A quick trip to Colorado

Ronny went with me last week for a quick trip to Colorado. For the past three years, the Colorado Livestock Association has held the Marshall Frasier Beef Symposium in honor of my Gramps. I was asked to speak this year on, "A New Era in Animal Welfare & Social Media". It was quite an honor to be there and I'm sure Gramps would have been proud of me.

Do you remember this guy?

Well, he is now this guy....bigger than Hank!

 

 It was hard to get a picture of the two of them together because they were constantly running.They had a lot of fun playing together though, and it made for a tired puppy on the drive home!

It also gave us a chance to check out our yearling bulls (probably Ronny's favorite part of the trip).

 And the other calves that are in...I just love their velvety-red, shaggy winter coats!

 

Spring has sprung...

....at the Pope ranch. And babies are everywhere!

A little Southern flavor

Here is a little picture review of my trip to New Orleans for the U.S. Grains Council annual meeting. When I wasn't in meetings, my group and I were able to experience a little bit of Bourbon Street, as well as the French Quarter. We also took a tour of a food testing lab and two grain elevator riverport facilities.

My 2010 Corn Mission crew reunion!

Jackson Square:

 

The famous Cafe du Monde were I consumed the amazing beignets and chicory coffee!

Amazing barbeque shrimp!

The ZEN-NOH Grain facility on the river:

  



To check out all of my pictures, you can see my online album here.

A little hint of Nawlins...

I'm in New Orleans now for the U.S. Grains Council annual meeting and international marketing conference. I'll have a full post later - here is a little teaser of some of the neat things I've seen so far...

....and consumed!

Reaction to the Oprah show

Oprah’s show on modern agriculture and going vegan wasn’t as bad as I expected, featuring Michael Pollan, Kathy Freston and Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, Manager of Cargill’s Fort Morgan Plant.

Though there were some falsifications and misconceptions thrown around about meat production, they did show the real side of meat production, and I appreciated Cargill opening their doors to show what really happens in a the processing facility.  This was graphic and the talk on twitter was that many people were turning vegan immediately. However, I’m sure a lot of them will get over the shock, realize that is how life is, and enjoy their hamburger tonight.

I posted specific quotes that were mentioned from the show yesterday on my Ag on the Forefront blog.

The best quote of the show: "My family has a dairy, so going vegan affects our livelihood." – Oprah's senior supervising producer Jill VanLokeren It was great that VanLokeren expressed the concern about how a vegan lifestyle affects her family’s livelihood. Kathy Freston later took her to Whole Foods to learn about food she could buy. She may change some of her eating habits, but she wanted them to know she was not going all vegan because of the dairy in her family.

Please click here to read more.

Oh, and this is what Hank thinks of going vegan.

 
What was your take on the show?

Responding to Oprah today: animal agriculture

This may be the first and only time I would encourage someone to watch the Oprah Winfrey show, especially after this incidence against the beef industry.

But since most of us are snowed/iced-in today, I encourage you to watch and respond to the misconceptions during Oprah Winfrey’s show on animal agriculture, CAFO’s and veganism today.

Oprah is scheduled to air a show titled "Food 201" at 3 p.m. CST, where she and 378 staffers go vegan for a “one-week challenge”.

The show will center on food production issues, and will include video about cattle feeding and slaughter, along with other food production topics. The show will feature Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma," and Kathy Freston, a vegan author and spiritual advisor. Additionally, she is having reporters on site at feedlots and meat processing plants.

This is a true insult to my family and our livelihood on the family ranch.

Click here to watch a clip from the show.

This show, along with other challenges to animal agriculture including an increase in focus on "Meatless Mondays" and the upcoming release of the film "Forks Over Knives," has created a need to advocate for food choice and to build a stronger sense of affinity between U.S. consumers and the farmers who produce their food.

Thank you to the Center for Food Integrity for the resources to respond to Oprah. You can find them on the CFI Farmer Resource Center website. In addition, the CFI Social Media Help Desk offers social media support and assistance, available at no cost to its users. Please contact the Help Desk directly at (877) 402-4CFI (4234) or at helpdesk@foodintegrity.org if you would like assistance developing a response, or responding, to an article. Make your voice heard! You can be assured that she will hear mine.