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Time to crack the whipI have just completed the first day of what is fast becoming the summer cattlemen's meeting of the country. No, this is not a national meeting but instead the annual Florida Cattlemen's/Cattlewomen's convention in Marco Island, Fla. I am not a beach person myself but this is truly an enjoyable experience. For those of you who don't know, the history of the Florida cattle industry is quite interesting. In 1521, Ponce de Leon brought horses and Andalusian cattle to Florida. Andalusian cattle were the ancestors to Longhorns. Consequently, Florida became the first cattle ranching state in the nation. If fact, it was the Florida cattle industry that supplied the majority of the food and clothing for the Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Today, Florida ranks as the 12th largest cow-calf state and 3rd largest east of the Mississippi River. Today, Florida Cracker's still hunt cows in the swamps on horseback with a dog and a whip. Florida Cracker Cowboys hold the pride and heritage for all of Florida agriculture. Legend has it that all a Cracker ever needs to do is crack the whip and any stray cow will get back into formation as the cattle are being rounded up. But how do food-producing folks from a rural lifestyle fit into such an urbanized part of the country? I just finished reading an article written by a young lady who grew up in rural Florida with horses, but had no idea that Florida was such an important cattle-raising state. She spent a full year researching and working on ranches for her college thesis on the history of the Florida beef industry. She, like most others I would guess, was surprised to learn that exactly half of all the land in Florida is used for grazing beef cattle. After a year like the past years where drought has affected much of the state, the true untold story is what the impact of fire would be if it were not for cattle grazing and removing potential fuel for wildfires. Cattle are ruminant animals and have the ability to convert otherwise useless forage into human consumable products. The many benefits that occur when cattle are allowed to graze rugged forage terrain continue to be one of the best and most unheard stories in all of agriculture. The life mission of the bovine animal is to take grass, weeds and other forages that are of little benefit to society and convert them into beef, a high quality protein source for humans. Not to mention the boundless by-products that result from the processing of beef such as fabric softeners, tires, life-saving pharmaceuticals, paints, crayons, leather goods, cosmetics and on and on. So, here we are in Florida, where half of the state each day is being utilized to meet the needs of the 18,089,888 people that call it home and they have no idea that they need to thank a cow for that. I realize this story is not unlike any other state in the country except for the tremendous opportunity it presents to get up close and personal with our customers. Personally, I cannot stand the urbanization, the concrete, and the people who come to Florida to be tourists without any appreciation for the history and heritage of the state. But we can do two things: we can sit back and complain and whine about what they don't know or we can crack the whip and attempt to get these uninformed citizens of our country up to speed with some cow sense. That, my friends, is up to each one of us. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com. B 2 6/25/07 4 Star NE Date: 6/20/07
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