Ask Van Dyke

[Van Dyke]

It seems that there are many questions that people want answered about the canadian beef issue. Go ahead and fire away!!! I have many questions myself. I am the son of Jan Van Dyke I am a 4th generation farmer and actively farm with my father Jan and my grandpa. I know just as much about this issue as my father does. We feed out approximately 300 to 350 head every year. We buy calves from late fall to early spring and pasture them over the summer and then feed them to finishing weight. All of our cattle we feed are either purchased direct from a farm or ranch or else through a sale barn ring. I don't appreciate the USDA calling us liars. We know the cattle were on our place but have no overwhelming proof that they were there. We do have all of our sale barn receipts showing and accounting for every animal that we had purchased in 2006.
Back in November we recieved a call from Swift asking us if we had any knowledge of Canadian cattle on our load. They said that all of their expected Canadian cattle were accounted for and that they had found some unaccounted cattle on our load. Swift then told us that all 43 cattle on the load were subject to being condemned. That is a real hit thinking that you lost almost $50,000. They told us that all the carcasses were pulled from the line and were hanging in a seperate cooler until they could account for all of the cattle. A few days later we had an USDA inspector at our doorstep investingating the case.

 

[Sandhusker]

Is this red flag big enough for you to see Tam, don, Tim, Cowsense, Kato, etc.... ?

 

[Sandhusker]

What do you think of the USDA's story? How are they explaining it to you folks?

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Van Dyke are you a member of R-calf? or do you support their efforts?

 

[Van Dyke]

We are not members of R-CALF or of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. There were two ways to get the money back for our cattle. One way was to file lawsuit the other way was to play politics. The political game is where R-CALF and SDSG came in after our congresswoman and senators failed. Without there support we probably would still be waiting for a check. Once the media became involved it was a race to see how fast the USDA could settle this and shut us up!![/quote]

 

[Van Dyke]

What do you think of the USDA's story? How are they explaining it to you folks?

We stil have not received a copy of the investigation. The only story we have received from the USDA is the stuff that has come out in the media. We have not officially heard anything from the USDA. In fact nobody from the USDA really wants to talk to us.

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

We are not members of R-CALF or of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. There were two ways to get the money back for our cattle. One way was to file lawsuit the other way was to play politics. The political game is where R-CALF and SDSG came in after our congresswoman and senators failed. Without there support we probably would still be waiting for a check. Once the media became involved it was a race to see how fast the USDA could settle this and shut us up!!

[/quote]

Dont believe you one bit.

 

[ocm]

You feed about 300 to 350 head a year. By the end of that time with that number, you might well have some of them named, or at least be highly recognizable to you by sight.

And what do you specifically remember about the eartags?

 

[Van Dyke]

You probably wouldn't believe me, you never have tried to contact a U.S. senator or congressman. When you call you get one of their aids and usually the aid never passes on the message because they think it isn't worthy of the politician's time.

 

[Van Dyke]

You feed about 300 to 350 head a year. By the end of that time with that number, you might well have some of them named, or at least be highly recognizable to you by sight.

And what do you specifically remember about the eartags?

Yes, indeed we do end up naming a few of them. These particular cattle were fed on grass all summer long by towing a wagon and scooping ground corn to them. Call us old fashioned but that is the way we do it and have been doing it for as long as I remember and probably for as long as my father Jan remembers. We remember specifically some unique characteristics. One tag had the CA emblem with the bar code below it but at the bottom there was empty space to write and on the tag it had HORN spelled out in marker. That is pretty easy to remember and especially when we received pictures of the tags from Swift. That tag was also on a polled animal Another tag that we remember is the one with the ANGUS the barcode. My father remembers that one the best because he was working on the water tank and had several animals face to face with him wanting water and that particular animal tried to lick him. Call us old fashioned but maybe that why somebody thinks they can pull one over on us. I can post the pics if you tell me how.

 

[Van Dyke]

It's late here and getting lost in my thoughts. I'll respond to more questions tomarrow when I get time.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Jan did those cattle have any brands on them?

What sale barn did they come thru? Was it in a brand inspection area?

Did you have them Brand inspected to travel out of state?

Did you have invoices for those cattle with any description on it?

 

[ocm]

We are not members of R-CALF or of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. There were two ways to get the money back for our cattle. One way was to file lawsuit the other way was to play politics. The political game is where R-CALF and SDSG came in after our congresswoman and senators failed. Without there support we probably would still be waiting for a check. Once the media became involved it was a race to see how fast the USDA could settle this and shut us up!!

