Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/513039
Someoneorsomething likes my efforts at gar- dening. Back in February I had a gallon pot with a blooming geranium near the house, and when I re- turned from Texas it was gone. In March, someone had dug up all my blooming yellow primroses and put them in a bucket when I returned in evening from the CattleWomen meet- ing. Next morning the bucket and flowers were gone. The other day my new, rolled up 50-foot Costco garden hose and 25-foot soaker hose disappeared. They had been by the tubs of flowers in the yard. If it had been muti- lated cattle I would have known what was hap- pening because Bill and I lost 32 head in 10 years starting in October 1995. We have had dead cattle in previous years but al- ways assumed the coyotes had been there before we found the bodies. My Christmas letter of October 1995. On 15th, Bill and I rode Eagle Lake shore, and found cows near Gallatin Beach. Drove cows up Pa- poose Creek and along- side the outside of Papoose Meadow fence, and put them in corral. Left horses in corral and made a trip to Red Bluff with heifers. Morning of 16th we made a round trip to 101 ranch to get some cows that had come to Dye Creek Ranch. Arrived at Papoose at 1:30; Elwin and Emily were there with a portable load- ing chute. Bill helped set up the chute, and I took the horses out on the meadow to get a drink of water after being in a dry corral. There was a dead cow out by the old fence rails, directly east of the cor- ral. She was laying on her right side, and her left ear was cut off. Looked closer and her teats were cut off, flat with udder. But no blood dripping. Her left cheek was re- moved and it was a clean jaw bone with no flesh or blood on bone. The tongue was completely gone. The rectum and vulva was gone in a large oval. She had been dead a couple of days because she was bloated, and flies were buzzing. Bill brought out the pickup, and rolled her over. It was a 4 year old black/white cows with number brand 135, ours. Went to Marina and called Sheriff office; J. D. Hemphill, the brand in- spector; and Joyce Coakley at USFS. Within a half hour Dep- uty Mike Schmidt, the deputy at Eagle Lake ar- rived. His first words when he saw the cow was: "The same thing. Cut the same way. I wish I could find a fresh one." Seems that he has seen a couple this spring. It is common in Big Valley (Bieber-Adin) and Ravendale area. He took some pictures, and I took pictures. Then he asked if that was the only one we lost. Said we hadn't looked for more. So, he left and we saddled the horses and rode checking the cows. Over in the tall grass, on damp ground near the old cross fence, in south- east corner of Papoose we found a Hereford cow. Dead. Laying on right side with left ear missing, tongue removed, cut upper and lower left lips, and the entire udder was missing. You could see the stomach and no blood. The rectum and vulva were an oval. There were no human foot prints in the damp soil. No car tracks on ei- ther side of fence. Bill used his horse and pulled her over, and it was 749, an 8 year old cow. Both cows had calved within the last two or three weeks, because I noted their bull calves on Oct. 2nd when we rode checking cattle. We found their calves with the other cattle over by the spring. Next morning Bill and I stopped at Ea- gle Lake Ranger Dis- trict and saw the acting chief, Joyce, Randy and told them about the two cows. But no one was interested in seeing it, or sending out the for- est investigator — he was out of town. Decided to do a letter to the editor, because this wasn't rustling for meat. Every publication except California Cattleman and Sacramento Bee published my letter. It was nation- wide in Western Livestock Journal, Livestock Market Digest, Nevada Rancher, and Northern California newspapers. Faxed a copy of letter to Billie Roney and after Wally read it, he phoned Bill. Billie sent it to other media, and I was amazed at her results. Mother heard it on KPAY radio at 7 a.m. on the 18th. Bil- lie did a talk show with Bruce Session in the after- noon, too. Art Bell, Las Vegas, late night Talk Show Host (11 p.m. to 4 a.m.) talked about it on affiliate KOH-Reno on Wednes- day night to Thursday morning. A man in Su- sanville heard it. I had to ask "who is Art Bell?" (We heard the program one early morning as we drove to mountains, and it is nationwide.) Channel 12 in Chico and Debbie Cobb, assign- ment director, sent Mike Donnelly to Papoose to do a story. Well, Mike did a beautiful job filming the cows in soft focus with buzzing flies. We saw the 5:30 p.m. Oct. 19, 1995 news on a 6-inch screen powered by a generator at Roney's Clover Valley sum- mer place. JEANBARTON A look back at cattle mutilation in the '90s COURTESYPHOTO Jeff Hemphill photographs victim No. 