True Grit, Spring 2023

VICTORY OR DEATH

In this issue we talk mRNA, OFF Act, convention, etc., and starting this issue, the Cattlemen’s Newsletter will be included in True Grit magazine. We are gearing up for our 2023 Convention “American Spirit,” I hope you join us August 17-18, 2023, in Rapid City, South Dakota, go to page 12 for more information.

From the Editor TRUE Grit

Published by Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA)

Growing up a Texas kid, I took Texas history in school and I wanted to share a bit of that with you, so let’s set the scene. Parts of present day, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and the majority of Texas were Mexican territory. Years before, American settlers had been allowed to come in and claim land in Mexico, but as American settlement grew, so did political unrest. Independence was declared, and the Texas Revolution began.

On February 23, 1836, around 150 Texans gathered at an old mission called the Alamo, as over 1,500 Mexican soldiers arrived in an effort to take back Texas. Over the next days, several skirmishes ensued. Outnumbered, Commander William B. Travis wrote several letters begging for more men and more supplies. One of those letters signed, “Victory or Death.” It read as follows: “To the People of Texas and all Americans in the world, I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character, come to our aid with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a solider who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country—Victory or Death.”

In the early morning on March 6, the Mexican soldiers advanced on the Alamo. Heavily outnumbered, the Texans were unable to fend off the final attack, resulting in the death of all the Texan soldiers in the fort. Although the Texans lost the battle, it motivated the rest of Texas against Mexico and General Santa Anna. On April 21, some 800 Texans defeated the final Mexican force of 1,500 men at San Jacinto, shouting, “Remember the Alamo!” as they attacked. Texas independence was won.

Still today, the Battle of the Alamo remains a symbol of heroic resistance and courage, and an example of defending liberties, freedoms and fighting for something bigger than yourself. Will you surrender or fight? “In the name of Liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character,” I encourage you to fight.

PO Box 30715 Billings, MT 59107

Phone: (406) 252-2516

Fax: (406) 252-3176

E-mail: r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com www.r-calfusa.com

Advertising Inquiries: karinajones@r-calfusa.com (308) 760-3466

R-CALF USA STAFF

Bill

Bullard Chief Excecutive Officer

Candace Bullard Operations Director/Proofreader

Carrie Walling Office Manager/Proofreader

Jaiden Moreland Marketing Director/Editor-in-Chief

Karina Jones Field Director/ Advertising Sales

STAY CONNECTED Jaiden

A MODERN PARABLE

Bud Light and Tucker Carlson

The old Marine’s health had been failing him for some time. Then the accident happened. The doctor had no choice but to put him in a drug induced coma to let his body heal and ease the pain.

That was almost a month ago, and the doctor was losing hope that he would recover.

When the nurse burst in, the startled doctor was relieved to hear his patient had regained consciousness. It would be a long road to recovery, but there was hope!

The doctor ran to the man’s room, and as the coma faded and his eyes cleared, the doctor asked him if there was anything he could do for him, anything he enjoyed?

The Marine responded “Doc, I am an old man. There is not much that excites me anymore. But if there is anything I still look forward to, every night I turn on Tucker Carlson on Fox News and drink an ice-cold Bud Light.”

The doctor fainted.

This joke has been traversing the internet, and it’s mandatory that we find some humor in the lives we find ourselves leading. That being said, it would be a shame if we didn’t look a little deeper into the news of the day. Could the aforementioned joke be a modern-day parable?

I think the Tucker Carlson story, whatever it is exactly, illustrates to us that power is real. The First Amendment right to free speech exists, but even with the strongest viewership in mainstream media there is no guarantee of having a platform if you ask questions that are a little too sharp or color outside the lines. If you disagree with Tucker, all you have to do is turn the channel, that’s the free market right?

As sure as power is real, hard choices are a part of life as well. Tucker and Fox parted ways, for whatever reason, perhaps his journalism had become a legal liability, perhaps again it had offended the ideology

of someone in power. At any rate, it would appear that Tucker bowed out, and will practice his right to free speech elsewhere. It would appear he sacrificed for his convictions. Time will tell.

Then there’s Anheuser-Busch’s new promotion. I think Americans have a live and let live mentality, but aggressive promotion of gender…uh…fluidity caused many to change their refreshment choices. I have seen too many internet memes and jokes about the “stupid decision” Bud Light made, but was it really just that, a fluke or a mistake? I think it was the natural progression of DEI, the new woke campaign for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It sounds like a noble idea, but again, time will tell if it leads to more American freedom or less. Couple DEI with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) scores that allow a few massive banks to mandate their preferred social and environmental desires upon corporations to secure capital and it feels a lot like corporate fascism, when global corporations wield the power that governments don’t dare. Public private partnerships are the most efficient vehicle for their trip to accumulating total power. An unholy marriage to be sure checks and balances, and separation of powers be damned.

But back to Bud Light, were they a victim of DEI/ESG and corporate fascism? Were they strong-armed into their latest promotion? I don’t know for sure, but if you watch the news, and a lot of it, nothing else really makes much sense.

By now, I’m guessing you think I’m feeling sorry for Tucker Carlson and Bud Light, but you couldn’t be more wrong. They made hard decisions, one decided to change the game and the other decided to play the game. I feel no pity for either of them, just like no one will feel much pity for us, the American rancher. We all have hard decisions to make if we are brave enough to recognize them. We and our children and the people we grow food for will reap the fruit of those decisions.

In the end, I want to tell you that I think the American rancher is a remnant of a country many remember, but few today feel a part of. I would challenge that we are among the most prolific small businessmen left in America. We are the most independent, self-sufficient and entrepreneurial venture capitalists left in this country, tied to vast equity by generations of sacrifice and productivity. Those virtues have kept a nation fed. That, exactly, is what makes us such an appealing target. Again, we have hard decisions to make in the face of great power. Will we choose to go along to get along, or stand the ground we work on?

The never-ending news cycle mandates that it is more important than ever to know exactly what we believe and how valuable that belief is to us. I will leave you with a statement and question for your consideration: “Experts have determined cattle are ruining the environment. What will you do to be more sustainable and verify those changes to gain access to the market?”

Brett Kenzy President and Region

Director

We are the most independent, self sufficient and entrepreneurial venture capitalists left in this country, tied to vast equity by generations of sacrifice and productivity. Those virtues have kept a nation fed. That, exactly, is what makes us such an appealing target.

Across Country CALVING SEASON SPECIAL the

Photos from left to right: (top) Carson Jorgensen, Brady Knudson, Dana Cox, Devon Olson, Dusti Berry; (middle) Becky Graner, Blair Moreland, Debbie Cronin, Sonya Zimbelman, Katie Kahler (bottom) Megan Harkless, Kylee Jo, Joel Heinzeroth, Cord Summer, Jessica VanGilder

Event Recap

Spring Rollover Calf Sale Fundraisers

April 13, 2023 Valentine Livestock Auction

Calf Donor: Brett Galbraith

On March 14, in Niobrara, Nebraska, and on March 22, in Martin, South Dakota, R-CALF USA and Farmers Business Network cohosted livestock producer meetings.

On March 16, Buckeye Quality Beef Assoc., Inc. hosted a producer meeting in Zanesville, Ohio.

On April 24, R-CALF USA hosted a Facebook Live to discuss its U.S. Cattle Industry Long Range Plan’s progress and its 2023 Farm Bill Platform.

On March 10 in Lemmon, South Dakota, I-BAND and SDSGA each hosted booths at a Farm and Home Show.

On April 1, SCLA hosted a spring meeting in Hoehne,Colorado.

ICOW has been hosting monthly teleconference meetings.

This spring, OISA has participated in many private property rights meetings mainly focusing on fighting the 30x30 agenda and the National Heritage Areas.

SDSGA has hosted several meetings across South Dakota this spring: Reva on March 15, Sturgis on March 21, Buffalo Gap on March 27, Kadoka on April 17 and Winner on May 5.

Inconvenient Truths with Eric Nelson

With Corporate Takeover of Conscience, U.S. Needs Citizens To Lose Indifference and Demand Rule of Law

over two generations. I’m not a man wanting things to be exactly like they were many years ago, thankfully we’ve left behind some things behind. I grew up with an outhouse behind our house, a cistern fed our water supply, and the phone line wasn’t exclusively ours. The transistor radio was AM, and the TV was black and white. I remember cattle and hogs going to the Sioux City Stockyards on Sunday nights with everyone anxious for Monday morning. This was a time business was often done at the kitchen table, and I remember Frank Gilbert and other fat cattle buyers coming to bid and buy on Monday mornings, and Colonel Jon Phillips, Jolene Stevens, and others were regularly on the radio with market updates. I remember new tractors, a few years later a new pickup, then a new car. We weren’t wealthy, just commonsense middle class folks doing the best we could. Things moved slowly, everyone read the newspaper and neighbored with those nearby. Twenty miles was far away and 60 miles away was visited only a couple times a year, rarely did big changes occur.

