10 CapitalPress.com
February 9, 2018
$30,000 stock dogs create buzz at Red Bluff Bull Sale
By TIM HEARDEN
For the Capital Press
RED BLUFF, Calif. —
While much of the buzz in
the Don Smith Pavilion on
Jan. 27 centered on a pair
of $30,000 cattle dogs auc-
tioned the day before, the
record spending spree didn’t
extend to this year’s bull
sales.
Bidders in the finale of the
five-day Red Bluff Bull and
Gelding Sale shelled out near-
ly $1.2 million for the 305
bulls that paraded through the
arena — an average of nearly
$3,923 per bull.
The total topped last
year’s $1.1 million paid for
288 bulls — for an average
of $3,819 — but fell short of
the nearly $1.49 million col-
lected in 2016. The 305 bulls
auctioned two years ago aver-
aged $4,885, down from the
Tim Hearden/For the Capital Press
A bull is auctioned Jan. 27 in the Tehama District Fairgrounds Don
Smith Pavilion, capping off the five-day Red Bluff Bull and Gelding
Sale. Bidders spent nearly $1.2 million on 305 bulls.
2015 average of $6,554 amid
a record $1.56 million haul.
Rancher Larry Stone of
Canyonville, Ore., sat in the
bleachers with his catalog
in hand and was prepared to
make an offer “if the right bull
comes along,” he said.
By late morning, he re-
marked that the prices were
about average, but he was
impressed with this year’s
choices.
“Good quality,” he said.
“Really good quality.”
The top-selling bull was
the show’s supreme champi-
on, a Charolais sold by Card-
ey Ranches of Turlock, Calif.,
to Gary Silva of Herald, Ca-
lif., for $10,000.
The runner-up in terms of
price was an Angus bull sold
by Cardey to Shufelberger
Ranch of Millville, Calif., for
$8,000.
The 77th annual bull sale
was the last of four auc-
tions held at Red Bluff’s
fairgrounds. The highlight
of the week was the Jan. 26
stock dog sale, which took in
$143,500 for 16 dogs — an
average of $8,968 per dog.
The Lightning 7 Cattle
Co. in Preston, Idaho, and the
Lazy T Ranch in Leona Val-
ley, Calif., tied for a record by
paying $30,000 apiece for fe-
male border collies Gurdy and
Rose, respectively.
“They were all really, real-
ly good,” sale manager Adam
Owens said of the dogs.
Last year’s sale of 14 cat-
tle dogs fetched a total of
$85,750, an average of $6,125
per dog.
The top dog in 2017 sold
for $20,000 to El Rancho de
Casey in Jarrell, Texas.
Last week’s bidding began
with the 10th annual online
feeder and replacement heifer
sale on Jan. 25, in which near-
ly 80 lots were sold.
Lot prices in the Western
Video Market-hosted sale
topped out at $171.50 per
hundredweight for weaned
heifers and $199 per hun-
dredweight for weaned steers,
New housing option may meet needs of farmers, workers
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE,
Wash.
— A Seattle startup compa-
ny that makes small shelters
for disaster victims and the
homeless is pitching its units
for farmworker housing.
Pallet, a Social Purpose
Corporation, displayed its
product at industry meetings
this winter.
As a result of those meet-
ings, 70 to 75 growers in
Washington, Oregon and
Canada have expressed in-
terest and some will place
orders when the units are
approved by the state Depart-
ment of Health, which should
be soon, said Amy King, Pal-
let CEO.
“It’s great for growers to
grow their housing capac-
ity quickly,” King said. “If
they have a common area
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Amy King, CEO of Pallet, displays a housing unit at a labor con-
ference in Wenatchee, Wash., on Jan. 17. A slightly larger model
meets requirements to house two H-2A-visa guestworkers.
(of kitchen, eating area and
restrooms) and want to add
housing for 20 more work-
ers, they can put that up in a
day.”
Pallet has been in business
18 months. It sold 40 of its
8-by-8-foot units to the city
of Tacoma several months
ago, half for the homeless
and half for disaster pre-
paredness, King said.
A Utah tribal community
bought one unit.
“Our original design was
for disaster survivors and first
responders but since then we
branched into the homeless
and agricultural workers,”
she said.
A company employ-
ee tested a unit in the
Wenatchee area last summer
and growers became inter-
ested, King said.
Four bunks per unit
meet code for disaster re-
lief and the homeless but
50 square feet per per-
son is the requirement for
H-2A-visa farm guestworker
housing.
Pallet has designed a
Oregon
Hazelnut
Industries
CEO quits
100-square-foot model for
two workers, she said.
Units are lightweight,
durable and portable and
come with their own struc-
tural floors so they don’t re-
quire foundations or concrete
slabs, she said.
They have a 10-year lifes-
pan and come with heating,
air conditioning, electrical
wiring and bunks.
The polypropylene hon-
eycomb core and fiberglass
siding are built by Plascore,
in Zeeland, Mich.
Pricing is competitive
with manufactured and stick-
built housing that many tree
fruit companies have turned
to for H-2A housing, King
said.
The
100-square-foot,
two-person unit sells for
$5,950 and a larger sev-
en-person model is $13,000,
she said.
Geoff Horning says
he will pursue
private business
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Oregon judge refuses to dismiss $1 billion timber class action
Ruling allows case to
proceed, but is likely to
be appealed by state
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A judge has refused to dismiss a
class action lawsuit seeking more
than $1 billion from Oregon’s gov-
ernment for insufficient logging of
state forestlands.
