TSCRA provides local opportunities in several locations around the state for cattle producers to meet, visit, get some good information and earn CEUs. Non-members are encouraged to attend the free, casual gatherings to learn more about TSCRA. Membership Meetings are held in Hockley, May 12; Three Rivers, May 15; Raywood, May 27; Laneville, May 22 and Hondo May 31.

RISK MANAGEMENT. April and May 2004. TSCRA helps provide eight risk management conferences developed specifically for the Texas beef cattle industry. Conferences are scheduled across to state to make beef producers aware of products and strategies that can help them develop effective risk management plans for their operations.

MANAGING RANGELAND. April 2004. TSCRA joins forces with the Texas Wildlife Association to show cattle producers and wildlife managers how to manage rangeland for cattle, wildlife and recreation. The comprehensive program April 1-2 in Graham and Throckmorton, Texas, includes classroom instruction, field tours, sponsor booths and displays, and visits to Hawkins, Spade and R.A. Brown Ranches.

SCHOOL FOR SUCCESSFUL RANCHING. March 2004. TSCRA’s 10th annual School for Successful Ranching draws a record 549 students. The two-day school combines a half-day, in-depth classroom session on low-stress cattle handling techniques with a full day of effective, up-close demonstrations. Included are demonstrations on brush control techniques and affordable equipment, chute-side procedures, windmill and solar pump use and maintenance and fence building,

LAW ENFORCEMENT. March 2004. TSCRA Field Inspector Joe Rector uses his experience in banking, law enforcement and the cattle business to build a trail of evidence that leads to a conviction in a $1 million cattle embezzlement case in Oklahoma.

ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION. March 2004. TSCRA vows to “be at the forefront of any discussions on a national identification plan to ensure that the best interests of the association and its members are protected.” TSCRA insists that any national plan must assure confidentiality of producer records, be given adequate federal funding, have reasonable timelines for implementation and avoid imposing a burden on the industry.

LEGAL INFORMATION. March 2004. TSCRA holds a free seminar on laws that affect rural landowners and agriculture operations. Included are presentations relating to the environment, including new CAFO regulations and domestic and livestock water use; employment law; property rights, including water condemnation and county roads; business law, including issues related to entity choice; and state taxes, including property tax reform and rendition.

AT-HOME LEARNING. February 2004. TSCRA and partners launch an ambitious project to provide Texas Beef Quality Program training to more producers. A CD-ROM containing TBQP Level I training is distributed in the February issue of The Cattleman magazine and other channels to reach 50,000 beef producers. Ranchers with Internet access and a CD drive work on the training at their own pace. After completing the online BQA knowledge checks, they receive a letter of completion from TSCRA.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. 2003. TSCRA Inspectors investigate 1,218 theft cases in Texas and Oklahoma during 2003. They recover or account for $5.4 million worth of stolen and stray livestock and ranch equipment, including 4,728 head of cattle, 70 horses, 17 trailers, 37 saddles and 346 items of miscellaneous ranch property.

BSE. December 2003. TSCRA staff members put holiday activities aside following the announcement that bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been discovered in the United States. TSCRA coordinates with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and beef industry organizations across the state to provide quick distribution of accurate information to producer leaders, members, industry partners and advisors, government and human health agencies and trade and consumer media. TSCRA’s Web site is updated daily to provide in-depth coverage of the case and background information about BSE.

CATTLE MARKETS. November 2003. TSCRA leaders and representatives from other beef industry organizations meet with U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte to discuss the cattle markets. They emphasize the need to complete the Livestock & Meat Marketing Study, an independent analysis of the beef marketing complex by prestigious business schools. Through the analysis, industry leaders are seeking answers to key market questions.

ANIMAL HEALTH. November 2003. TSCRA asks the U.S. Border Patrol to suspend its recently begun horseback patrols in and around the fever tick eradication zone between the United States and Mexico. TSCRA says the use of horses into and out of the zone poses a significant risk of introducing fever ticks into the United States. Such introduction would result in trade restrictions and require an estimated $1.5 billion to control the pest.

IMMIGRATION. October 2003. TSCRA votes to support immigration reform legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. TSCRA acknowledges that illegal immigration is a problem, but says, “there is a continued need for guest worker programs that allow immigrants to work in the United States that do not place excessive bureaucratic burdens on employers.”

LAND USE. October 2003. TSCRA and 16 other ranch and agricultural groups win their court battle against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over plans to protect the Arkansas River Shiner. Coalition members were concerned that land use and groundwater pumping could be restricted in the 1,148 miles of rivers that had been designated as critical habitat for the minuscule minnow. USFWS agrees to drop its habitat map and start from scratch.

STATE CHECKOFF. October 2003. TSCRA takes the lead in drafting legislation that would allow Texas producers to approve a state beef checkoff. Provisions to allow a state beef referendum are contained in legislation passed during the Third Called Session of the 78th Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry. If producers approve a referendum, an assessment would be collected for “marketing, education, research and promotion of beef and beef products in Texas, the United States and international markets.”

LAW ENFORCEMENT. September 2003. TSCRA plays a major role in apprehending two men suspected of shooting 12 cattle in four north Texas counties. The slain cattle were valued at $12,400. After providing voluntary statements, the two are arrested and booked on three misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and one felony count of criminal mischief.

RISK MANAGEMENT. September 2003. TSCRA teams up with Texas Cooperative Extension to offer individualized financial and risk management assessments. An Extension specialist works one-on-one with producers at their own ranch to analyze the financial risks unique to their operation and help develop a strategic plan to manage those risks.

MARKETING. September 2003. TSCRA teams up with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to present a new risk management workshop. The educational program features hands-on training for using futures and options and shows producers how to use the marketing tools in their operations.