In 2023, instead of an outhouse we’re now refiguring how many different restrooms are needed and exactly for whom. Some say we’ll run out of water in a few years while just this winter, the deepest snowpack in recorded history piles up in the Sierra. The radio in my truck is a 24-hour satellite radio with programming that’s not local, as most local stations were bought out by conglomerates years ago. Local TV news today is seldom actually local, but rather filled with meaningless national news of a social nature, not programming that the stodgy local program manager once brooded over. Businesses today are rarely local, with supplies now hours away instead of minutes, and needed parts routinely shipped from halfway around the world. New tractors, pickups and cars are for relatively few folks in cattle country these days. At least most cattle in cattle country are still locally owned (which can’t be said for poultry and hogs). All the while, countries around the world contemplate culling cattle because of terribly misguided beliefs that cows are destroying our planet.

corporations. What’s happened to the con science of America? What’s happened to its moral compass? It’s been purchased! Today, when smaller companies are bought out by larger ones, it’s the conscience of the smaller company that disappears. Rules governing mergers and acquisitions have had lax enforcement since the late 1980s and in turn created the race to become too big to fail. The “family” was once the primary unit of importance in U.S. society, but today it’s the corporation. Corporate lobbyists undoubtedly have the ear of our elected officials and as consolidation sweeps away opportunities in agriculture, the same thing has been happening throughout our economy. Unfortunately, all of this “bigness” has impacted our very system of government as it requires citizens to be informed, engaged and active in directing elected officials. As more and more American citizens quit working for themselves and enter the workforce, the insights those entrepreneurs once gathered and their interface with elected officials has been lost. As concentration has increased, lobbying by corporations has increased to the point that it’s often hard to discern elected officials from the corporate officials darkening their doors. They work together forming private/public partnerships, the very entities that displace entrepreneurial opportunities and family units. As agriculture and the business community in the U.S. have consolidated, the family has lost importance. Hopefully the citizens of the U.S. decide (quickly) to choose freedom and excellence over indifference, resecuring the future of the U.S. as the greatest country the world has ever known. Until that happens, R-CALF USA will continue pushing its member-passed policies by speaking truths, by lobbying for freedoms, and by working for a solid spot for future generations in an entrepreneurial U.S. cattle industry.

Eric Nelson

Vice President, Region VII Director and Marketing Committee Chair

The Classifieds

NEW WITH YOUR R-CALF USA MEMBERSHIP!

Free classifieds in True Grit magazine for your livestock sales, equipment, etc. Having a bull sale? A horse sale? Maybe you’re just selling a plow or you’re hiring a new hand, just let us know and we will get your information out to our entire membership! Contact jaidenmoreland@r-calfusa.com with information.

Cattle Sales, Horse Sales, Equipment Sales and more...

Ft. Pierre Livestock Auction Anniversary Sale

June 2 in Ft. Pierre, SD. Free beef BBQ, big special fall calf, grass, feeder and replacement heifer sale. Contact (605) 223-2576 for more information.

Dyesville Angus Sale November 11 at 1 pm MST in Hermosa, SD. View at 10 am. Call (605) 255-4586 for more information.

Lauing Mill Iron L Ranch 2023 Quarter Horse Production Sale Online Auction only, bidding starts Saturday, August 26 with soft closing starting Tuesday, August 29. Located in Sturgis, SD. For catalog info contact Denny and Doris Lauing ddranch@venturecomm.net or (605) 347-6193.

TELLING YOU TO GIVE UP BEEF TO BE HEALTHY?

Connect with Rural Health Education to understand why beef should be a staple in every diet and how to educate those around you about nutrition in beef.

Owner - Bailee Cooper, PhD,

Dietitian

@rural.health.education

2023 National Convention

Speakers Trade Show Entertainment

Inspiration Education

Real conversations Networking & fun!

American Spirit, it’s evident in our history and ingrained in the fabric of our everyday lives. Most know it as dedication to defending freedom, patriotism, liberty, democracy, family, and country; but what does it mean to you? How will you protect it? The 2023 R-CALF USA National Convention takes place this year at the feet of the Black Hills not far from Mount Rushmore itself, a monument of four men whose lives embodied the very essence of the “American Spirit.” Join us August 17th and 18th at the Monument in Rapid City, South Dakota, for two days of speakers, inspiration, education, real conversations, networking, trade show, entertainment and just plain fun! An agenda will be available in the coming months. Register to attend and book your hotel today! Blocks are available at the Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza and at the Howard Johnson. Trade show vendor and sponsorship slots are available now, the deadline is July 1. For more information visit www.rcalfconvention.com. See you there!

August 17-18

The monument

RAPID CITY, SD

Member benefits include: the quarterly True Grit magazine now including the Cattlemen’s Newsletter, text and email alerts, a voice: all cattle-owning members have the opportunity to vote on proposed R-CALF USA policies (one-member/one-vote), and representation from the largest national organization exclusively representing independent U.S. cattle producers in Washington, D.C.

To learn more, scan the code below or visit www.r-calfusa.com.

Scan Me!

R-CALF

Needs Your Membership to Continue Its Efforts

New Member 1-yr $50

Membership Renewal 1-yr $100

Do you own cattle? Circle One: Yes No

First and Last Name:

Ranch/Company Name:

Mailing Address:

New Member 3-yr $250

Membership Renewal 3-yr $275

Do you own sheep? Circle One: Yes No

City, State: Zip Code, County:

Cell Phone: Daytime Phone:

Email:

Do you want to receive emails? Circle One: Yes No

Do you want to receive text alerts? Circle One: Yes No

Do you want to make a donation to R-CALF USA’s Litigation Fund? Yes, $____________ No

Make check payable to ‘R-CALF USA’ or pay by card:

Card # Expiration CVC

Signature Mail completed form and payment to: R-CALF USA, PO Box 30715, Billings, MT 59107

THE VIEW

From Billings

Remember, David Defeated Goliath

You’ve all heard the sayings: “It’s not the size of the man in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the man,” and, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Those sayings are intended to provide motivation to an underdog taking on what some perceive as an invincible adversary.

You’re doing that right now. When you sent your first dues and contributions to R-CALF USA, you made the choice to fight aggressively for the future of your industry. And you did this in the face of the immense political and economic power of your adversaries.

You’ve known for a while that the U.S. live cattle industry is in trouble. We’ve seen the nation’s once competitive hog and poultry markets replaced with corporate command and control and opportunities for independent hog and poultry farmers have largely disappeared. Now, our U.S. cattle industry is on a trajectory to becoming controlled by just a handful of dominant meatpackers. However, there is one reason (or rather, about 5,000 of them) why the cattle industry has avoided that similar fate: YOU, the members who support R-CALF USA’s work.

Through R-CALF USA, you’ve succeeded when just about everyone in the industry said you couldn’t. Proof? In the mid-2000s we prevented our markets from going from four big packers controlling 85% of the market to only three big packers controlling 85% of the market. And we were instrumental in implementing mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) on beef for over two years. Yes, we lost it later, but we’ve succeeded in introducing new legislation to bring it back, the American Beef Labeling Act of 2023.

We stopped the USDA’s two attempts (in 2011 and 2019) at forcing mandatory radio frequency identification (RFID) upon cattle producers. Yes, they’re back at it again but we’re pushing back as hard as ever to stop it again. In the late 2010s, we also proved the beef checkoff program had been operating in violation of the U.S. Constitution for decades and we filed a historic, class action antitrust lawsuit against the “Big 4” meatpackers. Our ongoing antitrust lawsuit

could prove to be the most significant event ever to occur in the U.S. cattle industry since the enactment of the Packers and Stockyards Act over 100 years ago!

The bottom line is that dominant meatpackers with deep pockets won’t ever protect your industry the way R-CALF USA exists to do. Because we are membersupported, we can do the things that defy the status quo and go after the tough issues our members are directly affected by, without fear that a powerful advertiser or funder will pull its funding.

The reality is the only investors who will not let down your industry are the ones who actually care about it – you. And we need this urgent-as-ever request, to keep up this fight, we need to start bringing in more donations.

We are continuing to do more and accomplish more than any other organization, we’re fighting for MCOOL, beef checkoff reforms, no mandatory RFID, to eliminate captive supplies, and to write rules to implement and enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act. In short, we’re fighting harder and more effectively than anyone for your future, and I hope you consider pitching in before moving on to reading the rest of this magazine.

With your financial support, we will succeed where others have not because, like David, you know the “giant” you want victory over must be fought and R-CALF USA will not stop until it’s defeated.

If you can become a monthly donor, it’s an especially effective way to support our work, or if you can give a one-time donation now, it’s powerful too! To donate send a check to R-CALF USA, PO Box 30715, Billings, MT, 59107, call (406) 252-2516 or go to www.r-calfusa.com.

Thank you for your support, R-CALF USA is honored and privileged to be fighting for you!

BLAZING THE TRAIL

stories of ranching, liberty and legacy

The Leininger Ranch

A full-time veterinarian, a teacher, two young kids, only 40 cows to their name, rough country, a home that was two old schoolhouses put together with a sagging roof, and pens roughed up from wild cattle, everyone thought they were crazy when Zane and Barb Leininger bought their place south of La Junta, Colorado, in 1996.

Risk is not unfamiliar to this family. Barb’s great-grandfather immigrated from Ireland and as a young orphan, joined the military then homesteaded in Wyoming and created a life. Zane’s parents moved from Nebraska to Wyoming with nothing when he was just a young boy.

Flash forward to present-day, when arriving on the Leininger Ranch, you would almost never guess the condition the ranch had been in over 20 years ago. Today, the Leiningers, both now retired from their careers, run a prosperous black Angus operation.

“We never set out to do this,” said Zane. “She was a teacher, and I was a vet, and we had a few cows then we got a few more and leased a little country, and then we bought a ranch. We had enough background in agriculture, but sometimes we just go, ‘how did we ever do this?’”

