Rawlins Daily Times, Jerret RaffetyThursday, April 17, 2008
Agriculture Expo Teaser
Rawlins Daily Times, Jerret Raffety
Roping's all about practice
Rawlins Daily Times, Jerret RaffetyBy Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
The whip, snap and subsequent swish of the rope pulling tight startled the rowdy kids nearby.
Yancey Weber quickly stepped back, instinctively bracing himself against the roping dummy as though it might tug against its restraint.
“You stud!” called Cindy Cobb, Weber’s teacher at Little Snake River Valley School.
Weber’s been roping since he turned 4, getting the initial know-how from his father and learning the rest from watching others. The 10-year-old travels across the state to compete. His friend, Zach Peed, learned from ranching friends in Craig, Colo. He’s good at roping, he said, but can’t do any of Weber’s tricks yet.
The two boys stood out amongst the hundreds of fourth-graders who passed through Kurt Olson’s cattle roping demonstration at the Agriculture Expo, an event held Thursday at the Carbon County Fairgrounds designed to teach fourth-graders about agriculture.
According to Weber and Peed, roping doesn’t always come naturally.
“You can only get so far with a teacher,” Peed said. “Then you just have to practice and practice.” Also a skateboarder, he said learning to do roping tricks like the butterfly or the wedding ring was like figuring out how to do a kickflip or ollie on the board.
Is it hard to compete? Peed nodded quickly, but Weber was skeptical. Rather than go for the feet, a harder target, he prefers to pull the steer down by the neck.
USDA works to protect our food
• Thursday’s Agriculture Expo featured a presentation explaining how the USDA wards off predators.
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
Somewhere in Carbon County, a child’s father was bit by the bogeyman.
“I asked the kids how big of a trap they needed for that,” said Dan Braig with a chuckle. Braig represented the U.S. Department of Agriculture at Thursday’s Agriculture Expo held at the Carbon County Fairgrounds for area school children.
Emphasizing non-lethal methods of handling predators, Braig had a captive audience for each of his 15-minute slide-show presentations.
“We’ll put a propane cannon around places where birds are a nuisance to raising fish or contaminating grain, and every half hour, BANG!” he exclaimed, making kids jump from their seats. He grinned. “Just like that,” he said. According to Braig, it generally takes awhile to train the birds that they should make a new home.
After the presentation, students were allowed to look at pelts adorning the front table.
His hand sliding down the mottled wolf fur, Slater Kaisler of Little Snake River Valley School listed the animals he’d seen in the wild. Among them were badgers, beavers, muskrats, bobcats, coyotes and raccoons.
“I’ve also seen a skunk,” he said. “I shot it with a .22.”
When asked if they stink when they’re shot, he nodded. “Yeah,” he answered.
According to Braig, the presentation was designed to get the kids to think about where their food comes from and that it often needs protection. When the USDA gets a call about someone losing money because of animal trouble, officials try their best to use one of many non-lethal control methods.
Food is a powerful thing, though, and can lead the animals back time and time again.
“They’re just like men,” Braid said. “They take the path of least resistance too.” He said the USDA’s goal is to simply make life uncomfortable enough for the animals that they’ll find food elsewhere. If the animal continues to make trouble, they kill it.
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
Somewhere in Carbon County, a child’s father was bit by the bogeyman.
“I asked the kids how big of a trap they needed for that,” said Dan Braig with a chuckle. Braig represented the U.S. Department of Agriculture at Thursday’s Agriculture Expo held at the Carbon County Fairgrounds for area school children.
Emphasizing non-lethal methods of handling predators, Braig had a captive audience for each of his 15-minute slide-show presentations.
“We’ll put a propane cannon around places where birds are a nuisance to raising fish or contaminating grain, and every half hour, BANG!” he exclaimed, making kids jump from their seats. He grinned. “Just like that,” he said. According to Braig, it generally takes awhile to train the birds that they should make a new home.
After the presentation, students were allowed to look at pelts adorning the front table.
His hand sliding down the mottled wolf fur, Slater Kaisler of Little Snake River Valley School listed the animals he’d seen in the wild. Among them were badgers, beavers, muskrats, bobcats, coyotes and raccoons.
