Medford mail tribune., June 20, 1957, Image 18

TWO MEDFORD (OREGO!)
Form and Garden
'7-7TT-;-T'-- .1
, ,Li 'J.'Hff- -'Ay'H'-A
Caffle Driyen io
Mountain Ranges
By Hsny Ranchers
Most of the snow in the moun
tain country surrounding the
Rogue River valley is gone by
thus time nf year, and the mead
ow g-asss and foliage of the
oo!!a."d plants are lush and
fTf-en.
To vailey ranchers, who make
Use of government grazing
lands, this means it is time to
- gft their cattle together for the
" drive to tne summer range in
the mountains.
Eill Bigham, of Eagle Point,
Is one of These ranchers.
Last week found Bigham,
lor.g with six other "cow
hands" on the trail to the Im na
na area, east of Prospect, with
seme 200 head of cattle. Some
were hit and some belonged to
Maury Plngie of Mil-Mar ranch
north of Butte Falls.
Distance Magnified
Although 40 or 50 miles is not
far by car these days, the dis
tance is magnified when follow
ing alow-moving herd of cat
tle Cattle move at the rate of two
to thres miles an hour, the way
B.gham likes to drive them, and
the trip from Eagle Point to
Itrwaha takes about two and a
ha.f days.
When on the trail the cattle
like to get on the move at day
break, which means the riders
must get going too without
breakfast. The breakfast stop
comes about 9 a m. when the
ca'tle and horses are allowed to
grate and the '"hands" satisfy
appetites with hotcakes, bacon
and eggs and coffee. Long hours
in the saddle and the mountain
air help to make appetites keen
Pxvpaxed on Campfire
Meals on the trail are prepar
ed cowhny fashion over a camp
fire. 'When they travel along a
road a pickup, which serves as
a "churk wagon", tags along
behind, carrying food, water and
other Supplies, but a good part
of the way they follow a trail
through the woods and the food
is carried on horseback. The
evening meal is likely to con
sist of steak, potatoes and cof
fee Chief cofik for the Bigham
oi;tf t fnr the last six years has
been Picham's. uncle. Otis
Hc?ge. who is 79 years old.
It tnfeos a lot of whooping
aivi shouting on the part of the
cowhands to pet a herd of cattle
from one place to another, and
that noise, combit-ed with the
bellowing of the cattle, can be
heard for mill's in the normally
quiet forest.
Once in a while calf will
wander away from the herd nd
get lost in the woods, or aimply
hide in the bushes, and it is
necessary for the riders to keep
a sharp eye out for the strays.
Weight Off Caltl
Bibnm claims that by driv
fcin them slowly, hardly any
weisht is taken off the cattle
in the 40 mile drive, and it is
also much easier on the riders.
In addiiian. the chances of los
ing a cow in the woods is less
ened if they let the "critters"
set their own pace. And Bigham
oucht to know, for this is the
20th year that he has driven
his rattle to this summer range.
Vhile on summer ranse many
of the cows will produce calves
which may increase the herd by
one-third. The calvin" is taken
care of entirely by nature and
the wary mother cow watches
over its offspring to protect it
against coyotes and other preda
tors. It isn't long though before
the calf is a frisky self-sufficient
veteran of the woods.
Bigham also said cattle that
ff.race in the high mountains
are less prone to disease and
infestations, such as liver fluke,
than cattle that feed in planted
pastures. Their chief food con
svs of leaves of the vine maple,
-.wild lilacs and other foliage, as
we'.l as mountain bunch grass.
The cattle thrive on the moun
tain browse and they F"t on
MAIL TRIBUNE
CATTLE DRIVE Although a Texan might not be impressed
with a Rogue Valley cattle drive, taking herds of beef cattle
to the summer range in the Cascades is an important event for
many local ranchers. The top picture shows the "tail end"
of a herd of some 200 cattle belonging to ranchers Bill Bigham
and Maury Pingle as they are being herded along a mountain
road on their way to Imnaha summer range north of Butte
Falls. Bigham has brought cattle to this same area every sum
mer for 20 years. The two "buckaroos" in the lower picture
are Ricky and Ronnie Anderson, age 11 and 13, who are ex
perts at rounding up a stray in heavy brush. The boys are
Bigham's grandchildren.
New Chemical Gives
Corn Weed Control
Corvallis Near-perfect con
trol of annual weeds in corn is
shaping up at Oregon State col
lege with a chemical weed killer
developed in Switzerland and
tentatively scheduled for com
mercial sale in this country next
year.
