More gift wrapping Bows

[rkaiser]

Three more Bows today for my three cull cows. Yes I'm as human as the next cow guy and screwed up by breeding a heifer that was too small. Zipper and a dead calf. Two other cows that decided not to keep their calves full term over the winter and it added up to three for the Auction barn.

Pushing 80% 4 weeks in on my 150 cows so far so I can't complain the much (wink wink Mr. Wilson)

Have to share my manifest with ya'll.

On the heifer with the zipper I wrote " Experimental brain surgery heifer ---- surgery through the stomach to the brain ---- guaranteed NO BSE." The worst part of this little bit of kidding around was explaining the surgery to the Hillbilly who helped me unload ---- Talk about needing brain surgery.

The other two simply got their Bows and a note beside their entry that said "steak sandwich specials".

Hows everybody adjusting to the new reality of cull cattle. Even the folks at the market (who by the way sound like GW Bush propagandists) tell us how lucky we are because these cull cows are up a bit this week.

Don't say a word folks, don't stir any pots. This is the new reality. Our best beef to the Americans, and our good cull cows in the Canadain grocery stores and restaurants. What a friggin Joke.

And now we have the King of the American asskissers on the throne at the CCA. Go Hughy Go.

Okay Okay, ----I'm leaving now. Back to cow camp. As close to heaven as there is, except for having to subsidise the human race with this wonderful product each time I bring some to town.

[PureCountry]

Just a glimmerin', brimmin', ball of glowin' sunshine ain't ya?lol You kiss your mother with that mouth...er...hands...er...never mind.

[blackjack]

...rkaiser...this hughy guy said feeder prices back a couple of weeks ago were pretty good while talking to the media... it sounds like he runs a cow-calf and backgrounding operation as we do...well i think the prices are crap... when are we ever going to have a guy at the top that has some b____...

[15444]

Here's an article about the new CCA President.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=d8ab4c4c-a16c-457f-942f-fdd423961797&k=51056

[cowman]

Randy: Do you mean you actually put a bow on the cows that you are selling at the local mart? I wonder how the buyers/staff view you? Do they think you are like completely nuts, or just slightly eccentric? Or some sort of old rebel without a cause!
Got to admit you probably generate some conversation out in the stock yards!

[coppertop]

I don't know what point there would be in doing so cowman, the people at the local market and slaughter plant aren't the ones that need educating about what they are eating when they order a steak sandwich !!!

[kpb]

blackjack, you are right on the mark, as usual. I don't think good ole boy Hughie is going to help the plight of the average stockman in this province.

kpb

[grassfarmer]

Yep, you get what you vote for! Until the 90% (?) of apathetic Alberta producers get off their backsides and do something about it they will remain represented by people not capable of doing us any good. Blame the producers not the ABP/CCA for this one.

[cowman]

Now maybe grassfarmer those 90 % actually think the ABP are doing a good job and see no need to go listen to a bunch of rhetoric? Or maybe they figure oh well whats $3 a calf...not worth the effort?
In a democracy you have the right to vote...or not vote, as you see fit?
But you go ahead and rally the troops and go atilting at windmills...we'll all sit back and admire your efforts on our behalf!
A mandatory checkoff was imposed on the Alberta cattle producer by a democratic vote of slightly more than 6% of producers? Close to 6% voted against it...therefore it is written in stone forver and forever! Thats just how it is and just one more parasite we can't get rid of! Live with it and consider it just another cost of doing business!

[rkaiser]

Hey ya'll. Awful nice spring out there eh.

Yes cowman - actual bows bought at the local dollar store. Got those last three for a buck. And even though I seemed to educate the hillbilly helping me unload?????, my message was more for the buyer,,,, who I happened to phone and sarcastically thank for helping me out by buying my little experimental BSE heifer. He paid me 30 cents a pound; by the way. My mistake on that one of course ---- should have taken her to our feed lot,,,, but sometimes I do things just to prove a point.

Every industry has scum sucking pigs like this --- but BSE in Canada has brought these pigs out in droves. Most of them butcher Pigs, and Cows and Chickens. Find any excuse to take advantage of this BSE BS and screw whoever you can.

Including our high and mighty ABP/CCA. Taking advantage of the farmer AND the average consumer by supporting this cull cow joke and actually helping it happen with advertising money pulled out of our very own pockets.

Amazing isn't it cowman. The 6% thing I mean. And what is even more amazing is the way this ABP/CCA thing is run. Every other democratically elected group in the history of democracy has had, and been allowed by law, an opposition of some kind. Most governments not only allow opposition, but actually support it with more than words (dollars) just as the ruling party is supported.

With ABP/CCA, the directors are Gods. No opposition. If a resolution ever makes it to the floor of a fall meeting that doesn't fit the mindset of the ruling Gods; it is either squashed right then and there or tabled for the board of directors to deal with later, away from those pesky wingnuts.

