Swift Being Sold to Brazilian Meat Processor JBS

[rkaiser]

Come on Willow creek - Canadians and their associations - Americans and their associations - Ukrainians and their associations - Koreans and their associations.

Just forget about the BSE cherry picking that you do and you know that you and I could have a few Coors or Molson's - wait a minute are they not the same company as well. Maybe we could make some of own beer - LABEL IT and sell it along side our steaks as soon as you get your butt in gear and buy a Galloway bull and help old Ben Roberts start his branded beef program - Country of origin included - just like mine.

[Cedar]

Rkaiser: Reply posted Jun 4, 2007 7:30 Control of the food industry is far more powerful than control of even the energy industry.

Well, RK, guess either I'm not crazy, or you and me both are, eh?! Sometimes I give my head a shake and I can see things from the "other side", like my city slicker relatives, and figure maybe I just been hangin' out in the back 40 toooooo long. They just have no clue, and probably don't want to, either. If they could see things the way I do from out here, they would be so totally freaked out, just like the other 99% of the population....if only there was a way to make them understand. Bizarre stuff...like...a few years ago my son was, well, very porky (I'll make this long story short), he'd been drinking a lot of pop and I saw a show that explained how the fructose (corn sugar) in the pop is not properly burned up by the body, etc. Eventually he cut it down from about 2 litres a day to 1 glass, then none, changed nothing else in his diet, still eats beef (even the "fatty' stuff) like a starving timber wolf, and you should see him now.....a fencepost! Also, just heard from my other son that he knows someone who went through the same thing...he now weighs about half as much as he used to....just from cutting out the pop!!! Hmmm....strange how that goes, eh? And the diet stuff is even worse, apparently very addictive and still makes you fat! Hmmm...maybe the "pop guys" have a deal with the "diet pill guys"!!???!??

How could this possibly be in a world where beef and the fat it contains are what makes you fat (ha!), and we've been cutting that down for 30 years and still the problems continue and also multiply! I really hate to be so damned cynical and negative, but...geeze....the evidence is out there....just not visibile enough, I guess.

(Sorry...guess that wasn't so short, after all!)

[Cedar]

Willowcreek Reply posted Jun 4, 2007 13:05 Cedar- I've said it many times- Canada is just a pawn that the multinationals use to play with- and will cast aside when done...

No kiddin': that's exactly why we...the producers of North America....need to work together! But how??!?!!...is the question!

And its the reason, I've said many times I can't believe that Canadian producers are so against having a way to identify their beef (COOL)- and market it as such- rather than just market it as commodity beef- to be thrown in the pot with the Argentine, Brazilian, Uruguain, Mexican, Aussie, etc. etc to the consumer and all passed off as the same.....

OK, WC: I have just one request: PROVE IT! (that this is happening) (Sorry for the skepticism, but since you're an rcalfer and we've all read the flatout, outright lies you guys like to spread about our product....) I mean, how the heck do we ever believe anything you say now? And, by the way, how can you guys possibly expect your consumers to ever believe anything you tell them now? ...at least any who have taken the time to investigate ....probably not too many actually do that, eh, dude... more power to ya, huh?!??!!!

By the way...who says all us Canadian producers are so against id'ing our beef anyhow? Just show us the way......huh?..... (Might help if you guys got your bloodsucking packers outta here!)

P.S.: OK, now you can "take it the wrong way, if you wish"!

[Cedar]

rkaiser Reply posted Jun 4, 2007 13:52 The conventional cattle marketing industry may be a pawn and you are right about identity Oltimer. But the most precious pawn that Cargill and Tyson have when it comes to the border issue is the one called Rcalf - and all of the little puppets who beleive that Canada has a worse BSE situation than good old US of A.

Well said, RK, but do you really think all the "little puppets" have really been that successfully brainwashed....or are they just plain lying? Either way, it's pretty scary stuff....seein' as how we could probably get together with these guys down south and connect with them on a level that no-one else could understand...as we discuss the daily happenings "around the ranch"...how "ol' Betsy" gets one more "kick at the cat" ....well...just 'cause!, and how "that disease" took us for a major ride of a wreck back in ...hmmm...let's say... '82, or how that ol' bull's been limpin' 'n' gimpin' 'round here fer the last 4 years....but he still "git's 'er done!", or (whether we want to admit it or not) "ol' Susie, well, she's just very....umm..special (as the tears well up, but we're tough, so we fight 'em back successfullly), and...oh ya....how's yer grass doin' this year? Get enough rain? Getcher hay up good?...etc., ad infinitum!

One thing we have going for us now is the internet! "Back in the day", it was pretty darned easy for and "big boys", or anybody, for that matter, to take us for a ride, as we were all just ..well, us...isolated, out in the boonies, unable to quickly and easily connect with each other.....not so anymore!!! All it takes is a little good ol' fashioned honesty mixed with a little good new fashioned technology...and we should be able to find a way to kill the "divide and conquer" mechanism! Swaller yer pride, boys.....fess up to the "real goods", and we can start to get somewhere! Sharing info....that's where it's at! Once we all figure out a certain thing is going on, for others as well as ourselves....then we have what it takes to act!!!

[Cedar]

Willowcreek Reply posted Jun 4, 2007 14:05 Like I've said before- Kaiser- label it ALL so the decision on BSE or anything else is left to the consumers- then open it up...

