US Cattlemen's Association asks the National Cattlemen's Beef Association for help and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association calls them, "a bunch of F-ing children"
By Jim Mundorf
Yesterday, on the Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska Facebook page, this screenshot was posted.
At the time when cattlemen and women need them the most we get an inside look at what it’s like to deal with the organization that gets the vast majority of our checkoff dollars. The email is addressed to Jess Peterson who is the Executive Vice President of the US Cattlemens Association. Since you can never be sure about what’s real, today I reached out to the person that posted it, as well as the USCA and the NCBA to authenticate the email. So far I have only heard back from the USCA who stated:
Confirmed. In our conversations with the Hill, they asked USCA to bring the industry together and provide consensus on possible steps forward given the ramifications of COVID19. We reached out to state leaders, some participated in calls, some did not. Ultimately, USCA moved forward without the support of NCBA on possible solutions not only for dollars back to producers BUT also ways to fix our markets. We've been leading on market discussions and are making progress. We hope you and your followers will continue to be involved in helping us make these fixes a reality!
I would guess the reason Mr. Lane is so testy, is because the NCBA doesn’t want to discuss cattle market fixes. I’m also going to guess that the NCBA is not a big fan of the SD Senator mentioned in the screenshot. South Dakota’s Senator Mike Rounds has recently asked the Department of Justice to look into cattle market manipulation, and to oversee the USDA’s current investigation. Since beef packers are the ones being investigated and the NCBA represents them, they are probably none too happy about that. Also, Rounds has recently campaigned for Mandatory Country of Origin beef labeling, which is something else that beef packers and the NCBA are against.
In defense of Mr. Lane being such a crabby pants, he has taken a lot of heat lately for being the spokesperson for the NCBA. Don’t shoot the messenger, he is simply carrying the message of the NCBA. That message seems to be, if you are working on fixes of the manipulated cattle markets, count them out. NCBA CEO Colin Woodall is also included in the email. This is not an Ethan Lane issue, it is an NCBA issue.
At a time when cattlemen need them the most, its ironic that Lane asks others to, “Pick a position and own it.” The NCBA is claims to represent both cattlemen and beef packers. It is becoming more and more obvious that the “position” the NCBA has “picked” is squarely behind the beef packers that are trying to bankrupt cattle producers, hopefully all producers funding the beef checkoff will soon realize this and make them, “own it.”
Read also: National Cattlemens Beef Association Goes on CNBC and Embarrasses Themselves and the Entire Cattle Industry
Jim Mundorf- Owner of the Drover House. He also works on his families farm and cattle ranch in Iowa
Follow Lonesome Lands
