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CapitalPress.com
December 30, 2016
Washington state vet settles in, before getting out
Rancher: ‘He better
come with pretty
strong stuff ’
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — In his sec-
ond week as Washington state
veterinarian, Brian Joseph sat
for an interview in the offi ce he
expects to often leave.
“I can’t be the guy at the
end of the phone in front of a
computer,” he said, outlining
his plans to get out and meet
livestock producers. “I need to
be the guy they see face-to-face
several times a year.”
Joseph, 65, joined the state
Department of Agriculture
Dec. 12, occupying an offi ce
that had been vacant since July.
The previous occupant, Joe
Baker, was dismissed after 20
months as state veterinarian by
WSDA Director Derek Sandi-
son, who gave no reason other
than dissatisfaction with Bak-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
New Washington State Veteri-
narian Brian Joseph outside the
offi ce building in Olympia that
houses the Department of Agri-
culture and other state agencies.
Joseph says he plans to get out
of the offi ce often to meet with
producers.
er’s performance.
“We’ll increase collabora-
tion with our producers,” Jo-
seph said. “I’ll be spending a
lot of time with them.”
Personal contact proba-
bly will help, Cattle Produc-
ers of Washington President
Scott Nielsen said.
“But he better come with
pretty strong stuff,” he said.
“The new vet will be met with
skepticism from this group.”
CPOW remains concerned
that the movements of too
many unbranded cattle, mostly
in the dairy industry, go un-
reported, punching a hole in
a rancher-funded program to
trace diseases.
“Either they’re going to fi x
it or not,” Nielsen said.
WSDA has taken steps in
the past year to capture all cat-
tle transactions, introducing
an electronic reporting system
for dairies. Joseph said that he
hasn’t yet formed an opinion
on the strength of the current
program. “I’ve been here eight
days. I’m still drinking out of a
fi re house,” he said.
In hiring Joseph, WSDA has
brought aboard a veterinarian
with a resume more zoological
than agricultural.
He’s worked at Sea World
in San Diego, Point Defi ance
Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma
and other stops too numerous
to mention. Before he was a
vet, he was an animal keeper at
the San Diego Zoo in his home-
town.
Most recently, he was the
director of the Assiniboine
Park Zoo, a major attraction in
Winnipeg, Canada. The zoo’s
notable occupants include po-
lar bears, tigers and wolves.
Joseph said he wanted to add a
working dairy on the grounds
to showcase the science and
technology of modern agricul-
ture. “My boss squelched it,”
he said.
Joseph was there for less
than three years, but he said
he and his wife, Sally, wanted
to move back to Washington.
Besides his time at Point De-
fi ance, Joseph knows the state
from boyhood summer visits to
his great aunt’s dairy in Mount
Vernon. “One of the fi nest
memories of my life,” he said.
“Most of our family and
friends are in Washington,
he said. “This job popped
up at just the right time.”
Besides full-time jobs, Jo-
seph has been a wide-ranging
consultant. He talks enthusi-
astically about his ongoing
involvement in a long-term re-
search project to document the
health of bottlenose dolphins
near Florida.
Joseph cares for dolphins
while they are being examined.
If one dies in custody, the proj-
ect could die with it, he said.
Much of his experience with
livestock has come in the Third
World. He joined the Army Re-
serves at the age of 57 and has
served humanitarian missions
to eight countries.
He spent eight months in
2015-16 in Central Africa. He
said the mission deepened his
appreciation for the connec-
tion between healthy livestock
and the survival of protein-de-
pendent humans. “If you don’t
have sustainable agriculture,
you don’t have a sustainable
economy,” he said. “You don’t
have anything.”
His obligation to the Army
ends in 2019. He serves one
weekend a month and two
weeks a year, but said he
doesn’t anticipate any more
long deployments. His week-
end duty is at Fort Lewis in Ta-
coma, as it was while he lived
in Canada. He said he will now
save a lot on airfare.
