E Bar S Ranch

E Bar S Ranch A family owned buisness that has a cow calf operation and horse training/ boarding facility, cabin/

25 YEARS LATER — NEVER FORGET 🇺🇸September 11, 2001 changed America forever.Nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken that d...
09/11/2026

25 YEARS LATER — NEVER FORGET 🇺🇸

September 11, 2001 changed America forever.
Nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken that day. Families lost mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, husbands and wives. First responders ran toward danger knowing they might never come back.

But the cost didn't end on September 11.

The actions of that morning set into motion decades of war. Thousands of American service members would lose their lives in the conflicts that followed. Thousands more came home wounded, and many carried internal battles long after they left the battlefield.

One day changed countless lives for generations.

Yet in the darkness that followed, America showed what it could be.

We came together.

Flags flew everywhere. Churches filled. Neighbors helped neighbors. Political differences seemed insignificant compared to what united us.

Nobody longs for another September 11.

But many of us long for the America we saw on September 12.

An America united by faith, community, patriotism and love of country.

Twenty-five years later, may we remember everyone whose life was taken that morning, everyone who ran toward the danger, and every man and woman who answered the call in the years that followed.

We shouldn't need another tragedy to remember how to stand together.

🇺🇸 Never Forget.

09/09/2026

We’re superexcited to see how this pup finishes out when he’s older.

Everybody has advice.Advice about your career.Your marriage.Your business.Your finances.Your faith.Your dreams.And somet...
09/08/2026

Everybody has advice.

Advice about your career.
Your marriage.
Your business.
Your finances.
Your faith.
Your dreams.

And sometimes that advice comes from people who have never been where you're trying to go.

That doesn't make them bad people. It doesn't mean they don't care about you.
It just means you need to be careful who you allow to hold the map.

If you want to build a successful business, learn from somebody who's built one.

If you want a strong marriage, pay attention to couples who've weathered some storms together.

If you want to become better with money, don't take every financial opinion as wisdom.

If you want to grow in your faith, surround yourself with people whose lives reflect the faith they talk about.

There's wisdom all around us—but not every opinion deserves equal weight.

Sometimes people will tell you something can't be done simply because they couldn't do it.

Sometimes they'll warn you against taking a road they've never traveled.

And sometimes the loudest advice comes from the cheapest seats.

Listen. Be humble. Learn from your mistakes. Pray about your decisions.

But ultimately, stop asking people for directions to places they've never been.

Choose your counsel wisely.

Who you listen to can change where you end up.

LABOR DAY 🇺🇸Funny thing about a holiday meant to celebrate the American worker…A whole lot of them are still working tod...
09/07/2026

LABOR DAY 🇺🇸

Funny thing about a holiday meant to celebrate the American worker…

A whole lot of them are still working today.
There’s dignity in honest work, and this country depends every day on people willing to show up and get the job done—whether anyone notices or not.

So to everyone enjoying a well-earned day off, enjoy it.

And to everyone who clocked in, fired up the tractor, opened the shop, hit the road or showed up anyway—

Happy Labor Day. This one’s for you. 🇺🇸

⛽ AMERICA PRODUCES A LOT OF OIL. SO WHY IS DIESEL STILL SO EXPENSIVE?It's a fair question—especially in agriculture, whe...
09/05/2026

⛽ AMERICA PRODUCES A LOT OF OIL. SO WHY IS DIESEL STILL SO EXPENSIVE?

It's a fair question—especially in agriculture, where diesel is one of those expenses that shows up everywhere.

If America is producing huge amounts of oil, and we're now talking about bringing more Venezuelan oil production online, why aren't we seeing cheap fuel at the pump? And why can the price change almost overnight?

The first thing to understand is this:

CRUDE OIL IS NOT DIESEL.

Crude oil is the raw material. Before it reaches a tractor or pickup, it has to be transported, refined into usable fuel, distributed through terminals and pipelines, hauled to the retailer and taxed.

So the price at the pump is really several costs stacked together:

**CRUDE OIL

REFINING

SUPPLY & DEMAND

TRANSPORTATION/DISTRIBUTION

TAXES

RETAIL COSTS**

That's why crude oil can decline without diesel immediately falling the same amount.

And right now, refining is a big piece of the story.

EIA reported September 4 that refinery “crack spreads”—basically the difference between crude-oil costs and the value of the fuels refineries produce—are elevated. Global disruptions have tightened supplies of refined fuels, so simply having crude oil available doesn't automatically mean there's an abundance of diesel available.

So why can fuel prices change every day?

