May 11, 2018
CapitalPress.com
11
Washington moves to curb elk hoof disease
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Capital Press File
Onions dry in a field near
Nampa, Idaho.
Idaho sets
meetings on
food-safety
rulemaking
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Idaho State Department
of Agriculture this month plans
meetings on the state’s new
handling of the federal Food
Safety and Modernization Act’s
rule related to produce.
Comments at the meetings
will influence the adminis-
trative rule-making process
prompted by state legislation
passed this year.
FSMA’s Produce Safety
Rule means some farms will
be inspected. ISDA said this is
the first time food safety has
been regulated at the produc-
tion-farm level.
A law the Idaho Legislature
passed in March means ISDA
will administer the federal Pro-
duce Safety Rule and conduct
the inspections for the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration,
as the state’s agriculture indus-
try requested.
The federal Produce Safe-
ty Rule took effect in January
2016 and mandated full com-
pliance by many farms starting
in January of this year. FSMA
requires food-safety inspec-
tions in some instances for pro-
duction agriculture.
The rule establishes sci-
ence-based minimum standards
for the safe growing, harvest-
ing, packing, and holding of
fruits and vegetables for hu-
man consumption, according
to ISDA, which three years ago
formed an advisory committee
on the rule. The minimum stan-
dards were developed to ensure
the safe production and har-
vesting of produce at domestic
and foreign farms.
House Bill 537, which
the Idaho Legislature passed
March 20 and which takes ef-
fect July 1, shifts FDA-con-
tracted inspections of food pro-
cessors to ISDA from the state
Department of Health and Wel-
fare by Fiscal Year 2020. And
significantly for farms facing
on-farm inspections under the
federal Produce Safety Rule,
the new state law authorizes
ISDA to administer and enforce
the rule.
Idaho’s agriculture indus-
try requested the Idaho State
Department of Agriculture im-
plement the federal Produce
Safety Rule for FDA in Idaho
largely because the industry
already has relationships with
the state agency, ISDA Chief
of Staff Pamm Juker said in an
interview.
The federal rule — which
pertains to on-farm growing,
picking or harvesting and hold-
ing produce that can be eaten
raw — will be incorporated
into the Idaho rule, and public
input will be considered, she
said.
Juker said the current
rule-making process involves
on-farm produce safety reg-
ulation only. A rule-making
process for food processors or
manufacturers would be carried
out separately if necessary, she
said.
Comments are due May 31.
Meetings are slated for:
• 9 a.m. to noon Mountain
time on May 15 at Clarion Inn,
1249 Tapadera Ave., Ontario,
Ore., a key city for the fruit and
vegetable industry in southeast
Oregon and southwest Idaho .
• 10 a.m. to noon Pacific
time on May 22 at Fairfield Inn
and Suites, 1000 W. Pullman
Road, Moscow, Idaho.
• 10 a.m. to noon Mountain
time on May 29 at Best Western
Plus Burley Inn, 800 N. Over-
land Road, Burley.
Direct comments to Juker
by mail at the Idaho Depart-
ment of Agriculture, 2270 Old
Penitentiary Road, Boise, ID
83712. Phone: (208) 332-8500.
Email comments to fsma@
isda.idaho.gov. Email questions
to _rulesinfo@isda.idaho.gov.
Up to 20 elk infected with
a hoof disease in south-central
Washington will be shot by
wildlife managers this month
to contain a bacteria associated
with digital dermatitis in cattle,
sheep and goats.
Treponeme-associated hoof
disease, seen in elk in Western
Washington for more than de-
cade, was found in April in the
Trout Lake Valley of Klickitat
County. It was the first case in
Washington east of the Cas-
cades.
The state Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s hoof dis-
ease coordinator, Kyle Garri-
son, said Wednesday the de-
partment has no evidence that
the bacteria is being passed
from elk to livestock. Re-
searchers, however, have “big
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
An elk made lame by treponeme-associated hoof disease limps
in northwest Oregon. The infection has spread to south-central
Washington, where wildlife managers will euthanize up to 20
infected elk in an effort to contain the bacteria.
knowledge gaps” in how the
disease spreads, he said.
