Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1978)
SIX-The Gazette-Times. Heppner. Oregon, Wednesday Novomhor :, ,.7 ; 7th Annual TTC 13 "' ' ' - 'Hit 0 ' ; TAOILD PROFI r?FESSIONAL TITLE S 1 9& flr" , I, . . ' 'f ul iui,iiu x 1 vw r A '1 x l'.X . - ... w 1977 drought cost Oregon ranchers $ million, according to OSL survey The dust has settled, and the official figure is in: Oregon's cattle ranchers took a beating of more than $85 million during the drought of 1977. W. Edward Schmisseur, Oregon State University agri cultural and resource econo mist, presented results of a drought impact survey to members of the Oregon Cat tlemen's Association during the group's annual meeting at the Portland Sheraton Friday. Highlights of the survey, to which nearly one-quarter of the cattle producers in 18 eastern Oregon counties responded, revealed that: , Eighty per cent of the ranchers suffered some eco nomic loss because of the drought. More than 130,000 animals were sold because of drought conditions. The sales repre sented an estimated $40 mil lion loss to ranchers due to smaller calf-crop, selling feed ers at lower weights and selling breeding stock at slaughter prices. Ranchers bought 210,000 tops of additional hay, 20,000 tons of grain and 13,000 tons of supplements that would not have been needed during a normal year. Twenty per cent of the ranchers hauled additional water to their animals, up from the seven per cent who normally haul water. Total water hauled was 40 million gallons over 500,000 miles. Hauling took an additional 78,000 hours of labor and cost ranchers more than $325,000 in extra gas, labor, vehicle maintainance and deprecia tion. "That $85 million figure excludes losses to grain crops and any additional losses due to the health of the animals or breeding problems brought about by the drought. Ad ditional interest payments on loans that ranchers had to take out also were not included in that total," Schmisseur said. Yet, few of the ranchers indicated they would quit the business following the hard year. In fact, more than 80 per cent of those who reduced herd size during the drought plan on rebuilding herd numbers. "Of those rebuilding, half the ranchers plan to rebuild their herds within the next two years, and another 35 per cent said they will take between two and four years to rebuild. And most of those who plan to rebuild will raise most of their own replacement animals," Schmisseur said. This latter rebuilding group, Schmisseur cautioned, may find themselves reaching peak production after cattle prices have peaked. '1 A. ' pRIZE I 3200 fo- :f r V Electric j ted s? Sears t 7 $i2ooBox h 1 : 1 f W of Detergent L Authorized J JA CATALOG - HJjlC SALES MERCHANT Chevron Serving Heppner Area With A Complete Line Of Petroleum Products Glenn Devin Chevron USA, Inc. Commission Agent For Service Call Dick Devin 676-9633 7 'h in e for Beecher r" - Class B Championship Game Nov. 25 1 p.m. In lone I i Enjoy the game, then join u ijj Special Prime Rib Dinner h ; Featuring The Best Salad 1 & ' I 1 T II 1 k I) w. Bar In The Vt est! Beginning At 3:30 p.m. till? BEECHER'5 IONE; Table Tennis players from Haiti and T7" - Thailand thrilled a scant crowd at the Heppner High School gym last Saturday night with their top-notch play. Referee Tom Modica added f x his touch to the World Champonshpl " match. Ill rsf fit I 'S ...it's a great I ST! I 1 Cookbook Kn wJL" 'd I Azill ORDER 'Jjji TV JJ YOUR COPY ' jliM ' szry TODAY! ;jS.: f J Order Your Cowbelle Cookbook By Calling-. yy I MARY KILKENNY 989-8165 L I MARY AAARTIN 989-8438 X pj . Kum inuiiiin(j 676-5346 v V JSL
