Riding Herd “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
July 15, 2019 • www.aaalivestock.com
Volume 61 • No. 7
E Cows BY LEE PITTS
W
e have e cars, e cigarettes, e skateboards, e florists, e mail and every other combination and permutation of e stuff. Now, thanks to the USDA, there will also be e cows in the not-so-distant future.
An Answer In Search Of A Problem
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
Remember that mess of an animal identification system called the NAIS that USDA supposedly scrapped several years ago after cattlemen across the country howled in unison and said it was an answer in search of a problem? Well, the USDA has quietly repackaged NAIS and brought it back with hopes they can quietly sneak it past cattlemen without them discovering that this time the USDA has added an all new wrinkle and made it even worse, although we thought that was impossible. The USDA is now going to replace a system that works that they’re currently paying for, with one that you’ll be paying for that may, or may not, work. You know those free metal orange tags that veterinarians snap in the ears of your heifers after giving them a vaccination that have been used for years to successfully combat brucellosis? It turned out that those tags were also a very good identification system whenever a health problem like mad cow disease or TB popped up. But now the USDA wants to get rid of those tags by the end of this year and gradually replace them with electronic ID tags that you’ll be paying for so that by January 1, 2023, all cows, bison and rodeo stock in the
country will be sporting individual RFID (electronic) ear tags. (Thankfully, USDA’s plan does not include feeder cattle and other cattle and bison that move directly to slaughter.) The USDA is implementing their new electronic ID plan in small increments so as to keep the cattlemen’s carping and complaints to a minimum. And in the true tradition of government bureaucracies everywhere, the USDA has managed to take a simple, easily understood program that works, and muck it up to the point that no one, including them, has a clue whether it will be as good as the old system in tracing disease back to its source. Which is, after all, the primary reason they say we are force-feeding all this nonsense down rancher’s throats to begin with.
What We Think We Know Here’s what we know, or think we do: • As of December 31st of this year USDA will discontinue providing those free metal brucellosis tags. Approved vendors, however, will still be permitted to produce official metal tags for one additional year and they will be available for purchase on a State-by-State basis as authorized by each State
Ain’t nuthin’ like ridin’ a fine horse in new country. animal health official through December 31, 2020. • To purchase official electronic ID tags a premises identification number (PIN) is required. • On January 1, 2021, USDA will no longer approve vendor production of metal ear tags with the official USDA shield. Accredited veterinarians and/or producers can no longer apply metal ear tags for official identification and must start using only “official” electronic ID tags. • On January 1, 2023, RFID ear tags will be required on all sexually intact beef and dairy cattle and bison 18 months or older moving interstate, and any cattle used for rodeo or recreation regardless of age, moving interstate. All animals previously tagged with metal ear tags will have to be retagged with electronic ear tags at that time in order to move interstate. • Accredited veterinarians or producers may purchase official, approved electronic tags directly from manufacturers or
retailers that will appear on a list of USDA approved makers. • Tag technology can be low or ultrahigh frequency—whichever the State, producer or industry sector prefers. Approved USDA tags must be tamper proof, contain a unique ID, and display the U.S. official ear tag shield. • Electronic tags can also be purchased that are part of a matched set, one for electronic ID and another for visual identification on the ranch because, after all, an electronic tag in a cow’s ear will be of absolutely no help to a rancher out in the field attempting to identify an animal. For a rancher to be able to read these new electronic ear tags up close he or she must purchase an electronic reader much like the one your UPS or Fed Ex driver uses. What’s next, we wonder, bar codes on the sides of cattle instead of brands? If you’re thinking you’ll be able to use these new electronic ear tags to store all sorts of useful information like the ancontinued on page two
The Drive to Destroy the Beef Industry (And How to Fight Back) BY TOM DEWEESE
I
’m not a cattleman and I’m not going to pretend I know everything you are facing. But I do know that the major weapon being used against your industry is labeled Sustainable Development. To begin, let’s set the terms and make one thing very clear. The use of the word sustainable may sound like a comfortable term, not threatening. After all, you, your parents, and those before them have probably been successfully working the same land for decades. That’s true sustainability. But that is not what it means to those forces pushing that term today. Sustainable today means sustained control, sustained power, and very soon sustainable poverty for many. Most people immediately equate Sustainable Development with environmental policy. Of course, concern for the environment is the justification most often used for its implementation. However land control is at the heart of Sustainable Policy, and assuming it is simply good environmental stewardship proves to be a serious and dangerous mistake.
The term “Sustainable Development” was born on the pages of the 1987 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. It is basically the policy for the implementation of Agenda 21 which came along in 1992. The announced purpose of Agenda 21 was a “comprehensive blueprint for the reorganization of human society.” The Sustainable ground troops are made up of hundreds of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), including the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. How many of you have heard of the Wildlands Project? In the 1980s one of the most radical environmental organizations emerged – named Earth First! Its leader was Dave Foreman. Earth First! saw themselves as “Eco Warriors” the Esprit de Corp of the radical environmental movement. Monkeywrenching was their tactic of choice. Sabotage. They destroyed mining equipment, blew up power transmission lines continued on page four
by LEE PITTS
Facts, Figures And Formulas
S
chool sure has changed since I went. Back in the fifties and sixties when I was terrorizing teachers about the biggest thing we had to worry about were pop quizzes and being sent to the principal for running in the halls. Sadly, today kids have to worry about getting shot in the halls or popped in the classroom. I can honestly say that until I reached high school I can never remember taking home a book to study. All you needed was a binder full of paper and a pencil. Now I see kindergartners with bulging backpacks filled with books and all their worldly possessions. Even though I was good at it, I hated school and was saved by vocational agriculture and the FFA, although the principal tried to talk my mother out of letting me take “vocational” classes because it wasn’t “college prep” and was beneath me. Our ag department was a long walk from the main campus and we were looked down upon because we learned such pedestrian skills as welding and how to dress out a lamb. When I proudly wore my FFA jacket to school every Monday we were laughed at and called “farmer” which was used as a derisive word. Now I see FFA judging teams, speakers and reciters of the FFA creed featured on the front page of local newspapers and FFA is finally being rightly recognized as the best educational organization for young folks in America. It certainly served me well as I’ve never been out of work in my adult life. When I was a student, teachers attempted to cram all sorts of facts, figures and formulas into our tiny brains which we were expected to regurgitate back to them on true/false and multiple choice tests. Immediately after the test you did a brain dump and forgot everything you just “learned”. It was a stupid way to be educated as I can’t remember being asked to do anything creative or do any critical thinking. The people who got the best grades had the best memories and weren’t nec-
continued on page five