Joseph said he wanted to
enlist after meeting a retired
Army dog and its handler at a
veterinarian’s conference. He
learned the Army sent veteri-
narians around the world. The
Army had to waive its normal
age limit. For the waiver, Jo-
seph credits the intervention of
Texas billionaire Ross Perot.
Perot, Joseph explained,
imported leopard sharks for his
aquarium, and they immedi-
ately died. Joseph supervised
the next shipment, spending
two days at the company’s
headquarters in Plano, Tex-
as, and getting to know Perot
over take-out barbecue in the
employee break room. “He’s
the most gracious person I’ve
ever met in my life,” Joseph
said.
Strong market, agri-tourism
help elk rancher succeed
Washington minimum wage
to tie for highest among states
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Washington labor offi cials
say they’re still fi elding ques-
tions from farmers and farm-
workers about the initiative
that passed in November to
raise the minimum wage to
$11 an hour on Jan. 1 and
mandate paid sick leave be-
ginning next year.
Tisa Soeteber, state De-
partment of Labor & Indus-
tries agricultural employment
standards specialist, said
there is still uncertainty in
the agricultural sector about
I-1433’s implementation.
On the minimum wage,
the answers are straightfor-
ward. The $11 an hour min-
imum wage will apply to all
workers 16 and over, includ-
ing farmworkers. Younger
workers can be paid $9.35 an
hour, or 85 percent of the full
minimum wage.
The wage will be in effect
statewide, except in cities
with higher pay fl oors.
The wage will tie Wash-
ington with New York and
Massachusetts as the highest
in the country among states.
The pay fl oor in Wash-
ington, D.C., is $11.50 an
hour.
Washington’s minimum
wage will continue to in-
crease for the next three
years, up to $13.50 in 2020.
After that, the wage will be
adjusted annually for infl a-
tion.
The federal minimum
wage is $7.25 an hour, though
29 states and D.C. have a
Capital Press
Courtesy of Greg Bagley
The Bagleys vaccinate an elk at their facility in Driggs, Idaho. They say the market for elk is up, and
elk have also provided an attraction for agricultural tourism.
inspections and investigations
into escapes. Furthermore
owners must test 10 percent
of their elk post-slaughter,
and all of the elk that die un-
expectedly.
According to ISDA’s most
recent estimates, the state
has about 50 commercial elk
ranches that produce about
6,000 calves per year.
“(The elk industry) has
crept up a little bit in the last
couple of years,” said ISDA
deputy state veterinarian Scott
Leibsle, noting the easing of
regulations on elk importa-
tion has contributed to the
increase.
The Bagleys have about
240 elk. They sell dropped
antlers for craft-making, dog
chews and use as an anti-in-
fl ammatory supplement in
Asian countries. Antlers cut
while still in velvet are the
most valuable. They’ve paused
their meat sales in recent years
to build their herd but plan to
resume supplying meat to cus-
tomers, such as Jackson Hole
restaurants, this fall.
Bull elk sold to Idaho’s
many penned hunting opera-
tions — controversial private
operations where hunters are
guaranteed success — fetch
the best prices, upwards of
$6,000 per animal, depending
on antler size.
“Defi nitely the shooter-bull
market right now is where
the elk market is,” Greg said.
“Now I can supply 15 bulls
per year, and I have demand
for 100 bulls per year.”
Jeff Lerwill, who serves
on the Idaho Elk Breeder’s
Association, and his wife, Al-
ana, operate a fenced hunting
preserve in Sugar City that
has 5 square miles of rugged,
private terrain where trophies
include elk, buffalo and Texas
dall sheep. They raise some of
their own elk and host about
50 elk hunts during a busy
year.
“We’ve been hunting for
10 years,” Alana Lerwill said.
“In the beginning, we could
buy shooter bulls for $2,000.
We’re lucky if we can buy
them now for $5,000.”
