OSU Extension presents livestock program update; discusses beef-certification, wolf response training and virtual fencing

Scott Dugan, an OSU Extension educator, gave the Crook County Board of Commissioners an update on livestock and field programming that Extension provides across several central and eastern Oregon counties.

Dugan said OSU Extension is a primary educator for the voluntary Beef Quality Assurance certification program, which ranchers increasingly need to sell into some markets. He described Extension's role providing trainings across the region and said OSU Extension led 14 workshops and recorded a figure the transcript lists as "24 with 12,171 clients" (as presented to the board). He described the Central Oregon Farm School, offered in partnership with the Redmond Ag Show, which allows participants to sign up for multiple class blocks aimed at beginning-to-intermediate farmers.

Dugan said Extension led workshops on hay management, carcass contests judged in several counties, poultry disease surveillance including bird-flu testing in partnership with USDA, livestock vaccination clinics in Warm Springs, and a horse castration clinic run with veterinary students as hands-on training.

He spent substantial time on virtual fencing as a potential alternative following wildfire damage. Dugan said fence rebuilding after fires can cost "25 to 30,000 a mile" and described a virtual-fencing system where collars give cattle a vibration then a mild shock when they ignore boundaries drawn on a phone. He said base stations or "towers" to boost signals can cost about $12,000 and that implementation depends on terrain and coverage; in dense forest the systems may not perform as well. Dugan said he and Extension staff ran virtual-fencing trainings both online and in-person, with an online session drawing 72 participants.

On wolf depredation response, Dugan described trainings to help ranchers document depredation events and preserve evidence, and said collaborators such as local producers and speakers shared regional experiences. He said Extension collaborates regularly with partners including county cattlewomen, stock growers associations, USDA and NRCS.

Dugan and the commissioners discussed cost, internet coverage, NRCS and other federal partners as possible funding routes, and the need for multi-agency partnerships to deploy infrastructure or cost-share measures for rural producers.