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Last Updated on Friday, 22 July 2011 10:39

Written by Christy Martinez

Buffalo – This year, Ryan and Teresa Fieldgrove, who ranch in northeast Johnson County, were honored with the 2011 Leopold Conservation Award, and on June 21 they hosted a crowd from across the state to demonstrate the exemplary conservation practices on their ranch.
“It truly is an honor to accept this award on behalf of my family, and to host you all here for the Stewardship Tour. It is very humbling to win this award – with conservation or stewardship we can always look across the table and see somebody that does a better job, or has a different way of doing things,” said Ryan Fieldgrove, who was joined for the awards ceremony by his wife and kids, Anna, Tommy and Eylsa.
Program partners in the Leopold Conservation Award are Encana Oil & Gas, Peabody Energy, Farm Credit Services of America, Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Sand County Foundation.
In addition to the tour and awards ceremony, Governor Matt Mead also declared June 21 as Wyoming Environmental Stewardship Day.
“This program is in its sixteenth year here in Wyoming, and it allows us to recognize ranchers who exemplify environmental stewardship across the state. Of those 16 years, we have had three national winners and numerous regional winners,” said Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) Executive Director Jim Magagna of the program’s success in Wyoming.
“The Sand County Foundation seeks to be a leading voice for private land conservation in America, and this is one symbol of the way we do that,” said Kevin McAleese of the Sand County Foundation. “Aldo Leopold said, ‘One of the greatest challenges that man kind faces is to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.’ We believe the recipients of this award are genuine representatives of that motto and lifestyle.”
McAleese said there are three goals in the Leopold Conservation Award – to say thank you, to build relationships and to educate the public.
“We were all taught to say ‘thank you’ at a young age, and we feel that it is necessary to express our gratitude towards the families that have been dedicated to their land, growing food and raising families,” he said, adding, “We hope that we can build durable relationships with people. It helps to promote learning, communication and resolving difficult issues that we as agriculturalists may face.”
Finally, he said, “We hope this program can reach out to the public to help deepen appreciation for what agriculture does for conservation. We think the environmental and economical benefits that private land owners provide are under-represented in public awareness, and we hope this award can shine some light on them and raise public awareness and appreciation for the matter.”
Ryan and Teresa have spent the last 10 years working on a conservation program that is both unique to and successful for their operation.
“We understand that some of our practices are good for our ranch, but should be tailored for other operations, and conservation should be tailored to different lifestyles and specific operations,” added Fieldgrove.
The Fieldgroves began their conservation efforts by cross-fencing their pastures to more effectively utilize their grass, and the latest fencing techniques include using smooth wire as the bottom strand so migrating antelope can travel more easily along their traditional migratory path.
“To be sustainable, any practices we have implemented have been designed to save us time or money, or both, especially with our lifestyle of working off of the ranch,” said Fieldgrove.
The coalbed methane (CBM) industry is what spurred the Fieldgroves’ move out to the ranch, so that they could see first hand how the methane movement was affecting their land, and it allowed them to be directly involved, and to oversee the changes on their ranch. While the CBM movement didn’t turn out to be as successful as planned, payments from surface damages helped the Fieldgroves keep their operation through tough times.
After the Fieldgroves moved out to their operation the hard times hit and, with a combination of five years of drought and two years of grasshopper infestation, three times the family thought about selling the ranch.
“If it hadn’t been for surface damage payments from coal bed methane activity and the feed assistance from the Farm Services of America (FSA) and our basic conservation plan, we wouldn’t be here today,” stated Fieldgrove.
That was when the Fieldgroves started looking at more ecologically sound options to help their ranch along.
“In 2000 we decided to try something new. We went to the Weed and Pest with the idea of trying goats to graze on the weeds. The Weed and Pest was supportive, and offered to pay for the electric fence to enclose 10 acres. We did some research, and then we headed to Texas. With a trailer-full of Boer and Spanish cross goats and a guard dog we returned home and turned them out on our 10-acre fenced off plot. We figured that they would be there for two weeks to a month eating on the leafy spurge, but they cleaned it up in seven days,” noted Fieldgrove.
Ryan discovered that goats are a viable resource to use in weed management because they will eat the noxious weeds but leave the grass alone, and he said the goats came after the realization that some things simply wouldn’t work the same way as they had in the past.
“During the time my father ran the ranch, he figured that he spent over $1 million on leafy spurge control and, in fact, that’s exactly what I remember spending my childhood doing from the time I was old enough to know how to mix chemicals. I knew, when my parents retired and I took over the ranch, that I couldn’t afford to maintain the status quo and, frankly, it wasn’t working,” said Ryan.
The goats have proven themselves a worthwhile investment not only on the Fieldgrove operation, but to neighboring ranches as well.
“In 10 years we went from a 20 to 25 percent leafy spurge infestation to less than one percent now,” noted Fieldgrove.
The Fieldgroves have also taken steps towards being more “user friendly” in terms of their sage grouse inhabitants, and have implemented ideas such as escape ramps in their water tanks, and not running their cattle on active sage grouse leks.
“To me, conservation is a mindset not an exact science. I believe that any conservation practice should be sustainable,” stated Fieldgrove.
Tressa Lawrence is editorial intern for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Saturday, 05 November 2011 01:00

Written by Saige Albert

At the Oct. 24 Wyoming Livestock Board (WLSB) meeting, the agency’s Chapter 8 and Chapter 17 rules took high priority on the agenda, as well as an update on the recent brucellosis activity in Park County.

