Cattle – American Conservative Movement https://americanconservativemovement.com American exceptionalism isn't dead. It just needs to be embraced. Thu, 20 Jun 2024 21:09:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://americanconservativemovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cropped-America-First-Favicon-32x32.png Cattle – American Conservative Movement https://americanconservativemovement.com 32 32 135597105 5 Ways the Collapse of the Beef Industry Is Being Manufactured https://americanconservativemovement.com/5-ways-the-collapse-of-the-beef-industry-is-being-manufactured/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/5-ways-the-collapse-of-the-beef-industry-is-being-manufactured/#respond Thu, 20 Jun 2024 21:09:07 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=207374 Attacks against the beef and cattle industries today are unprecedented. What is happening? Why is it happening? Who is behind it? Can we stop it?

We’re witnessing a multi-front war that seems to have the sole intent of preventing Americans from eating wholesome, all-natural beef in the very near future.

As all-American companies, our sponsors are often the targets of attacks that are designed to take them down. The survival beef industry is no exception and while we benefit from purchases made with them, we would definitely be ringing the alarm bells even if they weren’t supporting us.

Here are the five biggest ways the powers-that-be are trying to collapse the beef industry altogether.

  • Force-Fed Meat Alternatives: The reviews are in. Plant-based meats which were all the rage just a couple of years ago are struggling to find buyers. Lab-grown meat taste tests that are happening in America and abroad are mysteriously not getting published and we all have a good idea why. Insect-based proteins are only popular for those wanting to virtue signal. The vast majority of Americans want real meat that was raised in a pasture, not mutated in a petri dish. But that’s not stopping heavy investments from both American and foreign oligarchs who are force-feeding meat alternatives to drive their dystopian visions.
  • Bureaucratic Tyranny: It seems every level of government from local to federal has agencies and departments that are going after meat with the cattle industry as their primary target. They’re adding pointless regulations every week to an industry that was already overregulated. Unfortunately, many of the state and county governing bodies in the cattle industry itself have also been captured as they promote more “oversight” that has the walls closing in on farmers, ranchers, producers, and distributors alike.
  • Public-Private Partnerships: The latest bad guys to emerge onto the beef scene are public-private partnerships. This is where “Big Ag” and mega-corporate food distributors work directly with government to bully small producers into playing ball. It’s hitting the beef industry the same way Monsanto has hit the produce industry but with far more government backing.
  • Inflated Inflation: The math doesn’t add up. At every step of the beef production cycle we’re seeing prices rise faster than other food products. Everything from equipment and feed to production and distribution is getting hit with unprecedented hikes in costs. It’s all pointing to beef being priced out of the average consumer’s range.
  • Manufactured “Health” Issues: Beef is apparently bad for the environment. And the heart. And the liver. And the pharmaceutical industry. Beef has been specifically targeted as the boogeyman causing all of our ills. Add in the sudden (alleged) rise of bird flu and we can no longer doubt something is afoot. Corporate media is dutifully echoing the fearmongering. It’s like an anti-beef version of “The Truman Show.” What is going on?

It’s crystal clear that the powers-that-be envision a future America without beef. They are making it more expensive, harder to acquire, and eventually they may make it impossible to eat. This isn’t new. It’s been in the works for years. Many are just now seeing the effects of the evil machinations. Most still aren’t seeing it at all, but it’s definitely happening.

When we saw the writing on the wall last year, we decided to do more than just gripe about the issue on Twitter or rant on my show. We launched a product that can help Americans solve the problem. Now, it’s ironic that whenever I write or talk about the need for people to stock up on long-term storage beef that some trolls hop in there and call me a grifter. The irony comes when I think back and realize these are the same people who said we shouldn’t just whine about it — we should do something.

We did something.

Prepper All-Naturals offers all-American steaks. We have Ribeye, NY Strip, Tenderloin, and “Original Steak” that has been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give it a 25-year shelf life. Unlike other survival food companies that push “beef crumbles” or “beef chunks” that are barely edible, we chose to offer premium quality cuts of steak that are both nutritious and delicious.

As the war against beef continues to ramp up, many Americans are starting to appreciate the need to stock up before it’s no longer feasible or even possible to do so. We never want to see a world in which the only “meat” options are either lab-grown or insect-based, but it would be a mistake to assume that would never happen. Those who prepare now will not be standing in a breadline (or cricketline) in the future wishing they’d acquired long-term storage beef when they had the chance.

Take advantage of excellent savings at Prepper All-Naturals today by using promo code “jdr” for 25% off.

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Ranchers Sound Alarm: Elevated Beef Prices May Be Permanent, Just Like Bill Gates Wants https://americanconservativemovement.com/ranchers-sound-alarm-elevated-beef-prices-may-be-permanent-just-like-bill-gates-wants/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/ranchers-sound-alarm-elevated-beef-prices-may-be-permanent-just-like-bill-gates-wants/#respond Tue, 28 May 2024 19:10:33 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=203906 As beef prices hit record highs across the United States, ranchers are warning that these elevated costs might be here to stay. The unprecedented surge in beef prices is being felt by consumers and producers alike, raising concerns about the long-term stability of the market.

Rancher Scott Hayes from Missouri highlighted the challenges facing the beef industry. Hayes, who has been in the ranching business for over two decades, noted that a combination of factors is driving up prices.

“Feed costs have skyrocketed, and the droughts we’ve experienced have severely impacted our pastures,” Hayes explained. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain our herds and produce the quality beef consumers expect.”

According to Hayes, the rising costs of feed and other inputs, coupled with labor shortages, are pushing prices to levels never seen before. The supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated these issues, leading to higher prices at the grocery store.

Rancher Shad Sullivan told The Epoch Times that the sharp rise in prices can be attributed to a “withering assault” from regulators and government authorities who have played an outsized role in the unprecedented increase.

“We are seeing prices at an all-time high, and it is getting close to that point when the consumer is going to say, I can’t do this anymore; it’s just too costly,” said Sullivan. “They (officials and regulators) are trying to push these high prices as a new norm where meat is only a treat for the wealthy. That is where they are pushing us, and that is where we are going.”