Because oil and fuel are traded in markets that react constantly to what's happening—or what traders believe might happen.

A refinery goes down.

A hurricane threatens the Gulf Coast.

A pipeline has problems.

Inventories fall.

Demand increases.

OPEC changes production.

A war threatens shipping routes.

Trucking, farming or seasonal demand increases.

Any of those can move wholesale fuel prices, sometimes before anything has physically changed at the local gas station.

And America's oil market isn't isolated from the rest of the world.

We can simultaneously produce oil, import oil, export oil, refine oil and export finished petroleum products.

That's an important distinction.

Having a lot of crude oil does not necessarily mean having a surplus of diesel.

EIA has been forecasting U.S. distillate inventories—which include diesel—to remain below their recent five-year average because of tight global diesel supplies.

🇻🇪 WHAT ABOUT VENEZUELA?

This is another piece people are going to hear a lot about.

There are major new efforts underway to increase Venezuelan oil production. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this week that expected projects could more than double Venezuela's oil production over the next several years.

Chevron alone announced plans for more than $7 billion in investment aimed at roughly doubling its Venezuelan production within five years.

That could eventually add significant crude supply to the world market and put downward pressure on oil prices.

But notice the timeline:

YEARS—not next Tuesday.

Venezuela's oil industry has suffered from years of underinvestment and infrastructure problems. Production that exceeded 3 million barrels per day in the 1990s has been running around 1.1–1.2 million barrels per day recently. Bringing wells, pipelines, power infrastructure and other equipment back online takes time.

There's another wrinkle: much of Venezuela's crude is heavy, high-sulfur crude, which isn't interchangeable barrel-for-barrel with the lighter crude produced in many U.S. fields. Different refineries are configured to process different crude slates.

So again:

MORE OIL DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY MEAN CHEAPER DIESEL TOMORROW.

🚜 AND THIS IS WHY AGRICULTURE CARES.

For somebody commuting to work, higher fuel prices hurt at the pump.

For a farm or ranch, fuel is an operating expense built into nearly everything we do.

Diesel goes into tractors.

It goes into hay equipment.

Feed trucks.

Cattle trucks.

Skid steers.

Dozers.

Harvest equipment.

Then there's the diesel burned by the trucks bringing feed, fertilizer, fencing supplies, equipment and parts to the ranch.

And more fuel gets burned hauling cattle, crops and food away from it.

That's why a 30¢, 50¢ or $1 increase in diesel doesn't stop at the fuel pump.

It works its way through the food supply chain.

The cattle still have to be fed.
The hay still has to be baled.
The feed still has to be hauled.
The fields still have to be worked.
The cattle still have to make it to market.

A rancher can't tell the cows:

“Diesel is expensive this week. We'll feed you when it comes back down.”

The work still has to happen.

And that's one reason energy prices matter so much to agriculture.

So when diesel suddenly jumps while you're hearing about record American oil production or new oil deals overseas, remember:

The amount of crude oil being produced is only ONE part of the price you see at the pump.

Refining capacity, diesel inventories, global demand, exports, transportation, taxes, geopolitical events and refinery margins all matter too.

🇺🇸 American energy and American agriculture are tied together a lot more closely than most people realize.

09/04/2026

Culverts, drainage, washed-out roads and driveway work — get it taken care of before the next big rain finds the problem for you.

5S Land & Cattle | 254-485-9159

There is a lot happening in the world right now, and it can be easy to look at all of it and wonder what one person coul...
09/04/2026

There is a lot happening in the world right now, and it can be easy to look at all of it and wonder what one person could possibly do about any of it.

Maybe the answer is to stop trying to change the whole world at once.

Start at home. Start in your community.

Pay attention to the school board. Know who sits on the city council and county government. Learn who is running in local elections—not just the names at the top of the ballot. Support local businesses. Help the neighbor who needs it. Volunteer. Get involved. Raise children who understand responsibility, service and the difference between right and wrong.

And don't overlook the local church.

A healthy community isn't built in Washington. It's built around kitchen tables, in churches, schools, businesses, volunteer organizations, farms, ranches and neighborhoods. It's built by ordinary people deciding that the place God put them is worth taking care of.

National elections matter. State elections matter. But local elections can affect everyday life in ways people often underestimate, and they are one of the places an individual voice can carry tremendous weight.

Imagine what would happen if people all across this country quit waiting for somebody hundreds or thousands of miles away to fix everything and instead started working on the communities
directly in front of them.

One person can't fix America alone.

But one person can make a difference in a family.
A family can make a difference in a church.
A church can make a difference in a community.
And thousands of stronger communities can make a stronger country.

