Country Life August 2020

Country Life Wednesday, August 12, 2020 • lyndentribune.com • ferndalerecord.com

Dairy • B2 Gardening • B2 FFA/4-H • B3-B5

Left: America Oettel of Nooksack Valley FFA has raised a purebred Boer goat for market this year and she entered it into the Northwest Washington Fair virtual competition. (Courtesy photo ) Right: Duncan Hanks, 12, does final cleaning of his crossbred cow Mabel at the family farm off East Smith Road while mom Shannan is an active leader in the county 4-H horse division. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)

1,363 entries received in Virtual Fair competition Announcement of winners starts Aug. 17

By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN ­— By photo or video, a Northwest Washington Virtual Fair is happening.

Entries have been submitted and winners will be announced starting Monday,

Aug. 17.

Key word in this COVID-19-impacted year: Virtual.

A total of 1,363 entries were received in the effort to provide as much of a normal 2020 fair experience as possible when a physical fair is not possible, said Amanda Stidham, superintendent coordinator.

More than half the entries, 695, were in Open Class, which is available to

all. Another 607 were specifically 4-H while 61 were FFA, both catering to the youth.

Entry fees were waived, and cash prize premiums for this Virtual Fair are provided

by Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery. And there are more than 20 other sponsors as well.

The open class divisions included art, baking, flowers, needlework and quilts, photography and sewing. A pet show was new for 2020 only.

For FFA and 4-H the divisions ran the gamut of animals as well as arts and crafts, foods, horticulture, performing arts and shop projects.

The cutoff for entry was July 25. All those online submissions are now being organized and judged, and multiple divisions per day will be announced during fair week, Stidham said.

There are some interesting points to be made in

the rules when entries are virtual. For instance, photos and videos could not be taken before June 1, 2020. And this: “Where an exhibit is an animal, the exhibit must be alive and in the hands of occupancy of the exhibitor on the date of entry submission.”

Virtual ribbons will be awarded for first, second and third places.

“The process was smooth,” Stidham said. “We

had lots of generous sponsors, volunteers, superintendents and assistants to make it possible.”

Besides the competition, it is possible to shop fair vendors online as well.

The Virtual Vendor Village will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 16-21. “During this time, you will be able to join vendors live from their booths to ask questions and see product demos,” the fair states.

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B2 • Wednesday, August 12, 2020 • ferndalerecord.com • lyndentribune.com

MIELKE MARKET

IN BLOOM

Milk price near all-time Making the high, but farmers see far less most of your The July Federal Order Class III benchmark milk price was announced Aug. 5 at $24.54 per hundredweight, up a hefty $3.50 from June. It is 6 cents shy of the all-time record high $24.60 set in September 2014 and $6.99 above July 2019.

The jump pulled the 2020 average to $17.30, up from $15.58 a year ago and $14.37 in 2018.

Friday’s Class III futures settlements say that this is the top, though. August settled at $19.36, September at $16.23, October $16.52, November $16.45 and December $16.17.

The July Class IV price is $13.76, up 86 cents from June but $3.14 below a year ago, and it is the lowest July Class IV price since 2015. That average now sits at $13.78, down from $16.11 a year ago.

While the milk price news is good, there’s been a lot of disappointment on U.S. dairy farms. The Daily Dairy Report’s Sarina Sharp explained on the Aug. 10 Dairy Radio Now broadcast that farmers whose milk checks carried a high Class IV component found them to be “the smallest in more than a decade.”

Long story short, Sharp blames the disconnect between Class III and Class IV milk prices as the major culprit. “The Class III was at $21.04 in June, while the Class IV was at $12.90, so in a lot of regions you’re already splitting roughly half your milk check between those two classes.”

Certain aspects of milk pricing formulas also came into play, she said. When there’s a big disconnect between Class III and IV, the Class I price is based on the

ITC looking into ‘cheap foreign (berry) imports’ WHATCOM ­— With the 2020 harvest now complete, local raspberry growers have until Sept. 30 to submit their

average of those prices, plus a 74-cent premium, so instead of Class I being the highest class it falls somewhere in the middle of the Class III and Class IV. And when Class I milk is priced considerably above manufacturing-grade milk, processors can pull their milk out of the revenue-sharing pool of their Federal Order and that happened in a lot of regions, she said, most notably in California, which recently joined the federal order system.

