April 24, 2015
CapitalPress.com
17
FDA provides evidence of milk safety
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
U.S. milk producers knew
they were doing a good job as
to the safety of the milk supply,
but an analysis by FDA shows
milk is free of residues for 31
drugs used on a dairy but not
routinely tested for in milk.
Dairymen have focused on
reducing residues of beta-lact-
am antibiotics in milk and have
an exciting downward trend
line to show their progress,
Jamie Jonker, vice president
of sustainability and scientific
affairs for National Milk Pro-
ducers Federation, said during
an April 20 webinar.
Every bulk pickup tank-
er of farm milk is tested for
residues of those antibiotics,
and positive results have gone
from 0.10 percent in 1995 to
0.014 percent in 2014. That’s
the equivalent of one in every
7,336 tankers, he said.
But FDA wanted to test for
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
An analysis by FDA shows milk is free of residues for 31 drugs
used on a dairy but not routinely tested for in milk.
other drug residues in milk
based on residues found in
meat from dairy cattle.
In March 2010, USDA
Office of Inspector General
called for Food Safety and In-
spection Service to strengthen
oversight, especially at plants
slaughtering dairy cows and
bob veal, which in 2008 were
Ranchers help themselves
with photo monitoring
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
BURLEY, Idaho — A new
program offered to Idaho
ranchers can help protect their
Bureau of Land Management
grazing permits and speed up
permit renewals.
The cooperative photo
monitoring program partners
Idaho State Department of
Agriculture and BLM to help
ranchers monitor rangeland
sites, creating a visual record
of what’s happening on the
ground.
The program was launched
by a memorandum of under-
standing between the two
agencies last summer, where-
in ISDA will get ranchers set
up and lend technical assis-
tance for collecting photo-
graphic data following BLM
protocols and BLM will ac-
cept the data and use it in its
permit-renewal decisions.
Agency range specialists
are spending a lot more time
in the office wrapped up in
litigation and document re-
view and are no longer work-
ing with ranchers on range
improvements, ISDA range-
land specialist John Biar told
ranchers at the Idaho Range
Livestock Symposium last
week.
That’s left a lot of data
gaps and not much qualita-
tive data to support grazing
decisions, resulting in limited
grazing, he said.
Some data gaps stretch 20
to 25 years without current
photos, he said.
Recognizing the break-
down in communication,
ISDA sat down with BLM to
find out what the department
could do to help ranchers
and the federal agency, he
said.
The agencies decided to
start off with a fairly easy ob-
jective — photo monitoring
that ranchers can do on an an-
nual basis to show measurable
progress, he said.
Ranchers have three op-
tions: monitoring at existing
BLM trend sites; establishing
new sites in coordination with
Rangeland
monitoring
workshops
University of Idaho will conduct
workshops in May and June to
teach ranchers the basics of
photo monitoring. Those inter-
ested should call the number
listed to reserve lunch.
The workshops are planned for:
Malad, May 12, (208) 983-2667
Rigby, May 13, (208) 270-1808
Idaho Falls, May 14, (208) 270-
1808
Bear Lake, May 15, (208) 221-
3215
Jordan Valley, Ore., May 19, (208)
896-4104
Oreana, May 20, (208) 896-4102
New Meadows, June 2, (208)
253-4279
Malta, June 3, (208) 878-9461
Oakley, June 4, (208) 878-9461
Leadore, June 10, (208) 756-2815
Challis, June 22, (208) 879-2344
Mackay, June 23, (208) 879-2344
Arco, June 24, (208) 527-8587
BLM; and inclusion of per-
mittee-established sites con-
sistent with processes iden-
tified in the memorandum of
understanding.
ISDA will work side by
side with ranchers, helping to
locate sites and offering tech-
nical assistance, Biar said.
“In today’s climate, no one
person can do it all. ISDA will
work with you until you’re
comfortable,” he said.
At permittees’ request, the
agency can also be involved
with permittees and BLM to
review the data for permit re-
newal.
The agreement “provides
a framework that we feel will
stand up well to litigation,”
Biar said.
The photo monitoring
program gives ranchers the
opportunity to tell the story
of their range management
and gives BLM data that will
stand up in court, said Brooke
Jacobson, ISDA range moni-
toring specialist.
Annual photos at the same
place, taken at the same time
of year will hold up in court,
she said.
responsible for more than 90
percent of residue violations.
In 2012, FDA’s Center for
Veterinary Medicine launched
a milk survey with a hypothe-
sis that the same practices on
dairy farms that led to previ-
ous tissue residue violations in
meat might result in drug resi-
due in milk, Jonker said.
That hypothesis was prov-
en wrong.
Testing for 31 different
pharmaceuticals in 1,912 sam-
ples, about half from dairy
farms with previous tissue res-
idue violations and half from
randomly selected dairies,
FDA found 99.3 percent were
free of drug residues, Jonker
said.
