Country of Origin

[cowman]

One rather bad little part of the American farm bill was the "country of origin" label thing.
Now it is sort of vague right now just what this means. It won't go into effect for two years(if ever?) and had more to do with getting some people elected this fall than anything else. There is also some question about what will qualify as "raised in America". The way I understand it is it does not apply to cattle fed a certain length of time in the U.S. Therefore if you sell your calves to a feedlot in Nebraska they will be American beef! But Montana calves fed at Letbridge will be Canadian beef! IF this ever becomes reality I can see the end of feeding cattle here. Of course we must remember the two major packers here are American and I doubt if their head offices will let this sort of thing happen.
This won't stop our cattle organizations from setting up a howl about how the industry is ruined and demand more checkoff money! What is ruined? Our feeder cattle have always been priced by the American market(and are flooding over the border right now!)...do I care if they are fed at Letbridge or Omaha? But the ACC and CCA have good reason to howl because the industry they represent(big feedlots and packers) will be ruined. It will be business as usual for the cow/calf man.

[charliep]

Cowman,I think you will care whether your cattle are fed here or in Omaha when you get your check and they take the freight off those cattle to go to Omaha.
Last time I checked ACC Board was composed of more than a majority of cow/calf guys and backgrounders not feedlots. To say they represent big feedlots and packers is incorrect.

[cowman]

beefarmer: Actually if I was selling feeder cattle in my local mart today they probably would be going to Nebraska. The Americans have been taking a lot of feeders lately and have provided a floor for our prices. I suspect if corn stays cheap the flow south will continue. It is the evolution of the feeding industry. If the Americans are buying the industry through their cheap feed grain policy, how is this any different than what Alberta did 30 years ago at the expense of the rest of Canada?
If you have a desire to support the ACC that is your right. I personally don't like it but I am forced to support it. There are somethings that bother me about the ACC. The first is this: When the ear tag thing came in the ACC jumped right on the bandwagon and insisted the little cow/calf guy bear all the cost. Now food safety is the governments responsibility...not mine! They are paid hansomely to take care of this problem! Now why did the ACC insist the cow/calf guy pay for the tag rather than the government? If everyone, from the cow/calf right down to the consumer benifited from this program, then why didn't we all pay? I would suggest to you that the cow/calf man more than does his share by providing the labor(and shrink) of putting the tag in. The I.D. agency held a couple of meetings and met stiff resistance(believe me I was there at Innisfail! The parade to the microphones was all anti-tag!) but just ignored all protest and plowed her in!
Another sore point for me was how quick the ACC was to jump in and protect the rights of the big leaseholders, when in fact these "rights" were completely unfair to every other producer in the province and in fact to every taxpayer! Talk about corporate welfare bums!
Lastly I got sick of the ACC sending their propaganda! Not so much to me but to my dad....12 years after he was dead...and after telling them that 4 times. Bureaucracy out of control...your checkoff dollars at work for you!