Class III milk utilization was 0.7% in June, Sharp reported, and most of the Class III milk was pulled out of the pool, so it was not counted in the blend for the dairy farm mailbox milk price.

The timing between Class I milk and Class III and IV prices is also a factor.

The National Dairy Products Sales Report prices have a two-week lag from the spot prices, Sharp said, and Class I prices are announced a month ahead of the Class III and IV. There is a six-week lag between when we are pricing Class I milk and when we price Class III and IV milk, Sharp said, so the Class I price was sharply lower than Class III in June, which fur-

ther expanded that Producer Price Differential, which was negative for most dairy producers.

Instead of a $20 check, many received less than $12, Sharp concluded. “Only those in regions with almost entirely Class III received anywhere close to $20.”

I wrote about this in early July, citing warnings from the University of Wisconsin’s Dr. Mark Stephenson and Cornel’s Dr. Andrew Novakovic, who gave a detailed explanation in a paper titled “Making Sense of Your Milk Price in the Pandemic Economy: Negative PPDs, Depooling, and Reblending.”

You can find it at https:// dairymarkets.org/PubPod/ Pubs/IL20-03.pdf.

Meanwhile, U.S. dairy product prices entered August in shambles compared to a month ago. The cheddar block cheese fell below $2 per pound on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and closed Friday at $1.7050, 54.75 cents lower on the week, lowest since May 13, $1.2950 below its record $3 peak on July 13, and 16.25 cents below a year ago.

The barrels finished at $1.5175, down 71.75 cents on the week, 20.25 cents below a year ago and 18.75 cents below the blocks.

Chicago-based dairy brokerage HighGround Dairy (HGD) reported in its Aug. 3 ‘Monday Morning Huddle’ that “A new forecast projects that one in three U.S. restaurants may close permanently this year, showing how the pandemic is decimating an industry that employs millions.”

“A key wildcard over the next several months,” says HGD, “is how the government plans to continue

supporting the dairy industry. This injection of massive amounts of stimulus to purchase dairy products has contributed to intense volatility in recent weeks and a primary reason why block cheese prices hit a record high last month. USDA has indicated they will spend the remaining $500-$700 million in the Farmers to Families Food Box program in Round 3 after the current round expires on Aug. 31.”

Butter plunged to $1.4250 per pound on Aug. 4, as 50 carloads found their way to Chicago the first two days. The price rallied some, only to slip back and close Aug. 7 at $1.53, down 7.75 cents on the week and 78.5 cents below a year ago. A total of 63 cars exchanged hands last week.

Spot Grade A nonfat dry milk saw its Friday close at 95.50 cents per pound, 2.25 cents lower on the week and 7.25 cents below a year ago.

Dry whey closed at 32 cents per pound, down 2.25 cents and 3.5 cents below a year ago on 11 sales.

The Northwest Dairy Association makes these price projections for the Class III price and Pacific Northwest blend price: Month Class PNW III Blend July $24.54 $17.80 (current) Aug. $19.40 $16.20 Sept. $16.30 $15.45 Oct. $16.05 $14.50 Nov. $16.00 $14.70 Dec. $15.70 $14.80 Jan. $15.50 $14.70 Feb. $15.70 $14.75 March $15.80 $15.10 Lee Mielke, of Lynden, is editor of the Mielke Market Weekly. Whatcom County has about 70 dairy farms.

production numbers, the Lynden-based Washington Red Raspberry Commission reports in its August newsletter.

With weather too cool and wet until about July 10, the yield is expected to tally up to less than optimal.

Also from the grower commission:

• To “protect U.S. growers from cheap foreign imports,” it was already known that a 14-month fact-finding investigation will be conducted by the International Trade Commission.

• The commission is reviewing the status of the FDA frozen fruit testing program that resulted in several fro-

zen berry recalls in the past year. The industry wants to work “to avoid false positive tests and catch any problem long before product enters the retail chain” for the future.

