Montana ranchers and developers are wrestling over water, and it may just be a sign of times to come. Groundwater supplies 94 percent of the water  for rural Montanans, and there are at least 80 ongoing studies, like the one shown here, to investigate the quality and quantity of the water coming from the state's wells.
     There are strict regulations on wells pumping more than 35 gallons a minute, which would include just about every conceivable agricultural or industrial user. Wells under 35 gallons a minute are exempt from regulation. 
     And there's the rub.
     Polly Rex, a rancher from Absarokee, about 50 miles west of Billings, grazes cattle on a 1,250-acre pasture with water rights that go back more than a century. Water for her herd comes from a natural spring, not a well. There is currently a subdivision with 80 houses going up next to her fields, and every house in the development will be using water from individual wells.
     At my house, with two adults, a 26-pound dog and occasional visitors, we use about 175 gallons of water a day. Sixty homes like ours would remove 10,500 gallons of water daily from the aquifers that feed into the fields where Polly Rex pastures her animals. If you add a shower-happy teenager or two to the household, water use could outstrip our consumption
     Is that enough to put her out of business? Maybe, maybe not. But Ms Rex is adamant about what she sees as a need to regulate all water users in Big Sky country. Associated Press writer Michael Brown wrote about the conflict in a story which appeared in yesterday's Washington Post. You can read  it here:  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/03/AR2009120300302.html 


     Some retired thoroughbreds have been sentenced to life, and they are definitely not saying "nay" to their treatment. The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation has place four retired racehorses with the Plymouth County Sheriff's Farm in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they will be tended to by inmates. The hope is that the horses will help rehabilitate the prisoners, and teach them skills that could help them find jobs when their sentences are finished. A story about the program appears in the monthly Mid-Atlantic Horse section in this week's edition of Lancaster Farming.


     You gotta believe...
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/farmer-discovers-holy-egg/1ablf2leh