Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/643083
IwaswithLindaand Kevin Borror at the Best of Beef 2016 breakfast in San Diego when several thou- sand cattle industry folks paid tribute to their fellow members. Frank Daley from New Castle, Colorado is the 2015 Top Hand Recruiter, bringing in 87 new mem- bers during the 2015 Top Hand Club year. For all of his work in recruiting new members to NCBA, he earned a $ 1,000,Cabela's shopping spree, airfare, and other prizes. We have a family tie to Frank and Sheila Daley, since they are our daugh- ter/grand-daughter Erin's parents. Earlydays Early Day Tehama County Cow Outfits, com- piled by Eleanor Simpson Briggs, April 18, 1956, Red Bluff Daily News had sev- eral stories by Darrell Co- nard, known as The Big Steer about early cow out- fits. Darrell wrote "This is more in the nature of an apology than anything else. I was asked by the humorously-terms "heads" of the Red Bluff Daily News to trace the history of the cattle business in Tehama County from its inception to the present time. "I had no more idea than an ambidextrous witch doctor what I was getting into. However, I soon learned -and learned the hard way. "When I repaired to the libraries to do some re- search into the matter I found that there was no history of the cattle busi- ness. Tehama County was until the early 1900's pri- marily a sheep and mule county. I used the term mule advisedly because most of the accounts of early settlers read some- thing like this. "So and so settled in such and such a place. He raised between 2,500 and 5,000 head of sheep, 15 head of cattle and from 50 to 75 head of mules. "I never have been able to figure out why so and so needed all those mules. But I shouldn't quarrel with anyone's taste in live- stock. Especially when they are as mule-headed as all that." OC: Original Cattlemen "I queried A. H. Clough, Sam Ayer and C.F. Sto- ver, all of whom are past presidents of the original county Cattlemen's Asso- ciation, but none of them knew when it started or who followed who as offi- cers. L.A.McCoy (a sheep- man of all things) thinks that the cattlemen orga- nized about 1907 with Theodore Spencer as first president and D. B. Lyon as secretary. "Win" Lyon was secretary under all the presidents until the time of his death. Spen- cer was succeeded by Al- lie Clough. In talking to Bill Clough, Allie's son, the other day, he remarked, "The only reason Dad ran cattle was so he would have something to train his horses on." And if that be treason, et cetera. "Clough was followed by Roy Owens, then Sam Ayer and finally Charles Stover. "Since the turn of the century until about 20 years ago upwards of 50,000 cattle were trailed and railed out of the county each spring to the summer ranges and re- turned in the fall. About 1936 or thereabouts, the picture began to change. Trucks, which would place the cattle approximately where the owner desired them, began to super- sede the long drives to and from the railroads and the murderous many days of trailing over the moun- tains. At present there are relatively few cattlemen who do not employ trucks as their means of trans- portation. "In 1941 a small group of the members of the Te- hama County Cattlemen's Association banded to- gether and started the now nationally known Red Bluff Bull sale which at present is advertised as the largest Range Bull Sale in America. Primar- ily started to improve the cattle herds in Tehama County the Bull Sale pup of fourteen years ago has grown to be a huge St. Bernard whose tremen- dous tail wagging attracts consignors and buyers from every western state. "The original members of the Bull Sale Commit- tee were Sam Ayer, Charles Stover, Jack MKerras, Sid- ney Watson, Roy Owens, Charles Luther and Don Smith. Since the with- drawal of Sam Ayer and the deaths of Roy Owens and Jack McKerras, Abner McKenzie and Bill Owens have been added to the committee. "On Nov. 17, 1952, the Tehama County Cattle- men's Association, which had been dormant for seven years, was reorga- nized. I as elected pres- ident — because, as one cowman phrased it, 'There wasn't anybody there to vote no.'" "Anyway, a constitution and by-laws was drawn up, regular monthly meetings were held and the organi- zation ended the year 1953 with nearly 200 members. Since then it has grown to be considered one of the strongest cattlemen's asso- ciations in the state. "The same year, 1953, the Tehama County Cow- Belles came into being and have become an influen- tial force in matters of cow business, policy and pub- lic relations not only in the county, but in California. Fred Owens was first pres- ident and now state presi- dent with Shirley Davis as state secretary. "The original officers and directors of the cat- tlemen's association un- der my regime were Abner McKenzie, Lyman Willard, Don Smith, Bruce McIn- tosh, Jack McKenzie, Earl Foor, Robert Crowder and Roy Owens. "I was succeeded as present by Jim Owens (1954), Abner McKenzie (1955) and Bob Crowder (1956). "Tehama County's growth in the cattle busi- ness can, perhaps, be best illustrated by the fact that we were hosts to the Cal- ifornia Cattlemen's Asso- ciation's 1955 Convention. Heretofore these conven- tions had always been held in cities like San Fran- cisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Coronado, Santa Barbara and Sacramento. Red Bluff, situated in the approximate northern wil- derness and with a pop- ulation of slightly over 5,000, could hardly be ex- pected to compete in a like category. "But we did and, if you will bear with me, I would like to quote from an ar- ticle I wrote for a Cattle- men's magazine on how this came about. "Red Bluff's precocity in asking for the CCA Con- vention started in a rather unusual manner. At the State Convention at Santa Cruz, during my term as President of the TCCA, Don Smith and I were seated at the bar in the Hotel Casa Del Ray drink- ing our usual Cokes and waiting for the start of the Presidents' and Secretar- ies' Luncheon. Don had re- cently innovated the idea of honoring the Washing- ton, Oregon and Califor- nia Cattlemen of the Year at a dinner during the Red Bluff Bull Sale and decry- ing the fact that Nevada didn't appoint any repre- sentative in that depart- ment. "'Why not choose one for them?' I asked. 