Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

With one year under new management here at CALF News, it is time to thank a very efficient and energetic staff and a cadre of advertisers who have helped us make the year a definite success. Our readers have continued to support us with letters, comments and, most of all, readership. Thanks to you all.

Nothing else has changed a great deal. The judge in the Alabama case made his decision and, to no one’s surprise, we are now waiting for a higher court to review the case. The Supreme Court has heard the checkoff case, and that decision should be coming down in the near future. Japan is still looking for more reassurance on BSE, and March 7 has come and gone and the Canadian border is still closed.

The Canadians are making lemonade out of their lemons, however; their packers are going great guns, even building new facilities. The Canadian beef market is quickly repositioning itself as a major competitor instead of a major supplier of feeder and finished cattle to the U.S.

We are a little closer to individual animal identification and, if the twenty-some companies on the trade show floor at the Annual Cattle Industry Convention are any indication, a new, very lucrative business has been born.

Secretary Johanns demonstrated the President’s and his respect for the U.S. beef industry by making the annual meeting his first stop after being confirmed as ag secretary. Johanns was well versed, well received and very accessible to the attendees and to the press. We all need to wish him the best in his new high profile, challenging job.

In this issue, we bring you a complete report on the Annual Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio. For those of you who were there, it is a reminder of the power that 6,000 producers have when they come together. For those of you who were not able to attend the meeting, we give you a bird’s eye view of a very professional, internationally recognized organization that supports and defends beef producers every day.

In defense of the industry, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board make sure that consumers retain their confidence in beef. Not so with other “cattle industry” organizations that spend their days telling the media that consumers are at risk by eating beef. To denigrate beef, everyone’s livelihood, and a product everyone knows is safe, for the sake of politics and one-upmanship, can’t be anything other than insanity on the part of people who certainly should know better. The old saying, “Power corrupts” certainly seems to apply when some industry spokesmen have to resort to sensationalism and untruths in order to get their way. Enough already.

We welcome new sponsor Cargill Animal Nutrition. A major promoter of education in the industry, Cargill Animal Nutrition will bring you Jim Whitt’s Business Management & Leadership for Cattle Feeders column, “Whitt & Wisdom.” Glad to have you on board.