My time in Africa

I spent the last summer traveling the globe and learned many surprising things about the world food supply.  Here in the U.S., we often complain about the price of food or even sometimes the quality, but after my recent travels, I won’t be complaining anytime soon.

My first stop on my trip was London, a very high-class country with a lot of money.  We didn’t travel outside the city so I wasn’t able to see any farmland, but I can tell you that beef was only on the menu once during my whole trip.  With all the essential vitamins and nutrition that beef contains, it’s obvious that they don’t consume it regularly in their diet. Can you imagine a life without hamburgers or steaks fresh off the grill?  It’s a shame that they don’t get to enjoy high quality protein as we do here in the US.

Next stop was Morocco, a very poor country in Africa. After several hours on a train, we watched men tending to their cattle and sheep and I was instantly shocked at the body condition of these animals.  The grass as dry and overgrazed, but the animals were extremely skinny. Most of them had a body condition of 1 or 2, almost all the cattle I saw were Holsteins which makes perfect sense to have a dual purpose animal.  We all know that Holsteins don’t produce the highest quality meat, but when you only have one cow it’s nice to get milk and meat from the same animal.  Over the course of my time in Morocco, I never saw beef on the menu once. Camel was on the menu and I tried it, but trust me, stick to beef!

My last stop was Uganda, which is a third world country with main income stemming from agriculture.   Right away, we saw several cows roaming the town.  The cattle were well fed and well taken care of; they were taken on walks every day and were identified differently depending on the owner.  I saw a few calves but lots of milk cows and plenty of bulls.  Beef was a staple on their American restaurant menus. I tried a few hamburgers and found it good but not comparable to American beef.  One of my favorite things was beef from a street vendor, seasoned with plain salt and grilled on charcoal. It had to be some of the best meat I had eaten in weeks, I also tried goat and fried grasshopper.  As much as I enjoyed my travels I am happy to be home and enjoying a high quality American steak!

Don’t take our high quality food here for advantage, every day we can walk into a grocery store and get a steak that is safe and delicious for our family.  We can enjoy all the vitamins and nutrients that beef contains everyday if we would like.  We are truly blessed to have such hard working farmers and ranchers who care about raising the best product they can!

National Beef Contest!

I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Sacramento, California and represent Montana in the National Beef Ambassador competition.  When people say “a chance of a lifetime,” they mean events like this.

Going to this competition changed my life and it gave me many great connections of future leaders in the beef industry. Even though I didn’t make the team, I met some of the movers and shakers of the agriculture world.

While in California my passion for agriculture, especially the beef industry, only improved. “Once a beef ambassador, always a beef ambassador,” Malorie Bankhead main topic when she spoke to us at dinner one night.  She made the team a few years ago and said not only did that year change her life but it changed her future.  Instead of sitting back and allowing PETA and HSUS to harass the industry its time we take a stand!  We need to share our stories and our lifestyle.  Farmers and ranchers in agriculture are passionate and we are real.

Rancher by day, father by life, little league coach by Saturday, we are just like everyone else except for the fact that our income is our lifestyle and we love to provide food for you and your family.

Malorie Bankhead, past National Beef Ambassador

Even though I didn’t make the team I have faith in the 5 kids that made the team. Not only are they passionate and bright they are eager to change the world and the future.  All of the kids who didn’t make the team impress me more than I thought.  These are the kids who will be influence in the beef industry without a title.  Let’s just say that as long as the future of Ag is in the hands off the 22 senior contestants who where in California then we as a beef industry have no need to worry or be concerned.

 The National Beef Ambassador Contest was a once in a lifetime and if I have anything to do with it, Montana will have a rep for many years to come. The Montana Cattlewomen and Beef Council along with Montana Stockgrowers and Lauren Chase and Rachel Endecott are the people I owe a thank you.  I am not sure where I would be without all of you, your fabulous people who push me to be the best me possible and thank you for having faith in me.  Your unconditional support and hard work is something that I will never forget.  I owe this experience to you; you have changed my life forever.

