NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, July 31, 2021
Ranchers, hay producers hit hard by drought and heat
By EMRY DINMAN
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WESTON — In the foot-
hills of the Blue Mountains,
just down the road from
Weston, rancher Cheryl
Costner has watched as the
mountain range land where
her cattle feed has grown
brittle and dry under the
ongoing drought.
Ranchers throughout the
West with little viable pasture
for their livestock are turning
to hay markets to supplement
their feed, driving up prices
for a supply that has been
likewise diminished by the
combination of drought and
June’s heatwave. Now, some
are worried about finding —
and affording — enough to
feed their animals.
“We’re rather nervous,”
Costner said.
Cost ne r’s l ive st o ck
typically have more than
enough forage where they’re
located, but the pasture has
dried up faster than almost
ever before, Costner said.
She owns Upper Dry Creek
Ranch with her husband,
Robert, and typically expects
the range to dry up toward
the middle or end of July.
“We’re not in any place
that is going to have water
coming out of a pipe,” she
said. “When mother nature
quits with the rain, we’re
done with our moisture.”
Greg Lehman/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Two large stacks of hay sit along West Whitman Drive west of College Place, on Tuesday, July
27, 2021.
But this year, the grass
dried up several weeks early
at the beginning of July. Cost-
ner can recall only one other
year in the last 17 where the
grass became parched before
the Fourth of July. When the
pasture dries up, the grasses
becomes less palatable to the
livestock and can contain as
little as half the protein, Cost-
ner said. That in turn can
cause the livestock to drop
weight, whether they’re older
cows or young heifers that are
nursing a calf while continu-
ing to grow, she added.
“We’ve never felt like we
have to supplement alfalfa
(for the cows) in the past,”
Costner said. “This year
we’re considering it. We’re
already seeing some of the
body condition on our cattle
decreasing.”
Sheep are particularly
sensitive to diminished
feed quality, especially
when they’re lactating. But
the Costners have arranged
to graze their sheep in a
circle-irrigated field in
Touchet, Washington, having
struck a deal with a farmer
there. While the field’s cover
crop, barley and vetch, has
dried up under the drought
conditions, the weeds —
prickly lettuce, redroot
pigweed and lamb’s quar-
ters — still are viable and
highly nutritious. Between
the weeds and barley heads,
the lambs are staying well
fed, Costner said.
But the Costners are look-
ing at increased feed costs for
their cows, if they can even
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TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
order enough to get through
the winter.
“I do have some hay
ordered right now,” she said.
“But it’s not enough.”
Hay supply also hit by
drought, heat
On the other side of the
equation, producers who
grow grasses or legumes
that get sold as hay also have
been hit hard by the hot and
dry year.
Hay is typically irrigated,
said Tim DeRuwe, a grower
in the Walla Walla Valley
who sells hay to both local
and export markets. Local
farmers primarily rely on
surface water to irrigate
their crops, such as from the
Walla Walla River or smaller
creeks, added Craig Chris-
More humid and
not as hot
Clouds giving way
to some sun
Mostly sunny and
very warm
Sunshine and
some clouds
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
97° 75°
94° 66°
98° 67°
89° 65°
97° 66°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
99° 80°
96° 69°
100° 66°
94° 68°
99° 67°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
75/59
100/65
103/76
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
99/78
Lewiston
85/60
101/81
Astoria
69/58
Pullman
Yakima 107/75
85/58
104/77
Portland
Hermiston
90/66
The Dalles 99/80
Salem
Corvallis
89/59
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
95/68
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
95/60
88/65
86/65
Ontario
88/69
Caldwell
Burns
108°
67°
95°
60°
110° (2020) 46° (1953)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
92/61
0.00"
Trace
0.12"
1.93"
1.66"
5.14"
WINDS (in mph)
84/65
79/56
0.00"
0.02"
0.35"
4.36"
8.63"
8.30"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 93/63
94/63
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
97/75
96/74
104°
65°
92°
60°
109° (2020) 40° (1933)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
85/61
Aberdeen
102/73
103/77
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
84/64
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
100/70
Sun.
SW 6-12
WSW 7-14
S 4-8
SSW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
87/57
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:38 a.m.
8:25 p.m.
none
1:54 p.m.
Last
New
First
Full
July 31
Aug 8
Aug 15
Aug 22
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 109° in Richland, Wash. Low 37° in Wolcott, Colo.
the years ahead, he said he
worries that recovery could
be a long process even under
ideal conditions.
“The thing that scares me
the most, the drought doesn’t
end the first day it rains,”
he said. “Recovery from a
drought of this nature could
take years.”
Higher prices,
instability
Local prices for large
bales of hay — small bales
are significantly more expen-
sive — are shaping up to be
around $210 a ton, DeRuwe
said, around 20% more than
the average year.
Increased prices are bene-
ficial in the short-term for
hay growers, but growers
are worried that those higher
prices and historic demand
for their product may have
disastrous long-term effects.
“It’s good for the mean-
time, but it comes back to
haunt us later on,” DeRuwe
said. “Get too pricey and
export people in foreign
countries can’t afford to buy
it. Greed isn’t the best —
what we need is a good aver-
age.”
