Details

Last Updated on Friday, 08 October 2010 12:23

Written by Heather Hamilton

Laramie – This fall UW will add a Collegiate CattleWomen’s Club to its roster of on-campus organizations. Started by National Beef Ambassador Bekcy Vraspir, the idea is already gaining popularity.
“Fourteen girls already signed up, which I find pretty exciting. We held a meeting about two weeks prior to class letting out this spring and at that point most students aren’t interested in activities for the fall, so to get that amount of interest was great,” comments Vraspir.
The goal for the group is to get college-aged women together who share an interest in the beef industry, explains Vraspir, who hopes students from all aspects of the ag industry will consider joining. The Collegiate CattleWomen will be a unified group in support and promotion of the beef industry.
“Through the group I’m hoping to do some consumer education and promote ag to people of all ages. From elementary schools all the way up to fitness groups and any other organizations that will listen. Being active on campus will provide a lot of opportunities too,” notes Vraspir.
To become an official, recognized group by UW, a petition with a minimum of seven signatures was submitted. The petition explains the purpose of the group, notes where they will meet, names an advisor and includes a constitution and bi-laws.
“We are working on our constitution and bylaws at this time and hope to have everything completed and turned in during the first week of classes this fall. Our advisor is Professor of Animal Science Christy Cammack,” says Vraspir. “One thing that will be mandatory is that each member complete the Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) program through the National Beef Cattlemen’s Association (NCBA). I feel that is a very beneficial tool that will help the girls in communicating with consumers and in promoting ag in general.”
Vraspir says the American National CattleWomen have a collegiate membership the UW group would likely join. “Being affiliated with them and attending the cattle industry conferences and seeing what is being done at the national level is something I would like to see happen with this group,” she says.
Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colo. has a very active Collegiate CattleWomen’s group, and Vraspir has been in contact with their advisors. “Maybe in the future we can get together for some promotional things and to meet other Collegiate CattleWomen members,” she comments.
Of her reasons for starting the group, Vraspir says, “I want girls to be aware that there is a state group and a lot of county CattleWomen’s groups that they can be involved in once they’re out of college. Increasing awareness is a great way to get younger members in those groups too. It’s also a great way to promote the beef industry and to meet people with similar interests.
“So far we have a very diverse group with members from around the state and some from out of state and we expect to add more with the incoming freshmen,” says Vraspir.
For more information on the UW Collegiate CattleWomen’s group email Becky Vraspir at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Heather Hamilton is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 17 September 2010 15:01

