April 20, 2018
CapitalPress.com
13
Producer targets big-ranch market by using genetics
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
NAMPA, Idaho — The
heartiness and durability of
Mick Boone’s bulls belie
their birthplace: compact,
suburban pasture land in part
of the growing Boise metro
area.
“They have been raised on
long-grass hay, and they are
range-ready,” he said.
Small producers tap cat-
tle breeding and genetics
data — via data bases, arti-
ficial-insemination catalogs,
scientific reporting and per-
son-to-person networking —
traditionally associated with
the industry’s biggest players,
who analyzed their own large
sample spaces over many de-
cades.
The approach helped the
Nampa-based Boone, 61,
build a premium herd.
“This information is all
available to the newest guy
with his first cow,” Boone
said. “It evens the playing
field for the little guy.”
Benton Glaze, University
of Idaho Extension beef cattle
Brad Carlson/Capital Press
Cattle producer Mick Boone of suburban Nampa, Idaho, evaluates an irrigation line for repair.
specialist in Twin Falls, sees
operations of various sizes
tapping sophisticated data.
“In general, producers are
taking a closer look at genet-
ics and using the tools avail-
able,” he said. DNA technol-
ogy and Expected Progeny
Difference trait analysis are
among these tools.
Glaze said that while buy-
ing an elite, expensive bull
who breeds 25 to 60 cows
may not be feasible for a small
operation with 15 to 20 cows,
“any producer can access elite
genetics by purchasing semen
and utilizing artificial-insemi-
nation techniques.”
David Bohnert, director
and professor at the Oregon
State University Eastern Or-
egon Agricultural Research
Center Burns and Union sta-
tions, said an extensive track
record from many offspring
was once needed to determine
the accuracy of an Expect-
ed Progeny Difference trait.
There are EPDs for everything
from growth rate and milk
production to calving ease and
carcass characteristics.
“With the DNA tools we
have now, we can get high-
er accuracy of the Expected
Progeny Difference,” Bohnert
said. And breed associations,
he said, have value indices
through which producers can
look at multi-trait selection
based on many years of data.
“Any size operation can
take advantage of EPDs and
their use,” Bohnert said. “And
producers should.”
Boone said he expects to
have 32 registered Angus cows
and heifers this year, up from
two around 2010. He built this
headcount over time, starting
when input costs were high, in
part by trading bulls for regis-
tered heifers.
He said he enjoys the chal-
lenge of breeding the most
feed-efficient animal.
“You never get satisfied,”
Boone said, “but in the last
four or five years I’ve real-
ly focused on breeding bulls
through carefully selected ge-
netics that will pass on the feed
efficiency, and yet produce a
quality carcass going to mar-
ket.”
He aims to provide quality
bulls and seed stock, with new-
er genetics and proven sires.
He breeds them to thrive in
desert climates, on rangeland
and in hilly or rocky terrain.
They stay a year or two before
he sells them to ranchers who
keep them five or six years.
“We breed and raise ranch-
stock bulls that have not been
creep-fed (grain-supplemented
while very young) or pam-
pered,” Boone said. “They
leave here with their working
clothes on.”
The idea is that the bull
gains weight at a slower rate
early on, but becomes a more
durable and productive adult
suited to rugged environments.
Boone aims to supply a ranch-
er with a bull that thrives, and
passes on desirable traits con-
sistently over time.
He grew up ranching, got
out of the industry during a
downturn, and got back into it
slowly. He kept his rancher’s
eye.
“We used to ranch just by
looks,” Boone said. “Now we
have the data to prove what we
see is actually going into the
carcass.”
OSU Extension gets go-ahead for
education center in Clackamas County
New building
will showcase
forestry, gardening
programs
Grant County PUD
Priest Rapids Dam near Desert Aire, Wash. The loss of adhesion
between concrete blocks poured at different times has been found
to be the cause of a small leak.
Dam leak blamed
on adhesion loss
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
DESERT AIRE, Wash. —
Initial analysis shows a loss
of bonding in a lift joint is
causing greater than normal
leaking at Priest Rapids Dam,
Grant County Public Utility
District officials say.
A lift joint is an area be-
tween two concrete blocks
poured at different times. In-
vestigative drilling has shown
a loss of bonding resulting in
a flow of 3 to 4 gallons per
minute through a lift joint
near the base of one of the
dam’s 22 spillway monoliths.