For his part, Christensen
said he is concerned that
some ranchers, both locally
in the valley and across the
U.S., will collapse under
the strain of high prices and
desiccated pasture forage.
Walla Walla shooting suspect
released after getting $100,000 bond
By JEDIDIAH MAYNES
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Mostly cloudy and
hot
tensen, a Walla Walla Valley
grower specializing in small
bale hay who sells mostly to
local buyers, often to be fed
to horses.
“Those dried up probably
six weeks earlier than they
normally do,” Christensen
said.
Growers with water rights
and access to wells can get
through the added strain
from the drought, DeRuwe
added. But those water rights
are tightly controlled and are
usually only loosened when
the state issues an emer-
gency drought declaration,
as Washington did July 14.
“If you’re looking around,
you’ll see a lot of alfalfa fields
that are burnt up already,”
DeRuwe said.
The heat wave that struck
the Pacific Northwest in June
also left its mark on the hay
industry. For legume vari-
eties of hay such as alfalfa,
producers want to cut the
crop before it blooms, which
increases the hay’s fiber
and decreases its protein,
DeRuwe said.
The heat wave’s impact on
grass hay is hitting the small
bale producer harder.
“It’s not responding to the
water or anything,” Chris-
tensen said. “It just gets
too hot. We can’t get it wet
enough, and it just seems to
not want to grow.”
As Christensen looks to
WALLA WALLA — A
Walla Walla man accused
of shooting two people early
Tuesday, July 27, had his bail
set at $100,000 on July 28 in
Walla Walla County Superior
Court and was released later
in the day from Walla Walla
County Jail after posting bail.
Mig uel “Ju nior” A.
Ferrusca, 21, was arrested
by Walla Walla police and
booked into the jail for inves-
tigation of two counts of
first-degree assault, a Class
A felony. Prosecutors filed
charges on July 28.
Walla Walla County deputy
prosecuting attorney Jennine
Christensen said in court that
one of the victims was shot
in the shin and the other was
shot “multiple times” and his
condition was unknown.
According to court docu-
ments, Ernesto Moreno
Madrigal, 25, was shot in the
leg and Julian D. Saldana, 19,
was shot multiple times.
Police noted Saldana’s
injuries prevented him from
speaking to detectives while
he was being treated at Prov-
idence St. Mary Medical
Center in Walla Walla, accord-
ing to the documents.
Police said Moreno Madri-
gal spoke to detectives, saying
Ferrusca was the one who shot
at them in the 200 block of
Tausick Way.
Moreno Madrigal said he
had come along with Saldana
to pick up an unidentified
female and Ferrusca and a
few other men confronted
them, according to a press
release from the Walla Walla
Police Department. Police said
they were told Ferrusca was
holding an assault-style gun,
demanding they leave.
Ferrusca then allegedly
shot Saldana multiple times
and Moreno Madrigal was
hit in the leg. Saldana fell and
Ferrusca allegedly kicked him
while he was down, according
to the records.
Saldana and Moreno
Madrigal got back into their
car, with Saldana having to
be helped in by his friend,
according to the release. They
fled and waved down para-
medics at the intersection of
South Second Avenue and
East Main Street.
Police were notified of the
two victims at the hospital and
interviewed Moreno Madri-
gal there before interviewing
Ferrusca after 3 a.m.
According to the docu-
ments, Ferrusca told detec-
tives he heard 10 loud bangs
around 12:30 a.m. while he
was going to bed, but he was
unsure if they were fireworks.
Police asked him about
being named as the attacker
in a shooting that night outside
his residence and Ferrusca
followed that question by
asking about “stand your
ground” laws in Washington,
according to the records.
Police gave him a brief
explanation of self-defense
laws, they noted, and Ferrusca
asked to speak to an attorney.
Detectives ended the inter-
view, documents showed.
Ferrusca’s family was in
court to ask for a lower bail
amount and for Ferrusca to
be released on house arrest.
Judge Pro Tem Robin
Olson said he wouldn’t reduce
the bail amount at the time nor
allow for a 10% cash equiv-
alent. Olson said he needed
more legal information sorted
out before making any such
decision.
“This is a very serious
offense,” Olson told the family.
Olson also ordered for
electronic home monitoring
if Ferrusca did post bail before
July 29.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Wolves injure steer, kill
one heifer
BAKER CITY — Wolves from the Look-
out Mountain killed another cow and injured
one steer in eastern Baker County during the
past week, the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife concluded after biologists investigated
the two cases.
Those are the third and fourth attacks on
cattle attributed to the Lookout Mountain pack
since July 13. All were in the same general area
northeast of Durkee.
In response, Baker County commission-
ers asked fish and wildlife to approve a lethal
take permit and assist with killing some of
the wolves from the Lookout Mountain pack,
said Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at
ODFW’s Baker City office.
As of July 21, state officials had not approved
the permit.
The most recent investigation was Monday,
July 26, in the Manning Creek area northeast
of Durkee.
A rancher on July 25 found an injured
850-pound, 1-1/2-year-old steer on private
land, according to an ODFW report.
A department biologist examined the
injured steer and concluded, based on more
than 40 bite scrapes above the left hock, along
with deep tissue trauma and missing tissue,
wolves were responsible and estimated the
attack was 10 to 12 days earlier.
–EO Media Group
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