Lately, I was really wondering what this Provincial and Federal Government was going to do next. You have probably heard about the $3.00/ head CREDIT for buying your new RFID tags. Well, it seems it will mean a total average to all Producers of $265.00. That's right! $265.00- WOW, aren't we lucky to have Governments that have come to realize that the state of the Livestock Industry is in peril and they really had to do something with clout!!!! I wonder if that includes Administration fees?! That could easily lower that by 40-50%!!!! And the paper work- time wise, we would be losing money but then again a farmer's time isn't worth what the bureaucrat's time is, I forgot. In my view, the only reason that they came out with this hair brained idea is to get a solid count on the number of cattle actually out there in the country because they really don't have a clue how many cattle are out there! Well, I for one will not be applying for it. It is none of their business how many cows you and I have and for the pitence they are going to pay out for what they are trying to sluff off as a well thought out program- it's about 6 years too late. We have lost respect from other nations, we have lost markets that were open to us for decades, the U.S. knows that we will cower to anything they do and, worst of all, our own Federal Government will not stop the deluge of import meat coming into Canada from "off shore" because it would mean that Eastern Canada would NEED to buy our Western beef and that would be very belittling to them to give in to the West when they could be buying all that sub standard "grass fed" beef. You know, the beef that comes from Uraguay, New Zealand, and so on THAT IS OVER 30 MONTHS OF AGE AND NOT AGE VERIFIED AND NOT TAGGED FOR TRACABILITY. So what is the big deal about tagging and age verifying our beef? If we ourselves import it without all this why can't other countries? They do! AND IT IS CHEAP! And that is why we cannot get our beef into other countries that we used to. Our cost of production is too high and much of that is because of these brain dead schemes that both Governments are coming out with plus the huge margins the retailers are taking. The Gov't. has put extreme standards on our own production but allow the same products from other countries come in at a "sub standard" level of quality and safety. If the Government wants to do something worth while, just level the playing field. Don't expect us to compete with all the extra expense. Get rid of the SRM removal charge, get rid of these $3.00 tags that don't stay in. Put pressure on the tagging companies to come up with a tag that costs a $1.00 and has a greater retention rate than 75% like the ones we have to buy now. This all would be a start.

But, this is just my opinion!