CALF_News_Feb_March_2019

10 CALF News • February | March 2019 • www.calfnews.net Looking Ahead Fluffy Cows!  CALF VOICES By Rachel Lewis Contributing Editor Y ou’ve all probably seen the internet sensation that is “Fluffy Cows.” Now, before you roll your eyes and move on, dismissing this as not “real world” or as something that came from the show ring that doesn’t apply to production, let me give you the low down on #fluffycows and the show world. Many of you are familiar, but the #fluffycows sensation that took the World Wide Web by storm put beef in the headlines. People wanted to know what those cattle were, how they got that way, and what became of them. It allowed for open discussion about the cattle industry and the educational factor associated with youth shows. Many cattleman scoffed at #fluffycows and dis- missed them as “not functional” or “not real world” and, in some cases, they’re not wrong. As a kid who grew up in the show ring, I can remember often hearing a judge say, “We would love to have a pen of these cattle on feed, but today this steer isn’t [insert trendy phrase here] enough to win my class.” (Please know that this is gener- alized for our purposes here today.) As an industry member, my dad, who usually produced our steers, took this as a compliment; but as a super competi- tive youth, this was a hard lesson for me. The cattle I saw in the show ring and on our family ranch were my window into the industry at that time. We won some shows with our “real world” cattle, and I have to say were always complimented on them, whether on the microphone or with ribbons and buckles. Growing up and being involved in all faucets of the industry, from our ranch to the processing floor, has given me a broader perspective. I now see where my dad was coming from as well as where GREAT WHITE NORTH Continued from page 8 the judge was. Neither was wrong; they were just different. Why then do we not always reward animals that fairly represent our indus- try? It comes back to perspective. Even the cattle designed for the show ring place differently between judges. A plac- ing is just the opinion of one judge on one day. Maybe the judge had experience in a feedyard in the Midwest and had seen cattle looking a certain way perform well. Due to his experience, his opinion would be that cattle that looked similar would also perform well. Perhaps a judge was a local industry member who prefers another type of calf that he expects to perform well. In this way, taking it from different perspectives, the show ring is representative of the industry. You don’t see the same type of cattle in all areas of the United States, let alone globally. With the number of breeds and available genetic variations in use, the cattle industry continues to be the most diverse protein source out there. Let’s compare to pork and poultry. Those protein sources are very integrated compared to the cattle industry. Even the genetic variation in the other cattle industry (dairy) is less genetically diversified than beef cattle. Each breed of beef cattle has many potential sires, and then adding in a large crossbred population leaves the genetic possibili- ties looking endless. Perhaps this is why our show ring winner doesn’t always represent the industry; there are so many variables!  E-mail comments to rachel@animalhealthexpresscom  “To eat meat is disrespectful towards life and the environment …” Gullible young trendy folks are literally forced to answer in the politically correct manner to such loaded questions. To be fair, the survey posed a number of favor- able perspectives of meat, but that was not emphasized in the summary. The survey stresses that older, less-educated males tend not to change their meat-eating inten- tions – somehow that seems to be interpreted as bad. The survey study highlights that many consumers regard the health aspects of eating meat as important to their consumption considerations. Be that as it may, the survey notes that price and taste together are more important. More objective meat consumption surveys have already observed that consumers tend to be fickle and buy with their wallet and appetite and rarely for health reasons. The ever-increasing num- bers of hamburger and chicken fast food joints would indicate what consumers really think when considering their meat purchasing intentions. Interestingly, those joints are packed with young people of every socio-economic level. Those would be the same young folks that state they are reducing their meat consumption. Interestingly, as hard as the anti-meat folks try to predict the end of meat consumption, there seems to be little interest in establishing vegetarian fast food joints. I rest my case.  E-mail comments to willverboven@hotmail.com