Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2016)
16 CapitalPress.com January 8, 2016 Dairy/Livestock Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Well-managed grazing improves wildlife habitat By DOUG WARNOCK While visiting a museum of natural history recently, I saw a statement in a display there in- dicating that farming and live- stock grazing had diminished wildlife habitat. This is one of those all-en- compassing statements that is not necessarily true. Just be- cause crops are being produced and livestock being raised doesn’t mean that wildlife hab- itat is being harmed or reduced. Agricultural activities can be used to improve wildlife habi- tat. Whether habitat is impacted positively or negatively depends on the management practiced by the humans in charge. A holistic approach to land management will include ac- tions to ensure that wildlife hab- itat is sustained and enhanced. There are a number of peer-re- viewed research projects that illustrate this. The Fleecer Co- ordinated Grazing Program con- ducted in Montana shows the EHQH¿WV RI FROODERUDWLYH PDQ- agement for both elk and cattle. The Fleecer project was con- ducted on both public and pri- vate land, including 9,920 acres of U.S. Forest Service property, 4,160 acres of Montana Depart- ment of Fish, Wildlife and Parks property and 2,490 acres of pri- Greener Pastures By BRET YAGER By LEE MIELKE Doug Warnock For the Capital Press vate land. A coordinated grazing plan was developed for the land, which included 12 total pastures under the three ownerships. Cattle were rotated among the pastures and seasons, using a rest-rotation approach to condi- tion the forage for the elk. Results of this project: • Elk numbers increased by 300 head, a 37.5 percent in- crease, due to the improved for- age quantity and quality. • Cattle grazing was en- hanced. • Monitoring data indicated that rangeland and soil condi- tions improved. • Including all ownerships al- lowed the entire winter elk range to be managed as a single unit. The Bridge Creek Wildlife Management Area in North- eastern Oregon was the site of a planned grazing study, whose purpose was to enhance winter elk forage. It resulted in a ten- fold — 1,000 percent — increase in elk use over a 10-year period. Concurrent with the upward trend in elk use was an increase LQFDWWOHJUD]LQJDQGDVLJQL¿FDQW improvement in ecological con- dition. 2-4/#7 For the Capital Press slaughter unit Dairy prices end Mobile designed for Hawaii year on ‘up’ note meat producers Santa made a second visit to Chicago last week as dairy pric- es ended 2015 on an “up” note. 7KHEORFN&KHGGDU¿QLVKHG the New Year holiday-shortened week at $1.5075 per pound, up 5 3/4-cents on the day, up 10 1/4-cents on the week, but 6 1/4-cents below a year ago. The blocks inched up a half-cent Monday on a sale, as traders an- WLFLSDWHG WKH ¿UVW *OREDO 'DLU\ Trade auction of the New Year Tuesday, but they dropped 2 1/4-cents Tuesday, to $1.49 per pound. The Cheddar barrels ended the year at $1.53, up a nickel on the day, up a dime on the week, a penny below a year ago, and an atypical 2 1/4-cents above the blocks. Nine cars of each traded hands last week. The Barrels backed down a penny on an offer Monday and lost 4 cents Tuesday, slipping to $1.48. Cheese production is sched- uled very heavily at most Mid- west plants, according to Dairy Market News. Spot milk is read- ily available at $3 to $8 under class and “Cheese is a preferred use for the extra milk not needed IRUUHWDLOÀXLGPDUNHWV´ “Consumer demand has been good, but the higher volumes of production during many recent months have overwhelmed de- mand, with less help from ex- ports than had been hoped for,” DMN reported. The CME butter price end- ed 2015 at $2.08 per pound, up a penny and a half on the day, up 4 1/4-cents on the week and 5 1/4-cents above a year ago. Twelve cars were sold last week at the CME. The spot price dropped 4 cents Monday, with 11 cars trad- ing hands, but was unchanged Tuesday at $2.04. FC Stone’s Dave Kurza- wski wrote in his Dec. 28 Early Morning Update that “Concerns with the California drought and dietary shifts have underpinned (butter) prices and likely raised WKHÀRRURQWKLVPDUNHW´ Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk Dairy Markets West Hawaii Today WAIMEA, Hawaii (AP) — Not many decades ago, the Goliath sugar industry crashed closed Thursday at 75 1/2-cents on the Big Island, helping bring per pound, down a half-cent on a fundamental shift to what resi- the week and 24 1/2-cents be- dents consider sustainable. The loss of the cane indus- low a year ago. Thirteen cars ex- changed hands in the last week of try pointed to the weaknesses inherent in big agriculture, but 2015 at the CME. The powder inched up a also highlighted new farming quarter-cent Monday but gave possibilities as swaths of land back a penny and a quarter Tues- opened up. Small, diverse oper- day, slipping to 74 1/2-cents per DWLRQVEHJDQWRÀRXULVK²IURP orange and coffee orchards to pound. tomato farms. Meat also began GDT auction to be farmed in new ways. prices slip While fruit and vegetable 7KH¿UVW*OREDO'DLU\7UDGH growers have found ready mar- auction of 2016 reversed gears kets, a lack of inspected meat after two sessions of gain. The production facilities made the sale weighted average for all prod- of small-scale, locally produced ucts offered Tuesday dropped meat cuts almost impossible. 