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Agricultureranch farm save 60,000 rare blackbirds DAVIS — The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Audubon California have released final 2012 results on the status of the rare Tricolored Black- bird, a California Bird Species of Special Concern, found in California's Central Valley. Results show the species is hav- ing a good year, thanks in large part to four farmers who have agreed to partner with the conservation agencies.Together the farmers and biologists protected 60,000 breeding birds - one-fifth of the species' entire glob- al population - after farmers agreed to delay their harvest schedule and allow the birds to fledge safely. "I have never seen so many Tricolored Blackbirds as I Partnerships between dairy farmers and conservationists have this year," said Rick Gorzeman, a dairy farmer in Tulare County. "At first we didn't know what to do but then I heard of a sign up program with the NRCS. This allowed me to let my wheat grow in the field longer while the birds' eggs hatched." The program Gorzeman is referring to, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), provid- ed technical and financial assistance to the four farmers from Kern, Merced and Tulare counties who participated in saving the birds. All birds successfully fledged in late May. Keiller Kyle, a Tricolored Blackbird expert with Audubon California, monitors the rare birds' location pat- terns and development stages in areas throughout the Cen- tral Valley. With Kyle's expertise and the help of NRCS biologist, Jesse Bahm, conservationists were able to target their efforts and develop the right harvesting schedule to protect the birds and worked with the farmers to assess the impact a harvest delay would have on crop quality and quantity. "We are pleased that these farmers are willing to help protect this native California bird, and a lot of that has to do with reaching out to them with a strategy that considered the needs of both the birds and the farmers. NRCS is a crucial partner for outreach and funding that makes this program successful," said Kyle. "This is a powerful partnership of private landowners, nonprofit conservation organizations, and public agencies working to protect a unique species in a working landscape." Every spring, Tricolored Blackbirds build large colonies of nests in the Central Valley's marshy areas and also in areas that were historically marshland but are now cropland. The birds have adapted to the change in vegetation and now over 40 percent of the birds build their nests in silage fields such as triticale and wheat. Unfortunately, the nesting schedule of the species conflicts with the harvesting sched- ule of the farmers. The species is now federally listed as a Bird of Conservation Concern, a California Bird Species of Special Concern, and are also protected under the provi- sions of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Cattle tour visits winery in castle & On the third day of the California Beef Cattle Improvement Federation tour, we left Eureka in light sprinkles as we drove south to Willits to tour a saw mill that cut redwood logs. The mill can cut 60,000 board feet and day, and they buy their logs from private land owners. As I understood it, the landowner gets a permit to harvest and the mill will also buy stumpage from the government. It takes 18 months to get a permit, and the environ- mentalists can use the per- mitting process to stop log- ging. The landowner con- tacts the sawmill and has a licensed professional forester do the logging plan and contact the five remaining redwood sawmills for a sealed bid on the logs. delivered basis at the mill using a third party log scaler to determine the vol- ume of the logs. Logging is a summertime job to pre- vent erosion on the roads during the rainy season. Their log decks are large enough to run the mill from Nov. 15 until June 1 when they can't log. The customer base now The mill buys on a wants the lumber dried. The bark is sold as land- scape material, as are the chips and sawdust. There used to be two pulp mills in Eureka and now there are none. have 5,000 board feet and they receive 8 or 9 loads a day at the mill. redwoods will have 20 rings in an inch, and sec- ond growth red- woods will have 4 to 6 rings per inch. Also red- wood changes color in a few hours, since almost immedi- ately it becomes darker with exposure to air. We won- dered how Bear Republic Brew- ing Company A logging truck will Learned that old growth Courtesy photo California Beef Cattle Improvement Federation tour members approach the entrance to Castello Di Amorosa for a tour of the winery. poured at the Beef n Brew. This summer was the 100th anniversary of the La Franchi family in Calis- toga. Cheryl's father was internationally famous for his herd of Ayrshire cattle until the dispersion in 1975. Henry eliminated the horns on his cattle by dehorning, and was told his cattle wouldn‚t place at the premier dairy show back east. He came home with the grand champion female that year, even though she didn‚t have horns. bottle. 