LEGAL
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 98
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder,
on 1/10/2017. The sale will be
held at 10:00 am by
RETRIEVER TOWING
1768 13TH ST. SE SALEM, OR
2008 Buick Lucerne
VIN = 1G4HD57208U186795
Amount due on lien $2844.00
Reputed owner(s)
JENNIFER CUNNINGHAM
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold, for cash
to the highest bidder, on 1/11/2017.
The sale will be held at 10:00am by
L
A
4
legal-53-2-1/#4
H ANNU
T
8
Capital Press
higher wage, according to the
National Conference of State
Legislatures.
The Washington Farm Bu-
reau argues that a higher state
minimum wage handicaps
producers in the global mar-
ketplace.
“I haven’t really gotten
complaints. I think people
know L&I wasn’t the force
behind it,” Soeteber said.
“It’s more of a resigned at-
titude, not a complaining
attitude.”
Less straightforward is
how the paid sick leave man-
date will affect agricultural
operations.
That part of I-1433 won’t
go into effect until Jan. 1,
2018.
Employers will be re-
quired to grant one hour of
paid sick leave for every 40
hours worked. Paid sick leave
accrued by a seasonal worker
will carry over if rehired with-
in 12 months.
Soeteber said L&I will
write rules over the next year
regarding sick leave.
For example, the depart-
ment will have to consid-
er how paid sick leave will
be calculated for piece-rate
workers, she said.
She suggested produc-
ers sign up for rule-making
updates to stay informed.
To sign up, go to www.lni.
wa.gov/Main/Listservs/WR-
WageHour.asp.
MDR TRUCKING
975 1/2 NORWAY ST. NE SALEM, OR
1981 VW PU VIN = 1V1LG0174BV088869
Amount due on lien $2,670.00
Reputed owner(s)
ALBERT & CHARLENE A PUGH
ST. HELENS FCU
BILLY COMPTON
Legal-53-2-1/#4
DRIGGS, Idaho — Ranch-
er Kent Bagley and his sons
Greg and Stephen derive al-
most a third of their income
from agricultural tourism, and
their farm-raised elk are the
main attraction.
The Bagleys bought their
fi rst 15 elk in the late 1990s,
seeking to diversify their beef
and dairy business. They’ve
since given up the dairy, fo-
cusing on elk and beef cattle.
As with the dairy market,
elk prices have ebbed and
fl owed — and while values of
most farm commodities have
declined lately, Stephen said
elk meat, antlers and bulls
raised for penned hunting op-
erations have all risen.
But even when the econ-
omy crashed in 2008 and elk
ranches were closing in Ida-
ho, domestic Cervidae contin-
ued to earn their keep for the
Bagleys, thanks to tourism.
Through www.elkadventures.
com, their ranch offers over-
night trips and day rides,
which make stops by the elk
pastures, and they take the
public on paid bus tours of
their elk operation. They also
have a gift shop and rent cab-
ins.
“People love to see those
baby elk, and we can get them
right up close,” Stephen said,
adding the proximity to Jack-
son Hole, Wyo., and Yellow-
stone National Park ensures a
steady supply of visitors.
Stephen explained raising
elk requires investing in sep-
arate handling facilities. The
animals are skittish and slow-
er to develop than cattle, re-
quiring more than four years
before they’re ready to sell.
The industry is also heav-
ily regulated. The Idaho State
Department of Agriculture
charges a $10 per head fee
on domestic elk to fund its
Cervidae program, including
By DON JENKINS
LEGAL
CHERRY AVENUE
STORAGE
2680 Cherry Ave. NE
Salem, OR 97301
(503) 399-7454
Sat., Jan 7th • 10 A.M.
• Unit 5 - Abe Schworak
• Unit 8 - Lisa Pendleton/
Rick Morgan
• Unit 47 - Chris Tarver
• Unit 77 - Garrett Fistere
• Unit 142 - Angelique
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Cherry Avenue Storage
reserves the right to
refuse any and all bids
legal-52-2-1/#4
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