Legislator Of The Year, Delayed Ruling & Double R Bull Sale

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

State Senator Jim Honeyford has once again been recognized as "Legislator of the Year" by the Washington State Farm Bureau. Honeyford was chosen to receive the award for an unprecedented third time due largely in part for his ongoing work on the Yakima Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan, which identifies a comprehensive approach to water resources and ecosystem restoration improvements in the Yakima River Basin.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delayed the final rule on the endangered status of the White Bluffs bladderpod until December. The plant is found on thousands of acres in Franklin and Benton Counties. Area farmers were told earlier this year by Fish and Wildlife that they could lose access to some of their land if the plant was found to be endangered. In July, DNA studies revealed that the White Bluffs Bladderpod is a 100 percent match with bladderpod plants found abundantly in other states and areas where they are not proposed for listing as an endangered species.

The Double R Bull Sale opened online this week with a bidding format similar to last year's. Double R Ranch Manager Kent Clark explains what their customers looked for during the preview period.

CLARK: A lot of our customers are looking at our bulls mostly because they are two year old bulls that are going to run in country that a yearling bull kinda has a tough time making it in. And they're two year old bulls that haven't been picked through before. For our angus bulls we try to raise a bull that's middle of the road in most categories - they're not going to be extremely large, but they're not going to be small either. We're in the cattle feeding and meat sales business so we want cattle that perform in the feedlot as well as on the rail, so when we sell bulls to our customers we want cattle that we can buy back from those customers that are going to perform in our feedlots and in our packing plants.

Online bidding for bulls will take place through December 2nd.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.