Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/604884
Social media such as Facebook is amazing in communication. Last Fri- day, on "My Job Depends on AG" (a public group), a rancher in Coolidge, Arizona posted "Some- one decided we don't need to pick any more cotton. They torched both our pickers last night," with a photo. Within one hour there had been 155 comments, and 70 "like" indicating the post had been read. Among the comments was "If you need help finishing picking give me a call we have equipment ready to roll." The ranch- er's daughter replied "We have a lot more to pick we may need the help. Thank you so much. I re- ally appreciate it." She also posted in re- ply to a comment: "The ranch is in Coolidge, AZ. On the same farm where this happened, we have had multiple break ins, theft, broken windows, tractors romped into ditches, but nothing this bad before. So sad to see our family's hard work up in flames." Branding The first day of brand- ing at Antelope Creek Cattle Co. was sunny and warm, while on the sec- ond day I was cold in the 51 degrees and misty rain when I left at noon time. The cows received their annual shots, Mul- timin, (trace minerals); 2) One Shot Ultra 8 to prevent blackleg caused by seven organisms and redwater caused by Cl. Haemolyticum and bo- vine pneumonic pasteu- rellosis caused by Pas- teurella haemolytica type A1. 3) BoviShield Gold FP 5L5 HB to pre- vent abortion caused by IBR, bovine herpes virus Type 1 virus, respiratory disease caused by IBR, BVD Types 1 and 2, PI3, and BRSV, BVD, Type 2 testicular infection and leptospirosis caused by Leptospira canicola, L. grippotyphosa, L. hardjo, L. icterohaemorrhagiae and L. Pomona. 4) Trich- guard, to prevent tricho- moniasis and 5) Decto- max for parasites, exter- nal and internal. The calves as they were roped and branded, ear-marked, and if they were bulls they were cas- trated, also received their shots for Multi- min, Ultra Choice 8, Bovi Shield Gold 5 for pre- venting IBR, BVD virus Types 1 and 2, PI3, BRSV, and Cydectin for para- sites. The calves were good looking and healthy, giv- ing the ground crew much exercise as they kept the calves lying down on their right side. Ground crew not roping included Wade Kittle, Zane Kittle, Joe Murphy, Walker Cummel, Nick Beeman and the younger ropers. Jim Edwards applied the pilot wheel brand on the left ribs, while the vaccinations were given by Nancy Weber, Callie Rohl, Shaye Root, Katie King, Kaylee Houchins, Katie King, Tracy Brown, Darlene Tingle, Chris Cunningham, Amanda Slater if they weren't roping. In the morning there were 44 calves in each pen full, while after lunch there were 29 head from another pasture for the four groups of rop- ers. They ranged in age from 9 year old Hank Bunting, who was roping his share of calves by the hind legs to senior citi- zens. If only one leg was caught it had to be shook off, and no roping of the heads, just hind legs. Thanks to Heidi Root for identifying all the ropers for me. So many of the young men have beards, I don't recog- nize them. Very embar- rassing. The ropers included: Walt and Tracy Brown, Danny and Wyatt Brown, Amanda Slater; Cole Robinson; Greg Weber; Nancy McClure; Cole, Hank and Miley Bun- ting; Riley Jackson, Roy Owens, Will Staggs, J D Bryngelson; Clifford and Chris Cunningham; Wade Bushnell, Chuck Morris, Sr; Don Brown; Zack Brown; Lance and Chase Root; Dale and Darlene Tingle; Tim Ren- strom. Steve Joiner of Two Bud's BBQ brought a lunch of tri tip, maca- roni salad and delicious beans to go with the ap- ple and pumpkin pies. The truck with the ice chests of water, soda pop and beer was driven over to the lunch area, from the branding area. This year the ranch crew had brought a flat bed trailer for a table, and many bales of hay for seating, with Antelope Creek on other side of levee. The floods of Decem- ber had resulted in miles of new fencing on the ranch. We admired the large pipe posts at the corral, because they had welded a ring on each one for tying your hal- tered horse when not roping. Golden Gate Fields I wish you could have been with Jacqueline Le- ininger and me when we went to Golden Gate Fields, in Albany for the horse racing with oth- ers on Mt. Lassen Mo- tor Transit last Saturday, with Troy driving in the heavy traffic on the free- way. We were in the Turf Club, high in the sta- dium with clean, large glass windows so we never noticed the 61 de- gree weather, although it was sunny outside. Beau- tiful green grass, color- ful flowers and water ponds in the in-field. A buffet luncheon with lots of salads, vegetables, roast beef, ham, fish en- trée was cod, chicken, and turkey cooked in different presentations. And the dessert table was filled with brownies, cakes, pies and cookies. Each table had a small television so you could watch the race on the track, or for a close up view, just like I watch on television at home. The Daily Racing Pro- gram had instructions on How to Play. "The three basic bets are win, place and show. Win is the simplest and most common bet. You win if your horse finishes first. Place is if your horse fin- ishes first or second. Show is if your horse fin- ishes first, second or third." My table chose to place all three choices on one horse, so if it placed in the one of the first three spots, they would win something for a bet of $6, since each bet was $2. There were instruc- tions in the program on how to place your bet. "At the betting window, say the following to the clerk. 1- racetrack, be- cause you could also bet on the races at Del Mar, Gulfstream Park West, Churchill Downs, Aque- duct, Delta Downs. 