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Update on BPI lawsuit against ABC

Thanks for posting that information, FH. The whole story of ABC's attack on a fine beef product and a wonderful company producing it, is a sad affirmation that we cattle producers haven't learned our lesson about those 'circular firing squads' and seem to perpetuate assaults on the 'other branches' of cattle production, particularly the packers and processors, and sometimes the retailers.

We need to recognize that all of us from the genetics guru's to the burger flippers all up and down the chain of production which includes the cow/calf producer are in this together. Some of us are more dependent than others on our particular niche for our living, and others may only be peripherally involved. But we ALL have 'skin in the game' and to denigrate any part of the chain of beef production harms us all. And all that rhetoric from sniping comments to verbal near assignation against those 'corporates' who handle our product on a large scale is damaging at the best and the fact that the instigators seem determined for it to seriously, maybe even fatally damage those businesses is very damaging to all of us in every phase of cattle and beef production.

This is irrelevant except to demonstrate the egregiousness of the attack on BPI, the corporation producing LFTB: Tho it has been characterized as one of those 'evil' corporations, BPI was started by a hard working family who overcame challenges in their lives and came up with the methods used after a history of inventing better equipment to help previous employers, eventually building businesses of their own, finally the BPI company. This was NOT some giant group of people with money they didn't know what to do with dreaming up some product to fool people into buying.

It WAS an effort to stop wasting perfectly good beef which was too expensive to trim in the conventional ways as it was in small pieces and in difficult to access places on the carcass. It is ALL good muscle meat, and not some of the ugly things some people claim.

The televised 'demonstration' I saw from a TV show claimed to be demonstrating how LFTB was made. It was a fraud from the start because he used ground CHICKEN! Not beef. After crudely stirring it around in some sort of tub or bucket, he poured some household ammonia over it and stirred some more. Of course the mixing process is actually done in pristine conditions, with modern equipment and the material used to eliminate any possible e coli is in the form of a gas. That same gas is used on a huge number of food products and has been done for many years. That product is probably more safe and more wholesome than most other beef. My guess is that it has been tested in every way and for every thing reasonably possible to determine the safety of that product! The goals of utilizing good meat which was being wasted, and to produce a much leaner product than from most carcasses is what consumers have been demanding. The leadership of that company deserved praise and rewards, instead, too many of us watched that circus with glee at that 'big corporate outfit' being virtually destroyed!

mrj
 
" In recent news, Sawyer and Avila are asking a South Dakota judge to dismiss the lawsuit, citing that they were simply answering viewer's questions about this product and that they weren't the ones to coin the phrase "pink slime." Instead, they say the term was actually the description offered by former USDA scientist Gerald Zirnstein, who not surprisingly, is against the product."

It should not be dismissed. Those news reporters caused irreparable damage to BPI without checking the facts. (Gee, imagine that!) A good company that did no wrong was harmed. I hope BPI wins.

Good explanation, mrj!
 
Thanks FH. It is so frustrating that the incident happened. It should never have gotten air time for that extremely false film claiming to be making the product with ground chicken instead of beef, let alone using cleaning grade ammonia! For me, that it did get shown to the gullible public clearly demonstrates the intent to deceive consumers and to harm BPI.

mrj
 
Speaking of lawsuits mrj, there is one going on in the chicken industry against Tyson and Pilgrims Pride (owned by JBS) saying they "conspired to unlawfully fix, maintain and stabilize the price of broiler chickens by coordinating and limiting their production capacity." It also claimed the defendants "fraudulently concealed such anti competitive conduct in furtherance of the conspiracy."

This is happening at the same time in which the Batista brothers are under investigation in Brazil for a long list of illegal activities including fraud and money laundering. But they're just good people. :o

In the same issue of BEEF magazine Harlan Hughes gave his predictions for marketing 2016 calf crop given what he believed would be the average price for 550 pound steers ($165). Only problem is he is about $40-$50 a hundred low and dropping fast. Packer concentration (which intentionally lowered kill capacity) and captive supply (which allows packers to stay out of the market for long periods of time), are among other things killing the cattle market right now. There another kind of slime in the cattle industry, unfortunately groups like NCBA helped hand the industry over to them.
 
Angus 62 said:
Speaking of lawsuits mrj, there is one going on in the chicken industry against Tyson and Pilgrims Pride (owned by JBS) saying they "conspired to unlawfully fix, maintain and stabilize the price of broiler chickens by coordinating and limiting their production capacity." It also claimed the defendants "fraudulently concealed such anti competitive conduct in furtherance of the conspiracy."

This is happening at the same time in which the Batista brothers are under investigation in Brazil for a long list of illegal activities including fraud and money laundering. But they're just good people. :o

In the same issue of BEEF magazine Harlan Hughes gave his predictions for marketing 2016 calf crop given what he believed would be the average price for 550 pound steers ($165). Only problem is he is about $40-$50 a hundred low and dropping fast. Packer concentration (which intentionally lowered kill capacity) and captive supply (which allows packers to stay out of the market for long periods of time), are among other things killing the cattle market right now. There another kind of slime in the cattle industry, unfortunately groups like NCBA helped hand the industry over to them.
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Sorry you feel that way, Angus 62. You believe what you choose, and I will search for facts before I believe all the 'hate the packer' and "it's all NCBA's fault" rhetoric from OCM, R-CALF, NFU and those who fought the Beef Check Off from the start. It is pretty easy to file lawsuits when your funding partner is the likes of HSUS, that faux "save the animals" group whose leaders live pretty well off the donations 'for the animals' and spends precious little to actually help any animals, and has as their founding premise that we must end any use of all animals. That does include food animals.

