Secretary Vilsack has proposed a new Beef Checkoff Program, which is in addition to the current one which will remain as is. As I understand it, three years after the new program goes into effect there would be a referendum to see if Checkoff payers liked it. In the meantime, the present program would continue and NCBA would presumably continue its lock on the contracting process for the current (mandatory) program and thereby receive more than 80% of Read More …
In early 2008 the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released a video showing workers at a California slaughterhouse using electric prods on cattle unable to stand on their own (called downers) and ramming them with forklifts to make them stand for inspection. (Federal law requires that animals be able to walk into the slaughterhouse, and downed cattle are banned from human consumption because inability to stand may be a symptom what is commonly called mad cow Read More …