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Getting a worry for us beef/lamb producers Grass/Swheat

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    Getting a worry for us beef/lamb producers Grass/Swheat

    A cut and paste apologies, but in aust most livestocks areas are deemed to dry for cropping or to wet or topography of country not suited to cropping doubt livestock acres can fall in australia. Bit like trying to grow wheat in death valley more acres for crops less for stock wont work everywere.

    Reckon someone bought this topic up about a week ago sorry


    The noisy anti-livestock farming lobby has been handed a new weapon with the United Nations proposing new taxes aimed largely at reducing red meat consumption.

    In its latest global environment outlook (GEO) statement the UN Environment Secretariat concludes livestock farming will need to contract significantly worldwide to meet the challenge of feeding nine to 10 billion people by 2050 without destroying the environment.

    The report said less-meat intensive diets and slashing food waste in both developed and developing countries would help reduce the need to lift food production by an estimated 50 per cent to meet population growth by mid-century.

    The report, which was produced by 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries, said agriculture's environmental footprint had to be reduced and one way of achieving that was to lift retail prices of red meat through consumption taxes.

    The UN report said such a tax could save one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent per year.

    It said land management practices had to change to feed the world's swelling population while preserving ecosystem services, stemming the loss of natural habitat, combating climate change and addressing water and energy security.

    Overall, climate change would reduce rainfall and agricultural output although higher temperatures and carbon dioxide levels would boost production in some regions.

    Food production now accounted for 50pc of habitable land. The livestock sector provided 17pc of dietary energy and 33pc of dietary protein demands, yet occupied 77pc of agricultural land for feed, pasture and grazing, the report said.

    "Therefore using 80pc of the land for livestock is inefficient," the report said.

    The report also highlighted unacceptable global food waste with one third of food for human consumption now lost or wasted including 56pc in industrialised countries.

    Its recommendation for taxes to reduce red meat consumption will add more fuel to growing attacks on livestock farming by activists groups, scientists and media commentators.

    Twitter is now awash with often bitter verbal clashes between livestock farmers and anti-meat campaigners.

    The "war on meat" is being fought on a number of battlefronts including the contribution of cattle to greenhouse gas emissions (hotly disputed by a number of livestock scientists), the alleged impact of consumption on human health and obesity as well as on animal welfare grounds.

    Animal activists are becoming increasingly bold by invading livestock farms, particularly intensive operations, largely for publicity reasons.

    It would also come as no surprise that PETA, the radical animal activist group, is a supporter of a tax on all meat (including fish).

    PETA has said meat should be treated the same as cigarettes, alcohol and fuel and be taxed to reduce its alleged impacts on the health of both humans and the climate.

    Dozens of countries have now introduced taxes on sugar on the back of relentless publicity about its contribution to worldwide obesity.

    The livestock sector is also feeling heat from the headline-grabbing proliferation of plant-based and lab-grown alternatives to farm-reared meat.

    Beyond Meat, a cult US-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes, is supported by a number of celebrity investors including Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio.

    In January Nestlé announced plans to introduce a plant-based burger called the "Incredible Burger".

    Dutch company, Vivera, launched a plant-based "steak" in May last year through Europe's largest supermarket chain, Tesco.

    Last year Israeli start-up, Aleph Farms, claimed it had produced the world's first cell-grown beef steak.

    Dutch food technology company, Mosa Meat - whose founder, Mark Post, created the world's first lab-grown hamburger in 2013 - is pressing on with the development of commercial meat products using cell-culture technologies.

    The company is growing cow cells in a laboratory to produce "real" meat.

    #2
    Interesting. Regarding the tax, I wonder what they theorize would happen with those of us who farmgate sell most of our stock? It is plain sad how some feel that livestock is somehow a waste of land and inefficient! I wonder what the tax would be per lbs?

    Regarding fake lab grown meat. People balk at crap like that. Ppl are leery of gm crops, they are surely going to be leery of lab rat meat? Lol

    We are setting up our lamb production to be marketed almost solely as a non commodity product, directly to consumers, been making some great headway the last few weeks with new buyers to insulate our farm from th nature of commodity farming. Not only is it FAR more profitable, but it is a whole lot of fun and a great challenge. Particularly fun is that my wife and I are in it together, working side by side, far more than how we do with the grain side which she does not find interesting in the least, so that is a big bonus for us to.

