Author: Rachel Gabel

Rachel Gabel The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president of the United States to proclaim national monuments of federal lands that contain historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, or other objects of historic or scientific interest. According to the Congressional Research Service, the president is to reserve “the smallest area compatible with the proper…

Rachel Gabel U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has urged his Brazilian counterpart Carlos Favaro to address timely disease reporting in Brazil in order to continue to access the U.S. market. The concern about timely disease reporting is certainly incredibly important but reflects only one of several concerns many cattlemen’s groups have communicated. In his…

Rachel Gabel The appointments Gov. Jared Polis made to the Colorado Beef Council and State Board of Stock Inspection were solid. Others, though, followed his pattern of appointing individuals to boards and commissions they have no business serving on. Ellen Kessler once described me as one of her most ardent followers and she’s not wrong.…

072423-cp-web-oped-gabel-1 County fair season has arrived in Colorado and supporting the youngsters showcasing their projects at the fair is a fine way to support agriculture. A fair can evoke memories of Ferris wheels and greased pig contests and fried foods. These are accurate, but the 4-H and FFA projects that don’t draw the crowds outside…

Rachel Gabel It’s fair to say agriculture producers are rarely happy with the weather. After several years of devastating drought, producers in the state slogged through a tremendously wet and miserable winter, a strangely cool and wet spring, and now a summer filled with record rainfall and punctuated by severe weather. In my area, northeastern…

Rachel Gabel This is a tale of two trailer loads. We headquarter in northeastern Colorado, but we haul cow calf pairs to spend their summers just over the state line near a small town in Wyoming. We also haul a handful of fall calving cows to Douglas County, near where I grew up. They spend…

Rachel Gabel Former Rep. Kimmi Lewis was a good ranch gal and one fiercely patriotic lady. I deeply admired her passion and tenacity and I miss her. There have been a number of times since she passed away in 2019, I wished I could call her to get my bearings and a pep talk. Lewis…

Rachel Gabel The House Committee on Natural Resources’ hearing on H.R. 3397, sponsored by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) to require the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw the proposed conservation rule was tense. Tense also describes most conversations among cattlemen in states were permittees graze public lands, including this one. The BLM’s…

Rachel Gabel Two years ago I was listening to the title board hearing on the Protect Animals from Unnecessary Suffering and Exploitation, or PAUSE, Act and the first thing I learned about ballot proposals was the requirement the proposals contain only one question for voters. This exists despite the quality of the proposal, whether the…

Rachel Gabel The majority of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically-modified, a “GMO,” or bioengineered to resist insect damage, tolerate herbicides and resist plant viruses. A favorite old farmer pal of mine loves to tell the story of how prior to GMO corn seeds, the neighborhood pot growers had great success sneaking into corn…