Yes, most of the board is made up of ranchers, but this structure is being eroded more every year. Industry council for example. Used to be that only election by the populace warranted a position on the board, now you need only to belong to a much smaller "industry group" to find a place beside the Gods.

As childish and immature a place as you will find in any group.---- More peer pressure than a grade 6 classroom, and more bullying than a junior high school in 1960's Alabama. Most that try to oppose simply give up. The knowledge at the top is so vast ------or not. Like cowman suggests,,, enter it as an expense in your accounting, and simply accept it.

Let the back slapping go on. ABP/CCA were the only ones who helped us all through this BSE crisis??????, and now that it is supposedly over, raises will be in order.

Now off to write a letter to the editor of Western Producer. Watch for the corrections to my misconceptions from the chairman of the Beef Information Center should my letter ever be published. (happened last time).

[rkaiser]

Just in case it doesn't make it to print.------

Dear Editor,

It is hard not to notice all of the high fives going around at ABP/CCA offices these days. We seem to have this BSE thing licked and business is back to normal?? I think not. In fact I think that, just as the packers of this country have found new ways to do business off the backs of producers, ABP/ CCA has found a deceitful way to con the consumer of this country while letting this salmon run of profits roll on in the cull cow market. We sit back and watch the top cuts of beef roll across the border to the United States, now even more that the border is open to live cattle and not just those precious boxes. And we watch the cull cow meat served at every restaurant and retail market in this country that is low enough to use the “take advantage of the situation” tactics that every packer in this country has used for the past three years.

So where is the deceit at the ABP CCA level? Simply support for these ridiculous notions that use producer dollars to promote and set that cow beef in front of the consumer rather than our top youthful cuts. Support that may help the producer get ½ of what he used to get for his cull cow, while fetching insane profits from this same beef for the packer and the retailer, while truly deceiving the consumer. We will be lucky if we retain any steak sandwich customers if we keep this up much longer.

My position has, and always will be, BSE testing for export marketing potential. ABP/CCA does not see it that way. They will rather congratulate themselves for their work with the Beef Information Center to add a few cents to the producer’s pocket and big bucks to the packers and retailers through this joke we call the reality of the Canadian cull cow market. If BSE testing would have been allowed from the very beginning, supply and demand could have worked it’s magic. Instead we live in a cull cow market controlled by those who oppose this free marketing of beef and love the profits that control give them.

I imagine I will be corrected for my misconceptions once again by the chairman of one of these groups who stand no opposition in this country.

Randy Kaiser
(back where I belong ---- west of )Ponoka Alberta
(403) 783 - 8872

[coppertop]

good letter Randy, but I doubt if the WP will print it unless you remove any reference to deceit....they could be hung out to dry if they print anything insinuating those who sit on ABP and their affiliates are anything but pillars of society !!

[cowman]

Well I think you know I basically agree with you on the export testing thing Randy? Hell I said test them all right from the start! Not because I believed we had a real health safety problem but as a marketing tool.
I fought my "demons" over the ABP a long time ago. I saw the writing on the wall then? There is an entrenched "elite" and it is very doubtful they are ever going to be pushed out?
Now bear with me for a minute and don't shoot me before you consider this! The fact is the cow/calf man is not getting the representation he needs in the ABP/CCA? An R-CALF type organization that represents our interests...is what is needed! Hopefully we wouldn't be as narrow minded as them, where all they can focus on is "blame Canada", but the fact is they are standing up for the grassroots American rancher!
Personally I thought BIG C might have morphed into that type of organization but the powers that be pretty well shot that down?
And finally: Hope you are settling in well at Ponoka and getting things set up? I don't know why anyone would prefer that damned old windy prairie to the parkland! And hey, if you keep stirring things up and acting crazy... well...you are close to the nut house! LOL

[rkaiser]

And you can join me if you like cowman. Would be a fine place for a first meeting of the official opposition to the ABP/CCA.

It got real hard for me to keep thinking of BIG C becomeing the Rcalf of the north when a couple of buddies actually got elected into APB and I saw the monetary benefits they were receiving. This is part of the system as well. You are encouraged to run as a delegate if you have something to say, and then paid well to do jobs that have little to do with any BIG picture ideas. One of these buddies traveled the Province - expenses paid and a damn fine per diem to pick the environmental rancher of the year. Major checkoff dollars spent on this important project. One of many fine examples.

If you or anyone else on this board can figure out how Cam or myself can stop the drain from our wallets we would likely spend more time opposing this ridiculous group that leads and supposedly represents the cattlemen of Canada and my Alberta.

I agree with your thoughts on this one 100% cowman. No protectionism ---- simply forward movement with a focus on the financial good of the cattle producers of this country.

[cowman]

Well Randy I suspect it would be like "One flew over the ****oos nest" if we got in there together? The inmates would soon be running the asylum! And seeing how you are all bulked up from weight training you can toss the sink through the window! LOL
Note: This is not meant to be derogatory of anyone with mental illness? It has always been my firm belief that we are all crazier than shit house rats!...some of us can just hide it better than others!