    Planting more grass and hay this year. I see an excellent future in our model. Maybe I am blind, but I see ppl eating meat regardless of things like that.

    Does it concern you a lot, mallee?

    Comment


      #3
      Does actually maybe not me persay but next generation like 15/20yrs down the track and couldnt agree more the anti gmo anti glypho crowd will freely eat meat substitutes made in a lab??

      Oh tests say its safe we will eat it...........

      Other big concern is if china get the shits on and somehow reduces there demand for our lamb and wool, both canada and australia need them

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by malleefarmer View Post
        Does actually maybe not me persay but next generation like 15/20yrs down the track and couldnt agree more the anti gmo anti glypho crowd will freely eat meat substitutes made in a lab??

        Oh tests say its safe we will eat it...........

        Other big concern is if china get the shits on and somehow reduces there demand for our lamb and wool, both canada and australia need them
        Great point about the future generation. As for lamb, Canada imports 60% of our consumption. Most lamb in stores if you can even find it is your lamb, 😀 or New Zealand lamb. But yeah, beef, ugh. And you guys have a mature and dynamic lamb industry that sure is more sensitive to world markets.

        I see more now your concern, I sort of got sidetracked there, sorry. Just because I personally may avoid trouble with this issue, I need to realize the attack on livestock agriculture is real and still a threat.

        One of the reasons we went into sheep is to avoid the dickering in agriculture that occurs with the main commodities. Seems you can’t avoid it no matter what you produce in this day n age. We are shooting to fill a niche and avoid it. But I still hate the attack on animal agriculture.

        Our sheep graze land that is not grain farmable unless I become a bush pusher, they eat hay from land that is seeded to perennial crops that are good for the soil and rotation. Rather than being inefficient, they are preserving wildlife habitat, repairing soil, controlling weeds with no herbicides, adding nutrient cycling to annual crop land, and on and on. How do we get that story out there?

        If the world wants to see full scale habitat destruction, tax meat and kill the industry, and watch the habitat get destroyed! So utterly ridiculous.

        We vaccinated ewes the other day, I gotta get on it and share pics like you do. I am bad at taking them. Wife takes lots, but I always forget to post. I know you would find them interesting as I find yours interesting. Will have to make a conscious effort, sheep grazing in snow would probably make you shiver. Lol

        Comment


          #5
          Don't tell your anti-vaxxer customers you're vaccinating your sheep. They expect you to incurr what ever loses deemed necessary to meet their standards for you to supply them with unadulterated lamb!

          Sarcasm fully intended.

          I'm sure your novel customer base has more sense than that.

          Comment


            #6
            It’s frustrating to see so many enviro wackos and the UN attacking all of ag constantly, red meat producers and crop producers alike.
            Equally frustrating when “people” who claim to be in these Ag industries continue to try and destroy our livelihood from within .... it makes one wonder who is actually behind the keyboards.
            I hope the UN backs off on this red meat environment crusade ... it could ruin a very sustainable industry all for complete nonsense.
            The more I see the UN come out with garbage like that the more I despise everything they do.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by furrowtickler View Post
              It’s frustrating to see so many enviro wackos and the UN attacking all of ag constantly, red meat producers and crop producers alike.
              Equally frustrating when “people” who claim to be in these Ag industries continue to try and destroy our livelihood from within .... it makes one wonder who is actually behind the keyboards.
              I hope the UN backs off on this red meat environment crusade ... it could ruin a very sustainable industry all for complete nonsense.
              The more I see the UN come out with garbage like that the more I despise everything they do.
              The good news on that front is that the US is the UN's primary source of funding which they use for attacking the US and the rest of the first world, and the US is quickly abandoning that model. As the UN starves for cash, and lose all credibility, soon they will be as impotent, and irrelevant as they deserve to be. Only problem with that is us Canadians and Australians, and New Zealanders need to see the light and quit electing anti-American/Anti-industry governments who are trying to fill the financial void left by the US and enact the UN's agenda's as an Anti-American protest. Cutting off their own noses to spite their faces.

              As for the anti-industry "people" who claim to be representing Ag with groups such as NFU, I trust that with my NFU thread, I did my part to destroy any credibility they may have had, and to prove that they do not represent farmers and that their membership has been infiltrated by mostly anti-agriculture radicals. Still no one willing to deny those policies. Please help spread the word.

              Comment


                #8
                Guys like sheepwheat and grass will be the last to fall with paddock to plate direct marketing maybe over the top dramatic saying fall but its worrying.

                The lunatic fringe has it sights set on wool industry as well. No expert in textiles but wool nylon polyester cotton is about it so cotton woill be ataraget as well.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by malleefarmer View Post
                  Guys like sheepwheat and grass will be the last to fall with paddock to plate direct marketing maybe over the top dramatic saying fall but its worrying.

                  The lunatic fringe has it sights set on wool industry as well. No expert in textiles but wool nylon polyester cotton is about it so cotton woill be ataraget as well.
                  You mean the lunatic fringe will only wear clothes made from hydrocarbons in lieu of natural fabrics? Makes sense. Or they can always go naked with no hydrocarbon energy to heat or cool their homes.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Sheepwheat View Post

                    We vaccinated ewes the other day, I gotta get on it and share pics like you do. I am bad at taking them. Wife takes lots, but I always forget to post. I know you would find them interesting as I find yours interesting. Will have to make a conscious effort, sheep grazing in snow would probably make you shiver. Lol
                    Sheepwheat, out of curiosity what are you using for vaccine and how far ahead of lambing?

                    We had a bit of a wreck this year, used covexin plus, 3 weeks prior to lambing, had a bunch of abortions 4 days later, have had 2 vets involved both say it shouldnt be the covexin but they havent found another trigger and its pretty suspicious. ( did also use it last year without issues, have used tasvax mostly over the years)

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by malleefarmer View Post

                      The lunatic fringe has it sights set on wool industry as well. No expert in textiles but wool nylon polyester cotton is about it so cotton woill be ataraget as well.
                      Wool is completely underrated as a fibre in north america. Has all kinds of possibilities, warm, doesnt take on moisture, strong, renewable, almost fire proof not just clothing but other applications also, has been overlooked because of supply issues and the ease of synthetic options. Yet it is almost worthless here.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by GDR View Post
                        Sheepwheat, out of curiosity what are you using for vaccine and how far ahead of lambing?

                        We had a bit of a wreck this year, used covexin plus, 3 weeks prior to lambing, had a bunch of abortions 4 days later, have had 2 vets involved both say it shouldnt be the covexin but they havent found another trigger and its pretty suspicious. ( did also use it last year without issues, have used tasvax mostly over the years)
                        Tasvax. Lambing in three to four weeks.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by GDR View Post
                          Sheepwheat, out of curiosity what are you using for vaccine and how far ahead of lambing?

                          We had a bit of a wreck this year, used covexin plus, 3 weeks prior to lambing, had a bunch of abortions 4 days later, have had 2 vets involved both say it shouldnt be the covexin but they havent found another trigger and its pretty suspicious. ( did also use it last year without issues, have used tasvax mostly over the years)
                          Don't think it at all likely the vaccine that caused it. Did the vets test for enzootic abortion? that would be my guess, maybe triggered by the handling. Lesser risk would be toxoplasmosis but not sure how common it is in Canada (spread by cats crapping in the feed)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by grassfarmer View Post
                            Don't think it at all likely the vaccine that caused it. Did the vets test for enzootic abortion? that would be my guess, maybe triggered by the handling. Lesser risk would be toxoplasmosis but not sure how common it is in Canada (spread by cats crapping in the feed)
                            Handling shouldnt be an issue, not my or the sheeps first rodeo, both the clamydia and the toxoplasmosis were my guesses also, have sent 4 samples away but they havent turned up anything. Just kinda coincidental on timing, after the initial few days havent had any more issues, normal lambing season.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by GDR View Post
                              Sheepwheat, out of curiosity what are you using for vaccine and how far ahead of lambing?

                              We had a bit of a wreck this year, used covexin plus, 3 weeks prior to lambing, had a bunch of abortions 4 days later, have had 2 vets involved both say it shouldnt be the covexin but they havent found another trigger and its pretty suspicious. ( did also use it last year without issues, have used tasvax mostly over the years)
                              So, when that happens, can you rebreed the sheep, and still get a lamb crop this year?

                              Comment

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