HORACE MCQUEEN: Turn the Chickens Loose!
When a truckload of chickens overturned a couple weeks ago in South Carolina, the animal rights activists had a ball. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the crash “left countless birds mangled and suffering.” So PETA is erecting a billboard near the crash site. The spokesman said “PETA’s billboard will let travelers know that the best way to prevent such tragedies is to keep smart, sensitive chickens off the roads in the first place by going vegan”.
Traveling the highways and byways of East Texas it is evident that very few farms or ranches have started preparations for winter pasture forages. Talking with cattle producers it seems that many will just wait and see how much volunteer ryegrass may emerge after some cooler weather arrives. The fact that plenty of hay is available — some good, some not so — may be keeping winter pastures on hold. For most folks that plan winter forages, they will be overseeding ryegrass — and maybe some clover — in pastures and hay meadows. This is a cheaper route than discing and planting small grains. If any winter forages are planned, get ready to spend some money on fertilizer to keep the green grazing growing. With ryegrass costing $15 to $18 an acre in seed cost, plus up to $90 an acre for nitrogen fertilizer this plan can save a lot of protein and hay purchases, says Dr. Jason Banta, Texas A & M beef cattle specialist. Banta said getting the soil tested before any winter pasture program is underway is highly recommended.
Many of our elected officials want school teachers to be paid according to how well their students do on tests. Ok, so how about paying our elected officials according to their effectiveness. Evaluate them on their success in job creation and economic growth — or is that too much to ask of our “leaders”?
Back is 1931, Dr. Adrian Rogers wrote this little paragraph that is more relevant today than ever. “You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from someone else. When half the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it”!
