The company that supplied the feed which recently fatally poisoned at least 70 horses at a legacy breeding ranch in Oklahoma has confirmed that the shipment had been contaminated with an additive known to be toxic to horses.
Livestock Nutrition Center, which provides custom-blended and premixed feeds to ranches across the United States, said that its “preliminary tests” had shown that a load of feed delivered to Beutler and Son Rodeo Company, Elk City, Oklahoma, contained Monensin, which can be toxic to horses.
“This likely occurred due to a combination of a failed clean out procedure and a sensor malfunction,” Ronnie Castlebury, the company’s president, said.
That was an “isolated incident to this single load of feed from a single facility” and that no other supplies have been affected. Other supplies are safe for animal consumption.
Monensin is an additive that is common in cattle feed but is toxic for horses. The drug is an ionophore, or an antibiotic-like compound.
The company, which has locations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma, is working with the agriculture departments in Oklahoma and Kansas, the original source of the feed, to get to the root of the problem.
Oklahoma and Kansas said that they were investigating after the horses were reported dead. Results from those state investigations were not expected to be complete for several weeks.
Since 1929, the Beutler family has bred and raised generations of champion horses and supplied them to rodeos across the United States.
Rhett Beutler, 47, who runs and owns the operation with his father, Bennie Beutler, said that at least 70 horses had died, out of the 350 horses on the ranch.
That number, he said, is expected to rise as they search for more stricken horses on the sprawling 14,000-acre ranch in the west of the state.
“There are a few more missing we haven’t laid eyes on yet,” Beutler said. “Some in the pasture got fed and went off and died in the canyons.”
The younger Beutler said that Castlebury had personally apologized to his family, who went ahead with hosting a long-planned three-day rodeo.
Other horse breeders in the tight-knit community helped by trucking in their own bucking horses as substitutes.
In the statement from Livestock Nutrition Center, Castlebury said that the company was “dedicated to assist and support the Beutler family and make this right.”
Beutler said that it was too early to tell what steps the ranch would take as it tries to recover. He said that he did not have a breakdown of how many of the horses were foals, mares, geldings, and stallions.
But the loss of so many animals had gutted their operations Beutler said.
“There were world champions” among the dead animals, Beutler said. “We are just getting into all that. We are just trying to save horses.”
+++30+++
More Than 40 Horses Die On Oklahoma Ranch After Eating Possibly Contaminated Feed
Farmed out?
Republican leaders in Topeka want to bump the governor’s office from its lead role in proposing state spending. Instead, the plan is to assign a hand-picked committee of lawmakers for the grinding work of drafting the state budget.
This striking change is needed, they say, because lawmakers don’t like waiting until mid-January for a governor’s spending plan. Their own committee would produce a baseline budget for introduction on the first day of the 2025 legislative session, beating a governor’s traditional release by two weeks. The governor’s budget becomes a “supplemental” plan (meaning: irrelevant).
The real problem isn’t a two-week wait. It’s that the legislators are Republicans and the governor is a Democrat.
The Legislature, dominated by nearly70 percent Republicans in the House and Senate, has trouble coming to grips with even the slightest issue. That these lawmakers could create a coherent plan to raise and spend $27 billion is fantasy.
*
For decades, governors have presented spending plans by mid-January for legislators to consider and amend during the legislative session that usually ends by early May.
The current process works because people know what they’re doing. Over the summer and into October, scores of state agencies get busy calculating their budgets for the next fiscal year beginning July1. Many agents and bureaucrats are involved, figuring costs and revenues of departments and domains throughout the executive, judicial and legislative branches.
Appraisals and estimates, one division and one office at a time, flow into the governor’s office for review by the budget director and a dozen analysts. The final accounting in late December becomes what is known as “the governor’s budget.”
The budget plan, roughly 900 pages, is published (online only) in two volumes; it is a detailed accounting of income and outgo, a blueprint for the cost of state government. This year it covers fiscal year 2025 ‒ from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
Is a legislative committee equipped to take over this process?
*
Over generations, legislators have had roughly 90 days to examine the governor’s budget plan, make changes, offer alternatives. This involves a lot of arguing among political tribes and two of the three branches of government ‒ the executive (headed by the governor), and legislative (Speaker of the House and Senate president). When the governor is a Democrat and the legislature is dominated by Republicans, fireworks can be expected. The judicial branch (courts) looks on with an arched eye.
Usually by mid-May, the legislature and governor have come to terms and a budget is passed by the House and Senate and signed into law.
The new plan is that a dozen or so citizen legislators, heavy with one party and sprinkled with the other, direct the process. The Department of Legislative Research is staffed with experts assigned to various committees, but if they are diverted to budget assignments, committee work will suffer.