Monoliths are large ex-
panses of concrete supporting
piers holding spillway gates.
Concrete is porous so there
always is some leaking.
The monoliths are stable
but merit further investiga-
tion, the PUD said in a news
release. The dam continues
to generate electricity and
operate normally. There is no
threat to property or people,
the PUD said.
Many holes from the in-
vestigative drilling show no
leakage at all and others have
very low flow, said Christine
Pratt, PUD spokeswoman.
“As we continue to drill
additional holes, we’ve found
that measurable water pres-
sure and flow in the lift joint
has been reduced significant-
ly. This is a good sign because
it indicates that water that
was once backed up in the
lift joint is getting an escape
route through the new holes,
relieving the pressure inside
the structure,” Pratt said.
It also indicates that the
separation at the lift joint
probably doesn’t extend all
the way through the monolith,
she said.
During construction, from
1956 to 1961, the dam was
poured in different sections at
different times. The river ran
over some lift joints for a year
before the next lift joint was
poured on top of it, Pratt said.
Engineers suspect that sur-
faces may have been worn
smooth, not properly cleaned
and not roughed up prior to
the next pour on top of them,
causing poor adhesion, she
said.
Inspection drilling has oc-
curred through about half the
spillway and will continue
throughout remaining mono-
liths into May. The PUD of-
ficials will determine if rem-
edies, beside the drilling, are
needed.
Leaking was detected by
inspection drilling the morn-
ing of March 28 and the PUD
declared a non-failure emer-
gency. Reservoir water behind
the dam was lowered approx-
imately 3 feet. The reservoir
will remain at the lower level
of 481.5 to 484.5 feet above
sea level until inspection
work is completed. Maximum
elevation is 488 feet.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Oregon State University
Extension is one step closer
to a new building for its com-
munity programs in Clacka-
mas County.
County commissioners
unanimously approved the
new OSU Extension Ed-
ucation Center during a
work session April 3. The
22,000-square-foot facility
will be at the corner of War-
ner Milne and Beavercreek
roads in Oregon City, within
the Red Soils Business Park.
Mike Bondi, regional
administrator for OSU Ex-
tension and director of the
North Willamette Research
and Extension Center, said
the Education Center will
provide much-needed space
for programs to flourish —
including 4-H, home gar-
dening, forestry and family
nutrition.
“It’s going to be a great
resource for the communi-
ty,” Bondi said.
But first, OSU Extension
Courtesy of Mike Bondi/OSU Extension
Clackamas County commissioners have approved plans for a
new OSU Extension Education Center in Oregon City.
needs to secure building
permits from Oregon City,
a process that could take up
to four months and several
rounds of public comment.
If all goes smoothly, Bondi
said they hope to go out for
bid for construction by the
end of summer.
The project is expected to
cost about $10 million. Bon-
di said the local OSU Exten-
sion Service District should
have about $7 million set
aside when the building is
finished, and will raise the
rest either through private
fundraising or seek a bridge
loan from the county.
Once completed, Bondi
said the Education Center
will give faculty and staff
a big leg up in serving the
public.
OSU Extension is cele-
brating 100 years in Clack-
amas County. The program
has eight faculty and 16
support staff, and reaches
between 50,000 and 70,000
people per year.
Yet since 1982, extension
offices have been housed in
a relatively old and cramped
county building that has,
at various times, also been
used for the surveyor’s of-
fice and public health de-
partment. Bondi said that
building was not adequate to
meet their needs then, and it
is not adequate to meet their
needs now.
“Most everything is done
away from the office,” he
said of their current situation.
“We have to go find space
and move all our stuff. That’s
how we’ve operated for the
last 35 years.”
Voters formed the Clack-
amas County Extension and
4-H Service District in 2008,
which collects local taxes
to support OSU Extension
programs. It was then that
Bondi said a new building
became a serious possibility.
“We took that seriously
and started putting money
aside,” he said.
By 2014, OSU Exten-
sion began designing what
the facility would look like.
What they came up with was
a two-story building with a
150-seat meeting room, test
kitchen, outdoor greenhouse
and show gardens and a
plant diagnostic testing lab
for Master Gardeners.
“We’re pretty excited
about what the possibilities
for the building will be,”
Bondi said.
The Education Center
will also be a showcase for
the region’s wood products
and sustainable forestry
practices, Bondi said. With
more than 3,000 private for-
estland owners across the
county, he said forestry is a
big driver of the local econ-
omy.
