10 CapitalPress.com
November 2, 2018
Livestock
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By DOUG WARNOCK
Greener Pastures
D
oes healthy soil
promote productive
pasture, or does a
productive pasture result in
healthy soil? The answer
is they go hand-in-hand. A
well-managed pasture will
promote healthy, productive
soil.
Grazing managers, like
other crop producers, should
pay close attention to their
soil and its health. After all,
grazing managers are grass
or forage farmers who use
grazing animals to harvest
their forage crop. The health
and vigor of the forage crop
is key to its productivity
and longevity. It is import-
ant that grazing managers
devote time to looking at
the soil and understanding
what is going on in the soil
to support the plants’ vigor
and growth.
Soil is healthiest when
the soil surface is covered
with a combination of grow-
ing plants and plant residue.
The plants and plant residue
protect the soil from eroding
and provide a healthy habi-
tat for the many organisms
that live in the soil.
Soil is the home for
earthworms, bacteria, fungi
and other small and micro-
scopic forms of life. For
these organisms to be func-
tional and healthy, they need
to have moisture and organ-
ic matter. Active, growing
plants that are partially har-
vested and re-growing on a
regular basis contribute nec-
essary food and habitat for
soil organisms.
The growing plants con-
tribute decaying organic
matter, moisture and cy-
cle minerals that make for
healthy soil. Healthy soil is
the world’s greatest carbon
sink and reservoir of water.
Regenerating and sustain-
ing healthy soil is one of
the most important ways to
achieve a healthy ecosys-
tem.
Grazing animals provide
one of the most effective
tools to regenerate and sus-
tain healthy soil. Properly
managed grazing animals
harvest enough plant tissue
to stimulate plant regrowth,
deposit important miner-
als and organic matter and
Greener
Pastures
Doug Warnock
break down soil surface
crusts to improve water pen-
etration.
Proper management will
include a planned, adap-
tive management approach
to grazing. It encompasses
higher stock density, limit-
ed plant exposure time, ad-
equate plant recovery time
and adaptive decision-mak-
ing. Higher stock density
results in more uniform
utilization of the forage,
greater animal impact on
the soil surface and uniform
depositing of minerals and
moisture from the animal’s
digestive system.
Limiting the time of
plant exposure to grazing
reduces the chance of over-
grazing plants and insures
that plants have adequate
tissue to support regrowth.
Animals, either staying
too long or returning to a
pasture too soon, reduce
plant viability and make
it harder for the plants to
survive.
Pasture ecosystems are
complex, biological enti-
ties that are subject to many
factors. It is difficult for the
manager to have planned
for all the many things that
might happen during the
grazing season. Therefore,
regular monitoring will
reveal times when adjust-
ments may need to be made
in order to achieve the re-
sults intended.
A planned, adaptive
management approach to
grazing will result in healthy
pasture ecosystems that sup-
port healthy soil and vig-
orous plants, which cycle
carbon and retain moisture.
Regenerated grasslands sup-
port healthy life of all forms
and help to create a healthy
planet.
Doug Warnock, retired
from Washington State Uni-
versity Extension, lives on a
ranch in the Touchet River
Valley where he writes
about and teaches grazing
management. He can be
contacted at dwarnock-
greenerpastures@gmail.
com.
Industry leaders talk about disaster response
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
WALLA WALLA, Wash.
— Fallout from a foot-and-
mouth disease outbreak in the
U.S. would cost $128 billion
over 10 years, representatives
of the Washington livestock
industry say.
Intentional introduction of
foot-and-mouth disease is the
biggest concern for the live-
stock industry, and should be
for every American, said Jay
Gordon, policy director of the
Washington State Dairy Fed-
eration.
“A natural disaster would
be a lot easier to work through
than a foreign animal disease,”
agreed Jack Field, executive
director of the Washington
Cattle Feeders Association.
“The challenge we face on
large feedyards and dairies just
has to do with the sheer vol-
ume of traffic in and out.”
Gordon and Field took part
in an Oct. 26 food security fo-
rum in Walla Walla, Wash.
Field said traceability is
critical. Many ranchers are
voluntarily tagging their an-
imals to access international
markets, which place higher
standards on U.S. products, he
said.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Jack Field, executive director of the Washington Cattle Feeders As-
sociation, and Jay Gordon, policy director of the Washington State
Dairy Federation, speak during a panel discussion on food security
Oct. 26 in Walla Walla, Wash.
