2
CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 30, 2021
People & Places
Small cows, big rewards for ranchers
By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Established 1928
OAKDALE, Calif. —
The sight of shaggy Scottish
Highland cattle grazing on
tall grass causes regular traf-
fic jams outside Oakdale.
While the breed can be
found in all 50 states, the
pint-size cattle originally
from Scotland still catch the
eye of curious drivers.
First, a little about these
unique cattle.
If the creators of the Mup-
pets had designed a cow it
would likely resemble the
Scottish Highland.
Their short, shaggy stat-
ure, combined with a gen-
tle disposition, make them
an attractive alternative to
standard cattle, especially
for newbie hobby ranch-
ers who are more interested
in pasture pets than meat
production.
Two enterprising ranchers
outside Oakdale have discov-
ered that market. Kera and
LeeAna Brichetto — who
are also sisters-in-law — are
raising the Scottish Highland
cattle, aiming to fill a niche
created by newcomers to the
rural lifestyle.
“The Highland cattle are
a good fit for acreages, plus
they are docile and easy to
handle,” LeeAna Brichetto
said.
She and Kera began
talking about the market
they saw developing and
Capital Press Managers
Joe Beach ..................... Editor & Publisher
Western
Innovator
KERA BRICHETTO
AND LEEANA
BRICHETTO
Anne Long ................Advertising Manager
Carl Sampson .................. Managing Editor
Jessica Boone ............ Production Manager
Samantha McLaren ....Circulation Manager
Entire contents copyright © 2021
EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
Residence: Oakdale, Calif.
Occupations: Ranchers
An independent newspaper
Family: Kera is married
to husband Joe, and
they have a son. LeeAna
is married to husband
John, and they have a
daughter.
published every Friday.
Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is
published weekly by EO Media Group,
2870 Broadway NE, Salem OR 97303.
Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR,
and at additional mailing offices.
Kera Brichetto
Sisters-in-law and ranchers LeeAna Brichetto, left, and Kera Brichetto raise Scottish
Highland cattle for pets and breeding stock. This 4-month-old bull calf is part of their
fold, the Scottish term for herd.
decided to venture into the
Scottish Highland breed
together. They bought cows
from California, Oregon and
Wisconsin.
Though the extended
Brichetto family farms cher-
ries, walnuts, almonds and
runs a feedlot operation in
the Central Valley, the Scot-
tish Highlands were new to
them.
“In our experience so far,
the animals are lovely to
raise but not for their meat or
milk,” Kera said. “Highlands
are a slower maturing breed
of cattle and their shaggy
coats make up for their lack
of fat insulation like other
breeds have. Beneath all that
soft hair, they are relatively
leaner animals.”
But they are a rugged
breed and will eat just about
anything. The fold runs on
about 50 acres of irrigated
pasture.
The Brichettos’ fold —
groups of Highlands are
called folds instead of herds
— varies from 39 to 50
inches hook height, which is
measured at the hip.
Part of the focus is to
breed small framed High-
lands. They have two bulls.
Smaller cows tend to
bring higher prices — into
the thousands of dollars for a
registered calf.
Highland cattle are known
for being easy to raise, doc-
ile and curious and take lon-
ger to mature and reproduce
than most other breeds.
However, they live longer
and can reproduce well into
their teens.
“Since buying our first
few Highlands near the end
of 2020, LeeAna and I have
grown our fold to 20, have
raised and sold a few calves
and have fall 2021 calves
on their way,” Kera said.
“We are excited to expand
our fold and continue to
educate curious bystanders
on the breed.”
POSTMASTER: send address changes to
Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR
97308-2048.
To Reach Us
Circulation ...........................800-781-3214
Email ........... Circulation@capitalpress.com
Main line .............................503-364-4431
News Staff
Idaho
Carol Ryan Dumas ..............208-860-3898
Boise
Brad Carlson .......................208-914-8264
Western Washington
Don Jenkins .........................360-722-6975
Drive-thru Ag Fest a hit with families
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
CANBY, Ore. — In the
past 34 years, Ag Fest orga-
nizers have always kept the
event focused on making agri-
cultural education fun and
hands-on, executive director
Michele Ruby said. “Given
the pandemic, we can only
stick to one: making ag educa-
tion fun.”
This year’s drive-thru ver-
sion — state COVID rules
prevented the usual up close
and personal experience —
was like starting over, with
a fraction of the usual plan-
ning time, but the board, vol-
unteers, sponsors and ag com-
munity pulled together and
were pleased with the result.
Setting the stage for the
drive-thru event was a sprawl-
ing table — set for 168 diners.
