14 CapitalPress.com
Cow-calf returns lower, but still positive
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Returns for cow-calf op-
erations will be lower this
year, after last year’s re-
cord-high cattle prices fell
back to Earth, but most pro-
ducers’ balance sheets will
still be sporting black, an
agricultural economist says.
Returns over the cost
of production will be sig-
nificantly lower than in
2014 and 2015, when aver-
age cow-calf returns were
$530 and $300 per head,
respectively, said Jessica
Sampson, an agricultural
economist at the Livestock
Marketing
Information
Center.
But at an expected aver-
age return of $133 per cow
this year, it will still be pos-
itive, Sampson said. Wheth-
er producers still make
money depends on their in-
puts and how they manage
those inputs, Sampson said.
They could also have
purchased the heifers when
prices were extremely high
or they might be paying
transportation costs to haul
in feed, she said.
In the big picture, the
forecast per cow return is
still significantly higher
than the average annual re-
turn of about $47 per cow
between 2009 and 2013,
before the run-up in prices,
according to LMIC data.
Cattle shortages in 2014
and 2015, following a
two-year drought and herd
liquidation in the South-
ern Plains, led to a surge
in cattle prices across the
complex. Herd expansion in
the past two years has also
reined in cattle prices.
Prices on 700- to
800-pound feeder steers
Winning attorneys in Sakuma
pay case seek $235,000
Farm’s lawyers says fees too high
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Associated Press ie
A cow stands watch over her calf in a pasture at the Stephen F. Austin State Walter C. Todd Re-
search Farm north of Nacogdoches, Texas, in this ile photo. Drought in 2014 and 2015 forced many
producers in Texas and elsewhere to decrease the size of their herds, driving up cattle prices. Now the
growing number of cattle is driving prices back down, economists say.
in the Southern Plains av-
eraged $150 per hundred-
weight last week, compared
to $222 per hundredweight
for the same week last year,
she said.
But those feeder pric-
es are getting closer to the
five-year average of $144
per hundredweight between
2010 and 2014, according to
LMIC data.
Returns are expected to
decrease further in 2017 to
$123 per cow, she said.
The good news for this
year is that feed and fuel
costs are expected to de-
crease, by about 3 percent
on a per-cow basis, she said.
The current seasonal
average price for corn is
$3.25 a bushel, compared to
$3.55 a year ago. Based on
prospective plantings last
spring and expected yields,
LMIC expects 14.1 billion
bushels from this year’s
crop, compared to the re-
cord 14.2 billion bushels in
2014, Sampson said.
Hay prices vary widely
by region, but alfalfa prices
are expected to be 5 to 10
percent lower than in 2015,
and grass hay prices are ex-
Farmers Ending
Hunger
...
pected to be 12 to 15 per-
cent lower on good supply.
Last year’s mild summer
and good pasture followed
by a mild winter allowed
producers to feed less hay,
she said.
LMIC’s cow-calf returns
data are used as a barome-
ter of the industry, as those
returns are a key factor in
influencing herd expansion
or contraction.
The rapid drop in returns
this year and next year will
likely lead to a slowing of
the herd expansion that
started in 2014, she said.
May 20, 2016
Triumphant lawyers who
sued a Washington berry grow-
er and won piece-rate pickers
paid rest breaks are requesting
legal fees that the farm’s attor-
ney calls unreasonable.
The two law irms that rep-
resented pickers at Sakuma
Brothers Farms iled a motion
Monday in U.S. District Court
for Western Washington seek-
ing $235,000.
The fees would compensate
them for successfully argu-
ing that farmworkers must be
paid separately for 10-minute
breaks.
The 2015 state Supreme
Court ruling changed la-
bor practices statewide and
also netted Sakuma workers
$87,160 in back wages for the
2014 picking season. The av-
erage payout to workers was
$231.20, according to court
records.
Sakuma’s lawyer, Adam
Belzberg, said Tuesday the sum
sought by lawyers far exceeds
what workers received and
what the company spent de-
fending itself.
“The request for attorney
fees has to be reasonable, and
the amount they requested is
completely unreasonable,” he
said.
Columbia Legal Services
attorney Daniel Ford said the
case will have an ongoing ben-
eit for many workers, not just
for those who picked for Saku-
ma in 2014.
“This decision will have
statewide impact for many
years to come,” he said.
On behalf of Sakuma work-
ers, the nonproit Columbia
Legal Services and Seattle irm
Terrell Marshall Law Group
sued Sakuma in 2013 in federal
court, alleging four pay viola-
tions.
The company and work-
ers settled three issues out of
court, with 408 workers sharing
$500,000, their attorneys re-
ceiving $344,000 and two lead
plaintiffs getting $3,000 apiece.
The settlement left unre-
solved whether piece-rate pick-
ers would receive separate pay
for rest breaks. A federal judge
referred the question to the state
Supreme Court, which ruled
unanimously in favor of the
workers.
Four lawyers, at hourly rates
ranging from $275 to $400,
prepared for the Supreme Court
case and then negotiated back
pay based on the ruling, accord-
ing to court records.
The hourly rates added up
to $197,870. The lawyers ar-
gue they also merit a bonus
of about 19 percent for taking
up the cause of low-income
workers and overcoming
“powerful forces opposing
rest break pay for farm work-
ers,” according to the motion
for attorney fees.
“We could have put all
of that effort and time in the
case after the settlement and
received nothing at all,” Ford
said.
Belzberg has yet to ile a
counter motion. He said he will
propose the workers’ attorneys
receive signiicantly less and
not be awarded a bonus.
The company already had
agreed to an out-of-court set-
tlement on the other issues and
taking the rest-break question
to the Supreme Court involved
very little risk, he said.
Begins With You!
Help End Hunger in Oregon...
one acre at a time!
Farmers Ending Hunger begins
with Oregon farmers and ranchers who
raise hundreds of acres of produce, grain
and cattle. With a little extra effort, each
farmer donates an acre or two to feed the
hungry and suddenly our network has
thousands of tons of fresh food!
Farmers Ending
Hunger Needs ...
Fresh Vegetables,
Potatoes, Wheat, Cattle.
• Farmers Ending Hunger donated over SIX
MILLION POUNDS of food crops to Oregon
Food Bank since 2006!
• More than 240,000 people per month eat meals
from emergency food boxes.
• 33 percent of those who receive emergency
food boxes are children.
Visit www.farmersendinghunger.com to
meet our generous farmers and partners,
and find out what crops and services they
are donating.
Where your donation goes:
Donated produce, grain and cattle is
processed into canned (and fresh)
vegetables, pancake mix and ground beef
and donated to the Oregon Food Bank
and their network of 20 regional food
banks throughout Oregon and Clark
County, WA.
Please Donate Today:
Contact John Burt ,
Executive Director, Farmers Ending Hunger
burtjgb@aol.com
503-931-9232
farmersendinghunger.com
Like us on Facebook
21-1/#3