Sold in Europe under the name
'Simazin," it is used there as a
soil sterilant when applied at
high rates. W.R. Furtick and
Dave Chilcote, OSC agronomists,
tested low rates of Simazin last
year and found it gave almost
100 per cent control of annual
weeds in corn throughout the
growing season.
Early Reports
Trials this year were expanded
to all major corn-producing areas
of Oregon. Early reports from
throughout the state i n d icate
that treated stands of four to six-weeks-old
corn are virtually free
of weeds with no damage to corn.
Simazin was applied just before
corn emerged.
Two pounds of Simazin, as it
will be sold commercially, gave
weed control on an acre of corn
with full coverage or three acre
when applied in bands along the
corn rows. One pound of the
commercial product as expected
enough weight to make it well
worth the trouble of taking them
up there. About Oct. 15, the
job of rounding up the cattle
begins and they will be driven
back to pastures in the valley
for the winter.
According to Bigham, at
roundup time last year two of
his older cows were missing
and they had to bring the herd
down without them. A few days
later the two cows, who had
made the trip many times be
fore, showed up at Bigham's
ranch.
There are a number of ranch
ers in the valley who lease gov
ernment lands, both in the Cas
cades and the Siskiyou moun
tains, for grazing their cattle. It
is a valuable supplement to feed
production in the valley, which
would otherwise go to waste.
And although the work involved
is strenuous, most of the ranch
ers, like Bill Bigham. look for
ward to the traditional cattle
drives and the chance to "rough
it" in real cowboy style.
Thursday. June 20, 1957
to cost about $4.50.
Simazin is highly insoluble
and should be applied with an
agitator tank using 30 to 40 gal
lons of water per acre. Good
rainfall or irrigation is needed
to take the chemical down to
weed roots. It is not effective as
a contact-killer on weed foliage.
Quackgrass Control
Another promising aspect of
Simazin is for control of quack
grass, one of the most presistefit
weed problems 'r. Oregon. Other
chemicals tested in the past steri
lize the soil too severely for use
on croplands.
Six pounds of Simazin, as com
mercial product, gave consider
able control of quackgrass pat
ches in OSC trials. While too ex
pensive at this rate for field
spraying, it may prove econo
mical for spot spraying in field
crops, the agronomists say.
When Simazin is applied at
heavy rates to control quack
grass, the residue remaining in
soils the following year may cut
production of certain susceptible
crops such as spring barley.
The lower two-pound rate that
kept corn stands free of annual
weeds for a full year does not
appear to leave enough residue
to harm any crops the following
year.
Tolerance Noted
Crops that have proven quite
tolerant to residues of heavy
rates of Simazin are wheat, can
ning or field peas, and vetch.
Tolerance of wheat to fairly
heavy residues of the chemical
has sparked interest in using
the material for chemical
mer fallow of wheatlands. Also,
tolerance of wheat proved suf
ficiently high that cheatprass
was removed selectively from
wneat when Simazin was ap
plied as a pre-emerge spray on
fall-seeded wheat.
Results of experiments on
wheat will be on display July
2 at the annual field day of
OSC's Pendleton branch pvnpri.
ment station about 14 miles
northeast of Pendleton on the
Walla Walla highway.
The ''Lost Battalion" of World
War I fame was the First Batta
lion of the 308th Infantry and
parts of the 306th and 30th In
fantry Machine Gun Battalions
of the 77th U.S. Division.
Livestock Disease
Control Legislation
Effective on July 1
County Agent W. B. Tucker
today reminded dairymen and
ranchers that the act governing
eradication of brucellosis, tuber
culosis and paratuberculosis in
livestock becomes law on July 1.
The emergency act was passed
at the last sessin of the Oregon
legislature, and S381.856 has
been appropriated to the de
partment of agriculture for en
forcement of the law in the next
biennium.
Slaughter Required
The new measure calls for
slaughter of each reactor animal
if it is found to be infected with
brucellosis, tuberculosis or para
tuberculosis by a test approved
by the department of agriculture
The owner of an animal re
quired to be slaughtered and
who has complied with all reg
ulations of the department may
be paid an indemnity.
Swine Growers
Set Regulations'
For 'Meaty' Stock
Modern hogs must watch their
weight. Overly fat pork is be
ing shunned by American house
wives and swine growers are
making good progress toward
producting a meatier type of hog.
