DRY CRIK Journal

Though given ample time to subside, my anger persists over the irrefutable evidence of inhumane cattle handling at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Plant in Chino. Pete Crow’s objective editorial in the February 25th edition of Western Livestock Journal assuaged my indignant rage only slightly as he concluded, “it seems the dairy and beef cattle industries, as well as the meat packing industry, must start policing ourselves better.”

Yes, our congregation needs a good preaching to – that goes without saying. But where was the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, where was the film clip for the media to depict any number of the diverse and humane activities employed by beef producers? One would think that after the maelstrom of bad press for the past two decades, the NCBA might be prepared with some good news. A visit to their/our website for a statement was painfully political and disappointing. I recall several homemade videos from Elko that would have been more appropriate.

If honestly calculated, the NCBA dues are not cheap, but ever since the USDA’s Dairy Buy-Out debacle that put many beef producers out of business, I’ve wondered if the association officers were merely looking for another acronym to add to their obituaries. Though mistakenly, I also thought that adding the ‘B’ to NCA was to differentiate us from the dairy business, but apparently political correctness and a Farm Bill in limbo precluded any public comment to label ‘dairyburger’ for what it is: ground-up, burnt-out dairy cows with who knows what in their systems. Frankly, any real vision from our industry comes from the pure-bred breeders in the form of Certified Black Angus, Certified Hereford, or other certified beef breeds - good faith attempts to brand meat and offer consumers some clue as to what they’re eating. Unfortunately however, most folks think beef producers endorse the practices at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Plant.