The ranch is nestled in a unique position: no neighbors for five miles in any direction, right off a good road, teeming with different soil types and grasses, just the right mixture of canyons and pasture, and over two-thirds of the grass included in the Comanche National Grasslands. You would think you were

in the middle of nowhere, not a mere 15 minutes from town. Even though it was in bad shape when it came into the Leiningers’ hands, it has proven itself as an optimal place for a cattle operation and for raising a family.

Both having graduated from the University of Wyoming, the Leiningers instilled in their kids the importance of an education and the importance of appreciating what goes into making a dollar. Both kids now bring their own contributions to the ranch: Andee, a range management specialist that works to revolutionize the ranch’s grazing and grasses; and Zach, an attorney in Wyoming, who does any legal or contract work as needed.

The Leininger Family from left to right: Zach, Zane, Barb, and Andee Leininger on horseback at the Leininger Ranch.

BeefLeiningerFavorites:

Following his graduation from veterinary school at Colorado State University, Zane was exposed to a variety of different operations, allowing the Leiningers to weigh different options of doing things. While trying out a variety of operation techniques, they now raise their calves and retain ownership until the packer. Barb said they started doing this because they decided they really believed in their calves and wanted to see them the whole way through, using what they learn to better the details of their operation.

Even having outside income helping support the ranch, the family has seen their share of changes and challenges to the industry.

“We can’t do things how our grandfathers did it,” said Barb. “We’ve seen overregulation in some instances and then lack of enforcement in things like the Packers and Stockyards Act.

“There is so much more machinery and mechanization used today and just more input costs in general, and it is affecting everyone around us,” she continued. “We used to have lots of choices of farmer-feeder types to take our calves and so many are closing or being bought out by big feedlots.”

“There’s been no increase in the money we are getting for our product even though people are paying more at the store,” said Andee. “The prices aren’t that different than they were 50 years ago but the overhead costs are. We are producing a better product but not seeing the return on that.”

Perhaps the issues that stand out the most to the Leiningers include consumer misconceptions at the grocery store and the movement that is trying to put agriculture at fault for any climate change.

“However many thousands of acres that are out here, you’re not going to get anything out of it food wise without a cow or an animal,” said Zane. “It’s the greatest environmental thing ever, we’re taking sunlight and plants and turning it into high quality protein; and if you

Thick New York strip Roast with carrots and onions

Filet wrapped in bacon

“

Getting to have cattle, horses and cow dogs in your life is the most special gift. It’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it’s just a blessed life.

do it right, it’s good for the environment, good for the land, and it’s good for people. It’s magical all the way around.”

When talking with this family, it is evident they are passionate about cattle and working the land. They are optimistic about the future of the cattle industry and are willing to put in the work to better it and fight for their independence.

The Leiningers believe in standing their ground and doing their part to be involved in industry issues; they’ve been members of R-CALF USA since 2018 and strong supporters ever since.

“We are members because R-CALF USA is on the front lines and is willing to get in the ring and litigate,” said Barb. “R-CALF fights the right battles in the right way, and it doesn’t make them popular with everyone. You fight the right fight and stand up for the right things and it makes it pretty simple.”

Despite the battles ahead, the Leiningers look forward to the future and continuing to foster the land and their cattle to provide consumers with the best product possible.

“I’m an optimist but I see the challenges, but I still believe people like quality,” said Zane. “So, if you’re doing a good job and you’re making your product better and you’re making the land better, I think there’s a future.”

“We’re really excited, we’ve started really looking at making efficient cattle and I get excited about our genetics,” said Barb. “We love to work hard; we love what we do. We have fun trying to make our cows better.”

Like R-CALF USA members across the country, the Leiningers are honored to feed America and cherish their independence and the beauty of getting to raise cattle and hope to continue for years to come.

“Getting to have cattle and horses and cow dogs in your life is the most special gift,” concluded Barb. “It’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears; but it’s just a blessed life.”

Jaiden Moreland

To Love a Ranch

How can one love something that takes so much?

So many hours. So much toil. So many resources. So much labor. So many missed social events and family trips. So much heartache when an animal dies or a crop fails. So many early mornings and late nights. So much investment for often so little gain. So many what ifs, why nots, how comes and if onlys. So much uncertainty and very few assurances. So many variables so out of our control.

How can one possibly love a ranch?

Because a ranch gives so much more than it takes. So much pride in feeding your own family and countless others. So many memories doing the hard things together. So much joy in what some see as mundane but we see as miraculous. So many days spent making a life, not a living. So much value in what’s ultimately priceless. So many life lessons that no book could ever teach. So much faith in the greater good and in our God, who holds it and us all together.

To love ranch is not for the faint of heart, though some days it takes all we’ve got to keep our hearts strong, minds focused, and feet moving. It’s the hard days of ranching that make the good days all the more worth it.

To love a ranch is to push past fears, embrace change for the promise change can bring and learn from the mistakes of yesterday to make tomorrow better. To love a ranch is to cherish a life not many get to experience yet so many benefit from. To love a ranch is to find where patience and perseverance produce a bounty of hope. To love a ranch is one of the greatest privileges and sweetest blessings I’ve ever known.

the R-CALF USA Round Up

What’s new on the podcast?

“The Problem With Too Big To Fail” with Matt Stoller

In today’s world, monopolies reach into every fabric of our lives, in agriculture we are all too familiar, but let’s talk about the monopolies in almost every other industry. What has happened to the strict antitrust laws and antimonopoly behavior our country was founded upon? Where do we go from here? Join us as we discuss just that and more with Matt Stoller, researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project. This episode was sponsored by Mason & Morse Ranch Company.

“Defenseless on the Border” with Erica Valdez

At our 2022 convention, R-CALF USA members passed policy in support of southern border enforcement, acknowledging that the influx of illegal immigration is harming not only southwestern ranchers and rural communities, but also rural communities around the country. We sat down with New Mexico rancher, Erica Valdez to learn the realities of border life and ranching in an often forgotten and defenseless area of our country. This episode was sponsored by Range magazine.

There are many things going on in our industry and organization and we think it’s important to do a “temperature check” and check in. So we checked in with Brett Kenzy, Eric Nelson and Bill Bullard to talk about R-CALF USA’s 2023 Farm Bill Platform and the progression of the strategies outlined in the 2021 U.S. Cattle Industry Long Range Plan. This episode was sponsored by Kinetic Vet.

“Temperature Check” with Brett Kenzy, Bill Bullard and Eric Nelson

Q&A

With the Board

Tell us about yourself and your operation. I’m a first-generation cow-calf producer in eastern Ohio, about 60 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’ve been married for 41 years with two kids and three grandkids. I retired after 35 years as a construction electrician, now I run my operation and help on a few broiler chicken and dairy operations.

You are the R-CALF USA Region VIII Director representing Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia, what drew you to R-CALF USA and why are you passionate about it? R-CALF USA is the only true cattle organization that represents the independent cattle producer. The leadership is made up of real cattlemen and women fighting constantly for policies and practices that benefit the cattle industry and battle those that aspire to strip away our liberties and livelihoods.

You come from an electrician background, tell us how this experience plays into your insights as a board member. Information: As an electrician I had to constantly keep up with all the changes and information on the job to not miss anything that could cost the contractor money or worse yet, get somebody hurt. R-CALF USA puts the information out there for all their members to see. The membership has full access to their board members for questions on policies just like an employee has a foreman on a construction site to receive more information to work in an efficient manner.

What are some of the biggest challenges you and the people in your region face?

Hearing the real truth. It appears the cattle industry is not immune from the bias reporting from the “copy & paste” editors and reporters of the mainstream ag media. There are no less than three issues plus a new farm bill being constructed, and one would think that cattle industry leaders would be debating these issues in a public forum to form a unified voice to further advance the future of the American cattleman. Why doesn’t the media interview R-CALF USA more, and why won’t national organizations publicly debate these issues? Because R-CALF USA fights for the cattle industry, not the beef industry.

What is a hot button industry issue that really fires you up and why? The infiltration of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) movement into the other agriculture organizations, hypnotizing their leadership into pushing an agenda, eliminating, or decreasing the number of cattle operations to gain

control of our food system. These organizations are pushing programs for cattlemen and women to take part in, at their own expense, with NO guarantee of monetary profit. Beef Quality Assurance was the test project, now they are using scare tactics to implement a mandatory electronic identification traceability tagging system. Promoting a system of meat labeling as to where the beef comes from and closing the border to countries with known diseases and substandard sanitary practices would not only add value to our cattle prices but also reduce the risk of foreign disease entering this great nation.

Why should cattle producers join R-CALF USA?

We are the only cattle organization fighting for the American cattleman and woman and the “Real” truth in labeling for USA beef, the American Beef Labeling Act (S.52). The U.S. is the gold standard when it comes to beef and R-CALF USA is the only organization fighting to keep it that way.