The various purebred swine
associations have set up rules
and regulations to identify meat
type breeding stock within their
breeds. The object of the pro
gram is to find lines of breeding
stock which are producting pigs
of acceptable meat-type at desir
able weights. When such breed
ing stock is located, it will be
certified and the offspring made
abailable for purchase by breed
ers as well as commercial pro
ducers. The registry associations have
adopted a uniform set of rules
and regulations for certification:
1. Only purbred litters are ac
cepted. 2. There must be eight or more
pigs saved in a litter and each
iitter must be ear-marked and
farrowing date witnessed, with
in four days.
3. The litter must be weighed
at approximately eight weeks of
age (50 to 60 days). This will be
adjusted to 56-day weight.
4. Pigs must weigh on an
average of 200 pounds or more at
180 days of age. Two pounds
per day will be added or deduct
ed to arrive at 180-day weights.
5. Two pigs, either barrows or
gilts, will be slaughtered from
each litter when they reach 200
pounds or more, provided they
weighed 200 pounds before or at
180 days.
Standards Reported
Both a f o r e-mentioned hogs
slaughtered must meet the fol
lowing standards to certify the
rest of the litter:
Loin
Weight
180-199
200-214
215-230
Area Sq.
3 5
3.75
Fatback Thickness
1.1 to 1.5
1.2 to 1.6
1.3 to 1.7
In. Length (min.)
28
28.5
29
4.00
If a
above
purbred litter meets the
standards, they will be
given a meat hog certification.
Subsequent Litters
AH subsequent litters out of
the same sow and by the same
boar will be designated as "certi
fied meat-type matings" with
out any more official testing.
A boar that sires five "certi
fied litters," not more than two
of which may be from litter
mates or a dam-daughter com
bination, will also be recognized
as a "certified meat-type sire."
Specialist Talks
To Pear Shippers
Dr. McSwan, plant pathology
specialist from Oregon State col
lege, was guest speaker at the
noon meeting of the Medford
Pear Shippers association Wed
nesday at the Rogue Valley
Country club.
Dr. McSwan reported on the
study being made by the college
to isolate the types of decay
found in pears from this area.
The study was conducted this
spring, in co-operation with six
pear packing houses in the Med
ford district.
Some of the most prevalent
types of decay isolated in lab
ratory tests included cladospori
um, perennial canker, blue mold
and grey mold. Cladosporium is
one of the stronger parasites
which is found in many other
fruits and vegetables.
The project will be expanded
this year, in co-operation with
ihe Medford Pear Shippers as
sociation, to include study of
control measures necessary to
prevent decay in storage, as well
as trying to determine the cause
of the various decays so that
they may be controlled at the
source
Dr. McSwan was introduced
by Raymond Reter.
than S8 per head for grade an
imals nor more than $12 per
head for registered purebred
animals. All claims for indem
ity approved by the department
will be transmitted to the sec
retary of state, who will issue
the warrant upon the state
treasurer to the order of the
claimant.
Claims for indemnity orginat
ing before the effective date of
the law may be paid from funds
appropriated for that purpose
as authorized by the law in ef
fect at the time of claim origin
ation, or as authorized in the
new law.
Indemnities will not be more
The owner may claim indem
nity for the slaughter of a re
actor by giving notice of claim
to the department or the deputy
state veterinarian who super
vised or conducted its testing.
The notice of claim must be
given within five days from the
time the owner receives the
notice of infection. Claim forms
will be provided.
The department of agriculture
or the deputy state veterinarian
who supervised or conducted the
testing will appraise it within
10 days from receiving the own
er's notice of claim for indem
nity He will appraise it at its
market value in the locality in
which it is owned and located.
The appraisal will be deemed
final unless the owner appeals
the appraisal.
Appeal Permitted
In the owner disapproves of
the appraisal he must notify the
department of that fact within
10 days of the appraisal. The de
partment will then appoint a
disinterested, competent person
to re-appraise the reactor. The
person appointed by the depart
ment will proceed to make the
reappraisal, which will be deem
ed final.
When a reactor is required to
to be slaughtered, the depart
ment may apply to the circuit
court of the county in which the
reactor is located for an order
requiring destruction of the re
actor. If the owner of any live
stock refuses to have them tested
or otherwise violates the law,
the department may quarantine
the premises on which the an
imals were kept or all livestock
in the herd or the animals with
which they are associated.
If this is done, no animals or
products of the animals can be
removed from the premises or
the area under quarantine ex
cept by written permission of
the department.
Fit
This is what county agents, extension specialists, and other
agricultural authorities are consistently telling Western
growers: no one fertilizer is right for all soils and crops.
