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Friday, August 30, 2019 CapitalPress.com 7 New sheep dairy opens in SW Oregon By JAN JACKSON For the Capital Press LANGLOIS, Ore. — Armed with years of sheep-raising experience, agriculture degrees from Oregon State University and a lot of support from fel- low sheep growers, entre- preneurs Woody Babcock and Cora Wahl have opened a sheep dairy in Langlois, Ore. The couple started Wood- row Farms LLC in 2018 with 73 East Friesian ewes and started milking them in 2019. Hoping to increase their flock to 220 by next year, they are now milk- ing 100 ewes and selling all of the milk to Face Rock Creamery in nearby Bandon. Woody, 29, and Cora, 27, have degrees in ag science and ag business. They met as students at OSU. Woody, who was selected in 2014 as one of two young WOODROW FARMS SHEEP DAIRY Email: babcockwoody@ yahoo.com shepherds to represent the U.S. at the second World Ovinpiades challenge in the Auvergne region of France, gained his experience from working and shearing for other sheep growers. Cora, who was born and raised in Langlois, grew up working on her family’s sheep ranch. “It’s been a chaotic year and if we both hadn’t known a lot about sheep, we wouldn’t have made it,” Woody said. “The first five months we milked twice a day. With three hours per milking (considering clean up and everything) and feed- ing and working with all of AgForestry announces Class 42 participants By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The popular AgForestry leadership program has announced its next class of future leaders. “We want people to understand that leadership is for everyone,” said Matt Kloes, program director and interim president of the Agriculture and Forestry Education Foundation. Kloes expects partic- ipants to enhance their communication skills and increase efficiency when working with people who have different perspectives, values and backgrounds. “I’m sure everyone has noticed that we are living in a contentious time that has been extremely divisive,” Kloes said. “We need to get past that to get things done and start looking to com- mon values and interests, so we can get beyond posi- tions and to solutions.” Chehalis, Wash., dairy farmer Michelle Schilter said she had been encour- aged to apply to the pro- gram before, but the timing was never right. “My biggest thing is to really understand how all the inner workings of ag and policy work together,” she said. “Agriculture is so important to the economy of Washington.” Schilter hopes to under- stand the process and rep- resent the industry when speaking to lawmakers in Olympia and Washington, D.C. Faith Van De Putte, a compost, beef and pork producer in Lopez Island, Wash., is also the agricul- ture resource committee coordinator for San Juan County, which includes farm policy. She wanted to develop new skills to better serve her farm and the county. “San Juan County is small and we have a lot of pressure as far as increased land prices (and) a tourism economy, which is both a challenge and an oppor- tunity,” she said. “Land- use policies can make a difference.” The majority of the pro- gram’s budget is donations, Kloes said. It also receives grants and participant fees. Participants are nom- inated and go through a “rigorous” application, involving essays, assess- ments from four peo- ple about their leadership potential and an hour-long interview. The 18-month pro- gram includes 11 meetings around the state; a week in Washington, D.C., and two weeks exploring trade, cul- ture and government in a foreign country. Recent locations have included Vietnam, Cam- bodia, Ecuador, India and Nepal, Kloes said. Total cost is $6,000. CLASS 42 PARTICIPANTS • David Beard of Zillah, an animal feed specialist at the Washington Depart- ment of Agriculture. • Amanda Brooks of Van- couver, a land use manag- er at Weyerhaeuser. • Colton Cooley of Kalama, a forester at Olympic Re- source Management. • Jay Krienitz of Olympia, an estuary and salmon res- toration program manager at the Department of Fish and Wildlife. • Lauren Magalska of Olympia, a research forest- er at Port Blakely. • Brett Monson of Selah, fieldman at Monson Fruit. • Kyle Curtis of Yakima, chief financial officer and executive vice president at Tiin Ma Logging Co. • Jerod Morris of Spokane, relationship manager at Northwest Farm Credit Services. • Kate Delavan of Seattle, a conservation manager at PCC Farmland Trust. • Chris Rasmussen of Port Angeles, public works and operations manager at the Port of Port Angeles. • Kelly Dougherty of Bellingham, a forester at Weyerhaeuser. • Chris Eckman of Spokane, a senior relationship man- ager at CoBank. • Andrew Engell of Colville, northern regional rep- resentative for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. • Cameron Eskeberg of Mt. Vernon, a natural resource specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources. • Sara Higgins of Wenatchee, senior consul- tant at 501 Consultants. • Andrew Johnson of Olympia, forest resources business analyst at the Department of Natural Resources. • Sarah Rasmussen of Yakima, food safety/occu- pational safety manager at Gilbert Orchards. • Michelle Schilter of Che- halis, dairy farmer-owner of Sun Ton Farms. • Katie Tackman of Wenatchee, a fish and wildlife specialist at Chelan County Public Utilities District. • Faith Van De Putte of Lopez Island, owner of Midnight’s Farm. • Jason Walter of Tacoma, an aquatic biologist at Weyerhaeuser. • Bill Waterfield of Colville, a logging superintendent at Boise Cascade Co. Jan Jackson/For the Capital Press Woody Babcock and Cora Wahl have opened their own sheep dairy in Langlois, Ore. the bummer lambs, it added up to very long days.” In addition, he sheared on the side to help make ends meet, so at times Cora was left to do it all by herself. “We recently cut to milk- ing once