AG DAY
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
A7
Ranching: then and now
Cattle ranchers share the positive
and negative changes in the
industry
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Although agriculture has
been around for many years,
many changes have occurred
in recent memory that impact
those who produce food for a
living.
For Ag Day 2019, the
owners of two local ranches
described changes they have
witnessed in agriculture.
Sharon Livingston
Long Creek rancher Sha-
ron Livingston has been
around to see changes affect-
ing the ranching industry for
over 50 years.
Her roots run deep
in Grant County as her
great-great-grandfather set-
tled in the area.
Livingston Ranch, where
she lives, once belonged to
her great-uncle Will Car-
ter, and her dad bought it in
1945. Another piece of prop-
erty she owns was once the
home of her great-grandfa-
ther CW Conger.
Livingston says she takes
pride in her land, which bor-
ders the national forest.
“I’ve managed it — the
grass, trees and water func-
tion to support wildlife, not
just cattle,” she said.
Caring for the land was
just a way of life, growing
up on a ranch.
“Back then we worked,
we made sure we took care
of our animals, we made
sure we didn’t destroy any
of the environment, and we
were proud to be ranchers,”
she said.
That is still the case
today, she said, but she feels
now that some legislation,
such as the recent cap and
trade proposal, is crippling
ranchers.
We are ruled by laws,
she said. Laws are passed
by the legislators in Salem,
and then the laws pass to the
agency that will write the
administrative rule that we
abide by.
“The Legislature in the
state of Oregon is controlled
by the west side of the
mountain,” she said.
“Cap and trade will
increase my operating
expenses,
and if you
know about
the livestock
business,
you know
Sharon
we operate
Livingston
on a narrow
margin,” she
recently wrote to legisla-
tors. “This will not be good
for rural Oregon. ... One size
does not fi t all.”
Livingston serves on the
Oregon Board of Agricul-
ture, and says she does so
“to support agriculture and
Grant County and water.”
She was president of the
Oregon Cattlemen’s Associa-
tion from 2005-06, and she’s
slated to receive an award as
an honorary state FFA mem-
ber on March 23 at the state
convention in Redmond.
She supports FFA pro-
grams in the schools and
was a 4-H leader for several
years.
“It’s my position that we
have to support young peo-
ple if we want to continue
agriculture,” she said.
Livingston has grandchil-
dren she hopes will be inter-
ested in her ranch.
She raises hereford-an-
gus cross cattle.
She recalls that, growing
up on the ranch, many jobs
were accomplished with
horses.
“We cut hay with mow-
ers pulled by horses,” she
said. “We raked hay and had
buck rakes — they brought
the loose hay down to the
stack.”
Later, they cut and baled
hay with tractors.
“We’ve moved from the
horse era to the machinery
era,” she said. “Things are
different now.”
She said she now buys
hay and raises some grass
hay with alfalfa and alfalfa
grass mix to feed her cows.
Huge bales are kicked off
a wagon pulled by a pickup,
and there are no longer any
horses involved in that part.
However,
she
said,
“When it comes time to
move the cows around, I
want people on horseback,
and I still ride a horse.”
The Grant County Fair in
Contributed photo
Mat and Jennifer Carter on their ranch in Seneca.
John Day has been another
big part of Livingston’s
ranch life, having attended
the event, including the
fair parade, since she was 3
years old.
“I had 4-H animals, and
we came to the fair every
year,” she said. “The fair
was our family vacation.”
Livingston said her
ancestors moved to the area
because they believed East-
ern Oregon would be the
best place to live.
“I want to stay here and
remain in agriculture sus-
tainably and be a good stew-
ard of the land,” she said. “I
am a true conservationist.”
Mat and Jennifer
Carter
Mat and Jennifer Car-
ter raise mostly hereford,
angus and red angus cross
at Crown Cattle Company in
Seneca.
a year ago, and so far it has
been successful.
“They pay a premium of
15 cents per pound over the
market price,” he said. “It’s
going to help our bottom
line.”
Livestock depredation by
wolves is another issue many
ranchers have faced over the
last several years.
The Carters said they hav-
en’t seen any wolves but
have heard them and believe
they have resident wolves in
the area.
One of their calves was
attacked in Logan Valley last
fall on private property.
It didn’t die but had a bite
wound on the back of its
leg, and Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife offi -
cials confi rmed it was a wolf
attack, Mat said.
Both Mat and Jennifer
said the recent delisting of
wolves from the ESA is a
positive step toward giving
ranchers the ability to bet-
ter manage wolves to protect
their livestock.
One thing about ranching
that has not changed for the
Carters is the lifestyle.
“There’s not a better
place to raise a family than
on a ranch,” Jennifer said.
“It’s hard work that makes it
good — hard work teaches
values.”
“We get to work together
as a family, and we get to be
out in God’s creation,” she
said.
Mat agreed, and added,
“We have really great neigh-
bors — that’s a big deal too.
I think that’s the same for
most ranchers.”
Mat’s parents bought the
ranch in 1984, and he and
Jennifer took it over in 2002.
The Carters, who have
three grown children and one
still at home, have seen some
changes for the better and for
the worse in ranching over
the years, but their overall
view of the lifestyle is a pos-
itive one.
One negative is the vola-
tile cattle market, fl uctuating
as much as 50 percent in the
last 10 years, as costs keep
going up.
“Our input costs continue
to rise for fuel, equipment,
feed, insurance and labor —
those are the main ones,”
Mat said.
A new, positive-looking
trend has been the grass-fed
beef program, he said.
“We’ve always sold a
few grass-fed, and in the
last 10 years the national
grass-fed demand for beef
has increased 25 percent per
year,” he said.
It is still just 5 percent of
the market but growing at a
fast rate.
Mat said they’ve selected
genetics for cattle that are
moderate-framed and easy
fl eshing. He said the cattle
they raise fi t well into a grass-
fed and fi nished program.
Due to the increased
demand for grass-fed beef,
the Carters are selling into
a program with a buyer in
Texas. Cactus Feeders and
Tyson Foods process the
beef, and the meat goes to
high-end meat counters.
He said they started from
scratch and began buying
into the program last winter,
At the end of the rainbow
Ranching is
hard work.
Contributed photo/Randall Pearson
Cattle graze in a fi eld outside of Long Creek after a rainstorm.
Driving cattle
I’ll work hard to protect your ranch and auto.
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Jeanette Hueckman, Agent
101 W Main Street
John Day, OR 97845
Bus: 541-575-2073
jeanettehueckman.com
Contributed photo/Kristen Neuburger
Kristen Neuburger sent in this photo of a cattle drive up
Cottonwood above Monument. If you’ve taken a great photo,
send it to editor@bmeagle.com.
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