The American Frozen Food Institute has been helping with an economic analysis of the effect on the testing.

By Lee Mielke

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summer garden Puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky, tassled sweet corn beginning to mature, and dahlias in full bloom — this is summer in the Pacific Northwest. At last.

After a delayed start to the warm weather this year, we’ve finally enjoyed some real summer temperatures and sunny days in the last month. As your garden offers the best of its summer glory before the decline into autumn, here are some tips to keep your yard and garden looking their best.

First, one thing I love about this time of year is the abundance of blooms in my garden. From roses to dahlias, zinnias to hydrangeas, it’s hard for those of us who enjoy fresh-cut flowers to find enough counter space for the many bouquets. To keep your flowers going throughout the rest of summer and into autumn, feed regularly, remembering it takes a lot of nutrients to produce all those flowers!

Also, continue deadheading those plants you’re growing for bouquets. Spent flowers may go to seed, directing nutrients into seed production instead of new buds. Moreover, deadheads provide the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew, so removing old flowers will keep your plants healthy and producing later into autumn.

If your yard could use a little bit of additional color this time of year, two of my must-have suggestions are perennial hibiscus and echinacea. Hibiscus, with huge, nine-inch wide flowers, requires minimal care other than regular watering and a good dose of slow-release fertilizer in the spring. Plant these in full sun and they’ll grow three to four feet tall and about as wide. Available at garden centers this time of year, hibiscus are jaw-droppingly beautiful and with their tropical appearance look like they shouldn’t survive in our climate. But rest assured, they will thrive, year after year!

Echinacea (commonly called coneflowers), while less of a bombshell beauty, are equally easy to grow, provided the right conditions and care. In the last several years, as breeding has produced hardier plants and a wide variety of colors, I have come to appreciate the beauty of echinacea in my garden more than ever. If you’ve ever tried growing coneflowers and have struggled, remem-

By David Vos ber that they need welldrained soil, prefer to dry out slightly between waterings and, most importantly, can rot over winter if cut back in the fall.

To prevent winter rotting, avoid pruning echinacea in autumn. One thing many people don’t realize is that echinacea have hollow stems, which, when cut down in fall, can create lots of open tubes that collect water over winter, rotting out the “crown” or base of the plant in our wet winters.

If you’ve tried growing echinacea before but saw limited success with them overwintering, I would encourage you to try again. Enjoy the colorful flowers through mid-autumn, then wait until new growth begins in early spring before cutting off the previous year’s stems and leaves.

Finally, I would be remiss to pass by August without a reminder to treat your lawn for cranefly larvae and summer grubs. Craneflies are out in force this time of year, soon to lay their eggs in your lawn. Once the larvae hatch, they will eat grass roots through the winter months, leaving dead patches in your turf next spring.

Apply a granular insecticide like Bonide Eight this month to control craneflies and kill other grubs that could damage your lawn and make a great food source for moles.

Remember, keeping grub populations under control in your lawn will discourage moles from tunneling around your yard, so a latesummer application of insecticide will provide multiple benefits!

Very soon, we’ll be looking at summer in the rearview mirror. Until then, enjoy the beauty and bounty of your yard and garden!

David Vos is the manager of Vander Giessen Nursery Inc. of Lynden.

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Wednesday, August 12, 2020 • lyndentribune.com • ferndalerecord.com • B3

From left, Frankie Reyna, Hope Musselwhite, Katherine Shuey and Rebecca Kamps will all show their animals virtually in this year’s decidedly different Northwest Washington Fair. (Courtesy photos/Nicole Perry)

Ferndale FFA kids show animals virtually Four students chose to continue despite fair uncertainty

By Brent Lindquist brent@lyndentribune.com

FERNDALE — When the 2020 Northwest Washington Fair was cancelled in late April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FFA kids around Whatcom County were left with a great deal of uncertainty.

That includes four Ferndale students who were gearing up to show at the fair. Frankie Reyna, Rebecca Kamps and Katherine Shuey all were raising steers, Hope Musselwhite poultry.

But these four didn’t miss a beat, adviser Nicole Perry said.

