Are we going to respond to these r-calf bozos?

[blackjack]

...willowcreek...thanks for taking our boxed beef ...maybe the american rancher needs to read the rules the usda has set out for trade... with there being around 23,000 beef farmers alone in Alberta I'll take your stats with a grain of salt...

P.S. ...good luck to your small producers when BSE does show up ...maybe R-calf will set up a save the ranch fund...

[intr3est]

Willowcreek, As you know there are no better educated producers in North America when it comes to BSE as Canadians, but we have to prepare ourselves for "what if", if they are going to litiate ets on trade, then we must deal with it. Our associations and CFIA have to be ready for March 7, either way. Are they planning for the worst case, I doubt it! We should demand it!

[Joe-2]

Willowcreek, Let me see if I got this right. Those hobby farmers with 5 or 10 head don't matter when it comes to belonging to a producer org., but by golly they do matter when it comes to having an opinion on the border!! Typical cherry-pickin' R-calf-gab.

And your survey of BEEF Cow Calf Weekly READERS, big surprise there!!!Why doesn't R-calf survey some CONSUMERS in NYC or Chicago and see what THEY have to say,since R-calf is claiming the high ground on food safety and consumer preference.
That survey is about as meaningful as asking Chevy salesmen what they think about a Dodge dealer opening up across the street.Get real.
What I find most amazing about you R-calfers is the unbridled arrogance that it takes to accuse your competition of "riding on your coat tails". I laugh my ass of every time one of you poor lost souls pops out with that one!!!

[Willowcreek]

Sorry Joe 2 if you don't like the message. I didn't run the survey. And BEEF is thought of in most circles as an NCBA backed publication, not R-CALF. They have been very critical of R-CALF.

Its just that in the last month a lot of US producers way of thinking has changed whether you like it or not.

[Willowcreek]

Interesting that in AB. the operators with 5 head have as much say in selecting delegates to our UMBRELLA organization ABP. As long as you pay a check off you have a vote.

Lets all hope that the group of ranchers that were up here INVESTIGATING our practices went home with a positive opinion of our industry, and realized that there isn't a line up of millions of fats at the border waiting to stampede across when the darn thing opens.

[farmers_son]

Willowcreek: Thanks for the U.S. perspective. I am sure what you say reflects the U.S producers view and it agrees with what I am being told by those producers I know south of the border.

I have thought all along that live cattle trade with the U.S. will resume when and only when it suits U.S. interests, science or no science. Since December 2003 I have believed that resuming beef trade with Japan was a precondition to reopening the 49th parallel to our cattle.

According to http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=922C63AD-AA53-FB8C-00DAD3390871D1C5

"USDA Deputy Undersecretary Chuck Lambert says a resolution to Japan's ban on U.S. beef is close at hand.

Lambert told reporters in Tokyo that Japanese officials had responded positively to a U.S. proposal to better verify the age of cattle. The method involves carcass grading as well as skeletal examination.

Lambert stopped short of speculating on when U.S. beef might actually be bound for Japan, but analysts believe that if the proposal is accepted, limited U.S. beef exports could resume to Japan early this summer."

[rkaiser]

Just pulled in from Camrose Bull Congress. Had a good time talking conformation and structure for a couple of days.
I would like to reply to your question Cedar. Cam and I co-authored a fairly lengthy stab back at the Rcalf BS last week, and we stopped just short of buying (yes you have to buy) a press release. We thought a lot about it before we decided to send it to ABP/CCA and a bunch of government offices instead with a kind of a threat that we would let it fly if they did nothing about this crap themselves. Like farmer_son said, these are the recognized groups who need to speak for the producer, and some of the things Cam and I have said in the past have been twisted by the media to make us look even more radical than we really are. We have become a bit of a thorn in ABP's a$$, but they still have a bit of respect for us, unlike the disrespect that every other producer group in the US has for Rcalf.
So the long and short of it is that we chose to not use the media this time to fight this one, but have no problem supporting, or maybe sending a personally written editorial or two off to the newspapers.
I personally, feel tha Rcalf is digging their own grave, and also PERSONALLY can't wait for the some dog to sniff out a problem with testing in the US, and they expose their first domestically raised and fed BSE cow.

[VETHUSBAND]

Good on you Randy and Cam, Status quo is sometimes is good. Keep up the good fight!

[cowman]

I wonder if the shoe was on the other foot, how many of us would be R-Calfers? The bottom line is they are trying to protect their markets from cheap imports, despite all the rhetoric about BSE? BSE has been an opportunity for R-Calf to promote their protectionist platform and it has been very effective! The only problem I see with that is they have set their industry up for a big fall if they ever get a positive!
When you really look at it though are they so misguided when they want to keep imports out? Don't most industries try to protect their domestic markets from cheap imports? And why shouldn't they...every other business does it.
Consider what would happen if our useless government actually stood up for the Canadian farmer instead of doing just about everything in their power to destroy him? How about keeping the foreign garbage out of our markets so the farmer can actually realize a profit? How about giving back some of the taxes they make on some ag commodities? Malt barley and tobbacco come to mind? Who makes the most money on a package of cigarettes or a case of beer? Is it the farmer who takes the risk, puts in the labor and inputs, or is it the government...who actually doesn't do anything to justify its massive tax theft?
R-CALF is just a group of farmers trying to protect their markets.

[rkaiser]

Looks like Rick and his group saw fit to spend a few bucks on a press release.

Cattle Group Demands Removal of CFIA Head (1/21/05 9:05)

OMAHA (DTN) -- The Canadian Cattlemen for Fair Trade (CCFT) is concerned with recent statements by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) staff that appears to have been made without proper thoroughness or consideration of the way these statements might be interpreted.

"Under Mr. Fadden's management, the CFIA has lost the confidence of CCFT members and, we believe, others in the industry for the agency's failure to communicate effectively," said CCFT founding member Rick Paskal in a press release.

The group says "for example, CFIA officials have recently been quoted as saying that in one instance 66 of 110 ruminant feed samples were contaminated with protein from non-plant sources. Further review showed, however, that only four feed samples out of 110 were considered suspect for having foreign protein in them. This protein may have been derived from grasshoppers, mouse hair or bird feathers which are not agents that may potentially cause BSE.