Bison Challenges & Potato Acres Up

Bison Challenges & Potato Acres Up

Bison Challenges & Potato Acres Up plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The bison industry is doing so well at building consumer demand for bison, that the demand is exceeding the supply. Dave Carter, Executive Director of the National Bison Association, explains why it's a challenge.

CARTER: They don’t grow as quickly, we haven’t tinkered with the animal to grow as quickly. A bison heifer, she will give her first calf when she’s 3 years old whereas a beef cow will give hers when she’t two years old. Now we get the payback on the back end because bison are long-lived and they’ll give you more calves per animal over their lifetime. Getting our herds built up is a long-term process.

The federal government says there are more acres devoted to potatoes this year in Idaho, some 8 percent more than last year. The increase is being driven by strong prices and a boost in acres contracted by potato processors. Despite stronger prices for spuds, potato growers are dealing with higher production costs as well as considerable negative press. Southern Idaho Potato Cooperative President Doug Gross says profits for growers this year will be reduced slightly by higher costs for fuel and fertilizer.The higher planting in Idaho mirrors an increase by spud growers nationally. The government reports potato plantings are up an estimated 6 percent overall.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

There’s a new species on the Endangered Species List, but this one gets around on two legs and sometimes four wheels; it’s the rural veterinarian. America’s rural infrastructure has been on a gradual decline over the last decade, if not longer, with vast numbers of people leaving rural areas for the chance of higher paying city jobs. Among those choosing city life over rural life are veterinarians. It’s much easier to treat pampered pooches and small domestic critters than it is to care for large farm animals; animals that can easily weigh in at more than sixteen hundred pounds. With the ever increasing costs of becoming a veterinarian, combined with the fifty to sixty thousand yearly wage of a rural vet, plus the very real possibility of personal injury, you would have to wonder if it was at all worth it. Despite all that, life as a rural veterinarian offers something the city can’t even begin to compete with; quality of life. In rural America you won’t get stuck in rush hour traffic, you know your neighbors, heck you know the whole town, you can breathe the air, and the patients and their caregivers truly appreciate what you do.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network. 

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