“When we found out about COVID, all the beef kids just kind of decided, ‘we’re just going to act as if we were going to the fair and keep training them and feeding them and sort of see it through.’ It would’ve been easy to just feed them and call it good, but they kept haltering them and walking them every day and spending time with them as if they were going to the fair.”

Musselwhite, heading into her junior year, began raising poultry about a year and a half ago, and she decided also to continue as though there was a 2020 show along with the students

raising beef cattle.

“She is so responsible,” Perry said. “A chicken project doesn’t have to be that long, but she keeps hers all year round.”

Musselwhite said she first got into raising poultry in Perry’s animal science class at Ferndale High School.

“All of us students got a little baby chick to raise,” Musselwhite said. “That’s what really first started me into it.”

Musselwhite said the most challenging aspect of raising poultry is learning from her own mistakes and trying to figure out the best way to keep animals safe. She particularly enjoys getting to know each bird’s personality.

“Not a lot of people know this, but all poultry have very distinct personalities from each other,” she said.

Musselwhite would rather take her poultry to the fair for the experience, but she said showing remotely — as it turned into for 2020 Northwest Washington Fair — is probably easier on them. Virtual showing is submitting a video of up to 90 seconds of the animal performing.

Reyna first got into showing because his family (including Perry, his mother) has shown beef for a very long time.

“My grandpa used to own a beef farm, and for a while I was separated from the farm,” he said.

“I wanted to explore my heritage in eighth grade.”

Reyna did so, and he’s now in his third year showing beef. He said the

Ferndale FFA students and parents shop for new cows in September with Bill Sims, right, of Sims Simmentals, which provides many Ferndale students with steers every year. (Courtesy photo/Nicole Perry) most challenging part of the pandemic has been the changes in finishing and butchering cattle.

“It’s a bit more hasty because butcher dates are few and far between,” he said.

Reyna said his favorite part of raising cattle is the payoff at the end.

“It’s really rewarding to have other people see how much work you’ve put into your hobby,” he said.

Rebecca Kamps is a first-timer in the world of showing beef, but it isn’t her first time showing an animal.

“I showed horses as a kid just for fun,” she said.

“I’ve always been involved in FFA. I ended up getting my steer by accident from another FFA member having to move away.”

Though it happened

by accident, Kamps said, she had always considered showing a steer.

Even though she was devastated by the news of the fair’s cancellation, Kamps kept walking with her steer and feeding him just as if the fair was happening the same as ever.

“It’s obviously not going to be the same as being there in person,” Kamps said. “At least there’s a way that I can show him, even though there’s not a fair.”

She said her favorite part of showing a steer is the bond she builds with her animal in the process.

“It’s always nice just to be able to go out to him, feeding him after a long day,” she said. “He’ll come up to me and love on me.

It’s just the experience that I have with him and the memories that I know I’ll have with him that

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make it really worthwhile.”

Shuey is also in her first year showing beef.

She said she loved seeing how cute the cows were last year at the fair while she was on stall duty.

“I was able to experience it and really see how much the hard work was,” Shuey said. “It motivated me to try something new.”

Last year, Shuey showed a goat at the fair, and she said she has enjoyed raising a steer now even in spite of the ongoing pandemic.

“I’ve been enjoying it to the fullest,” Shuey said.

“It’s been a great adventure with many ups and downs but a lot of fun.”

Shuey said it was challenging not knowing exactly what she was doing at first, but she credits Perry with helping her become more comfortable

with her steer and everything that goes into showing an animal.

“Going in not really knowing how to care for a steer, it was challenging, although with the help of my peers and my adviser, she was able to ease that challenge and really help me understand what I was doing,” Shuey said.

The virtual fair doesn’t involve judges seeing the animals in person; rather, they rely on photos and multimedia to make their judgments on each animal and its handler.

Perry said the animals have proven to be a useful focus of activity for students during these uncertain times.

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B4 • Wednesday, August 12, 2020 • ferndalerecord.com • lyndentribune.com

A family misses the real thing, but does virtual 4-H entries 14-year-old: ‘It definitely feels like not summer because we aren’t having the fair’

By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com

WHATCOM ­ — Shannan Hanks and her family are in a position to know how much different everything is this year in the 4-H realm.

