SHOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT

Self destruction is not normal. Commerce usually encourages participants to avoid actions that threaten their livelihood. The beef industry is fairly reliable in looking after its own interest. Sometimes those interests are not commonly shared and disparate views emerge among industry members. Animal ID and COOL are two examples. Animal ID is an important strategic effort that is necessary to grow our export markets and protect herd heath. Nothing immediate occurs when we don't compel animal ID, but we suffer financial penalties every day.

COOL is a more egregious misstep.  COOL was a chauvinistic effort to promote American beef and it sounds like something everyone would support. Under this noble aim of promoting American products is a self destructive outcome, borne of misguided advocates supported by politicians who jump at the idea of anything to promote American without ever considering the ramifications. The result has added dollars to production costs and offered no value to consumers. The average American consumer in a recent poll never reads the labels about origin or cares. Consumers care about how much it costs and how it tastes.

Mexican producers have for years found better markets for their cattle in the U.S.. Cross border trade was good for operations on both sides of the border. American registered breeders found good outlets for high quality bulls from Mexican ranchers. U.S. beef operations found a reliable source for stocker cattle. A U.S. born bull bred to a Mexican cow raised a few miles from the border has little to distinguish it from another animal a few miles away on the American side.

The legislation has had a large and long lasting outcome on the Mexican beef structure. Mexican's began immediately building pens for finishing their own cattle in Mexican feedlots. This change created a need for more grain and the source was U.S. corn and milo. It also has created more beef domestically and less need for U.S. imports leaving U.S beef exports to Mexico in a large decline.

U.S. beef processors joined in the effort to sabotage our own industry. They assessed a $40 discount to Mexican cattle in spite of the fact they suffer no discount when selling the generic beef. Mexican ranchers were left with the option of selling into the U.S. with a large discount, to cattle of the same quality in the U.S., or feeding their stock into the Mexican beef trade.

Undoing wrongheaded legislation is a slow process. In the meantime when the U.S, herd is shrinking and we are in need of all the cattle we can use, one of our major sources is drying up.