CALF_News_February_March_2020

29 CALF News • February | March 2020 • www.calfnews.net JOHNSON CONCRETE LIVESTOCK WATERERS THE BEST NAME IN CATTLE WATERERS www.JohnsonConcreteProducts.com Trusted by Livestock Owners Everywhere! JOHNSON CONCRETE LIVESTOCK WATERERS 109 East B Street Hastings, Neb. 68901 phone: (402) 463-1359 toll free: (800) 752-1670 Built with features to last, Johnson Waterers withstand punishing weather and prove to be dependable year after year. TOUGH, DEPENDABLE CONSTRUCTION  See us for all your water trough needs.  We are #1 in water trough parts and services. Designed for the most punishing environments, our livestock waterers stand the test of time and deliver performance unequaled in the industry. traditional farming and ranching practices promote animal abuse and damage to the environment. While many of these claims are unfounded and lack any evidence, the ASPCA calls “the negative impacts of the industrial operations that raise over 95 percent of farm animals across the U.S. in unaccept- able conditions not aligned with consumers’ values.” Again, as I have written before, I question their math and not only will I eschew their Monday-through-Sunday challenge, each week throughout the year, my normal well-balanced diet of Ameri- can farm and ranch-produced meats and produce will be my status quo. In yet another round of the “war,” Hannah Thompson- Weeman writes in her Jan. 2, 2020, Drovers blog of the latest activist-driven attempt to scare consumers with a documen- tary, The Game Changers. Realizing their message of pushing the simple message,“go vegan because we shouldn’t eat animals” wasn’t working, this film shown on Netflix features athletes that have gone vegan and urges everyone to do the same in order to be healthy. Having executive producers associated with the Humane Society of the United States and most of the so-called “experts” that appear in the film affiliated with vegan companies with something to gain, I label this as a propaganda piece similar to leaflets dropped from aircraft behind enemy lines. The nutrition community has returned fire with criticism of their shoddy science, such as an experiment attempting a correlation between meat consumption and of all things – penis function and other exaggerated claims. Thompson-Weeman further recommends countering these attacks with science-based dietitians and resources, such as MeatPoultryNutrition.org and AnimalAgAlliance.org . If it isn’t enough activist warfare, several major food chains are now promoting plant-based burgers and breakfast sausage sandwiches. My television is inundated with commercials professing burgers that make a “cowboy” actor say,“I must be a damn fool,” it tastes so good. Now a major donut/breakfast chain features Snoop Dogg, known for his plant-based regime of another kind, serving “fake” sausage sandwiches. What they don’t tell you is that these alternative products, while not necessarily unhealthy, are highly-processed with additives and chemical compounds I can’t even pronounce, similar to that of the food I feed my dog, Emma. A Jan. 7, 2020, Los Angeles Times editorial championed the rise of such alternatives as if cattle ranching is the source of climate prob- lem with a statement,“so you won’t suffer the bitter aftertaste of guilt.” Since just the first of 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration have had eight food recalls for granola, ice cream, cashews, soup, string cheese, brownies and eggs – none for meat or poultry. Looking ahead through my windshield at the upcoming year, I trust my vision will be that of the year 2020 and see through all the rhetoric in business, farming and my choices for the dinner table.  INDUSTRY’S FIRST AUTOMATED SQUEEZE CHUTE BRUTE CATTLE EQUIPMENT 402.693.2221 www.dodgemfg.com ® Visit us on the Web, Facebook or Twitter for video demonstrautions. A UTONOMOUS C ATCH-CHUTE E LITE BRUTE DOUBLE & SINGLE WEDGE ALLEYS, TUBS & LOADOUTS Call Today!