Linn County filed a complaint in
2016 accusing Oregon’s forest man-
agers of breaching a contract to max-
imize timber harvests from forests
donated to the state by county gov-
ernments.
According to the lawsuit, Oregon
began prioritizing environmental pro-
tection and recreational values over
logging due to a policy change in
1998.
The lawsuit was certified as a class
action by Linn County Circuit Judge
Daniel Murphy. The lawsuit included
14 counties and more than 100 taxing
districts as plaintiffs in the case.
Attorneys for Oregon raised sev-
eral grounds for dismissing the law-
suit that have now been rejected by
Murphy.
The judge has ruled against the
state on a particularly controversial
point that’s resurfaced several times
during the litigation: Whether the
doctrine of “sovereign immunity”
prohibits county governments from
suing the state of Oregon.
Initially, Murphy allowed the
case to proceed despite the state’s
sovereign immunity claim, but later
issued a ruling that it’s a valid de-
fense.
The judge withdrew that opinion
and has now again rejected Oregon’s
motion to dismiss, referencing his
original ruling that counties can en-
force their contract rights against the
state government in court under these
circumstances.
“He’s back to where he’s histor-
ically been in the case,” said John
DiLorenzo, attorney for the county
plaintiffs.
As part of the ruling, the judge
also threw out Oregon’s argument
that counties can’t seek to “maxi-
mize timber revenues” because that
term wasn’t included in their con-
tracts.
Oregon’s government is required
to manage the forestland for the
“greatest permanent value,” but this
term is ambiguous and may be in-
terpreted based on the circumstances
under which the contract was made,
Murphy said.
The judge also disagreed with Or-
egon’s attorneys that future damages
in this case were “too speculative” to
be decided, since “forestry experts
make these estimates all the time,”
and dismissed other motions filed by
the state.
Frank Hammond, an attorney
representing Oregon, said he cannot
comment on pending litigation.
DiLorenzo, the plaintiffs’ attor-
ney, said he’s pleased with the ruling,
which removed the remaining obsta-
cles standing in the way of a trial.
For much of the litigation, Ore-
gon’s Board of Forestry — which
oversees the defendant Oregon De-
partment of Forestry — has treated
the case with derision, DiLorenzo
said.
“This should be a signal to state
policymakers the court is taking this
case quite seriously,” DiLorenzo
said. “I hope this is a wakeup call the
Board of Forestry might very well
lose this case.”
The plaintiffs are amenable to Or-
egon filing an “interlocutory appeal”
to challenge Murphy’s most recent
ruling before the Oregon Court of
Appeals, DiLorenzo said.
That way, the Court of Appeals
can ensure that assumptions about
sovereign immunity and other legal
issues are correct before the begin-
ning of trial, which may last a month,
he said.
“From an efficiency perspective,
it makes sense to get direction from
the Court of Appeals first,” he said.
“Everybody is going to invest a lot of
time and effort in this case.”
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above last year’s $143 and
$173, respectively.
Two years ago, winning
bids topped out at $287 and
$299, respectively.
The 65 geldings auc-
tioned on Jan. 26 generated
$771,700, with an average
price of $11,892.
This was an improvement
over last year, when 69 geld-
ings brought in $682,750,
or an average of $9,895 per
horse.
James Butler of Center,
Texas, paid the top price this
year at $29,500.
For the first time this year,
all of the auctions included
online bidding.
The sales were held amid a
packed week that also includ-
ed a trade show with 175 ven-
dors, a Western art contest, a
kickoff breakfast, beef forums
and seminars and a bull riding
competition.
After just five months
on the job, Geoff Horning is
stepping down as CEO of the
Oregon Hazelnut Industry.
Horning,
who was hired
Sept. 1, 2017,
will instead
go into pri-
vate business
and is in the
final
stages
Geoff Horning of acquiring a
full-service as-
sociation management com-
pany based in Portland.
Horning declined to name
the company until the deal is
completed. He said it was an
opportunity he simply could
not turn down.
“This is a game-changer
for my family’s future,” said
Horning, a native Oregonian
and graduate of Linfield Col-
lege.
Before joining the hazelnut
organization, Horning direct-
ed Oregon Aglink, a nonprofit
organization that promotes
Oregon agriculture and seeks
to bridge the urban-rural di-
vide, for 11 years. Before that,
he managed trade shows and
publications for the Oregon
Association of Nurseries.
Horning said the hazel-
nut business is entering an
exciting time in Oregon, and
experiencing unprecedented
growth.
“My only regret is that I
didn’t get a chance to put my
mark on an industry that I
think is about to explode and
be amazing over the next 20
years,” he said.
The Oregon Hazelnut In-
dustry offices are in Aurora,
Ore., including the Hazelnut
Marketing Board, the Oregon
Hazelnut Commission, the
Nut Growers Society of Ore-
gon, Washington and British
Columbia, and the Associated
Oregon Hazelnut Industries.
Former CEO Polly Owen
intended to retire when Horn-
ing arrived, though she stayed
on to help with the transition.
She said it is too early to
know if they will hire a new
replacement.
In the meantime, Owen
said the industry is not going
to slow down in the least.
“We wish (Horning) well,
and we are ready to keep go-
ing,” Owen said.
Oregon hazelnut growers
have more than doubled their
acres in the last seven years,
Owen said, thanks in part to
research and development of
new disease-resistant variet-
ies. The added volume has
helped Oregon hazelnuts to be
more competitive in the glob-
al market.
The overwhelming ma-
jority of all U.S. hazelnuts
— 99.9 percent, according to
Owen — are grown in Ore-
gon.