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2 CapitalPress.com April 24, 2015 People & Places Rancher markets ag sustainability Beth Robinette puts her background to work to help others through co-op Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester ..........................President Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Sid Freeman .................. Outside director Mike Omeg .................... Outside director Corporate officer John Perry Chief operating officer Capital Press Managers Mike O’Brien .............................Publisher Joe Beach ..................................... Editor Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Barbara Nipp ......... Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press CHENEY, Wash. — Beth Robinette believes in the long-term sustainability of her family’s ranch, and she has the tattoos to prove it. She has tattoos of a steer with the cuts of beef on her arm, a cowgirl riding a buck- ing bull, her family ranch’s brand and, on the calf of her right leg, she has several spe- cies of grasses with their root structures. “If you’re going to pick something to put on your body, you have to pick some- thing that’s really important to you, and the ranch is the thing that’s most important to me in the world,” she said. Robinette is “marketing opportunities organizer” for Lazy R Ranch, which her great-grandfather began as a dairy in 1937, and her grand- father transitioned to beef production in 1950. In the mid-1990s, her fa- ther and partner, Maurice Robinette, decided to transi- tion to holistic livestock man- agement, in which the ranch- er makes decisions based on economic and environmental factors. “We’re really focused on using our cattle as a tool to heal the landscape, support and feed our community and also make a living off of,” Robinette said. “Livestock are a really important piece of land restoration.” The Robinettes keep 50 cow-calf pairs and 50 year- lings each year. Robinette recently re- ceived a certificate from the Savory Institute, which em- phasizes holistically managed Capital Press Entire contents copyright © 2015 EO Media Group dba Capital Press An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-.704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97.01. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97.08-2048. To Reach Us Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Lazy R Ranch marketing opportunities organizer Beth Robinette stands on her family ranch April 8 near Cheney, Wash. Robinette is a firm believer in using livestock as a tool to restore land and in creating opportunities for local farmers to break into institutional markets. Western Innovator Beth Robinette Age: 27 Current location: Cheney, Wash. Family: Married, 1.-year-old step- daughter Education: Interdisciplinary major in empowering family farms and profiting from sustainability from Fairhaven College of Western Washington University, master’s degree in business administration from Bainbridge Graduate Institute of Pinchot University Websites: http://www.lazyrbeef.com/. LINC Foods: http://www.lincfoods.com/about/ livestock and allows her to teach other ranchers about it. She realizes it might be a tough sell for some long-time ranchers, but Robinette fore- sees a shift in agriculture as older ranchers retire. “I think the new generation taking over (is) looking to do things a little bit different,” she said. Robinette also handles the direct marketing of the ranch’s grass-fed beef, primarily selling halves, quarters and custom cuts to customers. This allows the ranch to set its prices based on expenses and not the market, she said. It’s still a fairly unusual ap- proach, she said, but interest is growing as more custom- ers seek to know more about their food. “There’s a lot of hand-holding, because this is a totally new way of eat- ing for a lot of people,” she said. “Your typical beef consumer is used to getting something on a Styrofoam tray at the grocery store. ... There’s a lot of customer education that has to hap- pen, and you have to be willing to do that.” Robinette also helped start a farmer- and work- er-owned co-op in Spokane — called Local Inland North- west Cooperative Foods, or LINC — to connect farmers with institutional markets such as school districts, uni- versities and hospitals, which are typically difficult for local farmers to access. Neighbor James Dilgard, a rancher, works with Robinette through LINC. She offers a good sounding board for ideas and shares her experiences, he said. “She’s young and en- thusiastic, I think we need that back in agriculture,” Dilgard said. “She’s very passionate and very caring for her cows, her land and educating people.” Toll free ............................. 800-882-6789 Main line ........................... 50.-.64-44.1 Fax ................................... 50.-.70-4.8. Advertising Fax ................ 50.-.64-2692 News Staff N. California Tim Hearden .................... 5.0-605-.072 E Idaho John O’Connell ................. 208-421-4.47 Idaho Carol Ryan Dumas .......... 208-860-.898 Boise Sean Ellis .......................... 208-914-8264 Central Washington Dan Wheat ........................ 509-699-9099 E Washington Matthew Weaver .............. 509-688-992. Oregon Eric Mortenson ................ 50.-412-8846 Mateusz Perkowski .......... 800-882-6789 Graphic artist Alan Kenaga ..................... 800-882-6789 To Place Classified Ads Ad fax .............................. 50.-.64-2692 or ...................................... 50.-.70-4.8. Telephone (toll free) .......... 866-4.5-2965 Online ......www.capitalpress.com/classifieds Subscriptions Kids know difference between country and city smells Mail rates paid in advance By RYAN M. TAYLOR 1 year U.S. ...................................$49.49 For the Capital Press Cowboy Logic T Ryan Taylor OWNER, N.D. — Ranch kids get exposed to a lot of different scents — some good, some not-so-good. Being younger than us old folks, I suppose their sniffer is a little keen- er, just like their tastebuds are more sensitive than the tastebuds of oldsters like me, who pour the salt and pepper and Tabasco on our food. Like me, our children like the country life. They share our appreciation for the smell of fresh mowed alfalfa, the juneberry and chokecherry blossoms, the Ponderosa pines and the smell of the earth after a cool rain. A country thing My wife likes to hang the sheets and quilts and pillows out on our clothesline. That’s a country thing, I suppose. We’re far enough off the main road and we get so little traffic that they don’t get chock full of road dust. They smell like a little slice of heaven when they are put back on the beds. I walked into our sons’ room for bedtime prayers the other night after the bedding had been hung out and the smell of freshness