There are many reasons contributing to low cattle prices right now. I believe we can find ways to solve real problems, that some are of our own making, such as the increase in numbers when times for consumers are so tough, and our government is failing it's proper regulatory duties in some areas, for just a few. I think we have enough problems without resorting to smearing NCBA for doing what the cattle producer members decree. We have missed one annual meeting of NCBA in the past 40 years last winter, and I do not believe it has changed in that one missed year from doing what members vote to do. We have experienced no coercion or pressure to support any particular action, nor to vote in any particular way, so we do find it tiresome that some groups insist that NCBA "works against you" in any way, and most CERTAINLY DOES NOT USE CHECK OFF DOLLARS for anything other than work to fulfill authorized contracts for Check Off projects outside the membership dues division.

mrj
 
Faster horses said:
"There another kind of slime in the cattle industry, unfortunately groups like NCBA helped hand the industry over to them."

Really? If NCBA did that, no one would still be members. :roll:
Click to expand...

Only 3% of all cattle producers in the U.S. are affiliated or belong to the NCBA.
 
Can anyone name even one issue that affects the cattle industry in which NCBA hasn't sided with the packers? Whether it be COOL or trade agreements which even the Republican nominee for president views as disastrous for Americans. You are right mrj in that there are a number of problems that are affecting prices right now. But virtually no one, including the people like Harlan Hughes who have spent decades analyzing the cattle industry came close to predicting what has happened. No single issue like packer captive supply has wrecked the cattle market. But the erosion of competitive markets has been relentless and NCBA did nothing to voice opposition though they are ''supposed" to represent US cattle producers and portray themselves as such even though as Mike pointed out, they actually have very little in the way of producer membership.
 
Mike said:
Faster horses said:
"There another kind of slime in the cattle industry, unfortunately groups like NCBA helped hand the industry over to them."

Really? If NCBA did that, no one would still be members. :roll:
Click to expand...

Only 3% of all cattle producers in the U.S. are affiliated or belong to the NCBA.
Click to expand...

Interesting fact. I wonder what percent of the calf crop those 3% control.
 
Angus 62 said:
Can anyone name even one issue that affects the cattle industry in which NCBA hasn't sided with the packers? Whether it be COOL or trade agreements which even the Republican nominee for president views as disastrous for Americans. You are right mrj in that there are a number of problems that are affecting prices right now. But virtually no one, including the people like Harlan Hughes who have spent decades analyzing the cattle industry came close to predicting what has happened. No single issue like packer captive supply has wrecked the cattle market. But the erosion of competitive markets has been relentless and NCBA did nothing to voice opposition though they are ''supposed" to represent US cattle producers and portray themselves as such even though as Mike pointed out, they actually have very little in the way of producer membership.
Click to expand...


Every NCBA member I know is concerned with price discovery in the cattle market. With fewer packers and more captive supplies and more formula cattle, fewer and fewer cattle are priced with negotiated settlement, and very few settled on open outcry. That said, the last thing needed is the short sighted government intrusions and edicts supported by the callicrate crowd. If anyone has a fix, "we all want to see the plan"

Not sure how this figures into the issue: I was talking to a friend who is a yard foreman in a giant southwestern feedyard about all the old cows and bulls I've seen on feed the last several months. It used to be feeders shunned feeding old cattle a little bit eventhough a lot of money has been made swapping cows. He said that in their yards, the cows and bulls are fed by packers. So I get around to asking my friend about reading tea leaves for market direction. So we go over and visit with the risk management guru at the yard. Hard to pin down the guru, but they're advising a lotta price protection.
 
Brad S said:
Mike said:
Faster horses said:
"There another kind of slime in the cattle industry, unfortunately groups like NCBA helped hand the industry over to them."

Really? If NCBA did that, no one would still be members. :roll:
Click to expand...

Only 3% of all cattle producers in the U.S. are affiliated or belong to the NCBA.
Click to expand...

Interesting fact. I wonder what percent of the calf crop those 3% control.
Click to expand...

I don't know if that number can be estimated. Typical herd size is 40 head of mama cows (1 Bull ranches), and there is a shitload of them.

I do know that the NCBA here courts the largest seedstock producers & the mega cow calf operations almost exclusively.
 
Since we feed beef cattle to taste like the other white meat I think we can assume the price of our product will be similar to the other white meat. I know that sounds harsh to some but we are killing off beef demand with the feeding of ractopanine.
 
My guess is that NCBA leaders know very well what the average 'cow herd' size is and have for a VERY long time welcomed the smallest herd owners, and treat them equally as well as the largest herd owners. It seems to us it doesn't matter 'who' you are, nearly so much as how willing you are to support and promote the cattle business.

mrj
 

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