It’s Getting Better

By Dennis Sun

This week marks the one-year point in which we have had to endure COVID-19. In this one-year span, we now have a whole new vocabulary. We tell each other to stay safe instead of just goodbye, and masks are not just for Halloween. 

            It has affected every one of us differently, and we have managed our lives in response. We have watched friends and family who have had severe cases of COVID-19 suffer terribly, and those who passed on because of the disease watching family and friends suffer the loss. 

            Some have disregarded the virus as a political ploy, but as we know now, it is real. Here at the Roundup, the staff has experienced quarantines and sickness. We have all been wishing we lived out in a rural setting, as many of our readers do, to protect ourselves. Working from home is easy for us, so this has helped.

            For those in agriculture, business has gone on as usual – brandings, shippings and livestock sales have been held as always. Life is almost normal, except for those staying out of town.

            But now, change is in the air. Wyoming’s Governor is easing the restrictions as the number of COVID-19 cases and hospital visits have dropped. One likes to think whatever we have been doing has helped control the virus. 

            Let’s make sure we keep it controlled. It just takes some common sense.

            You know, we can sit here and list the negatives we are all facing at the moment. We all realize there are plenty, but we have a lot of positives in the agriculture world – some we’re really proud of.

            First off, we’re proud of the people and families involved in agriculture. This is what makes it great. We’re proud of the farms, ranches and ag businesses we have and do business with. 

            In times of need, we stick together and help out, and in the good times we support each other. We’re proud of our crops, our livestock and the genetics which got ag where they are today.

            The weather has not been too kind to us in the last year, but we’ll make the best of it. Our cattle, sheep and horses have proven to have great genetics and sires sell accordingly. Take the beef herd for instance – the U.S. produces 18 percent of the world’s beef with only six percent of the world’s cattle. If another country wants Prime beef, they buy it from America.

            I’ve read where over the last 30 years, the U.S. beef industry has cut the land needed to produce a pound of beef by 33 percent, the water required by 12 percent and the carbon footprint has been reduced by 16 percent. Other ag commodities mirror similar figures.

            We’re proud of the leaders who support agriculture in the West – they do the job we don’t have the time to do, and like us, they live by the Code of the West.

            It is time to manage the negatives and thank the good Lord for the positives.