Chewing The Cud

Well, now that my year as the 2006 National Beef Ambassador is complete, I often reflect on my experiences. I ask myself questions like: Did I do my job to the best of my ability? Did I take advantage of every opportunity that was offered to me? Did I leave my mark on the beef industry? Did I make a difference? Did I enhance the value of beef?

Even though I feel confident in the answers to my questions, I have realized that there is so much left to do and so many people left to share my beef production story with.

Even after traveling across the United States to promote the beef industry by speaking with consumers about nutrition, food safety, and environmental issues, there are so many people left uneducated, misinformed, and making poor decisions for their health. I realized all this because of some of my closest friends. Let me tell you about some of the girls I hang out with....I'm going to call this segment: Beef Bloopers!

Welcome to the Meatrix, a horrific place that depicts agriculture in an eerie light. Moopheus, the image of an FBI agent in the form of a cow, takes one pig and one chicken on a journey to see what "real" agriculture is like. The film depicts animal cruelty, poor housing, inhumane treatment to animals, and much more. How true is this? How credible is this silly cartoon? Well, to get to the meat of it all, this film also depicts a normal farm as being one huge pen filled with one cow, one horse, one chicken, one donkey, and one pig. When was the last time you saw a variety of livestock sharing one pen? Even Noah's ark matched them in twos. Simply stated, the Meatrix is a way to falsify this great livestock industry and give consumers a poor picture of our livelihood while encouraging farmers to move backwards in both technology and conventional farming methods.

When I was in fourth grade, my family and I were snowed into our farm for a week during the infamous South Dakota blizzard of 1997. This blizzard killed thousands of cattle, left many people stranded on highways, and brought South Dakotans closer together as they fought for survival. My family and I experienced many hardships as we struggled to save our cattle, our passion in life. Last year, I experienced a similar plight. South Dakotans were hit with an ice storm that left my family and I without electricity or heat for eleven days.

With the temperature remaining below zero, I am reminded of these winter blunders. Then Colorado cattlemen come to mind...