LMD Jan 2016

Page 1

Riding Herd

“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

January 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com

Playing By Lee Pitts

T

he stars in this story are glow-in-the-dark kitty-cats, muscle-bound salmon, silk-spinning goats, hypo-allergenic-cows and featherless chickens. So why are we taking up your time talking about animals that would seem to belong more on some circus midway freak show more than they do the front page of a cattle newspaper? Because in a few short years you may be creating your own customized cows using the same technology that created these freaks of non-nature.

A Game Changer

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

In 2004 there was a much-ignored American monster movie whose villain was a genetically engineered fish that lived in a Louisiana bayou. (Don’t feel bad, I never saw the film either.) You may never have heard of the name of the non-Oscar award winning movie called Frankenfish, but you will in the future because critics of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) have slapped the Frankenfish nickname on a quick-growing salmon created in 1989 by a Massachusetts company called AquaBounty. The firm took an Atlantic salmon and inserted genes from a Chinook salmon and an ocean “pout”. And no, we aren’t talking about what your kid does when he or she

Volume 58 • No. 1

T God?

If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now & then to make sure it’s still there. doesn’t get its way. A “pout” is a serpent-like fish with antifreeze proteins in its blood allowing it to live in freezing waters. By mixing genes from the two strains of salmon with the pout scientists created a fish that can reach a marketable weight in a year-and-a-half instead of the usual three years with wild salmon. After a 20-year battle with regulators, AquaBounty has now been given U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval to sell its genetically altered AquAdvantage salmon

to American consumers. A closer look at AquaBounty reveals it is majority-owned by a firm that trades under the name of Intrexon Corporation. Think of it as the Monsanto of genetically modified (GM) fish. As you can imagine, consumer, animal rights and green groups were not thrilled with the coming-out party of the superfish. The AquAdvantage salmon was actually declared safe to eat by the FDA way back in 2010 but critics objected back then that the genetically engineered

fish might pee in the gene pool, so to speak, thereby creating mutant wild salmon. Only after AquaBounty was able to make their AquAdvantage fish sterile did FDA give their seal of approval. The FDA also demanded that for it to be sold in the United States AquAdvantage salmon must be raised only in land-based tanks in two facilities, one in Canada and the other in Panama. Although, CostCo, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target, Safeway and Kroger’s say they won’t sell AquAdvantage salmon, there’s a good chance in the next few years you may unknowingly buy and eat some because as of now, just like with foreign beef, it doesn’t have to be labeled. That’s because the FDA says there are no material differences between an engineered and a normal salmon. AquaBounty’s CEO Ronald continued on page two

Lettuce is ‘three times worse than bacon’ for emissions and vegetarian diets could be bad for environment

BY ADAM WITHNALL,

INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

C

ommon vegetables ‘require more resources per calorie’ than many people realize, according to a team of scientists at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Eating a healthier diet rich in fruit and vegetables could actually be more harmful to the environment than consuming some meat, a US study has claimed. Lettuce is “over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon”, according to researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University who analysed the impact per calorie of different foods in terms of energy cost, water use and emissions. Published in the Environment Systems and Decisions journal, the study goes against the grain of recent calls for humans to quit eating meat to curb climate change. Researchers did not argue against the idea people should be eating less meat, or the fact that livestock contributes to an enormous proportion of global emissions – up to 51 per cent according to some studies. But they found that eating only the recom-

Getting Hammered

mended “healthier” foods prescribed in recent advice from the US Department of Agriculture increased a person’s impact on the environment across all three factors – even when overall calorie intake was reduced. The experts examined how growing, processing and transporting food; sales and service; and household storage and use all take a toll on the environment for different foods. Paul Fischbeck, study co-author and CMU’s professor of social and decisions sciences, said: “Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. “Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken.” The initial findings of the study were “surprising”, according to senior research fellow Anthony Froggatt at Chatham House, an independent think-tank which is currently running a project looking at the link between meat consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Froggatt told the Independent it is “true lettuce can be incredibly water intensive and energy intensive to produce”, but such comparative exercises vary hugely depending on how the foods are raised or grown. “We usually look at proteins rather than calcontinued on page fourteen

he soundtrack of my life has been the chant of an auctioneer. In the past 43 years I have attended thousands of auctions and have seen auctions from every angle as a consignor, buyer, ring man, clerk, auctioneer, gate man and announcer of a video auction company for 20 years that sold nearly half a million head per year. I have helped sell everything from art to road graders and the only kind of auction I think I haven’t worked is one for hogs. And it’s not on my bucket list. As an auction junkie I formed the following opinions. Auctioneers with the slowest chants are wine and art auctioneers while the fastest are cattle colonels. The best person to have at an auction is the bidder who raises his or her hand and keeps it in the air, while the least favorite person is a non-buying busy-body who constantly waves to friends. The most male dominated crowds are found at Safari Club, Rocky Mountain Elk and Duck’s Unlimited auctions while more females are found at quilt auctions. The neatest trick I’ve ever seen an auctioneer do was frequently performed by Bert and Ruben Reyes in South Texas. My friends had the ability to sell in both English and Spanish and could switch back and forth on the same lot depending on who was bidding. The least dangerous auctions are cake auctions and you’d think that gun auctions might be the most dangerous but auto auctions are. Not because they can bankrupt you but because I almost got run over by a 56 Chevy at a car auction once. The biggest steals at auctions are found at estate sales and silent auctions. The worse deals are found at any auction where the sales crew wears tuxedos, the auction has a theme, there is valet parking, food is served on real dishes and one spouse often asks the other for their opinion. I have NEVER seen a cow buyer ask a wife, or a mistress, for permission to continued on page fourteen

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LMD Jan 2016 by Livestock Publishers - Issuu