Author: Rachel Gabel

Rachel Gabel Last spring, a chopper banked and rounded a towering rocky outcrop in the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico. It is incredibly rough terrain with towering rock walls and deep coulees, a river snaking through it. As the chopper rose over the last ridge and dropped below into the river bottom, the…

Rachel Gabel There is a photo of Willard Simms, taken by The Denver Post’s George Crouter, in Simms’ 1980 book “Ten Days Every January.” Simms, who was the general manager of the National Western Stock Show from 1955 to 1978, leans against the original wooden plank pens of the Denver Union Stock Yard Company in…

Rachel Gabel It wasn’t likely a scene out of a spaghetti Western, but when thieves spotted and stole 80 head of bred heifers from Steve McEndree, it was about a $100,000 heist. With the margins in the cattle business today, it was a financial hit for the 65-year-old lifelong rancher. It will continue to be…

Rachel Gabel They spent the day before the storm getting their proverbial ducks in a row. The vehicles were fueled. The extension cords were coiled and hung. And the windbreaks were set into place to block the cattle from the wind. Tractor block heaters were all plugged in and double-checked again. Hay and straw bales…

Rachel Gabel The Republican River Basin, part of the Ogallala Aquifer, has allowed irrigated agriculture to serve as the lifeblood of small communities in eastern Colorado for decades. When wells began pumping in the 1950s and 1960s, pivot sprinklers slowly crawled across fields and crops were grown that would flounder without the water. The harvests…

Rachel Gabel In mid-December 1977, after several years of strong farm profits, advances in technology and record crop yields pushed prices down. Much the same as today, the costs of inputs like fuel, seed and herbicides had increased. At the same time, farmland values had fallen and taken farm equity with them, leaving bankers less…

Rachel Gabel Three rail lines once lay parallel to the South Platte River, and it was there that corrals were built, and the Denver Union Stock Yards Company opened for business in 1881. Iron latches to connect gates to railcars for unloading were hand forged by men who may not have considered themselves artisans, but…

Rachel Gabel I watch “Yellowstone.” I’ll allow you to decide whether or not that’s a character flaw or just part of my charm. I tell you that to tell you this. In last Sunday’s episode, ranchers gathered to hear from the agency I would assume is the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department. Wolves were…

Rachel Gabel A country that is unable to feed its people is a country that is unable to defend itself. That said, accessibility to affordable labor is key to maintaining the ag industry. American consumers enjoy the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world, even as this week’s Thanksgiving dinner costs…

Rachel Gabel One of the veterinarians we use periodically has been practicing for 55 years. He’s a gem, a wealth of information, and has enthusiastically complimented every meal I’ve ever fed him. He works hours that agree with a man who has scribbled DVM behind his name since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. There is…