Weekly Round Up – June 26 Edition

It’s time for another edition of the Weekly Round Up. This week, we’re talking meat labels, the importance of character, a cute little girl and her cow, and why we love farming. Check it out.

• As you’re wandering through the meat section of your local grocery store, do you look at the labels on the meat and think to yourself, “Holy crap. What does all of this mean?” Or, maybe you think you’ve got it figured out, when in reality, the marketing trap has cornered again. Either way, check out this series of posts from Mom At The Meat Counter. She does a great job of explaining what all of those crazy labels mean.
• And speaking of labels, did you know this?
• This. Because it’s awesome. I love me some little, brown Jersey cows!
• Speaking of cows, I wanted to share this story. The dairy industry is a small one, but a tight-knit one just the same. Though I don’t personally know Reese, I do remember showing against her mom at the All American Jersey Show in Louisville, Ky. Reese has now been in the hospital for 13 months, following a house fire. While she and her sister were staying at their grandparents’ house, an accidental fire started in Reese’s room and her grandmother, Patricia, literally walked through fire to get to her. Like any little girl separated from her animals, Reese misses her, too, specifically her cow, Pantene. So, Pantene came to Johns Hopkins to visit her. Cheers to the hospital for making it happen.
• Truer words were never spoken…
• Speaking of livestock (see what I’m doing here?), check out this blog post from Jean’s Boots Are Made For Talking. Whether you show livestock or not, this is worth the read. When you’re on the sidelines at a cattle show or a soccer game, are you coaching character?
• And finally, this from Modern Day Farm Chick. It’s a couple months old, but still sooooo good. It’s all about why farmers farm. No so much about how much or what, but the most important aspect: why.

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Out of ten possible points, we give it an 11.

It’s pretty tempting for those of us involved in production agriculture to shy away from the mainstream media. We like to keep them at arm’s length because, well, any closer and we might get burned.

And it’s not that we have anything to hide. It’s just that too many consumers and media professionals count themselves as experts when it comes to modern production agriculture and automatically discount our production practices and the tools we use to produce food for the world. After all, reading one story in the newspaper or one blog on the internet can make anyone a certified expert, right?

In the words of one of my friends, “It’s infuriating.”

But, as they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Which is why, when I saw FoxNews.com had posted an article titled “Hormones in cows and what it means for your health,” I decided to go ahead and ignore the alarm bells going off in my head and read it. And boy, am I glad I did.

On a scale of one to ten, we give this article 11 points. Eleven points for actually doing the research and providing a fair and honest look at bovine somatotropin, or bST, which is a naturally occurring protein in milk that helps increase milk production and helps calves grow. Eleven points for reviewing hormones in meat and providing consumers with accurate information about how they’re used and why — and how much they ingest in meat versus other common foods. Eleven points for discussing antibiotics in a rational and logical way. And, 11 points for pointing out that today’s farmers aren’t using tools like bST, hormones or antibiotics to make a buck. They’re using these products to produce a safe and plentiful food supply. After all, our families are eating the same food consumers are eating, which is why we want to produce food in a way that is sustainable, environmentally friendly and safe for our livestock and ourselves. 

Don’t believe me? Give it a read yourself. There’s so much great information, and it comes from author Felicia Stoler, a mom and registered dietician — and, aside from the fact that she and her family eat — not someone who is actively involved in production agriculture.

Hopefully, after reading her article, you’ll get the itch to what she did and do your own research when it comes to modern production agriculture.

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