Great core group of DVM students at U of MN Vet school. Thanks Katie, Jen, Brady, Ashley & Ryan large animal enthusiast.

Autism and depression are now on Beyonce

As the father of three young daughters, I am asking Beyonce` to seriously reconsider her misguided notions about diet because young ladies are watching.

With her recent announcement focusing on a vegan diet and even launching a vegan meal delivery service, I believe she needs to consider the science behind how this could make her responsible for increasing autism and depression.

Autism is on the rise in this country. Because junk science led so many parents to opt out of vaccinating their children for fear of autism, we now have a bigger problem with diseases that were once basically eradicated. That is why we cannot take issues like this lightly.

Dr. Arthur Beaudet, chair of molecular and human genetics at BCM and a physician at Texas Children's Hospital, is the senior author of the report that appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings suggest dietary intake of red meat, especially among very young children, could reduce the chance of developing autism.

Meat eaters receive about 75% of their carnitine from their diet; however, dietary carnitine levels are low in vegetarians and particularly in vegans. In most people, levels of carnitine are balanced by the body's ability to manufacture its own carnitine in the liver, kidney and brain, starting with a modified form of the amino acid lysine.

Link for more details to Increasing meat consumption may reduce autism in kids

If you compare the graph to increased autism to these two graphs showing the reduced consumption of milk and meat over that time period, it certainly gives one cause for concern that our diet is likely leading to increased autism.

In addition, we know that 20% of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood.  Do you want your daughters to have to fight depression in addition to all the challenges teenagers have to deal with already?

Many recent peer reviewed studies have proven that vegan and vegetarian diets are associated with an elevated risk of depression.

Vegetarian diet and mental disorders: results from a representative community survey. link

Large Study Finds Vegetarians Have Poorer Health, Lower Quality of Life Than Meat-Eaters link

You're a Vegetarian. Have You Lost Your Mind? link

I would also urge you , as a parent, to check out NinaTeicholz nine years of research into the misleading information that has been dispersed about fat in the diet at www.thebigfatsurprise.com.

I am asking all parents, grandparents and supporters of teenagers, particularly girls, to stand with me in asking Beyonce to use her public status for the good of our youth rather than placing their health and their lives in danger to promote the most recent Hollywood diet fad. I realize Beyonce may not be concerned at all about our daughters, but surely she wants to do the right thing for her own little girl!

Are you living the vegan lie thanks to a farmer?

Farmers/ranchers continue care for God's critters to improve the planet and human health despite the obstacles. As you can see from this photo you should be thankful whether or not you choose to eat dairy, beef, pork, lamb, goat or chicken.

Nothing humane about animal agriculture

As a 6^th generation United States farmer, I have had my fill of people talking about “humanely raised meat” when they don’t have a clue.

As a person who, in my 48 years on this earth, has provided daily care for more than 1 million animals, I think I am qualified to address the topic. The real experts in animal welfare are the farmers and ranchers who actually brave the elements of Mother Nature and get the job done.

Today is a great day to talk about how misguided the concept of “humanely raised meat” that folks like Chipotle are presenting to the public.

The only thing that is “humane” about rearing livestock for human consumption is the farmers and ranchers themselves. There is NOTHING else humane about it. Look the word up in the dictionary if you don't follow my drift.

At midnight last night I was still assisting a sow in the farrowing house by helping a couple of smaller, weak pigs get a good start.

By 5:30 am I was back in the farrowing building but the walk to get there was tough. It was 17 degrees with a 30 mph North wind and 8-10 inches of fresh snow.

Inside the farrowing barn, the sows and pigs were content in the farrowing crates and the temperature was a comfortable 74 degrees. They have no idea what it is like outside.

After completing the inside chores, I started the tough job of providing the feed and water needs to the outside hogs that have access to a bedded shed and the out doors.

Here you can see the sows that live in the environment that some think is ideal. On the other hand, if I were a sow I would choose to live inside where I did not need to pile on top of another pig to protect myself from the howling wind.

Pigs can be managed by good herdsmen to thrive in any type of environment. The farmer, not some pencil pusher in his/her comfortable cubical, should make that decision.

For the non-farm folks today, their romantic notion of pig rearing with access to outdoors and bedding is exactly the way my grandfather raised pigs in 1950.

What other single thing in life do you do like anybody did in 1950? From banking to communicating to driving to acquiring information. Not one single thing today is really like it was in 1950 yet we are told that farming and livestock production should be and we are also expected to feed a population that was unheard of in that era.

Why should we raise animals in “retro-style”?  Certainly not because the animals demand it. Give the sow the choice and she will choose a crate inside a building 100 times out of 100.