1.6 percent, following a 1.9 But that could all change now. percent gain Dec. 15 and a 3.6 On Dec. 23, Paauilo rancher percent gain in the Dec. 1 event. Mike Amado swung open the Whole milk powder led the doors on a shiny new mobile losses, down 4.4 percent, fol- slaughterhouse being stored lowing a 1.8 percent gain Dec. at a farm in Waimea. The unit, 15. Skim milk powder was housed in a 36-foot trailer, is just down 0.8 percent, after inching about ready to roll. Equipped 0.2 percent lower last time. with electric winches and refrig- The gains this time were led eration, a generator, water sup- by lactose, up 11.4 percent, af- plies for two days and a stainless ter rising 6.8 percent last time. steel processing room, the unit Butter was next, up 6.7 percent, has almost everything needed to after jumping 9 percent in the bring the slaughterhouse to the last event. Cheddar cheese was herd — instead of the other way up 3.5 percent, after inching 1.1 around. percent higher last time. Five years after island ranch- FC Stone reports the aver- ers started talking about why the age GDT butter price equated to facility is needed so that meat about $1.5030 per pound U.S., can become part of the emerging up from $1.4226 in the Dec. 15 GLYHUVL¿HGDJPRGHOWKH+DZDLL event. Contrast that, however, Island Meat Cooperative is in to CME butter, which closed the process of hiring a gener- Tuesday at $2.04 per pound. al manager to run the mobile GDT Cheddar cheese equated to slaughter unit. In January, two about $1.3442 per pound U.S., head butchers and two assistant up from $1.2955 last time, and butchers will also be trained to compares to Tuesday’s CME operate the unit. block Cheddar at $1.49. Initial production set to be- GDT skim milk powder, gin in April will be limited to at 85.73 cents per pound U.S., USDA-inspected processing of is down from 85.77 cents per animals into halves and quarters. pound last time, and the whole Some hurdles remain before the milk powder average, at $1.0023 unit can offer complete butcher- per pound U.S., is down from ing, processing and packaging $1.0453 per pound in the last at three planned sites around the event. The CME Grade A nonfat island. dry milk price closed Tuesday at For Amado, Kohala farmers 74 1/2-cents per pound. Carol and David Fuertes — and a lot of others who support the en- deavor — it’s about getting back to something that’s been lost. The Fuertes family is work- ing up a business plan so that the Hawi farm cooperative Palili O Kohala can be the site of one of the three satellite facilities for processing and packaging meats. The family raises cattle and hogs they would like to pro- cess and sell locally. The Fuertes family would also like to open a retail facili- ty where north Hawaii residents would have access to the best of local beef, mutton, pork or poultry. ³0DQ\ORFDOVKXQWDQG¿VK but we cannot buy meat unless it’s from the big stores, and that’s all imported,” said Carol Lee Mielke 2-2/#4x Laura Shimabuku/West Hawaii Today via AP This Dec. 23 photo shows the new mobile slaughterhouse that will be able to process cattle, sheep, goats and hogs in Waimea, Hawaii. Equipped with electric winches and refrigera- tion, a generator, water supplies for two days and a stainless steel processing room, the unit has almost everything needed to bring the slaughterhouse to the herd. Fuertes, who recalled old times when the Hawi and Kapaau area had two local butchers. “We want to be able to bring that back,” she said. The mobile slaughterhouse will be capable of processing eight to 10 head of cattle per day, 20 to 30 sheep or goats, and 15 to 20 hogs. The cost to the ranchers will be similar to what they would pay if they took their animals to the island’s two inspected slaughterhouses in Paauilo and Hilo. That’s part of a pledge by the co-op that the unit will offer an alternative to existing facilities without trying to undercut them, Amado said. The co-op is also working with Kona Raw Pet Food Co- op, which is interested in buying the non-edible products from the slaughterhouse. Amado says that’s just one example of how the endeavor can help the island get back to local food production and distribution rather than being prostrated to mainland corpora- tions even bigger than big sugar. “We’re trying to get back to that old model of local butcher shops,” said Amado. “We can take a business like this and knit it back into the community and get back to a more sustainable way of doing business.” An initial $250,000 grant from the state Department of Agriculture served as seed money for the unit. Another $100,000 grant this year is help- ing equip and staff the trailer. An additional modular unit for cutting and wrapping meat will probably cost $200,000, Amado said. The co-op is continuing to seek state funds and would like to base the cut-and-wrap facility at the Natural Energy Laborato- ry of Hawaii Authority, a good place to publicly showcase the unit and get cheap electricity.
