Oregon Beef Council Report

will@orbeef.org

virtual field trips feature oregon ranches & dairies

From Oregon Beef Council Chief Executive Officer Will Wise

Greetings from the Oregon Beef Council office, everyone! For the past few years, I have had the pleasure to be a part of the board of directors for the Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation. They do amazing work with volunteers reading books about agriculture in classrooms and other great projects. Recently, they started doing virtual field trips to Oregon farms and ranches. This technological jump means that thousands of students are part of a field trip. For example, on recent beef ranch tours in Prineville and Mitchell, there were 45 classrooms connected with a video link that brought this to 1,154 students. That is clearly a plus for Oregon animal agriculture.

Oregon ranchers have told me they support what the Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation is doing and the Oregon Beef Council demonstrates this by voting each year to fund some of this work through our “Positive Producer Image” line item in the check off budget. John Flynn, Oregon Beef Council vice-chairman from Lakeview, told me that he thought highly of this work and would recommend we do more.

For this article, I asked the Executive Director of the Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation Jessica Jansen, to write a few paragraphs for the Oregon Beef Council to put in the Oregon Cattleman magazine. I thought this would be valuable information for you to know about given our recent shift to virtual education for students in the state. Jessica does a great job with her work in my opinion and here is what she wrote:

Using videocon

ference technology, which is now familiar to many, Oregon

Jessica Jansen is the Executive Director of the Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation

Agriculture in the Classroom has hosted a series of “Virtual Farm Field Trips” featuring dairy and beef cattle. This innovative method allows students a window into animal agriculture, no permission slips needed. The classes interact with the farmer in real-time asking questions and seeing a glimpse into life on the farm or ranch.

To date, Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom has hosted three dairy farm “field trips” and one tour of a feedlot/cow and calf operation. Each field trip has been focused on a specific grade-level to make sure the information is relevant and appropriate for the students. Each participating classroom also receives an “Inquiry Box” containing materials to make an otherwise visual experience aesthetic. The dairy box, for example, included different feeds, an ear tag and milk replacer.

The interest from teachers has been outstanding. To date, 3,215 students in 136 classrooms have participated in these cattle-related field trips from nearly every county across the state. We limited the classes at first and reached our maximum within 24 hours.

While we had hoped to host more this spring, we’ll be back at it in the fall with at least one more beef field trip (sponsored by OBC) and another dairy field trip (sponsored by ODNC and through a grant with an OSU program).

Meanwhile, you can view all of the past field trips on YouTube or Oregon AITC’s website: oregonaitc.org/ virtual-farm-field-trips/

A few comments from teachers:

My students were really interested in learning about the connection between the ranch out on the range and then moving calves to the feedlot. We discussed the chute and treating sick calves after the presentation. They liked that they had learned about Temple Grandin and her work with cattle before this presentation also.

Thank you again for the work that is put into these virtual field trips. It is so nice to have them to bring the agriculture world into the classroom.

My students really enjoyed the field trip, and I was surprised how much they picked up as we shared later.

Very few of my students have been to or seen a cattle ranch, so they were very interested in this field trip. They liked that we could ask questions and get the answers in real time. • Find these virtual farm tours & more at oregonaitc.org

Contact Jessica at Jessica.Jansen@oregonstate.edu

Above: Keith Nantz of Deschutes River Beef presents as OAITC staff member Brittany Capell films at Double Bar Inc. Feedlot in Prineville.

Above: A ranch hand demonstrates feeding time at Jim Bob Collins’ ranch Table Mountain Cattle Company in Mitchell.

What were cattle selling for today? “Too much if you’re buying and not enough if you’re selling.”

Wayne Cook has bought, sold, and traded cattle since sale barn owners began pulling him out of school to clerk auctions. As a young man, he tied bulls inside rail cars and loaded trucks at his own lot well into his nineties. Those who estimate say he has shipped well over 300,000 head through Cook’s Yard at the edge of Enterprise.

If someone would have a wild cow or bull, they would take ‘em to Wayne’s for their final destination. Wayne would say, “I don’t know why everyone thinks they need to bring those kinds of cows here,” but he would know how to handle them without harm to himself, others, or the cow.

“Someone offered me $750 for the horse I was riding, so I sold it to him. I decided I didn’t need to ride such an expensive horse.”

Wayne bought cows through the sale ring that were other people’s throwaways and he patched together a herd to raise a nice, even set of calves. If you asked, he could tell you where he bought the cow, who owned her before, what she weighed, how old she was and how many calves she raised. He does not need a phone book because he has most numbers memorized, sometimes he cannot remember a name, but he will recall their phone number.

Wayne is a Christian and attends a Conservative Baptist Church, but he would often say, “these labels we put on ourselves are either going to blow off on the way up or burn up on the way down.”

