A Challenge for Devon Breeders
“Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies” is a familiar line that most of us Americans sang in school before political correctness became vogue. My life has been blessed by travel through most of the 50 states and I have found this statement to be absolutely true. What a wonderfully beautiful and diverse and abundant nation this is!
Complementing our nation’s beauty is the innovation and problem-solving ability of its people. So far, we have been up to handling life’s challenges to preserve and protect that beauty. Studying American history, and particularly our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the foundation has been:
1) The blessings of liberty – particularly the freedom to grow and change
2) Divine inspiration - credited by most innovators as their source for “new” answers
Anyone not in a coma these days can recognize we are faced with a unique and compounded set of challenges exacerbated by exponential increases in population at home and abroad. Rising energy prices, banking failures, property devaluation each contribute to a shopping list of concerns. However, I am confident that the resourcefulness of our people will emerge once again to lead the world in solutions.
Our cattle association and the pioneer spirits of which it is comprised have a unique opportunity to be a part of the solution in our little sphere within the universe – the production of quality food and the sequestration of carbon from the environment.
North American Devon Association President Gearld Fry saw the vision of grass efficient cattle long ago and that inspiration propelled him on his journey that brought him to Red Devon cattle. His evangelical crusade has convinced us that he and we are on the right track to rebuild a breed that can lead the way in an efficient sustainable agricultural model. But just as Gearld staked his reputation and his bank account on that vision, now is the time for the rest of us to “put up or shut up.”
We say we have cattle that convert grass efficiently to gourmet beef. Do we? And can they do it in the diverse climatic regions that our nation is comprised of? We say we have a breed with the right frame scores for grass finishing and the right attributes for tenderness at the same time. Do we? And can we prove it in the pasture and on the plate?
Times of crisis are not times for philosophical debates full of glittering generalities and suppositions. They are times for concerted action that delivers real results that are proof of the merit and value for their existence.
The cattle industry in coming out of the denial stage into the shocked stage that begins to look for solutions to the problems they now recognize will not melt away. High feed prices, high land prices, high fuel prices and consumers who want to spend less for food but recognize a greater need for nutritional richness from their food all make for a maze for producers to navigate. If we as producers of Red Devon cattle can cultivate the qualities that have sustained the breed for centuries and deliver those qualities when commercial producers look to us for answers, this breed will abound in our day and time. If we do not, we will be thrown on the scrap heap of the “irrelevant.”
Producing and proving what the Red Devon is capable of being is going to take commitment, energy, and dedication from our people. And, it will take cattle that are what we say they are. I trust we are committed to having our works live up to our words and we are uncompromising in our quest to produce cattle that are recognized worldwide for their efficiency in producing “Gourmet Beef on Grass”.
“Lord help us be the people we know and aspire to be!”
