To read the liberal media, who fawn over vegetarian and animal rights activists like they were martyrs, you'd swear the whole populace of South Korea had taken on their cause, as they demonstrate in the streets against U.S. beef.
The demonstrators claim U.S. beef carries a danger of BSE (Mad Cow Disease). There is much more BSE in South Korea's own domestic cattle herd than has ever been found in the U.S. The truth is, they need more U.S. beef available to consumers to counteract the dangers of South Korea's own beef.
Those arguments aside, beef is a sideshow in the current street demonstrations. South Korea has a new, narrowly elected government of just a few months. It is still feeling its way along, and frankly, lacks the deft political touch to cement its hold on power.
The street demonstrators care very little, and may not even know, what the issue is. They are just opposed to the new government and want to bring it down. If U.S. beef is the convenient whipping boy to get this job done, so be it.
That's why much of the U.S. press coverage is such a farce. The press has fallen for the line that the demonstrations are about U.S. beef--and by extension--we in the U.S. must also be in grave danger, eating U.S. beef. To anyone who truly understands what is really going on in South Korea, they just laugh at how badly out of touch the U.S. press is.
Most of the rest of the world understands the South Korean situation, and consumers in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Asian countries buy U.S. beef with none of the public outcry. We just need to wink at South Korea's inept government, and understand that we are just convenient pawns in their sideshow.
As the saying goes "and this too shall pass."
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Cattle marketing delayed by July 4 holiday
Early indications are that beef clearance at the retail level, and cattle prices, have held up through the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
Feeder cattle were steady to strong today at the bellweather Oklahoma City livestock auction, on 4,800 head--about half of normal. Boxed beef and cattle futures were essentially steady today, the other key parts of the cattle price equation.
Many local auctions weren't held at all last week, and the ones that were had greatly reduced volume, as buyers and sellers alike played hookie for the long holiday weekend. For that reason, you'll be able to tell a lot more about the cattle market in a week than you can today.
Traditionally, beef goes into a summer slump after July 4, as cooks decide not to heat up the kitchen with oven roasts and meat loaf, until the weather cools off in the fall. Cattle numbers are down in the sale barns until fall, as the great numbers of cattle are out on summer grazing. No major drought appears to be on the horizon to bring them in early.
The other factor, just now seriously coming into play, is that cattle numbers are greatly diminished, due both to recent death loss in snowstorms in some areas, and drought culls in others. The calf crop was smaller, and that will be reflected in fall cattle marketing. Less supply, which is expected to be met by steady demand, will keep prices up.
That's a thumbnail sketch of the summer, 2008 cattle market.
Feeder cattle were steady to strong today at the bellweather Oklahoma City livestock auction, on 4,800 head--about half of normal. Boxed beef and cattle futures were essentially steady today, the other key parts of the cattle price equation.
Many local auctions weren't held at all last week, and the ones that were had greatly reduced volume, as buyers and sellers alike played hookie for the long holiday weekend. For that reason, you'll be able to tell a lot more about the cattle market in a week than you can today.
Traditionally, beef goes into a summer slump after July 4, as cooks decide not to heat up the kitchen with oven roasts and meat loaf, until the weather cools off in the fall. Cattle numbers are down in the sale barns until fall, as the great numbers of cattle are out on summer grazing. No major drought appears to be on the horizon to bring them in early.
The other factor, just now seriously coming into play, is that cattle numbers are greatly diminished, due both to recent death loss in snowstorms in some areas, and drought culls in others. The calf crop was smaller, and that will be reflected in fall cattle marketing. Less supply, which is expected to be met by steady demand, will keep prices up.
That's a thumbnail sketch of the summer, 2008 cattle market.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Commodity prices, not weather, affecting markets so far
The livestock markets, including cattle, hogs and poultry, are affected more so far this growing season by high grain prices, particularly corn, than drought, floods or pestilence.
USDA revised its corn acreage report to show much less loss than expected from the Mississippi River flooding, levelling out grain prices, but certainly not bringing them down. Corn prices are much more a function of the dual demand from ethanol and livestock consumption, than the weather.
