Transcriber: Uy Tran Reviewer: Anna Sobota
August 2019, the Iowa State Fair.
People come from all over
just to experience the Bill Riley talent show
or to take a relaxing turn on the sky ride.
I bet most of you sitting in the audience
have been there yourselves.
You get inside the gate and start heading up the midway,
dodging moms with strollers and young couples holding hands.
You stop at the first corn dog stand you come to
and order a foot long with ketchup
and a big souvenir cup of ice cold lemonade,
the kind you can only get when you’re at the fair.
Turning the corner to your right, you will enter the cattle barns
where a mix of unfamiliar sounds and smells await you.
Heading up the aisles, you see me:
a beef exhibitor holding the halter over Charolais heifer giving her a drink.
Three years ago,
an encounter just like this one took place in the beef barns.
A gentleman stopped near me, a first-time fairgoers,
which was very obvious because the penny he was wearing on his shirt
and he was with State Fair ushers on some sort of tour.
He asked me, “Well, what do you have there?”
I looked at him and smiled.
This is my Charolais heifer.
At this time, I wasn’t aware that all of his knowledge about livestock
probably came from a book he might have read when he was young
or something he’d seen on television.
But what he said next, I found shocking,
“Oh, is that a type of horse or what is that?”
I loud laughed because I wasn’t sure if he was being serious.
“Oh, no, she’s a beef cow.”
“Oh, well, she looks a lot different than the dairy ones.
And that rope thing on her head sure looks funny.”
With that, he was off to the next stop of his tour.
Since that encounter,
I’ve thought a lot about what people know about animal agriculture.
If some people don’t recognize the difference between a horse and a cow,
how can we expect them to understand
all of the negative images that are presented to them?
Being a livestock exhibitor,
I’ve had the privilege of growing up on a farm
and getting to watch animals progress
from the time that they were a baby calf to the time that they’re a full grown cow.
When I’m not in school, I spend my time giving them baths,
brushing their hair and conditioning it until it shines.
They get food, clean water and access to medical care.
They’re kept in air conditioning in the summer
and get warm, dry bedding in the winter.
I don’t just go to the fair,
I live a lifestyle that includes dedication
to making sure my animals receive the best care possible.
Some people who go to the fair ask questions because they’re curious,
and I respect that.
I’m always willing to talk to someone if they have a question.
And I know my fellow exhibitors feel the same way.
Other people, however, are combative.
They’re looking to pick a fight with me
because something on social media has transformed them
into thinking they are experts on livestock.
What an uninformed consumer may see as a cattle crusher,
a device that hurts animals is really just a livestock shoot
that’s used for veterinarians trying to help a cow give birth
or it’s used so professionals
can trim feet
so the calves can walk properly.
They might see a farmer administering an antibiotic to a calf
that will later go on to harm the food system.
But in reality, it’s a livestock producer giving a vaccine to an animal
that will benefit their health in the long run.
But what these people normally don’t understand
is that livestock products, including meat,
go through several tests before they ever reach grocery store shelves.
When I am at the fair,
my management decisions are called into question time and time again.
So, how do I wish the situation with the first-time fairgoer would have went?
I wish he would have asked me, “What is that funny rope thing on her head?”
So then I could explain to him that it’s a halter
and it works just like a big dog leash.
It’s used so I can steer her around in the right direction,
and it’s used for her safety as well as everyone else’s around her.
What I wish he would’ve asked me is,
“What’s that stick you’re holding? Does it hurt her?”
So then I can inform him that
the stick is actually used to keep her calm.
I scratch her belly with the side of it and it feels very soothing.
The pointy end is just for adjusting her feet.
It doesn’t hurt. It just touches her enough
so she knows that she needs to move them.
Usually when I scratch her side with this stick,
her ears start to settle and her eyes close.
This tells me that she is fully relaxed.
And the big thing that I wish he would have asked me is,
“Why do you do this in the first place?”
So then I could explain to him
that while some kids may play sports, I show cattle.
They may go swimming in the summertime with their friends
or out to a movie,
but I spend a majority of my time in the barn working with her.
It’s far from any type of punishment, as it’s something that I enjoy doing.
I know that it's my responsibility to care for her,
and I take that responsibility very seriously.
Showing cattle has given me the chance to travel across the country,
meet new people, and it’s even given me direction in choosing my future career.
Two summers ago, at the Johnson County Fair,
people with no prior knowledge of livestock came into the barns
and started cutting the halters off a cattle.
They wanted to set them free.
But let’s look at this situation logically.
These animals are big, some of them weighing up to 1400 pounds.
They have food in front of them, something soft to lay on,
fans blowing cool air on them.
And not only that but they were settled down for the night, ready to sleep.
When those people came in and started untying the cattle,
many of them stayed where they were.
And why, you might ask?
Because even though they were tied up, it didn’t mean they were being mistreated.
They have food, water, access to medical care.
There’re people living in conditions that are worse than this.
Yet these individuals wanted to untie the cattle in a strange environment
where things like traffic could’ve injured them
if they wander too far from the barns.
What these exhibitors of the animals wish they would have been asked is
if their animals were comfortable,
if they were being harmed in any way.
To answer these questions, yes, they're comfortable.
They have plenty of slack in the halter
so they can lie any way they choose without getting tangled up.
Are they being harmed in any way? No.
They're surrounded by other cattle, their pen mates, their friends.
The only harm done to the animals that night was
the stress of someone strange coming into their safe place.
What I wish would happen is that everyone would be willing
to start a conversation with me or other exhibitors like myself.
I would love to have the opportunity to talk to someone
rather than have everything they know about livestock
come from a source like Facebook.
I and other showmen could post the positive images on social media
about the care and attention that we give to our animals.
A way that this could reach a higher capacity of people
is by asking the Iowa State Fair to promote the hashtag
on their different social media platforms.
That hashtag could be as simple as ask me.
When consumers see this, they’ll know that they can
and are encouraged to ask questions
and they’ll be met with the real facts from the real caretakers of these animals.
It’s going to take both producers and consumers coming together
to have honest conversations before anything can change.
So what I wish you would ask me
is how can you be a part of the conversation
that ends the negative portrayal given to animal agriculture.
Thank you.
(Applause)