It makes sense, because the many factors afFecting crop
growth vary from farm to farm. So, each different combi
nation of growth factors can point to a different fertilizer
to one that is right for that particular farm. Shell Chem
ical's line of high-analysis fertilizers is designed to fit West
em needs for direct application, or as included in locally
formulated mixes.
These fertilizers are backed by Shell CkemicaTs
quarter-century of unmatched research and manufacturing experience
in the West and by their field-tested performance. They will
help you to belter profits at harvest time.
tit ""'
21.53-0
SHELL Dt-AMMONIUM PHOS
PHATE 21 nitrogen, 53
available phosphate. Water-solu
hie, free-flowing. Resists leach
ing. Readily available nitrogen
and phosphate, contains 74
pounds of nutrients in each
100 pounds.
Ag Engineering
Devices Assist
Farming Advances
Corvallis To produce an acre
of wheat in America, it once re
quired 57.7 man hours of labor.
Today with mechanization, it
takes 1.8.
These and other striking facts
about accomplishments of agri
cultural engineering have been
outlined by Oregon State college
as part of the 50th year ob
servance of professional agri
cultural engineering in this
country.
Equipment Value
J. B. Rodgers, head of agri
cultural engineering at the col
lege, says the value of farm
equipment on American farms is
more than $18 billion, five times
the total investment in the auto
motive industry. And today, the
modern farmer has at his dis
posal about 36 mechanical or
electrical horsepower per work
er to help him do chores.
The demand for trained grad
uates in agricultural engineering
is constantly increasing, Rodgers
reported. Some 1000 agricultural
engineers are needed each year
but only about 300 college grad-.
uates are available each June
OSC is one of 25 U.S. colleges
nationally accredited in agri
cultural engineering with work
offered on both the bachelor's
and master's degree levels.
Output Increased
Agricultural engineering has
all but eliminated many of the
common drudgeries and hand
operations in some areas of farm
ing, such as cotton picking and
sugar beet harvesting, Rodgers
explained. The farm output per
man-hour in forage handling has
been increased more than 85 per
cent since 1940 with machines.
Rural electrification has
brought electricity and convex
iences to almost 95 per cent of
the U. S. farm homes,; irriga
tion and drainage advances have
brought vast areas of land into
production with mechanization,
one man today can handle 40,
000 boilers, while 10 years go
he could handle only 10,000; and
beef cattle feeding labor require
ments have been cut to a frac
tion of what they were earlier.
Less than 13 per cent of the
population of the U. S. now pro
duces all the food and fiber need
ed by this country, Rodgers
pointed out. In 1857, before the
era of agricultural engineering,
it required about 85 per cent
of the people to do the job.
Tupper Lake, N.Y. OF) Otter
and beaver trappers are $4,600
richer thanks to a heavy pelt
harvest this spring. Game pro
tector Clarence Savard report
ed 36 trappers brought in 317
beaver pelts and seven otters
I for tagging.
fertilizer
your
to
your
soil and crop
TRIPLE SUPER
PHOSPHATE !
SHELL TRIPLE SUPERPHOSPHATE
45 available phosphate. Free
flowing, readily available form
of phosphate. In addition to
conventional application meth
ods, it may be used in combi
nation with other fertilizers.
0-4S 0 i
"lift. I
SEE YOUR LOCAL FERTILIZER DEALER
SORAN & WHITE FEED CO. BELLEVIfcW FEED STORE
17 West 4th - Medford 16S5 Highway 66 - Ashland
L. G. McLAREN & CO.-Distributors
1002 S. Central - Medford Phone SP 2-6181
Low Cost Roughage Shows
Well in Cattle
Corvallis Attempts by Ore
gon cattlemen to balance in
creased Northwest feed grain
supplies with low-cost rough
ages have brought promising re
sults in Umatilla county where
yearling steers and weaner
calves are making economical
gains on by-product peavine sil
age. David C. England, Oregon
State college animal husband
man, headed up the research
project in cooperation with local
ranchers and Norton Taylor,
Umatilla county agent. Other
areas of Oregon have expressed
interest in similar trials to test
feed value of locally produced
by-product roughages such as
mint silage, cannery waste, and
cull vegetables.
Test Results
The Umatilla tests, under way
since last fall, showed that pea
vine silage, as the only rough
age or in combination with alfal
fa hay, was satisfactory for fat
tening steers and calves on mod
erate grain feeding. Animals also
Field Inspection
Applications Due
Growers of certified seed must
file applications at the county
agents' office to have seed fields
inspected within the next 20
days, it was announced today.
