Nice to see McDonalds supporting Canadian beef, A&W still hammering away.

[farmgal71]

Thanks McD, A&W must be happy with this No Hormones etc campaign because it is still going on.

Anyone have any information on A&W sales?

[kato]

I think they must be ok, because they are still going on about it. Maybe if they were serious about making their food healthier, they should consider dropping all that extra salt. Funny how people get excited about a perceived theoretical risk and ignore a real one. ( as they toss back their blood pressure pills every morning)

[greybeard]

I fully supported this ad campaign when they just went with the giving the people what the want image.
Now they seem to be on a " better quality,better tasting product" route.
Now they are blowing smoke up yer a$$.

[Happytrails]

I've taste tested both the Angus burger and the Uncle burger recently. The Angus burger was very good. The Uncle burger tasted like it had spent many weeks in transit. Good on MacDonalds for promoting Canadian beef.

[littledoggie]

I had been OK with the A&W campaign because it seemed to give us producers an alternative method of production that we could possibly benefit from. It also seemed to give the consumer what they wanted. But then I had a really bad hamburger at A&W. I ended up throwing it out in fear of breaking a tooth!

Saw an interesting MacDonald's ad that fought back at the anti-beef campaign and was hugely impressed. Thumbs up to MacDonald's for supporting and promoting Canadian beef and for standing up to the radicals.

I still believe that the consumer is the driving factor but our industry needs to stand up and take a stand to dispel the multitude of myths that prevail out there.

And now I hear about what fats are best and they are back to promoting butter, milk and beef as being healthy. Who can keep up?

[grassfarmer]

I try not to eat fast food of the burger variety more than a couple of times a year, I just find it tastes gross and plasticy not like real food. Family members eat it more often, the kids feel left out when they see their friends doing so its a battle I tend to lose.

One irony I see is that McDonalds are big on promoting sustainability at farm level yet all their kids meals come with these crap little plastic toys made in China. Just more garbage to put in our landfills. Maybe Alberta oil shipped to minimum wage factory in the far east to be produced, packaged and shipped back here - and they are worried about Canadian ranchers methods being sustainable?

[Happytrails]

Littledoggie, re: giving the consumer what they want. Sounds good in theory but ends there unless you are willing to self retail. My little outfit markets several hundred home raised beef cattle every year. All of them are hormone and steroid free and 95% are antibiotic free. Any interest from A&W or their suppliers? Not on your life. And the same with some others. I don't know why things are this way.

GF you should look past the happy meal toys. We've all got flaws. Macdonalds advertises and sells Canadian beef. That means something to me.

[grassfarmer]

HT, Gaucho posted some great information on how the A&W deal worked out a while back and how it was putting sources of beef that would fulfil a market demand without costing them a premium. It made business sense and they are a business just like any other.
Good for you for producing and selling "natural" cattle but we can't shrug our shoulders and say it's A&Ws fault for not bidding on them. They buy beef not feeder cattle. The fact we have a feedlot sector that presumably gives hormone implants to north of 95% of them is a problem and I think its one we should address.
To my European eyes you have such a great image and product here - cows on the range with the rockies towering above but when most of these calves get weaned into the auction and most finish up sick and treated in the feedlot as a result before getting them onto the implants it seems you throw away your natural advantages. So many export markets will never buy these implanted cattle so we make ourselves captive to the US market.

[rkaiser]

I agree on the salt Kato and usually throw the majority of the grain brain bun away when I have a Teen Burger made from mostly Aussie beef.

All advertising is propaganda folks. Always was and always will be. Making this into a debate that pits farmer on farmer is kind of sad.

We need to take a page from the book of "choice" and get on with it.

[Happytrails]

Thanks for the endorsement GF. IMO the feedlots would stop implanting if they could get paid more for hormone free cattle.
But like you say, the hormone free markets want cattle that qualify but not pay any more for them. So they get aussie bullocks that were run down with bush buggies. And then, the part that sticks with me, claim they have the best beef. I hope consumers see through the scam because we have better beef out there.

[littledoggie]

I agree that most advertising is propaganda. Do you ever listen to the "Age of Persuasion" on CBC Radio 1? It can be a good education on the history of advertising.

In regards to hormone free beef. When the call went out looking for h-f beef, they DID pay for it. Now there is no premium. So typical of BIG FOOD to get a hold of something that was started at ground zero and take control of it with only THEM benefiting. Saw Gaylon Weston claiming that farmer's markets were unsafe. I wouldn't put it past him to be lobbying the government to get rid of farmer's markets.

[kato]

And yet they sell a bread that they call " Farmers Market", which insinuates quality. I can't remember exactly, but I think it's some kind of in store baked whole grain. I never bought it, because I would rather buy real farmers market bread from my friends.

[ProFarmer]

If that little f**ker stopped me on the street pushing his Australian bush beef I would kick him in the balls.He paints a bad picture on a industry that produces the best beef in the world!!! I have never implanted my cattle. Where are the premiums for this meat I have produced gone to?

[grassfarmer]

Lets get real here - why the hate on Australian beef? The A&W deal is using a blend of Australian, Northern US (Montana based) and western Canadian (Highland, Vegreville) beef.
Do you really all hate the Australians or their beef so bad or are you choosing to ignore the Canadian and R-Calf country components?

[littledoggie]

Maybe in the European market?