Author: Rachel Gabel
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COLUMN: Legendary agriculture advocate deserving of honor
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Marlin Eisenach is an institution in Colorado 4-H and FFA circles. I assume the Colorado State Fair, National Western Stock Show, and Morgan County Fair would, in fact, occur if he weren’t present, but I don’t want to risk it. Eisenach, who is the Morgan…
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COLUMN: Ranch wives know the terrible impact of wolf reintroduction
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save The voices of the wives of ranchers are rarely heard, save for the periodic social media post or the whispered discussion in the produce section between women who understand what is asked of them and their families daily. Amanda Cerveny and Nikki Day have been…
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COLUMN: The importance of the state’s cattle industry
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s $3 million campaign to urge Denver residents and visitors to eat less meat to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) is tone deaf at best. There is no need for widening the divide between people and where their food comes from, especially here…
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COLUMN: Grass fires impacting Colorado’s Western Slope
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save On the plains, grass fires rip across miles of pastures, fueled by wind and drought, two things that carouse around together like two drunks with a pocketful of whisky money. Fires move fast and burn hot, fought by small volunteer crews, farmers pulling discs to…
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COLUMN: States battling over South Platte River Compact
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save It’s a red state vs. blue state court case over the water that both states’ agriculture industries depend upon, with the most affected areas in Colorado being in Sedgwick, Logan, and Washington Counties. The state of Nebraska has filed a suit with the U.S. Supreme…
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OPINION: Former Agriculture Secretary recalls ’80s farm crisis
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save My favorite interview last week was 90-year-old Illinois farmboy John “Jack” Block. Block was former President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Agriculture from 1981 until 1986, the worst of the domestic farm crisis. He recently published a memoir, Pigs, Politics, and Persistence: The Life and Legacy…
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Rural Oregon’s cautionary wolf tale for the Western Slope | GABEL
Rachel Gabel Rachel Gabel In Oregon, where the first batch of wolves released in Colorado originated, ranchers have been watching the wolf situation in Colorado play out from afar. Most of the wolves migrated into the state naturally from populations released in Yellowstone and central Idaho in the mid 1990s. Wolves remained primarily in three…
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How the West was undone at Gov. Polis’ ever-small meeting table | GABEL
Rachel Gabel Rachel Gabel Dating back at least to the Roy Romer years, there was a table in the executive office of the state’s governor that would seat some 20-plus people. Meetings with governors past occurred at that table, where there were seats for representatives of the many stakeholders within the state. A meeting about…
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COLUMN: A growing market for offal in the US
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Offal is really quite fantastic for fashionistas, foodies, consumers, and cattle producers. About 56% of the weight of a steer slaughtered in the U.S. is comprised of cuts with which retail consumers are familiar. Roasts,…
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COLUMN: Livestock crimes must be seriously prosecuted
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A Larimer County man drove a side-by-side utility vehicle around his rural neighborhood last April, chasing and shooting cattle that belong to two different neighbors. He shot across roads and reportedly sped recklessly around homes while shooting. When the dust settled, Larimer County Sheriff’s Deputies…