Misinformation damaging public perception of agriculture

with the exhilaration of a red ribbon, and the disappointment when your animal does not catch the judge’s eye.

But, this year the show generated a different feeling, one where I found myself wondering what the fate of such shows may be, and in fact what will the fate of cattle production be.

Shows, especially smaller ones, may eventually face new rules relating to tracing cattle movements that will mean book work and red tape and extra hours for volunteers - and we all know finding volunteers seems to be an ever-increasing struggle of its own. Some exhibitions will simply cancel shows, and that is unfortunate because that is already too much of a trend with many small fairs cancelling livestock shows through the years. But the fate of shows is perhaps the least of the concerns for livestock and in particular cattle.

Cattle have been painted as environmental villains because like most mammals they pass gas, gas which is not good for the atmosphere.

In a world where you can look to the sky almost anytime and see jet vapour trails, cars are more numerous than ants, coal power generators spew smoke around the world, and many countries have limited, if any regulations on business greenhouse gas emissions, the cow is the scapegoat.

Do we need to be concerned about greenhouse gas emissions?

Of course we do.

We see climate change and what it can meanmore severe weather events in Canada and the resulting forest fire devastation of lightning strikes - and while one might argue it’s a natural change we can’t afford to hope that is in fact the case and do nothing.

But, we also need to be reasonable in that response.

Demonizing the cow is not reasonable.

Still, as I watched the recent show I wondered if a largely agricultureignorant public might not push equally ill-informed legislators to limit cattle production because cows are an easier target than big corporation emitters.

Penton on sports

Bruce Penton

Now that he’s officially a member of the Chicago Blackhawks after being chosen No. 1 in the NHL draft, Connor Bedard will be under more scrutiny than a paroled shoplifter at Walmart.

So here’s some advice for the soon-to-be 18-year-old:

- Don’t get discouraged after finding out the NHL goaltenders aren’t fooled as easily as the kids he faced in junior hockey.

- Don’t allow too much of his spare time to be eaten up by commercial enterprises that want to use his name, image and likeness for product endorsement.

- Be cautious around

Rock On! Elks @ Rid-

ers

by Travis Longman

It’s all the same, only some names have changed.

Every game it seems the talent is wasting away, this past week they played the green and gold, fans drove all night just to get back home! There the Roughriders, the football field is where they thrive! Wins are wanted, wanted dead or alive!

Last week over 27 thousand fans flocked to Mosaic Stadium to watch their beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the lowly Edmonton Elks.

Saskatchewan entered this match-up having lost seven consecutive home games and Edmonton hadn’t won a game all season, something had to give in the provincial capital.

gorgeous gold-digging females, who will only be after him for his money.

- Be nice to members of the media, just because they’re probably really nice people.

- Avoid getting too bigheaded when he sees his face emblazoned in lights on the side of the Sears Tower.

- Be careful about getting a sore arm from throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Cubs and White Sox games on back-to-back days.

- Consider keeping his hair at a decent length so he’ll always be ready for Great Clips commercials.

- Be wary of those reprobates in Edmonton who will be stuffing the ballot box in the vote for ‘NHL’s Best Connor’.

- Lie if he has to - and he’ll have to, because he has never in his life eaten fast food - but tell Chicagoans how much he loves Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

- Do not antagonize Chicago citizens by mispronouncing ‘the Bears’. It’s ‘Da Bears.’

- Don’t worry about liv- ing up to expectations in his rookie year. Like, if he doesn’t hit his sweater number in goals (98), there’s always next year.

- Never forget to tell people how much he admired Richard Daley, even though he might have to check Wikipedia to find out who Richard Daley was.

- Don’t become buddies with Chicago’s most famous athlete, Michael Jordan, because he’s likely to take him for a financial ride on the golf course.

- Do not skip hockey practice and slack off downtown just because a neighbour said it was the 37th anniversary of the release of the Chicagobased movie ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

- Avoid telling the media that he doesn’t like windy days.

- Don’t try too hard in practice to avoid ruining the confidence of the Blackhawk goalies.

- Maintain his humility when he’s voted the most wholesome and nicest player in the NHL.

- Laugh at the jokes people make about him being able to skate on water, whether it’s frozen or not.

• RJ Currie of sportsdeke. com: “ABC news reported a pair of bald eagles with twin hatchlings were nesting above an Arizona golf course. If you’re scoring at home, that’s a double eagle on top of two birdies.”

• Steve Simmons of Sunmedia: “With signings of Corey Perry, Nick Foligno, and the deal for Taylor Hall, the Blackhawks are apparently surrounding (Connor) Bedard with the 2015 NHL all-star team.”

• Comedy writer Gary Bachman: “Tuesday, July 11 is the MLB All-Star game or as Mets players call it - a day at the beach.”

• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Nothing says the Fourth of July in today’s America like Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut winning the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. After all, as our founding fathers said in the Declaration of Independence, ‘All men are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of gorging ourselves on processed animal parts.’”

• Jack Finarelli at his website sportscurmudgeon. com, on a proposed NBA in-season tournament helping to spike interest in the playoffs: “Hey, it could happen - just as it could happen that next year’s Kentucky Derby winner will be a latterday Mr. Ed and give his own interviews after the race.”

• Finarelli again, after referencing the 16-inning 1963 MLB game in which Juan Marichal of the Giants threw 227 pitches and the Braves’ Warren Spahn threw 201 as both went the distance: “A pitching coach somewhere just felt a twinge in his elbow simply because I typed that information.”

• A groaner from RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “A recent workspace disagreement between two German circus families escalated into a melee with stick swinging, fisti-