Jon Angell

It is interesting to see so many land use issues in the news. Private property rights in the USA have been a bedrock foundation for many of our rights, including our right to pursue happiness. As a country, we do have allowances for certain public needs, but what constitutes a need over a simple want? As the population density grows, these legal conflicts will continue to grow. There is a balance to be found, but the balancing point is not set, it moves, so I expect to see these individual cases to be litigate in a constant stream.

Up front on the cover suggests that some family properties are willing to resist private and public development for many generations.

Currently one of the hottest news topics across the nation has to do with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Their work in trying to enforce deportation orders and other investigations has caused protests and riots in many cities. Workplace raids in places like Omaha, Neb. have directly affected processors and other agricultural businesses. This mess of 20 million plus non-citizen immigrants will be a generational fix and clean-up operation. What an unfortunate situation for everyone involved. The migrants were exploited, the systems have been gamed, corruption ran rampant… it should never have been allowed, yet it was encouraged in the previous administration. It was pretty getting to this point, fixing it will be ugly. You will see several articles in this issue (pages 5, 7, 11, and 22) revolving around the migrant issues. What a mess.

Our friend, retired market news reporter and cattle buyer, Roger Parker passed away June 19. He was very supportive of our efforts in these pages. He will be a resource that will be missed for sure. Read his obituary on this page, but many of you will remember the feature we ran on Roger at his retirement from the Missouri Department of Agriculture – Market News Service. It can be found in the online archive of The Cattleman’s Advocate March 2016 edition.

Last month in this space, my comments were cut short because the cattle were out! I would tell you that 80 of them were out but still on my property, while 20 were through the neighbor’s field and heading down the highway right of way heading to town! That isn’t the way to start a day. Thankfully, the cattle remembered the feed truck with the cake feeder from their weaning days, and it acted as an attractant. Leading a herd is far easier than driving a herd!

Again, this month, I am going to limit my comments. This month was a sprint to get the paper together. It has been wet and as I write, we are in the later half of June. I am way behind making hay. The weather man is making me think we have a good stretch to making hay. I’m not sure why I should be too worried about it. It looks like hay should be plentiful and relatively cheap this year. Thanks for reading and your continued support.

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Jon Angell
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PO Box C
Centralia MO 65240