  BeefTalk:
I Wish, I Wish, for a Lifestyle Called Beef
By Kris Ringwall, Extension Beef Specialist,
NDSU Extension Service
Talking about the future, an interesting and spell-binding topic, does
present some real paradoxes for the old (wise?) and young (inexperienced?)
alike. Perhaps the most challenging part of the discussion, however, is the fact
that the experienced must begin to assume a more advisory role with the youth.
This requires old-timers to place confidence in the youth and provide support
and suggestions as needed. I don’t consider myself an old-timer yet, but I do
always appreciate the ideas from young counterparts. Each fall, Gary White and I
teach a class at Dickinson State University on problems in cow management. I ask
the students to write a BeefTalk column to share with the class. No restrictions
are placed on the topics.
I thought I would share with you some of their thoughts over the course of
several BeefTalks. (Another very interesting point is students tend to say what
some of us don’t dare say.)
To start off, Mike Wilson from Bainville, Mont., noted, "In supermarkets
around the world people are walking past the aisle filled with T-bones, chuck
roast, and hamburger and are substituting the 10-pack of Tyson chicken legs or
tickling their taste buds with the other white meat. They are doing this for the
purely economic reason -- these are a cheaper product.... Beef is inherently
more expensive to produce."
In response, I would ask, what could be done to cure the woes of expensive
beef? Or do we simply throw in the towel and start building cages?
Mike’s outlook is more futuristic: "The beef industry still has things
we can smile about. Producers have not vertically integrated and coordinated
their jobs and lifestyles into disintegration. Although the beef marketing
system is not perfect, the producers have not sold out to the big business of
the packers, and there is still room in the beef industry for the small,
family-owned and operated business. All phases of the beef industry need to
stimulate demand for our product and prevent big business from controlling more
than one phase in the conception to consumption cycle."
I find the comment "coordinated our jobs and lifestyle into
disintegration" challenging and perhaps on the leading edge of perception
and reality. As with many business presentations or portfolios, the essence of
the presentation leads a person to believe life will become more coordinated
with the payout or benefit of greater industry integration. This connectivity to
the industry, in theory, should bring enhanced security and provide for a better
lifestyle.
Now, whether Mr. Wilson intended to or not, notice that he connected the
words job and lifestyle. In the beef community, those words are not only
connected, but welded together. The integrated approach that some of the other
livestock species have accepted as fact appears not to be the path of choice for
the young people in the beef industry. I would like to counter with an example
of a marriage between big business and a cow that has worked. All I can really
say is, if you know of one, send me the information.
As Mr. Wilson is pointing out, and perhaps many in the industry need to
remind themselves of, the beef producer does not want a vertically integrated
business. The beef producer is in the beef business, and the ability to take
risk, share in that risk and in the end provide the consumers with a
high-quality beef product is what the business is all about. While doing just
that, both the beef producer and the cow have an excellent life.
Yes, the economics of scale and many other principles all point in the
opposite direction, but just who is in charge anyway? I will vote on the side of
youth, and perhaps, just perhaps, the beef industry can remain a lifestyle.
Your comments are always welcome at www.BeefTalk.com.
For more information, contact the North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement
Association, 1133 State Avenue, Dickinson, ND 58601 or go to www.CHAPS2000.COM
on the Internet. In correspondence about this column, refer to BT0118.
###
Source: Kris Ringwall, (701) 483-2427, kringwal@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu
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Graphic --
Mike Wilson's Five Things You Shouldn't
Say at a Beef Producers Meeting
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1. Who forgot to invite the CEO of Tyson?
2. The imported beef from Mexico provides
a solid floor in the market.
3. I'm just going to eat at the salad bar,
and skip the filet mignon.
4. I wish the cattle industry would be more
structured, more like the pork industry.
5. Beef; it's what got passed up in favor
of chicken for tonight.
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