Trump targets meat processing, gray wolves in orders to boost ranchers - usatoday.com

The first order takes steps to allow ranchers to process their own meat for sale, something blocked for 120 years under federal law requiring meat inspections. That law was originally passed in the aftermath of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle." The second order directs the administration to begin removing federal protections for the gray wolf and the Mexican gray wolf, both predators that ranchers in cattle-producing states have long blamed for livestock losses.

The orders came after Trump's move to ease tariffs on imported beef drew sharp backlash from ranchers and supporters in major cattle-producing states. For West Texas ranchers running cattle across the South Plains and the Llano Estacado, the wolf delisting question hits closer to home than it might seem, given that Mexican gray wolf territory has been expanding in the region over recent years.

Whether either order survives legal challenges is a separate fight, but for ranchers who feel squeezed between import competition and federal wildlife rules, Trump is at least signaling he heard the complaints.