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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2012)
August 8',f?20i2 Spilyay Tymoó, Warm Springs, Oregon Page 8 Local cattle prices impacted by drought in U.S. Fara Ann Brummer Warm Springs Extension Office (541) 553-3238 August 22 is National Eat A Peach Day Peaches are in season, w hich m eans that they can usually be found on sale during this tim e o f year. They are a great choice for a snack or. dessert. P eaches are low in fat, cholesterol and sodium. They are a g ood source o f fiber (good for digestion) and a good ¡source o f vitam in A (good for, eye health). How to shop for peaches: • Smell them. They should sm ell like a peach. I f yo u ca n ’t smell anything they will be flavor they are. ’ Below, is a national rep o rt that forecasts cattle prices, using the M idwest com belt as the stan dard: (From the Oklahoma Coop erative Extension Service, (July 2012. Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Live stock Marketing Specialist.) a The drought that is gripping m uch o f the M idw est and South is affecting cattle prices, even here in the N orthw est. In the w orld o f agriculture, co m sets th e p ric e fo r m any o f our other crops, including animal production. A nd com is unfortu nately drying up in our U . S com belt, w ith m any losses. W e are very fortunate here in th e N o rth w est to b e having such good w eather this year. O ur reservoirs are full, our tem pera tures are relatively cool, and ex cept for som e major fires in East ern Oregon, our range is in good production. , However^ our cattle prices will ultimately be influenced by the national picture, b ecause co m It is often th e Case in the cattle b usiness th a t ‘hvhen p ro duction is easy; m ark etin g is h ard” and ‘/ w h e n pro d u ctio n is sets th e stage for finishing our cattle. Lightweight cattle m ay not bring as m uch as they have been; heavier cattle m ay maintain them selves at flie auction. Butcher cows and bulls are Still bringing an excellent price - it m ay be w orth culling those un productive dams even at this time o f year, and taking them in rather than carrying them though another w inter w ith hay prices as high as hard; m arketing is easy.” This m akes sense because w hen production is easy and ev eryone can do it, p ric es'o fte n drop and marketing profitably is a challenge, and w h en p ro d u c tion is a challenge, th e re are of ten good m arket opportunities. C ertainly th e w id esp read drought is m aking production a challenge at this tim e fo r a great m a n y producers. M an y cattle pro d u cers are on th e defensive trying-to. figure h o w to b est use, rapidly dwindling feed resources; What to sell an d w h en to sell it; and ultimately how to survive the drought w ith m inim al negative impacts. H o w ev er, cu rre n t c a ttle 1 prices reflect underlying m arket signals as w ell as the direct im p a c ts o f th e drought. M o st at tention has been focused on how m u c h ca ttle p ric e s h a v e d e creased in th e p ast tw o m onths. F o r feeder cattle, it is always im portant to consider changes in th e price relatio n sh ip s across w eights as, w ell as th e overall price leypls; Recently, prices for lig h tw eig h t feed er cattle, i.e,, calves and stobker^, hav e de creased m o re th a n p ric es fp r heavy feeder Cattle. T h e d e g re a se in h e a v y feeder prices reflects prim arily the im pact o f high com prices on feedlot d em an d fo r cattle co m b in e d w ith th e general dem and weakness reflected in boxed b eef prices. C a lf and stacker prices re flect all o f those factors plus the lack o f forage and1 limited oppor tunities for stacker b ased cattle production. A s a result, the cur rent price pattern is one, in w hich feed e r p rices drop rapidly up to a b o u t 600 p o unds (fo r steers) and then are relatively flat u p to ab o u t 850 pounds. In fact, for the past tw o w eeks in Oklahoma, th e ch eap est steer u n d er 800 p o unds is a 575 p o u n d anim al w ith h ig h er p rices fo r w eights from 600 to 8 0 0 pounds. T h is ty p e ’^ ’“ in v e rte d ” feed e r p rice stru ctu re occurs, rarely and reflects th e com bined impacts ofh ig h Com prices and a relative excess o f anim als at the current time> due to the drought. W hile pro d u cers are, fo rced to produce and m arket defensively thro u g h th e drought, it is im por- tan t to keep in m ind that m arket opportunities will exist during and after the drought. The reality o f hig h grain prices fo r at least the next crop year will continue to be reflected jn feeder cattle markets as m arket signals to add w eight to Cattle p rio r to feedlot p la ce m ent j B J l jA S k ||Sf. Agriculture and Natural Resources FaraBrummer less. •. F e e l th e m . P e a c h e s should n o t be hard. They should ibe slightly soft w hen you gently squeeze them. I • t,o o k a t th e m . P ic k p each es th a t are n o t b ruised o r moldy. I f th e p e a c h e s ’ y o u b u y a ren ’t qu ite ripe, yo u can ripen th em b y putting them into a p a p e r bag, loosely closing it an d 1: leav in g them a t room tem pera ture. ‘ T hey should ripen in 2 to 3 days. I f y o u have m ore ripe peaches th an yo u can use, it is a great idea to freeze them for later use in baking and smoothies. How to freeze peaches: • W ash and peel peaches, To m ake th em easier , to peel, blanch them. Put them into boil in g w ater fo r 40 seconds (up to ‘o n e m in u te i f they are n o t quite ripe). Carefully rem ove from the w afer and p u t them into cold water. The skins will slip off eas- ily • R em ove the pit and cut ¡into halves, quarters or slices. . • F or a sugarless dry pack, ‘dissolve 16 teasp o o n ascorbic acid (or 3 crushed 500-milligram ¡vitamin C tab lets) in 3 tab le spoons o f water and sprinkle over 4 cups o f fruit. G ently to ss the fruit to coat it evenly. This helps keep the fruit from turning brown. • P lace fruit into a plastic freezer bag and rem ove as m uch air as possible. • F reeze im m ediately and store at 0 degrees F ahrenheit or below. For best quality use within 12 months. For m ore methods o f freez ing fruit contact the Extension of fice Family Community Health Danita Macy Arlene Boileau Sara Smith Rosanna Sanders Warm Springs youth enter exhibits into the JC Fair I f y o u happened' to- m ake .if to the, Jefferson C ounty F air this year, you m ay h av e seen Sèyeràl exhibit-entries from Warm Springs Youth. Twenty-seven youth w ho attended several O$CFExtension D ay C am p sh a d the opportunity to create, en te r and display th eir talents. T he catego ries in w hich they entered included straw art painting, sand painting, wing dresses, ribbon Shirts, necklaces, bracelets, deco rated cookies, d ried c o m & carrots, and fruit leather. M any o f the you th w ere aw arded, n j 2nd, 3rd, o r F irst P rem ium ribbons in each o f these categories. W hat did else did th ey get? Cash! ,Yes, th e 1st place ribbon p a id o ut $3.00, the 2ndplace ribbonW as $2.00, and 3rd|»lace w as $ 1 .0 0 $ ftm a y not sound lik e a lo t o f m oney b u t youth have the choice to enter into m ore than one category. F or exam ple, i f a youth entered into 5 categories and p laced l in each, he/sh e w ould receive a $15.00 check in the mail. This sounds pretty sw eet to me. W e are h oping n ex t yea r w é w ill • double th e entrants into th é Jefferson (County Fair. I f yo u r you th w o u ld like tp\ en ter in the 2013 Jefferson C ounty Fair, please call M orning Rae Ferris at O SU Ex tension W arm Springs for m ore inform a tion and details. 4-H Program Morning Rae Ferris