The Chapter 8 livestock import rules, which have been out for public comment, will now go back out for comment after being revised based on the comments that have been received.

“We’re working to get those revisions typed in, and then it will go back to the Governor’s office with request to go out for public comment again,” says Wyoming State Veterinarian Jim Logan.

One of the revisions replaces the equine interstate movement permit. Although it’s only been requested once, it’s been put back in the rules as it was originally written.

There are also changes to the identification requirements for tuberculosis in the cattle and bison section.

“If cattle or bison come from a foreign country, they’d be required to have and maintain the country of origin official identification,” says Logan. “Many tuberculosis-tested Mexican cattle come into this country and then their tags are removed and there’s no good way to track them, so if people do that those cattle won’t be allowed to come into Wyoming.”

There is also an exception on the requirement for an official Certificate of Veterinary Inspection if the animals are being imported from adjacent states to a licensed vet in the state for treatment, testing or diagnosis.

“They could come in without a certificate, as long as they were going directly to the veterinarian and directly back to the state of origin, which would still require a brand inspection to leave Wyoming,” explains Logan.

During the meeting the board also discussed the proposed APHIS traceability rule, and they reviewed the comments Logan had drafted to send to the federal agency.

“They had some additions, including comments on the economic impact to the industry and a request to maintain brands as a method of official identification,” notes Logan.

The board passed two motions – one opposing the traceability rule, but suggesting that APHIS provide it as a guidance document to the state to develop their own identification and traceability programs. The other opposed the removal of brands and tattoos from the definition of identification in the proposed rule.

After the board reviews the revisions to the comments they’ll be sent to APHIS, which has a comment deadline of Dec. 9. To submit your own comments on the rule, visit regulations.gov.

In his update on brucellosis in Park County, Logan says he told the board that every operation that was under quarantine has been released, with the exception of the new cattle herd found about a month ago, and the bison herd can’t yet be released from quarantine.

Because the positive animals in the most recent cases of brucellosis were under 18 months of age, Logan says the board did discuss the potential for future revisions of the Chapter 2 brucellosis rules, potentially moving testing requirements back to 12 months of age, depending on public comment and sound science.

Draft changes to Chapter 17 were also reviewed, which have to do with the issue and use of in-state range movement permits. Logan says the reason for those changes is to bring the rules into accordance with recent statutory changes.

Of the legislation discussed at their last board meeting and in the meeting of the Joint Ag Committee in Afton in late September, Logan says the WLSB is still in the process of drafting some changes to the state livestock identification and indemnity payments bills.

WLSB Director Leanne Stevenson says the state agency’s budget was also discussed.

“We’re waiting to see the Governor’s budget when it comes out,” she says, noting that it’s traditionally released around Dec. 1. “Until that point we won’t know what will go on with our budget, so we’re in a holding pattern unitl then. Sometime after that we’ll meet with the Joint Appropriations Committee to justify and defend our requests, as well.”

Stevenson says the biggest push with this year’s budget is the effort to get the WLSB fully computerized.

“We do have the support of the current Governor for computerization, and the technology department and the Office of the Chief Information Officer has made a push for getting all of the state of Wyoming technologically up to speed,” she comments.

Christy Martinez is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Friday, 22 July 2011 10:34

