Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/598320
Ihaveafavortoaskof you and your friends. Please help a Red Bluff teenager be chosen to sing the National Anthem at the Opening General Ses- sion of the 2016 Cattle In- dustry Convention in San Diego on Jan. 27, 2016 and the Thursday night event on the USS Midway. Ashtin Lopeman is 15 years old and has sung the National Anthem at Chey- enne Frontier Days, St. Paul Rodeo, Reno Rodeo, Redding Rodeo, Red Bluff Round-Up, JP Ranch Ro- deo to name a few. She is a freshman member of District 1 California High School Rodeo, after being a Junior High member and is a member of Red Bluff High School choir. Reba McIntire got her start singing at rodeos. Ashtin's parents are Chuck and RaeC Lope- man, and her mother is a member of Tehama County CattleWomen and California CattleWomen. The top four finalist have been selected for the third annual NCBA Na- tional Anthem Contest sponsored by Norbrook. The finalists are Ashtin Lopeman; Eliza Smith, 14, Stantonville, TN; Shey- enne Weaver, 16, Alliance, NE; Sage Patchin, 15, Shel- ley, ID. The participant en- try videos can be seen on www.beefusa.org or the NCBA Facebook page. On- line voting will take place Nov. 2-30. One vote per day, per person. The win- ner will be determined by the most public votes and will be announced on Dec. 4. Cast your vote today. Be sure to encourage your friends and family to vote online to help spread the word about Ashtin. Winner will receive a variety of great prizes in- cluding: Roundtrip airfare to San Diego during the 2016 Cattle Industry Con- vention. Accommodations in San Diego during the Convention. Free registra- tion to the 2016 Conven- tion. Apparel from Roper or Stetson. Please vote daily for Ashtin, a local Red Bluff girl. Bustour The 10th annual Te- hama County Farm Bu- reau Bus Tour visited Mt. Lassen Catfish Farm, a di- vision of Mt. Lassen Trout Farm, followed by Hale- akala Ranch where we viewed walnut processing. Julie Zeeb, Daily News reporter featured the cat- fish farm, walnuts and SPI in the Oct. 30 issue. I had never been to Si- erra Pacific Industries window and door making facility south of Red Bluff, along Hwy 99W. Plant manager James Nevers and Mike Zenda of Qual- ity Control gave a tour of the window making pro- cess where 650 windows are made daily by the 373 workers. The windows are pre- sold before being made, and there were large win- dows that would fill a wall to smaller sizes ready to be packed for shipping. They use aluminum on the exterior and wood on the interior. The wood is usually Douglas fir or pine, but someone had or- dered mahogany that was ready to be fitted into the frames. They also use al- der, cherry or walnut on special orders. A delicious lunch was enjoyed in the SPI break room, and then we visited Lindauer's River Ranch with Michael Vasey climb- ing aboard the bus to show us the prune and walnut orchards on both sides of "Sydney's Fish Ditch." If you are a longtime sub- scriber to the Daily News, you will recall how "The Farmer's Wife" would comment on the Glenn- Colusa Canal that was dug through the center of their ranch. There were several ar- eas that were bare ground after the 32 year old prune trees had been re- moved after the 2015 har- vest. Vasey said they had planted a cover crop, and then next spring it will be chopped and disced into the soil. Then the ground would be ripped by a deep plow, fumigated, leveled and underground irriga- tion would be installed, a half inch water line that was 16 inches from the tree, and then they would plant the new prune trees. Vasey mentioned that co-generation plants used to pay for the orchard trees, but now the farmer has to pay to have them removed. We noticed young prune trees were in wire cages to prevent deer eating the tender trees. Another block of prune trees were missing leaves because zinc sulfate had been applied. The prune trees will blow over, if we should get strong winds when they are still filled with leaves and the soil is wet. Prune trees have to be pruned every year. At Lindauer River Ranch it takes 30 men three months to prune all the trees. The trees are also topped to prevent blow- over. We drove past a trailer still filled with potassium sulfate, for the prune or- chards; each year, 500 lbs of potassium per acre is applied. At these orchards there is no dove or turkey hunt- ing allowed because of food safety. They do not want a shotgun pellet lodged in a prune or wal- nut. Food Safety had been stressed at Haleakala Ranch in the walnut shell- ing facility, as we wore smocks, hair