The primary effect on livestock is that numbers are being cut. Cattle, hog and poultry numbers are down already, and will come down further, because grain is too pricey to profitably feed to livestock. This will, in turn, put less meat on the retail market and it will be more expensive in the supermarket. This effect is already reflected to some extent in food prices, but it will get more pronounced through the rest of this year and early next year, analysts say.
With this election over in the fall, and more scientific consensus that ethanol from corn is not an efficient way to produce gasoline, there will be a shakeout in the ethanol business, and Congress might even drop subsidies, and tariffs on foreign ethanol. This will lessen the competition for corn, as ethanol makes no sense without the federal subsidy, and bring corn prices down to where the livestock industry can afford to feed it again.
Everybody has to eat, and high food prices will catch the attention of politicians. One sure way to bring prices down is to get corn prices in line. It not only affects meat, but any product like soft drinks and baked goods, that use corn sweeteners. This reality will sink in quickly, and bring action.
USDA revised its corn acreage report to show much less loss than expected from the Mississippi River flooding, levelling out grain prices, but certainly not bringing them down. Corn prices are much more a function of the dual demand from ethanol and livestock consumption, than the weather.
The primary effect on livestock is that numbers are being cut. Cattle, hog and poultry numbers are down already, and will come down further, because grain is too pricey to profitably feed to livestock. This will, in turn, put less meat on the retail market and it will be more expensive in the supermarket. This effect is already reflected to some extent in food prices, but it will get more pronounced through the rest of this year and early next year, analysts say.
With this election over in the fall, and more scientific consensus that ethanol from corn is not an efficient way to produce gasoline, there will be a shakeout in the ethanol business, and Congress might even drop subsidies, and tariffs on foreign ethanol. This will lessen the competition for corn, as ethanol makes no sense without the federal subsidy, and bring corn prices down to where the livestock industry can afford to feed it again.
Everybody has to eat, and high food prices will catch the attention of politicians. One sure way to bring prices down is to get corn prices in line. It not only affects meat, but any product like soft drinks and baked goods, that use corn sweeteners. This reality will sink in quickly, and bring action.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
USDA: left hand doesn't know what right hand's doing
As the soap opera continues to play out in the big salmonella scare in tomatoes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has suddenly decided it wasn't tomatoes afterall, and is now fingering jalapeno peppers used in salsa, as the culprit.
This is after farmers, wholesalers, grocers, restauranteurs, and ordinary consumers have lost millions on recalled tomatoes and lost sales of all tomatoes. Now it's "oops, we're sorry" and jalapeno pepper farmers, wholesalers, grocers, restauranteurs and ordinary consumers will lose more money and sales, as USDA still doesn't have its act together.
In the first place, neither tomatoes or jalapeno peppers are likely carriers of salmonella. It is a very weak pathogen, and the acid in tomatoes and capucin in peppers would likely kill it.
Even more likely, since USDA says the use of both tomatoes and jalapenos in salsa caused the outbreak, the combination of the two, along with the likely addition of either vinegar or lemon and lime juice that is common in salsa, would certainly kill salmonella.
Scaring the public is a USDA specialty, as beef producers know from the recent E. Coli recalls. Just like the old joke "Where does an elephant sleep? Anywhere he wants to," USDA blunders in unannounced and uninvited. It's CYA time for the professional bureaucrats, just in case something is found, they can say "see, I told you so."
This is a very expensive, dilatory and needless waste of taxpayer's money. USDA needs to keep quiet, unless it has definitive proof. They're already received as the little boy crying wolf.
This is after farmers, wholesalers, grocers, restauranteurs, and ordinary consumers have lost millions on recalled tomatoes and lost sales of all tomatoes. Now it's "oops, we're sorry" and jalapeno pepper farmers, wholesalers, grocers, restauranteurs and ordinary consumers will lose more money and sales, as USDA still doesn't have its act together.
In the first place, neither tomatoes or jalapeno peppers are likely carriers of salmonella. It is a very weak pathogen, and the acid in tomatoes and capucin in peppers would likely kill it.