INFORMATION. August 2003. TSCRA Executive Vice President Matt Brockman explains methods that could be used to create a national cattle identification program to a standing-room only crowd at Texas A&M University’s 2003 Beef Short Course. About 1,100 producers from Texas, other states and several foreign countries attend the Short Course.

FIRE ANT CONTROL. June 2003. TSCRA supports the goal of eliminating the red imported fire ant as a major health and economic pest. TSCRA urges the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station to fully support and fund fire ant research, education and regulatory programs.

ANIMAL HEALTH. May 2003. TSCRA sends a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman thanking her and USDA for swift and appropriate action following discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a Canadian cow. TSCRA says, “Closing the border to all ruminants and ruminant products from Canada was necessary and we commend USDA for acting quickly in this regard.”

BEEF ISSUES. 2003. TSCRA partners with the Texas Beef Council and Texas Cattle Feeders Association to explain and answer producers’ questions about beef issues at local meetings across the state. Meetings are held in Sulphur Springs, April 21; Athens, April 22; Crockett, April 23; Abilene, May 5; Uvalde, May 6; San Angelo, May 7; Pampa, May 20; Hereford, May 21; and Lubbock, May 22.

IMPROVING BEEF QUALITY. 2003. TSCRA continues to provide free training to help beef producers become more competitive. Ten Texas Beef Quality Producer training sessions are held across Texas: Glen Rose, Jan. 21; San Antonio, March 23; Bowie, April 22; Corsicana April 23; Weslaco, May 1; Kingsville, May 2; San Angelo, May 6; San Saba, May 22; McKinney, June 12; and Childress, June 17.

MEMBERSHIP GATHERINGS. 2003. TSCRA provides local opportunities for cattle producers to meet, visit and get some good information in several locations around the state. Non-members are encouraged to attend the free, casual gatherings to learn more about TSCRA. Membership Gatherings are held in Anahuac, April 14; Navasota, May 3; Waco, May 6; Caldwell, May 15; Bowie, May 15; Three Rivers, May 17; and Ardmore Okla., July 18.

LEGISLATION. April 2003. Twenty representatives from TSCRA travel to Washington, D. C., to discuss top priority issues with key congressional officials. In particular, TSCRA Director Pete Bonds, a rancher from Tarrant County, Texas, alerts members of Congress about the urgent need to permanently repeal the death tax.

DATA COLLECTION. March 2003. TSCRA selects eMerge Interactive Inc. as the exclusive cattle data service provider for producers certified by the Texas Beef Quality Producer program. The comprehensive data solution will allow BQA-certified producers to take advantage of several new marketing opportunities, including commingled, premium cattle sales.

MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES. March 2003. TSCRA holds a special forum in which two leading companies explain what they are willing to offer producers who are part of the Texas Beef Quality Producer program. eMerge describes several unique marketing and production opportunities utilizing electronic identification and data management. Representatives from Caprock Cattle Feeders explain why they prefer TBQP-certified customers and highlight the characteristics they look for when they purchase cattle.

RESEARCH. March 2003. TSCRA resolves “to play a key role in garnering the necessary support to advance the $50 million bovine genome sequencing initiative. The cattle industry would benefit from information on productivity, growth characteristics, disease resistance, drought tolerance, marbling, tenderness, flavor and other important traits.

IMPORTS. March 2003. TSCRA opposes any enlargement in the Australian beef quota, noting that “federal and state laws and regulations have made it almost impossible for American ranchers to compete with many of our foreign competitors.”

TRADE. March 2003. TSCRA opposes bilateral trade agreements, stating that such agreements “sometimes remove pressure from countries to earnestly negotiate in important multilateral negotiations.” Instead TSCRA favors multilateral trade negotiations “that can benefit many exporting and importing nations, resulting in fairer trade rules for all producers and consumers globally.”

COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELING. March 2003. TSCRA asks Congress to repeal the mandatory provisions of the country-of-origin labeling law and to opt instead for a voluntary, market-driven approach. TSCRA expresses concern over the costs of the required “verifiable record-keeping audit trail;” the fact that its major competitor—chicken—is not included in the labeling requirements; and that foodservice establishments—which sell about 50 percent of the beef purchased in the United States—are also exempt.

LEGAL INFORMATION. March 2003. TSCRA holds a free seminar on laws that affect rural landowners and agriculture operations. Included are presentations on property rights, including condemnation and water; employment law; risk management issues; business entity selection; general business ideas; and tax-free exchanges of real property.

PROTECTING BEEF’S IMAGE. January 2003. TSCRA objects to newspaper ads which falsely imply that large numbers of American beef animals have bovine tuberculosis and that there is an effort to keep that information from the public. The public service ad, based on a single case in California, is intended to advocate freedom of information. It features two steers at a feedbunk with this headline, “That they have bovine tuberculosis is scary. That nobody’s allowed to know is even scarier.” TSCRA tells the Austin American-Statesman and Houston Chronicle, both of which ran the ad, that we “would expect such scare mongering and distortion of facts for come from a radical animal rights group, not a respected newspaper.” TSCRA points out that only two cases of bovine TB have appeared in Texas and that, thanks to the Texas Animal Health Commission, there has been extensive publicity, which both newspapers have carried.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. 2002. TSCRA Inspectors investigate 1,148 theft cases in Texas and Oklahoma during 2002. They recover or account for $5.1 million worth of stolen and stray livestock and ranch equipment, including 2,872 head of cattle, 75 horses, 14 trailers, 18 saddles and miscellaneous ranch property.

IMPROVING BEEF QUALITY. 2001-2002. TSCRA helps show nearly 2,700 beef producers how to improve the quality of their product during the first two years of the Texas Beef Quality Producer Program. TSCRA bears the major responsibility for conducting 25 Level I training sessions and 12 Level II sessions across Texas and one session of each level in Oklahoma.