Consumers are feeling the pinch as the price of beef continues to climb. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicated that beef prices have risen by over 20% in the past year alone. This increase is particularly hard on families who rely on beef as a staple in their diet.

Producers, too, are struggling. Many ranchers are finding it difficult to cover their costs, let alone make a profit. The financial strain is causing some to consider downsizing their operations or exiting the industry altogether.

“We’re doing everything we can to manage costs, but there’s only so much we can do,” Hayes said. “The reality is that these high prices might be the new norm for the foreseeable future.”

The Bill Gates Factor

According to The Epoch Times, the nation’s most prolific farmland owner is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and an anti-meat activist. By 2023, Mr. Gates claimed he owned about 270,000 acres spread across 18 states.

Gates, an investor in Upside Foods, one of the two synthetic meat producers approved by the USDA, has been vocal about his belief that meat alternatives are needed to save the world from upcoming catastrophic climate events caused by greenhouse gasses.

In a 2021 interview with Technology Review,  Gates said that all well-off nations need to switch to be completely weaned off of living, breathing cows.

“All rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time,” Gates told the interviewer. “Eventually that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the people or use regulation to totally shift demand. So for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it’s possible.”

Long-Term Consequences

The sustained increase in beef prices could have significant long-term consequences for the industry. Smaller, family-owned ranches are at particular risk, as they often lack the resources to weather prolonged periods of financial strain. This could lead to greater consolidation in the industry, with larger corporate entities gaining more control over beef production.

There are also concerns about the impact on consumer behavior. If prices remain high, more people may turn to alternative sources of protein, such as chicken or plant-based options. This shift could further disrupt the beef market and change consumption patterns in the United States.

Despite these challenges, Hayes remains cautiously optimistic. He believes that with the right support and policies, the industry can adapt and overcome these hurdles.

“We need policies that support ranchers and address the underlying issues driving up costs,” Hayes said. “With the right approach, we can stabilize prices and ensure that consumers continue to have access to high-quality beef.”

As the beef industry navigates these turbulent times, one thing is clear: the days of cheap beef may be behind us. Both producers and consumers will need to adapt to a new reality where high prices are the norm.

Editor’s Note: One of our sponsors, Prepper All-Naturals, delivers all-American Ribeye, NY Strip, Tenderloin, and Sirloin that has a 25-year shelf life. Their current special offers 25% off with promo code “survival25“.

Sound off about this article on the Based Underground Substack.

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There Is More to This Current Bird Flu Panic Than Meets the Eye https://americanconservativemovement.com/there-is-more-to-this-current-bird-flu-panic-than-meets-the-eye/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/there-is-more-to-this-current-bird-flu-panic-than-meets-the-eye/#comments Sat, 20 Apr 2024 09:48:33 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=202800 Editor’s Note: Generally when there’s a new health scare, I dismiss it because of everything we’ve learned about Covid over the last five years. Lest we forget, the lockdowns and authoritarian insanity were predicated on the notion that Covid was so deadly that it could decimate the population. Obviously, we were conned.

The reason I’m a bit more concerned than usual about this bird flu isn’t necessarily because of the effects on humans — though that could obviously be a thing — but more so because of the effects on cattle. We know for a fact that they’re trying to either take over or destroy beef and replace it with lab-grown “meats” so that’s why this article by Michael Snyder from End of the American Dream may be very important…


Why are global health officials issuing such ominous warnings about the bird flu?  Do they know something that the rest of us do not?  H5N1 has been circulating all over the planet for several years now, and it has been the worst outbreak that the world has ever seen.  Hundreds of millions of birds are already dead, and now H5N1 has been infecting mammals with alarming regularity.  The good news is that so far it has not been a serious threat to humans, but could that soon change?  According to the World Health Organization, the possibility that H5N1 could start spreading among humans is an “enormous concern”

The increasing spread of bird flu to humans is an ‘enormous concern’, the World Health Organization has warned.

The virus, an extremely deadly H5N1 subtype, has caused devastating declines in bird populations following its emergence in Europe in 2020.

It has since jumped to mammals such as cows, cats, seals and now people, raising the risk of the virus mutating to become more transmissible.

The fact that so many different types of mammals are now being infected is definitely alarming.

But perhaps cows would not be getting infected if we were not literally feeding them chicken crap

As epidemiologists scramble to figure out how dairy cows throughout the Midwest became infected with a strain of highly pathogenic avian flu — a disease that has decimated hundreds of millions of wild and farmed birds, as well as tens of thousands of mammals across the planet — they’re looking at a standard “recycling” practice employed by thousands of farmers across the country: The feeding of animal waste and parts to livestock raised for human consumption.

“It seems ghoulish, but it is a perfectly legal and common practice for chicken litter — the material that accumulates on the floor of chicken growing facilities — to be fed to cattle,” said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union.

It is not known if eating chicken crap is why so many cows in so many different states are being infected with H5N1.

But at a time when the bird flu is running rampant among chickens and turkeys, it seems very foolish to take chicken crap and feed it to our cows.

In any event, now there is a lot of panic about the potential for an H5N1 outbreak among humans.

Authorities at the WHO are warning that the death rate would be “extraordinarily high” if such an outbreak were to occur…

Experts at the WHO said humans face an ‘extraordinarily high’ mortality rate if the strain were to take hold, currently killing more than half of those infected.

I agree.

The bird flu is very dangerous, and if it starts spreading among humans on a widespread basis a lot of people will die.

So why are U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to fund experiments in China that are specifically designed to make bird flu viruses even more deadly?  The following comes from an extremely shocking Daily Mail article

Lawmakers are demanding answers after it was revealed the US is sending taxpayer dollars to a Chinese army lab to make bird flu viruses more dangerous to people.

Eighteen members of Congress are demanding answers from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the project, which was first revealed by DailyMail.com.

It is part of a $1million collaboration between the USDA and the CCP-run Chinese Academy of Sciences – the institution that oversees the Wuhan lab at the center of the Covid lab-leak theory.

In a scathing letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack last week, the bipartisan group said: ‘This research, funded by American taxpayers, could potentially generate dangerous new lab-created virus strains that threaten our national security and public health.’

