Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

If we thought the end of 2003 and 2004 were exciting, just look at the things heaped on our plate for the next little while. All hell has broken loose over the USDA’s plans to open the Canadian border, while two of that country’s cattle have tested positive for BSE (one born after the feed ban was in place). NCBA is sending a trade team to Canada as I write this to look at the situation up there. What they report and the decisions made based on their visit will affect the U.S. and Canadian cattle industry for years to come.

The news this morning is that some Canadians are considering the slaughter of every animal over seven years old. Poor people. Just think, that could be us.

The beef checkoff case was argued in front of the Supreme Court with the dissenting attorney standing with the LMA representatives afterward, telling the press that a lot of his clients were “kind of humane,” and under different circumstances “some of them might become vegetarians”.

That decision is due in the spring. We know for a fact that many schoolchildren don’t have any idea where their food comes from, but it is hard for me to believe that the average rancher doesn’t understand the origin of beef. The ranchers we deal with may be exceptional, but they always ask for all the information we can provide them on how their cattle have performed on the ranch, in the feedyard and at the packing plant. They obviously understand the supply chain.

Mother Nature has added a new element to the complexity of the cattle feeding industry, dumping massive rains and early snows across the major feeding states, reducing productivity while packers close plants and reduce kills because of red ink caused by the loss of export markets. The Pacific Rim seems poised for reopening exports with very strict restrictions, but every day seems to be a crapshoot on what will happen next – like $93 live in the midst of the entire fracas.

Dean and I got caught in the unusual weather. We got to Corpus Christi on Christmas Eve for the 100-year storm. They had 4½ inches and, since no one had a snow shovel, they all went outside and took pictures. It was the first snow on Christmas Eve in recorded history and the largest ever. Every television broadcast started with pictures of kids building snowmen.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, our NAIS premises registration application is going into the mail and we are contacting ranchers to get the first birth date of purchases we made last fall. Like everyone else, we are trying to get ahead of the game, looking at the most efficient ways for our organization to implement a usable system to satisfy the people to whom we supply cattle. Yes, 2005 already has my attention. Yours too, I would bet.

In this issue, we profile some of the smaller feeders in the country who have, with thought and innovation, found their place in the world. BSE is the focus of several pieces, including a couple written by Canadians. Paul Hitch and Andrew Murphy offer their thoughts on where the industry is headed. And in the pictures of the attendees at conventions in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska you will find people you know.

I have read the first draft of Jim Whitt’s book and know you will want to be one of the first to order Ridin’ For The Brand. Jim, with his usual insight, has come up with a good read and a moral to boot.
As Paul Hitch would say, “‘Nuff’ said.”