<font color="blue"> Well, I'm a little confused </font color> Your well ahead of me, I'm a lot confused. Most of my stocking up was done prior to the news breaking. I have no idea how this will play out. I do know what will happen to the meat in my freezer. A quote from the news this morning "more cattle future traders will be killed than people dying from mad cow disease"
The sad thing is, the cow was unable to move on it's own when it went to the slaughter house. That means a sick cow was sent for slaughter and placed into the food supply. While I realize this is something that is done everyday, the time will come when we will pay for it.
Doc et al. You fellows are in for a real eyeopener. Yes the prices have been high and the quality poor. The reason is that after our one cow a thousand miles away caused the border to close between us and by law it can't open for 7 years. This really diminished the supply to your feedlots which caused the price jump. Back here prices have hit giveaway for older cows. I've heard of dairy guys getting $50 for big healthy cows.Hardly pays for trucking. My sheep,also a ruminant also blocked have dropped drasticly too.The laws were in the process of being changed when this came along to allow trade again which a lot of your ranchers were in favor of.I understand that this year has been a real buying spree at equipment dealers there because of all the extra cash that farmers had.Quite the opposite here as some beefmen are real close to bankrupcy due to the low prices. I would suspect that your economy will take a dip in the coming year and you will likely see it register on the NYSE. My advise is don't spend anymore than you need to. fix up whatever you can to make it last a little longer and hope that the international laws bring an end to the hysteria very soon.
I know we take in a lot of beef from Alberta. But we also take in a lot from Mexico now as well. This might have put some changes up for the moment but I am no fan of NAFDA even if it means higher prices. I have no problems with good Canadian Beef but I wont put up my opinions about free trade with Mexico as they continue to bombard us with illigals. Hey you know we have a terrorist problem so maybee we should give all the illigals drivers licenses .....AHHHHHHHHH ! I read a lenghly legal brief recently that was submitted to INS about the troubles our ranchers are haveing with people deficateing in the water tanks, opening them and letting them run dry, garbadge, fires etc etc etc.
Downer cows usually don't make it to the slaughter house. They usually end up in rendering plants and are turned into feed for chickens, dogs, cat's etc. This feed [poultry type ] is not supposed to be given to cattle but it still happens.
The problem lies in what other animals are/were infected and got to the slaughter house and into the human food chain.
A few years back I went on a pheasant shoot. The birds tasted really nasty and didnt fly for beans. I found out later that the ranch owner was feeding his birds that stuff. YEEEEEuuCH ! You sure can taste the difference. Maybee its just me but I can tell in a flash when some one trys to pass off Coho for Scottish smoked Salmon too [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] Now I just chase old Mr Ruffed grouse on my own property. Free Range cedar chickens [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] and you cant beat the price ! Dave
There is no doubt that free range animals are a food source with many different benificial qualities that the factory force fed to impending liver failure product supplys.
yes for the most part I do agree. Recently I did a lot of shopping and comparison on free range chickens. There is a huge varity of quality out there. With out the long boreing pros cons of our system the real stand out is Bell and Evans chicken. Two thumbs up ! Good stuff, a little more $$ but well worth it for a nice dinner. I also saw some Bell and Evans free range ducks this season. mmmmmmm Cant wait for that one, Dave
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