As I warn in my latest book, mad scientists all over the globe are taking some of the most deadly bugs even known to humanity and are purposely trying to make them even more deadly.

And way too often, your tax dollars are paying for it.

Of course experiments on H5N1 are not new.

Over a decade ago, gain of function experiments that were funded by Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci actually created a mutant version of H5N1 that “had gained the ability to spread through the air between ferrets”

And yet in late 2011 the world learned that two scientific teams – one in Wisconsin, led by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, and another in the Netherlands, led by virologist Ron Fouchier – had potentially pushed the virus in that direction. Each of these labs had created H5N1 viruses that had gained the ability to spread through the air between ferrets, the animal model used to study how flu viruses might behave in humans.

The ultimate goal of this work was to help protect the world from future pandemics, and the research was supported with words and funding by two of the most prominent scientists in the United States: Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Why would they purposely create such a thing?

Ferrets were specifically chosen for that research because they have respiratory systems that are very similar to humans.

Our ability to create deadly diseases far exceeds our ability to control them, and once something gets out it can spread around the globe in the blink of an eye.

Right now, there is a lot of concern about a “mystery respiratory illness” that has suddenly appeared in Argentina…

A mystery respiratory illness has hospitalised dozens of people in Argentina in an outbreak that shares eerie similarities with Covid’s arrival.

Sixty patients have been sickened with ‘severe atypical pneumonia’ in the capital, Buenos Aires.

An alert about the cluster of cases was last night circulated via an international public health surveillance system.

Covid was brought to the attention of the world in late 2019 as a result of the same database, called ProMed.

Hopefully this will turn out to be nothing.

But it is just a matter of time before more great pestilences ravage our planet.

Will H5N1 be one of them?

I don’t know, but this is a story that I will definitely be watching closely.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

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Cattle Tracking Provision in Omnibus Bill Will Limit Beef Supply Even Further https://americanconservativemovement.com/cattle-tracking-provision-in-omnibus-bill-will-limit-beef-supply-even-further/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/cattle-tracking-provision-in-omnibus-bill-will-limit-beef-supply-even-further/#respond Sun, 31 Mar 2024 01:22:56 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=202309 (The Epoch Times)—A controversial measure to include $15 million for the electronic tracking of livestock has made it through Congress via the recently passed omnibus bill, raising fears among critics that the new system could be weaponized by the government to limit beef consumption.

American cattle rancher Shad Sullivan told The Epoch Times that he fears that the electronic tags will be the end of the small rancher.

“They are going to use it as a taxing mechanism to eventually control the livestock,” Mr. Sullivan said. “In the European Union, they used these measures under the guise of climate change lies to limit the cattle supply, and if they do that here, it will destroy our industry.

“If the tag mandate is implemented it will be the key to open the door to the gas chamber for independent ranching.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who owns livestock, also sounded the alarm that the move could lead to the erosion of the industry.

“The left wants to ban cattle and before you can ban anything you need a registry, you need to know where it’s at and who owns it and that’s why they want to tag cattle,” he said in a March 23 post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “We’ve seen it happen in Europe.”

In a previous post, Mr. Massie wrote that, if passed, the electronic tracking “will be used by the GREEN agenda to limit beef production, and by the corporate meat oligopoly to DOMINATE small ranchers.”

The omnibus bill, which was passed on March 22, combines six essential spending bills into one and includes text that allocates $15 million to “related infrastructure” needed for the program.

The full text of the provision reads: “The agreement directs the Department to continue to provide the tag and related infrastructure needed to comply with the Federal Animal Disease Traceability rule, including no less than $15,000,000 for electronic identification (EID) tags and related infrastructure needed for stakeholders to comply with the proposed rule, ‘Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison,’ should that rule be finalized.”

Since its initial proposal last year, the mandate for electronic ear tags for cattle and bison crossing state lines has stirred controversy, particularly among small ranchers. They fear that the added costs, which large corporate ranchers can absorb, will drive many smaller operations out of business.

Currently, most livestock are tracked using tags that display 11-digit numbers, which are both visible and trackable. On Jan. 19, 2023, the Federal Register published proposed regulations to mandate the inclusion of radio-frequency identification in ear tags. These enhanced tags must be “both visually and electronically readable” to be recognized as official for the interstate movement of cattle and bison.

“Livestock,” under the regulation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; includes all sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months of age and older; all female dairy cattle of any age; all male dairy cattle born after March 11, 2013; cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreational events; and cattle and bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions, according to the proposal.

Since 2003, following the discovery of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, in the United States, ranchers have been pushed to adopt electronic identification tags for livestock movement. The cattle industry has been gradually advancing toward enhanced traceability rules and technology ever since.

However, the federal mandating of electronic ear tags would place unnecessary and punitive costs on American ranchers while also further raising the price of beef, according to Justin Tupper, president of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association.

“It is another example of ridiculous spending,” Mr. Tupper told the Epoch Times. “If they are going to use these funds to hand out free tags to those who would want them then there would be no real harm, but that is not what it looks like they are doing here.

“Instead they are going to give them to the big tag companies to shove down our throat to mandate it, which is an entirely different thing.”

A new mandate on livestock would only add another obstacle to an industry already decimated by regulations and drought.

The beef cattle supply has already dropped to its lowest point in decades, raising the price of beef to another all-time high and renewing concerns over the long-term health of the nation’s farming community. A series of severe droughts, coupled with government policies that continue to favor large, industrial food processors, has reduced the nation’s supply of beef cattle to a level not seen since the early 1950s, according to Mr. Tupper.

Lawmakers slipped the funding for the electronic ear tag infrastructure into a single paragraph in the omnibus bill, which allowed lawmakers to pass legislation without the scrutiny that would normally occur and is another example of the increasingly intrusive role the federal government has in the lives of the independent ranchers, he said.

“Anything that is mandated we are going to push back very hard against,” Mr. Tupper said. “We always have to be aware of who controls the data.

“We are well aware of the fact that data can exert a tremendous amount of control over the nation’s livestock.”

The provision could also be the beginning of the end for the independent American rancher, according to Mr. Sullivan.

“The beef industry is the last bastion of freedom,” he said. “Ranchers across the nation have to stand up. If not, these tags will be the end of the small rancher.”

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The “Mystery Illness” That Has Been Spreading Among Cattle in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico Has Been Identified, and It Isn’t Good News https://americanconservativemovement.com/the-mystery-illness-that-has-been-spreading-among-cattle-in-texas-kansas-and-new-mexico-has-been-identified-and-it-isnt-good-news/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/the-mystery-illness-that-has-been-spreading-among-cattle-in-texas-kansas-and-new-mexico-has-been-identified-and-it-isnt-good-news/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2024 21:02:49 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=202258 (The Economic Collapse Blog)—Officials had been greatly puzzled by a “mystery disease” that has been making dairy cattle in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico very sluggish and has been causing them to produce much less milk.  So they decided to do some testing, and we now have the results.  It turns out that the mystery illness is actually “the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that’s been in the U.S. for two years”

A mystery illness that’s impacted dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Kansas now has a diagnosis: Influenza A. USDA says genetic sequencing revealed it’s the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that’s been in the U.S. for two years.

APHIS says the “National Veterinary Services Laboratories” detected Influenza “A” in samples from several impacted herds in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. The virus is carried by wild waterfowl, which experts think is how the illness is spreading.

The experts did not think that bird flu would be a threat to dairy cattle.

Unfortunately, the experts were wrong.

Scientists were able to confirm the presence of the bird flu by testing samples of milk from sick cows…

According to USDA, as of March 25, unpasteurized, clinical samples of milk from sick cattle collected from two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas, as well as an oropharyngeal swab from another dairy in Texas, have tested positive for the virus.

Now that bird flu has been identified as the culprit, dairy farmers are being urged to strictly implement “all standard biosecurity measures”

Officials are strongly advising dairy producers to use all standard biosecurity measures. They note it’s important for producers to clean and disinfect all livestock watering devices and isolate drinking water where it might be contaminated by waterfowl. Farmers are also being asked to notify their herd veterinarian if they suspect any cattle within their herd are displaying symptoms of this condition.

I was quite shocked to learn that this was happening right here in our own country.

The good news is that all milk from sick cows is being kept out of the food chain

“Also, routine testing and well-established protocols for U.S. dairy will continue to ensure that only safe milk enters the food supply. In keeping with the federal Grade ‘A’ Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), milk from sick cows must be collected separately and is not allowed to enter the food supply chain. This means affected dairy cows are segregated, as is normal practice with any animal health concern, and their milk does not enter the food supply. Consumers in the United States and around the world can remain confident in the safety and quality of U.S. dairy,” the statement said.

Will we eventually get to a point where entire herds of dairy cows have to be killed in order to prevent the spread of the disease? Let’s hope not.

Earlier this month, we learned that a goat in Minnesota has also tested positive for bird flu

A goat in Stevens County, Minnesota, has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), becoming the first U.S. detection of HPAI in a domestic ruminant. The goat contracted the virus after a poultry flock on the same premises was depopulated in February due to the virus. Following the confirmation of HPAI in the goat, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health quarantined all other species on the premises. The Board said is working with USDA to investigate the transmission of the virus in this case.

It appears to be just a matter of time before the bird flu starts becoming a significant threat to humans as well.

According to Dr. Chris Walzer, “dozens of mammalian species” have already been infected…

In January, Dr Chris Walzer, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Executive Director of Health, in a statement, said: “It (H5N1) has infected over 150 wild and domestic avian species around the globe as well as dozens of mammalian species. The bird flu outbreak is the worst globally and also in US history, with hundreds-of-millions of birds dead since it first turned up in domestic waterfowl in China in 1996.”

We better hope that the bird flu does not mutate into a form that can spread very easily among humans.

Because according to the NIH, bird flu can have a death rate of more than 50 percent in humans…

As of November 2022, 240 cases of human avian influenza A (H5N1) virus have been confirmed from the Western Pacific Region since 2003 with a case fatality rate of 56%.

A global bird flu crisis would be far worse than anything that we have experienced during the past several years.

Just try to imagine the panic that would ensue if H5N1 were to start killing millions of people around the world.

Hopefully that will not happen any time soon.

Earlier today, I did come across an article about a 21-year-old student in Vietnam that was just killed by H5N1

A student in Vietnam has died of H5N1 bird flu, according to the country’s Department of Preventive Medicine.

The 21-year-old man developed symptoms of fever and a cough on March 11. A week later, he presented at Ninh Hoa Medical Center in Vietnam’s eastern Khanh Hoa province, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and transferred to Khanh Hoa General Hospital.

The student tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza on March 20, and further tests conducted two days later at the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute showed the patient was infected with the H5N1 subtype.

Let us pray that this was just an isolated incident.

Meanwhile, other pestilences continue to spread all over the planet.

For example, dengue fever has become a major problem in Brazil, and now government officials in Puerto Rico have declared a dengue fever epidemic

On Monday, government leaders in Puerto Rico declared a dengue epidemic after a spike in cases of the mosquito-borne disease hit the island.

From the start of the year through March 10, there were 549 cases, including 341 hospitalizations and 29 severe cases, according to the most recent data provide by the Puerto Rico Department of Health. Cases are concentrated in cities including San Juan, Bayamon, Guaynabo and Carolina.

I have been repeatedly warning my readers that global pestilences would be one of the major themes of the next several years.

Bird flu has already killed hundreds of millions of birds, and now it is spreading in mammals.

A widespread bird flu outbreak among humans would have the potential to be absolutely catastrophic, and so we will want to watch this story very, very closely.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

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Rep. Massie Warns About Fed Plan to Electronically Track All U.S. Cattle to Stymie Beef Production https://americanconservativemovement.com/rep-massie-warns-about-fed-plan-to-electronically-track-all-u-s-cattle-to-stymie-beef-production/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/rep-massie-warns-about-fed-plan-to-electronically-track-all-u-s-cattle-to-stymie-beef-production/#comments Sat, 09 Mar 2024 11:02:49 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=201742 (Natural News)—Hidden deep within the new omnibus bill is a secret provision to allow the federal government to electronically track all cattle in the United States.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) warned about the hidden provision on X, stating that lobbyists will receive $15 million in taxpayer funds to unleash the electronic tracking grid on the nation’s meat-producing cows and bison.

As stated directly from the omnibus, the agreement “directs the Department to continue to provide the tags and related infrastructure needed to comply with the Federal Animal Disease Traceability rule (9 CFR 86), including no less than $15,000,000 for electronic identification (EID) tags and related infrastructure needed for stakeholders to comply with the proposed rule, ‘Use of Electronic Identification Eartags as Official Identification in Cattle and Bison’ (88 FR 3320), should that rule be finalized.”

None of this, warned Rep. Massie is legal. And yet, the near-total apathy of the American people these days means these kinds of things are easily passable without so much as a peep from the wider constituency.

“No law authorizes this!” Rep. Massie wrote on X.

“It will be used by the GREEN agenda to limit beef production, and by the corporate meat oligopoly to DOMINATE small ranchers.”

(Related: Back in 2021 at the height of the Wuhan coronavirus [COVID-19] “pandemic,” Rep. Massie called for everyone at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] to be fired for lying about the nature of the so-called “virus.”)

Attorney Tom Renz warns electronic tracking of cattle will unleash universal GMO “vaccines” on food supply

What Rep. Massie means by the “green” agenda is that this little ear tag scheme is merely a front to further dig into the American meat supply in order to crush it, paving the way for synthetic “meat,” bugs, and other “climate-friendly” replacements to flood the market instead.

One of just a few in Congress, or anywhere, calling out the scheme, Rep. Massie deserves credit for keeping the American public abreast of these latest developments, even if most people seemingly do not care what happens to their food supply.

“It’s important to make sure similar nonsense isn’t occurring at state and local levels,” warned an X account called “Justin George” (@jdgeorge94) about the plot.

Even more ominous was a warning that attorney Thomas Renz put in response to Rep. Massie’s tweet about the implications of the electronic ear tag scheme on food safety.

“It will also be used to ensure the introduction of genetics modifying vaccines on a universal basis into the food supply,” Renz wrote about the scheme. “This is not just about limiting beef output … it’s about ensuring the beef available has mRNA vaccines in it.”

Renz responded to Rep. Massie further by offering to speak with him directly about the details of all this, emphasizing surety in his understanding of the long-term plan.

“We need to pass an omnibus that outlaws omnibuses,” joked another about how ridiculous this all is.

“This is exactly why we need single-item spending bills,” wrote another, further joking with a play on words blending the word communism with omnibus. “No more (c)omnibus.”

All this constant fighting over the climate, the food supply, and other pertinent issues is exhausting, wrote another, which is why increasingly more people seem to support the idea of splitting up the country into two separate entities.

“No wonder why people are asking for a national divorce to split this country up,” one wrote. “Give them their green new deal, illegals, crime and drag shows and let the people on planet sane have the rest of the country!”

The anti-beef brigades have been unleashed to rid the world of “climate-polluting” beef. Find out more about what they are up to at GreenTyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

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Texas Fires Are Destroying Cattle Ranches – Will the U.S. Beef Industry Survive? https://americanconservativemovement.com/texas-fires-are-destroying-cattle-ranches-will-the-u-s-beef-industry-survive/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/texas-fires-are-destroying-cattle-ranches-will-the-u-s-beef-industry-survive/#respond Fri, 08 Mar 2024 11:27:12 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=201707 (Natural News)—In what the Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) X account is describing as a total wipeout of the American beef industry, the Texas fires have reportedly annihilated a disturbing number of cattle ranches, feedlots and grasslands in the Lone Star State.

The devastation is enormous, including at least 120 miles of power lines gone, meaning no more operational electric grid in those areas, as well as huge losses of prairie and grass for cattle to graze – that is, for the cattle that survived the fiery inferno.

“Many cattle’s hooves have been burned and many more will need to be put down,” it was reported. “What an amazing ‘coincidence’ this happened to the beef industry.”

Texas agricultural commissioner Sid Miller confirmed the devastation, which the man in the video below explains marks the largest fire in Texas state history.

“We knew this about three days ago when it hit over a million acres,” he states. “They’re now at a million and a half acres.”

(Related: You know what else just partially burned to the ground? The San Vicente migrant camp in Darien Gap.)

Texas fire largest in American history

As we reported back in 2022, U.S. food infrastructure has been under attack for some time now. Food factories all across the nation have burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances, and now we have this apparent attack on the U.S. beef industry.

Though Texas is not America’s exclusive provider of beef, the cattle and land that was lost in this massive fire will probably have a noticeable impact on the conventional beef supply.

“The largest fire we’ve ever had in Texas is the largest fire we’ve ever had in the United States,” the man in the above video explains. “It’s almost at 2,000 square miles, one million and a half acres, with preliminary reports stating 3,000 heads of cattle.”

“That number will triple or quadruple before it’s over, especially when we start euthanizing the cattle that have, uh, had their hooves burnt or their udders burnt. We’re going to have to, you know, put a lot of these animals down.”

In addition to the cattle losses, some 500 homes and barns were reported as destroyed along with two fatalities and five firefighter injuries. Keep in mind that these numbers will likely increase in the coming days.

Since most of the water in the fire-affected areas come from wells, the damage is also apparent in terms of loss of stock water.

“Not only is this livestock out of grass, but there’s also no water,” it was explained. “So it is a very desperate situation.”

As all of this is happening, mind you, New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing the largest manufacturer of beef due to what she believes is the damaging effect of meat on “climate change.”

“They want to control our food,” tweeted an X account about both the Texas fires and James’ crusade against beef. “Once they do, famine is very much within play.”

Another wrote that there is plenty of money to keep sending to Ukraine, but none to support Texas – and Americans are okay with this?

“I’ll bet the military contractors (i.e., Raytheon) don’t make much money on natural disasters.”

What do you think? Is the U.S. food supply under attack? Learn more at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

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American Ranchers and Their Cattle Are Being Replaced by Foreign Beef Imports https://americanconservativemovement.com/american-ranchers-and-their-cattle-are-being-replaced-by-foreign-beef-imports/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/american-ranchers-and-their-cattle-are-being-replaced-by-foreign-beef-imports/#respond Wed, 21 Feb 2024 23:55:50 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=201221 (Prepper All-Naturals)—It’s becoming increasingly clear that the American beef industry is under attack on multiple fronts. We know what the globalists in the World Economic Forum want. We know what Bill Gates and his cronies want. We see the attacks through government regulations, foreign and domestic.

What some may not realize is we’re seeing attacks from within the industry itself. The four biggest distributors of beef products in America are taking shortcuts by using foreign beef and labeling it as “Product of the USA.”

It’s not just unethical (though unfortunately legal) to mislead Americans into believing they’re eating domestic beef. It can be dangerous. We’re seeing a rise in beef-related ailments and it’s not a coincidence. According to an important post by Wall Street Apes:

American Ranchers Are Desperately Trying To Educate The American People That They Are Being Replaced By Foreign Imports Thanks To Lobbyists Selling Them Out

Legally a “Product of the USA can now be imported from overseas — The US cattle industry is at an all time low”

“There’s some interesting and concerning stuff happening in the US cattle industry. Did you know meat is being imported into the US from overseas and being marketed as a product of the USA?

The US cattle industry is at an all time low. It’s a result of things like extreme drought, beef cost rising, and inflation. Cattle prices are at an all time high, which drives the price of beef.

But this isn’t necessarily a good thing for ranchers.

This just means the 4 large corporations who control 85 percent of the US beef market, 2 of them Brazilian owned, will import meat from other countries where they can source it cheaper. And because of our own laws, if it is repackaged in any way, it can be labeled product of the USA.

This is especially unsettling for ground beef that can come from multiple countries, from different ages, and different breeds of older cows that any sort of untraceable diet. That shrimp can be frozen for who knows how long and imported in droves, then thawed and mixed in a large vat in a large processing plant with literally hundreds of different DNA samples landing in 1 pound of ground beef.

Importing and exporting is not the problem. Americans like their hamburger, but not their heart. Traditional export markets are good for ranchers to get a premium for the unusual cuts that are more widely desired in foreign markets. But the American consumer deserves to know where their meat comes from and how it was raised. And there is an answer.

Buy directly from a rancher in the USA. Find a ranch you can buy direct from locally or one who ships to your doorstep and start ordering now and trusting the source of the food you feed your family.”

Note: The beef used by Prepper All-Naturals is 100% Texas born, raised, and slaughtered. Every product is sourced from the ranch of birth, so these high-quality cuts are literally “pasture to table.”

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Ranchers Warn the Worst Collapse in Cattle Production Will Make Meat Prices Double This Winter https://americanconservativemovement.com/ranchers-warn-the-worst-collapse-in-cattle-production-will-make-meat-prices-double-this-winter/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/ranchers-warn-the-worst-collapse-in-cattle-production-will-make-meat-prices-double-this-winter/#respond Sat, 18 Nov 2023 13:43:29 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=198535 (Epic Economist)—Being a carnivore has never been so expensive. According to the USDA, beef prices soared to another record high this week, and are expected to face a 100% increase next month compared to the same period a year ago. Steaks will likely be out of the dinner table of many Americans in the coming months as shortages already started leaving grocery shelves empty. Even cheap meats like ground beef are about to shoot up in price due to the lowest supply in decades, the Department said.

The nation’s shrinking cattle herd combined with surging input costs at U.S. farms and ranches have pushed wholesale meat costs to over $8 per pound, official data shows. Analysts predict that the figure could jump above the $ 10 mark in December due to the seasonal spike in demand. As a comparison, beef costs in 2022 were hoovering around the ten-year average of $5 per pound. The rapid price appreciation means that you will have to pay double what you paid a year ago to bring your favorite cut home this winter.

In fact, meat inflation at U.S. stores can be even higher given that the USDA forecast was for wholesale prices, not consumer prices. Adding rising labor and transportation costs to the mix, a pound of ground beef could be selling for $8.99 next month. A pound of sirloin is expected to reach $14.00, while T-bone, and ribeye, can reach $15.39 and $21.99 per pound, respectively.

“Relative to other proteins, beef prices are likely to stay elevated for the next couple of years due to tighter supplies,” according to Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute sector manager Courtney Schmidt. “All consumers will be paying more for all beef products for several more years,” added Wells Fargo’s Chief Agricultural Economist Michael Swanson.

Retailers are already reporting leaner deliveries and falling meat supplies at stores. Ranchers, who would normally thrive on record prices, are instead struggling to maintain their business. Low rainfall in prime cattle-raising land is turning green pastures into dust fields. Limited supply and increasing costs are likely to cause changes in food service menu items. “The prices of menu items may go up, including burger patties, as businesses try to maintain their profit margins,” Wells Fargo’s Swanson said.

Fast food chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, and Shake Shack, are some of the biggest buyers of meat in the U.S. market. In 2024, they might have to conduct another round of price hikes to offset the rising cost of beef. These companies are also being encouraged to launch more plant-based alternatives to reduce their environmental footprint amid climate change.

In other words, we will have to get used to eating meat alternatives instead of the real thing. Beef is becoming a delicacy reserved only for the bourgeoisie. For now, this crisis will continue to add pressure on ranchers, restaurateurs, and average consumers. Until cattle numbers grow, input costs decline, and the economic storm abates, Americans will be forced to either change their diets or pay the price.

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Ranchers’ Independence Fades as Corporations Expand Control of Food Supply https://americanconservativemovement.com/ranchers-independence-fades-as-corporations-expand-control-of-food-supply/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/ranchers-independence-fades-as-corporations-expand-control-of-food-supply/#respond Fri, 08 Sep 2023 21:18:04 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=196476 Kansas cattle rancher Kyle Hemmert watches the decline of cattle farmers in Ireland and the Netherlands and sees the future for himself and his fellow ranchers.

“What’s happening in the beef industry is the same thing that’s happened in the sheep industry,” Mr. Hemmert told The Epoch Times. “America peaked at 51 million sheep; today, we have less than 5 million.

“I’m seeing empty pastures in my area,” he said. “People said ‘to hell with it.’”

Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, spoke to The Epoch Times about the issue.

“The cattle industry is the last frontier; it’s the last segment of the livestock industry that still has a sufficient level of competition to sustain independent producers,” Mr. Bullard said.

With about 5,000 members, R-CALF represents independent cattle ranchers and is fighting to preserve their independence. But they are facing off against a group of only four major buyers for their cows, new federal initiatives that favor the large packing companies, and climate activism that claims cows emit too many greenhouse gasses and must have their numbers reduced.

“The model that they have applied, first to the poultry industry and now to the hog industry, has been extremely successful for the multinational meat packers that want to vertically integrate the entire industry,” Mr. Bullard said, “and that vertical integration kills competition.”

The cash markets that once existed between buyers and sellers in these industries are largely gone, with farmers becoming either employees or working under contract to packing companies.

“Now, if you want to produce hogs, you do so by invitation from an integrator because you have a contract to produce hogs,” Mr. Bullard said. “They’re applying that, unfortunately, very successful model to the cattle industry right now.”

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) has also commented on the issue.

“That’s the example of vertical integration that’s already happened in large part with our pork producers and our poultry producers,” Ms. Hageman told The Epoch Times. “And they want to do exactly the same thing with our ranches. They want to basically make our ranchers nothing but paid employees, and the ranches and the real property would be owned by the big packers.”

South Dakota rancher Brett Kenzy told The Epoch Times that the American rancher is a remnant of a “self-reliant, independent, entrepreneurial, hardworking, religious, multigenerational person that used to be very commonplace.”

Ranchers now worry that having so much of the country’s meat production under the control of a handful of corporations will drive many farmers out of business and leave Americans at the mercy of a few global players.

The Miracle of Cows

“The miracle of the cow is the fact that she has four chambers in her stomach, and she can eat grass, which is carbohydrate, and create protein,” Mr. Kenzy said. “They’re the only animal on earth that can do it that efficiently.

“Beef is the most well-balanced source for human beings in terms of vitamins, minerals and protein,” he said, “but that four-chambered stomach, as they’re running it through, they belch methane.”

These methane emissions have put cows directly in the crosshairs of climate activists. Many of the corporations that control food markets have joined net-zero clubs like Climate Action 100+, which pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions for themselves and their suppliers.

“Rather than just killing off the cattle all at once, this is going to be a controlled implosion of the beef industry,” Mr. Kenzy said. “I think the end goal is ultimately controlling the food supply.”

Cattle ranchers “went through a period from 2015 to 2021 where they could not recover their cost of production,” Mr. Bullard said. “We’ve seen segments of our industry literally drop like flies.”

“Just four decades ago, we had about 1.3 million independent cattle farmers and ranchers that were maintaining mother cow herds and raising calves each year,” Mr. Bullard said. “Due to economic costs, price squeezes, a lack of profitability, and a lack of competition [among buyers], we wiped out 43 percent of them.”

American households have experienced this phenomenon in the form of escalating prices for beef. The average price that American consumers paid for beef increased from $3.89 per pound in January 2020 to $5.10 per pound as of July 2023, according to the Federal Reserve.

“The fact that cattle producers were receiving seriously depressed prices for the cattle, at the same time that consumers were paying super inflated prices for beef in the grocery store, that prompted us to file a national class action suit against the largest four packers that control 85 percent of the fed cattle market,” Mr. Bullard said.

It is only recently that these price increases made their way through to the ranchers that remained in business.

“This year is going to be profitable for the cow-calf man, but for the last six, seven years there has not been profit,” Mr. Hemmert said. “When there’s not profit, it signals to the industry to cut back, quit producing, and there’s been a lot of cow herds that have been sold.”

“It took decimation of the cow-calf industry to make us profitable again,” he said. “That’s kind of sad, right?”

The Problem With Cows

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization asserts that emissions from livestock farms are about seven gigatons of carbon dioxide per year, or about 15 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (pdf).

“Beef and cattle milk production account for the majority of emissions, respectively contributing 41 and 20 percent of the sector’s emissions,” the U.N. states.

The solution proposed by climate activists is to reduce the production of beef, with a target of 30 percent reduction in cattle herds. Countries like Ireland and the Netherlands have already attempted to introduce laws and regulations to cut herds.

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency released a 13-year, 25-billion-euro plan in December 2021 to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2030. The plan would cut the country’s cattle, pig, and chicken population by 30 percent through voluntary buy-outs or, if necessary, expropriations by the state of about 3,000 farms.

In May, the European Union green-lit a Dutch plan to spend $1.6 billion to purchase or seize Dutch farmers’ land. This policy led to mass farmer protests under slogans like “No Farmers, No Food.”

In the United States, however, targets to reduce livestock emissions are being set not by government fiat but by a handful of corporate food producers.

In June 2021, Tyson Foods announced that it was “the first U.S.-based protein company to have an emissions reduction target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).”

Tyson is one of the four dominant packing companies in the beef industry; the other three are Minnesota-based Cargill, and Brazilian-based JBS Foods and Marfrig. Together these four companies process about 85 percent of all beef in the United States.

And it is not just the packing oligopoly that is expanding its control into the ranching industry. A similar consolidation and vertical integration is happening within global grocery chains as well.

“Walmart has gone out and bought enormous ranches,” Ms. Hageman said. “They’re raising their own cattle, they’re processing it, and they’re selling it in their stores.”

‘Rich Countries Must Cut Meat Consumption’

The North American Meat Institute, whose members include meat packing companies that account for more than 95 percent of America’s meat and poultry products, launched its Protein PACT Academic Advisory Council in June, which works with its members “in setting greenhouse gas reduction targets to be approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.”

The SBTi, in partnership with organizations like the United Nations Global Compact and the World Wildlife Fund, pledges to “lead the way to a zero-carbon economy, boost innovation and drive sustainable growth by setting ambitious, science-based emissions reduction targets.” Calling itself the “global body enabling businesses to set emissions reduction targets in line with science,” the SBTi states that “companies in the forest, land and agriculture sectors will reduce at least 72% of emissions by no later than 2050.”

Tyson foods stated in its 2021 Sustainability Report that it had a “Science Based Target” of achieving a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and that addressing beef production would be key.