Some would ask, “you never did drink alcohol did you Wayne?” and he would answer, “I did drink whiskey once, then drank a milkshake afterwards and the milkshake was much better.”

In the spring he would say:

“Ground hog day come though it may, come the first of March you better still have half your hay.”

Wallowa County usually has ninety days of March. “I’d like to get turned out on grass, but I’m too busy feeding.”

“The grass will start growing when it stops snowing and it’ll stop snowing when the grass starts growing.”

One time when I sold calves to Wayne, before they got on the scale he said, “how much are they going to weigh?”

“700,” I said.

Wayne replied, “they would if they were bigger, but they’re just not big enough.”

The calves ended up weighing 650. Scott McClaren claimed Wayne could guess the weight of draft cattle within ten pounds driving 60 mph down a rough road and a quarter mile away.

“Katy go up there above that gate, so those cows turn down into that pasture.”

Wayne had some good dogs. He talked to them in full sentences and they responded as if they understood every word. A few years ago, I told him I had a pup for him, his response was, “that’s all I need, another dog that’s going to outlive me.”

Wayne served as Oregon State FFA Secretary two years in a row under extraordinary circumstances during WWII, so he never made it to the national convention. This may have suited him fine as he would say, “I like to travel just as long as I can make it home before dark.”

On his ninetieth birthday, he said he was most proud of his children and the great adults they had become. The truth is, almost everyone that Wayne has come in to contact with is better off for having his influence.

For so many, Wayne is the measure of what a man should be. The measure of a husband, the measure of a father, the measure of a Christian and somewhere down that list of priorities he is the measure of a cattlemen. Like so many others, he has been my mentor, friend, and neighbor. I am forever grateful for Wayne Cook. •

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#BEEFMEET www.ncba.org

Public Lands Round-Up

be safe, not fearful

By OCA’s Public Lands Chair Matt McElligott

mcmcelligott@landolakes.com

The last article I wrote for this magazine, I talked about the turning of a new decade. Each decade is always marked by some milestone event, little did I know then that the milestone event of this decade was right around the corner. We knew it was possible then that it could reach us here because we had heard about this novel virus already. China was dealing with it, but what we did not know was how dramatically and how fast it would consume our lives. Only time will tell how long and how bad it really was in China.

It seems as if the whole world has stopped. We can begin to see how this virus has changed the way we do business and interact with one another, only time will tell the long-term impact of this crisis on our economy and society. The big question that no one can answer is, how long can we keep going on like this and what is the sensible path forward?

I do know we cannot continue as we are now, at least not for much longer. Our markets have collapsed! Cattle, hog sheep, grain - it does not matter what you raise, the markets are at historic lows. Packing plants have closed, and other manufacturers of goods have followed suit. Our economy, which was on fire is now on ice. There is good reason to fear this virus. Our immune systems have never experienced this strain before. Three of my siblings are in the medical field, two of them working in hospitals on the front lines. They see it firsthand and tell me do not take it lightly. One of my brothers in Washington D.C. is working on the COVID-19 taskforce and he says the same.

Living and working in rural America as we do, most of us think this is overhyped. Heck, if we can castrate our calves, drain an abscess on a cow with our pocketknife then wipe it off on our sleeve and slice an apple for lunch then we must be immune to anything. No, this is a virus not a bacterium, even rural America must take this seriously and use adequate precautions. That does not mean we should live our lives forever in fear. For example, my father was an Airforce pilot for twenty years and a veteran of Korea and Vietnam. He flew over 500 combat hours and 260 missions, we lost him just this past March. In his last days here on Earth, one of my sisters asked him if he was afraid of dying? His response was something that will stick with me, he said, “you can’t live your life in fear; that isn’t living.” That is my take on COVID-19. You cannot live your life in fear.

On the public lands side of things, we were really getting things done until this hit. OCA and the Public Lands committee had written responses to the revision of the BLM grazing regulation changes, the NEPA reform act, Waters of the US and we are working on ESA modernization and Sage Grouse. That work has not stopped. We are still charging ahead on important issues that involve public lands grazers, the biggest difference is now everybody is doing it from their home offices. All lobbying is done via phone or computer. Environmental groups that oppose grazing have not taken a COVID-19 holiday; they are still filing lawsuits. I have spoken with the Forest Service about turnout and monitoring and I was assured then that we can turn out on time. I spoke with the region range lead and he was scheduling a conference call to discuss issues such as monitoring if these work restrictions continue. As I learn more, I will do my best to keep you informed.

This year’s donations to the Oregon Public Lands Committee are running behind from last year, please donate if you have not already. As I just stated, the people who want to eliminate public lands grazing are still out there, we could use your help and contribution to continue our work on public lands issues. For those that have sent in your dues, I thank you.