But they are making the most of it positively anyway.

Shannan has been a project leader in the horse division of Whatcom County 4-H and she continues as treasurer of the county Horse Leaders Council.

Three kids in the household — Peyton, Duncan and Jordan — are involved with the Hannegan Horse Kids and/ or Country Kids 4-H clubs.

Peyton is also active in Mt. Baker FFA as an incoming freshman.

In some way or another, the youths have all submitted entries into the Northwest Washington Fair’s Virtual Competition this year in lieu of a real live fair in Lynden. But mom Shannan, who has had a lifetime view of 4-H and FFA, is very aware of the normal fun and learning that is lost from this year’s picture.

“It’s not only that they’re missing the showing aspect of it, but we’re missing the whole friendship, camaraderie aspect of it,”

Shannan said.

The family base of operations is five acres of rural land on Ranchos Road off East Smith, and they agree they have about hit the limit on space for their assortment of cattle, horses, goats and sheep on the property.

Last Saturday, they were going through some extensive cleaning and grooming of one cow, one goat and one sheep, but it wasn’t prepping for the fair.

It was to put on a little animal show for another child’s birthday party.

Still, it was a bit of what they would go through for the Lynden fair.

Duncan Hanks, 12, in his third year of showing beef, was thoroughly cleaning Mabel, a 2-year-old beefdairy cross, with soap and water, then blowing her dry and clipping her neck and head and “poofing out” the end of her tail as a finishing touch.

Duncan has used the Lynden fair the last two years to qualify — by earning blue ribbons in both fitting-andshowing and in animal type — for going to the state fair in Puyallup (which is also cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19).

This year, he entered virtually a market steer and a heifer cross.

Peyton Hanks, 14, works with sheep and horses and sometimes cattle.

“It definitely feels like not summer because we aren’t having the fair. Summer’s not as busy,” she said.

She entered the 2020 fair remotely — in the format that allows a maximum

90-second video to show everything — in horse performance and with a lamb and a breeding ewe.

Because of all the change from normal, Peyton decided to go more into her own breeding of show lambs and helping other kids with that, said her mom. It has been an opportunity to venture into learning more about that aspect of sheep.

Peyton is raising a Hampshire breeding ewe that was a “bummer lamb,” meaning she was too much for her mother to naturally nurse and so had to be bottle-fed this past spring. Peyton hopes the lamb can be bred by next June.

“She follows me everywhere I go,” Peyton says of the super-friendly Peanut.

In all, in her effort to get into sheep breeding, Peyton has now bought two rams and three ewes from elsewhere in the state.

Peyton, who normally shows sheep at Lynden and has gone to the state fair, said she hopes to have both show and market lambs produced to be able to enter back into real competition in 2021.

For Jordan Triplett, 8, this would have been his first year showing a goat in the Northwest Washington Fair and he did enter in the virtual competition.

Jordan entered his Boer doe Nanny and he also did a poster and art in the stilllife competition. He hopes to breed Nanny for offspring for the future.

Shannon Hanks noted that the annual Whatcom County Youth Fair (also

cancelled this year) during schools’ Spring Break is usually another opportunity for kids to get their first experience at the basics of animal showing and care, and that is also missed.

Kids in 4-H and FFA, through Youth Fair and the big Northwest Washington Fair, when it is live, “form friendships across the county — they’re like a big family,” learning from and interacting with one another, and a lot of informal mentoring happens among the different ages of kids, she said.

Another part that is now challenging is selling off all the animals that would have gone to a live 4-H/FFA Market Sale on the Friday afternoon of a real Northwest Washington Fair. These animal were generally bought and started when COVID-19 blew up in mid-March. It became “so much time and money invested” to follow through now to market size, but who will buy the meat?

Shannan said there have been a number of private or semi-public sales of animals in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Otherwise families have been on their own to find buyers.

RELATED: A show and sale has been organized for this Saturday, Aug. 15, to help some Lynden, Lynden Christian and Nooksack Valley FFA and 4-H kids complete their animal projects, said Gerrit Van Weerdhuizen, Lynden Christian FFA adviser. It is “small and private, put on by parents and a couple of leaders,” he said.