The survey results, released
in March, found no statistical
difference in the two groups
and no systemic issue with
those dairies with previous tis-
sue residue violations, he said.
FDA’s key message was to
underscore the safety of the
U.S. milk supply, saying the
regulatory system is effective
in helping prevent drug res-
idues of concern in milk, he
said.
“The milk supply is safe,
but we do still have some
residues that need to be ad-
dressed,” Jonker said.
The samples showed pos-
itive results for 16 drug resi-
dues in 15 samples, 12 from
the targeted dairies and four
from the random dairies.
Ten of the positive samples
showed residue of florfeni-
col, used to treat bovine re-
spiratory disease and foot rot.
That drug is not labeled for
use in lactating or dry cows,
and a producer would need a
prescription from a veterinar-
ian for off-label use, he said.
“Some drugs, if used a
little different than the manu-
facturer’s recommendations,
lead to longer withdrawal
time. We think withdrawal
time (for florfenicol) in lac-
tating animals is very long,
maybe over a month,” he
said.
Producers using drugs
off-label need to be aware of
longer withdrawal times, he
said.
None of the six drugs de-
tected have an approved label
for lactating or dry cows and
two can’t be prescribed by a
veterinarian for off-label use,
he said.
Investigation into the ear-
lier violations of tissue resi-
due showed that 70 percent
of those farms did not have a
valid veterinarian-client pa-
tient relationship, he said.
“Clearly, working with a
veterinarian is a factor to
help prevent residue,” Jonker
said.
Additional possible rea-
sons for the residue findings
in milk include poor iden-
tification of cattle — which
might have inadvertently
been sent to market, failure to
keep a written record of treat-
ment, not following the man-
ufacturer’s or veterinarian’s
recommendations on dosage
or length of treatment, and
administering the drug in an
unapproved way.
Seeing double on McDougall packing line
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
EAST
WENATCHEE,
Wash. — Karon Carlson loads
trays of Red Delicious apples
into a box at the end of the pack-
ing line.
You get closer and look up
the line. She’s still in the fore-
ground. But there she is again,
in the background, placing ap-
ples on a tray.
There’s two of her!
“We didn’t know we looked
so much alike until we started
working here,” says her identi-
cal twin, Sharon.
“It’s the first time we’ve
worked together and it’s been a
challenge,” Karon says with a
chuckle.
“The twins,” as they are af-
fectionately called by co-work-
ers, turned heads more than once
when they started working the
cherry line last summer at the
Olds Station plant of McDou-
gall & Sons Inc. in Wenatchee.
They enjoyed the job so
much and their supervisors liked
them enough that they were of-
fered jobs in the fall at the start
up of the company’s new ap-
ple packing line north of East
Wenatchee.
“It took our mechanic a good
four months before she realized
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Karon and Sharon Carlson, 62, can keep people guessing as to who’s who as they pack Red Deli-
cious apples at McDougall & Sons, April 9.
they were twins,” says Brenda
O’Brien, packing manager. “She
said, ‘I thought that woman was
just everywhere all the time.’”
There was a mix-up over
clocking in one time.
“I said to Hector (Sanchez,
her assistant), ‘They don’t even
always know who they are,’”
O’Brien said with a smile.
The twins grew up on a farm
near Winchester, east of Quincy.
“Our father wanted a boy
and he got two girls. That didn’t
stop him from having help,”
Karon says.
They fed cattle, baled hay
and did lots of other chores.
They worked various jobs over
the years in Seattle and then
Wenatchee and never married.
Cherry sorting at McDou-
galls’ appealed to them last June
because it harkened back to their
agricultural roots.
Their 100-plus co-workers
love them and had a birthday
party for them on their birthday,
O’Brien said.
Their birthday is Valentine’s
Day. They turned 62.
“We love our co-workers, too,”
Sharon said. “The majority of gals
we work with are 20 to 40 years
younger than us, for the most part,
but we keep up with them.
“It’s a wonderful company
to work for. The McDougalls
truly care about their employees
and they treat them very well.
It’s passed down through the
management staff and creates
a happy work environment that
allows strong teamwork and
friendships.”
Increased dyed diesel enforcement looms in Idaho
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Increased en-
forcement of Idaho’s dyed
fuel laws will loom as a major
topic in 2016.
A transportation funding
bill that will raise an estimat-
ed $94 million a year through
increased fuel taxes and reg-
istration fees is awaiting the
governor’s signature.
Included in that bill is in-
tent language that instructs the
Idaho State Police and Idaho
Tax Commission to provide
recommendations to the 2016
Idaho Legislature on greater
enforcement of Idaho’s dyed
fuel laws.
Sen. Bert Brackett, a Re-
publican rancher from Roger-
son, is one of several lawmak-
ers involved with agriculture
who told the Capital Press
they support increased en-
forcement efforts.
