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THE STUMP
COOL - Country Of Origin Labeling -
its here?. Yes, there will be some concerns as in any new program. Yes, it involves
our government reaching further into the beef industry. But it doesn’t take
too much reading to understand that John Q and Susie Public are becoming
more aware and more interested in their food’s safety. Go to Japan or Korea
and you will see the front end of this wave. It doesn’t appear the cattle industry
itself is interested in pursuing this so it provides an opening for a
“government program”.
It will provide customers choice. Do they want American born, raised and
processed meat? COOL can also provide accountability to the meat
industry potentially allowing any bad actors to be kept from harming the
rest of the industry. It can help keep our country’s quality non-imported
food supply free from negative publicity. Dysentery is a leading cause of
malaise and lack of productivity in many countries. Dysentery, cholera and
other infectious diseases many times are passed along the food chain. An
advantage of USA born and raised is it is less prone to warmer climate
bacterial diseases. But America also has other advantages such as
refrigeration, clean water and modern sanitary systems for handling foods.
COOL can help insure the safety of our product.
Tracking foods is not unusual in the world. Japan and countries in
Europe already are tracking from the farm to the retail establishment.
After all, if it makes sense for a business to put a barcode on a 5 cent
Tootsie Roll doesn’t it make sense to know the origin of a $1200.00
steer? Why should the entire
industry – because they can’t identify their livestock - be held
accountable for one producer who fed contaminated feed? Why should the public’s lack of accurate
perception of cattle industry (to them a big black hole) be allowed to
bring down everyone who treats their livestock humanely? Yes, like in every office building, like
on every highway, like in every suburb there are bad actors. As an industry we need to police
ourselves, tell our own story and help the majority of the population
(read: urbanites) that we (the cattle industry) are NOT that person they
have in their minds who doesn’t know or care about the product being sold.
Moderation in all things.
Choose what fits your state of health, age, lifestyle and genetic
make-up.
BEEF – IT’S FOR HEALTHY
PEOPLE
THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE BUSINESS
HOW
DO YOU KNOW ?
There seems to be a lot of city folks who are a first and second
generation removed from the "country" wanting to move back to the
"country"…….At the same time there are a lot of
"country" folks who want to remain removed from the city. All of
this seems to make the word "country" a moving target. What does
living in the "country" mean? Here are a few cream of the crop
"country definitions" if you have others please share………….
You know you are in the country when:
- …it’s too far to
drive to have a meal out...
(the corollary is when taking your wife to dinner means to the church
“pot-luck”)
- ...the neighbors are
too far away to hear your dogs barking
- ...you can drive all
the way home at night without having to dim your lights
- ...everyone you pass
on the road waves
- …the ditches are
clean because all the city collected plastic wrappers/cups have been
thrown out before your place.
and NOW for the main event:
COW TIPPING
What a conversation starter. Whether you are city or country, the
subject of cow tipping starts conversations. In researching this subject it
has been a great ice-breaker and a great opportunity to introduce people to
the "country".
Before we get into the ever popular parsing of words (exactly what is
the definition of the word "is"?) let’s lay-out a common
definition of what is meant by cow tipping:
DEFINITION: Cow tipping is when a cow is toppled (tipped over) by a
person. (The popular thought is that this happens when cows are sleeping.)
If you will allow me to introduce you to some cows I know of it might
lend to your understanding of their natural abilities:
- Cows from the
mountains able to defend their baby calves against predators such as
mountain lions, timber wolves and bears.
- Cows who are able to
run 30 miles per hour.
- Cows weighing more
than 1500 pounds (equivalent to five NFL linemen!)
- Cows whose owners
take extreme care and pride to ensure their cow’s ability to produce
at their maximum (keep their baby happy).
 The
cows I am familiar with mostly sleep lying down. They spend their time free
roaming large pastures (large enough to run ME down if I messed with her
mind). Why would I even think of tipping a cow who is nursing our end
product, a calf. After all, we get paid by pounds we’ve produced. We want
that calf to be as large as she can raise it to be. A falling 1500 pound
cow could get injured (or injure me). If she gets injured what about her
ability to raise next year’s calf? We have a major investment in her. She
is our factory.
Could you sneak up on a cow? Possibly. But there are too many reasons
not to do it (see above).
Could you tip her over? Possibly. It would be an act like vandalism.
As I already said cow-tipping is a great conversation piece. I have not
talked to anyone in the cattle business admitting to having tipped a cow.
So I guess that does leave the window (or for the cow: gate) open that it
may occur somewhere, someplace and sometime.
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