March 31, 2017
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Dairy/Livestock
WSU professor backs curbing lethal removal
Rancher: ‘Same
nonsense’ as before
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Wolves shouldn’t be shot
on public lands to protect the
livestock of ranchers who re-
fuse to sign government con-
tracts to prevent depredations,
according to Washington State
University wolf scientist Rob-
ert Wielgus, who was publicly
upbraided by the school in Au-
gust for accusing a rancher of
baiting wolves with cattle.
Wielgus, director of the uni-
versity’s Large Carnivore Con-
servation Lab, distributed the
recommendation in an email
Monday to the Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Advi-
sory Group.
Wielgus restated his posi-
tion that a ranch put its cattle in
harm’s way in the Colville Na-
tional Forest, leading WDFW
to shoot seven wolves in the
Profanity Peak pack. WSU ad-
ministrators last summer issued
a statement calling Wielgus’
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Washington State University wolf scientist Robert Wielgus, shown in 2012 at a research center in
Pullman, recommends requiring ranchers to sign depredation-prevention contracts before wildlife
managers could resort to shooting wolves.
description of the events inac-
curate.
“He’s putting out inflamma-
tory nonsense,” Cattle Produc-
ers of Washington President
Scott Nielsen said Monday.
“It’s the same nonsense that got
Rob in trouble last summer.”
Efforts to reach Wielgus
were unsuccessful.
Wielgus described his email
as a press release from a pri-
vate citizen, but based on his
state-funded research.
Wielgus stated that with-
holding lethal control of
wolves would be an incentive
for ranchers to sign depreda-
tion-prevention agreements
with WDFW.
He stated the agreements
could prevent attacks on live-
stock and noted that the ranch
that suffered the most losses
last summer did not have one.
The ranch concentrated cat-
tle near the pack’s den, accord-
ing to Wielgus said.
According to a WDFW re-
port, the den’s location was not
known when cattle were re-
leased into the national forest.
Two ranchers lost livestock
to the pack, and both met ex-
pectations for non-lethal deter-
rence measures, according to
WDFW.
The expectations were set
by the Wolf Advisory Group,
which includes representatives
from the Humane Society of
the United States and Defend-
ers of Wildlife.
According to WDFW, 54
livestock producers had agree-
ments in 2016. Ranchers who
sign agreements are eligible
for public funding to employ
non-lethal measures, such as
range riders, and gain access to
tracking information collected
from wolves wearing radio
collars.
Agreements are tailored for
each rancher, who must also
allow WDFW access to their
operations.
Nielsen said that most
ranchers, including himself,
have not signed agreements.
He said ranchers should pro-
tect their herds, but shouldn’t
be forced to invite WDFW to
review and comment on their
operations.
“I don’t begrudge anybody
who wants to do it,” he said.
“But I would argue the depart-
ment doesn’t know one damn
thing about raising cows.”
Efforts to reach WDFW
wolf policy leader Donny
Martorello were unsuccessful.
The Profanity Peak pack
roams across 11 grazing allot-
ments in the national forest.
WDFW captured and collared
two wolves in mid-June about
2 miles from where cattle
were grazing. Attacks on live-
stock began a month later.
Wielgus told the Seattle
Times in August that a ranch-
er “elected to put his live-
stock directly on top of their
den site.” A week later, WSU
administrators said the state-
ment had no factual basis and
apologized.
Sheep industry leadership Most dairy prices confound bears
school held in Oregon
By LEE MIELKE
For the Capital Press
T
By JAN JACKSON
For the Capital Press
ALBANY, Ore. — Sheep
producers from across the
U.S. and Canada attended the
31st annual Howard Wyman
Sheep Industry Leadership
School held March 13-14.
The school was moved
from July to March to show-
case Oregon’s unique lamb-
ing operations that include
rye grass field grazing. Or-
egon lamb producers par-
ticipated by either hosting
the group on their farm, be-
ing tour guides on the mo-
torcoach or participating in
panel discussions.
Tour stops included the
Kalapooia Grass Fed Lamb
Processing Plant in Browns-
ville, Snow Peak Fiber Mill
in Hubbard, Hubbard Rose-
lawn Hampshire Sheep in
Monroe and area seed com-
panies and various ewe and
lamb operations.
Denise Bartlett, a 40-year
commercial sheep veter-
an, current president of the
Michigan Sheep Producers
Association and participant
in this year’s school, was par-
ticularly interested in the way
the sheep industry worked in
the Willamette Valley.
“It was such a fast and
furious two days that I real-
ly didn’t sort out what I had
learned until after I got back
home,” Bartlett said from
her home in Traunik, Mich.
“I saw a very unique, sym-
biotic relationship between
the huge grass seed industry
in the valley and the gener-
ations of sheep raisers who
rely on the forage produced,
really as a by-product of
grass seed production. Many
of these sheep producers live
in the valley and actually
own very little land in com-
parison to the large acreage
operations of the seed farm-
ers.”
Jan Jackson/For the Capital Press
Reed Anderson of the Kalapooia Grass Fed Lamb Processing
Plant in Brownsville, Ore., fields questions from participants during
the 31st annual NLFA Sheep Industry Leadership School.
Online
For more information, visit
http://www.nlfa-sheep.org
Howard Wyman, NLFA’s
legendary lamb feeder for
whom the school is named,
went into the sheep business
in Kansas City, Mo., in 1938.