What are some of the first steps people should take in getting more involved in advocating for the cattle industry? Know the difference between the cattle industry and the beef industry and distinguish who benefits from the policies and programs put forth by the organizations and policy makers. Look for unbiased information from independent professors, economists and the Agricultural Marketing Service. The wedge issues are what separate the cattle industry from the beef industry and the actors alleging they are the voice of both. Any organization that won’t represent their members in a public forum is hiding something it doesn’t want their members to see. What inspires you to keep fighting for our industry? As the average age of the U.S. cattleman keeps increasing, the next generation is being bombarded with disinformation and half-truths on the future of the cattle business. Words like sustainability and sequestration are used merely as a veil for words like compliance, traceability and vulnerability. A new set of rigid guidelines are needed to prevent the high degree of vertical integration that has occurred in the pork and chicken market from happening in our cattle and beef markets. If you aren’t willing to fight for it, don’t complain about it when it’s gone.

What is your favorite cut of beef and how do you like it prepared? Rib eye prepared medium, and cheeseburgers.

Dave Hyde Region VIII Director

LEADERSHIP

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

George Wishon Region I (Alaska, Idaho, Mont., Ore. and Wash.)

Judy McCullough Region II (Colo., Utah and Wyo.)

Brett Kenzy, President Region III (N.D., S.D. and Neb.)

Cash Carruth Region IV (Ariz. and N.M.)

Shad Sullivan Region V (Texas)

Kyle Hemmert Region VI (Kan., Mo. and Okla.)

Eric Nelson, Vice President Region VII (Minn., Iowa and Wis.)

Dave Hyde Region VIII (Ky., Ohio, Tenn. and W.Va.)

George Chambers Region IX (Ala., Fla. and Ga.)

Eric Gropper Region X (Tribal Regions)

Frank Endres Region XI (Calif., Hawaii and Nev.)

Mike Jones Region XII (Ark., La. and Miss.)

Alan Pruitt Region XIII (Md., N.C., S.C. and Va.)

Justin Oberling Region XIV (Ill., Ind. and Mich.)

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Eric Nelson Marketing Committee

Shad Sullivan Private Property Rights Committee

Mike Schultz

Country of Origin Labeling Committee

Kenny Fox Animal ID Committee

Dr. Max Thornsberry

Bill Kluck

Animal Health Committee

Sheep Committee

Vaughn Meyer Checkoff Committee

Made in the USA

Meet Liberty Table Top

We are Sherrill Manufacturing and our brand is Liberty Tabletop, a family-owned and operated business co-owned by Matt Roberts, Greg Owens, and Drummond LLC. Created with pride in Sherrill, N.Y., our factory has been producing quality flatware for more than a century. Liberty Tabletop offers a variety of patterns designed to satisfy all tastes. Now the only manufacturer of flatware in the United States of America, Liberty Tabletop creates high-quality flatware at a competitive price. All of our items are produced using the finest quality 18-10 chromium/nickel stainless steel. This offers incredible luster and enhanced resistance to staining over less expensive stainless grades like 18-0. What’s more, the steel that our flatware is produced with is also made in the U.S.A. and meets all ASTM standards. Our steel is tested for lead and other toxic trace elements to ensure they are not present. This protects the health and safety of our customers and our workforce. No mystery metal in our product!

Liberty Tabletop is not just a flatware company but we also offer a variety of other products for the kitchen, tabletop, and patio all made in the U.S.A.!

When you choose us, you’re choosing a company that believes in growing our national economy, providing career jobs to people in our community and preserving the craft of flatware manufacturing and tool making. Liberty Tabletop is also socially conscientious – we know that foreign companies don’t follow the same rigorous standards as we do here in the United States, and often resort to child labor, prison labor, abuse of workers and unsafe conditions for workers in terms of health and safety. We’re a part of the movement of people who are not willing to support such activities with our spending, and we’re as good as our word – we use products in our manufacturing made in the United States, and we hire firms (accounting, legal, marketing) that are local, so we can keep the dollars flowing in our local economy. All of this helps drive the American economy in a safe, ethical and environmentally friendly way.

At Liberty Tabletop, it’s all about the people – we recognize our most valuable assets are our employees, as well as our satisfied customers. We believe when you choose to purchase your flatware from us, you will be amazed by the quality, delighted with the price, and fully satisfied with a product you can enjoy now – and for years to come. Let us provide you with heirloom flatware you can be proud to pass down to the next generation.

LEAVE A LEGACY

Ensure R-CALF USA Can Protect the American Cattle Producer’s Independence for Generations to Come

Create a lasting legacy by including R-CALF USA’s charitable foundation USA FREE in your estate planning. USA FREE is R-CALF USA’s charitable 501(c)(3) foundation, established “exclusively for the specific purpose of benefiting charitable, educational, and scientific activities of R-CALF USA.” – USA FREE Bylaws Article II, Section 2.1A That means USA FREE is committed to the restoration of a strong, independent producer-based system of agriculture.

Planned Giving Opportunities

• One-time donations of cash or property.

• Will or trust bequests.

• Life insurance or retirement accounts.

• Stocks, bonds, mutual funds.

• Gift annuities.

• Charitable remainder trusts.

USA FREE provides research and education for the advancement of cattle production and rural communities. USA FREE donations are tax deductible as charitable contributions.

To gift life insurance and retirement accounts no attorney is needed, request a beneficiary form from your institution and complete it. To direct a charitable gift to USA FREE, your attorney will need the following information:

Legal Name: United Stockgrowers of America Foundation for Research Education and Endowment (USA FREE)

Address: PO Box 30715 Billings, MT 59107

Federal Tax ID: 45-0487585

Please contact us if you have designated USA FREE in your planned giving, or if you have any questions about planning your estate.

Learn more at www.r-calfusa.com or call (406) 252-2516.

CATTLEMEN’S NEWSLETTER

True Grit will now feature R-CALF USA’s former bimonthly newsletter, the Cattlemen’s Newsletter. Read below for important news updates over the last quarter. All news releases are also available at www.r-calfusa.com.

Ranch Group Praises Bipartisan, Bicameral Reintroduction of Checkoff Reform Legislation

BILLINGS, Mont., February 28, 2023 — Today, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.); and Reps. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) reintroduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act (OFF Act). The OFF Act will reform all commodity checkoff programs, including the beef checkoff program.

The bill finds that “although the laws establishing checkoff programs broadly prohibit the use of funds in any manner for the purpose of influencing legislation or government action, checkoff programs have repeatedly been shown to use funds to influence policy directly or by partnering with organizations that lobby; the unlawful use of checkoff programs funds benefits some agricultural producers while harming many others.”

If passed the OFF Act would:

• Prohibit checkoff programs from contracting with any organization that lobbies on agricultural policy.

• Prohibit employees and agents of the checkoff boards from engaging in activities that may involve a conflict of interest.

• Establish uniform standards for checkoff programs that prohibit anticompetitive activity, unfair or deceptive acts, or any act or practice that may be disparaging to another agricultural commodity or product.

• Require transparency through publication of checkoff program budgets and expenditures.

• Require periodic audits of compliance with the act by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General.

• Require a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of checkoff board compliance and a report with further recommendations related to checkoff programs.

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement in support of the bipartisan and bicameral legislation.

“The decades old beef checkoff program is ill-suited to meet the needs of today’s cattle farmers and ranchers, in fact, the program promotes corporate control and globalization over the interests of America’s cattle producers. We applaud these Senators and Representatives for introducing this legislation to meaningfully reform the beef checkoff program so it can begin working for, rather than against, American cattle producers.

“The OFF Act will provide the necessary accountability and transparency to prevent the misuse of producers’ checkoff dollars.”

Voluntary “Product of USA” Labeling Reforms Overdue; Mandatory Reforms Needed

BILLINGS, Mont., March 6, 2023 — Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a proposed rule regarding the voluntary use of the “Product of USA” label on meat, poultry, and egg products. The proposed rule allows the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” label claim only when the products are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.

While R-CALF USA supports the proposed reforms to the “Product of USA” label; it stands firm that only Congress can create labeling reforms that will restore the entire truth to beef consumers and create the market reforms deserved for domestic cattle producers.

“It is important to understand that the “Product of USA” label is simply a clarification of a voluntary label,” said R-CALF USA President Brett Kenzy.

“I fear that it will be used at the convenience of global meatpackers and importers. The voluntary label will continue the need for purchase of American beef by consumers to be a research project; beef from foreign countries will continue to bear the USDA inspection stamp.”

R-CALF USA remains steadfast that only under legislative reform will effective change happen, like the immediate passing of the American Beef Labeling Act (S.52) that reinstates mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef.

“With American cattle herds at a 60-year low, it is regrettable for consumers and cattle producers that it has taken eight years to stop the mislabeling of foreign beef,” said Kenzy. “Public sentiment has rallied to force the USDA to stop the lie, now America needs Congress to compel the truth by enacting the American Beef Labeling Act.”

R-CALF USA Warns Congress of Catastrophic Consequences Unless Farm Bill Includes Meaningful Reforms

BILLINGS, Mont., March 23, 2023 — The largest cattle industry trade group that exclusively represents U.S. cattle producers recently submitted its comprehensive 2023 Farm Bill Platform to both the Senate and House agriculture committees. The group, R-CALF USA, warned Congress of catastrophic consequences if the 2023 Farm Bill does not include meaningful reforms to restore competition to U.S. cattle markets and profitable opportunities for independent cattle producers.

Referencing the upcoming Farm Bill as a narrow window of opportunity for Congress to reverse the disastrous decline of the U.S. cattle industry before it reaches the point of no return, the group states the highly concentrated and vertically integrated U.S. hog and poultry industries have already reached that point and the U.S. sheep industry has already been gutted by the same forces now destroying the cattle industry.

