callmefence said:
************* said:
Ebenezer said:
Clearing rain forest as the native vegetation is no different than any of us clearing our native forest to have pastures. Divide the beef folks into good guy and bad guys is not the answer. Just saying.
You are correct that at one point North America was cleared extensively. Having said that however, we as a people are somewhat better aware in 2019 of the damage that causes. We know that clearing the rainforest is destructive, we don't necessarily need to do it with the other options we have available.
There is a lot of land in the U.S. that is sitting idle, that does not need to be cleared and could be used for food production whether it be crops or livestock. No need to chop down forests.
It's not our rainforest to worry about. We should focus on what goes on in our on country instead of worrying about foriegn competition.
Beef fills the menu from wolf brand chili to five star. And when produced in country that offers little else in the way of agriculture, it's efficient. When you put down any beef including foriegn , you put it all down. The real competition is seafood, chicken and pork. That's who you should campaign against.......
Fence, according to many on here, I have no clue what I'm talking about.
What I would like to know is this. When we have dairy facilities that are going bankrupt or are empty and we have people on this very thread saying that "there is no money in a cow calf operation", when we see complaints all the time on here about how raising cattle is a dead-end business, I scratch my head and wonder, why?
My hunch is this, this country failed to protect the cattle industry, instead we ignored COOL and told LOWER cost foreign producers "Hey, bring all the beef you want into this country" Now I know we export beef, that's true, but tell me why we would need to import beef from Brazil or Mexico, do we not have enough to meet demand here? I need to be clued in. I think it's because corporate interests want to maximize profits and U.S. beef is too expensive for that to happen. You simply can't make as much money paying U.S. producers a fair price for their product. Hence the greedy capitalist comment. If you can squeeze out a dollar more if you buy Brazil versus American, then let's go with Brazil. That's basic economics, but the real problem is that U.S. producers are left holding the bag, OR forced into accepting lower prices.
I feel confident that if COOL were in place, and strictly adhered to, that you all would be far happier when you sold your animals. I also feel that if a label were on a package of beef that said "Origin unknown, breed unknown" or something like that, the consumer, or at least the one most here should be targeting would say "uh, maybe I will pass on this one" versus "born, raised, and processed in United States of America"
Rainforest land is obviously cheaper to run cattle on than places like Kentucky and Missouri, and so on. That land is needed for real estate development right?
Prices for everything are going up quickly, including beef. Problem is producers are not enjoying the price hikes overall. Don't you think it's about time they do? Unless one's cattle operation is a non for profit charitable organization, why wouldn't one push to get prices for their product as high as possible?