Cyndi's Two Cents

No shame in raising meat animals

Commentary.

Donning a chef’s hat and apron, the twelve-year-old daughter of a friend of mine entered the show ring at her county 4-H fair to compete in the costume class.  The steer she led was the offspring of her first show heifer.  To promote the beef industry and educate consumers, this young lady had drawn the basic cuts of beef on the steer, outlining the location of the chuck, rib, short loin, loin, rump, etc.

I thought it was brilliant, as did many others who viewed a picture on my friend’s post on social media.  In addition to many positive and supportive comments, there were some negative ones and others that were downright mean and nasty.

I was not surprised to see that some anti-animal agriculture people had responded negatively.  One woman tweeted, “I would probably disown my child if she did something like this.”  Others sent private messages to my friend calling her and her daughter vile, disgusting and other less-flattering expletives.

I was surprised, though, how many people that raise livestock themselves had negative things to say about this child.  One cattle farmer told my friend, “Your kid could single handedly ruin the beef industry.”

Really?

We in animal agriculture spend so much time pussyfooting around worrying about transparency and terminology and “agvocating” that we have to be careful we don’t paint ourselves into a corner.  We should not be ashamed that we raise food animals.  The steer led into the show ring that day will soon be butchered (or harvested if you prefer that term) and fill someone’s freezer with high-quality beef.

I guarantee the care my friend’s daughter’s livestock receives is nothing less than excellent.  The genuine smile she flashed for the camera was captivating, but the weeks spent feeding, washing, combing and leading before she walked the well-cared for beeve into the show ring reveal the heart of a true stockman.

A 4-H beef steer is not a puppy.  If we perpetuate that myth by trying to hide the truth from consumers, where will that lead?  It can only widen the gap between what happens on a farm and what many people perceive happens on a farm.

Although I firmly believe we need to explain and educate at a level consumers understand, I see no benefit to anyone if we compromise our sound and scientific terminology in doing so.  I am not ashamed nor embarrassed to use the vocabulary that defines the reproductive anatomy of a cow or sow or ewe.  I do not use nicknames when describing the anatomy of a bull or boar or ram.  We raise cattle on our farm.  They are our responsibility from the day (or middle of the night) when they are born to the day they leave our farm in a livestock trailer.

We sell some breeding stock and we sell beef from market cattle we have raised on our farm.  Many of our customers have questions about where different beef cuts they purchase are located on the steer.  Had they seen my friend’s daughter at her county 4-H fair, perhaps they would have seen for themselves.