NATURAL RESOURCES. December 2002. TSCRA supports proposed legislation that will protect Texas rivers from off-road vehicle use. A preliminary study of the Nueces River has found that there are less game fish—such as flathead catfish and largemouth bass—in parts of the river used heavily by all-terrain vehicles compared with other parts of the river where vehicles have not traveled.

LEGISLATION. October 2002. TSCRA strongly opposes the Captive Exotic Animal Protection Act of 2002, calling it “a federal intervention into state issues and private property rights.” TSCRA expresses particular concern with language that infers that fair chase is somehow restricted on a property with less than 1,000 acres and a high fence.

PRODUCER INPUT. October 2002. TSCRA conducts a policy forum during its fall meeting. Individual producers voice their views, ask questions and suggest possible solutions to the policy challenges facing today’s beef industry. Issues of most concern are bovine tuberculosis, trade with Mexico, captive supply and country-of-origin labeling.

NATURAL RESOURCES. October 2002. TSCRA supports the development and use of Ecological Site Descriptions for distinctive types of land and the plant communities found on them. TSCRA recommends that ESDs be used by public agencies for inventory evaluation and management of rangelands and forestlands.

TRADE. September 2002. TSCRA opposes a free trade agreement between Australia and the United States. TSCRA tells U.S. Trade Ambassador Robert Zoellick and Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman that “U.S./Australian agricultural trade is already highly unbalanced in favor of Australia. Moreover, Australia’s excessively restrictive sanitary/phytosanitary rules pose an enormous obstacle to U.S. agricultural exports.”

BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. September 2002. TSCRA asks the U.S. Department of Agriculture to amend regulations proposed following a downgrade in Texas’ bovine tuberculosis status. TSCRA says, “The downgrade could place extreme financial hardships on the Texas cattle industry should interstate movement restrictions for the state’s cattle industry be fully implemented according to USDA’s current proposal. Moreover, the risk of infection of bovine tuberculosis from domestically produced cattle in Texas is extremely low and does not warrant such punitive movement restrictions.” Federal officials subsequently postpone movement restrictions on Texas cattle until September 2003.

BEEF PROMOTION. September 2002. TSCRA President John Dudley helps promote U. S. beef in Russia. Dudley explains the U.S. beef industry structure, its production system and quality assurances to 150 chefs and beef buyers in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Imports make up approximately one-third of all meat consumed in Russia.

FMD INDEMNITY. August 2002. TSCRA urges USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to provide 100 percent indemnity in the case of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth-disease. TSCRA says both exposed and official vaccinate animals should be eligible for indemnity payments. TSCRA also supports 100 percent payment for the purchase, destruction and disposition of materials contaminated by or exposed to the disease, as well as costs of cleaning and disinfecting materials contaminated by or exposed to the disease.

TAX RELIEF. July 2002. TSCRA makes personal phone calls to members of the U.S. House and Senate urging them to vote in favor of permanent repeal of the death tax. The measure passes in the House, but comes up six votes short in the Senate. TSCRA vows to continue to push for permanent repeal during the next legislative session.

BEEF CHECKOFF. July 2002. TSCRA asks the U.S. Department of Justice to seek a stay of a district court injunction that would terminate collection of the beef checkoff effective July 15. TSCRA explains that most of its members have small and midsize operations that are not large enough to advertise their own products. However, by joining together with other cattlemen, they can enhance demand for their products. TSCRA says, “The loss of these programs would be a huge blow to the livelihoods of thousands of family farms and ranches and add to the economic challenges facing rural America.”

SCREWWORM CONTROL. June 2002. TSCRA asks the Secretary of Agriculture to take immediate steps to construct a new screwworm fly production plant in Panama, and to close the existing plant in Mexico. The plant in Mexico has been “terrorized” by employees and there has been a recent outbreak of screwworms near the facility. Moving the plant to Panama would remove a costly biological and economic threat from the U.S. border.

BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. June 2002. TSCRA asks authorities who govern the interstate movement of feeder cattle from Texas to perfect and approve a new surveillance program for monitoring bovine tuberculosis. TSCRA asks for a science-based plan that focuses on high-risk potential, recognizes the characteristics of movement and marketing of cattle in Texas, and makes efficient use of available resources.

LAND USE. April 2002. TSCRA joins a coalition which files a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s designation of critical habitat for the Arkansas River Shiner. The lawsuit charges that FWS has violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to conduct a proper analysis of the economic impact that the critical habitat designation could have on property owners. About 98 percent of the total “critical habitat” area is held in private ownership. Habitat designation could restrict land use in the listed areas.

ESTATE PLANNING. April 2002. TSCRA helps present four estate planing seminars across the state. The seminars are designed to help people learn how to lower their tax burdens and ease administrative burdens that affect passing their estates to their loved ones.

LEGISLATION. April 2002. Eight TSCRA leaders travel to Washington, D.C., to meet face-to-face with senators, representatives and agency officials on issues important to cattle producers. Issues discussed include the Farm Bill, funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, permanent repeal of the death tax, continued funding for first-point testing for brucellosis, the pending downgrade of Texas’ tuberculosis status and packer ownership of cattle.

LEGAL INFORMATION. March 2002. TSCRA holds a free seminar on laws that affect rural landowners and agriculture operations. Included are presentations on property rights, condemnation, water, employment law, litigation and insurance issues, wills and estates.

BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. March 2002. TSCRA takes the lead in inviting industry and government groups to address the probable downgrade in Texas’ bovine TB status and how to minimize the impact on Texas cattle producers. Ten groups representing beef, dairy and veterinary organizations form the Texas Bovine TB Working Group. With advice from Texas animal health and agriculture department officials, the group works diligently with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to ensure the most reasonable identification and testing system possible for cattle bound for interstate shipment.

