Post

Communication needed at all levels in beef industry

Talk about a communications problem. Some spinal cord material found in a shipment of beef from New York caused Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa to reinstate a ban on U.S. beef imports faster than you can say bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Our agreement with Japan requires all at-risk materials be removed from the meat before shipment.

You could hear the frustration in the voice of a usually-calm U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns as he announced to the media the delisting of the plant that shipped the beef, so it will no longer be able to send beef to Japan. The secretary also announced he would take “appropriate personnel action” against the USDA FSIS employee who inspected the product that did get shipped, and announced a team of USDA inspectors will head to Japan to re-examine “every shipment currently awaiting approval” to confirm compliance with the U.S./Japan agreement.

I cannot imagine how frustrated all of those people who beat their heads against the wall keeping U.S. beef out of Japan for 2 years must have felt when they learned that within 30 days of the re-opening, the door was once again slammed shut because a USDA FSIS employee screwed up. (And they say you can’t get fired from a government job.)

Here in the U.S. backbone or vertebral column is not a specified risk material (SRM) if it comes from animals under 30 months old, under the U.S./Japanese agreement, it’s an SRM and is absolutely not allowed in beef destined for that Asian market.

So far, no other Asian markets have decided to close their doors to U.S. beef. Keep your fingers crossed. The beef business is a pretty good business to be if you are a producer in the United States today. I’d hate to see us lose opportunity because of avoidable human error.

The record cattle numbers at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, reflect a strong beef business. Katie Anderson, Media & PR manager told me that the show was a huge success. Cattle entries were up 17% over last year.

“We are looking at somewhere between 7 and 8,000 head of cattle on the grounds at this point,” said Anderson, in an interview on Brownfield Network. She said the 100th anniversary of the show was only a small part of the reason there were record numbers of cattle and record attendance. A strong beef cattle industry makes all the difference when people decide to drag cattle across the country to show at this national competition.

My husband and I have made the annual trek to Denver for the National Western together for many years, and he made the trip many years before I was in the picture. It is a great opportunity to catch up with other Simmental breeders from across the country as well as our friends from Illinois.

Blake Bloomberg, a junior at Texas A & M and a member of the renowned livestock judging team there told me he’s been coming to Denver with his family for as long as he can remember. “Since I was 4 at least,” the Berwyck, Illinois native told me as he waited for the next class with a heifer outside the stadium on the hill. “I showed out here with a broken leg one year. I broke it in the show ring at the Royal in Kansas City.”

The Parr family from Mason City has been coming to the National Western for many years, as well. Now grown-up daughters living in other states make week-end visits back to the home farm to help dad Larry get the cattle ready and take time away from jobs to spend several days in Denver exhibiting together.

Bob and Lynn Danner from Illinois City have always made showing cattle a family affair. With their youngest finishing up his college career, and their eldest living in Ohio with her family, the Danners are “on their own” now without the kids, and still raising top quality Simmental cattle and exhibiting them at major shows.

There are a lot of great families involved in the beef business, not all of whom exhibit their cattle. I come from one of those families. My folks and my Dad’s family before them raised Black Angus cows for generations in Scott County, Illinois.

We all make mistakes. Let’s hope the human error that closed the Japanese border to U.S. beef (again) is not repeated. Like I said before, it’s a good time to be in the beef cattle business if you live in the United States of America.

I was in Denver at the National Western Stock Show when I learned that Warren Pufahl had passed away. He was a true friend of Illinois agriculture. We will all miss him very much.