Capital press., August 26, 2016, Image 1

WHEAT HARVEST: FAMILIES REAPING THEIR SHARE OF MILLIONS OF BUSHELS Page 4

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 35
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
MEAT QUALITY DEBATE
TO CLONE, , OR
NOT TO CLONE
Courtesy of West Texas A&M University
meat. The university’s cloning project began in 2010 and has
Students pose with Alpha, a cloned bull intended to sire cattle with a higher grade
quality.
produced two bulls and three heifers. Their offspring are being evaluated for meat
Copying cattle can yield top
USDA beef grading status, but
is that what consumers want?
By ERIC MORTENSON | Capital Press
T
y Lawrence still talks about it as his “lightbulb”
moment. He was in a Texas slaughterhouse in
2010 when two absolutely beautiful beef carcasses
rolled by. Each was the pinnacle of USDA grading:
“Prime” and “Yield Grade One.”
Only 2 to 5 percent of U.S. beef is graded Prime, and
Yield Grade One meant there was lots of it. By Lawrence’s
estimate, only 1 in 3,300 beef carcasses will have those two
attributes simultaneously. And here went two of them with-
in a couple minutes of each other.
What happened next was either scientifi c breakthrough
or unnecessary genetic fi ddling, depending on your per-
spective. And it poses a conundrum for cattle producers and
researchers in the Pacifi c Northwest, Northern California
and beyond.
Lawrence, a professor of meat science at West Texas
A&M University, called his department head that night and
proposed forming a research team. Here’s what he wanted
to do: Clone a herd of superior cattle by working backwards
from superior beef.
Turn to CLONE, Page 12
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP
Kansas City strip steaks cut from beef strip loin from some of the 13
Alpha X Gamma steers born and raised at West Texas A&M Uni-
versity are displayed at the university’s meat laboratory in Canyon,
Texas. The steers were the offspring of Alpha, a cloned bull, and
cloned heifers called Gamma 1, 2, and 3.
Beef carcasses await further pro-
cessing. Texas researchers are now
cloning cattle to attain specifi c USDA
grading traits, but Pacifi c Northwest
producers say their customers would
likely reject the technology.
Courtesy of Reg Keddie,
Dayton Natural Meats
$2.00
Ag groups
say Coba
will be hard
to replace
Oregon director praised
for management style
By ERIC MORTENSON
and CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Press
Oregon farm organizations are
still absorbing news of longtime
Oregon Department of Agriculture
Director Katy Coba’s appointment
as the state’s chief operating offi cer
and director of the Department of
Administrative Services.
Word spread quickly through Or-
egon’s agricultural groups Wednes-
day morning. Coba used her 11:30 ag
budget conference
call with producer
organizations to tell
them fi rst-hand.
“It’s a hard one
for me,” said Ka-
tie Fast, executive
Katy Coba
director of Orego-
nians for Food and
Shelter. Coba’s appointment as DAS
director is probably a good move for
Oregon in terms of good government
because of her experience and man-
agement skill, she said.
“However, for Oregon agricul-
ture, we’re all at a little bit of a loss,”
she said. “Those are some big shoes
to move into.”
Fast said Coba has been a strong
advocate for Oregon ag at the state
Legislature. She’s also overseen a de-
partment management structure that
is collaborative with staff and with
the industries they regulate, and the
industry will want to see that contin-
ued in the next director, Fast said.
Jerome Rosa, executive director
of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation, said Coba’s departure from
ODA is “a huge loss to Oregon ag-
riculture.”
Rosa said Coba is the longest
serving state ag director in the coun-
try and has done a “tremendous job.”
He said her marketing background
is unparalleled and has helped com-
modity groups.
Rosa served on the Oregon Board
of Agriculture, which advises Coba
and the department, before taking
the job with the cattlemen’s associ-
ation. In both positions, “Her door
was always open and very accessible
to me,” he said. “She always made
time.”
Rosa said he hopes the next direc-
tor will take a similar approach.
Dave Dillon, executive vice pres-
ident of the Oregon Farm Bureau,
said it’s premature to talk about pos-
sible successors. He said Coba was
a successful director because she un-
derstood the industry, collaborated
with producers and kept the depart-
ment from being “politicized.”
“In my view, Katy’s been a di-
rector who wants to make sure de-
cisions are made on good principles,
good science, and are thoughtful —
not ideological,” Dillon said.
Turn to COBA, Page 12
Washington targets entire wolf pack in Ferry County
County poised to take
over if WDFW stops short
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife announced on Aug.
19 that it plans to kill the entire Pro-
fanity Peak pack in Ferry County to
stop attacks on livestock.
Just one day earlier, WDFW had
stopped hunting for the pack, noting
that there was no evidence of wolf at-
tacks since the department shot two of
the pack’s 11 members on Aug 5, leav-
ing four adults and fi ve pups.
The next day, however, WDFW in-
vestigators determined wolves had in-
jured another calf and probably killed
two others.
WDFW not only resumed the hunt,
but also ramped up the operation from
“partial removal” to eliminating the
entire pack.
Since July 8, the Profanity Peak
pack has killed or injured at least sev-
en cattle, according to WDFW. Inves-
tigators determined the pack probably
killed fi ve other cattle, but those dep-
redations were not absolutely con-
fi rmed as wolf attacks.
Ferry County offi cials received a
report Monday that WDFW had shot
a third wolf. WDFW has limited its
release of information to weekly up-
dates and had not confi rmed the report
by mid-week.
Ferry County commissioners have
asked WDFW to exterminate the pack
since 2014, saying the wolves are a
threat to public safety.
Commissioners last week autho-
rized the sheriff’s offi ce to lethally
remove the pack if WDFW does not.
Turn to WOLF, Page 12
4 th th Annual All Breeds Bull Test Sale • March 3, 2017 • Jerome, Idaho
Bulls received on Saturday, October 8th, 2016
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR YOUR ENTRY FORM:
www.snakeriverbulltest.com
OR Jason Anderson (208) 420-7352
35-4/#16