BRUCELLOSIS. March 2002. TSCRA asks the Texas Animal Health Commission to study the feasibility of giving brucellosis-free status to West Texas. The western half of the state has been brucellosis free for several years. Free status would reduce testing requirements on cattle from the area.

PACKER OWNERSHIP OF CATTLE. February 2002. TSCRA calls for the creation of a task force represented by all segments of the beef industry to look into the issues of captive supply and packer ownership of cattle and offer voluntary or regulatory solutions. TSCRA has long prided itself as being an organization that believes that using government to solve a problem is always a last resort.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. 2001. TSCRA field inspectors travel 892,000 miles while investigating 1,297 theft cases in 2001. They recover or account for $4.4 million worth of stolen and stray livestock and ranch equipment, including 5,086 cattle, 66 horses, 19 trailers, 124 saddles and miscellaneous ranch property.

IMPROVING BEEF QUALITY. December 2001. TSCRA helped train more than 400 cattle producers to develop a treatment protocol for their livestock and create records that verify their quality management plans. The 400 producers were trained during five Texas Beef Quality Program Level II Certification Workshops conducted in Canyon, Abilene, San Antonio, Conroe and Sulphur Springs.

THE IMPACT OF IMPORTS. October 2001. TSCRA urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “use extreme caution when considering any request to import commercial feeder cattle from Australia into the Texas Panhandle.” Because there are livestock diseases common to Australia that do not exist in the United States, TSCRA expressed major concern about health and quarantine protocols. TSCRA also pointed out that the imports could jeopardize the economic viability of the U.S. cow-calf and stocker sectors.

TRADE PROMOTION. October 2001. TSCRA urged Congress to enact legislation granting trade promotion authority to President George W. Bush. TSCRA said that “exports are the lifeblood of American agriculture and TPA proves a great opportunity to expand agricultural trade.” Furthermore, “lack of TPA is hindering the United States’ ability to be taken seriously as a trade negotiating partner.”

BIOTERRORISM. October 2001. TSCRA encouraged the Texas Animal Health Commission to work closely with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to “reevaluate animal import regulations and quarantine and inspection regulations which would prevent not only endemic diseases but acts of terrorism.”

FIRST-CLASS INFORMATION. August 2001. TSCRA’s award-winning publications provide exceptional information that producers can use to improve their operations. TSCRA publications took eight first place awards, three seconds and three honorable mentions in the 2001 Livestock Publications Council newspaper and magazine contest. The contest drew more than 800 entries from LPC’s 110 members nationwide. The Cattleman magazine placed first in general excellence and TSCRA News Update placed second. The Cattleman dominated its feature article division with first-place awards for production/
management article, technical article, news story, in-depth reporting and picture story. The Cattleman’s experienced advertising and design staff earned two firsts and one second in the advertising division.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. July 2001. TSCRA opened an investigation which led to charges against a Denton County couple for running a cattle rustling scheme that netted up to $1.5 million. TSCRA initiated the investigation after being contacted by a South Texas rancher who suspected that cattle he had entrusted to the couple for pasturing had been illegally sold.

BEEF SAFETY. July 2001: Since March, TSCRA has conducted 13 sessions that trained 1,150 Texas beef producers on the latest ranch-level management techniques to prevent safety and quality defects in beef. Collectively, these producers own or manage more than a quarter of a million head of cattle. TSCRA conducts the Texas Beef Quality Assurance Program in collaboration with the Texas Beef Council and Texas Cooperative Extension.

TAX RELIEF. June 2001. TSCRA applauds Congress for passing legislation that will allow farm and ranch families to realize $272 billion in tax relief over a 10-year period—including phase-out of the death tax. However, because all provisions of the the bill expire in 2010, TSCRA continues to press Congress to make repeal of the estate tax permanent. The 2001 tax relief bill was placed on a fast-track process to provide immediate relief to tax payers and spur an economy in the doldrums. A standing Senate rule requires that bills considered on fast track automatically lapse after a period of 10 years because the process allows only limited debate. TSCRA vows “to work diligently to retain these tax relief benefits.”

INTERNET MARKETING SERVICE. June 2001. TSCRA launches CattleRaisersDirect.com, a user-friendly, fully searchable database for business-to-business and breeder-to-breeder communication and marketing. TSCRA members can list purebred or commercial cattle, horses, services and products for sale quickly on the Internet and include detailed and essential information. Potential customers worldwide can view the information at any time of day or night and contact the seller directly.

ANIMAL DISEASE PROTECTION. May 2001: TSCRA calls for “extraordinary precautions” to ensure that foreign military equipment and personnel do not bring highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease bacteria into Texas during a June military exercise. More than 10,000 military and civilian personnel are scheduled to participate in Operation Roving Sands, the worlds’ largest joint air and missile defense training exercise. Troops and equipment from foreign countries—including some widely infected with foot-and-mouth disease—will be landed at the port of Beaumont and transported all the way across Texas to Fort Bliss in El Paso. TSCRA contacts the Department of Defense, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Texas Animal Health Commission, the Texas Department of Agriculture and Texas senators with “grave concerns.” Subsequently, the Department of Defense restricts participation of large military equipment from countries with confirmed cases of FMD. USDA inspectors meticulously inspect equipment from non-FMD infected countries and reject nearly 50 percent.

ANIMAL DISEASE PROTECTION. March 2001: TSCRA asks state and federal legislators to increase funding for measures that would enhance U.S. capabilities to prevent, detect, and control animal diseases and parasites. TSCRA also asks all federal and state agencies to consider health threats to U.S. animal industries, wildlife and food supply when creating and enforcing travel and trade agreements and regulations. Because an animal disease emergency would threaten Texas’ multi-billion dollar livestock industry, TSCRA recommends that the governor place a representative from the Texas Animal Health Commission on the Texas Emergency Management Council.

