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June 10, 2016 CapitalPress.com 11 Dairy/Livestock Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Beef industry opens its doors to consumers Meadow By MATTHEW WEAVER Online Capital Press http://wabeef.org/ PASCO, Wash. — No question was too tough when the Washington Beef Com- mission took 30 consumers on its annual tour of the industry, from pasture to plate. “All bets are off — this is a completely transparent tour. We’re going to show you ev- erything,” said Patti Brum- bach, commission executive director. “There’s no ques- tion that is out of line for us, because it’s only through that kind of openness that you gain trust and support.” The Explore Beef Expe- rience tour included Trinity Farms in Kittitas, Wash., a beef plant in Pasco, Wash., and one of Easterday Farms’ feedlots about 100 miles south of Spokane. The facil- ity was built eight years ago and accommodates 25,000 cattle, bringing them in from ranches throughout the West to Tyson Foods in Pasco. “It’s part of the respon- sibility we have producing beef to educate not only the consumers, but the people serving it and buying it,” in Seattle proximity-wise to this kind of a process and these types of facilities,” said Jon Severson, president of the Skillet Group. “It’s right in our backyard. We need to be better stewards of the process and understand it, so we can educate our customers.” Severson said the tour helps answer concerns cre- ated by movies and doc- umentaries about beef production. “The best part is seeing it and hearing that people care,” he said. “We need to be able to translate that and then spell it back out to the average customer who is buying our hamburgers.” The commission will of- fer a specialized tour for a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services work- ing group to reduce antibi- otic resistance in human and animal medicine later this year, at a date to be deter- mined, Brumbach said. Capital Press PASCO, Wash. — Feedlot owner Cody Easterday told participants in the Washington Beef Commission’s Explore Beef Experience tour that the industry is squeezed between consumers asking for all-nat- ural products and environ- mental regulations. The feedlot uses hormonal implants in its conventional yard to improve cattle per- formance and to maintain ac- FHSWDEOHK\GURJHQVXO¿GHDQG ammonia levels under state environmental regulations, he said. “If we weren’t using im- plants at this feedlot, we could not operate under the Wash- ington state guidelines of the Clean Air Act,” he said. “The implant makes the animal so HI¿FLHQW EHFDXVH LW¶V WDNLQJ Cash dairy prices rise but still lag behind last year’s mark By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press C ME block Cheddar closed the Memorial Day holiday-shortened week at $1.44 per pound, up 6 cents on the week but 27 1/2-cents be- low a year ago. 7KH EDUUHOV ¿QLVKHG DW $1.4450, up a half-cent on the week and 19 3/4-cents below a year ago. Sixteen cars of block traded hands on the week and 17 of barrel. The blocks were up a penny and a half Monday on an un- ¿OOHGELGEXWDVDOH7XHVGD\WRRN them back a penny and a quarter, to $1.4425. The barrels jumped 4 1/2-cents on a bid Monday but a sale rolled them back a penny and a half Tuesday, slipping to By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The Meadow Gold Dairy plant in Boise is voluntarily Cody Easterday talks about receiving and preparing livestock on the Easterday Farms feedlot for Tyson recalling Meadow Gold brand Foods in Pasco, Wash., during the Washington Beef Commission’s Explore Beef Experience tour June 1. Old Style Whipping Cream and Meadow Gold DairyPure said Cody Easterday, direc- answer for beef everyday,” their opinions about how brand Whipping Cream and tor of the feedlots for East- Brumbach said, including beef is produced and in- +DOI DQG +DOI GXH WR LQVXI¿- cient pasteurization. erday Farms. “Hopefully we chefs, retailers, bloggers and crease their comfort level “It is possible that patho- get the message back to the food service distributors. with modern beef produc- gens present in raw milk, in- consumer. We want (them) “People who are handling tion,” Brumbach said. cluding salmonella, campylo- to know the great things our product, answering con- “Anything you can learn bacter, listeria, and/or E. coli, we’re doing at the feedlot, sumer questions.” is really helpful,” said Tim may have survived and, if how we’re handling cattle, The commission conducts Voss, chef instructor with ingested, could cause serious taking care of cattle and pro- a pre-survey asking partic- the Hot Stove Society in Se- or life-threatening issues,” ducing great product. This ipants their level of knowl- attle. “I’ve been asking a lot Meadow Gold stated in its re- is a good conduit to getting edge about the industry and of questions along the way. call notice. that message across.” about their concerns about It’s a very welcoming and Distribution of the affected The tour is designed to such things as environmental hospitable group.” product was limited, involv- tell the story of beef produc- impacts and animal welfare. “It’s really just about ing approximately 10,000 tion to “people who have to “We dramatically change