The alarm rings at 2 a.m. You slap it silent, before it wakes the slumbering household.
In parka, jeans and sturdy boots, you test the flashlight before setting out on your mission.
Outside, a warm wind sighs with the smells of spring: dripping water, wet hay, soil and maybe, just maybe, a promise of green grass. Tomorrow you will look for it in that warm spot against the foundation of the barn, the place where spring grass always makes its first appearance.
Tonight, you have an assignation.
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The gate creaks when you open it, an unwanted announcement of your arrival at the appointed time and place. The occasion calls for grace combined with stealth and there’s only a half moon to guide you.
But the chinook has begun its snow-eating ways, and your boot slips against the thawed outer layer of a cow flop before you stumble against the still-frozen inner core.
The shapes of the cows materialize in the gloom. Most of them are lying in the scant remains of their daily meal, front feet folded neatly so the stained knees are lost in the darkness beneath their dewlaps.
They are chewing contentedly. A few of them snore. Several emit rumbling noises as the contents of one or two stomachs roils and burbles forth more cud content.
The girls are used to your clandestine visits in the wee hours, so they don’t bother to get up. When the flashlight plays upon their rough winter coats, they show no signs of upset or surprise. In fact, they may have been expecting you.
But these girls in a placid group are not the subjects of your scrutiny. No, the ones you seek are always on the periphery, in a corner, behind an obstacle or under a tree.
That’s where you find her, the one you’ve been watching for a day or two because of her restless ways and her burgeoning udder.
The flashlight catches the spark and the light in her eyes as she murmurs softly, her neck stretching beyond reach of the light.
The beam plays on the object of her attention. A wet and muddy calf stands, hair matted, trembling legs akimbo.
Slowly it puts out a white hoof that looks luminous in the light. The calf takes a shaky step. The cow murmurs and roughly licks its coat, nudging it off its feet. Another sprawling struggle for foothold brings it within reach of her udder, and the first meal begins.
You turn out the flashlight and let the moon and the spring-scented breeze guide you back to the house. Your participation wasn’t needed at this particular assignation.
That’s as it should be.
Economic terrorism
The media has been quick to sensationalize the risk of consuming beef that might be contaminated with BSE. In fact, from October 1996 to November 2002, Health Canada reported a total of 139 deaths worldwide from the human equivalent of BSE, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. …
To date, we have to thank the Canadian beef consumer for their continued support. However, since a second case of BSE has been confirmed in North America, 85 percent of surveyed Canadian beef consumers stated that their confidence in the safety of eating beef has been shaken.
Despite the fact that old bulls sell for next to nothing, the price of bologna is still high. Similarly, older cows (over 30 months of age) are now considered to be a detriment to the farmer or rancher. Or are they?
Domestically, the meat packers and processors are still salvaging good steaks and roasts and grinding lower end cuts for hamburger. We are sure that the buyers of over-the-counter meats haven’t noticed any decline in the price of beef products.
So, you might ask, if the farmer’s take is so small and the retail price is so high, who is making all the profit? Logic would indicate that the packing plants and meat processors have a windfall of profits.
These same processors are directly responsible for contaminating beef feed by processing beef byproducts, which have been fed back to some cattle.
The federal government has spent millions of dollars in compensating the original producers to slaughter their herds, as well as in tracking down the origin of these animals and their feed sources. The federal government has spent millions of dollars in efforts to save the feedlot industry, mostly in Alberta, and has aided the packing plants by guaranteeing them a supply of fed beef.
The Saskatchewan government has allocated $12.5 million to the Cull Animal Program to lessen the impact of cull animals flooding the market all at one time and driving prices down further.
We, the cow-calf producers, appreciate any assistance but can assure the government this aid won’t keep us in business. …
Because BSE has been blown out of proportion, it is costing farmers their life savings and has diminished their equity in their farms. Cattle farmers, as well as grain farmers, have been negatively impacted by this whole sordid affair and they in turn won’t be able to continue purchasing machinery or crop inputs.
This snowballs further on the economy and will be felt by the sellers of machinery, vehicles and crop supplies.The real concern for all Canadians should be “who will be left to produce the food that we know is safe and take for granted?”