Written by Saige Albert

Laramie – Governor Matt Mead opened the Awards Luncheon at the Wyoming Cattle Industry 2011 Convention and Trade Show on June 3 on a positive note, affirming that Wyoming is doing well and the issues the state faces are being actively addressed on both the state and federal levels.
Mead looked at the limited role that federal government should have in relation to the states, saying, “Federal government tensions with the states have always been there, but in my mind the scale is getting worse. There is more and more federal government intrusion, and that’s not good.”
He went on to highlight some things the Wyoming government is doing to protect its future, addressing three key points: wild lands, wolves and the future of Wyoming.
Mead also pointed out, “The list of things that we are working on is long. We have great opportunities we cannot take for granted. “
One of the first issues Mead tackled soon after he took office as governor involved Wild Lands.
In response to Secretarial Order 3310, which was issued by the Department of the Interior last December, Mead, working with the state of Utah and a number of other Western states, began fighting the order, saying it was beyond the authority of the federal government.
Order 3310 allowed the BLM to designate areas with wilderness characteristics as Wild Lands and manage them to protect their wilderness character.
After letters, lobbying and open disapproval of the order from the Wyoming citizens beginning as early as January, as well as equal actions by other Western states, including a lawsuit by the state of Utah, Secretary Salazar agreed to abandon the order on June 1.
“I take that as good news. While I am glad they are backing off on the Wild Lands, I do think that this is the way we need to attack the issues. We don’t combine forces the way we should,” said Mead.
He continued, suggesting this effort should pose as the model for all future efforts in Washington.
“We should continue to form these partnerships among all of us,” he noted, adding that these partnerships accomplish the similar goals of a number of states in a very efficient manner.
Mead also addressed the subject of wolves, a hot topic since their reintroduction in 1995. He pointed out that wolves are a problem for a number of reasons, and that the wolves themselves, as well as the nature of the reintroduction decision, were detrimental.
“We aren’t in a stalemate with wolves – we are losing – and that is because there are more and more wolves every year,” he said. “We are trying to see if there is a way to get forward on this where wolves in the vast majority of the state are treated as predator status.”
“There isn’t question that wolves have fully recovered, and Secretary Salazar agrees,” said Mead.
However, he said his suggestion of 100 wolves in Wyoming outside the boundary of Yellowstone National Park was not met with enthusiasm. In his suggestion he also included a migratory region as part of the agreement, allowing movement through the Snake River Canyon in winter months when livestock aren’t present.
“They aren’t particularly thrilled about it,” said Mead.
But, he said he’ll push on to find a solution to the wolf problem.
“I’m doing it because I’m 100 percent certain we have to try. I do think it is worth the effort to get the vast majority of the state to predator status,” he said. “The individuals we are working with are motivated, and we have great support from our congressional delegation, who is working to get us where we want.”
Mead concluded his remarks with a highlight of the opportunities for Wyoming’s future, saying, “We are in a good place.”
“Unemployment is down from a year ago, and revenues are up beyond projection. We can be fairly confident that we in Wyoming are not going to go down the road that other states are going down,” he explained, adding that, as he listens to the problems of other states, such as budget deficits and labor problems, he thinks, “I don’t know if its enough to say that we’ve had bad weather.”
But, he said he recognizes that Wyoming certainly faces challenges.
“But we are very fortunate to live in this wonderful state. We are in a better place than most states,” he said, explaining that position is due partially to citizen’s access to elected officials. He pointed out that Wyoming citizens are also accessible, saying, “Every time I have reached out, people have stepped up and provided information and help.”
“While Wyoming is small in population, we are great in the contribution that we make to this country,” said Mead.
Mead concluded his talk with a final thought, saying, “If you want a high quality of life, you have to have strong ag. It is responsible for the overall quality of this great state.”
Saige Albert is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Thursday, 27 August 2009 07:59

Written by Jennifer Womack

Cheyenne — If the Wyoming Livestock Board (WLSB) is allowed to alter its recently submitted budget cut proposals to the Governor, two Wyoming brand inspectors will regain their jobs with the agency.
    Two of the agency’s inspectors, one in Kaycee and another in Uinta County, were let go late May. Agency administrators say the lay-offs were based on an assessment of inspection numbers and an ability for neighboring inspectors to pick up the slack.
    Kaycee ranchers reacted with fervor sending over 20 written comments to the agency’s Cheyenne office with more to be delivered by area legislators attending a June 17 meeting on the subject. Ranchers from the area said its already difficult to get a brand inspector during the peak times of the year and didn’t believe inspectors from other areas would be available in a timely fashion.
    Senator John Schiffer, during a June 16 WLSB conference call, said ranchers in his area have the highest regard for their brand inspector. Of the individual he said, “There’s a man born to be a brand inspector.”
    To board members on the call, regarding the brand inspectors selected for lay-off Schiffer stated, “It’s my read that it was as much of a surprise to you as it was to those of us in Natrona and Johnson counties.” Schiffer said the board should play a more active in role in these types of discussions and decisions.
    Representative Lisa Shepperson questioned recent additions to the agency’s Cheyenne staff while layoffs are being made in the field. “Why are we hiring more administrative people and firing people who work with the producers?” she asked.
    Board member Eric Barlow successfully motioned that the agency resubmit its budget cuts to the Governor. Funds from the account housing producer fees will replace those cut in the Governor’s efforts to reduce budgets across all sectors of state government. Barlow’s move alters what has been a 65 percent producer funded, 35 percent state funded formula in place since the most recent brand task force’s work was completed.
    Barlow followed up with a second motion, also met with Board approval, to rescind the inspectors’ termination letters. Board approval is also required before any layoffs can be made within the next year.
    “It’s a reasonable short-term solution and gets us to where we want to be right now,” said board member Albert Sommers.
    Barlow pointed out that the changes would leave the board reconsidering its brand fees.
    “I want producers to understand that you have two ways to address the brand program,” said WLSB Director Jim Schwartz. “The only thing we have for expenses is salaries, travel and benefits. I’ve not had anyone tell me we need to raise fees.”
    The changes draw upon the account that protects the brand inspection program from facing financial challenges similar to those seen in recent years. Without growth in cattle numbers, agency administrators say program expenses will outpace revenue generated.
    Jennifer Womack is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .