R CALF

[cowman]

The only reason the "packers" were controlling the cattle industry in Canada was because of a fake trade barrier...which R-CALF did its best to maintain? Just like they had been trying to do all along before BSE?
I hate to tell you this but the USA officially has BSE! Everyone knew you did, it was the worst kept dirty little secret for years!
Your contention that you want to keep American consumers safe is just a pack of garbage. Statements from R-CALF that Canadian beef will kill you is nothing more than an outright lie! Stating that we have third world safety is another outright lie!
You seem to have problems with how the meat industry works but instead of doing anything constructive you have one goal...KEEP CANADIAN BEEF OUT...and to hell with the consequences! This really does not solve anything except give Cargill and Tyson a distinct advantage in growing their empires at the expense of smaller US and Canadian packers, including producer owned packing houses?
The beef industry is evolving into where it must go to compete with other meats? Maybe you or I don't like it but I suspect it will happen anyway? R-CALF could have been a good organization helping in the transition but instead have become a radical group that just looks silly and very amateur as well as dangerous to all cattle producers!
Your best bet would be to give up your radical backwards thinking and get back in the game of producing a product as efficiently as you can?

[HAYMAKER]

cowman wrote....The only reason the "packers" were controlling the cattle industry in Canada was because of a fake trade barrier...which R-CALF did its best to maintain? Just like they had been trying to do all along before BSE?
I hate to tell you this but the USA officially has BSE! Everyone knew you did, it was the worst kept dirty little secret for years!
Your contention that you want to keep American consumers safe is just a pack of garbage. Statements from R-CALF that Canadian beef will kill you is nothing more than an outright lie! Stating that we have third world safety is another outright lie!
You seem to have problems with how the meat industry works but instead of doing anything constructive you have one goal...KEEP CANADIAN BEEF OUT...and to hell with the consequences! This really does not solve anything except give Cargill and Tyson a distinct advantage in growing their empires at the expense of smaller US and Canadian packers, including producer owned packing houses?
The beef industry is evolving into where it must go to compete with other meats? Maybe you or I don't like it but I suspect it will happen anyway? R-CALF could have been a good organization helping in the transition but instead have become a radical group that just looks silly and very amateur as well as dangerous to all cattle producers!
Your best bet would be to give up your radical backwards thinking and get back in the game of producing a product as efficiently as you can?
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Some of us are producing a product as efficently as we can,still can't do it for 3 dollars a day,so using your logic,we need to suscribe to the globalization theory and promote south american beef?Let me ask you a question cowman you seem to be a straight shooter,how much thought did the Canadian cattle man give to "captive supplies" before "BSE"?
I take it from your last reply you are still willing to partner with tyson?
good luck

[Willowcreek]

cowman- many criticize R-CALF for its stand on safety- both consumer and herd health...But slowly even the US government is coming around to their way of thinking..FDA has announced that they are revising the feed ban rules--talking of removing SRM's from rendering, and removing chicken litter, table scraps, and blood products from all livestock feed.. This is something that should have been done years ago- but was fought by the corporate interests... Now USDA needs to implement M-COOL so consumers have a choice- then I say open the border- let her rip....

If the USDA and FDA had done this in the first place I'm convinced the border would already be open- maybe beef would be going to Asia also-Definitely would be if USDA had listened to R-CALF and allowed Creekstone and others to test...

[Willowcreek]

willowcreek your comments make sense, and show how our countries need to work as a team develop policies with respect to food safety that work in our integrated markets. Working as a team make so much more sense than spending hard earned dollars of our respective producers fighting each other. I look at the disaster in your country and see how far the dollars RCALF is spending fighting our beef producers would go toward alleviating some of the suffering . The issue that bothers our producers the most with respect to RCALF is the absolute false statements that are being made about our products, particularly when the US has BSE.

[farmers_son]

Emrald1: Did you missread Willowcreeks comments? There is nothing about MCOOL that has anything to do with our two countries working together. MCOOL is about keeping Canadian live cattle out of U.S. packing plants and out of U.S. retail coolers.