“I’ve also seen a skunk,” he said. “I shot it with a .22.”
When asked if they stink when they’re shot, he nodded. “Yeah,” he answered.
According to Braig, the presentation was designed to get the kids to think about where their food comes from and that it often needs protection. When the USDA gets a call about someone losing money because of animal trouble, officials try their best to use one of many non-lethal control methods.
Food is a powerful thing, though, and can lead the animals back time and time again.
“They’re just like men,” Braid said. “They take the path of least resistance too.” He said the USDA’s goal is to simply make life uncomfortable enough for the animals that they’ll find food elsewhere. If the animal continues to make trouble, they kill it.
Post-surgery care eyed at hospital
By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer
Memorial Hospital of Carbon County’s contract has been renewed for another three-year evaluation by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Called the 9th Scope of Work, the period should focus on reducing complications after surgery. It is part of a two-decade-old effort to ensure taxpayers and beneficiaries receive quality care through Medicare and Medicaid.
The hospital was chosen because, statistically speaking, it shows room for improvement, according to Mike Sierberg, public information officer for the Denver office of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Hospitals were selected based on the likelihood of antibiotics being started and discontinued within an allotted amount of time. Low scores on these often mean low scores on other measures, he said.
“This doesn’t mean that Memorial Hospital is doing poorly,” Sierberg said. “It’s possible that they scored low on these measures for Wyoming, but fit into a higher percentile nationwide. We still have to pick some from each state.”
The Rawlins hospital was selected along with Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Evanston Regional Hospital and Powell Valley Hospital.
Hospital Quality Director Tracy Peterson said she doesn’t know why the facility was chosen, since, according to her data, it measures up to other area hospitals. However, she said, the hospital is participating because the project can help it improve.
Based on feedback from care providers, including nurses, surgeons and a nurse anesthesiologist, the administration should be able to prioritize the 16 areas of improvement identified by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Mountain Pacific Quality Health, a quality-improvement organization contracted with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, is assisting the project. With an office in Cheyenne, the consulting organization should be able to provide advice for improvement.
Since Mountain Pacific is responsible for hospitals throughout Wyoming as well as Hawaii, Alaska and Montana, Peterson sees it as a good source of information.
“We can share information,” she said. “They can make suggestions of what works. Another hospital may have come up with a really good idea and we can adopt it.”
Times staff writer
Memorial Hospital of Carbon County’s contract has been renewed for another three-year evaluation by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Called the 9th Scope of Work, the period should focus on reducing complications after surgery. It is part of a two-decade-old effort to ensure taxpayers and beneficiaries receive quality care through Medicare and Medicaid.
The hospital was chosen because, statistically speaking, it shows room for improvement, according to Mike Sierberg, public information officer for the Denver office of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Hospitals were selected based on the likelihood of antibiotics being started and discontinued within an allotted amount of time. Low scores on these often mean low scores on other measures, he said.
“This doesn’t mean that Memorial Hospital is doing poorly,” Sierberg said. “It’s possible that they scored low on these measures for Wyoming, but fit into a higher percentile nationwide. We still have to pick some from each state.”
The Rawlins hospital was selected along with Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Evanston Regional Hospital and Powell Valley Hospital.
Hospital Quality Director Tracy Peterson said she doesn’t know why the facility was chosen, since, according to her data, it measures up to other area hospitals. However, she said, the hospital is participating because the project can help it improve.
Based on feedback from care providers, including nurses, surgeons and a nurse anesthesiologist, the administration should be able to prioritize the 16 areas of improvement identified by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Mountain Pacific Quality Health, a quality-improvement organization contracted with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, is assisting the project. With an office in Cheyenne, the consulting organization should be able to provide advice for improvement.
Since Mountain Pacific is responsible for hospitals throughout Wyoming as well as Hawaii, Alaska and Montana, Peterson sees it as a good source of information.
“We can share information,” she said. “They can make suggestions of what works. Another hospital may have come up with a really good idea and we can adopt it.”
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