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Read the article in the Capital Press here: http://www.capitalpress.com/results/cr-country-natural-beef-art |
Rancher to Rancher Tour
Cedar Park Grazing
Summer 2009
Western Oregon's 35-inch annual rainfall got a head start this October when we gathered together to tour Cedar Park Grazing in Riddle. Kathy Panner and Leonard Gondek welcomed us to their jewel of a ranch along Cow Creek, the tributary to the South Umpqua of fly-fishing fame. We were hosted as well by Josh Boilon, a former engineer by trade, cowboy at heart, and student of grass management here under Kathy's tutelage.
We gathered as a community. Perhaps not in the traditional sense defined by area, but in the truly modern sense of shared philosophy. A philosophy of food production -- done the right way for the right reasons.
About half of us were store personnel -- meat cutters, deli managers, etc., from the New Seasons' store group in Portland. Though we ranchers may have raised cattle for a lifetime, the meat cutter from the city knows the attributes of the Delmonico steak much better than we do. And, he knows the customers and how they make their daily decisions of what to feed to their family.
We walked through Kathy's emerald pastures as she taught us about balancing the needs of the food animal, the land and the supply requirements of the store with her grass-fed beef and lamb operation. Clover is included with the grass seed to sow pastures that will produce their own nitrogen, graze periods are adjusted to match the varying growth rates of the sward, and annual soil tests ensure fertilizer is used sparingly.
We gathered as a community. Perhaps not in the traditional sense defined by area, but in the truly modern sense of shared philosophy. A philosophy of food production -- done the right way for the right reasons.
In fact, they are working with the Department of Environmental Quality to use ash from the adjacent plywood mill which would eliminate the need for fertilizer altogether. Kathy explained that she abhors bare ground because she harvests sunlight only when a canopy of leaves covers the soil.
We saw thriving cattle, each on track for the careful sort that Kathy does weekly to pick those ready for harvesting. She explained that she looks for finishing by the appearance of the brisket and that post just ahead of the flank, areas with no muscle. We got a short lesson on low-stress cattle handling and varied our aggressive approach to increase their comfort level.
We stopped on the banks of Cow Creek, critical habitat for coho salmon and cutthroat, now protected from grazing by fences, to see how the trees are doing that New Seasons' employees planted on a previous trip. The youngsters are faring well, as are seedlings of maple and oak.
We watched a local herding dog enthusiast Elissa and her border collie Nell gather a group of sheep, carefully separating them from their llama protectors. Cougars and coyotes don't bother the sheep when they are this close to home, but the llamas, Cocoa and Leo, are must-hanves when they move to the surrounding foothills. Kathy told us the story of how Cocoa would not leave the pasture where the herd had just been gathered until the rancher located a ewe and her triplets that were hidden from view.
When the sheep were safely tucked in the corrals, our city friends got a turn at maneuvering them through the well-designed facility. They learned that sheep desire most of all to stay together, and that soft flowing movement by the handler begets the same in the animals.
Perhaps the best part of the tour was sitting around the shop on straw bales that Josh had arranged in the circle in true Country Natural Beef fashion. As we listened to it rain, we shared conversation and great CNB steaks and Umpqua Valley lamb chops. In honor of Halloween, we took turn reading passages of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe by flashlight. We talked about pushing the limits of exceptional stewardship and about the energy the store folks would carry home to our customer. It gets fuzzy determing who learned the most -- the ranchers or the store personnel -- just as it should be.