One choice option is for Republicans to ship the Kansas budget to Alexandria, Va., for ghost-writing by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative think tank that routinely cranks out legislation for states dominated by Republicans.
Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, is president of ALEC, which has worked up Kansas legislation covering abortion, school finance, education reforms, and local and state taxation proposals, among others.
Masterson’s hand-picked committee may have its name on a Kansas budget but it could be drafted in a D.C. suburb.
Stories of Good News
This year is an election year, which means that there is plenty of misinformation,
arguments, and overall frustration with other individuals who happen to believe different things than we do. But that really isn’t the point of elections if you think about it. The original idea behind democracy is that we as people get to choose, out of ourselves, our next leader. It’s a beautiful idea, it’s just unfortunate that we have to fight about it every 4 years. With that being said, instead of focusing on this year’s election and all the drama it brings with it, why don’t we look towards the good things in life? Keep reading to hear some of the wonderful stories from across Kansas.
First of all let’s look at agriculture, as many of you already know, this year’s wheat
harvest was nothing compared to last year’s. In that, it was significantly better for many farmers around the area. Farmers in the Wellington area said that test weights average 62 to 63 lb per bushel with reports of some fields yielding more than 70 bushels per acre. The yield came as quite a surprise to many farmers after the incredible range of wacky weather at the beginning of the year. Over the last couple of years of unfortunate news, this year’s harvest hopefully came as a well-deserved breakthrough for our “tougher-than-dirt” Kansas farmers.
There’s more good news on the agricultural front as researchers attempt to cultivate and
utilize different kinds of fertilizers for more sustainable farming. The common theme is the use of nitrogen fertilizer in the modern-day to fertilize fields and produce better yields. The
unfortunate side of it is that nitrogen fertilizer is a large source of greenhouse gas emissions. These researchers believe that they have found a different answer hidden away in the bacteria of processed manure, cloacibacterium sp. CB-01 is a bacteria commonly found in anaerobic digesters which are already being used to transform organic waste into biofuel. Utilizing this bacteria would not only cut down on greenhouse gas emissions but also potentially be more cost-effective in the future, as it utilizes the waste from one industry for the benefit of another.
In other news, get off the track ’cause there’s a big ol’ train a-comin’. Big Boy the 1.2
million pound locomotive departed on a “Heartland of America Tour” on August 28th from
Wyoming and will pass through many states, including ours in a couple of months. 25 of these trains were built exclusively for their travels on the Union Pacific Railroad. These locomotives live up to their name in their incredible size and power. For those of you who live in the Newton area, think of that historic train outside of the Newton Public Library, and then think bigger.
Needless to say, it’ll be a cool sight to see. The Big Boy locomotive will be in Coffeyville on
Tuesday, October 15th for a 9:00 a.m. departure to Kansas City where it will arrive at Union Station on Wednesday, October 16th. Personally, it sounds like a fun day trip idea to me!
Overall, we focused on a lot of localized good news, but there is so much more to hear.
From cleaning up Lake Michigan in the North to transitions to clean energy sources in parts of western US, wind and solar energy has actually surpassed coal in a lot of areas in the world now, which means not only a brighter future but hopefully cooler summers, am I right? That being said, take some time this week to look for good news in your lives, it may make you ever so much more hopeful about the future.
Sunflower State of Mind
Whether you’ve had a bad day and need some quiet time, or whether your faith has taken a hit lately and you need some assurance that there is still good in this world, take a drive along any back road going anywhere in Kansas right now and let God treat you to a spectacle only He can provide in the form of acre-after-acre of brightly shimmering wild sunflowers in the ditches and fencerows. As you drive along, thousands of luminescent yellow heads appear to guide your way and offer a boost to your spirits.
Did you know that the sunflower is the only crop grown for seed that was domesticated right here in the USA? Sunflowers were a common crop among Native American tribes throughout North America, and Spanish explorers took the exotic plants back to Europe in the 1500’s. Sunflowers were first grown for food in Russia. By the early 19th century, Russian farmers were growing over 2 million acres, and by the late 19th century, Russian sunflower seed had found it’s way back to North America again. Though different from domestic sunflowers in many ways, wild sunflowers are the genetic basis of today’s commercially grown crop. Domestic sunflower blooms appear to follow the sun across the horizon each day, but once the radiant flowers open, they actually face east for the rest of their lives. This is possibly a defense mechanism, as facing any other direction could scald the seeds before they ripen. Wild sunflowers don’t seem to care which direction they face.
In 2023, US farmers grew just over 1.3 million acres of domestic sunflowers, 36,000 of those acres were grown here in KS, putting us in 6th place behind North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas and Nebraska. Total 2023 domestic sunflower production in the US totaled 2.3 billion pounds. Russia, Ukraine, the European Union, Argentina and Turkey make up the top 5 world producers of domestic sunflower seed. The sunflower, by the way is the national flower of Russia.