“That’s the average num-
ber of people a farmer can feed
every day,” Ruby explained.
The next stop was a pio-
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Dairy Princess Ambassadors Samantha Arnold, left, and
Libby Glassley pass out Ag-venture goody bags at this
year’s drive-thru Oregon Ag Fest. The princesses edu-
cated visitors about the dairy industry.
neer scene complete with a
covered wagon, open fire
cooking and Cynthia Chris-
tensen of the Yamhill Valley
Heritage Center operating a
spinning wheel.
“The kids like to stop and
chat a little bit, but when I’m
spinning, they’re much more
intent,” Christensen said.
“Spinning always gets peo-
ple’s attention.”
The parade of cars and
mini-vans then rolled through
a display of an antique tractor
followed by the latest in farm
machinery.
“The kids can’t take their
pictures inside the giant tires,
but they still ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’
over it,” Ruby said.
Next up, Cole Wilson, 8,
displayed his chickens and
calves and greeted guests with
enthusiasm. His flock of 13
chickens — not counting the
chicks — kept him busy and
yielded eggs.
His two calves are bot-
tle-fed. “They don’t really rec-
ognize me right now because
normally I’m in my pajamas
when I feed them,” he said.
Amy and Gerry Preston
toured Ag Fest in their mini-
van with their children. They
said they found the event a
good conversation-starter on
all things ag.
“We both have farming
and ranching backgrounds,
and we want the kids to know
about this stuff,” Amy Pres-
ton said. “It was fun to get out
on a Friday afternoon and do
something together; it’s a real
success and all the giveaways
were a nice treat.”
Since kids couldn’t get
their hands dirty at the show,
the Oregon Association of
Nurseries handed out infor-
mation and bags of plants for
children to take home and
grow.
There were also rotating
exhibits of dogs herding ducks
and llamas and sheep being
sheared.
Dairy Princess Ambas-
sadors Samantha Arnold of
Clackamas County and Libby
Glassley of Yamhill and Polk
counties greeted mini-vans
and cars with “Ag-venture”
goody bags and pointed them
toward the Oregon Dairy
Women and their ice cream,
milkshakes and grilled cheese
sandwiches.
Eastern Washington
Matthew Weaver ................509-688-9923
Oregon
George Plaven ....................406-560-1655
Mateusz Perkowski .............800-882-6789
Sierra Dawn McClain ..........503-506-8011
Designer
Randy Wrighthouse .............800-882-6789
To Place Classified Ads
Telephone (toll free) ............800-882-6789
Online ...........CapitalPress.com/classifieds
Subscriptions
Mail rates paid in advance
Easy Pay U.S. $4 /month
(direct withdrawal from bank
or credit card account)
1 year U.S. ...........................................$55
2 years U.S. ........................................$100
1 year Canada .....................................$275
1 year other countries ...........call for quote
1 year Internet only .........................$49.99
1 year 4-H, FFA students/teachers .......$30
9 months 4-H, FFA students/teachers ..$25
Visa and Mastercard accepted
To get information published
Mailing address:
Idaho dairy welcomes triplets
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
IDAHO FALLS —
Reed’s Dairy beat the odds
with the birth of triplet
female Holstein calves on
Feb. 23.
“It was quite a deal to
have them all as healthy as
they were. They were big
calves,” Alan Reed, presi-
dent of Reed’s Dairy, said.
The calves were born
about 6 a.m. and were only
a little smaller than what a
single calf would be. They
were all healthy, well and
survived, he said.
The triplets were born to
a cow about five years old,
and it was her third birth.
She was big, and Reed and
his herdsman wondered if
she might be carrying twins.
But they were completely
Capital Press
P.O. Box 2048
Salem, OR 97308-2048
REED’S DAIRY
News: Contact the main office
or news staff member closest to you,
For more information, visit: www.reedsdairy.com
send the information to
surprised by triplets.
The dairy occasionally
gets twins and has had one
other set of triplets, but they
didn’t survive.
“It was just amazing we
had triplets and all survived.
It was just a fun thing, so
unusual, just fun to have it
on your dairy. We were just
thrilled about it,” he said.
The calves were born
without assistance, and no
pulling was needed.
“It was really something
that that mom just had those
calves,” he said.
Statistics on triplet births
in dairy cattle and the chance
of all-heifer triplets are hard
to come by.
A 2016 article in the
Lansing Journal refer-
enced a 2015 Polish study
that put the occurrence of
triplet births in dairy cat-
tle at 1 in 100,000, with
the odds of having all heif-
ers at 1 in 8 triplet births. A
2016 Associated Press arti-
cle pegged the occurrence of
triplet heifers at 1 in every
700,000 births.