knowing how close we are units of the affected product distributed in four states in- cluding Idaho, Oregon, Wy- oming and Utah through nu- merous retail outlets and food ing nutritionist Bob Brandt Easterday compared the to produce a pound in the con- service settings. The company is notifying told the group a six-pellet hor- conventional feedlot with the ventional yard and 8 pounds in customers and retrieving the monal implant is placed under company’s smaller natural the natural yard, he said. the skin of the ear so it never feedlot, which uses no antibi- “When you think about affected product, Meadow enters the food chain. The im- otics or hormones. The com- sustainability, think about how Gold stated. “During a routine records plant allows cattle to absorb pany runs the natural feedlot much more fuel, labor, grain protein and energy from the because suppliers ask for it and hay it takes to produce that review, we discovered that the IHHGPRUHHI¿FLHQWO\UHGXFLQJ and pay enough to do it, he same pound of natural beef as product may have been un- nitrogen excretion into the en- said. it does to produce something der-processed. Meadow Gold vironment by 20 to 25 percent, “If you stand here and ask we can use implanted,” Easter- Dairy has ceased distribution of the affected product and re- Brandt said. me, ‘Do you believe in feeding day told the group. “If you eat a 4-ounce steak cattle naturally?’ Absolute- Easterday said beef produc- covery is actively underway,” from an implanted steer, you’ll ly not, it goes against every tion is the best it’s ever been. the company stated. In a written statement to get about 1.6 nanograms of es- single grain in my body to go Science and technology pro- trogen, equivalent to about one back in time to produce food,” GXFH D VDIH HI¿FLHQW SURGXFW Capital Press, parent compa- ny Dean Foods said the dis- blade of grass on a football Easterday said. “When we are he said. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press ¿HOG´%UDQGWVDLG not able to use science like (the “At what point is the con- covery was made last week. Easterday Farms consulting nu- “We worked quickly to re- He compared that to the hormonal implant), that ani- sumer going to step back and tritionist Bob Brandt talks about 20,000 nanograms produced mal is going to produce about say, ‘By eating this natural trieve the product from shelves the six-pellet hormonal implant per day by a pre-adolescent 100 pounds less at the natural steak, I am willing to accept and alerted our customers. To given to cows underneath the boy; 150,000 nanograms pro- yard.” that the footprint for making date, we have received no skin of the ear at the feedlot duced by a grown male or Easterday estimated the this steak is going to be bigger reports of illnesses related June 1 in Pasco, Wash. 170,000 nanograms by wom- natural operation requires 25 than it would if I would just to the affected product. As en of child-bearing age. Birth to 40 percent more feed to pro- eat a conventional steak?’” always, our priority is to that much less feed to produce control pills have 25,000 to duce one pound of beef than he asked. “At some point, that provide high-quality, safe one pound of beef.” 50,000 nanograms of estrogen, with conventional production. message has to be brought products to consumers, and Easterday Farms consult- Brandt said. we’re working diligently It takes 5.5 pounds of dry feed across.” to identify and implement solutions related to this in- cident.” The Idaho Department of Agriculture’s Bureau remains strong. Domestic de- ing factors to the upturn. The spot price ticked up 4 of Dairying and the Food PDQGLV¿UPEXW³ZLWKRXWUHOL- &DVK EXWWHU ¿QLVKHG WKH FHQWV 0RQGD\ RQ DQ XQ¿OOHG and Drug Administration Dairy able export demand, inventories week at $2.10 per pound, up bid, to $2.14 per pound, but was have been notified of the Markets recall. for almost all varieties of cheese 3 1/2-cents, highest spot price unchanged Tuesday. Lee Mielke ISDA has no com- continue to trend upwards.” since April 29 and 20 cents Butter production is steady, HighGround Dairy sug- above a year ago. Only three says DMN. Retail and food ser- ment on the recall, accord- $1.4750, 3 1/4-cents above the gested rising grain markets and cars traded hands last week at vice demand is “consistent” but ing to a spokesman for the agency. blocks. weather concerns are contribut- the CME. cream remains plentiful. Cheese vats are running at or near full capacity in the Mid- west, says Dairy Market News, and forecasts are for full sched- ules for June, as milk production shows little to no sign of slow- ing. Midwest cheese stocks are long despite strong sales and “many participants believe it is going to take much larger growth in sales to alleviate in- ventory pressures.” The market undertone is mixed but interna- tional interest is steady. Western cheese output also Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Feedlot works to meet environmental, consumer demands By MATTHEW WEAVER Gold recalls cream products SAGE Fact #131 Before roads and railroads, steamboats served the growing population along the Columbia River in the late 19th Century. Early steamboats landed at Castle Rock, a few miles west of present-day Boardman 24-4/#6