December 2011 Articles

Archives by Months

Just Rambling

Just Rambling: I attended the Bi-District Cattlemen’s Meeting in Delhi on June 2, 2011. This meeting was planned by Terry Boone—District 6 Vice President and James Arceneaux—District 9 Vice President with the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association providing the meal. Also in attendance was Robert Joyner, Executive Vice President for the Louisiana Cattlemen Association, Wesley Ridgedell—President of Louisiana Cattlemen Association, and Vendall Fairchild, President-elect of Louisiana Cattlemen Association. Lastly, the most important attendee from the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association was Miss Emily Arceneauz, LCA Queen and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Arceneaux. Emily is a lovely young lady with such a great personality as well as being very knowledgeable of the cattle industry. She does a great job representing our industry. Thank you Emily.
This meeting was held in the Delhi Civic Center with Dr. Ross Pruitt of the LSU AgCenter as the Keynote speaker for the evening. Dr. Pruitt provided current information concerning the cattle markets, grain markets and other general information pertaining to the cattle industry. Following Dr. Pruitt, a panel discussion was held with a panel consisting of Dr. Karl Harborth with LSU AgCenter, Jason Holmes, LSU Ag Center, Dr. Ross Pruitt, Robert Joyner—LCA Executive Secretary, Emily Arceneaux—LCA Queen, and Dr. Terry Dumas, retired beef specialist, LSU AgCenter fielding questions about the cattle industry and making comments. The meeting was well attended from cattlemen throughout both districts and an evening of good fellowship, good food, and good information was enjoyed by all. A special “Thank You” goes out to Keith Collins with LSU AgCenter for coordinating this meeting with Delhi Civic Center and to Terry Boone and James Arceneaux for planning the meeting.
Remember the Louisiana State Fair in late October and early November is just around the corner. The Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association will have the Cattlemen’s Kitchen again this year. They need volunteers to help with this kitchen. If you would like to volunteer call the LCA office at 225-343-3491. Also, if you own cattle and are not a member of your state’s Cattlemen Association, please consider joining. Louisiana residents can call the above number to find out how to join.
Have you ever had the opportunity to spend some time in your parish or county Cooperative Extension Service office? If you haven’t, you need to — our political leaders especially need to! Recently, I spent several hours in the Union Parish Cooperative Extension Service office working the Louisiana Beef Promotion and Research Program Referendum which was the renewal vote for the 50 cent additional check off per head in Louisiana. While there, I got to observe and hear conversations about everything from gardening, farmers markets, beef cattle, poultry, 4-H programs and camps to educational programs for inmates before they are released from detention. I was amazed at the wealth of knowledge the Cooperative Extension personnel must have and the resources that are available to them. If they don’t have the answer, they have the resources to find the answer. I commend Carol Remy, Jason Holmes, Rafash Brew, Cynthia Stephens, and other staff members in the Union Parish office for the work they do. This commendation is not just limited to Union Parish , but is extended to every parish and county Cooperative Extension Service throughout this nation. Our political leaders must have blinders on when they begin to cut funds for these programs. The Cooperative Extension Service has very little way to raise funds and when their funds are cut they must cut services — services that are invaluable to our communities. Just yesterday I saw where Medicaid funding was being proposed to be increased by billions of dollars and education K-12 and higher education funding was being proposed to be cut by billions. Does this make sense? Sure we have a lot of people in need, but if we continue to cut education and expand benefits, we will eventually have a society of receivers rather than producers. When the producer wagon is overloaded with receivers , eventually the wheels will run off, causing a disaster. It appears we are fast approaching that disaster. Our Cooperative Extension Service throughout this nation helps prepare people, both young and old, to be producers. Remind your political leaders of this and encourage them to keep all educational funding intact. About the Front Cover: We chose the front cover photo to remind us of the devastation that many parts of our nation have experienced during this past spring. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those that have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods from the tornados and floods.