I have been fortunate in my career in the cattle and beef industry to travel around the country and meet producers and visit their operations from coast to coast, as well as visit cattle operations in several countries. Something that has always drawn my interest, no matter where I’ve traveled, is that you can always learn something new by visiting with a cattle producer—and it doesn’t matter if they are the fifth generation on a family operation or if they are first-generation producers just getting their start.
If you take any two people from the cattle business, from anywhere in the country, they are going to have a lot in common. They’ve put in the work to either build, maintain or expand an operation. They have a passion for their animals and the land. They have a passion for rural communities and a way of life that differs from their city cousins. Agricultural producers are the backbone of rural America, not only supporting thousands of family-owned businesses in small towns but always answering the call and challenge of serving on school boards, church boards, county commissions, rural utility boards and rural fire protection districts.
They also have another thing in common—a subset of their fellow citizens would like to put them out of business.
Over the years, we’ve seen, experienced, and often, even laughed at the efforts of extremist groups trying to draw attention to their efforts of spreading the word about the cruelty of animal protein production, their desire to convert us all to vegetarians, or their efforts to kick ranchers off public lands. Their efforts have evolved in the past few decades from silly stunts and protests to highly organized voter outreach and fundraising.
You don’t have to look very far to see that these groups have become much more organized and are very well funded. In just a few short weeks, the citizens of Denver will be voting on an ordinance banning packing plants in the city and county of Denver. This particular ballot question is targeting one single lamb processing plant that is currently located in Denver—one that just happens to account for approximately 20% of lamb slaughter capacity in the U.S.
It is entirely too easy for cattle producers across the West to say “Oh, it doesn’t impact me, I’m not in the sheep business” or “Yeah, that sounds like something the crazies in Denver would do.” However, the group behind this effort is determined to take this processing plant ban statewide if they win and have additional plans to take this ballot question to other states across the country as well. They already have staff in several other states laying the groundwork for future ballot initiatives.
This is just one example. The list of efforts targeted at negatively impacting animal protein production in the U.S. is staggering. While many issues we face from those who want to put us out of business are attention grabbing and headline making, I firmly believe they are using those as a distraction while they take many small bites out of the apple. Any issue that impacts rural life in America, from wildlife management to federal land management policy, from environmental regulation to tax reform, from energy policy to private property rights, are now being influenced by organizations that are well organized, well financed and have a detailed playbook to accomplish their goal of making it harder for us to do business.
Our industry has a great track record of standing on the sidelines, dividing ourselves into teams, and then proceeding to throw rocks at each other over issues we don’t agree on. Every cattlemen’s organization meeting held in the past 25 years, from local to national, seems to go by the 80/20 rule. We spend 80% of our time arguing about the 20% of the issues we don’t see eye-to-eye on, which to me, is an interesting strategy considering those that want to put us out of business are well organized, raising money and are out educating voters on why their vision for America is the correct vision for America.
With all the challenges facing our business, now would be a great time for our industry to set aside egos and let the battle scars heal of the past 25 years of bickering about small issues and differences on things we will likely never agree on. Now would be a great time for our industry to come together and present a united front, organize our own playbook and take on the battles waged by those outside the industry. Future generations of producers and the future of rural America are depending on us. — Dan McCarty, Rifle, CO
(Dan McCarty is the director of operations for Colorado River and Colorado Canyon Ranches, Colorado Canyon Feeders and Kinikin Craft Butchers & Processing.)