Even more likely, since USDA says the use of both tomatoes and jalapenos in salsa caused the outbreak, the combination of the two, along with the likely addition of either vinegar or lemon and lime juice that is common in salsa, would certainly kill salmonella.
Scaring the public is a USDA specialty, as beef producers know from the recent E. Coli recalls. Just like the old joke "Where does an elephant sleep? Anywhere he wants to," USDA blunders in unannounced and uninvited. It's CYA time for the professional bureaucrats, just in case something is found, they can say "see, I told you so."
This is a very expensive, dilatory and needless waste of taxpayer's money. USDA needs to keep quiet, unless it has definitive proof. They're already received as the little boy crying wolf.
Friday, July 4, 2008
It oughta be a riot at the Greeley Stampede
One of the great small rodeos in America is the Independence Day Stampede in Greeley, Colorado. It is a big time, outdoor rodeo, accompanied by community festivals, a parade, carnival and big name entertainment.
Tomorrow night, the over-the-hill, has-been rock band Poison, is due to perform. The drummer in the band, Rick Rockett, has suddenly claimed he did not know that the Stampede includes a rodeo, and that he is opposed to rodeo because it is cruel to animals. As part of a band on the downhill side, bucks are triumphing over principle, however, as he will perform anyway.
Rockett is due to attempt to deliver an anti-rodeo screed during the performance, which ought to be a gas in Greeley, Colorado--which could be the red neck capital of the state. We can only hope that he is merely booed off the stage, rather than something even worse happening.
It has gotton so bad since Rockett went off, that the lead singer in the band, Bret Michael, has had to point out that he disagrees vehemently with Rockett and said "we'll make up for it by playing one hell of a concert."
Rodeo, which merely emulates what goes on at farms and ranches everyday, has cowtowed to the animal rights crowd, and drastically changed (some purists say ruined) the treatment of animals. Nonetheless, there are now organized professional protestors who appear at virtually every rodeo to garner their share of press publicity.
They've been at Denver's National Western rodeo the last few years, at Cheyenne Frontier Days, in Houston, Ft. Worth, Calgary or any other rodeo you want to name. That's their right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that we're celebrating on this July 4 holiday.
Perhaps its time to do as the owner of Denver restaurant J.P. McGill's has done. When confronted by animal rights activists who objected to his lobster tank, where patrons pay $2 to run a mechanical arm and pick out their lobster for dinner out of the tank, he told them where to go. He is not taking out the tank, and says someone needs to take a stand or we'll all get run over.
Here, Here!
Tomorrow night, the over-the-hill, has-been rock band Poison, is due to perform. The drummer in the band, Rick Rockett, has suddenly claimed he did not know that the Stampede includes a rodeo, and that he is opposed to rodeo because it is cruel to animals. As part of a band on the downhill side, bucks are triumphing over principle, however, as he will perform anyway.
Rockett is due to attempt to deliver an anti-rodeo screed during the performance, which ought to be a gas in Greeley, Colorado--which could be the red neck capital of the state. We can only hope that he is merely booed off the stage, rather than something even worse happening.
It has gotton so bad since Rockett went off, that the lead singer in the band, Bret Michael, has had to point out that he disagrees vehemently with Rockett and said "we'll make up for it by playing one hell of a concert."
Rodeo, which merely emulates what goes on at farms and ranches everyday, has cowtowed to the animal rights crowd, and drastically changed (some purists say ruined) the treatment of animals. Nonetheless, there are now organized professional protestors who appear at virtually every rodeo to garner their share of press publicity.
They've been at Denver's National Western rodeo the last few years, at Cheyenne Frontier Days, in Houston, Ft. Worth, Calgary or any other rodeo you want to name. That's their right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that we're celebrating on this July 4 holiday.
Perhaps its time to do as the owner of Denver restaurant J.P. McGill's has done. When confronted by animal rights activists who objected to his lobster tank, where patrons pay $2 to run a mechanical arm and pick out their lobster for dinner out of the tank, he told them where to go. He is not taking out the tank, and says someone needs to take a stand or we'll all get run over.
Here, Here!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
USDA love driving out packers
As news comes today that the U.S. Deparment of Agriculture (USDA) and Nebraska Beef LLC have widened the ground beef recall from 500,000 pounds (see blog below) to 5.3 million pounds, one can only conclude that USDA relishes driving packers out of business.
This is the third one this year (although no word had been received at press time about the status of Nebraska Beef LLC), the others in California and New York. Think about it--there is little excuse for USDA not to do their inspections and enforcements in such a way that the problem at a meat plant is corrected long before a public recall of 5.3 million pounds is needed.
One can only conclude that USDA is out to get Nebraska Beef, by letting things get that far out of hand. Packers by law must pay cash for the cattle they slaughter on the front end, then pay the employees, utilities, interest cost, etc., and only then have beef to sell, which is shipped and billed out typically on 30-day terms.
A recall means all the money was paid out, with little or no revenue received. When you add the shipping costs of getting the meat back, all the extra accouting and paperwork in proving you got it back, and then destroying the meat, plus pay a hefty fine from USDA--it almost always drives a packer out of business.
If this were a life or death matter for the consumer, (which it isn't, as explained below) that might be justifiable. Short of that, USDA should have found the problems in its inspections, talked to the packer for corrections in private and if a recall was then found to be justified, do it before it got 5.3 million pounds out of control.
This way, it is USDA that is endangering the public health, not the meat packer.
This is the third one this year (although no word had been received at press time about the status of Nebraska Beef LLC), the others in California and New York. Think about it--there is little excuse for USDA not to do their inspections and enforcements in such a way that the problem at a meat plant is corrected long before a public recall of 5.3 million pounds is needed.
One can only conclude that USDA is out to get Nebraska Beef, by letting things get that far out of hand. Packers by law must pay cash for the cattle they slaughter on the front end, then pay the employees, utilities, interest cost, etc., and only then have beef to sell, which is shipped and billed out typically on 30-day terms.
A recall means all the money was paid out, with little or no revenue received. When you add the shipping costs of getting the meat back, all the extra accouting and paperwork in proving you got it back, and then destroying the meat, plus pay a hefty fine from USDA--it almost always drives a packer out of business.
If this were a life or death matter for the consumer, (which it isn't, as explained below) that might be justifiable. Short of that, USDA should have found the problems in its inspections, talked to the packer for corrections in private and if a recall was then found to be justified, do it before it got 5.3 million pounds out of control.
This way, it is USDA that is endangering the public health, not the meat packer.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Ho hum--another beef recall
The mass media is all agog yet again, about a recall of 500,000 pounds of ground beef from Kroger stores by USDA and Nebraska Beef Packers Inc. As with most beef recalls for E, Coli, a good share of the suspected beef never reaches consumer hands, and the part that does rarely makes anyone sick, as E. Coli is a very weak pathenogen and is killed by proper cooking.
Steak Tartare, a dish made from raw ground prime beef, is not made out of supermarket hamburger, the kinds that comes in cryogenic tubes like that recalled at Kroger. The point is, most people do not eat hamburger, and particularly low-end factory packaged ground beef, raw. They cook it and don't face any danger.
This isn't the story that comes across in the mass media. They talk of death and destruction, hysteria and pestilence. The truth is considerably short of that.
It is inexcuseable, and completely preventable, that even one possibly tainted tube of ground beef would make its way into a supermarket meat case.
But it's also not a major crisis that it did. Let's have a little sense of perspective here.
Steak Tartare, a dish made from raw ground prime beef, is not made out of supermarket hamburger, the kinds that comes in cryogenic tubes like that recalled at Kroger. The point is, most people do not eat hamburger, and particularly low-end factory packaged ground beef, raw. They cook it and don't face any danger.
This isn't the story that comes across in the mass media. They talk of death and destruction, hysteria and pestilence. The truth is considerably short of that.
It is inexcuseable, and completely preventable, that even one possibly tainted tube of ground beef would make its way into a supermarket meat case.
But it's also not a major crisis that it did. Let's have a little sense of perspective here.
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