There won’t be a next generation of farmers … if something isn’t done to dispel the myth that eating beef could be harmful to your health.
– Mervyn Springer,
Leslie, Sask.
Think again
Canadians should give their heads a shake. I am a U.S. citizen living in Canada and have for the last 15 years. My wife and children are Canadians. I believe I can see things from both sides of the border.
Some Canadians believe they have a right to the U.S. markets. Wrong.
What is in it for the U.S.? They have lost most of their beef export markets. And you want to flood what market they have left with your beef. They would be fools if they let this happen.
They should open the border because Canada has been a good friend and neighbour. Wrong again.
A friend stands by you right or wrong even if he does not agree with you. A friend stands by you and you are right or wrong together. A friend does not join those who are against you and publicly condemn you.
The border should be open because of the export-import of other products. Wrong.
The U.S. exports less than 25 percent of its gross domestic product to Canada and Canada export over 75 percent of its GDP to the U.S. Free trade does not mean mandatory trade. Who needs who the most?
The border should be opened because Canada is a fellow democracy. Wrong again.
The Canadian form of government lets the people choose who to support or places into power the governing dictator. …
Here are some of my ideas.
Contact your MP and demand that a solution to the BSE problem be fixed or it will be his last term in office.
Vote an independent candidate into office so they can represent you and not vote as they are told to by the party leaders. They may not be able do anything for you, but they may be able to stop things being done to you. Enough independent MPs could take power away from the Canadian dictator.
Support Western Canada in separating from Eastern Canada. Western Canada, with all of its resources, could pay off all of the national debt, give every child a university education, have a pension plan so that no aged person will go without, have a health care program that will have no equal.
– Coe Patton, Kitscoty, Alta.
Who cares?
I have decided to air my concerns with the depressed livestock situation, although the livestock themselves are not nearly as depressed as the owners and operators of a livestock operation are.
I sold three mature cows five to nine years of age this past August. I received a cheque for $313 in total for all three cows.
I had to pay trucking out of this besides. I did get a top-up from the cull cow program, which gave me approximately in total $400 per animal.
Now, since the beginning of January we’re only getting 55 to 68 cents per pound for our yearling calves, about one half of what they are worth. Meat at the retail level hasn’t declined in price at all, and in some cases has even increased.
Who cares?
Our governments, both provincial and federal, are rolling over and playing dead. They are quite content to allow a once thriving industry to just dry up and die. Along with our industry will go our implement and parts dealerships, our small businesses in our small towns, stores and entertainment centres.
Who cares?
Of course, you have to take into account that all us cattlemen are classed as bad managers because we just can’t create enough cash flow to keep all the creditors deliriously happy.
I would like to be able to stop the paycheques for nine months to all of the people sitting in a government position. They would then be right down at our eye level. It is totally criminal to continue watching our cattle operations completely dehydrate. All the Mickey Mouse plans the governments have devised put little or nothing in the pockets of cow-calf operations. …
Now we are presented with CAIS, or Chartered Accountants Income Stabilization. The livestock industry deserves much better. Isn’t there anyone who could put a program together to address this issue?
Who cares? I do.
– Bernard Dease,
Archerwill, Sask.
Likes Devine
I thought we lived in Canada, a free country, but after hearing what the new Conservative party has ruled, I feel this is more of a dictatorship than a democracy.
Mr. Devine was and is a very well-versed, intelligent man who would be a very good MP, as he was a very good premier. I feel he was the last man in the legislative building in Regina who had the power to help agriculture to actually try to implement programs to help this important industry.
Tell me, what programs have the NDP come up with to help an industry or our province? Their first order of business was to illegally eliminate GRIP (Gross Revenue Insurance Plan) and since then their agriculture programs have only gotten worse.
Yes, Mr. Devine was the leader of a group of individuals who have done wrong, but they deserved and got the punishment. My feelings were and are that perhaps Mr. Devine was so involved in agriculture – yes, we thought there was an ag crisis in 1990 – that he didn’t see what certain people were doing behind his back.
I only wish we had someone in Regina or even better in Ottawa who cared half as much as he does.
Shame on whoever made this decision that will once again go another step to kill our province and our industry. …
– Cory Zadorozniak,
Estevan, Sask.