CONSERVATION OF PRIVATE LANDS. March 2001: TSCRA vows to work for legislation that would strengthen personal stewardship of private property rights and responsibilities instead of regulatory approaches. TSCRA calls for an increase of Natural Resources Conservation Service staff for technical assistance on the ground; more research in soil, water, plant and wildlife sciences and short courses to educate both producers and agency in their management; practice-based incentive payments for developing and implementing a comprehensive conservation plan over a 10-year contract period; and confidentiality of private and business information between land owners and state and federal government that is not subject to the open records act.

ERADICATION OF SHEEP SCRAPIE. March 2001: TSCRA asks Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison for help in securing funds and proper direction for eradicating sheep scrapie. TSCRA says the disease is "an issue for the entire U.S. livestock industry" and calls for government efforts to develop and implement regulations that would depopulate infected flocks.

TAX RELIEF. February 2001: TSCRA helps "put a face" on President Bush’s tax relief plans during a news conference led by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, at TSCRA headquarters. Gramm asks TSCRA First Vice President John Dudley to represent the views of farmers and ranchers. Dudley says the death tax should be eliminated immediately, not phased out over a 10-year period. He says that’s a long time in the life of families who own the farms, ranches and small businesses in Texas. Dudley himself runs a big, five-generation family ranching operation that has been slammed with death taxes five times since he’s been in charge. He says money from estate tax relief and other tax cuts proposed by President Bush could be poured into ranch improvements that would help energize an economy in the doldrums.

LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT. November 2000: TSCRA PAC contributes a total of $186,653.59 to 84 state and federal political races during the two-year election cycle to support ag-friendly candidates from both parties. TSCRA also helps sponsor an appreciation dinner to recognize the ag-supportive efforts of three U.S. Congressmen from Texas—Rep. Larry Combest, R-Lubbock, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture; Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Stamford, ranking minority member of the House Ag Committee; and Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, member of the Ag Appropriations Committee.

NATURAL RESOURCES. October 2000: TSCRA urges the U.S. Army not to dismantle the cooperative project on natural resources management at Fort Hood. A draft environmental assessment indicates that the Army is planning to discontinue cattle grazing on the Fort Hood Reservation. TSCRA points out that the successful program between government entities and the Central Texas Cattlemen’s Association centers around the grazing of cattle on the Fort Hood Reservation. The project’s efforts in cowbird control and habitat enhancement for the endangered Black-Capped Vireo and Golden-Cheeked Warbler have been touted by scientists, legislators, regulators and environmentalists as expanding the numbers of the two endangered species.

PRIVACY. October 2000: TSCRA joins other ag groups to obtain a temporary restraining order to stop the release of names of individuals who use predator control devices. The TRO is sought to protect the privacy of individuals who might be affected by release of the information.

LIVESTOCK RECOVERY. August 2000: TSCRA Field Inspector H. D. Brittain plays a major role in finding and returning a missing Arabian mare which is a Texas teen’s partner in a quest to qualify for the 2002 international Special Olympics. The two have already earned more than a dozen Special Olympics medals. A preliminary investigation convinces Brittain that the mare has not been taken from the family’s property. He and two deputies from the local sheriff’s office team up to scour the area horseback. They find the exhausted, dehydrated mare straddling a barbed wire fence.

ANIMAL HEALTH. August 2000: TSCRA urges Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to approve the National Bovine Tuberculosis Strategy proposed by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The strategy calls for depopulation of dairy herds in El Paso County, the only area of Texas that is not TB-free. Without depopulation in El Paso County, the entire state would be reclassified; all beef and dairy cattle leaving the state would first have to be tested for TB and individually identified. USDA economists estimate the new restrictions would cost Texas livestock producers between $780 million and $2.55 billion during the first 10 years of implementation.

NCBA DUES. June 2000: TSCRA urges the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to give producers a choice when they pay dues to NCBA. "There is a disturbing trend within NCBA to make the state/national partnership mandatory for all state affiliates to participate in the national organization," says TSCRA President J. Mark McLaughlin. "TSCRA supports the rights of its members to choose which organization they wish to join and pay dues. It makes the organization more accountable to its members."

LAW ENFORCEMENT. June 2000: A thief pleads guilty to bank fraud after two sale barn managers call TSCRA Field Inspector Dean Bohannon to unravel questions of ownership on four truckloads of crossbred steer yearlings. Bohannon investigates and finds the real owner. The thief is sentenced to the federal penitentiary and ordered to pay $731,376.21 in restitution.

BEEF QUALITY. May 2000: TSCRA hosts a think tank to discuss what needs to be included in Beef Quality Assurance and individual animal identification programs being developed for Texas. Among the 27 participants are cow-calf producers, auction market operators, feeders, packers, educators, Extension Service personnel, representatives from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and TSCRA leaders and staff.

TRADE. May 2000: TSCRA strongly supports "Carousel Retaliation." TSCRA President J. Mark McLaughlin tells key leaders of the U.S. House that "‘Carousel’ will be effective at creating the pressure needed to bring offending nations into compliance when they violate agreements they have signed." The U.S. beef industry has been fighting an illegal European Union ban on U.S. beef for more than 10 years.

NCBA. May 2000: Leaders of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and representatives from 19 state affiliates from across the United States agree to work for a stronger national group and to address issues of association governance within the beef industry following a meeting at TSCRA headquarters in Fort Worth.

EXPORTS. May 2000: TSCRA urges members of Congress to support the U. S. Meat Export Federation, export funding legislation and development of international markets for U.S. red meat exports.

