Overall, the U.S. breeding herd has been trending lower as a result of the sow herd shifting to Canada and as a result of higher productivity.

Beef producers continued to expand the breeding herd for the second year. Beef cow numbers increased by 1 percent during 2005 after a small rise in 2004. The total number of cows increased by 338,000 head and the increase was concentrated in the western Corn Belt, where Missouri increased by 115,000 cows and Iowa by 40,000.

Much like the beef herd, heifer retention for herd replacements was up 4 percent and will allow an increase in the number of milk cows by nearly 1 percent this year.

It's appropriate with 2006 being Woodbine's 50th anniversary that we name a race after Northern Dancer. He really put Canada and Woodbine on the map during his racing and breeding career.

Nothing is more hip than a corpse. The style is timeless. Death is trending.

Just from a pure fundraising capacity, we're trending in all the right directions, significant increases quarter over quarter and beating our competition by significant margins. He's got the ideas, he's got the political momentum and he has the money on his side.