Depopulation

[cowman]

Whiteface:While I totally agree than somehow we need to do something...the fact is there is nothing we can do? We can make lots of noise but remember this...the federal government is locked into a trade agreement that doesn't allow us to basically do anything? On top of that, who do they listen to? The duly elected representatives of the cattle industry, which are the CCA and the ABP. And what are they telling the feds?...no testing, no cull, no support for producer packing plants, no condemnation of Cargill/Tyson?
People on this site have me pegged as some kind of really pessimistic guy, and I have to admit that is true! I really can't see a whole lot of postive things here for the Canadian beef industry. And reading between the lines I see a lot of pain and frustration here? It isn't pretty and I doubt it will get a whole lot better!
My day is done in this industry...it was before BSE...but that dosen't mean I don't feel the pain others are going through! I have one more ugly hit to take...and thats just how it is...others have it a lot worse than me.
In the grain section of this site "igconito" says it very well...when you are in a losing situation, you cut your losses and walk...ugly but true?

[whiteface]

Some people, including myself, might say you're a realist, cowman, not a pessimist. I think our situation looks grim, very grim as well and many, many of us are going under before this thing is sorted out, some by choice like yourself and perhaps in the end because you made your own choice rather than than the US or anyone else, you'll come out on top with your dignity intact rather than the way I may come out, broke and with my tail between my legs. But I know that no one ever erected a statue for anyone who followed the status quo and one of the whole reasons I have purebred cattle is because I think of myself as an innovator, a leader, if I may say it proudly yet humbley and as a leader who also desires independance and improvement I simply cannot just give up and die without knowing that I tried every possible option out there and gave it 1000% in the process. Then and only then, will I say okay US, you win but taking my last breath, I will know that I gave it everything I had, that I exhuaseted every possible angle and maybe just maybe, I ( and WE ) achieve something that no one thought was possible and then you see your name on a statue, or in a history book, or maybe just a thank you from someone who really needed you but was just a little too tired to go that extra mile. Or maybe you just look in the mirror and like yourself just a little more than you did yesterday knowing you accomplished something really tough...but really worthwile. This is what winning big shows are like for me and ridiculous as it may be to some people the feeling that I get having not been born into this and not marrying into it...having done it all myself and being good at it, has only encouraged me to do more, and that's exactly what I'm trying to do here, with our BSE plight. I'm not being stupid or stubborn or unreasonable, I think we have a real shot here at making something great out of something that sure isn't and not just simply surviving but making our lives even better than before BSE. That would sure be better than simply laying down and dying and letting the government or anyone control you and make you feel hopeless. We can't make it rain but we actually CAN do something about this. Be at Grants meeting on Monday, tell everyone, non-stop we need the right to slaughter, test and market our own product. No is not a good enough answer. We will all die with a no.

[cakadu]

Remember the movie Jerry McGuire? There was a sign on the locker room wall that said "Success is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down."

By giving it your all whiteface (and everyone else) if worse comes to worse - and I sincerely hope that we all somehow manage to have a choice in how we stay or go - you will still leave with your dignity intact and I would say without the tail and leg thing going on. If you know you've done your best, then that is good enough.

[cowman]

Whiteface: I can surely respect your opinion and the way you have chosen to deal with this problem. In this life there is no "right way" and no "wrong way" just whatever works for you.
I was planning on phasing out over the next few years anyway and BSE actually stopped that process. If the boy hadn't come home in 2001 I would have sold everything anyway. I was very sick and I almost didn't make it, and didn't expect to. I gave my son just about everything. For now I have my condition under control, but I still get extremely tired sometimes and I have trouble keeping my weight up. My doctor says I need to slow down and quit trying to do a million things...which has been difficult!
And by the way I totally understand about the feeling you get leading that bull through the ring and the bidding just won't quit...better than any drug ever invented! I just doesn't get any better than that!

[whiteface]

Thanks for the encouragement cakadu and cowman and good luck with your health cowman. I've been there too when the bidding just doesn't stop on my bull in the ring but having good friends is a pretty darn good feeling too. Thanks. :-)

[cowman]

And hey Whiteface, I can at times feel your frustration...and that is okay. These are extremely trying times and I know you are hurting. Somehow, I come across at times as arrogant and uncaring...and I will admit sometimes I am that way! Probably my biggest sin?
This world can be an ugly place and it is very frustrating when you go to the well and bust your butt and nothing seems to work! But be assured that these things will pass, and that tommorrow the sun will come up, and things will eventually change. Bad stuff doesn't happen forever! Things will turn around and you will be a better person for it! I know it is very hard to see this when everything looks bleak and you see no way out...but I have every confidence that you will do well! Life is not all rosy and we all have our bumps along the way. Deal with the hard times by knowing that the good times are right around the corner!
I also note your name...Whiteface...I presume you are of the Hereford persuasion? Although I've slipped and sinned over the years...I'm still a Hereford man at heart!

[whiteface]

Absolutly warmed my heart cowman to have you savvy enough to "read between the lines" with my comments of having purebreds and then noting the name I coined for myself on this forum. I think you are an amazingly observant person with your insights on cost of production and now having detected my breed of cattle. Thanks for noticing, yes they are. Nice to know that your roots had some Hereford influence and while many people got away from them for a while, if I dare say, humbley yet proudly, I've changed the minds of some real die-hard simmental, charolais and yes even, omigod, angus commercial people with some pretty darn good hereford bulls. Every breed, like every person has something to contribute, but to have commercial guys pass up some nice-looking exotics for some of my whitefaces is quite a rush and one that I don't take for granted. I work real hard, cull real hard, market and try and be a positive leader, much like I will try to contribute to all of us as cattle breeders in this country and find a trail through this mess.

[cswilson]

We ran Angus when Angus wasn't cool but my favorite cow is still a baldie-you can breed her to a billygoat and still get a saleable calf. At our 4H show last week I told some recent Angus converts that I was Ai'ing some black cows Horned Hereford to fix their udders-talk about a stunned silence. I found another 90 straws of my udder fixer so looking forward to some good half sisters.P.S.-I'd tell you the bulls name but then I'd have to kill you. LOL Anyone want to try guessing.

[whiteface]

Thanks for the chuckle and the positive words cswilson. I actually can't possibly fathom a time when the angus weren't cool but I sure believe that you got a stunned silence when you said you would A.I. to whitefaces to get udder quality. Some guys (including myself) have worked really hard in that area (probably because the breed REALLY needed some work there!) Good for you for having some semen in the tank on some good old bulls, I can sure appreciate that you can't disclose any names, I have as much of a competitive nature as anyone ( well, actually maybe a little more...) and got a chuckle out of you having to come looking for me if I were to find out your breeding secrets!!! I go through it too! I love a baldie as well! Gosh who doesn't, but for now I love the show and sales ring enough that I stay with registered stuff. Sure helps pay my mortgage too in this high rent district of the planet (central Alberta) to sometimes have a calf worth a little more than what he would bring through the auction. Sometimes it helps pay a few bills, you know, the ones you WOULDN'T have if you were a commercial guy, registrations, advertizing, shows, I suppose we're not that much further ahead at all...maybe even behind the commercial guy, sometimes few and far between those "elite" ones that people will pay for.
But I'm having a great time doing it.

[cswilson]

It is really hard to find the right kind of Hereford cattle-so many tried turning them into exotics-big bw's,poorer udders,big frames-but there are some good ones out there yet. We used a bull out of Nebraska CJH L1 Domino 552 worked real great but he up and died and his semen is all gone. The Fraser's at Hussar have a bunch of sons on the ground look real promising. He fixed udders and sucked the BW out-two major problems.