2008 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon at $34 and $45 a bottle. The favorite of the women was La Fantasia, a sweet wine at $29 a bottle. The wine tour charged $33 per per- son. This fall will be their 33rd annual Angus bull sale at Oak Ridge Angus. They were the second ranch in Califor- nia to have a bull sale at the ranch, following the lead of Tehama Angus Ranch. The wet mash Jean Barton ties in with a beef cattle tour, but we learned that they use 1,500 lbs of grain a week and after it is used to make a micro beer it is 24 % crude protein and 70% digestible. Oak Ridge Angus uses it as a cattle feed while a pig farmer takes the hops. There was an opportu- nity to sample 6 different micro brews with snacks before we toured the brew- ery. They have three shifts making 50 barrels a day, and 29 different brews a week. The bottling machine is labor intensive with 6 men working the machine. They produce 12 ounce and 22 ounce bot- tles, and can fill 125 bottles a minute. It takes 24 days from start to finish to make a bottle of beer. The Tehama County CattleWomen will partner with Downtown Red Bluff Business Association for the 3rd annual Beef n Brew on Saturday, Sept. 15. Bear Republic Brewing Co. distributes their beer in 38 states and will be Farm News? e-mail: clerk@red- bluffdailynews.com or Fax: 527-9251 a castle, Castello Di Amorosa, Calistoga, where we enjoyed a guided tour deep below the castle. We saw wine caves, old vin- tage rooms, armory, torture chamber and the grand barrel room where we tast- ed wine right from the bar- rel. is picked up at the brewery and brought to the ranch for feeding to the cattle. They learned that roughage (hay) is needed with the wet mash. Our final stop on the 2012 CBCIA tour was followed by a tasting of five of their premium wines in one of the Castle's private tasting bars. My group sampled Pinot Gri- gio and Gioia, the white wines at $20 and $24 per they store the wine in bar- rels for one and a half to two years, and then two more years after bottling. The barrels were French oak. The castle cost $50 million to build. An ele- gant conclusion for an excellent tour of beef cattle ranches. *** Our guide told us that Whitney Hall, Comanche, Okla., and Mary Catherine Reynolds, Purvis, Miss., 223. Billie Holman, Visalia 220. Jesse Stratton, Palo Cedro 218, Hayley Hamer, Los Olivos, 217, Chrissy Madgwick, Casta- ic 211. Girls Cutting: (tie) Saturday, July 21, 2012 – Daily News 5A Goat Tying: Arianna Assini, Oracle, Ariz., 8.22. Mattie Work, San Miguel 10.63, Courtney Wood, Chico 11.68, Tehan Turn- er, Lemoore 12.19. Pole Bending: Skylar each event are: The National High School Rodeo Finals in Wyoming saw Casey Meroshnekoff, Red Bluff, leading the bareback riding with a 78 point ride in the first round. Other Califor- nians were: Clayton Biglow, Clements 54 and Wade Brown, Norco 53. First-round winners in Barrel Racing: Teigan Adams, Castle Dale, Utah, 17.435. Billie Holman, Visalia was 17.799, Tegan Turner, Lemoore, 18.126, Kat Samii, Santa Rosa 18.278, and Anna Doyle, Cottonwood was 18.306. Breakaway Roping: Cady Cooper, Parrish, Fla., 2.03. Ramona, 3.15, Terrilyn Balaam, Oakdale 5.64, Chelsey Bushnell, Red Bluff 5.65. Aleigha Elston, Ragan, Pattonville, Texas, 19.86. Billie Holman, Visalia 20.841, Jessica Shields, Palmdale 20.921, Alex Carpenter, Granite Bay, Red Bluff 22.179, Taylor Biglow, Clements 32.202. Saddle Bronc Riding: Rusty Wright, Milford, Utah, 82. Quincy Crum, Little Valley 69. Chelsey Bushnell, Steer Wrestling: Ricky Rice II, Natural Dam, Ark., 5.33. Dane Lybbert- Browning, Coyote The winery tour was Bull Riding: Cody Hud- son, Camas, Wash., 83. ClaytonBrum, Lockeford, 68, Aaron Williams, Norco 65. Boys Cutting: Wilder Jones, King Hill, Idaho, 224. Taylor Santos-Kar- ney, Creston 221, Cody Goldin, Atascadero 218, Clayton Biglow, Clements 217.5, Jordan Sparrowk, Clements 215.5. Jaed Hare, Sacramento, 6.75, Logan Trumbo, Glendora 8.34. Team Roping: Dylan Gordon, Comanche, Okla., and Gage Williams, Foster, Okla., 5.07. Sterling Humphry, McArthur & Colton Campbell, Klamath Falls, Ore. 9.07. Lane Lowry, Bakersfield & Ryan Eaton, Tehachapi 13.14. Tie-Down Roping: Ryan Rule, Blue Ridge, Texas, 8.49. Taylor Santos- Karney, Creston 11.49, Case Hirdes, Turlock 12.74, Colton Campbell, Klamath Falls, Ore. 14.14, Sterling Humphry, McArthur 14.61, Colton Farquer, Oakdale 22.32. 5.98, Jean Barton can be reached at jbarton2013@gmail.com. COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR recommened 30K, 60K, 90K SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES All makes and models. We perform dealer Smog Check starting at$ Pass or FREE retest 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. (most cars and pick-ups) 2595 + cert.