American group wins injunction to keep border closed to cattle

[cowman]

My own little rant: While I do not believe the ABP has a right to force a mandatory checkoff on my cattle...the fact is the Alberta government made it the law? The Alberta beef producers had a chance to scrap the mandatory checkoff in a democratic vote? 12% voted! And slightly less than 6% voted to retain the mandatory checkoff...so there it is! I consider it just another tax and the cost of doing business.
I do believe the ABP does not always work in my best interests, in fact quite often they work directly against my best interests! But having said that, I have never questioned the integrity of the men and women who are our ABP representatives? Might not agree with them at all but can respect that they believe what they are doing is the right thing! And who knows, maybe they're vision is the right one? My own ABP rep is a close friend, and while we agree to disagree about the ABP, I have never doubted his dedication to the cattle industry or his integrity.

[cowman]

Oops...that should read slightly more than 6% voted to retain the mandatory checkoff!

[cowman]

cowman, you and I agree on a lot of issues regarding ABP. I have always attended my zone meeting and voted for the candidates I felt would best serve the interests of the industry as a whole. If different candidates were elected, I realized that was the democratic process at work. No different than municipal, provincial or federal elections. When people choose to sit at home and not particiate in this process, they have abdicated their responsibility in my opinion. As far as government is concerned ABP represents the cow calf industry and of course now they have feeder reps. as well. If producers aren't happy with the decisions of the organization the place to change it is at the zone elections.
I know a former chairman of ABP very well, and have heard from him the efforts that he and others within the organization put forward regarding the counterveiling duties of a few years ago. After that initiative many feedlot operators received huge chunks of money back, so all the work of ABP isn't in vain.
I know that this latest issue with R-Calf has literally taken the heart and soul out of many folks in the industry, but cooler heads must prevail in order for people to get through this latest crisis.