REGION
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A3
Bidding on beef
Harrell Hereford
Ranch has its 43rd
annual spring sale
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
BAKER COUNTY —
With sunshine bringing a
bit of late winter warmth to
Baker Valley the morning
of Monday, March 7, it was
a perfect day for the 43rd
annual Harrell Hereford
Ranch sale.
The lowing of cattle and
the whinnying of horses
was joined by the eager
chatter of ranchers from
all over the country as they
mingled together, exam-
ining the bulls, heifers and
horses that would go on
the auction block.
The sale includes bulls,
heifers and, for the 24th
straight year, Harrell-
Mackenzie quarter horses.
The aromas of fresh hay
and wood chips mingled
with the smoky scent of
barbecued tri-tip greeted
the Harrells’ visitors.
Laughter and comments of
“such a nice day” drifted
among the gates and barns
as a couple hundred people
enjoyed a lunch prior to
the sale.
Mingling among the
distinctively colored red-
and-white Herefords, Dan
Forsea, a rancher from
Richland, was looking for
a bull or two.
“They’ve got good
quality cattle. Keep get-
ting better all the time,”
Forsea said of the Harrells’
off erings.
He has attended the
Harrells’ annual spring
auction since they started,
saying he and his dad,
Walt, used to come
together. Dan said his
father, who died on Jan.
16, 2020, always enjoyed
going to the auction.
“This is a good family,
too,” Dan said of the Har-
rells. “We’ve known them
for years and they’re just
a really good family. It’s
always great to come out
here.”
Edna and Bob Harrell
started the Harrell Here-
ford Ranch along Salmon
Creek, northwest of Baker
City, in 1970. The fami-
ly’s 80-acre home ranch
has expanded to include
several ranches and a herd
of 400 registered Her-
eford cows, 400 black
baldy commercial cows, a
1,000-head feedlot and 25
quarter horse broodmares.
The Harrells’ cattle
run on 8,000 acres of
native range. Edna Har-
rell continues to help at the
ranch along with her son,
Bob Harrell Jr., his wife,
Becky, and their daughter,
Lexie.
Bob Harrell Jr. was
inducted into the Hereford
Hall of Fame in Kansas
City, Missouri, in October
2021.
He said he was “very
pleased” with this year’s
sale. “The bulls were
steady, the heifers were
SALE BY THE
NUMBERS
The Harrell Hereford Ranch
sale featured 197 lots sold, and
buyers from 19 states.
Yearling bulls made up the
bulk of the sales, with 107 lots
sold and an average of $5,764
per bull.
A total of 25 2-year-old bulls
were sold, at an average price
of $5,298.
The top bull sold for
$23,000. Eight others sold for
$14,000 or more.
Buyers claimed 28 regis-
tered heifers, at an average
price of $4,279, and 15 commer-
cial replacement heifers were
sold at an average of $7,262.
On the Harrell-Mackenzie
quarter horse sale, 12 geld-
ings were sold at an average of
$13,313, and 10 mares were sold
at an average of $10,300.
really good, up from last
year, and the horses were
outstanding.”
A nationwide
attraction
John Rusher from
Westcliffe, Colorado, was
one of the many ranchers
who traveled a long dis-
tance to partake in the
auction of what he called
“good, high-quality Her-
eford bulls” and quarter
horses.
Landen Doyle traveled
from Dallas, Texas, where
his family owns the Doyle
Hereford Ranch. This was
his fi rst year visiting the
Harrell Hereford Ranch.
“Always wanted to
come up here and look
at this ranch. Finally got
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Ranchers gather in the sale barn at Harrell Hereford Ranch near Baker City for the annual spring auction
on Monday, March 7, 2022.
the opportunity, came up
here with my dad on his
birthday,” Doyle said.
Dan Cook, who trav-
eled from Idaho, attended
last year’s auction as
well, which included
both in-person and online
bidders.
Jerry and Inesse Parks
of Aiden, California, have
been traveling to the Har-
rell auction for a dozen
years to buy horses and
bulls.
After mingling with the
cattle and fellow ranchers,
exchanging stories and
laughing, everyone made
their way into the auction
barn. Food and beverages
were available as country
music fi lled the air.
Then the fun began with
Bob Harrell Jr.’s words of
thanks to those joining and
those who helped with the
auction.
The auctioneer went
off , words fl ying, and the
fi rst bulls were bought by
ranchers from Nebraska,
then Virginia and North
Dakota.
Assessing the beef
industry
The beef business has
had its ups and downs over
the years, and recently,
prices haven’t helped much,
according to some ranchers
attending the Harrell sale.
