14 CapitalPress.com
October 27, 2017
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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.