While livestock made lame
by the bacteria can be treated
with foot baths, euthanizing in-
fected elk is the only practical
way to keep the disease from
continuing to spread eastward,
Garrison said.
“We’ve never attempted
this before for this disease,”
he said. “We don’t know how
well it will work.”
The hoof disease emerged
in the Mount St. Helens elk
herd in southwest Washington
in the late 1990s. The disease
deforms hooves and causes
severe limping and has been
confirmed in elk in 11 counties
west of the Cascades.
Partly motivated by con-
cern over livestock, state
lawmakers have instructed
Washington State University
to search for a way to stop the
disease. The school is inter-
viewing candidates to lead the
project.
The disease also been found
in Western Oregon as far south
as Marion and Benton coun-
ties, according to the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life. There have scattered cases
in northeast Oregon, according
to the department.
The infection has been
found in only the two states,
said WSU veterinary professor
Tom Besser, who has served
on a state work group on the
disease. “It’s a local, local
problem,” he said.
Besser said the risk of the
bacteria moving from elk to
livestock is unknown. “I think
we know too little to have a
very informed opinion right
now,” he said.
Wildlife managers learned
the disease had crossed the
Cascade crest when an elk
with a deformed hoof was hit
and killed by a vehicle in early
April.
In mid-April, department
employees counted at least
seven limping elk in the val-
ley. They shot one animal to
obtain a hoof. Tests at the
USDA National Animal Dis-
ease Center in Ames, Iowa,
and at Colorado State Uni-
versity confirmed that the
bacteria, associated with
moist ground, had spread to
a drier climate.
Showtime highlights Spokane Junior Livestock Show
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — The best
part of raising a market
animal is showing it, say
participants in the annual
Junior Livestock Show of
Spokane.
“Putting time and effort
in and seeing it pay off,”
said Cade Lyyski, a high
school senior in Ellensburg,
Wash., when asked his fa-
vorite part.
Lyyski showed the Grand
Champion FFA Market
Steer. It was his 10th year at
the show.
“It’s something my mom,
aunt and uncle (did) when
they were kids, so it’s kind
of a tradition at this point,”
he said.
He hoped to sell his steer,
although his family tends to
buy its steers back as the
family meat supply for the
year, he said.
“Fitting and showing is
my favorite, because it’s
based on you, so I can con-
trol what I do,” said Madi-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Cade Lyyski, a high school senior from Ellenbsurg, Wash., ties up
his steer May 3 after receiving the Grand Champion FFA Market
Steer prize during the Junior Livestock Show of Spokane. He
recommends participants work hard and do their best. “Don’t get
down on yourself, just keep after it,” he said. “Obviously, keep
your head level. In times of winning, don’t get too cocky. In times
of loss, don’t pout. Just kind of be a good sport, I guess.”
son Dixon, a 10th-grader
from Pomeroy, Wash., who
was showing and selling
beef cattle. “Market is based
on how my cattle look, pre-
paring them, making sure
they’ve had enough to eat,
are the right weight and they
look good.”
She’s been showing in
Spokane since she was in
third grade. She hoped to
get about $3 per pound to
cover her costs.
“As it starts to get close
to the show, you’re work-
ing with them every day so
they’re calm and know what
you want in the ring,” she
said. “It takes a lot of time
but it’s fun and it’s worth it,
because you get to come to
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Austynn Brash and Arena Wells, both third-graders from Cheney,
Wash., clean and brush their animal May 3 during the Junior
Livestock Show of Spokane.
the fair. I love coming here.
... It’s a great experience.”
Ty Davis, seventh-grad-
er at Lakeland Junior High
School in Rathdrum, Idaho,
showed a heifer he plans to
keep to breed. His father,
Eddie Davis, said they have
a calf sale every fall, selling
70 calves.
This was Ty’s fifth year
showing at the Spokane show.
While the show is one of
his favorite parts, he said he
also likes calving season.
“You do have to wake
up in the middle of the
night to make sure no one’s
having a baby, but it’s that
moment when one of them
is having a baby ... when
you get to deliver a calf,
that’s always a nice feel-
ing,” he said.
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