“It’s pretty expensive
right now because of the
hay. It’s pretty tough to
make a buck,” said Cook,
from Idaho.
Jerry Parks, from Cal-
ifornia, said the cattle
market has gone up a bit,
but it’s unpredictable.
“It’s up and down all the
time,” he said. “It seems
like we never get hardly
enough out of our product
compared to what it gets
after it leaves us. We just
keep plugging along.”
Forsea said infl ation,
which has signifi cantly
increased production costs
for ranchers who depend on
diesel and other petroleum
products, is making it tough
for producers.
And like many ranchers,
Forsea is bothered by the
dominance in the meat-
packing industry by four
large corporations. Building
more smaller, regional
packing plants would give
ranchers more options
for selling their cattle and
potentially boost prices.
The Biden administra-
tion this winter announced
a campaign to encourage
the construction of regional
packing facilities.
“It’s aff ecting every-
body,” Forsea said of infl a-
tion. “As far as the prices in
the supermarkets, the cattle/
calf man is seeing that dif-
ference and its packers
and retailers and getting it
from one place to another,
fuel, and everything. But
anyway, that’s why we’re in
it for the long haul because
eventually we might see
a good year. So it’s get-
ting better. It’s a good way
of life.”
Baker City Police detective remains on paid leave
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Baker
City Police Det. Shannon
Regan remains on paid
administrative leave more
than seven months after
Police Chief Ty Duby
removed her from active
duty.
Duby made that deci-
sion in July 2021 after Jim
A. Schaeff er, the La Grande
attorney representing
Shawn Quentin Green-
wood, who was accused
of fi rst-degree murder in
the January 2020 shooting
death of Angela Parrish in
Baker City, claimed that
Regan had violated Green-
wood’s constitutional rights
by listening to fi ve phone
calls that Greenwood, who
was in the Baker County
Jail, made to Schaeff er’s
cellphone in 2020.
On June 25, 2021,
Schaeff er fi led a motion
seeking to dismiss all
charges against Greenwood.
After hearings in Baker
County Circuit Court on
Aug. 13 and Aug. 24, Judge
Matt Shirtcliff ruled that
Regan, the lead detective
in investigating the fatal
shooting of Parrish, would
not be allowed to testify
during Greenwood’s trial
due to the phone call issue.
Although Shirtcliff
denied Schaeff er’s motion to
dismiss all charges against
Greenwood, the judge did
prohibit Baker County Dis-
trict Attorney Greg Baxter
from using at trial any evi-
dence that Regan collected
after Sept. 14, 2020, the day
that her computer was used
to access and listen to the
fi ve phone calls, according
to a forensic investigation
by the Oregon Department
of Justice.
Baxter did not contest
the claim that Regan lis-
tened to the fi ve calls.
Greenwood, then 50,
ended up pleading no con-
test to three lesser charges
“It’s a tough situation,”
on Sept. 3, 2021, fi ve days
Duby said. “At some point
before the trial was
the city is going to
scheduled to start.
have to move.”
The no contest plea
He said Regan, a
had the same eff ect
17-year Baker City
as a conviction.
Police offi cer, is at
Shirtcliff sen-
the top of the salary
tenced Greenwood
schedule for detectives,
to a total of 90
Duby
which has a monthly
months in prison on
salary of $6,066.
the three convictions: crim-
Duby said he has not
inally negligent homicide, a heard anything from the
Class B felony, fi rst-degree
Oregon Department of Jus-
burglary, a Class A felony,
tice about its investigation
and attempting to elude
of Regan resulting from the
law enforcement, a Class C
phone call issue.
felony.
Baker City Manager
None of the three
Jon Cannon said the city is
charges for which Green-
working with its attorney
wood was convicted carries on how best to handle the
a mandatory minimum sen- situation with Regan.
tence, so he will be eligible
“It’s a personnel matter
for a reduction in sentence
so I’m limited on what I
based on good behavior and can say about it,” Cannon
other factors.
said on Thursday, March
Duby said the city can’t
10. “We don’t want it to be
keep Regan on paid leave
an indefi nite time period
“indefi nitely.”
to have an employee in
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resenting Regan. Thenell
had not returned a phone
message by press time for
this story.
In Regan’s absence, Zach
Thatcher is working as the
department’s major crimes
detective, Duby said.
Duby is now looking
to replace Chris Sells, the
department’s other detec-
tive, who left recently to
take a police job in Ada
County, Idaho.
March
26-27
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