1on at Papoose Meadow, Lassen National Forest. The Associated Press FRESNO Siding with one of the largest fruit farms in the nation, a California ap- peals court ruled unconsti- tutional a state law that la- bor activists say is key to helping farm workers im- prove their working con- ditions. The 5th District Court of Appeal said Thursday the law that allows the state to order agricultural unions and farm compa- nies to reach binding labor contracts does not clearly state the standards that the contracts are supposed to achieve. The ruling came in a fight between Gerawan Farming and the United Farm Workers union, which was launched by iconic farm labor leader Ce- sar Chavez. The union won the right to represent Ger- awan's workers in 1992, but the two sides did not agree to a contract. At the union's request, the state Agricultural La- bor Relations Board in 2013 ordered Gerawan and the UFW to enter into binding mediation. The two sides couldn't come to agreement on a la- bor deal, so one was crafted by the mediator that was then adopted by the labor relations board, the appeals court said. Gerawan objected to the terms of the deal. In its ruling, the ap- peals court said the law — referred to as man- datory mediation and conciliation — does not clearly spell out goals such as raising work- ers' wages or improv- ing working conditions that the mediator's labor contract is supposed to achieve. The law also fails to establish any safeguards to ensure the media- tor does not favor either side, according to the court. "The legislature has del- egated broad legislative au- thority to the mediator and the board under the MMC process, but has not pro- vided adequate standards to guide and direct the use of that delegated author- ity or prevent its misuse," Associate Justice Stephen Kane wrote in the 3-0 rul- ing. CALIFORNIA Co ur t si de s wi th f ru it farm in fight with union By David Pitt The Associated Press D E S MOI N E S , IOWA Prices for eggs and tur- key meat are rising as an outbreak of bird flu in the Midwest claims an increasing number of chickens and turkeys. Market experts say gro- cery stores and whole- salers are trying to stock up on eggs, but there's no need to worry about having enough turkeys for Thanksgiving. The cost of a carton of large eggs in the Mid- west has jumped nearly 17 percent to $1.39 a dozen from $1.19 since mid-April when the virus began ap- pearing in Iowa's chicken flocks and farmers culled their flocks to contain any spread. Neighboring Ne- braska reported its first case of bird flu Tuesday, affecting 1.7 million chick- ens at an egg farm in Dixon County. A much bigger increase has emerged in the eggs used as ingredients in processed products such as cake mix and mayon- naise, which account for the majority of what Iowa produces. Those eggs have jumped 63 percent to $1.03 a dozen from 63 cents in the last three weeks, said Rick Brown, senior vice pres- ident of Urner Barry, a commodity market analy- sis firm. Turkey prices, which had been expected to fall this year, are up slightly as the bird flu claimed about 5.6 million turkeys nation- wide so far. About 238 mil- lion turkeys were raised in the U.S. last year. The price of fresh bone- less and skinless tom breast meat primarily used for deli meat has risen 10 percent since mid-April to $3.37 a pound, a USDA re- port said Friday. Frozen hens in the 8- to 16-pound range, those often used for home roasting, were up about 3 percent to $1.06 a pound. Egg supplies are fall- ing short of demand, the U.S. Department of Ag- riculture has indicated, and Brown said egg buy- ers such as grocery stores and wholesalers are try- ing to stock up for fear that another large farm with millions of chick- ens will be stricken — causing prices to spike higher. "We're starting to see a little bit of that demand increase, and the sellers are reluctant to give cli- ents too much more than they normally have be- cause they know what's go- ing on and they don't want to be caught short either," he said. The number of Iowa chickens lost exceeds 26 million, the vast major- ity of which lay eggs for food use. That's about 41 percent of the leading egg state's layers and about 8 percent of the nation's lay- ing hens. That many chick- ens would lay more than 500 million table eggs a month. For comparison, Iowa chickens laid 1.4 bil- lion table eggs in March, before the disease struck. U.S. egg production for March stood at 7.42 bil- lion table eggs. Some companies are be- ginning to notice the im- pact of fewer eggs. Cereal maker Post Holdings Inc., which bought egg products supplier Michael Foods last year, said in its May 7 quar- terly earnings report that about 14 percent of its egg supply has been affected by the bird flu outbreak. 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