“It’s going to be jewel
in our crown, as well as the
community’s crown,” Bondi
said.
Goats to be topic of 2-day WSU workshop
Farm visit to cap
classroom talks
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Goats will be the subject of a two-day
workshop presented by two Washington
State University animal experts April 23-
24 in Port Hadlock in Jefferson County.
WSU Cowlitz County Extension Di-
rector Gary Fredricks said he hoped the 12
hours of instruction will be useful to goat
owners and people thinking about raising
goats.
“I think we’ll have people at all levels.
I like to believe we’ll have stuff at all lev-
els, he said.
Fredricks and WSU Northwest Live-
stock and Dairy Regional Specialist Susan
Kerr have co-presented goat workshops
before, but not for several years. The last
workshop attracted 21 people, Fredricks
said. He said he expects most who attend
will be interested in raising goats as a hob-
by, though others may raise, or eventually
raise, goats for milk or meat.
“Goat is a pretty tasty dish,” Fredricks
said.
As a smaller animal, goats are less of
an investment than cows and easy to work
with, he said. “Goats are very personable.”
Much of the workshop will be on sub-
jects related to caring for goats economi-
cally.
“I think foremost everybody wants to
have a healthy goat,” Fredricks said. “And
then it helps if you don’t have to spend a
whole lot of money on it.”
After classroom instruction on the sec-
ond day, participants will go to a farm in
nearby Chimacum for hands-on training
on tasks such as hoof trimming and tube
feeding .
“If you’ve never done it, it’s hard to
have someone just tell you about it, and
then do it on your own,” Fredricks said.
Topics Fredricks and Kerr will talk
about reproduction and kidding, nutrition
and pasture, milking and mastitis, and
health and disease.
Fredricks said there will be time to ask
questions.
The cost is $40 per person. The
workshop will be at the WSU Jefferson
County Extension classroom, 97 Oak
Bay Road, Port Hadlock. For more in-
formation and to register go online to
goatintensive.brownpapertickets.com
9th Circuit preserves injunction against state beef council
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A preliminary injunction
that prevents the Montana
Beef Council from spending
beef checkoff dollars on ad-
vertising will remain effective
under a federal appeals court
ruling.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals has rejected a re-
quest by USDA to overturn
the injunction, which was im-
posed last year by U.S. Dis-
trict Judge Brian Morris.
Ranchers pay $1 per head
to the USDA when selling cat-
tle. The agency oversees the
national beef checkoff pro-
gram to fund promotions and
research, but half that money
goes to state beef councils.
Morris ruled that the Mon-
tana Beef Council is a private
corporation whose speech
can’t be subsidized with
public dollars collected from
ranchers.
The lawsuit challeng-
ing the constitutionality of
the Montana Beef Council’s
spending of checkoff dol-
lars was filed by the Ranch-
ers-Cattlemen Action Legal
Fund, United Stockgrowers of
America.
R-CALF hopes the case
will ultimately prohibit beef
checkoff dollars from funding
other state beef councils, with
the aim of cutting off money
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press File
Steaks are displayed in the meat case alongside the beef check-
off’s “Get Your Grill On” promotional signage. The 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals has allowed an injunction against the Montana
Beef Council advertising to stand pending a review of the case.
to the Federation division of
the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association.
The NCBA has supported
federal policies that R-CALF
believes harm independent
cattle producers.
The 9th Circuit has now
ruled the injunction against
the Montana Beef Council
was based on correct legal
standards or factual findings.
Because Morris’ ruling
was not an “abuse of discre-
tion,” it should be allowed to
stand, a three-judge panel of
the 9th Circuit said in a 2-1
decision. Using public money
for advertising by the govern-
ment is constitutional because
that speech can be influenced
by the political process.
Unlike cases where USDA
more directly spent checkoff
money, however, the agen-
cy “does not appoint any
members of the Montana
Beef Council, does not have
pre-approval authority over
the MBC’s advertising, and
may only decertify after an
action has been taken,” the
9th Circuit said.
The 9th Circuit’s ruling
was issued in an unpublished
memorandum, which means
it doesn’t set a precedent for
other court cases.
In a dissenting opin-
ion, Circuit Judge Andrew
Hurwitz said the injunction
wrongly ignored a “memo-
randum of understanding”
between USDA and the Mon-
tana Beef Council, which
made clear the federal agency
has control over the private
organization’s spending.