Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/352847
LastSaturday,Tehama County CattleWomen Kelly Mouton, Linda Bor- ror, Jean Barton, Ann But- ler and Beef Ambassador Danielle Mueller partic- ipated in the Mom's Day on the Farm, another beef check-off funded project executed by American Na- tional CattleWomen. The majority of the population is at least three generations re- moved from contact with firsthand knowledge of what it takes to bring food to their plate. Ur- ban moms from the Sac- ramento/Roseville area were visiting an actual farm in Colusa. They learned the real- ities of food production since Dan and Barbara O'Connell's ranch raises Angus cattle and Barb's Produce Stand has 50 dif- ferent varieties of fruit in their orchard. For 2014, 10 ranches have offered and been se- lected to host the tours between May 17 and Sept. 18. They are spread across the country; California, Missouri, Minnesota, Ar- izona, Florida and Geor- gia where there are mas- sive urban areas or pock- ets of population in which moms have no contact with agriculture. Upon arrival at O'Connell's they met the family and learned the history of the farm. Orig- inally there were walnut trees, and they were re- placed with fruit trees. The cattle pastures are nearby. On the tour of the farm, the moms learned about beef production and when branding was mentioned they felt it hurt the ani- mal. Malorie Bankhead, former National Beef Am- bassador, explained, " Cat- tle hides are much thicker than human skins. Once the calves have been branded, they set off to find their mamas; and if on pasture, turn to graz- ing as if nothing had hap- pened." Then Paula Holden asked if any of the moms had their ears pierced? Of course they did. "You are eartagged." Do any of you have tattoos? There were many tattoos. "You are branded. Did it hurt?" Linda Borror explained freeze branding on An- gus cattle, while Sherry Maltby has Charolaise cattle that are white and you can't see a freeze brand. There was a new- born calf that everyone saw, when they visited the paddocks. I was delighted to see Kim Brackett, CBB chair- man present and she told about their ranch and how they ship cattle be- tween the two ranches here in California. The truck drivers have had Beef Quality Assurance training to ensure the safe handling of cattle. The ranchers also have had Beef Quality Assurance training. Our Cooperative Ex- tension Livestock & Nat- ural Resources advisor Josh Davy explained more about how cattle graz- ing helps the land and an- swered any of the ques- tions the moms had about cattle and the environ- ment. Annette Kassis, con- sumer communications at California Beef Council educated the moms about the nutrition found in beef. She discussed beef's role in a healthy diet, and the importance of beef's nutrition for growing chil- dren. There are actually more than 29 cuts of lean beef. Look for Loin or Round in the name of the beef cut when choosing lean cuts of beef. Lean cuts of beef have less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 3 ounce serving. Chef Don Litchfield dis- cussed what to look for when buying beef, in- cluding today's beef cuts and tips on selecting at the meat counter. How to properly store beef and beef safety when handling beef. We were reminded when thawing frozen beef, do it in the refrigera- tor and not on the kitchen counter. Litchfield discussed when to use flavor mar- inades vs. tenderiz- ing marinades, and us- ing rubs on tender cuts of beef. Sherry Hill, ANCW guided the moms on how to grill the perfect steak, including cooking it over a medium grill temper- ature; how to determine doneness with an instant read thermometer, and how to properly carve steak across the grain. Then the moms had hands on activity learning how to use rubs and fla- vor marinades, and prop- erly grill beef top sirloin, top loin steak, flank steak and tri-tip to a medium- rare to medium doneness. Steaks included grain-fin- ished and grass-finished. The top sirloin steak became Tzatziki-Sauced Greek Steak Wraps. There was East West Flank Steak Wraps, Chimichurri Steak Wraps, and Mu Shu Tri-Tip & Apple Wraps. The cattlewomen vol- unteers assisted in pre- paring and setting up the buffet with accompani- ments to the steak wraps. Publicinvited to provide beef appetizers Tehama County Cattle- Women and Downtown Red Bluff Business Associ- ation are inviting the pub- lic to make their favorite beef appetizer and serve it during the Sept. 20 Beef 'n Brew starting at 5 p.m. To help with the cost of the beef, generous spon- sors have donated funds and product to reimburse the cooks. We thank the following early sponsors who have stepped up to ensure there will be beef appetizers to go with the craft beers: Animal Health International — we know them as Walco, since it is hard to remem- ber the new name — Mc- Glynn & Clark Attorney at Law, Ten Point Ranch, Corning Ford, Red Bluff Chrysler-Dodge Jeep, Growney Motors and Golden State Farm Credit have pledged funds. JeanBartonhasbeen writing her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbar- ton2013@gmail.com. JEANBARTON Eventteachesurbanmotherswherefoodcomesfrom COURTESYPHOTO Visiting with the moms during Mom's Day on the Farm at the O'Connell Ranch in Colusa. The CattleWomen members were wearing the white shirts. WILLOWS UC Coopera- tive Extension research has found that baling rice straw right behind the har- vester greatly increases cat- tle's ability to utilize it. Making rice strawlage in- volves baling the straw the same day as the rice is har- vested at 50 to 60 percent moisture and then placing it under a tarp cover. With the present drought conditions, a meeting will be held Tuesday in Willows to discuss how to make rice strawlage. It will cover the nutritional advantages of strawlage over straw, the challenges of baling at 50 to 60 percent moisture, addi- tives that can be provided, how to stack and tarp it, nu- trients removed from field with the process, and the cost associated with the process. Most important will be the discussion with two ranchers that fed rice straw- lage last year. Because of the high mois- ture associated with this product and transportation costs, it is assumed