Have faith in God's plan. Pray for the country. Vote. Serve. Get involved. Help your neighbor. Support your church.

If you want to change the world, start where God planted you. 🇺🇸

09/03/2026

Gus heard the tractor was headed to the barn and said, “I ain't walking.”

A cheetah was placed in a race with several dogs to see who was the fastest.When the race began, the dogs took off—but t...
09/03/2026

A cheetah was placed in a race with several dogs to see who was the fastest.

When the race began, the dogs took off—but the cheetah never moved.

When asked why, the response was simple:
“Sometimes trying to prove that you are the best is an insult.”

There’s a lesson in that.

Not every challenge deserves a response. Not every argument needs to be won. Not every person questioning your ability deserves a demonstration.

Sometimes maturity is knowing exactly what you're capable of and having enough confidence that you don't need everyone else to know it.

You don't have to prove yourself everywhere.

Let the work speak. Let the results speak. And sometimes, just stay out of races you never needed to enter.

🇺🇸 SHOULD YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BEEF CAME FROM?Walk through a grocery store and pick up a package of chicken.Country of or...
09/03/2026

🇺🇸 SHOULD YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BEEF CAME FROM?

Walk through a grocery store and pick up a package of chicken.

Country of origin labeling applies.

Pick up lamb.

Country of origin labeling applies.

Pick up certain seafood, fruits, vegetables and other commodities.

Country of origin labeling applies.
Pick up beef? That's where things get interesting.

Beef and pork were removed from America's mandatory Country of Origin Labeling—or COOL—requirements in 2015.

So why did we get rid of it?

It wasn't simply because somebody decided consumers didn't need to know.

Canada and Mexico challenged the U.S. labeling system through the World Trade Organization. The WTO found that the way our rules required livestock to be tracked and segregated placed imported Canadian and Mexican livestock at a competitive disadvantage.

After years of disputes and changes to the rule, the United States still lost.

By late 2015, Canada and Mexico had received authorization to retaliate against U.S. products with tariffs totaling roughly $1 billion per year combined.

Congress repealed mandatory COOL for beef and pork.

And for more than a decade, beef has remained outside the mandatory federal COOL program.
But something important changed this year.
Beginning January 1, 2026, USDA tightened the rules surrounding the voluntary labels “Product of USA” and “Made in the USA.”

For a single-ingredient beef product to carry those claims, the animal now has to be:

🇺🇸 Born in the United States
🇺🇸 Raised in the United States
🇺🇸 Slaughtered in the United States
🇺🇸 Processed in the United States

That's a major improvement in truthfulness for beef that chooses to carry the label.

But here's the distinction consumers need to understand:

It still isn't mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.

A company isn't required under COOL to put that U.S.-origin claim on every package of beef.

So why does mandatory origin labeling matter?

Because consumers can't choose American beef if they don't know which beef is American.

American cattle producers compete in a global marketplace. Imported beef plays a legitimate role in the U.S. beef supply, and putting a country on the package doesn't mean foreign beef is automatically unsafe or inferior.

It's about transparency.

If consumers prefer beef from an animal born and raised on an American ranch, they should be able to identify it.

If they're comfortable buying beef originating somewhere else, they should be able to make that choice too.

That's what a label does.

And what could that mean for American ranchers?

If consumers are willing to seek out and potentially pay a premium for verifiably American beef, accurate origin labeling gives American cattle something extremely valuable:

Product differentiation.

Instead of American-produced beef becoming harder to distinguish from imported product once everything reaches the meat case, producers and processors using American cattle can market exactly what they're selling.

USDA itself says the new voluntary U.S.-origin standard could allow premiums associated with those claims to benefit producers and processors using American beef.

Would mandatory COOL automatically raise
cattle prices?

No.

Would it rebuild America's cow herd?

No.

Would it make imported beef disappear?

No—and that's not necessarily the goal.

But it would give consumers another piece of information when deciding where to spend their money.

And in a time when America is talking about rebuilding its cattle herd, supporting domestic production and increasing transparency in the beef supply chain, that seems like a conversation worth having.

American ranchers shouldn't be afraid of telling consumers where their beef came from.
And American consumers shouldn't have to guess.

So here's the question:

Should every package of beef sold in an American grocery store tell you the country where that animal was born, raised and slaughtered?

Yes or no?

And more importantly—would seeing “Born, Raised & Harvested in the USA” influence which package YOU put in your cart?

Sources: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service • USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service • USDA Economic Research Service • World Trade Organization

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8606 County Road 229
Hico, TX
76457

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