a day so at least until it’s time to start up again we can take time to go to dinner,” he said. “Still,” he said, “the whole project came together through a community effort, and if it weren’t for the help of friends and family there wouldn’t be a dairy.” Cora and Woody, who for the last four years were in charge of 1,000 bummer lambs on the Wahl family ranch, were unknowingly preparing themselves for the sheep dairy business. “Raising bummer lambs is an important part of a sheep dairy and it is very intensive work,” Cora said. “We worked closely with Woody Lane, a livestock nutritionist and forage spe- cialist who developed an early weaning system that pulls the lambs off milk replacer in 21 days and puts them on grain.” They keep replacement ewe lambs so they can get their numbers up and sell the rest, she said. “We definitely have had a leg up in the game by knowing how to raise bum- mer lambs at a profit,” she said. With advice from the USDA inspectors who con- tributed to the informa- tion on parlor construction and help from fellow sheep growers, the couple reno- vated an old dairy parlor and barn on property they rent from Brownsville friend and adviser Reed Anderson. They were able to buy the milking parlor equipment from Mac Stewart of Salem. Brad Sinko, co-owner and cheesemaker at Face Rock Creamery, is optimis- tic about what Woody and Cora are doing. “Sheep milk is more nutritious and also more expensive but that didn’t scare people off when during the years I was mak- ing cheese for Beecher’s Hand Made Cheese in Seat- tle,” Sinko said. “It’s pretty neat having a local source of sheep milk only 10 miles away. We are starting with a half-and-half cow and sheep block cheddar and a natural rinded cloth-bound wheel, which will make a milder cheese.” The new product should be on the shelf ready to buy in about six months, he said. Record number of wolf attacks on livestock reported in Idaho By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press Wolves killed a record number of livestock in Idaho last year, the state Wildlife Services director says. USDA Wildlife Services State Director Todd Grimm on Aug. 21 told the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board that his agency con- firmed 175 wolf-caused dep- redations in the state for the fiscal year that ended June 30 — a record and up 25% from a year earlier. The agency conducted 264 investigations prompted by wolf-related complaints in the most recent year and 217 a year earlier. From July 1 to Aug. 21 this year, however, the agency recorded 29 confirmed dep- redations compared to 72 for the same period of 2018. “That is a notable decrease, but it is still early,” Grimm said in an interview. “We were able to remove a bunch of wolves in these chronic depredation areas in late spring-early summer, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks/AP File Wolf attacks on livestock set a record last year in Idaho. and that stopped depredation activity for a period of time.” A lack of reporting by affected ranchers also may be contributing to lower recent totals, “but there is no way of tracking that,” he said. “I have heard of some kills on sheep in the Wood River Val- ley, but we have not had sig- nificant reporting done” from there. Weather and water-supply changes from year to year may contribute to differences in wolf-caused depredations of livestock, but those factors are also hard to track, Grimm said. “Most of the time, the reason (depredation) num- bers are high is that you’ve got a number of wolves in close proximity to a number of livestock,” he said. “Usu- ally that doesn’t end up well for either party, but that is not always the case.” Depredations typically are low in November and early December, and increase in May, June and July. Activity is highest in August, when wolf pups are old enough to run with adults. The agency in fiscal 2019 removed 66 wolves, includ- ing 25 in May and June. The agency captured, radio-col- lared and released three during the year. None was removed to pro- tect wild ungulates. A year earlier, the agency removed 76 for livestock depredations and 10 to protect ungulates. Talasi Brooks of West- ern Watersheds Project said the board has placed little emphasis on using non-le- thal methods to control live- stock depredation by wolves. Other wolf advocates said the board should be more proac- tive in managing wolf-live- stock conflicts and prevent- ing unnecessary losses of wolves. Grimm said most wolf- livestock conflicts occur north of Interstate 84. Within this active zone, there has been a slight increase in the southwest. Revamped Share.Farm delivers more local produce By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press SPOKANE — Share. Farm’s co-founders are work- ing to provide more people with local food — and receive it right at their door. Previously a phone app, company co-founders Vince Peak, Eric Kobe and Adam Hegsted launched a website in July to offer same-day or next-day delivery of produce and specialty items. “We wanted to make local food and seasonal stuff avail- able for everybody,” Hegsted said. The website was the eas- iest way to do that, Hegsted said. The company is trying to take Amazon.com’s model and translate it to a virtual farmers’ market or grocery store, delivered to the custom- er’s house at a similar cost, he said. “They want to know where their food is from, how it was grown, how it impacts the planet,” Peak said. “We’re really focused on a consumer that cares about the environ- ment and sustainably sourced products.” Customers receive authen- tication where and how their food is grown. “What we’re offering is convenience, but more so transparency,” Peak said. “I think everybody wants to help local farms and eat local foods,” Hegsted said. “It’s just a matter of conve- nience, affordability and mak- ing it accessible.” 35-4/104
