Consumers

[Deb]

As a consumer who is an ex-cowgirl now, what is the biggest worry that cattlemen have about the average consumer these days? Is the consumer too sensitive or paranoid or do they have too strong a conscience about our relationship to the earth that ultimately supports us? Are we just ignorant? About which things?

[cowman]

This is only my own thoughts: One thing I really worry about is how the media is all over the cattle business about E-Coli. You don't hear as much about all the samonella in chicken or how dirty a lot of vegatables are. I don't know if there is much we can do about E-coli as I suspect it comes from dirty packing plants and improper hygiene. But look at Walkerton...right away it was blamed on cattle!
Another concern I have is the animal rights nuts. They seem to be able to say whatever they want whether it is true or not. Maybe some of the practices need a little cleaning up(branding, castration,dehorning) but the cattle business is pretty humane compared to the pig and chicken business. I'm also concerned about the growing number of vegetarians....a lot of them became that way because of slanted opinions from the general media.

[ValueChainFX]

Deb:

I think that the cattlemen are concerned that ever food safety issue that hits the news seems to come back as a negative about the meat industry. The industry itself is in a fractured disarray at the moment, and consumers are showered with negative news from around the world about the industries challenges. (Which of course relate back to the consumer)

Our whole system of getting the products from the cow to the kitchen table are changing as technology gets stronger, I wonder if many old cowboys feel they can't keep up to the technology and that concerns them.

Either way, consumers are talking to producers with their dollars in the retail stores. My question is our the cattlemen listening?

[rookie]

This is my two cents. My wife is from an urban area. A big one with about six million people. Her friends, family, all look at what I do with basically the same blank stare. Totally clueless. But that can only be expected. However they all have an opinion on how I should treat the livestock and the environment. Nothing wrong with that either. I also don't have a problem taking care of the environment and my livestock. I am sure most farmers or ranchers want to do whats best. I just wonder if I can pass my two cents of extra cost ( from technology etc. ) down the line to the till. I am sure my answer is the same look I receive from the inlaws. But they're learning. So am I.

[Deb]

This is also an answer to cowman's comment about vegetarians. I think that as the boomer generation ages, they are more careful about what they eat. Most of them are having such a good time, and have come into awareness of their own mortality, that they want to take charge of their health. Vegetarians come in all ages and classes of life. Some don't eat meat because they feel guilty about being the reason for an animal's death. Some figure they can get their protein from plant sources and take supplements for some that only come from animal flesh, so why put animals through (what is in their mind) misery.

I haven't seen any big writeups in the newspapers or heard anything on the radio or TV about how great vegetarianism is and how we should all stop eating meat. There is once in awhile information about nutrition, and that you can get what you need from plant sources, but nobody is ramming this down anyone's throat (pardon the pun). It is a matter of consumer choice I guess. Before I got into agriculture at 16, I used to wonder why land was used to grow crops to feed animals and not people. Then I learned how much food energy an animal has to consume to provide a pound of meat for humans and it seemed even more strange. The I realized that I couldn't eat grass and the aboriginal Canadians had a good thing going with the bison.

But let's face it, humans are omnivores and my mouth salivates instinctively at the smell of steak on a BBQ. The difference between me and my urban sisters is that I know where my meat and milk comes from and have worked on feedlots and cow-calf and dairy farms. I am comfortable with eating meat yet I too, hope that the animals I eat never suffered for my benefit.

My question is, should the production of living animals be industrialized. Is is ethical to treat 20,000 animals in a feedlot or sows in a farrowing crate as widgets in a factory? There used to be a kind of sacredness to consuming meat we either raised and buchered ourselves, or meat we hunted in the wild. Nobody is giving the animal thanks for giving up its life so that we may live.

Then there is the question of "natural" meat, which to my mind would be grass-fed beef. I recently learned that grass-fed beef has omega-3 fatty acids whereas grain-fed fattened cattle have little or none by the time they leave the feedlot. So now scientists are working on putting linoleic acid in feed to boost the omega level in slaughter cattle. This reminds me of when they started putting vitamins into white bread to replace the vitamins destroyed when they processed the whole grain. Why not eat whole grain bread, why not eat grass-fed beef (cuz the consumer doesn't know this, maybe doesn't care, and it is hard to find).

