14 CapitalPress.com
June 30, 2017
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Dairy/Livestock
Grazing can
reduce damage
from wildfires
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
Butter still
strong,
but cheese
weakens
By DOUG WARNOCK
For the Capital Press
W
By LEE MIELKE
For the Capital Press
ash cheese prices
slipped last week
but the spread nar-
rowed a little. The blocks
closed Friday at $1.54 per
pound, down 7 1/2-cents
on the week and the fourth
week in a row of decline,
but were still 2 3/4-cents
above a year ago.
History was made Mon-
day as the cheese moved to
the electronic spot call at
the CME. The blocks lost a
penny and a half but were
unchanged Tuesday, hold-
ing at $1.5250, the lowest
spot price since May 4,
2017.
The barrels rolled to
$1.3375 last Tuesday, the
lowest price since May
16, 2016, but rallied and
finished Friday at $1.37,
down just a penny on the
week and 16 1/2-cents be-
low a year ago.
Thirteen cars of block
traded hands last week at
the CME and a whopping
63 of barrel. The last time
barrel volume was over
60 loads was in Septem-
ber 2000, according to FC
Stone.
The barrels inched a
quarter-cent lower Mon-
day and stayed there Tues-
day, at $1.3675, a still too-
high 15 3/4-cents below
the blocks.
More milk will be shift-
ing from the carton to the
cheese vat as schools close
for the summer but tem-
peratures may, pardon the
pun, temper milk output
per cow.
Milk continues to be
available for cheese pro-
ducers in the Midwest,
according to Dairy Market
News.
“However,
cheese-
makers report the flush
milk availability of previ-
ous weeks has noticeably
decreased,” DMN says.
Cheese production has
edged back. Some pro-
ducers are trying to man-
age heavy inventories,
and “some contacts sug-
gest export sales, which
are scheduled for future
shipment dates, have not
been accounted for, thus
cheese inventories are not
as heavy as widely be-
lieved.”
Central cheese produc-
ers report varied sales ac-
tivity but the large block-
to-barrel price variance
“is at loggerheads with a
stable market, according to
Central cheese contacts,”
says DMN.
Western cheesemakers
report continued strong
production as milk sup-
plies are readily available.
Contacts describe demand
as good, but not great. Ex-
port inquiries seem to vac-
illate along with the vari-
ance between current U.S.
market prices and interna-
tional prices. Inventories
are long.
Cash butter continued
to ride a roller coaster last
week but closed 3 cents
higher, at $2.59 per pound,
24 1/2-cents above a year
ago, with 17 cars sold last
week.
The spot was up 3
1/2-cents Monday and
inched a quarter-cent high-
er Tuesday, to $2.6250.
“Butter’s performance,
in retail and food service,
is outperforming previ-
ous years and continues to
keep production facilities
busy,” says DMN. “Butter-
makers are reportedly “at-
tempting to focus produc-
tion on late summer-early
fall expectations, whenev-
er not fulfilling current or-
ders,” but cream supplies
are tightening.
ildfires are a cru-
cial threat to
rangelands
and
both range scientists and
land managers are looking
for ways to reduce potential
fire damage. Arid landscapes
in the western United States,
especially the sagebrush
steppe areas, have had major
fires in recent years, which
have resulted in significant
negative economic impact
to those involved.
The heavier precipitation
received this year has stim-
ulated cheat-grass and me-
dusahead resulting in higher
than normal amounts of fire
fuel on rangelands. With
dry, hot weather expected
soon, the fire hazard will be
high this summer.
“Cattle can be a valu-
able tool to aid in wildfire
suppression,” says Chris
Schachtschneider, Oregon
State University Animal and
Rangeland Extension spe-
cialist serving Umatilla and
Morrow counties in Oregon.
“As cattle go about their
day, they remove, trample
and flatten the very vege-
tation that becomes fuel in
a wildland fire event,” he
says. This activity of cattle
is an aid in suppressing fires
and improving the effective-
ness of firebreaks.
Schachtschneider was a
member of a team that did a
study to quantify how cattle
activity affect fire behavior
metrics (flame height and
rate of spread) compared
to no grazing. In this study,
heifers grazed 60 treatment
plots over the course of two
years in the Reynolds Creek
Watershed of southwestern
Idaho.
Evaluations were made
at two time periods: (1) the
beginning of the fire sea-
son and (2) immediately
before the fire; and at two
utilization levels: (1) low
C
Associated Press File
A clerk checks her phone near a display advertising beef and lamb at a supermarket in Beijing. A
Nebraska company, Greater Omaha Packing, has air freighted 5,000 pounds of beef to China, the first
shipment since the nation lifted its ban against U.S. beef.