So after a couple hours of plowing snow, feeding and watering I make my way back into the temperature controlled farrowing building where another sow has 11 wonderfully active warm pigs that required ZERO assistance.

If that sow was in a pen with bedding and access to outside as demanded for “humane care”, there would be nothing there but a pile of dead pigs. Thanks to the advancements in modern pig rearing, I have a healthy litter of bacon makers on the way.

In closing I am asking that people stop referring to “humanely raised” milk, meat or eggs unless they are talking about the very animal husbandry that the farmer knows best how to provide.

The Chipotles of the world can sell their pig in a blanket, but let the farmer worry about keeping the live pigs warm.

Contact me at TrentLoos@gmail.com or www.LoosTales.com or better yet just call my cell 515 418-8185

Cowboys converge on San Antonio and Beef leadership status quo no more

As submitted to the High Plains Journal for Feb 7, 2015 edition. Link

Beef leadership status quo no more

As I have said before, we are at the most important crossroads in the history of American Agriculture. For beef producers in particular, we continue to lose the battle yet I don't see us developing any alternative strategies. As the old saying goes, if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten.

It's time for something new, visionary and pro-active. The cattle industry convention is taking place in San Antonio, TX right now and I wonder who there will be asking the tough questions that really deserve answers if we hope to get beef in the forefront.

Yes, we are members of the Nebraska and National Cattlemen's Beef Associations. 

While I have serious concerns about leadership and direction, I still have faith that a grassroots membership organization is the right approach to achieving what's best for the industry. I am using this platform to ensure that our opinion as members is being heard and the decisions are coming from the members and not from the top down.

By the time you read this, news reports will be coming from the Alamo that suggest a record number in attendance for the convention. But who is there? And who is footing the bill?  Why is there such a push to get more and more from the cattle owners and why are they continually ask to ante up?

I have heard numerous accounts of cattlemen from around the nation who cannot attend the convention simply because it costs too much money. I realize that cattle prices have been out of this world for a year but that's not every year. Should the cost to attend and speak up where it matters really be that prohibitive? Is there a motive behind this?

In the past few years I certainly noticed the "price to play" has gotten completely out of control. Let me just give you a run down.

Full registration for the convention, which gives you access to most of the opportunities to be where your voice can be heard, is $675. Adding a spouse to the trip for $625 would bring registration alone to a total of $1300.

I suppose if you do a good job booking flights and keep it to about $350 per person, you have just added another $700 to the trip.

These "destination locations" for meetings guarantee that rooms are never economical or even reasonable so you will spend a minimum of $190/night plus tax for 5 nights. Now we are adding about $1125 to sleep for a couple hours each night.

While you are there, you are going to have to eat and that will run about $100/day to pick up meals not included in your registration.

As a loyal and supporting NCBA member, you will likely go to the PAC auction at $25/head and then you will need to raise your hand while you are there and it's hard to say how much that can set you back.

The real story is that you must be prepared to drop at least $3000 if you want even a chance to be heard at this meeting. So let's be honest, the majority of the people in attendance are there on their state's Check-off expense account or some industry expense account. When the price of admission is equal to the value of replacing two cows in your herd, is it really worth it to attend? Why should producers have to make this kind of choice?

Is this by design? Does current leadership not want the everyday cowboy to show up and ask the hard questions? Cowboys tend to speak their mind and tell it like it is, rather than patsying around a subject in an attempt to be politically correct and not ruffle any feathers. We don't mind ruffling feathers! We do mind people blowing smoke up our tail in an attempt to cover their own substandard performance.

A staff, led by an individual that makes over $428,319 a year, and a team that averages $180,000 salaries apparently cannot relate to the real world anymore.

If our industry association we were really getting the job done, maybe it would be a little easier to swallow. However, when you consider that beef demand has plummeted from 79.2 lbs per person in 1985 to barely 50 lbs in 2014, one must wonder is that is a good use of our funds.

We have let the USDA destroy the beef industry, first in school nutrition and most recently in dietary recommendations. They have misled consumers to the point where people feel guilty when they choose beef because they now think the cow is killing the planet.

I am really curious to see what comes out of this high-end cattlemen's social gathering. Will we have any more direction than we've had in the past or will we just keep funneling money toward the status quo?

Trent and his wife Kelli operation a diversified livestock ranch in Central Nebraska. More information can be found at www.LoosTales.com or contact TrentLoos@gmail.com

Claire is 6 months old and learning quite well. Think how the American citizens could learn from a stock dog always looking for work despite the weather.

Claire at 6 months is coming along real well. Except in pig pen I might add.