Whatever your opinion of our fair Senator Max Baucus may be he is at least asking some very good questions that many cattle producers are asking (Enzi, Baucus attack latest USDA estimate of meat labeling costs).

Many Cow-Calf operators feel that COOL(Country of Origin Labeling) will have a positive effect on cattle prices and will help there bottom lines and positively help the economy of Montana and other farm states. The big meat packers have fired back and said it will cost billions of dollars to implement and will cost Cow-Calf producers more money than they will gain. I am glad to see that some of our congressmen are started to question these assumptions and are looking into the real costs of the program.

As for my opinion of the situation I don't see that COOL will help on a product such as beef, that is a basic commodity, and that the consumer purchases on price and not quality. By the same token I don't see how it will hurt us and support the whole COOL program. I just for the life of me can't see how it will cost so much money.

Roast Beef, Medium, is not only a food. It is a philosophy. Seated at Life’s Dining Table, with the menu of Morals before you, your eye wanders a bit over the entrées, the hors d’oeuvres, and the things à la though you know that Roast Beef, Medium, is safe and sane, and sure.
Edna Ferber (1887-1968), U.S. author