Nebraska packer first
to ship beef to China
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Greater Omaha Packing
was ready to roll when the
USDA last week announced
the final eligibility details for
U.S. beef exports to China af-
ter a 13-year hiatus.
In the first of many or-
ders from Chinese buyers,
the company on June 21 air-
shipped about 5,000 pounds
of steak — including rib-
eye and tenderloin — to
its newest customers, said
Angelo Fili, Greater Omaha
executive vice president of
sales.
In one day, the company
put together a representa-
tive shipment of its products
— not a huge shipment but
enough to initially supply
three or four grocery stores,
he said.
The Chinese market is ripe
for U.S. beef, with a long his-
tory of buying grain-fed beef
from numerous countries, he
said.
“The market is already es-
tablished. I think they’re go-
ing to add U.S. beef to their
offerings,” Fili said.
In 2016, China imported
about 600,000 metric tons of
beef valued at $2.6 billion,
according to the U.S. Meat
Export Federation.
But U.S. beef wasn’t
part of the mix, having been
banned from the country
since December 2003, when
bovine spongiform encepha-
lopathy was discovered in a
Washington state dairy cow.
Greater Omaha already
ships to 68 countries and
tends to trade with niche
customers, such as high-end
steakhouses. A large volume
of its production is set up to
meet the importing criteria of
those countries and individu-
al customers, he said.
The company fills hun-
dreds of orders daily, ship-
ping 2.5 million to 3 million
pounds a day. With product
available and the ability to
trace product through the
plant, it was prepared to fill
China’s first order and is pre-
pared to fill many more, he
said.
The company doesn’t
raise cattle, but its produc-
ers have always been able to
meet the required criteria for
its customers, he said.
China’s requirements in-
clude animal traceability and
a prohibition against the use
of growth promotants.
“I think those animals will
definitely be available. Our
producers in Nebraska and
Iowa are pretty quick to get
things done and ready to go,”
Fili said.
Buyers will dictate which
type of products they want
but with high-end produc-
ers and high-end products,
Greater Omaha will be able
to supply whatever they’re
looking for, he said.
“We think this is a great
opportunity. It’s obviously
the largest market open to
American agricultural prod-
ucts,” he said.
Beef consumption in Chi-
na is far larger than it was
when the market was closed
to U.S. beef, and it provides a
good opportunity for Greater
Omaha products, he said.
“We think that good de-
mand will go on for quite a
while,” he said.
USDA has not replied to
queries from Capital Press
about how many U.S. com-
panies are approved or have
applied for approval to ship
beef to China.
More than 500 people
attend tour of Idaho dairy
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
MERIDIAN, Idaho —
While serving as tour guide
of his dairy during a hay ride,
Clint Jackson delivered a
quick “Dairy 101” class while
cracking a few jokes about
chocolate milk cows and not
wanting to swim in the ma-
nure lagoon.
Jackson was in his element
during what has become an
annual community event in
Meridian: a tour of the Jack-
son Family Farm, a 400-cow
operation with 300 acres of
cropland.
This year’s free event June
22 attracted more than 500
people, and participants were
taken on a hay ride around the
dairy, got to pet calves and
were free to wander around.
Three generations of
Jacksons, as well as United
Dairymen of Idaho employ-
ees, were on hand to answer
questions.
“This event is so much
fun,” Jackson told Capital
Press between hay rides. “We
love to have people come out
to the farm and to visit with
them. We love to hear their
questions and joke around
with them a little bit.”
He said he likes to think
of the tour as half-education-
al and half entertainment. “I
think you learn better if you
have some fun while you’re
doing it.”
About 25 percent of at-
tendees filled out a survey,
and all the comments were
positive, said UDI Executive
Director Karianne Fallow.
“Without having run a
measured analysis, the ma-
jority of highlights centered
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Paden, 3, looks at dairy cows June 22 while on a tractor hay ride
during a tour of the Jackson Family Farm in Meridian, Idaho. More
than 500 people attended the free event.
around: animal care, meeting
a dairy farmer and learning
how the farm is sustainable,”
she said in an email. “In sev-
eral open-ended responses,
we ‘exceeded expectations’
(and) we were also told the
event was ‘highly education-
al’ and ‘fun.’”
UDI spokeswoman Cindy
Miller said in an email that
she didn’t receive any neg-
ative comments “and quite
a few people walked away
saying, ‘I had no idea.’ I think
that’s the point — to give peo-
ple an experience along with
valuable information. Some
remarked how sophisticated
and complex dairy farming
is; the nutrition of cows alone
was surprising.”