The group describes those industry-destroying forces as a combination of decades of unrestrained industry concentration and globalization.

Using a series of industry charts, the group illustrates prolonged and steep declines in the cattle industry’s competitive infrastructure, including its number of participants, size of its cattle herd, and availability of marketing outlets and opportunities. It further illustrates prolonged downward trajectories for financial returns earned by cow/calf producers and cattle feeders.

The group asserts its industry charts can portend the future by extending their respective long-term trendlines: “That future will be marked by even further erosion to both the industry’s competitive market infrastructure and the economic viability of its participants. When the critical mass of competitive market infrastructure disappears…the U.S. cattle industry will become unrecognizable. It will become another corporate-controlled, vertically integrated industry from birth to plate, and rural America will lose tens of thousands more, if not hundreds of thousands more of its critical economic cornerstones.

“Whatever incremental reforms Congress has implemented to address U.S. cattle markets over the past several decades has done nothing to curb the industry’s systemic decline, putting in peril the viability of the very heart of the U.S. cattle industry,” wrote the group.

Some of the group’s recommendations for reversing the cattle industry’s negative trajectory, along with the expected impact of those recommendations include:

• Ignite competitive forces in the beef supply chain by enacting the American Beef Labeling Act (S.52) that restores mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, which will empower consumers to competitively choose from which country they want their beef produced.

• Force the packers to competitively bid for domestic cattle in the domestic market by requiring the largest packers to purchase at least half their weekly needs in the competitive cash market.

• End the market power disparity between disaggregated producers and highly concentrated packers by prohibiting certain anticompetitive cattle procurement practices known to cause market distortions. These include alternative marketing arrangements (AMAs) that are tied

to the residual cash market; bonuses, financial arrangements, and risk-sharing contracts offered only to select cattle feeders but not to all feeders; packer ownership, feeding, or control of cattle for more than seven days prior to slaughter; and topof-the-market pricing schemes.

• Provide market transparency by requiring all cattle purchasing agreements to be in writing and publicly disclosed.

• Make the beef checkoff program accountable to cattle producers by enacting the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act (OFF Act: S.557, H.R. 1249) that will prohibit farm advocacy groups from receiving checkoff funding and grant producers the right to a periodic vote.

• Address price-distorting trade deficits by requiring all federal beef expenditures, including food stamp purchases, to be for beef exclusively produced in the United States.

The group urges Congress to adopt its recommendations following Congress’ decadeslong adherence to the status quo – described as the combination of no market structure reforms and reliance on globalization to cure market ills. The group asserts the status quo has wrought severe damage to the integrity of the U.S. live cattle industry and the economic viability of its participants.

131 Farm and Food Groups Call for Checkoff Reform in 2023 Farm Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 29, 2023 — Today, a coalition of 131 groups representing farmers, the food system, the environment, animal welfare, and antimonopoly advocacy called on Congress to restore accountability and transparency to commodity checkoff programs by supporting inclusion of the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act (S.557 and H.R.1249) in the 2023 Farm Bill.

Checkoff programs are funded through mandatory fees on farmers and ranchers producing milk, eggs, cattle, hogs, and many other commodities. To support their call for reform, the groups point to “well-documented histories of waste, conflicts of interest, misuse of funding, anti-competitive behavior, and other related issues” associated with checkoff programs.

“Programs entrusted with the hard-earned dollars of America’s family farmers and ranchers should maintain the highest levels of integrity and transparency,” the letter states. “[The OFF Act] is critical to restoring a minimum level of oversight.”

“America’s farmers and ranchers are tired of their checkoff tax dollars being funneled through the

government and into the hands of trade and lobbying groups that work against fair competition and market transparency,” said Angela Huffman, vice president of Farm Action Fund. “It’s time to end the corruption running rampant through these programs.”

“The decades-old beef checkoff program promotes corporate control and globalization over the interests of American cattle producers,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard. “The OFF Act will meaningfully reform all checkoff programs, including the beef checkoff program, to provide the necessary enforcements to prevent producers’ checkoff dollars from being used against them.”

The OFF Act would empower and protect farmers by reining in conflicts of interest and anticompetitive behavior. It would also improve transparency by forcing checkoff programs to publish their budgets and undergo periodic audits so that farmers and ranchers know where their hard-earned tax dollars are going.

Farm Action Fund, R-CALF USA, and other signers to the letter will continue to advance the cause of checkoff reform at debates and hearings toward the 2023 Farm Bill.

R-CALF USA Celebrates Momentum Building Winter Fundraisers, Meetings

BILLINGS, Mont., March 31, 2023

Over the winter months, R-CALF USA hosted and attended several meetings, and numerous sale barns hosted R-CALF USA fundraisers, building momentum and support across the Midwest.

“With no shortage of cattle industry issues to tackle, R-CALF USA is finding the advocacy and lobbying work that we do more critical than ever,” said R-CALF USA Field Director Karina Jones. “R-CALF USA members, board and staff have been crisscrossing the country, engaging face to face, with cattle producers and industry stakeholders to provide education and broaden the conversation regarding the cattle industry reforms that are urgently needed.”

Over the past few months, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard and many members of the R-CALF USA Board of Directors have traveled the country presenting to R-CALF USA state affiliates at their annual conventions and speaking to industry groups. Most recently, Bullard spoke to the Beef Production class at Iowa State University and at the Coalition for a Prosperous America Annual Conference.

“One of the greatest strengths of our organization is our people, members and board,” said Jones. “More than ever, we are seeing strong invitation to bring R-CALF USA into local communities to have meetings that educate about our legislative and litigative efforts while welcoming new members and fundraising.”

Below are some highlights of R-CALF USA’s recent meetings and fundraisers.

Creighton, Neb. – For the second year in a row, Creighton Livestock Market hosted a calf sale fundraiser on November 22, 2022. Matt Paulsen, of Paulsen Land and Cattle in Niobrara, Nebraska, donated a steer calf that raised over $6,600. R-CALF USA President and Region III Director Brett Kenzy gave the audience an update on R-CALF USA activity. Vitalix Inc. provided whip flags for those who donated over $250 and MultiMin90 provided cookies for the crowd.

“It is special to walk into an auction barn and see an R-CALF USA sign hanging by the front door, especially in the middle of Nebraska feedlot country,” said R-CALF USA Vice President and Region VII Director Eric Nelson. “It affirms that they believe in the work that R-CALF USA is doing!”

Not long after, on March 14, 2023, Paulsen, Kenzy and Nelson brought producers back together for a followup meeting, cohosted by Farmers Business Network, in Niobrara, Nebraska. Attendees were presented with a discussion on risks facing cattle producers and potential solutions.

“I appreciate Brett and Eric taking the time to come back to this area to put on a follow-up meeting and I thank Bill Bullard for joining us via Zoom to present his information,” said Paulsen. “We had a crowd of great producers who asked good questions. I want to see us start leading some of these conversations regarding cattle industry reforms in Nebraska.”

Crawford, Neb. – On January 3, 2023, in the middle of a tough winter for the area, Jack and Penny Dye, of Dyesville Angus in Hermosa, South Dakota, donated a heifer calf and worked with Crawford Livestock Market, for the second consecutive year, to host a calf sale fundraiser. Vitalix Inc. provided whip flags for all who donated over $250 and MultiMin90 provided cookies for all who battled the weather to support the event.

Jones faced an audience of blizzard weary cattle producers where more than $6,300 was raised.

She thanked them for their support and assured them that R-CALF USA was working hard on their behalf to return profitability to cow/calf producers.

“I want to thank Crawford Livestock for hosting us and taking the time out of their busy sale to let us do this,” Dye said. “It’s been a tough winter in these parts and R-CALF USA is doing the lobbying work for all cattle producers while we are stuck at home tending to our herds.”

La Junta, Colo. – On January 25, 2023, La Junta Livestock Commission hosted the final calf sale fundraiser for the winter 2023 season. Harold and Peggy Unwin, of the Unwin Family Ranch in Pritchett, Colorado, donated a heifer calf which resulted in more than $26,000 raised with support coming in from all over Colorado.

“Feeding out all of our calves since 2016 has given me a first-hand account of how broken our fat cattle market is,” Unwin said. “With so much skin in the cattle feeding game, I found that no one else other than R-CALF USA was fighting to expose the problems of concentration and power that packers have over us cattle producers. That is why I choose to support R-CALF USA and I am grateful for everyone’s support of this fundraiser.”

Former R-CALF USA President Gerald Schreiber gave the crowd an R-CALF USA update.

“With the generous amount of money raised, it affirmed that we were among like-minded cattle producers,” Schreiber shared about the day. “La Junta Livestock, Jace Honey and his crew, and the Southern Colorado Livestock Association did a phenomenal job of putting on this event.”

Martin, S.D. – On March 22, 2023, Martin Livestock Auction hosted a meeting alongside the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association (SDSGA), R-CALF USA and Farmers Business Network. Nearly 60 local cattle producers gathered to engage and learn more about the issues that SDSGA and R-CALF USA are fighting for on their behalf.

“Joe Waln and his crew here at Martin Livestock Auction did a great job bringing our community out tonight,” R-CALF USA Region X Director Eric Gropper said. “The strength of numbers that turned out tonight is really affirming that they support what R-CALF USA is doing and they want to learn more.”