2 — race number; 3 — dollar amount of your bet. 4 — type of bet, 5 — number of the horse you are bet- ting on." The 3rd race was the most exciting for me to watch, since #5 Egyp- tian Empire unseated her jockey as they were loading the starting gate on the turf (grass). She took off, and the out rid- ers horses couldn't catch up with her. She cir- cled the turf, and as she approached the start- ing gate, she stopped. Jumped a hedge and without falling, circled the turf in reverse direc- tion. Jumped the plas- tic fence, and was still going. Finally an out rider and men standing on the track slowed her and caught her. It was good the reins are short because her front legs never got caught in the reins. Of course that was the jockey my table was bet- ting on, so they donated their money in that race. In the 6th race, first place paid $ 42.20 since Blazing Mojave #6 was a long shot, and not in the Morning Line Selections of 8-7-3-2. #8 came in at show and paid $2.60, af- ter having $23,000 bet to win. The 7th race also had a horse not in Morning Line Selections of 5-4-6- 1, and #8 won. That race was: #8 paid $ 26.20-#6 paid $4.50-#4 paid $3-#5 also ran. Back on Oct. 31 I watched five hours of horse racing, and the thrill of seeing American Pharoah win the Breed- ers Cup Classic at Knee- land. He led from the starting gate, and by six lengths at the finish. Over his career he had won $8,650,000. JEANBARTON CONTRIBUTEDPHOTO The ropers were mounted, ready to bring into the corrals another pasture full of cows and calves at the Antelope Creek Cattle Co. branding. Branding at Antelope Creek Cattle Co. UC Davis recently un- veiled its new Pastured Poultry Farm, home to 150 young laying chickens and a living laboratory where students and researchers hope to develop innova- tive solutions benefiting pasture-based poultry farms, integrative crop- and-poultry farms, and backyard flocks. Pasture-based chicken production offers many benefits as well as some challenges in terms of food safety, animal health and welfare, and envi- ronmental impacts, said Maurice Pitesky, a Coop- erative Extension poultry specialist with the School of Veterinary Medicine and co-leader of the poul- try project. The new 4.5-acre farm, located about one mile west of the central UC Davis campus, includes a seeded, irrigated pas- ture, where the chickens can forage, as well as a bright red, student-built Eggmobile for protection and overnight housing. The pasture uses a por- table electronic fence to protect against predators and is surrounded by a 50- foot band of uncultivated land to serve as a wildlife buffer. "This is a unique inno- vation, research and out- reach resource for the Western United States," Pitesky said. "The project includes faculty and stu- dents with expertise in veterinary medicine, hus- bandry, welfare, pasture management and engi- neering, which allows us to address issues related to predator control, wel- fare, food safety and food efficiency." Debbie Niemeier, pro- fessor in the Department of Civil and Environmen- tal Engineering, and her team have already devel- oped a number of innova- tions for the project, in- cluding a tarp-pulley sys- tem, portable-shade and predator-mitigation struc- tures, an automatic water- ing system, and modular roll-out nest boxes. New solutions for changing times "The poultry industry is going through signifi- cant changes in how poul- try products are produced — including the manner in which the birds are housed," Pitesky said, not- ing that one of the nontra- ditional methods gaining in popularity is pastured production. One of the advantages of the pasture-based sys- tem is the opportunity for a farmer to integrate chicken production with a farm's existing cropping system, with the chickens providing natural fertil- izer for the crops. "It's also a way for crop farmers to move into poultry production with- out expanding their land or adding nitrogen fertil- izer to their farming sys- tem," Pitesky said. Students driving demonstration project Pitesky is quick to point out that the new project is largely driven by stu- dents, who designed and constructed the red and white Eggmobile — a mini chicken-barn on wheels. The mobile barn includes 32 nest boxes, each ca- pable of accommodating several chickens. It can be moved to dif- ferent locations in the pas- ture, gradually fertilizing the grass with chicken droppings as it goes. Students also seeded the pasture, developed and installed a pasture ir- rigation system, and have been caring for the young chickens since they ar- rived in early October as day-old chicks. The student and fac- ulty research teams will be delving into issues involving diseases and chicken health, predation by wildlife, and occupa- tional health for workers. Par ticipating stu- dents are drawn from the School of Veterinary Med- icine, College of Engineer- ing, and College of Agri- cultural and Environmen- tal Sciences. Eggs for the community Eggs produced by the project's flock will ini- tially be donated to food shelters. The potential for eventual egg sales to the community is being ex- plored. "We really want this to be a local and regional demonstration project," Pitesky said, noting that producers and community members are welcome to stop by and view the proj- ect and will be invited to future educational events at the site. Eventually, the re- search team hopes to construct multiple Egg- mobiles with different designs, in order to op- timize cost, ergonomics and sustainability. And in time, the re- searchers would like to expand the project to in- clude broiler chickens as well as cropping systems that integrate poultry, in order to fully maximize the potential of the land for food production. Funding the project The Pastured Poultry Project received $40,000 in startup funding from UC Agriculture and Nat- ural Resources. UC DAVIS Exploring solutions for small chicken farms Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate Shop Equipped With 4SmogMachines For Fast Service No appointment Needed STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! 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