Now, here’s a little “sunflower trivia,” compliments of the Guinness Book of World Records. A sunflower grown in Germany holds the record for the tallest ever grown, at 30 feet, 1 inch, a sunflower grown in British Columbia boasts the widest head ever recorded at over 32 inches across, a sunflower head weighing over 14 pounds grown in Wales is the heaviest sunflower head on record, and a sunflower grown in Michigan claims the most heads with 837 sunflower heads on one plant.
In 1903, the sunflower became the state flower of Kansas. As history has it, in 1901, George Morehouse, a state senator from Council Grove, attended a rodeo in Colorado Springs where all the Kansas folk in attendance wore sunflowers identifying them as Kansans. So moved and inspired by the Kansas spirit was he, that upon returning home, he drafted the bill naming the sunflower as our state flower. In this original bill, Morehouse stated “This flower has to all Kansans an historical symbolism which speaks of frontier days, winding trails, pathless prairie and is full of the life and glory of the past, the pride of the present and richly emblematic of the majesty of the golden future, and is a flower which has given Kansas the world-wide name “The Sunflower State.”
The last couple years we’ve had typical Kansas summer weather, dried and roasted, but like the mailman, those Kansas wild sunflowers don’t seem to care. They fill the ditches
and pastures of our state with a gazillion gleaming jewels fit for any king’s crown. So take a lesson from the wild sunflower and when life deals you adverse conditions. turn them into sunflower seeds! (I know that doesn’t make sense but it sounds cool) Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors
Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Ginger Pumpkin Pie
Well; I promised pumpkin this week, and pumpkin it shall be! I went back a few years tonight, as I visited some of my old archives. I had planned a brand-new recipe, but someone forgot to go get an orange at the grocery store! And..it wasn’t me either! So, change the attack plan, right? This pumpkin pie is definitely one of my favorite versions of pumpkin pie. Perhaps, it’s because I am a big fan of ginger snaps. You are probably going to give this recipe a look over and realize there are ‘once again’, many ways to adapt my recipe out to different flavors of pies.
Tonight, I got home from work around 6pm, made tacos for supper and then dove into more prep work for the weekend back in my hometown of Lewistown, MO.
I made about 20 breakfast wraps; half went back home and the other half stayed here. This time I filled them with eggs, cheese, sausage, onion, spinach, tater tots and a teaspoon of salsa. This way there’s not a great deal of mess around when we go back home to clean and pack. This weekend we are traveling in different vehicles and coming and going at different times. I also prepared fresh ice tea, a marinated cucumber salad, cleaned the kitchen, did about 3 loads of laundry, research, and got the column written early. When I finally hit the hay, I will feel good about having things done ahead of time.
Speaking of ahead of time, I would like to give a few hints for the early bird Christmas shoppers out there. There are several sites which have ‘huge’ clearances going on. Hit it now for some of those holiday gifts. I plan on doing so myself, in the next few days. Christmas exchanges, secret pals, nieces and nephews, oh yes, it’s a good time to get some of those things done ahead of time.
I’m putting up a few pieces of fall décor that will hold me until I return on Monday. Then we’ll do a bit more. I still haven’t gotten a pot of apple butter made. It may have to wait until middle of next week. Never enough hours in the day.
Let me post the recipe and call it a full evening, on the home-front. I hope you give this recipe a try, I don’t think you will be disappointed!
Ginger Pumpkin Pie
1 9-inch-deep dish pie crust of choice
Bottom Layer:
1/8 cup chopped pecans
(6) 2 1/2-inch ginger snaps, finely crumbled
1 tablespoon praline flavoring or maple extract
Filling
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup apple butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
5 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Pinch of salt
Streusel Topping
3 tablespoons butter, cold
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
(4) 2 1/2-inch ginger snaps, finely crumbled
2 teaspoons praline flavoring or maple extract
Any remaining bottom layer crumble
Prepare the pie crust. Next, mix the ingredients for the bottom layer and sprinkle 5 tablespoons over the bottom of the prepared pie crust. This helps to keep the crust from becoming soggy. Set aside the remaining crumb mixture to add to the top mixture later.
In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs; add buttermilk and the remaining ingredients. Pour over the bottom layer of the crumbs. Bake in a 425-degree F oven for about 30 minutes with the crust covered. While the pie is baking, make the streusel by cutting the cold butter into the dry ingredients of the streusel. It will resemble coarse crumbs.
After the 30 minutes of baking lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and sprinkle on the topping. Continue baking until a knife inserted in the center
comes out clean. Remove the cover on the crust to brown edges to the degree your family likes best. Serves 8-10 persons. YUM