Written by Christy Hemken

Portland, Ore. – According to Bob Skinner of Jordan Valley, Ore., Western Resources Legal Center (WRLC) came about because of a passion for defending the agriculture industry.
“I live in country that looks a lot like Wyoming – it’s high desert, and my family homesteaded there, and we have strong roots ranching in southeastern Oregon. I’m the fifth generation, and my grandkids are there now,” says Skinner, a member of the WRLC Board of Directors.
“I’m not an attorney, I’m a rancher, but I’ve been in the courtroom so many times over the years on some pretty tough things,” says Skinner, referring to battles with environmental groups over natural resources. “There’s no integrity coming from the other side, and that’s not where you folks want to be. It’s not where I want to be. It’s like lying against the ropes in a boxing ring and letting them beat on you. They can do whatever they want.”
“Cowboys don’t play offense very well, and that’s a fact. It’s hard to get cowboys to play offense – they play defense when they have to,” he adds.
That’s where WRLC comes into play, and its Executive Director, Caroline Lobdell.
“In brief, we are the nation’s first clinical program advocating for the natural resource industry at the law school level,” says Lobdell. “There are a lot of law schools in this country, and the majority have clinical legal programs, but the majority of those programs are designed to teach law students about regulating natural resource industries.”
“We are the first, and currently the only, program in the country that teaches law students how to advocate for natural resource industries,” explains Lobdell of the program that’s affiliated with Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Ore. “We are here to train a new generation of legal advocates that appreciates natural resource industries.”
Lewis and Clark Law School graduate and WRLC Chairman Steve Wildish was an integral part of getting the program off the ground and accepted into the law school.
“When I graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School in 1985 the environmental law program was just starting,” explains Wildish. “They were beginning their identity as a school specializing in environmental law.”
Through the years, the law school’s focus as an environmental law program began to build, and Lewis and Clark became recognized as the number one environmental law school in the country, and has remained in the top two for over a decade.
“That concerned a lot of us graduates. The school began to rely heavily on its environmental law reputation, and we began to wonder if we were missing something in the broader spectrum that falls under natural resources law,” says Wildish.
In 2005, that led to a group of alumni gathering together to start talking about a new type of natural resources law program. “In the beginning we thought it would be a law clinic, endorsed and receiving support and resources from the law school, but we found we were fighting a battle for establishment, even though we had people willing to step up,” notes Wildish. “They didn’t want us there. They thought a program focused on a client base of natural resource industries would tarnish their reputation as the number one environmental law program.”
After a year and a half working on the project, the center was established not as a law clinic, but as a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
“Our curriculum description is a ‘clinical internship seminar,’” says Wildish. “What that means is we get to teach students practical legal skills and have a client base of natural resource users, which includes ranchers and farmers. We also help out the mining and timber industries.”
Lobdell says WRLC was told it wouldn’t get any students, they didn’t exist, and nobody would want to work on the natural resource industry side of things.
“I got a little nervous, because I set a deadline and the day before I didn’t have a single student application,” she says. “Two hours before the deadline I got nearly a dozen applications for the first year, when we could only take three or four students.”
Now WRLC takes 16 applications per semester, from students who want to learn how to advoate on behalf of natural resource users. “That was a huge win for us,” says Lobdell.
WRLC also accepts applications for legal assistance. “We aren’t on the front grounds. If you have a neighbor, or yourself, or know someone who needs legal assistance in these areas, we’d like you to contact us so we can evaluate the case as potential for us and our students to work on,” says Lobdell.
WRLC works on cases that involve the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, administrative permitting processes, administrative comments, U.S. Supreme Court briefs and the sage grouse case in Idaho. They’re also heavily involved in National Forest grazing cases in Oregon, representing multiple cattle organizations and individual ranchers.
“We don’t charge for services, because we’re a non-profit educational organization, so we’re very limited on the cases we can take, but we want to help everyone we can and we’re able to,” says Lobdell.
Wildish says he believes the only way to make a difference is through education. “The most polished representatives of what we do at Western Resources are our students,” he continues. “It’s because of them we can provide balance in education at Lewis and Clark Law School. We’re extremely proud of what we do, and we think we’re making a little difference.”
“When they go out in the world of private practice, you want an attorney working for you that respects your industry and understands you. These kids are coming out with that – they don’t have to figure out you’re not these terrible people because you’re in natural resource industries,” says Wildish of the program’s graduates.
“Our student evaluations are over the top, we get amazing feedback and our students end up getting jobs working for industries like agriculture,” says Lobdell.
“They’ve been playing the game for 50-plus years, and we’ve been at home making a living,” says Skinner of the litigation action by environmental groups. “We need to get with it and start grabbing young people and showing them what we do and that resource use is right, and telling them the other side of the issue. We’re trying to turn some attorneys out to defend our industry, and those attorneys turn into judges and then district judges.”
Lobdell expresses the hope that the University of Wyoming would step forward with a movement toward a natural resource law program, and she says WRLC has talked with Steve Easton, Dean of the UW Law School.
For more information on the Western Resource Legal Center, visit wrlegal.org or call 503-222-0628. The Center’s representatives visited Wyoming to speak at the Wyoming Stock Growers Association summer convention in early June. Christy Hemken is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Details

