BSE Brainstorm

[frasercattleco]

The purpose of this topic is to brainstorm and find solutions to our common problems. Please keep it civil, no name calling, and rude comments. Lets try to use this topic to start a fresh plate, and work together. Start by giving your name, where you are from, your operation, and what you think we shoud do as cattlemen to resolve this BSE issue.

My name is Sam Fraser from Reedpoint MT., is have a medium sized herd of registered angus cattle. My family homesteaded in the Yellowstone valley in 1879 and we have been ranching ever since.

I believe that we all need to push the packers to halt the use of spinal cords, brains, etc. in ground beef, and beef products. Aside from that if the packers practice "good butchering" there should be no threat for cross-contamination.

 

[SASH]

I believe that we all need to push the packers to halt the use of spinal cords, brains, etc. in ground beef, and beef products. Aside from that if the packers practice "good butchering" there should be no threat for cross-contamination.

I think that's already been done. That should make all the beef safe but there are many on this site who seem to be mistaking testing for BSE prevalence with the safety of the beef supply. If all SRM's are removed, the beef is safe. Testing won't make it any safer. The only thing I can see it doing is maybe putting the minds of the uneducated consumer at ease.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there Sam, and your 11 yr old son too. Welcome to what can be a great place to shoot the breeze, and vent with others.

I live in NW SD, and we too have a medium sized ranch, and we raise black angus feeder cattle. We normally sell over the video markets or through our local salebarn.

In the beginning I thought R-Calf could be a great lobby fighting for trade deals in our best interest. I have come to question a lot of what of what they have done recently though. In the last year or so I have found out that we really haven't been getting the shaft as far as trade with foreign countries goes. Using Agmans numbers that he supplied from the USDA, up until the year 2003, we had a trade surplus average of 1.2 billion dollars a year, if memory serves me correct. That year it was greater than that, because of Canadian imports closing up. Did you realize that? I sure never did. R- Calf has used total pounds of meat as their example, and that is not the same as dollars. We are exporting higher valued cuts than we are importing. What this has to do with your topic is, that if cattle carcasses are actually being processed as they should be, we are possibly losing some of our past markets by not getting on with our normal trade.

I have no way of knowing the level of compliance, or if we ever will regain trade with Japan and it's neighbors, but I sure hope we don't lose our export markets over some of these other fights. Time will tell.

I think I have gained a more open mind on this forum, because all sides can put their side out, and we can see it for what it is worth.

I do hope NCBA sticks to their 11 points that they came out of their convention with, as it seems they are already weakening some to me.

Have a nice day, and I hope a very wet spring. God knows we need it!