Check out this new web site HUMANEWATCH.ORG.

 It’s a great attempt to combat the HSUS!!!  You can also become a fan on Facebook by searching for humanewatch.

First of all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Well it is almost 2010!  During this time, it is a common occurrence to look back at the year and admire its joys, tears, sorrows, excitement, challenges and opportunities.  As you celebrate the New Year with your family and friends, take an opportunity to look back on your involvement in the cattle industry during 2009.  Look at each negative as an opportunity to improve your self in 2010.  Capture what you did right in 2009 and building on that foundation for 2010.  Charles Dickens wrote “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many -- not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

So enough about the past, let’s look at 2010!  I am an eternal optimist.  I truly believe our best days are before us.  As I look into the future for the cattle industry for 2010 I am filled with optimism.  There is a world of opportunity out there, let’s go get it.  My girls (cows) work hard everyday to do their part in feeding the world; that fact hasn’t changed.   I am sure there will be challenges in 2010 but nothing we can’t over come.  Albert Einstein said once “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”.  We are going to have a lot of opportunities in 2010, the question is “will you be ready”?

With that, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.  I hope the joy of the season reaches everyone and you make many happy memories to cherish.  Happy New Year!  May God’s blessings be upon you, your family and your cattle in 2010!

As cattle producers, we are facing some tremendous challenges in our industry.  One that I think is on top of the list is the mounting attacks from animal rights activist.  I am involved with an agricultural leadership development program called ALOT (Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow).  This past February we spent a week in Washington D.C.  During the week tour we had the opportunity to meet with the Human Society of the United States (HSUS) at their head quarters in DC.  This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to “go into the belly of the beast” and ask anything we wanted.  After a two hour conversation with the leaders of HSUS around their conference table, one theme stuck in my mind, HSUS will stop at nothing to completely abolish animal protein in the American diet, either by choice or legislation.  That is it.  The industries attempts to compromise to or adopt HSUS influences are only opening the door to their propaganda and activism.  During our meeting, HSUS told us of their intentions to end animal protein as a dietary supplement in the human diet and I quote “we can produce just as good of a steak in a laboratory as you do on your farm; it just isn’t cost effect yet but it will be”   

Recently the HSUS has been able to impose its will in states across the USA.  With a lot of success and one set back, HSUS has now put its sites on the mid west.  It is hard to believe that a rural state like Missouri would ever adopt such sweeping changes but as one HSUS representative said “all we have to do is show a few pictures and the public is on our side, the facts or irrelevant” Many cattlemen don’t understand how legislation changes in states like California, which animals in band crates, can affect cattlemen raising cattle on the open range.  The issue isn’t about sow crates; it is about HSUS ability to manipulate public opinion.  In DC, HSUS stated that their approach was a deliberate, consistent and determined strategy to change public opinion against animal agriculture.  So how does the banning of sow crates affect a Missouri cattleman, it opens the door for the HSUS’s ultimate goal of taking your right to produce and consume beef away from you. 

You say “Matt, I am only one person…how can I make a difference?”  More...

To all those cattle producers out there…thank you for all your hard work and dedication!  Most people do not realize the amount of risk, blood, sweat and tears that you pour into the steak that I enjoyed last night. 

The American consumer is privileged to have such a commitment behind its food supply.  Last night I went to a new steak house here in my home town.  The restaurant was completely packed with people eating good old corn feed beef.  As I sat there and ate my juicy 18 ounce NY strip, I couldn’t help but look around and admire the end product of our great industry.  It never failed, as soon as the waitress brought a tray full of sizzling steaks to a table, every customer at the table immediately had a smile on their face.  It was very satisfying to know that all the hours I spent raising my calves, all the nights I pulled calves and all the bruises I incurred working cattle resulted in the final consumer fully enjoying my product.  I will tell you, there was a sense of pride in knowing that I had a small part in making the family next to me enjoying a night out on the town.

As the future leaders of American agriculture and the beef industry, we need to not only know the facts but understand the thought process of our consumers.  I am looking to buy a new flat screen TV.  Over the weekend I went to Best Buy to gaze at the selections of options for my view pleasure.  For an hour I stood in front of a wall of 42 to 67 inch TV’s lost in all the colors and surround sound.  For you see, I don’t care how the TV was made, how it was shipped or the environmental impact of the plastic used in the cover.  I don’t need to know how to build the TV or know how to put all the wires and circuit boards together.  All I care about is which TV fits my living room, has the best picture and sound I can afford and which TV has the best quality.  When the sales man came over to ask if I had questions, he didn’t talk about the manufacturing process of the TV or how the TV was shipped.  He instead focused on my needs and desires and matched them with what I would like.  Sure he threw out some terminology about pixels and hertzs but in the end all I wanted to know which TV was the best to watch Mizzou beat Kansas later this year.  The Best Buy sales intrinsically had respect because of his tie to the industry and knowledge of the process even though he was probably just a college kid trying to make enough money to buy a pizza and beer on Friday night. More...

This past weekend I spent two days helping the Pork Checkoff program promote on the downtown streets of St Louis.  I know, I know...Matt you were helping with the wrong industry.  Well, our brethren in the swine industry need all the help they can get.  During my shifts, we served over 400 pounds of pork loin one tooth pick size portion at a time (it was tasty).  I would estimate we served over five thousand people. 

The event was Taste of St. Louis.  It mainly featured local restaurants and foods.   It draws a mostly urban crowed who think the suburbs of St. Louis are rural America.  The main purpose of the Pork Checkoff’s involvement was to have local producers (and one spy cattleman) to share their story, talk about how to cook pork and answer any questions people may have had.  Here are some items I found interesting or beneficial from the event: More...