And there is the question of whether we can feed the growing population without factory-farming methods. I heard that the population of Canada is only kept up by immigration. I also heard that North Americans are getting more obese and children especially so. We eat too much fat. So this leads me to believe that meat production is based on pure marketing, not nutritional needs.

I know meat processing plants have a very small profit margin which is why they import illegal immigrants or bring in immigrants for 2-year contracts or whatever (if they can make it through without injury or mental breakdown). What I want to know is, if cow-calf operators in North America cut down on production of calves, would the price they get go up? If the price went up, would the feedlots charge the processing plants more and would the processing plants charge more to their retail distributors? Would the retail stores then charge the customer more and would the customer pay the price? Would the customer pay the price if they knew that their extra dollar went towards better conditions for animals and more protection for water, air, soil quality, etc?

[ValueChainFX]

Well, goodness sakes alive Deb! You have managed to set forth several of the issues
of the day in such a political way I am wondering if you work for the Government or
an arms length Government organization! (I am of course teasing you there, as I
would never speak badly of our wonderful system!) Right cowman!! Anyway you
asked about eight questions in your above comments. several of those questions
contained sub questions (A,B,C and so on) but they are issues that have been
around for years, the vegetarian issue has really been around since time began, but
really has been pitted against the meat industry as an issue since the early sixties. It is
actually interesting to look at consumption figures of meat products based on age of
the consumers. September 2001 issue of Business in Calgary had a very interesting
article on organic foods and they used Education and age as bench marks for
organic consumption levels. It seems the higher the education level the more organic
product was consumed, between 20 and 25 % of the 25 to 44 year olds consumed
organics on a regular base, another 20 to 25 % of this age group consumed a level
they called several times, and between 15 to 25% once or twice. But surprise from
age 44 to 55 the level of organic consumption fell Between 15 to 20% on a regular
base, 15 to 20 % on a several occasions and below 15%once or twice. Then at 55
the figures jump to 25% on a regular base, over 25% on several occasions and
almost 30% once or twice. This is the numbers for all organics including meats.

Your vegetarian issue I think is based on personal choice and if they are looking at
comparing meats to vegetables as far as the best sources of food then there are other
issues rather then plain food sources they are dealing with that go beyond this forum.

As far as thanks for our meat products, I know that many of my friends give thanks
at every meal, I know that farms give thanks every time they are able to make it
through another year. We wander into the areas of ethics in the food business and
you have jumped into a pond of quick sand with no bottom. Everyone believes they
have an ethical standard, but we all have to remember that not all of the people have
the same ethics, in fact some can change there ethics midstream in a conversation.

The industrialization of livestock in Canada is one of the things that has made the
industry what it is today, at least Canada was smart enough to allow the ownership
and competition within the agriculture industry when it opened the lands up to
potential farmers. In comparison, Argentina allowed their choice farm lands go into
the hands of about 8% (I believe that is the number) of the richer population. Some
of these owners were absentee land lords that allowed their operations to be run by
hired help. In turn the hired help had no stake in keeping the land and operation
functional for the future and at this point we can see what has happened there. (This
land issue in Argentina dates back 100years or so)

I believe to survive that we are going to have to see more industrialization in both
crops and meat production. (Although I really hate to say that) But the bottom line
seems to be that individual operations are not willing to work as a collaborative
group to cut costs, share information, initialize focused marketing efforts and meet
the demands of the modern day educated consumers. Which goes into your point of
additives to the products, which may or may not need to be done in the controlled
environments that we are seeing developed for the future.

Your comment about meat packing plants had to make me smile. In Canada there is
not that much of that going on, and the guys in the US have told me it does not go on
down there either (tongue in cheek of course) But, as far as price goes, the retail
stores have a set margin for their meat departments, as well as a percentage of sales
for each meat product to make. As far as the packers go, they can make yield sheets
do what ever they want them to, the large packers can actually loose money on each
carcass and make a bundle at the end on the day! Small margins in one area do not
mean small margins in others. From the packer to the farm well we all know who
pays the ultimate price. New cooperative systems are looking at ways to address
this situation