I remember a long time ago when I was just a young lad of perhaps 8 or 9 and very gullible, I heard the pastor of our church tell a story about which pigs made the best bacon. The story goes that it is the pigs that live next to the ocean. It seems that there are lots of fine nutrients that pigs love to eat during low tides. This makes them very fat. When the tide rushes in, the pigs, not liking to get wet, run for high ground. This makes them lean. It is this continuous action of following the tides that give bacon a fine layer of meat, followed by a fine layer of fat and so on.
You probably think I’ve lost my mind but never fear this story is going somewhere.
Farmers in the northern Rockies states are losing more money because of wolves. This isn’t the usual story you hear about the wolf eating up sheep and cattle. This is a more indirect loss for the farmers.
It seems that the livestock are too scared to eat. That’s right. Cattle and sheep are running (figuratively) scared of the wolves and aren’t eating contentedly like they should. Farmers are saying that often entire flocks of sheep will huddle up in the middle of the pastures and refuse to eat out of fear of the predators.
According to this article in the Wisconsin AG Connection, a couple pounds here and couple pounds there can add up to big bucks (dollars).
Tom Remington