“Rather than having a state
or federal regulator say to a
producer, ‘You have to put this
tag in,’ when the marketplace
says, ‘If you don’t put the tag
in, you can’t sell the animal
here,’ it’s a pretty short discus-
sion,” Field said.
Gordon spoke of his expe-
riences in various disasters,
including floods, fires and the
effects of trade wars.
The mad cow case in 2003,
when a dairy cow in Wash-
ington state was found to
have been exposed to bovine
spongiform encephalopathy in
Canada, cost more than $2.5
billion to the beef trade. It was
a wake-up call, but it wasn’t
really a disaster, Gordon said.
Gordon praised the indus-
try with keeping a consistent
message and having a leader
in then-state department of
agriculture director Valoria
Loveland to direct and keep
information accurate during
the BSE case.
As part of a response team
for a bovine issues working
group, in a crisis Gordon and
Field go to the farm gate to
speak to the media to keep
people from getting onto the
land while the farmer helps
state and federal officials.
A disaster requires imme-
diate and local response, then
state and hopefully federal as-
sistance. Leaders must listen to
many stakeholders and com-
mit to learning, planning and
adapting, Gordon said.
An audience member asked
how educators can prepare stu-
dents for the industry’s future
security needs.
Field said students need a
good work ethic, sharp mind,
to be receptive to new technol-
ogy and willing to adapt.
In a crisis, Gordon said, too
few people understand agricul-
ture.
“How do you teach some-
body to respond and sit at a
kitchen table or community
center and say, ‘Sorry all your
hay fields burned?’ or ‘Sorry
all your markets are gone?’”
Gordon said. “Don’t come sit
at a kitchen table or Grange
hall in the middle of a disaster
and think you know every-
thing, because there’s going
to be 50 different facets you
didn’t think of. The hallmark
of really good leaders is they
listen really, really well and
then make good decisions
based on good information.”
Cattle producers focus on labels, safety in lab-grown meat discussion
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Producers of conventional
beef shared their concerns with
the USDA and the Food and
Drug Administration during
a two-day hearing on the po-
tential hazards, oversight and
labeling of cell-cultured meat
and poultry products.
Fair and accurate labeling
and marketing of those alterna-
tive products was a top concern.
Labels for “lab-grown fake
Press Association File
meat” should be held to the
same standards as other meat A burger made from cultured beef. Beef producers argue that
labels, Kevin Kester, president “lab-grown fake meat” should be held to the same standards as all
of National Cattlemen’s Beef other meat.
Association, said.
“Given that the goal of these of lab-grown fake meat prod- false and deceptive labeling be-
products is to compete direct- ucts. They are not concerned fore products enter the market-
ly with real meat, only USDA with the accuracy of terms such place, he said.
“In contrast, the Food and
oversight can adequately en- as ‘clean meat,’ which have no
sure this outcome,” he said.
Drug Administration does not
scientific basis,” he said.
Some proponents of the lab-
USDA requires that all prod- require pre-approval of product
to-fork industry have begun uct labels be based on sound labels,” he said.
to engage in misleading mar- science and can be trusted to
Under FDA oversight, man-
keting efforts to promote lab- enforce truthful and transparent ufacturers are free to label their
based products and disparage labeling of all products under products as they see fit, and
some worry about potential
real meat, he said.
its jurisdiction, he said.
“These advocates are un-
The agency requires all la- consequences later, he said.
apologetic about their desire to bels be pre-approved before
“Unfortunately, the FDA
enhance consumer acceptance hitting store shelves, giving has consistently shown it is
USDA the opportunity to stop either unwilling or unable to
enforce product labeling stan-
dards,” he said.
FDA turned a blind eye to
labeling abuses by fake milk
manufacturers for nearly three
decades, he said.
Beef producers have worked
hard to build their brand and
differentiate their products, and
terms such as “beef” should
only be applicable to products
derived from livestock raised
by farmers and ranchers, he
said.
“Manufacturers of lab-
grown products should be re-
quired to invest in their own
market-development efforts
and not ride the coattails of
beef’s success,” he said.
Since 1986, ranchers have
invested nearly $1.1 billion to
build the beef brand through
the beef checkoff, Danni Beer,
U.S. Cattlemen’s Association
past president, said.
“It is wrong for any part of
our beef checkoff dollars to be
used to promote cell-cultured
proteins either domestically or
internationally,” she said.
In addition, the alternative
protein industry should not be
allowed to villainize the beef
cattle industry, she said.
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