actually hit me as I walked through their door. As you might imagine, that’s not always the case in their room. No matter how hard they try, I don’t think anyone can put that smell in a dryer sheet or stick it in a bottle of laundry detergent. I must’ve taught our kids to like the smell of horses because I’m not sure that’s a completely natural reaction to the smell of a sweaty horse with the saddle just removed. Cattle have a smell, too, and they don’t mind that. The ranch dog has a particular odor if he found something dead to roll in or drag into the yard. That one we tend to avoid. Other odors But I’ve never heard them complain much about other strong odors. The smell of gasoline on my hands if I’ve been using gas to wash the grease off some grimy parts. The smell of diesel if I’m not paying attention when I fill the tractor and it overflows a bit onto the hood. The odor from the ear tag ink pen when I’m making ear tags for the calves in the pickup. Of course, I do open the windows to ventilate those unhealthy smells. When we’re hauling manure out of the corrals, spreading it out on the fields and adding some natural nu- trients to the pastures, they don’t even wrinkle up their noses. That’s why we were so sur- prised when my wife and I got dressed up to go to a film fes- tival in Bismarck. We packed up the family. They were go- ing to get to see one of their favorite old babysitters while we went to see the films and go to the event afterwards. What stinks? We had just shut the doors on the car when our 8-year-old said, rather indignantly, “Why does it always stink in here when you guys get dressed up to go somewhere?!” In his mind, he was trying to figure out the correlation between Mom and Dad getting all gussied up, and the smell in the otherwise neutral-smell- ing habitat of the family car. We both laughed when we realized what he was talking about. I guess we don’t wear perfume and cologne that much in our daily ranch life. But splash and sprinkle a little of that on for a night on the town and it was more than his youthful sniffer could bear in the confines of the car. I’m not sure if “stink” was a word used to market either her perfume or my cologne, but that’s the new descriptor we’ll be thinking about the next time we get dressed up. And we’ll know the opin- ion of at least one member of our family who ranks the of- fense of the “going-to-town” odor somewhere beyond the bearable things like horse sweat, manure spreading or spilled diesel. Easy Pay U.S. $..75/month (direct with- drawal from bank or credit card account) 2 years U.S. .................................$89.89 1 year Canada .................................$275 1 year other countries ......... call for quote 1 year Internet only ............................$49 1 year 4-H, FFA students and teachers ....$.0 9 months 4-H, FFA students & teachers .....$25 Visa and Mastercard accepted To get information published Mailing address: Capital Press P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97.08-2048 News: Contact the main office or news staff member closest to you, send the in- formation to newsroom@capitalpress.com or mail it to “Newsroom,” c/o Capital Press. Include a contact telephone number. Letters to the Editor: Send your comments on agriculture-related public issues to opinions@capitalpress.com, or mail your letter to “Opinion,” c/o Capital Press. Letters should be limited to .00 words. Deadline: Noon Monday. Capital Press ag media Calendar Friday, April 24 Forestry Map and Compass Workshop, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., University of Idaho Extension Office, Coeur d’Alene. Saturday, April 25 Sheep Days, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Oakville Re- gional Event Center, Oakville, Wash., .60-2.9-.828. Sheep, alpaca and llama shearing during weekend. Bring your ani- mals for shearing, foot trim and drenching. Oregon AgFest, 8:.0 a.m.-5 p.m. Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem. Sunday, April 26 Sheep Days, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Oakville Re- gional Event Center, Oakville, Wash., .60-2.9-.828. Sheep, alpaca and llama shearing during weekend. Bring your ani- mals for shearing, foot trim and drenching. Oregon AgFest, 8:.0 a.m.-5 p.m. Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem. Monday, April 27 AgChat Foundation Regional Meeting, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Northern Quest Casino, Air- way Heights, Wash. Tuesday, April 28 AgChat Foundation Regional Meeting, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Northern Quest Casino, Air- way Heights, Wash. Oregon Blueberry Commission Budget Hearing, noon-2 p.m. Chemeketa Events at Winema, Salem, 50.-.64-2944. Friday, May 1 Forest Landowners of California Annu- al Meeting, 8 a.m. Holiday Inn, Auburn, Calif. Saturday, May 2 Forest Landowners of California Annu- al Meeting, 8 a.m. Holiday Inn, Auburn, Calif. Wednesday, May 6 Roots of Resilience, Rejuvenating Grass- lands through Grazing Management, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Washington Family Ranch, Antelope, Ore., .60-220-510.. On May 6, attend our Grazing Conference to Create Resilience, Improve Production, Increase Profit and Enhance Quality of Life. Thursday, May 7 Roots of Resilience, Rejuvenating Grass- lands through Grazing Management, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Washington Family Ranch, Antelope, .60-220-510.. Learn detailed information on Planned Grazing, Placing the animals in the right place at the right time for the right reason or Learn about the importance of Monitoring — Are you taking full advantage of your most scare resource — rainfall? Saturday, May 9 Garden Expo 2015, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Spo- kane Community College, Spokane, Wash., 509-5.5-84.4. Over 250 garden-related vendors, gardenexpo@comcast.net, www. tieg.org Wednesday, May 13 19th annual Distillers Grains Symposium, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Sheraton Crown Center, Kan- sas City, Mo. Thursday, May 14 19th annual Distillers Grains Symposium, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Sheraton Crown Center, Kan- sas City. www.capitalpress.com www.FarmSeller.com www.AgDirectoryWest.com www.OnlyAg.com www.facebook.com/capitalpress www.facebook.com/farmseller www.facebook.com/onlyAGdotcom twitter.com/capitalpress www.youtube.com/capitalpressvideo www.blogriculture.com Index Drought ............................... 4-5 California ................................ 8 Dairy .................................... 1. Idaho .................................... 10 Livestock ............................. 1. Markets ............................... 14 Opinion .................................. 6 Oregon .................................. 9 Washington ..........................11