Antelope County Designated Livestock Friendly

Editor’s note: This is a part of a monthly series of editorials written by Clearwater-Orchard students. This is by Travis Rudloff

Cattle, swine, sheep, and goats: what do all of these animals have in common?
 
They are all livestock that are raised in Antelope County, and on October 14, 2016, Antelope County was officially designated as the 40th livestock friendly county in Nebraska celebrating the achievements of these producers. 

The ceremony, which was originally scheduled to be held at the Antelope County Fair on August 6th, was rescheduled after Nebraska leaders’ schedules could not match up. 

The ceremony was then held at Thiele Dairy, along with their open house for their new milking parlor. 

The livestock friendly ceremony was dedicated by lieutenant governor Mike Foley along with multiple speakers throughout the afternoon. The livestock friendly county designation was created in 2003 by the Nebraska legislature as a voluntary program that allowed the county to actively support their livestock industry. 

While Foley was dedicating the program to the county, he stated, “Having a livestock friendly designation is significant opportunity for this northeast county rich with history.” 

The livestock friendly designation gives Antelope County another tool to encourage expansion of current livestock operations and attract new business to help motivate the local economy. If you think about it, nothing in the world would have been able to be achieved without livestock. 

If there was no livestock, no other industries would be able to thrive or even exist. 

This is reflected well in William Jennings Bryan's “Cross of Gold” speech saying, “You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.” 
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Because of how much every industry relies on livestock, it is only natural that we should show our support for it through programs like the livestock friendly designation.