The Great Debate



As I See It...

By Pete Burmeister on

News From The Coffee Shop

June 11, 2013 at 12:58 PM

I've followed along with the "hash tag" #fluffycows sensation from its beginning in late May. As you probably know by now, it went viral on the Internet with several major news networks throughout the USA and world picking the story up. That part doesn't surprise me. People are, in large part ignorant, the media understands this, & is willing to sell them whatever they choose to buy in a given 24-hour "news cycle."

I suspect with this premise in mind, the many online articles, photos, advertisements, social media pages and accounts, etc. set-up in the days and weeks following, were to capture the momentum of the Fluffy Cow craze and more importantly, tell a preferred side of the story, aka an opinion. In the wake of the #fluffycow trend an entrenched debate between show cattle and beef production has, again, risen pitting the two sides at odds with one another.

You've no doubt heard the statement that opinions are like....., well you know, everyone has one! If you're still reading, let me share my story and how my opinion on the subject matter has been formed. 

I was born and raised on a diversified production grain and livestock farm in Benton County, IA. My father farmed, fed hogs, and raised cattle-- Santa Gertrudis for a brief period of time. My mother stayed home, helped on the farm, raised 3 kids and taught us not to be pompous jerks. Today, I'm an Agricultural Banker back home, am raising 2 daughters of my own, and my brother and I farm with our folks in addition to running 320 commercial cows, back grounding calves, finishing cattle, and have recently added an embryo recipient herd to raise club calves.

What's important here and relevant to the article title are my unique experiences sandwiched between the past and present that have shaped my opinion about the production beef business, showing cattle and the time-honored debate among folks about which is right, which is wrong, and wether or not the two can co-exist.

Before I tell you the why let me explain the how behind my reason. Here it goes...

I loved cows at age 2 and was scared to death of them at age 9, helped Dad fix river-bottom fence so many times I can't remember, but I do remember the humidity, gnats, and skeeters, I showed home-raised steers at the county fair that stood last in class and had one that was named Grand Champion, I've also purchased and shown club calves at the county fair that stood last in class and had one that was named Grand Champion, I showed at Iowa State Fair, Kansas City and Denver, I completed my 4-H record book each year and yes,... paid so much for a club calf that I lost money, I've clipped and fit my own calves and had fitters do the work for me, I cried when I sold my first two steers at the 4-H auction and have never been more happy to sell a pen of cattle and cash the check, I select for slick haired cattle in the commercial herd and for hair in the club calf herd, I love correctly balanced and sound structured cattle and understand that feed conversion and average daily gain pay the bills in the feedlot, I've bought and "jocked" steers and sold home-raised breeding stock to neighboring farmers, I've had a wealth of good, honest, intelligent mentors and also learned how the "other half thinks" from some fairly "shady criminals."

I learned to AI cattle at age 14, spent a summer in college artificially breeding hundreds of cows for Carrousel Farms in Wisconsin, scraped feedlot pens on the farm, hauled manure on crop ground for fertilizer, ran break-even projections on groups of cattle, managed feed costs, balanced feed rations, treated sick cattle, saved cattle from rising flood waters from time to time, rinsed-brushed-blown on 4-H show calves, competed on the ISU Meat Judging Team & ISU Livestock Judging Team, coached the WKU Livestock Judging Team, taught undergraduate animal science lab classes, livestock evaluation classes, and authored a graduate thesis on Body Condition Scoring Beef Cattle, loaned money to cattle farmers, judged county fair market beef shows and prospect feeder calf shows, and now raising my own kids the same farm in the same fashion.

Now to the point. What most folks who most adamantly argue on either side don't realize is that they have forgotten one critically important step before jumping on their soapbox, Education.  Before you Tweet or Facebook a thought that discounts the other side so quickly, please try to gain an appreciation for both arenas, embrace the positives that each represent, and try to understand that #Fluffycows isn't good or bad, it just is.

 

And... as this picture represents, the two can co-exist.