Pink Slime

Dear Editor:

It has come to my attention that"Pink Slime" is still making consumers uncomfortable. I agree why in the world would you feel comfortable eating something called "pink slime" so for the reminder of this letter I am going to call it Lean Finely Textured Beef or LFTB.  Just one year ago, the news came out that LFTB was being put in your products and as a consumer you reacted, quickly.

LFTB is not an additive, it's not a substitute, it's not synthetic, its BEEF.  When steaks and roasts are cut from a carcass, there is left over meat that doesn't fit into steaks, roasts and other retail cuts.  The point of LFTB was to use that meat and not waste it.  In the Beef industry, we are doing our best to provide SAFE, HIGH QUALITY, AFFORDABLE, and NUTRITIOUS food for YOU!

I realize we are not perfect but we are constantly trying to do our best and as a consumer you need your input.  Without LFTB beef is going to be more expensive and not as lean.  So it is up to you.  Would you like us to label products with LFTB and/or would you like a better explanation of it?

Karoline Rose

A weekend at Home

I was lucky enough to spend a weekend at home with my brother and dad!  It was exactly what I needed to get refreshed and ready to face this week and my week in Texas.  My mother cows are due to start calving soon so it was nice to walk through them with dad and discuss the future of my herd.

Bozeman to Toston is about 60 miles and I often use that time to think and reflect on my week and set goals for the upcoming week.  As I turned off the highway my view was spectacular and I knew it was going to be a great weekend.

Jacob is in charge of the yearlings so the moment I arrived he put me to work!  I was instructed to pick up twine and ear tags.. not my favorite thing to do but it needed done,  Jacob nicely made me a purse out of a feed sack to carry around with me ALL day!

Jake and Dad saddled up the horses and started to sort through the calves and get a few out that were going to be shipped this week.  They also gathered my herd of Angus cows.   Let's just say my dad and brother might be the handiest guys around.  Two guys, one dog, 400 calves and they sorted out about 30 without any issues!

I found this calf in the herd!  Isn't he cute!! His name is chewy :) 

Jake is riding a new gray horse and here are a picture I took of him that I really like!  "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man"   That quote fits my brother perfect.   He is at home with horses and is pretty talented in that area also! 

On my drive home, the Lord painted this amazing picture right as I was driving into Bozeman.  It made me stop and think how lucky I am.  Not only do I live in a beautiful place, I have the best family ever.  Jacob, Jackson and John are the best men every, they are great people and wonderful role models.  I am blessed to be able to get in the car and drive home whenever I feel like it!  Ranching is really a family business and Rose Cattle Company is my future. 

HSUS-The true behind their spending!

The Humane Society of the United State claims to be the largest and most effective animal protection organization.  Unfortunately, this is not true and you may be wasting your hard earned dollars if you donate to them!

The Humane Society of the United States gives only 1 percent of the money it raises to pet shelters. Surprised? You might be, if you’ve seen HSUS’s TV ads—you know, the ones full of needy dogs and dying cats. You, like most Americans, might think HSUS gives most of the money it raises to pet shelters. But HSUS gives hardly anything to shelters..less than 1%. You might think that HSUS at least runs one pet shelter. They currently don't run a single shelter! 

Check out your state, Montana receives less than 1%! So where does the money go?

-48.1 million is used for fundraising expenses
-24 employees are paid over $100,000 a year
-The CEO has a salary of $300,000 a year

They receive million of dollars in contributes from the American public, but do you really want your money going to lobbyist or salaries?  As farmers and ranchers a $100,000 salary would be a dream come true but we work for much less.  In order for us to feed you and the world, we can't look at our income, we must love our job.  Wouldn't it be easy to "love" your job, if you made $300,000 a year?

I am a huge fan and supporter of local humane societies, they take care of all the local stray animals.  If you make a donation, please make it to your local shelter.  Here is a link that will take you to a page with details about local shelter. Local Shelters

Cancel your donation to HSUS today!  Stand up for what is right, any non profit that receives a D- year after year should no longer be allowed to take donations!

Information from: Humane Watch