nets, ear plugs while viewing the workers sorting the nut meats. At the dryer, we learned that three pounds of fresh plums yields one pound of prunes. The harvest was from mid-August to mid- September. It takes 18 hours of natural gas heat to dry a cart full of trays of fruit, and every two hours a new cart is rolled into the "tunnel." This year they dried 6,500 tons of prunes. A truck load will have twenty bins, each filled with 2,200 to 2,300 lbs of fruit, with a value of roughly $3,000 per bin. I was fascinated to fi- nally see the large ca- nal that Sydney Lindauer used to write about, as the ranch was cut in two. It was supposed to help save the salmon, but like the smelt in the Delta, it didn't happen. Another fascinat- ing stop on the 2015 Farm Tour was at Cump- ton Trucking Inc; on Hwy 36E. Ryan Cump- ton greeted us and told how his grandparents had come to California and picked fruit in the '30s and in 1942 he got a truck and hauled grain and hay. In the 1950s they started hauling lumber and heavy equipment, as well as hay, grain and peaches. It is a family owned business. In the 1960s the free- ways and canals were be- ing built, and Cumpton Trucking hauled dry ce- ment as well as the fruit, lumber, rice and fertilizers. In the 1970s they were hauling apricots in Win- ters, CA to the processor in Medford, Oregon. Tree Top Company has used their trucks since those years to haul produce from Wash- ington and California, as well as grapes from Phoe- nix, Arizona. Cumpton Trucks can be found any- where on the West Coast, not just Red Bluff. A typical year for pro- duce starts in April with peaches from Fresno, June is apricots, July has pears, while August is cling peaches and pears. Then it is almonds, rice and wal- nuts and continues all winter long. Several times while we visited with Ryan, he men- tioned "How much we appreciate all of our lo- cal farmers and custom- ers and their loyalty and friendship to us through- out the years. It's always been a source of pride to our family to have the strong local relationships." Foreign growers affect local businesses, because in 2007 they hauled 200 loads of peaches, but 2008 saw a large peach crop in South America and there were only 10 loads of Cali- fornia peaches. Years ago I noticed Woolery Livestock trucks no longer had their phone number on their truck and trailer. People would call and complain if a cow spattered their car with a bit of manure. Ryan Cumpton said that after 70 years, their trucks no lon- ger have the phone num- ber on the trucks, because people would say a rock had cracked their wind- shield. A dash cam helps with insurance claims. I asked why the trucks were blue or red or orange instead of the traditional brown with yellow letter- ing. The Air Resources Board said they needed new trucks because of the smog regulations, or else hefty fines. They bought 19 or 20 new trucks and they were painted blue. They have 35 trucks and driv- ers, that come from Red Bluff, Corning and Red- ding. When season is busy, there can be 40 outside trucks hauling for Cump- ton Trucking. Ryan Cumpton has been the dispatcher for 25 years, and told how the cell phones have been a ma- jor help in contacting the drivers. Before cell phones, when he needed to reach a driver he would call the truck stops along the route they would be driving and have the truck stop opera- tor tell the driver to call the office. He mentioned that a driver would be heading north, empty and would call in from Bakersfield, hoping to get a back-haul. Cumpton would have nothing, but as soon as he hung up the phone, there would be a shipper want- ing to send a load north. Now there is contact by cell phone, and each truck has a GPS for location. Once again on the 10th annual Farm Bu- reau Bus Tour, we learned new things about Tehama County and its agriculture. JeanBartonhasbeen writing her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbarton2013@ gmail.com. JEANBARTON LocalgirlafinalisttosingNationalAnthem COURTESYPHOTO A Cumpton Trucking truck and trailer load of walnuts at the Haleakala Ranch scales before being unloaded, while on the Tehama County Farm Bureau Farm-City Bus Tour. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thankyou! 6186ChurnCreekRd.•365-5383 Hours: Mon-Sat 8-5, Sunday 10-4 Go to www.goldleafnursery.com for map Blowout Prices - 60% off selectedoverstockitemssuchas SecondChanceFallSale ends Sunday, November 8 th 5gal.Willowtrees, 15 gal. 'Flamingo' Box Elder trees, 2 gal. Blue Wisteria, Grapes and more! All5gal.to25gal. 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