“As cattle producers it will not be enough to stay at home and calve cows and put up hay,” Kenzy said. “We are all going to have to get engaged in the fight for our future in this industry. That is what I saw tonight, producers becoming engaged!”

The “People’s Department” Shrugs Off the People

BILLINGS, Mont., April 3, 2023 — In February, the U.S. military began tracking an object believed to be a Chinese surveillance balloon over the skies of cattle country in Montana. The U.S. military soon shot the balloon down to protect the United States’ national security threatened by Chinese surveillance. In the month prior to this national security event, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed a rule to require America’s cattle producers to affix electronic surveillance devices on their adult cattle when transporting them across state lines.

Among the handful of USDA-approved manufacturers from which American cattle producers would be directed to purchase their mandatory electronic surveillance devices was a company designated by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as China’s manufacturer of electronic animal identification products, Wuxi Fofia Technology Co., Ltd.

Concerned that perhaps all of the USDA-approved manufactures of the mandatory electronic surveillance devices were under the control of the Communist Party of China, R-CALF USA in late January sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking for the origins of all the manufacturers of the USDA-approved electronic devices. Concerned that Chinese manufactured electronic surveillance devices would

aid China in its surveillance of the United States, R-CALF USA stated in its letter, “R-CALF USA members remain fundamentally averse to any administrative mandate that would compel them to support the Communist Party of China … through their business purchases.”

About a decade ago, in commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Secretary Vilsack highlighted the fact that Abraham Lincoln called the U.S. Department of Agriculture “The People’s Department.”

Despite this benevolent description of the department he heads, Vilsack’s response to the ranch group’s letter was void of any information regarding the manufacturer origins of any of the USDA-approved electronic devices that America’s cattle producers would be forced to purchase if the proposed rule becomes final.

“Our important request, with clear national security implications, was summarily disregarded by ‘The People’s Department,’” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard who added, “Not only that, but on March 21 I called the USDA office number Vilsack provided in his letter in an attempt to verify that the Secretary was refusing to answer our request and as of today, no one has even bothered to call back.”

“By completely shrugging off our request for critically important factual information relative to his own proposed rule, Vilsack has placed us people in the untenable position of having to submit comments pertinent to national security that will be void of any factual basis,” said Bullard.

Cattle Group Addresses mRNA Concerns; Concludes MCOOL for Beef Is Needed ASAP

BILLINGS, Mont., April 20, 2023 On Monday, following a meeting he had with medical doctors and a molecular biologist, R-CALF USA Animal Health Committee Chair, Max Thornsberry, DVM, briefed the R-CALF USA board on the status of mRNA injections in the global protein supply chain. Thornsberry reported that some researchers have found that mRNA and its coded virus is likely passed from an injected human to a noninjected human, and to humans who have consumed dairy products or meat from an mRNA-injected animal. He said that because the research on mRNA is still in its infancy, no one really knows the full impact it has on either humans or animals, particularly its long-term impact. He said this itself warrants more extensive mRNA research focused on safety, heightened public vigilance, and greater transparency.

Thornsberry pointed out that the United States has not approved mRNA injections in cattle, but they are in use on a limited basis in swine. He said the dilemma for beef is that the U.S. is importing more and more beef from many different countries, some of which either already are or plan to begin using mRNA in cattle for such cattle diseases as foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease.

“This points to the urgent need for MCOOL (mandatory country of origin labeling),” he said adding, “Consumers deserve the right to choose whether to consume beef from a country where mRNA injections are being given to cattle, and the only way they can have that choice is if Congress passes MCOOL for beef.”

Due to the information presented by Thornsberry, the R-CALF USA board passed a motion to bring this issue before the R-CALF USA membership at its next annual meeting to determine policy direction for the organization.

Until that policy is fully developed, R-CALF USA strongly reinforces the need for mandatory country of origin labeling (the American Beef Labeling Act, S. 52) on beef immediately. R-CALF USA President Brett Kenzy said, “Without an MCOOL label on our beef, the American consumer has no way of knowing if the beef they are buying is coming from a country using this debatable mRNA technology in their cattle health management.”

Kenzy pointed out that as new information is becoming public about the use of the controversial mRNA vaccine technology in cattle health protocols in foreign countries, at the same time beef imports have been increasing while the United States cattle inventory continues to contract, surpassing 60-year inventory lows. He said the result is that our domestic beef demand is fast becoming more dependent on the global beef supply chain, which makes enactment of MCOOL all the more urgent.

Ranch Group Urges USDA to Scrap RFID Rule

BILLINGS, Mont., April 21, 2023 — In comments submitted this week by R-CALF USA to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regarding the agency’s proposed rule to require adult cattle shipped across state lines to be affixed with electronic radio frequency identification (RFID or EID) eartags, the ranch group said no.

In its 13-page comment, the ranch group argues the proposed rule’s stated propose of enhancing the ability of animal health officials to quickly respond to disease outbreaks could not be achieved by the proposed rule because it only requires the participation of 11% of the nation’s cattle herd while the agency has repeatedly stated that a minimum participation level of 70% would be needed to achieve rapid and effective disease traceback capabilities.

The ranch group stated the agency’s omission of any scientific analysis explaining why an 11% participation rate was sufficient when the agency has repeatedly said at least 70% was needed renders the proposed rule arbitrary and capricious.

The comments also point out that the proposed rule does not even attempt to address the principal problems the agency has identified as impeding rapid disease traceback, primarily the agency’s failure to digitalize veterinary certificates and other movement records that would continue to be completed on paper under the proposed rule. The ranch group urged the USDA to focus on transitioning veterinary certificates and other movement records to an electronic format rather than attempt to impose a costly RFID requirement on independent cattlemen.

The ranch group hit hard at the proposed rule’s cost on individual ranchers and cites cow/calf financial data from the USDA and the University of Nebraska – Lincoln to conclude:

The USDA can neither rationalize nor justify forcing cattle producers to add the high costs of EID eartags to their cost of production when the contemporary marketplace, as discussed above for many cattle producers, provides no opportunity to recover even their preexisting costs of production. Given the dire financial circumstances faced by untold numbers of U.S. cattle producers caused by the industry’s prolonged lack of profitability, the proposed rule would be expected to accelerate the ongoing exodus of U.S. cattle ranchers, thus fostering further industry consolidation and concentration.

Also in its comments, the ranch group states the proposed rule threatens national security given the group’s understanding that the electronic chips inside the RFID eartags are manufactured in China under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

Further, the comments assert the proposed rule violates the U.S. Constitution because at least two states, Wyoming and South Dakota, have already passed statutes authorizing identification devices other than RFID eartags (Tenth Amendment), the proposed rule constitutes a taking (Fifth Amendment), and the proposed rule effectively seizes the value-added property of independent cattle producers without compensation (Fourth Amendment).

The comments also assert the proposed rule constitutes an insurance policy benefiting multinational beef packers with the premium paid for by independent cattle producers.

In its conclusion, R-CALF USA urges the USDA to immediately withdraw the proposed rule.

Pasture to Plate Brisket Tacos

3 tbsp olive oil

1 (4 lb) brisket flat, trimmed

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, chopped

7 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 tbsp adobo sauce (7oz can)

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

salt (about 5 tsp)

black pepper (about 4 tsp)

1½ tsp oregano

1½ tsp cumin

Directions

Topping Ideas: Tortillas

Sour Cream

Cilantro

Pickled Red Onions

Yellow Onion

Cotija Cheese

Lime

Great for your branding or a big group!

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Sprinkle the brisket on all sides with salt and pepper. Brown the brisket on all sides, this should take about 10 minutes. Once browned, set the brisket aside on a seperate plate.

2. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to the Dutch oven with the drippings on medium heat. Cook until softened, this should take about six minutes. Stir in two cups of water, chipotles, adobo sauce, red wine vinegar, oregano, cumin, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Place the meat back in the pan.

3. Bring the broth to a simmer over medium-heat. Cover and reduce heat to low, maintaining a low simmer. Cook for about 4 to 5 hours, basting as needed.

4. Shred the brisket in the Dutch oven. Cover and keep warm over low.

5. To serve: Place the shredded brisket in tortillas, we used flour. Garnish with desired toppings we like pickled red onions or sliced yellow onion, sour cream, lime, cotija cheese and cilantro.

We Seek The Truth

I took “The Genetics of Livestock Improvement” and “Genetics of Biology” three-hour courses at the University of Missouri in 1971 and 1972, exactly 18 and 19 years after Watson and Crick published their confirmation (previous research from Linus Pauling and Rosalind Franklin were utilized by Watson and Crick) of the double helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the British scientific weekly Nature on April 25, 19531. I have continued my education in genetics with 80-120 hours of yearly continuing education courses, but, when I get up every morning, I am amazed at how little I know. The American public was unwittingly and forcibly thrust into a genetic education of sorts with the introduction of emergency mRNA injections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) obtains the genetic code from DNA by the process of transcription. mRNA carries this code to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm of a cell where ribosomal and transfer RNAs translate this code, each three linearly aligned nucleotides representing one amino acid. Transfer RNA brings these amino acids to the ribosome where they are chemically bonded together in long chains to produce proteins, which are then folded repeatedly to form a specific enzyme or protein.

When Pfizer introduced their mRNA injection, they assured the public that the genetic code for the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus would not become incorporated into the DNA of the recipient, as did the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC Coronavirus section states,

“They do not affect or interact with our DNA.