“That’s going to be a prior-
ity of mine,” he said.
Dyed fuel, also known as
dyed diesel or farm diesel, is
exempt from state and federal
fuel taxes and allowed in un-
licensed vehicles that are not
used on public roads.
The fuel is used heavily in
the agricultural, mining, tim-
ber and construction indus-
tries.
The state tax on diesel is
25 cents per gallon and the
federal tax is 24.4 cents per
gallon.
Increased education about
the law itself would likely
help increase compliance,
Brackett said.
“A remarkable number of
farmers and ranchers think
that just because they drive
their pickup off-road, they can
use dyed diesel in it. Wrong,”
Brackett said. “The law is
clear: If it’s licensed, you
don’t put dyed diesel in it.”
The state penalty for mis-
using dyed diesel is a $250
fine for a first offense, $500
for a second offense and
$1,000 for each subsequent
offense.
According to ITC officials,
an average of 211 million gal-
lons of dyed diesel are used
in Idaho each year and there
were four citations issued for
violating the law in 2014, sev-
en in 2013 and five in 2012.
Idaho relies on third-party
complaints to investigate al-
leged abuses of the law and
doesn’t perform road-side in-
spections like some states do.
Several proposed bills this
year sought to increase dyed
diesel enforcement but the
issue was put on hold until
2016 so lawmakers could get
a better grasp of the situation,
Brackett said.
“If we do it, we want to do
it right,” he said.
Rep. Clark Kauffman, a
Republican farmer from Filer,
said increased enforcement of
the state’s dyed fuel laws has
been talked about for years
“and nobody knows quite how
to do it. I think that’s great in-
tent language. That will be a
good discussion to have.”
WSU livestock specialist fights false food fears with education
Kuber aims to
aid producers,
processors,
consumers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Washing-
ton State University’s newest
livestock specialist says he
is looking for places to help
area producers, and beyond.
“When I talk with differ-
ent people in various coun-
ties, I get bits and pieces of
things that might be import-
ant to them,” Paul Kuber
said. “What I’d like to do is
figure out what we can do
that is going to benefit not
only a cattle, sheep or forage
producer in Stevens County,
but also is going to benefit
somebody in Pend Orielle or
Adams (counties).”
Kuber took over the po-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Paul Kuber, regional livestock specialist for Washington State Uni-
versity Extension, talks about returning to the area April 20 outside
the WSU Spokane County Extension office in Spokane.
sition in February. He splits
time between WSU Exten-
sion offices in Spokane and
Davenport, Wash., and re-
cently traveled around the re-
gion. He’s met with regional
cattle and haygrower groups,
and looks forward to meeting
with sheep producers.
Kuber is working with a
USDA and Utah State Uni-
versity group to reduce and
manage the weeds medusa-
head and lupin, with a field
day likely for mid-May in
Adams County.
Kuber’s main priority
is developing programs for
livestock and forage produc-
ers. He’s identifying areas
of research and potential
grant-funding sources and
working to provide informa-
tion.
Kuber works to develop
niche markets for producers.
He’s exploring opportunities
with the Cattle Producers of
Washington slaughter plant in
Odessa, Wash., and the Lin-
coln County farmers’ market.
“I think a lot of people
are excited about having
somebody as a potential
advocate to help facilitate
some of these programs, and
I’m excited about the po-
tential for opportunity,” he
said. “If there is something
a producer or group of pro-
ducers would like to do, then
we certainly should have the
opportunity to sit down and
talk.”
Spokane County Cattle-
men president Jim Wentland
previously worked with Ku-
ber more than a decade ago
and was pleased when Kuber
was picked for the position.
Kuber received his Ph.D.
and worked as a teaching
assistant in beef cattle pro-
duction at WSU, and served
on the faculty at University
of Idaho before moving to
Ohio State University as an
associate professor.
“I’m sure most producers
in the area were very hap-
py about it,” Wentland said.
“He’s extremely knowledge-
able in the livestock indus-
try and will be able to work
through their problems and
answer their questions.”
Kuber and WSU will
work to deliver educational
information about hot-but-
ton topics, Kuber said.
Most wolf information is
already available, but Kuber
would work to provide pro-
ducers with new information
about wolf management or
control as it becomes avail-
able, he said.
Kuber considers conven-
tional, organic and all-natu-
ral markets as potential nich-
es for producers, and hopes
to provide education for
producers, processors and
consumers in the midst of
an marketplace that tends to
attack the competition, such
as the debate about rBST, or
recombinant bovine somato-
trophin, a synthetic protein
hormone given to dairy cat-
tle by injection to increase
milk production.
“If they still choose to go
one way versus the other,
at least they’re still choos-
ing based on an educat-
ed decision and not fear,”
Kuber said. “We have too
many people making choic-
es (about) the food system
based off of fear, and it’s fal-
sified fear, in my book.”