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 December 2010 15:57

Written by Heather Hamilton

Laramie – A letter sent in late October from UW College of Agriculture Dean Frank Galey states the internal reorganization of operations at the Laramie Research and Extension Center is being completed to streamline operations, improve transparency and faculty access and provide for more efficient planning.
“The farm will remain in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and there is no intention to change the status of the farm. Not changing the status of the farm has the full support of the college administration, as well as the entire Wyoming agriculture industry,” comments Galey.
“From an internal administration standpoint, this streamlines everything and increases efficiency,” adds UW Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) Director Bret Hess. “The ultimate authority will be AES, instead of the greenhouse complex, lab animal facilities and the stock farm each being administered by a different department.”
Formerly the UW greenhouse complex was supervised by the Plant Sciences department, the lab animal facilities were supervised the by the Veterinary Sciences department and the stock farm was managed by the Animal Science department.
“The change will make one body, a director, who will serve as supervisor for all three units, and that will include fiscal and physical responsibilities,” explains Hess.
Hess adds that at present the greenhouse complex and lab animal facilities have already shifted their management to the AES office, while the stock farm is still in a transitional state.    
“There is some concern within the Animal Science department, but both departments that have already switched are very happy with how it works,” notes Galey. “The faculty still drive the strategic issues, but they don’t have to deal with the day to day management.”
Galey adds faculty will still be the voice determining what happens at the experiment stations. “Funding will not change, and the projects will still be faculty driven. But, instead of the funds being filtered through three different departments, they will go directly to the station with a single stop for reporting and auditing,” explains Galey.
“We are currently in the process of hiring a director, who will coordinate with staff and help UW faculty conduct their research and educational activities at the Laramie R&E Center,” notes Hess.
“We hope to have a person hired by Feb. 15, because one week later all the center directors and some managers from different centers come to Laramie. That’s the time when everyone interacts and develops a plan for the upcoming year,” says Hess.
“It will be a state of transition for a while. Right now we’ve asked Animal Science Department Head Doug Hixon to mentor the incoming director on aspects relevant to the stock farm,” explains Hess.
“I think people are fearful of change, even a little internal change. But I would like to reassure everyone that I’m probably the most external oriented dean we’ve had in a long time, and I’m very committed to making this work, as are college administrators,” adds Galey.
Heather Hamilton is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 08 April 2011 14:32

Written by Heather Hamilton

Riverton – UW Instructional Technology Educational Specialist Stan Skrabut spoke about Evernote, a “high tech red book,” during the Fremont County Farm and Ranch Days in Riverton on Feb.9.
“I know as producers you’re everywhere. Maybe you’re in a field, or a barn. You could be milking cows, or downtown buying things. You could be looking at a fence or an irrigation ditch and have a thought on how to fix or improve it. You have these great ideas and thoughts, then off you go to another thing, and eventually wonder what it was you thought of earlier,” said Skrabut.
He suggested Evernote as a way to capture and organize these thoughts and ideas when they occur.
“Evernote is a piece of software that you can put on a smart phone, computer, iPad, etc. You can use it on many different devices. Number one in what I try to find when looking for a tool is that it’s easy. This isn’t tied to just a computer, or phone, and that’s good because I’m not always at a computer, and I want to be able to use it wherever I’m at. Another important part is it’s free, and free is good,” noted Skrabut.
He suggested starting with the evernote.com website, where producers can download and install the program onto any devices they may have.
Once downloaded, the software can be used to collect ideas via typed or voice recorded notes, pictures, articles and links to websites, to name a few options.
“At a basic level you can click on new note, and type or copy and paste the information you want to record. Say you’re driving, well there is a little button I push, and it automatically starts recording my voice. Then I can save that, and when I’m home I can listen to my babbling,” explained Skrabut.
“In the case of using my phone, I can take a picture and email to Evernote. If I find a webpage, I can highlight text and with the click of a button send it to Evernote. I can forward emails necessary for specific projects to Evernote, and I can take pictures of receipts and send them to Evernote,” said Skrabut of some the ways the program can be used.
Information sent to Evernote can be sorted into folders by topic, date or any other personal preference. Searches by word or phrase can be done across all folders, bringing up anything pertaining to a specific subject, and making it simple to find everything that was previously stored relevant to that subject.
“Farmers and ranchers have their red books with all this information on cattle, fields, etc. in them. It’s a great book, but really hard to search through. This electronically allows you to record and search information, and Evernote will even search through pictures you’ve taken or copied and pasted into it,” explained Skrabut.
“This is a way to extend your red book, and include some of those things you don’t capture well with it. Pictures are an example – they just don’t fit and pretty soon your book is too thick.
“But, in addition to things that won’t fit into your red book, you can also put all the information you do record in it on Evernote. These include things like immunization records or other health issues. You can create a folder, or series of folders, based on tag numbers. Then as you keep notes, you will be able to search, chronologically, what you’ve noted about that animal because Evernote will time stamp each entry,” said Skrabut.
“The idea is to use this tool instead of writing something down and strategically placing it in a place where you will never find it again. Basically this is about collecting anything. There are different ways of going about it, but in the end it’s all put in one place where you can search and revisit it later. It is a tool that is very useful for me, and hopefully you can find a relevant use for it on your operation,” concluded Skrabut.
For more information on Evernote and a learning guide, visit Wyomingextension.org/wiki. Heather Hamilton is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .