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Time to end the Beef Apology Tour

Changing public perception about beef
This week, I had the chance to visit the offices of a major voice voice for the beef industry in the US.  I’ll leave them unnamed for now.  One of their primary roles is to defend and promote beef as a healthy, safe, environmentally-friendly food source.  I think they probably do a fine job on the first two subjects, but as I read through their “mythbusting” of beef being bad for the environment, I thought they should have titled that section “Beef: It’s not quite as bad as you think!”  I wasn’t sure if they were defending beef production or a nuclear waste dump.  Let me explain.

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Cows and climate change

Recent stories on my news feed have made bold declarations about how cattle are even bigger contributors to climate change than they previously thought (they already thought they were bad).  Their conclusions are mostly focused on greenhouse gases – how much methane cows produce, and the carbon implications of raising cattle.  I’m not a scientist, so it would be presumptuous of me to offer my opinion of the data or research they are using.  I think I can, however, point out some data points that are absent from virtually every anti-cow article I’ve ever read.

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5 Pieces of Advice for Future RHR Interns

As I enter the last two weeks of my stay here at Rock Hills Ranch, I can’t help but look back on all that I have learned from the Perman family. It has been a truly unique and special summer for me and I would be lying if I said that it has been anything short of life changing. While RHR is far from a school of hard knocks, it has afforded me the opportunity to better myself not only as a cattleman, student, and employee but also as an individual through mistakes, long hours, hard work, and Lyle’s lectures of course. If RHR was an institution for personal development, the diploma it bestows would be one of the most coveted and respected around the nation and perhaps the world. It pains me that only a few short days stand between me and a few lonely plane rides back to the place I call home. However, it helps me to think that my leaving will provide an opening for future interns to partake in this once in a lifetime opportunity that I have grown so fond of. It is this thought process that has led me to the topic of my last blog post. Without further adieu, I give you (in no particular order): 5 Pieces of Advice for Future RHR Interns. Enjoy!

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