CALF_News_June_July_2019

5 CALF News • June | July 2019 • www.calfnews.net Editor & Publisher Betty Jo Gigot | (620) 272-6862 National Account Manager Jessica Ebert | (785) 477-1941 Art Direction & Administration Kathie Bedolli, Lisa Bard Leslie McKibben | BluePrint Media Copy Editor Larisa Willrett | BluePrint Media Contributing Editor Lisa Bard Contributing Editor Blaine Davis Contributing Editor Jackie Gigot Contributing Editor Rachel Lewis Contributing Editor Chris McClure Contributing Editor Kelsey Pagel Contributing Editor Larry Stalcup Contributing Editor Will Verboven Contributing Editor Jim Whitt Contributing Editor Patti Wilson CALF News (ISSN 00077798) is published bimonthly for $40 per year by B.J. Publishing, 4303 East Cactus Road, #309 Phoenix, AZ 85032; (620) 272-6862 e-mail: bjgigot@calfnews.net Postmaster: Send address changes to BluePrint Media P.O. Box 292 Lodi, WI 53555 (970) 556-9296 Change of Address: Please notify us of your change of address at least six weeks before the change. Include the address label from your latest issue. Give both your old and new full addresses. See box at left. Please print legibly. Copyright 2019. B.J. Publishing CALF NEWS The Face of the Cattle Industry June | July 2019 Vol. 58 Issue 3 Published bimonthly by B.J. Publishing Gypsy Wagon From the Publisher ON THE COVER: Hope springs eternal for those who depend on the land to make a living. Each new dawn brings challenges and successes for those of us who put food on the table every day. Continued on page 11  A s we all know, every person in the world is affected by weather each and every day, but no one more than the agriculture community as we work to provide food for the world. Every morning as I fix my coffee, I ask Alexa what the weather is in Phoenix, my location; Garden City, Kan., where the farm is; and Denver, Colo., and St. Louis, Mo., where my sons live. Would you believe there has been a flood alert in St Louis since May 15? Think of where all that water has gone. On an extended Easter trip to Galveston, Texas, I saw the results of flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey and the water marks on the living room wall of my brother’s family home in Galveston from Hurricane Ike. They had another massive rain event there over last weekend. Which brings me to this issue’s content. More than a year ago when we were discussing the topics for 2019 CALF ,“The Importance of Long-Term Planning” and “Doing More with Less,” made sense. Our goal here at CALF News is to continue providing our readers with added tools for their operations. Little did we know that Mother Nature was planning a full display of her power, again, across our readership. After the bomb cyclone took its toll across the middle of the nation, the title of this issue could well have been “Tragedy in the Heart- land,” and “Doing More with Less” would have taken on added meaning. Patti Wilson, our reporter in Nebraska, struggled with how to tell the story of the massive event in her home state. Experiencing the pain personally made it difficult to know how to explain the loss of livestock, farmland and infrastructure. Her story,“How Do We Survive?” (page 22) provides an overall view of the catastrophe. On a more personal note, our story about the Bill Rhea family (page 6) puts it on a down-to-earth level. We also look back at 2017's range fires in Kansas and tell the story of the Giles family in their recovery from those horrific days (page 14). These are all brave people with brave hearts. What more can I say? But it wasn’t just the big events that took their toll this winter. Day after day of cold, snow and wind wore out everyone from the Kansas Plains to the East Coast. All anyone could say was,“Enough already!” I hope spring is glorious and your pastures are green for the coming months. On a much more cheerful note, while attending a branding in Nebraska, CALF ’s art director Kathie Bedolli had the chance to meet Georg Joutras. He was the director, producer and cinematographer for Ocean of Grass , a documentary about a Nebraska Sandhill’s ranch. As it turns out, we were a little late to the dance – many of you have already seen the movie in showings across the state. In an interview, Joutras was very humble about his contribution to the credible image of ranchers everywhere, only want- ing to show his respect for a way of life. Let’s hope he continues with his vision. Returning from Galveston after watching boats travel up and down the shipping channel for 10 days, I celebrated a birthday and am packing up to go north for the summer.