February 26, 2010  Volume 89, Number 35

ROTARY'S FOUR WAY TEST "Of the things we think, say or do: 1. Is it the TRUTH?  2. Is it FAIR to all concerned? 3. Will it Build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

March - Literacy Month

OPENING

Greeters: Kelly McGraw and President Jan Hartzell. Inspirational Moment: was delivered by John Larsen with Olympic facts. The Olympic athletes enter the stadium led by Greece and then in alphabetical order in the language of the host county. The host country enters last. The Olympic flag was designed in 1914 and was first flown at the 1920 games. Flag salute: Kris Olsen.  President Jan Hartzell thanked Johannes Goddik for the room set-up and new member Kelly McGraw for managing the greeting chores without much help.

VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS

MAIN EVENT

President Jan introduced Brandon Malloy, the Director responsible for the programs our club enjoys. Brandon introduced today’s speaker, Bill Hoyt, President of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association.

Bill’s  family owns and operates the Holly Land and Cattle Company in Creswell, Oregon. His great great grandfather Ira Holly homesteaded the land in 1852. In 2009 the family received one of 19 state sesquicentennial awards given to family farms stretching back 150 years. Bill said there’s a family cemetery on the property and four generations before him are all buried on the ranch, including Ira Holly.

The Oregon Cattleman’s Association was founded 97 years ago and Bill is only the 3^rd OCA President from west of the Cascades. The organization represents about 2,000 ranchers in the state. They have a lobbyist in Salem and are actively involved in natural resource politics.  Bill says that though Eastern Oregon ranchers don’t think there are any “real Cowboys” west of the Cascades, Bill will put his cowboys up against  the best, anytime! The beef industry directly contributes about $360 million dollars in sales to the state’s economy. It is the leading agricultural industry, ahead of nursery stock.

The OCA seeks to dispel misconceptions about ranchers—that they just take natural resources without giving back. Studies from the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Agriculture suggest that in any given year, over 70% of the state’s wildlife is sustained on private land at some point. Thanks to the “buy local” trend, there’s a niche market for grass-finished or forage-finished beef, but Bill doesn’t think this is the future of the industry because it’s too expensive to produce. Most of Oregon’s beef calves are shipped to Midwest feedlots for finishing and processing. Regionally, there is a big feedlot in Pasco, Washington and they supply Wal-Mart and other large retailers.

However, Bill grass-finishes about a third of his annual production and those animals are brought to a plant in Dayton for processing. Bill’s family ranch raises beef, sheep and goats—in fact, he’s one of the largest goat producers in the state. 

Bill was born in Montana and attended the University of Montana before assuming the management of the family ranch in Creswell. Bill had a liberal arts education in Political Science and Education, did a stint in Vietnam and almost became a lawyer but realized his heart was in ranching. He finds spiritual enrichment on the ranch and remains passionately committed to the industry he represents.  He says it takes almost eight hours on horseback to go all the way around the land his family owns and leases and it’s out there that he feels closest to God. He would like to retire at some point and write his family’s story. Bill says it’s a fascinating story and there are still old family diaries from the 1850’s as source material.

For those of you that missed this presentation, it was one of the best!

After his presentation, Bill Hoyt received a pen from President Jan Hartzell and signed a book for the Early Readers’ Program.

MESSAGE FROM RICKEY BODLE

 

Dear Rotary Club of McMinnville:

In January I was in Santiago staying with a host aunt because my old host family went to Argentina. It was fun. We went to the mall, I got to have a bit of America in the form of Starbucks, and I raided a Piñera (new President of Chile) campaign office of goods. Luckily I had saved up some money which I used to go with the aunt to Iquique. I swam a lot while there, we went to the big party when Piñera won at Club Mango (It started in the plaza and worked its way around the city.) and I also wore a GIANT Piñera flag in Líder much to the amusement of my host aunt on election day when he was declared the new President. Líder is the Chilean Walmart -- I think it is owned by Walmart too. Everyday that we were there, we went to the Zofri -- Zona Franca Internacional. It basically is a giant mall like area where everything is extremely cheap. Outside the mall are all major corporations which receive electronics and other goods from Japan and various other Asia companies so as to export throughout South America. There was this AMAZING Brazilian Chocolate too which was extremely cheap. One of the days I also went on a $3.50 boat ride to a buoy marking some major battle between Chile and Peru. There was also a replica of the Peruvian boat from the battle in the ocean. We got to sit up in the VIP section with the boat driver because I was a gringo. The boat ride was fun and I went with a bunch of girls I had met the night before. Calle Baquedano is a culture street and tourist mecca for Iquique. The streets are oddly enough made from Pino Oregón (Oregon Pine). This is due to the boats which came to Iquique being made from Oregon Pine and instead of simply tossing good wood, the locals used it to make the houses and sidewalks. It scarily reminded me of a western and I had the eeriest feeling of being in the Twilight Zone. That pretty much was what I've been up to.

Rickey Bodle

 

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