MANDATORY PRICE REPORTING. April 2000: TSCRA comments on proposed rules for Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting and requests an opportunity to help develop an "appropriate educational component tied to the implementation of the final rule." TSCRA opposes certain portions of the proposed boxed beef reporting requirements, saying, "They could be detrimental to small- and medium-sized packers in their efforts to compete with large packers."

PROPERTY RIGHTS. April 2000: TSCRA alerts members in Pecos County that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to list the Pecos assiminea on the Federal threatened and endangered species list. USFWS is concerned about threats to the snail’s habitat from septic tanks, certain oil/gas or other drilling activities and burning of marsh grass. Regulation of these activities could greatly impact rights of property owners, warns TSCRA.

ENDANGERED SPECIES. April 2000: TSCRA joins several other landowner organizations in requesting an additional $500,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a recovery initiative for the Black-Capped Vireo. Farmers, ranchers, wildlife managers and other landowners throughout the range of the federally listed songbird express interest in cooperating in efforts to improve habitat and initiate cowbird trapping programs.

ESTATE TAXES. March 2000: TSCRA asks federal legislators to support initiatives to systematically reduce estate taxes with the ultimate goal being full repeal. TSCRA cites findings of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress that estate taxes are the leading cause for the dissolution of thousands of family-run businesses and that estate tax compliance costs are generally equal to what it yields.

CONSERVATION EASEMENTS. March 2000: TSCRA opposes the use of coercive tax and environmental policies by government that encourage use of conservation easements and use of eminent domain to procure conservation easements. TSCRA also opposes conservation easements that result in a change in current land use that has significant deleterious third party economic and financial effects. TSCRA makes it clear, however, that it does not oppose the rights of informed private landowners to voluntarily utilize perpetual or term conservation easements for their own benefit.

BEEF QUALITY. March 2000: TSCRA decides to develop and implement a Beef Quality Assurance training and certification program and an individual animal identification program. One goal is to arm producers with the education needed to overcome management-
influenced beef quality problems that affect the overall demand for beef. Another goal is to facilitate the verification of health, nutrition and genetic specifications sought by auction markets, alliances and other marketing alternatives.

ANIMAL HEALTH. March 2000: TSCRA insists that rules to regulate importation of Mexican cattle into the United States and Texas be finalized and effective no later than Sept. 1, 2000. TSCRA says the failure of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, to act responsibly in a timely manner to exclude tuberculosis-exposed or infected Mexican steers and spayed heifers has resulted in the disclosure of 556 TB-infected animals from Texas premises, 82 percent of which were traceable to Mexico.

WITHHOLDING TAXES. March 2000: TSCRA urges Congress to raise the withholding threshold for ranch employees to at least the amount allowed for household labor. TSCRA says "the requirement for withholding of federal income tax and social security tax from employees earning $150 or more per year is a burden to ranchers employing occasional day labor and results in employers most often absorbing the employee’s share of the tax."

LAW ENFORCEMENT. Feb. 2000: A public service call to TSCRA Field Inspector Raymond Russell starts a chain of events which leads to the conviction of three suspects involved in a string of cattle thefts in Osage County, Okla. Four victims receive more than $27,000 in restitution.

PROPERTY RIGHTS. Feb. 2000: TSCRA files a friend-of-the court brief supporting the landowner-petitioners in the case of Ethel and Norman Domel vs. the City of Georgetown, Texas, before the Texas Supreme Court. TSCRA’s brief argues that a private landowner should be permitted the opportunity to prove damage to the value of the landowner’s property arising from the city’s discharge of treated sewer water.

DROUGHT. Feb. 2000: TSCRA tells legislators about the effects of drought during a joint hearing of the Senate Finance Committee and House Committee on Appropriations. TSCRA gathers information from telephone interviews with members in various geographic areas of Texas. Members are asked, "How has the drought impacted you as a cattle producer?" and "How can the state of Texas help you?" TSCRA is one of seven groups invited to submit public testimony as legislators examine the impact of the third drought in four years and possible avenues of assistance.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. Jan. 2000: Property valued at $63,200 is recovered and a suspect is convicted in the final chapter of a year-long investigation conducted by TSCRA Field Inspectors H.D. Brittain and Troy McKinney.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. 1999: TSCRA’s 32 field inspectors—all certified peace officers with Special Ranger commissions—investigated 1,319 cases in Texas and Oklahoma in 1999, primarily involving stray or stolen livestock. Working closely with federal, state and local law enforcement officers, TSCRA’s inspectors recovered or accounted for 4,493 head of cattle, 88 horses, 14 trailers, 61 saddles and miscellaneous ranch property, which had a total market value of $7,006,888.

BEEF CHECKOFF. Dec. 1999: TSCRA urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture to "use care in verifying signatures on the petition requesting a referendum on the Beef Promotion and Research Act ... as this would be a vote on whether to terminate the beef checkoff." TSCRA says, "Promotion and research made possible through the funds from the checkoff have greatly enhanced beef’s market position with the consumer."

LAW ENFORCEMENT. Nov. 1999: An investigation by TSCRA Field Inspector Scott Williamson helps to expose a scheme to defraud the Rolling Plains Production Credit Association of more than $514,000.

PROTECTING BEEF’S IMAGE. Nov. 1999: TSCRA counters extreme anti-meat sentiments published in the Nov. 8 issue of Time Magazine. TSCRA refers the editors to a report from an international consortium of 38 scientific and professional societies which emphasizes the importance of animal agriculture in meeting the growing worldwide demand for human food.

REGULATION. Nov. 1999: TSCRA fights for the continued use of Coumaphos, "one of the most effective fly sprays in the cattle business," during the Environmental Protection Agency’s risk assessment of the chemical. TSCRA tells EPA that Coumaphos is particularly important in the fight against fever ticks along the Texas-Mexico border, which is a first-line defense for the rest of the nation’s cattle industry.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. Oct. 1999: An investigation by TSCRA Field Inspector Scott Williamson leads to the recovery of $92,478 and accounts for another $326,853 illegally diverted from the First National Bank of Munday, Texas. The suspect is convicted and sentenced to jail for five years.

PROPERTY RIGHTS. Oct. 1999: TSCRA supports landowners with a friend-of-the-court brief in a 12-year dispute with the State of Texas over the boundary of the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Texas affirms the right of riparian landowners to have their property washed by the current flow of water in a river, regardless of whether that flow has been changed by natural or man-made means.

MANDATORY PRICE REPORTING. Oct. 1999: TSCRA fights for transparency in the prices paid for cattle. A TSCRA policy resolution asks for "mandatory reporting of the prices and terms of sale for slaughter livestock by packers who have greater than five percent of the slaughter of a given species." TSCRA officers and staff commit significant time and resources to the language of mandatory price reporting legislation and to convincing congressional leaders to pass it during the current legislative session. The legislation is subsequently passed by Congress and signed into law.

REGULATION. Oct. 1999: TSCRA requests that an Executive Order on "Invasive Species," be rescinded because of its broad scope and potential for disastrous harm. TSCRA points out that federal agencies have broadened the interpretation to include management or eradication of all non-native species. That would include many of the most common and useful plants introduced into the United States over the past 200 years, such as bermudagrass and fescues. TSCRA says identification and management of undesirable species should be determined on a local state or regional basis.

PROPERTY RIGHTS. Sept. 1999: TSCRA files a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the merits of the appeal of Glenn and Jolynn Bragg in their property rights lawsuit against the Edwards Aquifer Authority. The case stems from the EAA’s denying or partially denying the Braggs a well permit to capture groundwater on their property. TSCRA points out that the Property Rights Act requires that entities, like the EAA, "look before they leap" by conducting a Takings Impact Assessment. "The relief requested in this case is not extraordinary," says TSCRA. "Landowners merely seek to have the EAA consider the ramifications of its actions and for the EAA to consider possible alternatives if its actions will cause harm to landowners."

ESTATE PLANNING. Aug. 1999: TSCRA co-sponsors a Ranch Estate Planning Seminar in conjunction with the Texas A&M University Beef Cattle Short Course to help ranching families with income and estate tax savings plans.

NCBA. July 1999: TSCRA introduces a resolution opposing mandatory unification during discussions about reorganizing the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. TSCRA recommends that "dues remain voluntary, as is the current procedure, and that the concept of assessments or quotas is rejected." The resolution passes by a wide margin.

WASHINGTON, D.C. June 1999: TSCRA hosts a tour of Texas Hill Country ranches to provide key Washington congressional aides with first-hand information about range management and brush control. USDA staff and TSCRA directors, members and staff show the aides the important job ranchers do in maintaining a healthy range for their cattle.

TRADE. June 1999: TSCRA testifies regarding upcoming World Trade Organization negotiations before the Trade Policy Staff Committee of the U.S. Trade Representative. TSCRA says that free trade and fair trade are not the same thing, adding that the beef industry "supports both philosophies as long as they guarantee our access to growing global markets." TSCRA asks that the WTO address several matters specific to agriculture, including dispute resolution, sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions, tariffs, subsidies and biotechnology.

ANIMAL HEALTH. June 1999: TSCRA supports increased research on Johne’s disease to develop accurate tests and testing procedures, treatment and control of the disease.

HOTLINE. March 1999: TSCRA establishes a nationwide toll-free hotline (1-888-830-2333) to provide educated and science-based responses to unfavorable comments about beef.

LABOR. March 1999: TSCRA joins the National Council of Agricultural employers to oppose the transfer of responsibility for the alien labor certification process to the Employment Standards Administration. TSCRA tells U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman that the "ESA is a compliance enforcement agency, not an agency that has expertise in recruiting workers and making determinations of labor availability."

EDUCATION. March 1999: TSCRA donates $1,000 to sponsor an agriculture career page in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram through the Partnerships in Education Program. The program introduces high school students to different careers and provides information on training, financial aid and future job possibilities in that field.

PROMOTION. March 1999: TSCRA promotes beef for charitable gift giving with its first Beef Up the Food Bank campaign. The initial effort raises $13,165 to purchase beef to feed the hungry in the 13 counties served by Tarrant Area Food Bank.

COST SHARE. Jan. 1999: TSCRA testifies before the Texas House Subcommittee on Brush Control, advocating cost-share and technical assistance for landowners and producers who practice brush control.

PROPERTY RIGHTS. Nov. 1998: TSCRA files a friend of the court brief asking the Supreme Court of Texas to "refrain from changing property rights in Texas" by upholding the rule-of-capture in a water-use case involving Ozarka Natural Spring Water Co. TSCRA’s brief states that the Texas Constitution clearly authorizes the Texas Legislature to manage groundwater use. The brief also points out that exceptions to the rule of capture provide petitioners with a means of relief from Ozarka’s actions. The Supreme Court subsequently decides it would be "improper for the courts to intercede at this time" in changing the rule of capture. The Court cites several of the same arguments presented in TSCRA’s brief.

ENDANGERED SPECIES. Nov. 1998: TSCRA opposes the listing of the Pecos Pupfish. TSCRA says that USFWS reasons for the listing send a clear message of the desire of the federal government to gain control of ranchers’ and farmers’ water resources.

ANIMAL HEALTH. Nov. 1998: TSCRA asks the Clinton administration and Congress for immediate action to correct animal health loopholes revealed in an aborted attempt to ship Australian feeder cattle to the United States via Mexico. TSCRA also points out that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has failed to put tests in place that would ensure that the foot-and-mouth disease virus cannot survive in imports of fresh Argentine beef. TSCRA requests monthly progress reports on efforts to resolve these problems.

