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14 CapitalPress.com October 27, 2017 Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Dairy/Livestock Managing manure, mud a challenge By CRAIG REED For the Capital Press LOOKINGGLASS, Ore. — Whether it is for com- mercial or comfort reasons, Oregon State University Ex- tension specialists stressed during a recent workshop that management of mud and manure is important for animals. Shelby Filley, a livestock and forage specialist, and Sara Runkel, a small farms specialist, conducted the Mud & Manure Manage- ment workshop Oct. 11-12. They shared information during a three-hour evening classroom session and then led the participants to three different properties in the Lookingglass Valley west of Roseburg, Ore., the next morning to observe pros and cons when dealing with mud and manure. The respective sites were Craig Reed/For the Capital Press Laurie Phillips, far left, talks to participants in a Mud and Manure Management workshop about is- sues with those materials outside a horse barn in the Lookingglass, Ore., area. Phillips talked about the importance of having a solid ground foundation at openings to the barn. home to commercial pigs, recreational horses and com- mercial cattle. “Some people are doing a really good job of dealing with those materials and oth- ers are at a loss of what to do,” Filley said of manure and mud. “It can be expen- sive dealing with them, but for a commercial operation it pays. And people do spend money to provide comfort for their pet animals. “This workshop is just a chance to get people to think about possible problems with mud and manure,” she added. “Most people don’t think about mud until it is ankle deep,” said Runkel. The management of mud and manure is especially important in western Ore- gon and Washington. Win- ter rains in these regions add a lot of moisture to the ground, but it usually isn’t cold enough for long enough to freeze the ground for an extended time, which would eliminate muddy messes. Data from the OSU Extension show that a 1,000-pound cow produces 7 cubic yards of manure ev- ery six months, a horse pro- duces 5.5 cubic yards every six months, a pig 1.5 cubic yards, a sheep a half cubic yard and a chicken a quarter cubic yard. For some of those ani- mals, standing around in the muck can have an impact. The extension specialists explained that animals can lose up to 7 percent of a possible weight gain when standing in hoof-deep mud. That percentage increases up to 35 percent when the mud is belly deep. Those percentages were deter- mined by a study conducted by Kansas State University and the University of Ne- braska. Audit finds shortcomings in USDA foreign meat oversight Agency disputes some characterization in internal report By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press An internal USDA audit has found shortcomings in the agency’s system for en- suring foreign meat and egg inspections are equivalent to those in the U.S. The USDA Food Safety and Inspections Service is charged with ensuring meat and egg products import- ed into the U.S. are subject to equivalent protections against food safety hazards. Auditors from USDA’s Office of Inspector General said the agency has a “ro- bust system” for scrutinizing countries that apply to export meat and eggs to the U.S. but found fault with its ongoing USDA A USDA Food Safety Inspection Service inspector examines a shipment of imported frozen meat at the Port of New Orleans, La. An agency audit has found shortcomings in the agency’s system for ensuring foreign meat and egg inspections are equivalent to those in the U.S. monitoring of trading part- ners once they’ve qualified. The audit said that “with- out more robust controls” for determining the equivalence of foreign inspections, the FSIS program is “vulnerable to weaknesses that increase the risk of adulterated or unsafe meat, poultry, or egg products being imported into the United States.” In response to the audit, FSIS said it was making im- provements to enact many of the audit’s recommendations, though the agency disagreed with some of the characteri- zations in the report. The report claimed FSIS didn’t consistently follow its own policy for auditing coun- tries based on performance assessments, for example. Under the agency’s sys- tem, countries are rated as “adequate,” “average,” or “well-performing,” the high- est ranking. Of the 31 countries al- lowed to ship meat and eggs into the U.S., 24 were rated as “adequate” but none re- ceived annual audits between 2012 and 2015 per FSIS poli- cy, the report said. Those “adequate” rated nations included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Poland, Spain, United King- dom and Uruguay. The seven countries rat- ed as “average” — Austria, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Nicaragua and San Marino — should have un- dergone an audit every two years, but only three of them met this requirement, the re- port said. No countries were rated as“well-performing.” Officials from FSIS have been inconsistent in their audit procedures, such as not completing checklists at foreign meat and egg estab- lishments due to time con- straints, the report said. They also had different timeframes for documenta- tion requests from establish- ments and laboratories, with some asking for 30 days of records while others asked for up to six months of re- cords, according to auditors. The process for deter- mining whether foreign “in- dividual sanitary measures” were equivalent to those in the U.S. “was not clearly or concisely documented,” the report said. Study: Preliminary data show cattle, sage grouse can coexist By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press MOSCOW, Idaho — Spring cattle grazing doesn’t appear to adversely affect sage grouse nesting success on public lands, according to initial findings of an ongoing, exhaustive research project involving ranchers throughout Idaho. The planned decade-long study has concluded its fourth year. It is led by