that the most prudent use will be by ranches adjacent to rice production areas. With limited water for rice straw decomposition this fall, this could also provide rice operations an alternative method of the straw management The goal of the meeting is to give producers information that will allow them to im- plement rice strawlage dur- ing this fall's harvest. Both cattle and rice pro- ducers are encouraged to attend the meeting, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Vet- erans Memorial Hall, 525 West Sycamore St. in Wil- lows. For more information, call Josh Davy at 527-3101, orjdavy@ucanr.edu, or Glenn Nader at 822-7515, ganader@ucanr.edu. RICE STRAW New m et ho d to g et through a drought FRESNO Fresno State wa- ter technology and animal science specialists are eye- ing earthworms as a means to enhance water efficiency on the university dairy. It's all about biofiltration — the use of natural organ- isms rather than chemical processes to recycle water — in a new partnership with a Chile-based waste- water treatment company, Biofiltro USA Inc., to test the innovative method. Fresno State is a test site for a system that could fundamentally change ap- proaches toward water treatment while saving energy and eliminating chemical usage. Earthworms will serve to filter unwanted nu- trients out of the dairy's wastewater, explains San- jar Taromi, chief mar- keting officer for Biofil- tro USA, which recently opened an office at Fresno State's Water and Energy Technology (WET) Center. The recycled water can then be used in a greater variety of irrigation appli- cations. "Our company has devel- oped and patented a sus- tainable and environmen- tally friendly technology for the treatment of domes- tic and industrial waste- water at low cost," Taromi said. "In the case of a dairy's wastewater, prior to recy- cling, it was only available for flood irrigation. Recy- cling through our system allows the option of more efficient water use technol- ogies, such as sprinkler or drip systems." Taromi describes Biofil- tro's patented technology as relatively simple: the filtering system features a bottom layer of gravel with space for aeration and wa- ter percolation, covered by a bed of wood shavings loaded with California red worms. Wastewater is sprinkled at intervals over the worm beds. The worms thrive in the moist environment, consuming the solids in the liquid waste. The bac- terial micro flora in the worm castings consume and metabolize nitrates, phosphorus, oils, fats and other compounds. Treatment is completed in four hours. The water percolating through is col- lected for reuse. "It is not potable (safe to drink), but having been cleaned of solids and other unwanted organic com- pounds, it is available for a broader range of agricul- tural uses," Taromi said. "In this sense, it does save water, because before all you could do was flood a land area and sometimes not grow anything. Now the recycled water is avail- able for more applications." Dr. Jon Robison, a Fresno State animal sci- ence professor who over- sees the university's com- mercial dairy, welcomed the proposal made by Bio- filtro last year to build a pi- lot-scale filtration unit on some unused ground ad- jacent to the dairy. He se- cured the blessing of Uni- versity Agricultural Lab- oratory administrators to partner with Biofiltro to test the process. Robison said "it's a very good concept" because the process takes both the good and the bad of the dairy waste stream and re- cycles them for useful pur- poses. "There are nutrients that are beneficial to the ecosys- tem, and there are some compounds that are det- rimental, such as nitrates and salts," Robison said. But he's not yet sure about the commercial ap- plication relative to a larger-scale operation. The filtering unit at the univer- sity dairy is relatively small (20 by 30 square feet) and processes only a fraction of the waste stream. "The key is in testing the process," Robison said. "Here's an opportunity to discover some things that we didn't know about. This could be a breakthrough, as we have the opportunity to learn some things for the entire industry. The chal- lenge is in adapting this to a full-scale commercial op- eration." While Biofiltro is new to California and the United States, it is in full opera- tion internationally, with more than 100 installations in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and New Zealand. The recycling technology has also been applied to wineries, food and meat processors, municipalities and a hotel and casino. "Biofiltro has the po- tential to fundamentally change biological ap- proaches toward water treatment," Taromi said, adding that Biofiltro plans to build its first commer- cial system in California at a dairy in Hilmar this year. "Unlike conventional water treatment facilities, Biofiltro uses no chemicals — the system is all natural and it's very low in energy use, as essentially the only power used is to pump wa- ter through the system." Robison said the Fresno State pilot project will be reviewed after one year to determine whether the campus system could be expanded. DAIRY Earthworm technology for wastewater treatment Associated Press NEW YORK The U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn't required to hold pub- lic hearings to evaluate the health risks of widespread use of antibiotics in ani- mal feed, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- peals reversed a ruling in 2012 by a district court that sided with several health and consumer or- ganizations that sued the FDA after the agency de- cided against holding the hearings. The health groups want the FDA to withdraw ap- proval of using penicillin and tetracycline in ani- mal feed to make cattle and other livestock grow faster. They say the prac- tice has been linked to an increase to human resis- tance to antibiotics. COURT DECISION Ruling on antibiotics in livestock reversed RUNNINGS ROOFING SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane Ownerisonsiteoneveryjob ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 NoMoney Down! "NoJobTooSteep" " No Job Too Flat" FREE ESTIMATES CA. 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