He started the NLFA’s Sheep
Industry Leadership School
in 1986 to educate grow-
ers about what happened to
their sheep after they left the
farm. Since that time, schools
have been held in Colorado,
California, South Dakota,
Texas, Pennsylvania and
Ohio.
Oregon’s debut came
about when Tom Nichols, a
school veteran, president of
the Oregon Sheep Growers
Association and owner of
Nichols Livestock, decid-
ed it was time the industry
saw how Oregon producers
manage to grow, harvest and
market high-quality grass-
fed lamb.
“One of the overall high-
lights of the school seemed
to be our lamb industry
culture here in the valley,”
Nichols said. “Most of the
participants came from areas
where there are great dis-
he bears found enough
to feed on last week as
spring began, but cheese
prices pushed higher. The
cheddar blocks closed Friday
at $1.44 per pound, up 4 cents
on the week but 5 cents below
a year ago. The barrels finished
at $1.39, up 2 1/2-cents on the
week and 6 cents below a year
ago. Nineteen cars of block
traded hands last week at the
CME and 23 of barrel.
The blocks inched a half-
cent higher Monday but were
unchanged Tuesday, holding at
$1.4450. The barrels dropped 2
cents Monday and stayed there
Tuesday, at $1.37, a slightly
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
higher than normal 7 1/2-cents
below the blocks.
FC Stone’s Brendan Cur-
ran wrote in Monday’s Insider
Opening Bell that “Growth in
milk production, heavy stocks
and a lethargic international
market all add ammo to the
bearish camp, especially with
flush on the doorstep. The larg-
er question/issue facing the
trade will be whether demand
is strong enough to support
prices at current levels or if the
ensuing tide of milk will wash
things out a bit more.”
Cheese output in the Mid-
west is active, reports Dairy
Market News. Contractual milk
supplies are generally meeting
cheesemakers’ needs, howev-
er, and spot offers continue to
come in at Class to $3.50 under.
Pizza cheese producers
reported a seasonal uptick in
orders and retail is steady to
strong. Some suggest increased
advertising and promotions
have bolstered orders but
cheese inventories are long.
Western cheese production
is strong and moving steadi-
ly. A few manufacturers sug-
gest sales have drawn down
inventories somewhat but the
consensus is that stocks are
still long, especially for barrel
cheese.
tances between growers and
the number of operations we
were able to visit in a 70-
mile radius around Albany
amazed them. The one thing
they all went home with was
the desire to have a facility
near them that equaled the
Kalapooia Grass Fed Pro-
cessing Plant.”
Bob Harlan, a veter-
an sheep grower and lamb
feeder from Wyoming and
current president of the Na-
tional Lamb Feeders Associ-
ation, had high praise for the
job Nichols did directing the
school.
“I’ve been attending
these schools for many years
and this one was as good as
possible,” Harlan said. “We
had 33 people here from 19
states and Canada eager to
learn everything they could
to improve their operations
at home. The presenters
were excellent and getting a
first-hand look at the Willa-
mette Valley’s unique grass
fed system was an opportu-
nity not to be missed.
“As NLFA board mem-
bers, we ask ourselves if this
program as run its course,”
Harlan said. “After the Or-
egon school, we know it
hasn’t.”
China dairy firm says it can’t contact exec after stock dive
By KELVIN CHAN
AP Business Writer
HONG KONG — A Chi-
nese dairy company whose
stock plunged last week, wip-
ing billions off its market val-
ue, denied rumors Tuesday of
forged invoices and misappro-
priated funds, but also said it
can’t contact a key executive.
China Huishan Dairy
Holdings
Co.’s
Hong
Kong-listed shares tumbled
85 percent in minutes on Fri-
day morning before they were
halted. The reason for the sell-
off was unclear.
Huishan’s statement to the
Hong Kong stock exchange
on Tuesday was its first pub-
lic response since the stock
plunge.
The company denied two
rumors that it said were mak-
ing the rounds. One claimed
that an audit turned up a large
number of fake bills issued by
company members, and an-
other that Chairman Yang Kai
had misappropriated 3 billion
yuan ($436 million) to invest
in real estate in the northeast-
ern rust belt city of Shenyang,
where Huishan Dairy is based.
“The company categori-
cally denies having approved
the issue of any forged invoic-
es and does not believe there
to be any misappropriation,”
it said.
It also denied a rumor that
one of its controlling share-
holders sold off 3.4 billion
shares because of a margin
call.
The company was the sub-
ject of a report in December
by U.S.-based short-seller
Muddy Waters accusing it of
reporting fraudulent profits,
but it said then that those ac-
cusations were false.
Huishan Dairy said Tues-
day that for the past week, it
has not been able to contact its
senior executive in charge of
treasury and cash operations,
Ge Kun, whose work it said
intensified after the Muddy
Waters report.
On March 21, Yang “re-
ceived a letter from Ms. Ge
indicating that the recent
work stress had taken a toll on
her health, that she would take
leave of absence and does not
want to be contacted at this
time,” the company said in the
statement.
Huishan also said it was
late on some of its bank loan
repayments and has sought
to have them rolled over. The
company said shares would
remain suspended until it got
an update on its financial po-
sition.
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