Local cattle meeting

[ASRG]

Off to a local grassroots type meeting this AM at the local sales barn.
The purpose is to lobby our governments (provincial & federal) to get off their asses and put out this fire!
Yea....I know probably a complete waste of time.....but then what the hell....I've been tilting at windmills for years....fighting for property rights in Alberta! If that isn't a lost cause I don't know what is!

[ALLFARMER]

Keep your stick on the ice ASRG many victories
are a long hard fight!

[rkaiser]

You may warn to suggest a solution ASRG. Or a
partial solution at the least. A producer owned plant
built with a loan from the government...wish i had
the time and energy to gather behold BIG C gang
and talk to producers at these meetings.

[rkaiser]

You may warn to suggest a solution ASRG. Or a
partial solution at the least. A producer owned plant
built with a loan from the government...wish i had
the time and energy to gather behold BIG C gang
and talk to producers at these meetings.

[ASRG]

Well I've never been known as a shrinking violet and have no problem saying exactly what I think!
I'll certainly plant the idea Randy. It is a disgrace that a modern EU approved plant is sitting idle at Rockyview, while an old hellhole like Lakeside continues to operate! I'm also going to stress Alberta cattle producers shouldn't be paying the price because packers and government are complete f-ups!
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith is now calling on Redford to insist on an independent inquiry into the federal inspection protocols that allowed this thing to become a nightmare....I will be pushing that idea......as well as firing Ritz and the CFIA head clown!

[kato]

Light a fire!

We need a new Ag Minister.

We need the CFIA to prioritize food safety as their prime directive.

We need the CFIA to have the same kind of power when dealing with the big processors as they seem to have when chasing farmers at the auction marts over lost eartags.

We need to see a face and an apology attached to XL on the television.

We need blame put where it belongs.

We need to see CCA, ABP, et al actually address the problem, instead of just saying irresponsible things like "E coli is in all cattle, no matter where they came from and how they were raised." Good grief!

Is that how you instill consumer confidence??? By making sure they trust NO BEEF, no matter where it comes from? By putting the grassroots cattle producers in the same category as the factories?

Our cattle organizations should be out there telling the world that this is a problem from one processor, who will be held to account, and that it is NOT the fault of Canadian cattle, cattle producers, or any other processors, no matter how big or small.

Our cattle organizations, our government, and especially XL Beef need to be doing all they can to regain consumer confidence. This is not going away any time soon, unless they do it, and do it NOW.

If our cattle organizations cannot work for the good of ALL producers, instead of only the big players, then they need to be replaced as well.

That's my two cents worth.

Go get 'em!

[ASRG]

Just back from the meeting. As usual people were all over the map on who was to blame. The "general consensus" was "someone" screwed up and we are paying the price!
I think we agreed that "somewhere within the CFIA".....something went very wrong and we should be asking the government to look into it!
There doesn't appear to be any interest whatsoever on starting up the Rockyview plant.
The general attitude was we got caught in a whirlwind and nothing much can be done. A pretty disappointing bunch......makes me realize people generally have given up!
On another note: The cattle sale ended at 10:40. Few cows, a fair number of yearlings and some calves. I thought yearlings were off about 5 cents, calves were about the same as two weeks ago and cows were off about 8-10 cents.