Whatever the feed rules end up being Canada and the U.S. will be harmonized. MCOOL? That is a different story. Bottom line, MCOOL is about American first, not working as a team with Canada or anyone else.

[Willowcreek]

farmers_son- M-COOL is about being honest with the consumer. Most US consumers do not even know that the US imports beef- we are a nation of many ranch's- why would we import beef? Also imported beef has always been stamped with the USDA label and passed off as a US product...Consumers know that everything from T-Shirts to toiletpaper is labeled with country of origin- so when they see the USDA label they assume its US product...The meat industry (packers) have fought off labeling for years, so they can use it to their advantage- but finally consumers are becoming educated- M-COOL will come about...

And when all the cheap cheap Central and South American beef starts flowing into Canada, I think you'll see Canadian producers screaming for it too..

[HAYMAKER]

Emrald1: Did you missread Willowcreeks comments? There is nothing about MCOOL that has anything to do with our two countries working together. MCOOL is about keeping Canadian live cattle out of U.S. packing plants and out of U.S. retail coolers.

Whatever the feed rules end up being Canada and the U.S. will be harmonized. MCOOL? That is a different story. Bottom line, MCOOL is about American first, not working as a team with Canada or anyone else.
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Not every one believes M COOL is about keeping canadian beef out of the US market,but damn near every one I talk to believes the consumer should know where their food comes from,except you?
why would the US cattle man have a problem competing with canada,M COOL is about S America not canada.........good luck PS why would you begrudge the US consumer the right to know where their food comes from yet you promote M COOL for canada.

[cowman]

Haymaker: Pre-BSE I never gave it a thought, I don't know if it was ever really a big concern? Don't know if it is now?
Maybe I am still very naive about this whole thing because I am removed from the fat market and only raise calves and feeders. I do know that even before BSE the farmer/feeder was declining and the big commercial feedlots were taking more and more of the cattle. I expect the big lots were more efficient and the margins weren't there to justify the smaller farmer/feeder?
I do believe MCOOL is basically a ploy to keep Canadian and Mexican cattle out of US packinghouses and off the retail shelf, as farmers son says. In the long run it might come back to bite you though? The beef coming out of the packing plants right now has the Canadian stamp on it and is in a box labelled "Product of Canada"! So who is changing that to product of the USA? The fact is most of our beef never hits the supermarket shelf but goes to the high end restaurant trade? I would think our old cows, that used to go to the states, entered the grinding and manufacturing trade? Now how long do you think it would take Tyson to get a cow plant built up here if you brought in COOL? Between Tyson and Cargill they have expanded enough up here that they can basically kill every fat we produce here? Bring in MCOOL and you just assured them a cheap supply of beef that they can use to exploit your market.
No argument here about changing the feeding rules...I would take it further and allow no animal protein to be fed period!
Haymaker, unfortunately globalization is coming whether we like it or not? Might want to look at how you can compete rather than try to stop the competition? The government can't pass laws that will make you competitive if you aren't?
Lastly how are you going to bring in MCOOL when you can't even trace your animals...and aren't going to be able to for several years? MCOOL is nothing more than an impediment to trade at this point, which is why R-CALF embraces it so warmly, without ever thinking what the consequences might be.

[cowman]

I don't have a problem with country of origin labelling as long as it is done on all products entering the US as well as coming this way. If the packing plants in the US need our beef and if its top quality why should we worry about it being labelled as a product of Canada. I don't for one minute think that RCALF has any intent in mind other than to keep all our cattle and beef out of the US, and hopefully they do not succeed. I am willing to bet that many of the RCALF members have no clue what they really stand for!!! We criticize ABP for being run by a few people at the top, why would we think that RCALF is any different.
Montana ranchers have never had it so good, so of course protectionism is behind their actions.

[HAYMAKER]

cowman if you believe M COOL to be a ploy to keep canadian imports out,explain to me why canadian pork is so sought after by the us consumer,and why beef will be differnt?..........good luck