University of Idaho professor Courtney Conway, who also serves as director of the U.S. Geologi- cal Survey Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit — a partnership of UI, the U.S. Department of Inte- rior and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Conway described the study as “the most rigorous and thorough of its kind in an unprecedented way” and said it should provide a more sci- entific basis for future Bureau of Land Management grazing policies in sage grouse habitat. Courtesy of Courtney Conway Peter Williams and Jill Wussow hold a pair of sage grouse captured for collaring as part of an ongoing study analyzing how sage grouse and cattle coexist on public lands throughout Idaho. The study should help the Bureau of Land Management update its grazing policies. Eight ranchers using pub- lic lands inhabited by sage grouse south of Bruneau, south of Twin Falls, south of Burley, near Challis and near Arco are participating and have agreed to “substan- tially change the way they graze.” The researchers are analyzing different grazing scenarios in 15 pastures, ranging from 2 to 10 square miles each. Conway explained the study has shown some sage grouse behavior patterns can’t be discerned by study- ing small areas. They spent two years gathering baseline data under current ranching practices for each allotment. Beginning in the study’s third year, ranchers were asked to stop grazing a pas- ture as a control. Other pastures alternat- ed between spring grazing and resting in even and odd years, or were grazed during both the spring and fall be- fore resting. “Compared to pastures that were rested that spring, we aren’t seeing a difference in sage grouse nesting suc- cess in (grazed pastures),” Conway said. However, Conway’s data suggest tall grasses improve chick survival, though the lack of impact from cattle could be explained by some sage grouse choosing poor nesting locations. He’s seen no evidence that grouse have a preference for areas either avoided or grazed by cattle. Conway’s team will also include weather data in its analysis. “The goal is to find where those tipping points are so policy can be set,” Conway said. Karen Launchbaugh, di- rector of UI’s Rangeland Center, who is studying grass utilization by cattle involved in the study, said some areas in each allot- ment have been fenced to compare the health of veg- etation that’s been grazed against areas cattle can’t ac- cess. Though it’s too early to draw solid conclusions from the study, Launchbaugh is at least pleased there have been no “big red flags” suggesting cattle and sage grouse can’t coexist. The study has a rough- ly $500,000 annual budget, funded by the BLM, IDFG, Idaho Cattle Association, Public Lands Council, West- ern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and Great Basin Landscape Conserva- tion Cooperative. 43-1/102 Dairy Markets Lee Mielke Cheese prices rebound slightly; butter down By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press M id-October dairy prices at the Chi- cago Mercantile Exchange were down across the board as traders awaited Friday afternoon’s September Milk Production report. The cheddar blocks closed Friday at $1.67 per pound, down 3 cents on the week but 2 cents above a year ago, with 13 cars selling on the week. The barrels finished at $1.64, down 3 3/4-cents on the week but 7 cents above a year ago, on 27 sales for the week. Blocks jumped 4 1/4-cents Monday, as traders absorbed the slightly bullish Milk Pro- duction report and awaited the afternoon’s September Cold Storage data, but were unchanged Tuesday, holding at $1.7125. The barrels were up 2 cents Monday and jumped 4 cents Tuesday, hitting $1.70. Midwest cheese producers report continuing declines in milk availability, says Dairy Market News. Western cheese supplies are mixed. Some processors have lower inven- tories while others have plen- tiful supplies. Most manufac- turing plants are running close to full. Spot butter closed Friday at $2.35 per pound, down 2 1/2-cents on the week but 59 cents above a year ago when it hit the bottom for 2016 at $1.76. Monday’s butter dropped 3 cents and it plunged 6 1/2-cents Tuesday, to $2.2550, the lowest price since May 11, 2017. The global market for milk fat continues to be tight, according to the latest Live- stock, Dairy and Poultry Out- look, and DMN says retail butter orders remain robust. FC Stone says, “It’s a bit of a Catch-22 at the moment for butter, we’re nearly past our peak seasonal demand and international prices are falling but the marketplace remains bullish heading into 2018 with futures holding above $2.40.” Western butter makers say production is ramping up for the holiday push but a few say cream is “a little tight.” Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk closed Friday at 74 cents per pound, down 3 1/4-cents on the week, lowest price since April 19, 2016, and is 14 cents below a year ago. The powder gained a pen- ny and a half Monday but gave back three-quarters Tuesday, slipping to 74 3/4-cents per pound. Milk up 1.2 percent September milk output was up for the 45th consecu- tive month, but not as much as expected. Preliminary data show output in the top 23 pro- ducing states at 16.2 billion pounds, up 1.2 percent from September 2016, with the 50-state total at 17.2 billion pounds, up 1.1 percent. Revisions added 8 million pounds to the August 23-state estimate, now put at 17.0 bil- lion pounds, up 2.2 percent from a year ago. Milk cow numbers totaled 8.74 million head in the 23 states, down 3,000 from Au- gust but 73,000 more than a year ago. The 50-state total, at 9.4 million head, is down 4,000 from August but 69,000 above a year ago. Output per cow aver- aged 1,851 pounds in the 23 states, up just 6 pounds. California output was below year ago levels for the ninth consecutive month and down considerably, at 3.4 percent, due to 12,000 fewer cows milked and a 50 pound loss per cow. Wis- consin was up just 0.8 per- cent, on a 15-pound gain per cow. Cow numbers were unchanged.