These vaccines do not enter the nucleus of the cell where our DNA (genetic material) is located, so it cannot change or influence our genes.”2

Swedish researchers published in Current Issues

Molecular Biology 2022, 44, 1115–1126 their findings that directly dispute the CDC. While their study was performed utilizing liver cancer cells in culture, within six hours of exposing the liver cells to COVID-19 spike antigen coded mRNA, reverse transcription occurred, placing the mRNA carried genetic code into the nuclear DNA of the cells.3 What does this prove? Who knows, but Pfizer and the CDC were inaccurate in their repeated assurances that mRNA would only stay inside a cell’s cytoplasm.3

Alan Lash Ph.D. has written an excellent article for the Brownstone Institute. I quote,

“The CDC literally changed the definition of vaccine so that mRNA fit the category. We saw this happen two years ago, comparing old and new versions of what they posted on their website.

“Here was the definition on the CDC website in 2020: ‘Vaccines contain the same germs that cause disease …

But they have been killed or weakened to the point that they don’t make you sick.’

“The new version became much more general, to include mRNA. Here is the current definition on the CDC website: ‘A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases.’

“The first question you may ask is ‘Why would the CDC want to make it seem like this is just a standard old familiar technology? Why do they feel like they have to call it a vaccine? Are they trying to trick us into feeling comfortable? Why?’

“mRNA is not a traditional vaccine, but it’s not new either. It is actually a thirty-year-old technology. You might remember there used to be this thing called “gene therapy” that no one talks about anymore. That’s what category this belongs to.

“The original purpose of gene therapy was to give people the ability to have their own bodies produce something that they weren’t producing naturally, something that their bodies needed, like insulin for diabetics. The purpose was to make up for a deficiency that the body could not generate on its own.”4

Robert W. Malone, MD, MS, who was instrumental in the development of mRNA technology5, demonstrated in a Substack article, Jan. 11, 2023, that mRNA injections are currently being utilized in food animal species in veterinary medicine.6

In 2016, press releases publicized Bayer Animal Health partnered with BioNTech to manufacture veterinary mRNA “vaccines”. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released grant information about an ongoing Iowa State University research project to test mRNA “vaccines” on cattle for prevention of bovine respiratory syncytial virus.

In 2016, Merck Animal Health announced it entered the arena of mRNA injections.7

“Merck Animal Health today announced that its recent acquisition, Harrisvaccines, has been granted licensure of its Prescription Product, RNA Particle (RP) vaccine platform from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (an RP is made up of mRNA).…

“The RP technology platform is used to make vaccines for swine, bovine, equine, avian, companion animal and farmed aquaculture diseases. Pathogens are collected from a farm and specific genes are sequenced and synthetically inserted into the platform creating RNA particles, making safe, potent vaccines able to provide herd-specific protection.”7

Other countries are also working on mRNA technology for injecting cattle:

“Research into mRNA vaccine livestock vaccines in New Zealand and Australia continues with governmental fast-track approval. NSW [New South Wales] fast tracks mRNA FMD and Lumpy Skin Disease vaccines (in cattle). The NSW Government has taken another step towards fast tracking the world’s first mRNA vaccines for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Lumpy Skin Disease, inking a deal with U.S. biotechnology company Tiba Biotech.” 6

Joseph Mercola, DO, Children’s Health Defense, expresses his and consumers’ concern about ingesting mRNA coded for an animal disease causing virus.8 I quote from Dr. Mercola’s article,

“As explained by Dr. Peter McCullough: Natural RNA is made of two purines adenine and guanine and two pyrimidines cytosine and uracil.

“The replacement of uracil with its ribose ring (uridine)

with N-1-methyl-pseudouridine, a synthetic product, makes the genetic code for the Wuhan Spike protein better stabilized on lipid nanoparticles, longlasting, and very efficient in terms of evading cellular destruction and able to undergo repeat reading by ribosomes for continued protein synthesis.

“Morais et al. indicate that both Pfizer and Moderna chose development strategies replacing all uridine units with pseudouridine, making the entire strand completely ‘unnatural’ to the human body. Thus, vaccine consultants, companies, and patients unfortunately gambled on how long mRNA would be active within the human body.

“Fertig et al. found lipid nanoparticles with mRNA were measurable in plasma for 15 days. Recently, Castruita et al. demonstrated mRNA in blood out to 28 days. Röltgen et al. have found mRNA in lymph nodes 60 days after injection.

“None of these studies demonstrated complete clearance of mRNA from a group of patients.

“This is worrisome since injections are recommended in some populations just a few months apart implying there will be stacking of long-lasting mRNA in the body without adequate opportunity for clearance and elimination.

“We will look back for many years and ask: how could so many people readily accept injections of heavily modified synthetic genetic code giving the body instructions to manufacture a disease promoting and lethal protein engineered in a biosecurity lab in Wuhan, China?

“Repeated administrations of mRNA studded with apparently indestructible pseudouridine may have changed the course of lives forever.

“If mRNA shots can cause significant disease in humans, how has it affected our pork supply for the last five years? And how will it affect beef and chicken in the future? Can consuming genetically manipulated meat affect your health? These are questions that currently do not have answers and must be thoroughly and comprehensively investigated.”8

The assurances from various medical schools and the CDC that COVID-19 spike protein encoded modified mRNA injected into patients would not leave the cell from which it was absorbed, and mRNA would not remain active inside the cytoplasm of those cells for more than a few days, were incorrect and misleading. A quick Google search will reveal that current agriculture industry media posts continue to subject their readers to these inaccuracies.

The concern cattle producers and consumers have for consuming meat potentially containing mRNA coded animal disease virus antigens has been ridiculed as misinformation and fearmongering. Yet, there are plenty of scientific and peer reviewed papers to support vaccination through food.9 As recently as January 31, 2022, researchers have published techniques for mRNA administration through the human stomach.10

A recent review paper written by Helene Banoun, a pharmacist biologist from France,11 raises alarms about the shedding of COVID-19 coded mRNA from vaccinated to unvaccinated close associates. I quote a portion of her extensive scientific review’s abstract: “Vaccine mRNA-carrying lipid nanoparticles spread after injection throughout the body according to available animal studies and vaccine mRNA (naked or in nanoparticles or in natural exosomes) is found in the bloodstream as well as vaccine spike in free form or encapsulated in exosomes (shown in human studies). Lipid nanoparticles (or their natural equivalent, exosomes or extracellular vesicles (EVs)) have been shown to be able to be excreted through body fluids (sweat, sputum, breast milk) and to pass the transplacental barrier. These EVs are also able to penetrate by inhalation and through the skin (healthy or injured) as well as orally through breast milk (and why not during sexual intercourse through semen, as this has not been studied). It is urgent to enforce the legislation on gene therapy that applies to mRNA vaccines and to carry out studies on this subject while the generalization of mRNA vaccines is being considered.”

Two prominent cardiologists have advised no one to take or booster any more COVID-19 injections.12 In an Epoch TV interview, Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Aseem Malhotra told the interviewers the following:

“A large percentage of patients have been injured by the mRNA vaccines, with harms including a broad range of injuries to the heart.

“Roughly 15 percent of people who have taken the vaccines are damaged by them,” McCullough said during a recent dual interview with Malhotra for Epoch TV’s “American Thought Leaders” program. McCullough is one of the most published cardiologists in America and chief scientific officer of The Wellness Company.

“I think all cardiovascular conditions have got worse because of the vaccine, and anything and everything that can go wrong with the heart has gone wrong with the heart as a result of this mRNA vaccine,” added Malhotra, who has written extensively on reversing heart disease through lifestyle changes.

“The part of the virus that causes the heart damage is called the spike protein,” said McCullough.

“Myocarditis is one of the more common injuries caused when the patient gets a high dose of spike protein with the shot, the doctors said, so the claim by the mainstream medical establishment that the risk of myocarditis is greater without the vaccine is false.

“‘There is a risk for traditional cardiovascular events because of this big inflammatory incident the body gets with COVID respiratory illness, but there is a small negligible risk of myocarditis with COVID, the respiratory infection, probably because the body doesn’t get this massive exposure to the spike protein, as it does with the vaccines,’ said McCullough.”12

While other experts are saying to the public that mRNA injections are safe and generate few adverse reactions, these physicians are warning that 15% of those receiving COVID virus spike protein coded modified mRNA are damaged by the injection.

I for one trust the practitioners working in the field with patients every day. I would bet most everyone reading my summary knows someone in their family or community that has suffered an event after receiving the transformed mRNA coded for the spike protein of the COVID virus. I know of several myself.

With so much conflicting information, and the attempts by media to repress information and gas light those with a differing opinion or concern, is it not at least sensible for consumers to know where their food comes from and if it has been contaminated with modified mRNA? I think so!

