leanin' H said:
Wow! :roll: A bunch of ranchers who supposedly RAISE BEEF bashing a program that has been a GIANT success in marketing, oh i dont know.......BEEF! Lets talk about chicken some more. :roll: CAB rings a bell with folks looking to buy meat. Wether you agree with the parameters of what makes up CAB, atleast be bright enough to see it has benefited our industry. :shock: 95% of this country is 3 generation removed from agriculture and has almost no clue about what makes a great steak. CAB has taught some of those folks a few things and they in turn, buy beef. And have for years! HOW IN THE HELL ISNT THAT A GOOD THING FOR RANCHERS RAISING BEEF??? :???: :roll: That Waygu craze is really taking off! :roll: NOT! CAB has put our product in front of folks at home and at burger joints and fine steak houses. But because the meat isnt registered Angus, some of ya'll get all spun up. :? Take your own money and start up an alternative like certified jersey or certified groundhog. But stop cutting off your nose to spite your face! :roll:
Thanks to all who have added real 'food for thought' to this discussion. We do need to strongly consider what 'H' has said here, AND remember what some consider one of the great things about raising cattle.....there are several ways to 'skin that cat', giving so many of us cattle producers a CHOICE in what we raise, and how we raise it.
Poultry is regarded in a less than positive note by many ranchers because it is so cheap to raise, but also because they had for so many years, maybe still do, a great advantage over beef producers: they were able to let the birds soak up plenty of that 'chilling' WATER, to the point consumers were paying for about 25% water when they bought a chicken. That was serious 'competition' for beef in the market place!
The 'system' of chicken production leaves much to be desired for the beef producer who doesn't want to be part of a 'chain' with little say in the business. Cattle producers may not like the pricing systems we have, procurement of feed, etc., but we at least seem to have more freedom and personal incentives.
Re. info on the Wagu breed, I appreciate those sharing that. I had an idea of it, but wasn't sure if it was accurate. My interest in it was from the standpoint of tenderness, and still wonder how much of that is genetically attributable to Wagu breed.
Re. sales of beef to Japan, we did sell some cattle to a feeder who fed them to much heavier weights than common for US beef. He was selling into the Japanese market. I'm not sure if that was before or after BSE. Nor do I recall if that was when our cow herd had a strong Limousin breed influence, or after we switched to more Angus/other British breeds and composites from Dahls and Leachmans. It would have been pretty early in that breed base, tho.
Bottom line, IMO, is that consumers have a great variety of CHOICE in the beef they can get, not so much in chicken, and variety is the spice of life. So long as I can get either Millerdale Colony chickens, or the equivalent, we will have chicken on occasion.
AND, we cattle growers do have much larger problems to argue over than breed of cattle we raise. International Trade, Government abuses of Regulatory Powers , and Death Taxes, in any order top the list, IMO.
mrj
8)
The British call the loyalty thing ''willy waving'' I think.