Despite the fact that greenhouse has emissions are a global phenomenon, emissions reduction plans typically focus on western countries. A 2022 report by Earth.org stated that in order to meet climate-change targets, “rich countries must cut meat consumption by at least 75%.”

A 2018 study published in Nature (pdf) claimed that beef consumption in western countries would need to decrease by 90 percent.

As cows become a prime target for climate activists, it is perhaps not coincidental that cattle ranchers are also the last livestock farmers who have not already been absorbed by global food conglomerates.

“Cattle is the single largest segment of American agriculture; it sets itself apart from the hog and poultry industries,” Mr. Bullard said. “The hog and poultry industry are primarily controlled by multinational meatpacking conglomerates, and they have the ability to defend their interests, unlike the disaggregated independent family farmers and ranchers scattered across the country.

“They simply don’t have the resources to fight back,” he said. “What the climate change folks have done is pick the low-hanging fruit, and that’s the U.S. cattle industry.”

Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef

Like with other segments of the world’s economy, the environmental social and governance (ESG) movement has made its way into food production as well. One of the key organizations in this effort is the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB).

The GRSB is an international organization with representatives from 24 countries, whose mission is “the advancement of sustainability in the global beef value chain.” Its members include three of the four dominant meat packers: Tyson Foods, JBS, and Cargill.

In 2021, the GRSB announced its commitment to “reduce the net global warming impact of beef 30% by 2030 through global sustainability goals.”

“The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is perpetuating this globalism, where the standards are being set, not in the United States, but globally,” Mr. Bullard said. “They are dictating standards to producers, and they are able to enforce those standards by limiting access to the marketplace because GRSB consists of the world’s largest meat packers.

“But the standards are arbitrary in terms of how it affects the quality and safety of the meat that’s produced,” he said.

A Highly Segmented Industry

There are three stages to cattle production, which are often conducted by separate farms, and which have made the industry more difficult to vertically integrate. The first, called the cow-calf producer, maintains a mother cow herd and typically produces one calf each year per mother cow.

The second stage is the background stage, where calves from about six months old are fed a growing ration until they are about 1 year old and weigh about 900 pounds. The third stage are feedlots, where cows are fattened for slaughter, generally by grazing.

“We’re a highly segmented industry,” Mr. Kenzy said. “That’s why we’ve been so hard to capture.”

In the past, the stages of raising cattle featured arms-length transactions in which prices were set by supply and demand, as well as the quality of the ranchers’ cattle.

“The feedlot industry has become really concentrated in itself,” Mr. Hemmert said. “These huge feed yards have made these captive supply agreements with one of the four major packers to get all their cattle.”

USDA Interfering

The Biden administration’s actions regarding consolidation of the beef industry have been mixed.

On the one hand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a $1 billion program to fund new processing facilities, including a $962,954 grant to Benson & Turner Foods Inc. to build a cattle and hog processing plant on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota.

On the other hand, the USDA is currently attempting to mandate that cattle ranchers attach radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs) to their cattle in order to “track animals from birth to slaughter,” the American Veterinary Medical Association said.

The USDA claims this is for the purpose of tracking diseases, but many ranchers say it will be a prohibitive expense, particularly for smaller farmers.

“The driving force behind it is they want it for exports and they want it to benefit the multinational meat packers,” Mr. Bullard said. “If there’s a disease outbreak in a particular region but they can identify cattle not from that region, they’re able to continue trade uninterrupted, so there’s significant value.

“However, the meat packers don’t want to pay [ranchers] for the added cost of this kind of a program, so they convinced the government to require this to be a mandatory program” that ranchers must pay for, he said.

Others expressed concern that the RFID system will allow the packing conglomerates to impose whatever criteria they come up with on ranchers.

“It’s a way to regulate the production of beef in the name of sustainability,” Mr. Kenzy said, “basically registering all your cattle with the government.

He added that the Global Roundtable will ultimately tell ranchers how to graze, breed, and feed their cattle, rather than the market.

“This really isn’t about traceability or identification,” Ms. Hageman said. “We have a very robust identification and traceability system already in effect and working in the United States, and it’s worked for a long, long time.

“This is another form of surveillance,” she said, “and as we’ve seen by the federal government over the last couple of years, our government really likes to surveil the citizens of this country.

“What ultimately this will lead to is the USDA attempting to dictate operations and management decisions for our individual ranchers,” Ms. Hageman said. “It will also result in the vertical integration of the industry in the same way that they vertically integrated the pork and poultry industries, and it is going to be absolutely cost prohibitive for a lot of our smaller and our independent livestock producers.”

Antitrust Laws Unenforced

Meanwhile, there appears to be little interest within the Biden administration in enforcing antitrust laws in the animal agriculture industry. A relevant law is the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act, which was written “to assure fair competition and fair trade practices, to safeguard farmers and ranchers, … to protect consumers, … and to protect members of the livestock, meat, and poultry industries from unfair, deceptive, unjustly discriminatory and monopolistic practices,” the USDA states.

“Many people in the USDA abandoned their core mission, which is really protecting our independent producers and our livestock producers, and they have aligned themselves with big business,” Ms. Hageman said.

“We don’t want a monopoly when it comes to food supply, and the fact is that the United States produces the healthiest, highest quality beef of any country in the world,” she said. “You don’t hear about very many instances where there is a problem, and in fact the instances that you do hear about are typically in the processing end of it, not the cattle production end of it.

“Our cattle producers run their operations very well; they take excellent care of their land because they’re dependent on it to make a living,” she said. “They are some of the very best conservationists that there are, in terms of protecting these resources and open spaces.”

Mr. Hemmert, the Kansas cattle rancher, said ranchers can produce more if given the opportunity to be profitable.

“But if you’re not profitable, you’re not going to produce, and your banker is not going to let you,” he said.

Mr. Kenzy spoke of past efforts by the government to decimate a food supply.

“In the 1800s, they killed all the buffalo off in the northern plains, and they did that to eradicate the ability of the Indians to sustain themselves,” Mr. Kenzy said. “And this war on beef, it looks to me like it’s much the same thing.”

The Epoch Times contacted Walmart and Tyson Foods for comment. Walmart did not respond; Tyson food directed us to the reports referenced in this article.

Reuters contributed to this report. Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

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