BEEF QUALITY. Nov. 1998: TSCRA encourages packers to adopt recommendations from the National Beef Tenderness Conference to help improve beef quality and consistency. These procedures include electrical stimulation of carcasses, aging all middle meats a minimum of 14 days, segmenting carcasses into tenderness groups via sorting technologies and using carcasses/primals/subprimals identified as "tough" in non-retail markets or subjecting them to additional tenderization techniques. TSCRA also encourages food service operators, retail operators, direct mail merchandisers, processors and meat purveyors to demand that the packers implement such procedures in their plants.

CONSERVATION. Nov. 1998: TSCRA supports funding by the state of Texas to soil and water conservation districts that will provide at least one qualified field technician in each district. The specific purpose would be to provide on-site technical assistance to producers at their request. The district field personnel would be responsible for ensuring that conservation needs and practical alternatives for meeting them are accurately determined and will be ecologically and economically sound if applied by the producers.

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE. Oct. 1998: TSCRA protests the Farm Service Agency’s early withdrawal of emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program lands. "We do not believe that weather and feed crops have improved sufficiently to warrant cessation of emergency grazing." TSCRA asks Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to "immediately review the situation and instruct FSA officials in Texas to provide grazing until Nov. 30th."

TAX RELIEF. Oct. 1998: TSCRA tackles tax relief, working with the national and state cattle associations, our Washington-based lobbyist  and Congressional leaders and staff. TSCRA seeks support for a tax package that includes acceleration of the phase-in of full deductibility of health insurance costs for the self-employed; acceleration of the phase-in of the $1 million unified credit exemption for death taxes; permanent reinstatement of income averaging; increasing the net operating carry-back period for farmers to five years; acceleration of the phase-in of the $25,000 small business expensing provision; and protection for farmers who receive 1999 farm program payments in 1998 by allowing them to pay taxes on the accelerated payments in 1999.

FLOODS. Oct. 1998: TSCRA sends a team of inspectors to flood-ravaged South Texas. TSCRA inspectors help identify dead cattle and match stray cattle with their owners using brand records from TSCRA’s unique brand database. TSCRA also distributes information on how to handle strays to the local media.

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE. Oct. 1998: TSCRA asks Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to help producers who lost livestock in the "monstrous" South Texas floods. "We urge you to immediately use your authority to make these producers eligible for the Livestock Indemnity Program that provides partial reimbursement for livestock losses. We request that all other avenues of assistance be explored, such as extension of the emergency feed assistance program."

RESEARCH. Nov. 1998: TSCRA supports legislative budget requests for beef cattle research on behalf of Texas A&M University, West Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Sam Houston State University, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, and the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. TSCRA cites exceptional items in the budgets of the various institutions, including animal health, global competitiveness, agricultural air quality, food safety, brush management and beef industry competitiveness.

HAYLIFT. Sept. 1998: TSCRA commits staff and resources to Project Haylift, a multi-organization effort to get hay to ranchers struggling to feed their drought-stressed livestock. TSCRA helps locate staging areas for distributing hay and calls on members and TSCRA inspectors to help with distribution in the various local areas.

LEGAL RIGHTS. Sept. 1998: TSCRA files a friend of the court brief in the fencing law case of Naomi Gibbs vs. Shannon Jackson being heard by the Supreme Court of Texas. The brief asks the Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the appellate court, saying it "poses a serious threat to owners and managers of livestock and all landowners in Texas." TSCRA says the decision negates the Legislature’s authority to control fencing laws and makes it necessary for individuals to look to multiple authorities to determine their legal rights and obligations regarding management of their livestock. The Supreme Court subsequently overturns the decision, citing reasons similar to those in TSCRA’s brief.

DROUGHT RELIEF. Sept. 1998: TSCRA asks legislators to "look closely and quickly at the inequities in assistance" contained in the $3.9 billion farm relief package announced by Congress. TSCRA points out that "only $75 million has been set aside for livestock feed assistance to livestock producers nationwide who have lost their 1998 pasture and feed supplies. It will take several times the $75 million just to get our cattle herd through this drought and through the winter." Subsequently, Congress increases the amount for livestock feed assistance to $175 million.

IMPORTS. Sept. 1998: TSCRA condemns plans to import Australian cattle into the United States via Mexico. TSCRA says, "We have been hammered by drought and weak cattle prices that threaten the economic stability of our producers. If we allow ourselves to become a ‘dumping ground’ for other countries’ cattle through a loophole in existing law, we risk killing our domestic cattle industry."

REGULATIONS. Aug. 1998: TSCRA asks Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Phil Gramm to co-sponsor and pass the American Lands Sovereignty Protection Act which would re-establish Congressional oversight of nominations to the World Heritage list. TSCRA expresses concern over the proposed designation of Big Bend National Park and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park (both in Texas) as United Nations’ World Heritage Sites. TSCRA says, "the international land use designation of federal land could very well result in regulation of surrounding lands to protect these areas. This would greatly impact the value of private property and local and regional economies."

NCBA. Aug. 1998: TSCRA sends letters "regarding unrest and dissatisfaction among rank-and-file cattle producers and the membership of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association" to NCBA President Clark Willingham and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Schroeder. The letters address TSCRA’s opposition to NCBA’s mandatory unification proposal and suggest cost-saving measures and recommendations for NCBA programs.

CHECKOFF. July 1998: TSCRA strongly supports and endorses the beef checkoff program, and as a further improvement, encourages the re-evaluation of the administration of the program.

PROPERTY RIGHTS. July 1998: TSCRA addresses the property rights of landowners affected by military aviation training missions by recommending that low-level operations be scheduled over federally owned lands rather than private property. TSCRA also states that all military aircraft operations over private land should comply with FAA regulations for commercial aircraft.