Dont believe you one bit.

Interesting. I recall posting that the discussion I heard at the convention virtually all revolved around getting the guy his money.

You should also note that Sam Holland(State Vet of SD) mentioned in some of the stories was on the Animal ID panel at the convention. He has indicated (so far) that he believes the USDA.

There were (and are) differing opinions within R-CALF about this situation, with one major agreement. What can we do to get this guy his money. That was what went on at our convention. By the end of the convention I heard that the money had been sent and that Swift was going to be saying that they just got some of their own cattle mixed up. I said the same thing about R-CALF's major concern being the money for the seller in a post some time ago. This guy now says essentially the same thing, and you don't believe him?

 

[Tam]

We are not members of R-CALF or of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. There were two ways to get the money back for our cattle. One way was to file lawsuit the other way was to play politics. The political game is where R-CALF and SDSG came in after our congresswoman and senators failed. Without there support we probably would still be waiting for a check. Once the media became involved it was a race to see how fast the USDA could settle this and shut us up!!

[/quote]

Could you tell us just how involved R-CALF was in this issue?

 

[Econ101]

A little security camera could have solved this whole thing.

 

[Van Dyke]

Jan did those cattle have any brands on them?

What sale barn did they come thru? Was it in a brand inspection area?

Did you have them Brand inspected to travel out of state?

Did you have invoices for those cattle with any description on it?

There were a few of the cattle that had brands on them but we never noticed a CN brand on the hip. East River South Dakota is not in a brand inspection part of the state so our cattle are not required to be brand inspected, however we do have our own registered brand. In a normal year we brand all of our cattle that go to pasture so that we can identify them that fall. 2006 was an abnormal year because our lots were extremely muddy and it was a battle to get them through a chute. Many of our cattle never got branded. Looking back that was a big mistake. As for the cattle invoices we have all of the sale barn copies of those. There are no descriptions on them but the sale barn has given us the names of the producers that sold the cattle that we purchased.

 

[EJ]

We are not members of R-CALF or of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. There were two ways to get the money back for our cattle. One way was to file lawsuit the other way was to play politics. The political game is where R-CALF and SDSG came in after our congresswoman and senators failed. Without there support we probably would still be waiting for a check. Once the media became involved it was a race to see how fast the USDA could settle this and shut us up!!

Dont believe you one bit.[/quote]

Why did you even ask then?

 

[Van Dyke]

A little security camera could have solved this whole thing.

Expand on your camera ideal. Where did you want cameras at and do you think it would be of high enough quality to determine Canadian cattle?

 

[Van Dyke]

We are not members of R-CALF or of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. There were two ways to get the money back for our cattle. One way was to file lawsuit the other way was to play politics. The political game is where R-CALF and SDSG came in after our congresswoman and senators failed. Without there support we probably would still be waiting for a check. Once the media became involved it was a race to see how fast the USDA could settle this and shut us up!!

Could you tell us just how involved R-CALF was in this issue?[/quote]

We are in contact with R-CALF it seems on a daily basis. We are constantly giving them updates on the case and what is going on in the media. R-CALF itself has not made or given any press releases that I am aware of about this subject. When we contacted them though, they began questioning the USDA officials and made higher contacts than we would have accomplished ourselves. It takes quite a while when you start at the bottom and go up but when you go straight to the top things happen fast going down in the chain of command. The South Dakota Stockgrowers are the ones that had the press releases and are the most outspoken.

 

[mwj]

Jan did those cattle have any brands on them?

What sale barn did they come thru? Was it in a brand inspection area?

Did you have them Brand inspected to travel out of state?

Did you have invoices for those cattle with any description on it?

There were a few of the cattle that had brands on them but we never noticed a CN brand on the hip. East River South Dakota is not in a brand inspection part of the state so our cattle are not required to be brand inspected, however we do have our own registered brand. In a normal year we brand all of our cattle that go to pasture so that we can identify them that fall. 2006 was an abnormal year because our lots were extremely muddy and it was a battle to get them through a chute. Many of our cattle never got branded. Looking back that was a big mistake. As for the cattle invoices we have all of the sale barn copies of those. There are no descriptions on them but the sale barn has given us the names of the producers that sold the cattle that we purchased.

You better check those invoices from ther salebarn again because SD codified law says there has to be a description on them :roll: If you do not have your own states laws they are easy to find with an online search. How many times were cattle bought to go in this feedlot group. Did you raise any of the feeders or do you have a cow calf operation also?