Seed fields must pass inspec
tion previous to harvesting each j
year that seed is harvested. Some
crops such as alfalfa and certain
clovers require a seedling in
spection soon after planting.
The grower must supply a hist
ory of the field and certification
tags or other documentary
evidence that the seed is of ac
ceptable quality.
The purpose of the certifica
tion program is to provide the
certification of a disinterested
party as to the quality of seed of
fered for sale, it 'was explained.
Greek Government
Orders Talent Seed
A tentative order for 60 metri
ic tons of Talent alfalfa seed has
been received by the Josephine
Growers' association from the
Greek government, according to
Wallace Rice, manager of the as
sociation. Talent alfalfa seed has been
sold to Greece by the association
for the past several years.
Seed for export must meet
rigid regulations, it was pointed
out. It must be certified or regis
tered grade, must have a germin
ation of at least 90 per cent and
must be free of weed seeds, ac
cording to Earle Jossy, county
agriculture agent.
1
SHELL AMMONIUM PHOSPHATf
SULPHATE (.6-20-01-16 nitro
gen, 20 available phosphate,
14 sulphur. Free-flowing,
readily available form of nitro
gen and phosphate. Helps over
come sulphur deficiencies. Re
sist leaching.
rrr,
Feed Testing
received stilbestrol h o r m o ne
treatment.
Steer gains cost about one cent
a pound less with silage as the
only roughage compared to i
combination of silage and al
falfa hay, England reported, al
though the animals made slightly
faster gains on the combination
roughage. The ration also con
tained 72 pounds of grain, most
ly barley.
Cost for putting on one pound
of beef with silage as the only
rougnage was 14" 2 cents, lnis
j covered only the cost of feed and
j did not include labor or other
expenses,
Slower Gains
Steers that received wheat
straw and chaff and grass straw
along with silage gained slower
and at higher cost per pound
of gain than did animals on
straight silage or the silage-hay
combination.
Another key finding of the
trials was that gains were in
creased equally well with stil
bestrol implants or with the com
paratively new S y n ovex hor
mone given at the start of the
feeding program. Synovex is a
combination of two "natural"
hormones while stilbestrol is a
chemical with hormonal effects.
Synovex costs several times as
much per dose as stilbestrol.
Steers treated with stilbestrol
a v e raged daily gains of 1.96
pounds compared to 1.98 for Sy
novex. Untreated steers gained
1 87 pounds daily. England said
the one-tenth pound increase be
tween treated and untreated
animals was smaller than nor
mally obtained from stilbestrol.
Other on-the-farm trials during
the past year under a wide range
of feeding conditions gave two
tenths to four-tenths a pound
higher daily gains from stilbest
rol treatment.
Increasing interest in fattening
weaner calves with low-cost
feeds also received a boost from
the research project. Weaner
calves made cheapest and fast
est gains when started at low
levels of concentrate as a per
centage of body weight and in
creased percentage-wise through
the fee ding period. Costs per
pound of gain went higher when
calves were maintained at any
given percentage of body weight
throughout the trial.
Lowest feed costs 13 13
cents for each pound of beef
were with claves started on con
centrate at one-half of 1 per cent
of body weight. This was period
ically increased to a maximum of
IVi per cent of body weight.
Feed costs per pound of gain
were highest and daily gains low
est when grain rations were held
down to one-half per cent of
body weight throughout the feed
ing trial. Calves responded well
to stilbestol impjants on both
the high and low concentrate
I levels.
SHEU AMMONIUM SUIPHATC
21 nltrogvn in tb ammonia
form and 24 tulphor. Uniform
crystals, water-soluble. Excel
lent for broadcast or irricatiao
applications. Supplies sulphur
in combination with leacj
resistant nitrogen parti cnlsj-
suitable for sulphnr-dcfieiet
oils. Helps solubilre resiu4
soil phosphates.
SHELL UREA 46 nltrog-m.
Free-flowing, water-soluble.
Ideal for irrigation or sprinkler
application. High nitrogen con
tent means less material to
handle, quicker application.
This ie the only Urea produced
in the West.
SHELL NHJ (anhydrous ammonia!
82 nitrogen. Liquefied gas
applied under pressure at root
zone or in irrigation water. Re
sists leaching. Readily avail
able nitrogen. Developed and
pioneered by Shell, used suo
ceasfolly on crops since 1932.
SHELL?
I 21-0-0
-
l i
iHEL5-4
I 46-0-0 I
.SHCLti ,
o