Oh ya, sure! So you and your rcalf buddies can badmouth our beef with all your lies and kill us off even further......ya, sure!!!!! If you guys could just play a fair and honest game ....then... it would be "bring it on"! and "May the best man win....with a gentlemanly handshake after the "game".

WC: But instead Canadians and their associations back the multinationals and fight M-COOL and are afraid to stand on their own two feet...

I have no clue about the associations up here, unfortunately, but I know very very few Canadian producers who back these pirates! "afraid to stand on our own two feet" !! Ha! What two feet, prey tell? We only have about 1/2 a foot left to stand on! (ain't you just happy 'bout that!!!!???!!) How the hell are we supposed to get up 'n rollin' on our own when you guys have done such a good job "killin' us off".....??? By the way, did you know we have so few cattle compared to you guys that yer one little ol' state of Texas has more than we do in the whole country? How the heck do you think our exports could possibly have anything to do with your prices?
There's a feedlot not too far from here. He used to finish them and send them out to Alberta to the "yankee" plants (which is the only choice we have around here), but it wasn't long before he realized the shrink from all that travel was killin' him. And now our MB plant is toast,...well,....I guess we are too!

Happy, WC?

[Cedar]

How about we all keep an eye on this "buy local" mentally that seems to be developing? Along with the global warming fears that seem to be becoming popular (less transport = less global warming). Are we anywheres near the notion of trying to build smaller, more localized, producer owned, packing plants/abbatoirs? If oil prices are high enough or go high enough in the future, doesn't it make sense that such a system could compete on a financial level with the "economies of scale" boys? Who knows...maybe that's one of those things they don't want us to figure out!?!!??!

[rkaiser]

Okay Cedar - here is the good news. BSE may have taken a lot of producers in Canada out of the game - but - those left standing on two feet by the way have seen the true picture and have the ability to do something about it. Those who stand on one foot are still catering to the "conventional market" due to choice. Choice I say - to NOT CHANGE. To keep listening to the packers and hanging from their chain dangling from the hook with the producer on the bottom link just above the shit and blood and guts.

BSE has been an eye opener for all of us. Even those who continue to be part of that chain. BSE is and always has been about economics and nothing more. Manipulation of media and peoples minds. The poor fellows like Willow Creek and his Rcalf clones have been deceived. Deceived into thinking that there is a difference between Canadian and American "BSE" problems. This has simply been the best opportuntiy in history for Cargill and Tyson (working together as a team mind you) to try to take total control of the Canadian Beef Cattle Industry. Even the Nillson brother story has a connection to good old Johnny Machine Gun Tyson - if you look inside the "Beef Trust" book.

They have not got it all though Cedar. Ranchers beef is operating (barely) and more small plants are being built. There are some darn good provincial plants as well where we can use to sqirm our way in to the market. All we need is more sqirming. More people who care not only about making a few dollars but making our industry survive and survive without swinging from the bottom of that friggin chain.

Integrate all right - but integrate with a wholesaler and a retailer. Retain ownership of your cattle. Do not hand them over to the pirates. Label them and find a way to identify them in any way different than the conventional pirated beef product.

There are a lot of these groups around, and more will come. More will come from those brave enough to fight the fight and work a little bit harder at the other end of our own chain. The one that lies flat. The one that can pull either way when it gets tough on either end.

There are still those who seem to think that Cargill and Tyson are the market and are the link to the consumer. Listen folks - the consumer is waking up. We do not have to use any negatives agains conventional beef to kick these pirates out of our country. We just need to be nimble and wise and maket the way that they cannot. Tell the truth about where the money went (and is still going) with BSEconoimcs and then ask the consumer if she/he is still wanting to support them.Ask the reatiler that as well. If he/she is not willing to listen or is not ready - find another. A lot are ready to listen and ready to support us. We are going to have to do this ourselves folks. But there certainly is a opportunity.

[Willowcreek]

Cedar- What do you want me to prove? That beef from Mexico, Australia, Uruguay, and 45 other countries is coming into the US? And that then thru NAFTA it has direct access to Canada- labled as a US product? Look at the USDA website...

Or that USDA is changing the rules for Tyson to allow in Argentine beef? The Foot and Mouth rule change was up for comment at the same time the Canadian OTM Rule 2 was- and is available on the USDA website...

And it will happen with Brazil now much sooner too-- and the thing is, under current US law, once this meat product hits the US- it can be relabled with the USDA inspected stamp (even tho it never was) - and passed off to consumers and the world as US product- which will give it direct access to Canada as well thru NAFTA....

I'm not against global trade-- but just as all these Chinese health and safety matters are now being unveiled- we need some truth in labeling laws, so the consumers can make an informed choice....

[Willowcreek]

New Swift Owner to Raise Beef Cattle



By Pork news staff

(Wednesday, June 13, 2007)



The Brazilian meatpacking conglomerate — JBS — that recently purchased Swift & Co., is going to enter the beef production business. The company plans to build a $15.2-million beef production farm near San Paulo, Brazil.



JBS's $1.4 billion acquisition of Swift made it the world's largest meatpacker.



In the San Paulo system, the company intends to raise about 150,000 cattle to supply some of JBS' packing plants. This is a new and significant step for the company, which has previously only run slaughter and processing plants.



Meanwhile, Smithfield Foods officials say the company has put its beef packing expansion plans on hold, waiting to see what else JBS does. Smithfield officials have said, "we want to get bigger in beef."



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