Author: Rachel Gabel

Rachel Gabel The hog barns belonging to Circle Four Farms in southern Utah were dark and the employees had left one night in March of 2017. The group of animal rights activists, all members of Direct Action Everywhere, including co-founder Wayne Hsiung, waited for nightfall before illegally entering the property. Clad in matching t-shirts, head…

Rachel Gabel It’s the height of the fall run, the time of year when ranchers are selling their calves and bull haulers are busy hauling calves to sale barns, feedyards and ranches. As corn fields are harvested, ranchers move bred cows to cornstalks for winter forage and move cows home to prepare for cold temperatures…

Rachel Gabel It is sugar beet harvest season in Colorado and if the more scenic portions of the state are known for the Rocky Mountains, this portion of the state ought to be known for the mountains of corn silage and beets taking shape at beet dumps, factories, dairies and feedyards. In 1898, the College…

Rachel Gabel Meeker rancher Lenny Klinglesmith returned from a trip to Montana last week. It had rained for several days while he was gone, making it too muddy to check the 600 pairs of cows and calves they were preparing to gather off the U.S. Forest Service grazing allotment they have leased for years. Gathering…

Rachel Gabel One of the most admirable traits in a leader is the willingness to surround yourself with people who know more than you do about the topics that will determine your success or failure in your career. Agriculture Commissioner Kate Greenberg is poised either to do just that or to seal her fate with…

Rachel Gabel Agriculture doesn’t just feed the affluent. It doesn’t refuse service to the uneducated. Agriculture puts food on the table every day for every American. Virtue signaling was on the menu, though, in California in 2018 when Prop 12 was passed to dictate production methods to livestock producers, namely hog men. Mind you, this…

Rachel Gabel President Joe Biden’s administration issued an executive order on biotechnology and, in it, directs the Secretary of Agriculture to determine how to best use biotechnology to, among other things, beef up fake meat. While I was blinking back the baffled thoughts, a friend texted me a Wall Street Journal opinion column. In it,…

Rachel Gabel Never have I ever had an animal health question and called an urban or suburban legislator for their expertise. Never has an animal-rights extremist group bent on ending animal agriculture showed up in a blizzard to help save calves. And never have I allowed words to pass my lips like “boy, we should…

Rachel Gabel Kevin Jensen judged the market beef show last week at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. A Kansas cattleman, Jensen believes in good livestock, good kids and behaving with integrity. When the time came for the grand drive, the announcer brought in the reserve champion steers from each weight division, and they walked…

Rachel Gabel The little farm in Montrose County has been her home for decades. This is where she and her late husband raised their children, their cow herd, a lush field of alfalfa and an abundant garden. Neighboring farmers raise fields of sweet corn, pinto beans and onions in straight rows. The farm above hers…