REFERENCES

R. M. Thornsberry D.V.M., M.B.A., Former President, Animal Health Committee Chair

1. Watson J., & Crick F. Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature 171:737738. (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0

2. CDC Web Site.Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/ different-vaccines/how-they-work.html

3. Aldén, M., Olofsson, F., Yang, D., Barghouth, M., Luan, C., Rasmussen, M., & De Marinis, Y. Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 2022, 44, 1115–1126. (February 25, 2022). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35723296/

4. Lash, MA, PhD., A. The mRNA Platform: What Is It, What It Means. The Epoch Times. (March 29, 2023). Republished from the Brownstone Institute. https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/the-mrna-platform-what-it-is-what-itmeans_5155710.html

5. Malone, R., Felgner, P., & Verma, I. Cationic liposome-mediated RNA transfection. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 86, 6077–6081. (1989). https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.86.16.6077

6. Malone, R. MD, MS. mRNA Vaccines in Livestock and Companion Animals Are Here Now. (January 11, 2023). https:// rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/mrna-vaccines-in-livestock-and-companion?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

7. Merck Animal Health. Harrisvaccines Receives Production Platform Vaccine License-First of its Kind Granted by USDA. (March 15, 2016) https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/newsroom/harrisvaccines-receives-production-platformvaccine-licensure-first-of-its-kind-granted-by-usda

8. Merola, J., DO. Are You Eating Pork Injected with Merck’s mRNA Livestock Vaccine? Children’s Health Defense. (April 11, 2023). https://yournews.com/2023/04/11/2552226/are-you-eating-pork-injected-with-mercks-mrna-livestockvaccine/

9. Saxena, J., & Rawat, S. Edible Vaccines. Advances in Biotechnology, pgs. 207-226. (October 22, 2013).

10. Abramson, A., Kirtane, A., Shi, Y, Zhong, G., Collins, J., Tamang, S., Ishida, K., Hayward, A., Wainer, J., Rajesh, N., Lu, X., Gao, Y., Karandikar, P., Tang, C., Lopes, A., Wahane. A., Reker, D., Frederiksen, M., Jensen, B., Langer, R., & Traverso, G. Oral mRNA delivery using capsule-mediated gastrointestinal tissue injections. Matter Vol 5, Issue 3, pgs. 975-987. (January 31, 2022).

11. Banoun, H. Current state of knowledge on the excretion of mRNA and spike produced by anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccines; possibility of contamination of the entourage of those vaccinated by these products. Infectious Diseases Research 2022;3(4):22.

12. Hag, M., & Jekielek, J. mRNA Vaccines Causing High Rate of Injuries, Must be Halted: Cardiologists. (December 23, 2022). Epoch TV interview. www.epochtimes.com

One of the most value-packed breeds (you may have missed them) is the famous Texas Long horn. Texas Longhorns arrived in North America in 1494. Mostly running wild, they survived without vet care or pampering for nearly 500 years. Problems with genetic defects, calving ease, and disease resistance was eliminated, or they died. That is serious culling. With millions of culling-events, now the breed is of great value to all ranchers world wide.

Average breed birth weights are 62-63 lbs with adult cows. Bulls like Flair Galore started with a low birth weight and has a mature weight of 2302 lbs. Cows have been known to annually produce up to 24 years old. No need to worry about replacement heifers every few years. This is a humane breed – easy on themselves and their owners.

Browse utilization is the best of any breed. The extra profit from grazing brush, cactus, weeds, and low quality fiber is a production-added effeciency value. Old fashioned traveling ability is another big value plus.

In 1967, the Dickinson family started raising registered Texas Longhorns. Every animal has been performance tested now, for 55 years. Little by little with each generation, more gain, more cutability and more profit has been recognized and enjoyed. Every herd sire has been IQ rated to the extent it is believed their IQ is the highest on DCC Texas Longhorns of any breed. Cattle can be bred to be smart, which makes them easy to handle, which is a very profitable labor factor.

DCC genetics can be purchased as registered breeding stock, frozen semen or embryos. Exports have gone to 32 countries who have proven the above information is correct – for a fact. Learn about becoming a producer of these great cattle at the ranch site. www.texaslonghorn.com, or call with questions

D ICKINSON C ATTLE CO LLC

35000 Muskrat rc Barnesville, Ohio 43713 740 758 5050

information@texaslonghorn.com www.texaslonghorn.com

"Long live R-CALF."

Flair Galore

R-CALF USA Affiliates

Navajo County Cattlemen’s Assoc.

Joseph City, Ariz.

Madera County Cattlemen’s Assoc.

Madera, Calif.

Southern Colorado Livestock Assoc.

Kim, Colo.

Colorado Independent CattleGrowers Assoc.

Karval, Colo.

Lincoln County Stockmen’s Assoc.

Hugo, Colo.

Southwestern Colorado Livestock Assoc.

Cortez, Colo.

Iowa Stock Growers Association

Moville, Iowa

First National Bank Henning & Ottertail

Henning, Minn.

Independent Cattlemen of Missouri

California, Mo.

Hometown Credit Union

Kulm, N.D.

Independent Beef Assoc. of North Dakota

McKenzie, N.D.

Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska

Lincoln, Neb.

Producers Livestock

Omaha, Neb.

Buckeye Quality Beef Association, Inc.

Mount Gilead, Ohio

Oklahoma Independent Stockgrowers Assoc.

Seiling, Okla.

Morrow County Livestock Growers

Heppner, Ore.

South Dakota Stockgrowers Assoc.

Rapid City, S.D.

Cattle Producers of Washington

Ritzville, Wash.

Northern Wisconsin Beef Producers Assoc.

New Auburn, Wis.

Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming

Thermopolis, Wyo.

Stevens County Cattlemen’s Assoc.

Chewelah, Wash.

Thank you for your support!

Interested in starting an R-CALF USA state or local affiliate? Contact Karina Jones karinajones@r-calfusa.com!

WINNER of The Ranchers Media Award in 2021 by R-Calf USA.

Blasting out on 40 stations in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wyoming, North and South Dakota!

TAXATION WITHOUT

Let’s Have An OFF Act Tea Party

Living in the United States and enjoying our freedoms, I am reminded that those freedoms and our Constitution were initiated at a tea party, the Boston Tea Party. Yes, in 1773 colonists fed up with the King of England’s excessive taxation policies, boarded the British East India ships and dumped the tea cargos into the bay, kindling that popular phrase, “No taxation without representation.” Their actions that day sparked the beginning of the American Revolution and a new government founded upon individual rights and representation.

Fast forward 200 years later, that same nation’s farmers and ranchers are still being forced to pay into a beef checkoff program without representation!

First off, many naysayers claim the beef checkoff program belongs to producers. But wait a minute. Didn’t our Supreme Court on June 16, 2005, in Charter v. USDA rule our checkoff is “GOVERNMENT SPEECH”? Second, naysayers also point to the fact that livestock producers have representation on their beef checkoff Cattlemen’s Beef Board’s Operating Committee through the 100 plus appointees by the Secretary of Agriculture. But wait another minute. Didn’t the 1996 merger between the producer’s National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) and the packer’s Beef Industry Council of the Meat Board create the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and their subsidiary, the Federation of State Beef Councils? Wasn’t this NCBA in-house Federation granted half the seats on the Operating Committee, thereby empowering them to control and secure the lion’s share of lucrative checkoff authorization requests?

It appears the 1996 merger has served the largest contractor very well over the years. In 2023, it granted itself nearly $34,000,000 or 74% of the “authorization requests”. These

authorization requests generated programs with a 48% combined average implementation fee (which is twice the rate of other contractors) generating a handsome take-home bonus of nearly $16.5 million! Additionally, that right arm Federation also brings home the bacon from an elaborate “pay-to-play” state beef council scheme, which generates millions of dollars from the sale of seats on the Federation’s board. In summary, your beef checkoff has fared well since the 1996 merger creating a huge multimillion dollar gravy train for one contractor while seven additional contractors are thrown bits and pieces annually to round out their revenue generating requirements!

On the home front, how is our beef checkoff promotion going for us producers who pay the tax to fund the programs which bolster contractor revenues? A quick synopsis reveals that since the 1985 beginning of our checkoff, beef consumption has declined 22 lbs. per person while our competition, chicken has increased 49.5 lbs. without any checkoff program! Since the 1996 granting of monopolistic powers to NCBA/ Federation, we have lost more than 168,000 family beef producers, more than five million beef cows, and over 11 million total cattle and calves. Our beef producers’ share of the retail dollar has declined to 37 cents and checkoff contractor lobbying helped kill mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef and pillaged our markets by 45% which in subsequent years enabled huge packer profiteering.

In reality producers are not only paying the mandatory government tax without representation, we are also financing government speech that promotes market concentration, which is leading

our industry to its demise. After years of producer discontent with a broken checkoff program, which above all else refuses to proudly promote USA beef. It appears as if another “tea party” might be in order, and several Senators and Congressional Representatives have come to the rescue with the introduction of the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act (OFF Act).

The OFF Act, Senate Bill 557 and House Bill 1249, is a bipartisan effort to reform agricultural checkoff programs to ensure accountability and transparency. It prevents lobbying organizations from becoming checkoff contractors and from abusing our checkoff board’s powers to allocate the mandated taxes. Passage of the OFF Act will prohibit wasteful, anti-competitive and deceptive behavior from all checkoff boards. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY); and Reps. Nancy

and

have introduced and are leading Congress’ checkoff reform charge to prevent the squandering of checkoff dollars for lobbying against producer interests.

The OFF Act coalition is composed of 131 organizations that support checkoff reform. Like the early day American colonists, let’s throw the presentday checkoff abuses overboard. I encourage all producers to contact your Senators and Congressional Representative to ask for their support of the OFF Act. Please urge them to support the inclusion of this important legislation into the 2023 Farm Bill.

Mace (R-SC), Dina Titus (D-NV)

Steve Cohen (D-TN)

Vaughn Meyer Checkoff Committee Chair, SDSGA President