Backcountry Musings

As part of the deal to use the 4-H building to hold chapter meeting during the Covid-19 lockdown  Squaw Butte agreed to do a presentation at the 2021 Gem County Fair for the 4-H.  This presentation was scheduled by the fair for Saturday July 31, at 13:00 in the 4-H building.  Phil Ryan and Rob Adams agreed to do a talk on BCHAI and stock camping on Public Lands.  Both arrived at 11:00 to get the lay of the land and to make sure they were set up and ready to go at 13:00.  After wandering around for while looking for an Information booth or schedule they tried the fair office and were in luck, someone was there and said yes, we were scheduled for 13:00 at the 4-H build, but they were sorry to say they didn’t do event schedules this year an oversite and as the steer, lamb and hog sale was going on it was unlikely we would have many show up.  They were right, we had three, a couple enjoying the AC for a few minutes and a young girl who told us about her rabbit.  If interested the high steer went for 7,500, the average steer went between 5 & 6 K and prime sheep between 1,500 and 2,000.  They had not gotten to hogs before we left.

From the bidding pen to your freezer

So, to summarize: A 1200 steer, ½ inch fat, average muscling, yields a 750 pound carcass. The 750 pound carcass yields approximately:

• 490 pounds boneless trimmed beef
• 150 pounds fat trim
• 110 pounds bone

A specific example of how the 490 pounds of boneless, trimmed beef could break out includes:

• 185 pounds lean trim, or ground beef
• 85 pounds round roasts and steaks
• 90 pounds chuck roasts and steaks
• 80 pounds rib and loin steaks
• 50 pounds other cuts (brisket, flank, short ribs, skirt steak)

Maybe this helps explain how the products from a 1200 pound steer to fit in your freezer!

MINIMUM & MAXIMUM WEIGHTS FOR 4-H MARKET LAMBS FOR THE COUNTY FAIR 4-H MARKET ANIMAL SALE ARE MINIMUM: 100 MAXIMUM: 160, THESE WEIGHTS REFLECT THE STANDARDS IN TODAY’S MARKET. ANY LAMB WEIGHING OVER 160 POUNDS WILL SELL AT 160 POUNDS.

4-H’ers must own or manage their lamb at least 60 days prior to our County Fair. Lambs should weigh somewhere
around 65 – 70 pounds by June 1, in order to reach the minimum weight of 100 pounds by fair. If the lamb is wormed,
proper genetics have been followed and good feed has been given they should gain at least .6 pounds a day. A 100 pound lamb will yield around 40 pounds of meet in your freezer.

If we do this again in the future Saturday at 13:00 is not a prime time to generate interest in BCHI!

xxx

Picture this

A cow elk gives birth to a calf in the mountains of Idaho.

The calf spends the next six months in its lush summer range before following a well-worn migratory path to a neighboring valley to spend the winter.

That critical winter habitat includes property owned by a family who manages the land to benefit their ranching operation.

The calf, a bull, returns winter after winter to that same ranch in the valley.

Years later a hunter hears the shrill bugle of a bull elk high on a mountain one September morning. Slowly the hunter inches closer. Finally within shooting range, they shoot, their arrow finding it’s target, the bull providing a year’s worth of meat to the hunter’s family.

The story of the hunter and the bull, one common across Idaho, was made possible thanks to the benefits private land provided to that animal during its lifetime.

Private lands in Idaho

Roughly 31% of the land in Idaho is privately owned. Wildlife, of course, does not adhere to the same property boundaries as humans. Migratory species especially rely on a patchwork of land ownership to survive from year to year, whether that land is someone’s private ranch, farm, or expansive BLM-managed sagebrush steppe.

So shouldn’t habitat conservation efforts be just as diverse?

This is where the US Fish and Wildlife’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (Partners Program) comes into play.

Working alongside willing landowners and within designated priority landscapes, the Partners Program began in 2006 and has become a shining example of the possibilities for habitat conservation on private land.

“These lands have to have three foundational components to ensure they’re viable: looking through economic, ecological and social lenses”, said Jason Pyron, a wildlife biologist with USFWS who oversees Idaho’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.

Landowners tend to focus on the economic lens, while balancing that alongside social and ecological lenses. Idaho’s hunting and fishing community will keep the ecological lens at the forefront. This overlap offers many opportunities to collaborate and provide benefits to all stakeholders.

“We have some highly migratory species in Idaho, and due to the way our landscape is dissected by private lands in valley bottoms, we are at a high risk of losing significant proportions of these populations if we don’t incentivize landowners to keep these lands open. I hope the hunting and fishing community fully appreciates what these landscapes do”, added Pyron.

Where the needs of wildlife and the needs of private landowners collide is where the Partners Program comes into play.    READ MORE

Posted by Dan Waugh ( tacpdan@gmail.com)

The city of Eagle is looking for inputs from trail users (Equestrians) for an ongoing project of over 1,600 acres in the northwest corner of eagle with a possibility to expand to 2,200. The city will be developing a trail system in the eagle foothills on BLM land. But, the city of eagle will run the trail system. Over 1200 citizens have been engaging so far and the city staff members are looking for more input.

Marja (360-791-1591), Arlynn (208-249-2091), and I are actively working with the project manager as the IHC Trails and Urban Spaces Committee. But, we would love to get additional views and feedback from other equestrians who will likely use this trail system. Feel free to disseminate to any and all equestrians!

PDF:  Foothills_Recreation_Plan_20_July2021_202107220914014507

Link to the Eagle Foothills Concept Plan:  New Submission (cityofeagle.org)

Leave comments at the link above!