The beef industry is like a middle aged man who smokes, drinks, doesn´t exercise and thinks he´ll be okay as long as he eats three bran muffins every morning and stays away from doctors. Like that candidate for bypass surgery, we too are living in denial about the deteriorating health of the American beef industry. If a human was in as bad a shape as the cow/calf and cattle feeding business they´d be put on life support.

California officials recently subpoenaed a Houston-based firm to determine if the company assisted power plant owners in artificially boosting energy prices during that state´s now infamous power crises. What did the company, Industrial Information Resources, allegedly do? It provided data that power plant owners could have used to manipulate the energy market.

What has this got to do with livestock, you may wonder?

Fruit and vegetable farmers who see grocery stores selling the product of their toil for multiples of what they receive through traditional markets have the option of selling their produce at a local farmer´s market or a roadside stand. Until now cattlemen did not have the same option. There´s one simple reason why ranchers have difficulty selling direct to consumers: USDA inspection.

A rancher could kill his own beef and eat it but he could not sell it to consumers or restaurants without USDA inspection, and that takes place primarily at plants which are owned by a dwindling number of large firms.

The future of the cattle industry is tied up in court right now. Decisions that will shape tomorrow’s cattle industry are either waiting on appeal or on a slow judge. Here is a sampler of pending important judicial decisions that will affect your future.

Jury Tampering

Sometimes it seems like even when we win we lose.

Ranchers were handed perhaps their largest victory in recent history when an Alabama jury reached a guilty verdict against Tyson/IBP in February after a month-long trial.