From top: Peyton, with her ewe Peanut; Duncan, with his cow Mabel; Jordan, with his goat Nanny.

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Wednesday, August 12, 2020 • lyndentribune.com • ferndalerecord.com • B5

Life without the fair Ferndale Students raising animals anyway, showing and trying to sell

Continued from B3

By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune

WHATCOM — While the Northwest Washington Fair may not be happening in person, FFA students like America “Mer” Oettel have projects ready for the fair.

America, 16, soon to be a junior at Nooksack Valley High School, has a market goat she’s been raising to show — and sell. It’s her third year of showing dairy and market goats for the fair. She bought the male goat at four months of age, has purchased all the food he needed, and made sure to spend time with him daily for the past months at the farm of her now retired 4-H leader Alice Wiggins.

America needs to go into extra detail to explain “how awesome Alice has been to me.

“Through her I’ve gotten to help and assist in births of baby goats. I assisted in a middle-ofthe-night emergency Csection at the Kulshan vet clinic and I’ve learned to identify and treat diseases. She helped find what I want to be.”

Nooksack Valley FFA student America Oettel, left, wants to become a veterinarian. (Courtesy photo) Since her own fam- can be a fire hazard.

Juergens, ily, parents Eric and Susan Rhonda Oettel, don’t have a farm, FFA director at NVHS, is America had started help- one of several mentors ing and learning at the for America in addition to Wiggins farm. She found her parents and Wiggins. she wanted to work with Juergens will be helping Nooksack Valley FFA kids animals “nonstop.”

Now that she is in her sell since the fair auction upper high school years, that normally ends many she plans to do Running kids’ projects is not beStart to be able to gradu- ing held this year either, ate in two years with both America said. her high school diploma In addition to FFA previously 4-H, and an associates degree and before continuing on with America is a varsity soccoursework to become a cer player and has played large-animal veterinarian. other sports, and does This year, while her competitive trap shooting purebred Boer goat was through FFA. raised for “market” for The difference beits meat, it is okay with tween 4-H and FFA, she America if it is sold for a said, is more meetings, pet. Last year, she said, learning the cuts and some goats she is aware of yield of meat animals, and were sold to be used to eat being able to compete in grass in California and aid Pullman with FFA. firefighters since dry grass

good outlet for the kids when there was so much uncertainty going on and also a lack of socializing with their friends,” Perry said.

Reyna and Shuey kept their animals in the same place, so with a healthy amount of social distancing they were able to work together and do chores. “It turned out to be a huge blessing,” Perry said.

Reyna, Kamps and Shue will all show their steers virtually in the steer class and in showmanship. Musselwhite will show in the hen class and in showmanship.

“With the cows, we talked on the phone a lot, but I would make visits and just follow social distancing and the guidelines over time,” Perry said. “We were really careful about following social distancing, but we got together and worked with the cows. We washed them and weighed them.

Only a small group of like five or six, but it was still really fun to get together with them when you haven’t seen people that much.”

FFA meetings and activities have continued via virtual meetings, Perry said. Fellow adviser Tony Torretta taught veterinary science over Zoom, and Mitch Davis coached public speaking the same way.

Rebecca Kamps clips her steer. (Courtesy photo/Nicole Perry)

Torretta said much of Ferndale’s chapter opted to sell their animals early, and members of the community reached out to make sure they didn’t lose money on any of their projects.

“I’m not aware of any kid who wasn’t able to sell their project,” Torretta said.

Torretta said he and his fellow advisers appre-

ciate the opportunity for the kids to still show their animals despite the lack of an in-person Northwest Washington Fair. Phillips 66 put up the money for premiums in the virtual fair, with the amounts to be determined by the number of exhibitors who enter. The fair will announce the results starting Aug. 17.

Best of luck to all the participants!

Good luck to all of the Virtual Fair participants!

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Good luck to all of the 2020 Virtual Fair Participants!

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To our youth who will learn to work in acres not hours, thank you!

PROUD SUPPORTERS OF WHATCOM COUNTY 4H & FFA

NORTHWEST