'What about Fred Dressler? He's here at the meeting.' "'Well, it's worth trying,' Don replied. "The subject was broached during the lun- cheon and Fred accepted provided we could secure his appointment. "Jake Schneider, CCA President at the time, re- marked, "Well, I've heard everything if Tehama County can appoint the Nevada Cattleman of the Year." "The upshot of the mat- ter was that Fred was ap- pointed and was so hon- ored at the Red Bluff Bull Sale the following Febru- ary. "Having our unmiti- gated gall meet with such success on one hand, spurred us on to see what preposterous proposition we could attempt with the other. While at Santa Cruz, I sent a five hundred word collect telegram to the Chamber of Commerce secretary in Red Bluff stat- ing that we were going to start beating the drums for Red Bluff in '55 and did he think the town could handle it. He immediately wired back one thousand words ($43) collect re- peating 'we shore can' 330 times. "Well, we shore got it and we shore hope we can handle it to your satisfac- tion. Incidentally, I'm shore glad Red Bluff isn't on the seashore. Forty-three dol- lars and 330 shores have made me just a little bit on the seasick side. "The success of the 1955 State Convention was tes- tified to by Harvey Mc- Dougall, state president and J. Edgar Dick state secretary, who stated, 'The best convention we've at- tended in the last ten years.'" JeanBartonhasbeen writing her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbarton2013@ gmail.com. JEANBARTON BestofBeefandawindowintothepast Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently an- nounced a new step to sup- port farmers transitioning to certified organic produc- tion, by expanding a crop insurance option to allow producers to purchase in- surance coverage that bet- ter reflects their product's actual value. The expanded cover- age is part of the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture's (USDA) continued com- mitment to provide farm- ers with resources and tools to meet the growing demand for certified or- ganic products. The Secre- tary made the announce- ment at the White House during remarks to partici- pants at the USDA Market Summit. "Consumer demand for organic products contin- ues to increase and the industry has experienced remarkable growth, rep- resenting more than $39 billion in U.S. retail sales," said Vilsack. "This growth creates opportunities for farmers and businesses across the country. Ex- panding the safety net for farmers wanting to enter the organic market ensures they have the tools and re- sources they need to meet this growing demand while protecting their operation." The organic sector is growing, and certified or- ganic products often return higher profits for farmers. It can take producers three years, however, to transi- tion from conventional to certified organic produc- tion. Previously, producers of transitional crops were only able to insure them at the same price as a con- ventional producer. But today's announcement en- ables producers to insure transitional crops to their contract price (within ap- proved limits). Producers transition- ing to certified organic production can now use the Contract Price Adden- dum to cover their crops at a higher price than tra- ditional crops. The Con- tract Price Addendum al- lows farmers transition- ing to organic production to insure certain crops at their contract price rather than the published U.S. De- partment of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) price elec- tion. RMA has also expanded organic premium price elections to 57 crops, up from four in 2011, provid- ing organic producers the option to protect their 2016 crops closer to the mar- ket value. Barley, rice and wheat are among the crops for which organic price elections have been added. New additions for 2017 will include grapefruit, lemons and oranges. For example, under the Contract Price Addendum, a producer in Nebraska can use a contract price for mil- let up to a maximum of $7.34 per bushel (for tran- sitional) or $8.44 (for cer- tified organic production), as opposed to using the ex- isting RMA price elections of $3.67 (for transitional) or $4.22 (for certified or- ganic production). A Con- tract Price Addendum fact sheet is available online at http://go.usa.gov/cyFGR. Since 2009, USDA has strengthened programs that support organic pro- ducers as they grow, thrive and respond to increasing consumer demand for or- ganic products. Last year, USDA reported that U.S. certified and exempt or- ganic farms sold a total of $5.5 billion in organic products in 2014, up 72 per- cent since 2008. The U.S. retail market for organic products is valued at more than $39 billion, and in 2014 there were 19,474 cer- tified USDA organic opera- tions in the United States, representing nearly a 250 percent increase since 2002. Worldwide, in 2014 there were nearly 28,000 certified organic opera- tions in more than 120 dif- ferent countries. More in- formation about USDA's support under this Admin- istration for organic pro- ducers and businesses can be found at www.usda.gov/ results. Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop in- surance agents. Contact a local crop insurance agent for more information about the program. A list of crop insurance agents is avail- able at all USDA Service Centers or online at www. rma.usda.gov/tools/agent. html. The sales closing date is the last day to buy a new policy or change an exist- ing policy's coverage level. Producers can find sales closing dates for the crops in their states by referring to RMA's regional office state directory. Current policyholders also have un- til the sales closing date to make any changes to their existing contracts. A list of commodities eli- gible for the Contract Price addendum is available on- line at www.rma.usda.gov/ news/currentissues/organ- ics/cpa_eligibility.html. More information on risk management tools available for organic farm- ers can be found on the RMA organic crops web- site. Visit www.usda.gov/ organic to learn more about USDA's resources for organic agriculture. USDA Insurance options expanded for transition to organic CONTRIBUTEDPHOTO Frank Daley, Top Hand Recruiter for NCBA at the Best of Beef Breakfast. Findusonline! PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! 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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