Many of the questions the
Jacksons and IDA staff field-
ed centered on how well the
cows are cared for.
Jackson said one of the
biggest benefits of the tour
is that everything is so trans-
parent and people can see for
themselves how the animals
are treated.
“People are concerned
about that,” he said. “They
want to know that the ani-
mals are being taken care of,
that they are being treated hu-
manely, and we want to show
that off to them.”
As she and her husband
left the event, Justina Solonk-
er said she was impressed by
how well the cows are taken
care of.
“All the cows look healthy
and clean,” she said. “It looks
like they have a good system
going here.”
If participants take one
message with them, Jack-
son said, he wants it to be
that “dairy is really a family
business. All of the dairies in
Idaho are family-owned and
-operated. That personal fam-
ily attention goes into putting
milk on their table. That’s
what I hope they realize.”
Greener
Pastures
Doug Warnock
vegetation removal and (2)
moderate vegetation remov-
al. Prescribed burns were
done in September of 2015,
three weeks after the Soda
Fire, which was in Owyhee
County, Idaho, southwest of
Boise.
The study showed that
livestock grazing does af-
fect fire behavior metrics
and can be an effective tool
in wildfire suppression. The
study also found that grazing
was not always effective and
that as shrub canopy cover
increased, the benefits of
grazing decreased to a point
where at 25-30 percent can-
opy cover, there was no dif-
ference in flame height be-
tween grazed and ungrazed
treatments. This result indi-
cates that shrub cover must
be addressed in a fire brake
before livestock grazing will
have any benefit.
The study indicated there
was no difference in graz-
ing benefit between the two
time periods, which means
that grazing at the beginning
of the fire season can alter
fuel for the remainder of the
season.
Livestock can be an ef-
fective tool in wildfire sup-
pression, Schachtschneider
concluded. He said that
communication
between
ranchers and firefighters is
necessary to take full advan-
tage of livestock grazing’s
potential benefits in fire sup-
pression.
Doug Warnock, retired
from Washington State
University Extension, lives
on a ranch in the Touchet
River Valley where he writes
about and teaches grazing
management. He can be
contacted at dwarnock-
greenerpastures@gmail.
com.
UI research initiatives
support animal agriculture
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
JACKPOT, Nev. — Over
the past 15 to 20 years, Idaho
agriculture has moved from
primarily plant-based pro-
duction to embrace thriving
animal industries, including
dairy and beef production.
To meet the research and
education needs of animal
agriculture, the university
is shifting some of its focus
— led by the College of Ag-
ricultural and Life Scienc-
es dean, Michael Parrella,
who’s been on the job a little
over a year.
Parrella brought forth an
effort to transform the col-
lege, leading to several cat-
tle-centric initiatives, Mark
McGuire, the college’s as-
sociate dean of research,
told cattle producers during
the Idaho Cattle Associa-
tion Summer Round-Up on
Wednesday.
The college has nine re-
search and extension cen-
ters, with 66,000 experiment
units focused on plant-based
work and only 700 focused
on animal research — 400
beef, 200 sheep and 100
dairy.
“We need to better help
address animal issues,” he
said.
Environmental
health
and public opinion associ-
ated with animal production
are becoming increasingly
important, he said.
That has led to renewed
efforts to build an animal-re-
search facility in the Magic
Valley, where the majority
of the state’s animal agricul-
ture exists. The Center for
Agriculture, Food and the
Environment is a $45 mil-
lion project that will focus
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Mark McGuire, University
of Idaho associate dean of
research for the College of
Agricultural and Life Sci-
ences, tells cattle producers
about the university’s efforts
to advance the cattle industry
during the Idaho Cattle Asso-
ciation summer conference at
Jackpot, Nev., on June 21.
on environmental sustain-
ability.
“It’s critical, I think, to
address the issues out there,”
he said.
The facility will house a
2,000-cow dairy and proba-
bly a feedlot, with 1,000 to
2,000 acres for research on
alfalfa and corn production.
It’s planned to be within 30
miles of Twin Falls.
“We’re really going to
try to put Idaho on the map
with the largest research/ed-
ucation/outreach dairy in the
U.S. It will really be focused
on environmental science,”
he said.
The facility will operate
through public-private part-
nerships and, hopefully, fed-
eral grants. The university is
already moving ahead with
educational
partnerships
with the College of Southern
Idaho, BYU-Idaho and Boi-
se State University to offer
unique courses for under-
graduates and hopefully at-
tract more graduate students
to the University of Idaho.