The guy who started this whole mess

[cowman]

I don't think we should be too hard on this guy. He may not have done what you would have done but hey we all have a journey and we have to do what we have to do! I don't take sick cows to town, personally! I give them a bullet and let the coyotes take care of the rest!
Politically incorrect, but most of you have been there, done that!
We don't know his circumstances or how he was raised! He might have been some city slicker who just didn't get it...thought it was all about money and getting every last nickel!
One of the things I am OH so thankful for is that my daddy raised me right and taught me how to respect the animals and plants that keep me!

[johnfarms]

For what it is worth, the owner of the cow..." shipped the animal in an attempt to salvage meat for personal use"...this is directly from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency report. The report does not discuss the leadup to the cow being shipped.

[Muttley]

I have heard this story about shipping the cow for personal meat.
What I do not get is why? Why would you ship a cow for personal meat instead of just butchering her on farm? Why if the cow was in bad enough shape to be questioned by inspectors would you want to eat it?

I have a bit of a problem with believing it was anything more than just trying to make a buck!! Which I don't blame the guy for trying.

[carebear300]

Nope, cowman not a chance!!!!!!! This is a big american corporation, outrageous profits are a good thing, they have no conscience. Now if only the canadian farmer could operate the same way.

[rsomer]

The price of most retail goods has little to do with the cost and more to do with what people are willing to pay for it. The difference between cost and selling price equals profit for MacDonalds. When you buy a Big Mac you are not buying hamburger, you are buying convenience, fun for the kids, a break from driving or daily chores. If you want to buy hamburger go to the grocery store.

The price of a Big Mac is used as an important economic indicator throughout the world.

See: http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=397291

[terri]

Where is the guy now? Haven't heard anything on him since he had to destroy his herd. Did he go back to the good old US of A?

[ValueChainFX]

Downers are something a small plant does on a regular basis. For anyone to try to tell you this is something rare is just not telling the truth (if they are in the know) In most plants a special time or day may even be set aside for downed animals (these animals may have to wait a couple of days) This may not be the way we see as right, but a specific protocol is in place to handle these animals and the vet checks them (like they do every animal) before they are killed than pays special attention to them after they are killed. This whole issues has had many people take a look at how they will handle their next downer I'm sure!

[ValueChainFX]

Well, as much as we would like to think the big mac is made from cow beef, it really isn't. Beef from young animals goes to Caravell Foods (spelling??) and closely monitored HACCP's and is turned into those little niggets between the buns!

I wonder how much Carvell Foods is charged for their combo bins of trim, and how much is charged to Mac's?

Goes back to the question ... Who is making the coin? I just know it's not the producer (again)!

[cowman]

Well I did not know that! I just assumed they took a bunch of old canners and bulls and threw in all the lard from the overfat steers. Maybe sc**** the garbage off the floor and toss that in for good measure!
So how come if we have all this good young stuff in a big Mac it tastes so poor? I mean hamburger from the local butcher is fairly tasty compared to that cardboard tasting stuff in a big Mac? And what's with Wendys? Their burgers are so greasy you could start a campfire with one!

[ValueChainFX]

Macs and Wendys are two that I do know about, each has there own HACCP program and specification, each batch (or combo about 1500 pounds in a box on a pallet) is lean tested within a few lean points of each other. They tell the supplier what that is and the supplier makes sure the mix meets their requirement.

Than the combo goes to their paddy maker and grinds and punch the patty. Freeze and ship.

They turn the product over to their outlets and those sniling teens perform the burn and flip. They count on a customer that wants the same taste time and time again, and for as many people as I hear complain about the end result their customer count keeps going up!!!!

"GO FIGURE"

[NeilS]

ValueChainFX
What is HACCP?

[Muttley]

We all want the big food chains and fast food places like Macdonalds, Wendy's, etc. to sell only Canadian meat.

This sounds like a great idea!! Except we also want the Americains to buy our calves and culls.

My question is, how do we say to the Americains buy our cattle but don't send it back up here as meat "we only buy Canadian"?

How do we know that some of this beef coming back north was not at one time shipped south? I mean there is a good chance that it's not but how do we really know?

It's just like saying let's not buy a Japanese car because we are ticked at them. The real people that would get hurt are the employee's over here that make their living related to the car industry. It's the same with Macdonalds or who ever the person being unemployed this up here !!!

[ValueChainFX]

HACCP = Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, this is looking at the system (any system but especially food production) and trying to figure out what can go wrong and how to deal with it in advance or prevent it! There is what they call a farm HACCP program and some folks in the government have told me that it is being used out there and the farmers love it!!!! When I talk to producers they tell me they could never make this program work on their farm. After reading it, I tend to agree with them! But I'm sure we will see something for the farms soon!

I wouldn't be surprised if we did get some of our Canadian meat back in as cuts. When the price is right (between the US and Canada. The big guys will kill some of their own beef (beef they have on feed in a feedlot) and ship it to one of their breaking plants in the US. This beef is not graded with Canadian grades! So when it's cut it may very well come back to us!

I don't think we can stop American imports of beef, but I do believe there are some cuts that could be curved with government intervention given our industry state at this point. Also I do believe that Macs and Wendys are doing a pretty good job of using Canadian product.