# COOL revisited.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

COOL is back in the news....

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/07/22/5017878/cattlemen-fight-new-rules-for.html

Regards, Mike


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

It is okay for my apples and blue berries to be labeled by processer and country of origen but some how it is to expensive and difficult for my steak. The packers and NCBA have worn this line thin! I believe the consumer has a right to know.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

My personal issue with COOL is how do we track the animals? It has to be a permanent label of identification that will remain with, and identify the beef from birth until consumed.

My understanding is the yearlings and calves will probably have to be implanted with some device that can be scanned. How does a small producer afford such as that?

Then it becomes complicated once the beef is processed. How would each cut of meat be identified that it came from the yearling I sold at the auction the prior year?

Is there a difference in beef born in the U.S. and those born across a border if both are fed in the same feed lot and processed in the same facility here in the U.S.?

I can see some reasoning behind those who do not want beef raised on another continent, fed and processed there, then shipped here. We have no input on the regulations from another country. We do not know the health practices of the farmer or the processing facility.

We import a lot of live beef from Mexico. We once fattened a lot of Canadian beef (until the dollars became equal). Those cattle esentially became American beef once finished and processed here under U.S. regulations.

I do not see a problem with labeling packaged beef brought into the U.S. from another country. Just stamp it Grown and Packaged in XYZ.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Instead of worrying about the meat being Canadian or American or Mexican why do consumers not start thinking about the 8 ralgros and other products that go into the animal in their short life. Why does it matter if they are born in southern Alberta or northern Montana. They could be 5 miles apart does that really matter. Not to me what matters is the chemicals the big feedlots love to use.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I read this morning that Tyson was not going to buy fed cattle from Canada in the near future. The COOL burden is cost prohibitive.

This is a big deal with fed cattle already in short supply. Maybe this will open some eyes.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Ya down there beef will be so tight nobody can afford it why does it matter so much.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

It's kind of a nice idea to know where everything is produced or made but I think it will be somewhat impractical for cattle. There's 43 head here and according to a seminar on cattle handling at the Sunbelt Expo that's twice the average herd size in the Southest. All the cattle here are ear tagged and their calves get matching numbers, so far that's about as far as the ID process goes. There would be much more to it than just slapping a sticker on them or tagging an ear with a certain number. The cost would put many small producers out of business but then again maybe that's what they're after.

There's no growth hormones going into anything here, what happens at the feed lots after they're sold is beyond our control. No antibiotics are given unless absolutely necessary. It's a closed herd except for the changing of the bull every so often, the current bull was born here and his mother was sold and his mother was not born here but bought and brought in many years ago.

Gotta get ready for church, wife will be hollering at me in a minute ;-)


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Canadian and American beef is all the same stuff. Ya I get it for foreign continent beef but if its north american its all the same. How much money has the us government wasted on cool that they could have helped out some poor guys in sd. Just shows government wasting more money on bullshat and not helping who needs it.


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