Neither Reed nor his
herdsman know of any-
one having surviving triplet
calves, he said.
Reed has two of the
calves in the petting area at
his Idaho Falls dairy and ice
cream store. The petting area
houses other animals as well
Frundle, sfrundle@clarkcd.org
management practices for your pas-
ture. Whether you continually graze
or rotational graze, there are solu-
tions to improve productivity. Lisa
Schuchman from USDA-NRCS will
teach you how to get the most out
of your pasture system while also
keeping poop out of surface waters.
This is the second of a three-part
webinar series, Manure Matters.
Contact: Sam Frundle, sfrundle@
clarkcd.org
newsroom@capitalpress.com
or mail it to “Newsroom,” c/o Capital Press.
Include a contact telephone number.
Letters to the Editor: Send your
comments on agriculture-related public
issues to opinions@capitalpress.com, or
mail your letter to “Opinion,” c/o Capital
Reed’s Dairy
Alan Reed with the new triplet calves.
WEDNESDAY MAY 5
Got Manure? Great Ideas for
Manure Management (virtual):
6-7:30 p.m. Do you have horses, live-
stock, or other critters that are mak-
ing managing their manure diffi-
cult? Join Clark Conservation District
for a presentation by Alayne Blickle
of Horses for Clean Water about cre-
ative and practical solutions to solv-
ing your mud and manure issues
and keeping our streams clean. This
is the first of a three-part webinar
series, Manure Matters. Contact: Sam
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
MAY 6-8
Junior Livestock Show of Spo-
kane (live): 9 a.m. Spokane County
Fair and Expo Center, 404 N. Havana,
St., Spokane Valley, Wash. The Junior
Livestock Show of Spokane will be
in person this year. A live auction will
be May 8. Face masks and social dis-
tancing are required. Website: www.
juniorshow.org
WEDNESDAY MAY 12
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
MAY 13-15
Poop in the Pasture? Ideas
for Pasture Management (vir-
tual): 6-7:30 p.m. Join Clark Conser-
vation District to learn about best
Washington FFA Convention
(virtual): The convention will main-
tain its traditional agenda, with
one session streamed on Thurs-
300 words. Deadline: Noon Monday.
and only has room for two
calves. The two calves will
probably stay there another
month, he said.
The triplet calves will
join Reed’s herd of about
185 Holsteins to produce
milk for Reed’s Dairy prod-
ucts, which include bottled
milk, cheese, ice cream and
other products.
The
third-generation
dairy operates a home deliv-
ery service in Idaho Falls
and the Treasure Valley. It
also has two ice cream shops
in the Idaho Falls area and
two in the Boise area.
Capital Press ag media
day and Friday evenings and two
on Saturday. The new state officers
will be announced Saturday eve-
ning. Website: www.washingtonffa.
org/91st-convention
WEDNESDAY MAY 19
Index
CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related
events on www.capitalpress.com
or by email to newsroom@capital-
press.com.
Press. Letters should be limited to
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
MAY 14-16
California FFA’s 93rd State
Leadership Conference (online):
This year California FFA members
from all corners of the state will have
access to the premier leadership
event offered by our association as it
will be delivered through a multi-fac-
eted online platform. The conference
will be three days jam packed with
learning, growth and inspiration.
Website: www.calaged.org
Manure Matters — Keep-
ing Poop Out of the Water (vir-
tual): 6-7:30 p.m. Have you ever
wondered what effect your crit-
ters’ poop is having on our water-
sheds? Join Clark Conservation
District to learn about the moni-
toring Clark County does on bacte-
ria in our waterways. Experts Brent
Davis and Eric Lambert from Clark
County will present on county reg-
ulations and cover what you can be
doing to keep our local watersheds
free of your livestock and horse
manure. This is the third of a three-
part webinar series, Manure Mat-
ters. Contact: Sam Frundle, sfrun-
dle@clarkcd.org
CapitalPress.com
FarmSeller.com
MarketPlace.capitalpress.com
facebook.com/CapitalPress
facebook.com/FarmSeller
twitter.com/CapitalPress
youtube.com/CapitalPressvideo
Dairy .......................................................7
Markets .................................................10
Opinion ...................................................6
Correction policy
Accuracy is important to Capital Press
staff and to our readers.
If you see a misstatement, omission or
factual error in a headline, story or photo
caption, please call the Capital Press news
department at 503-364-4431, or send
email to newsroom@capitalpress.com.
We want to publish corrections
to set the record straight.