Livestock and Meat Industry Groups Sue USDA Over Defective COOL Rule   

Eight organizations representing the U.S. and Canadian meat and livestock industries filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to block a mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rule that USDA finalized in May.


The lawsuit challenges the COOL rule from three angles. The groups claim the rule is unconstitutional, goes beyond the bounds of the original law and is arbitrary and capricious.


The lawsuit argues the final COOL rule violates the United States Constitution by compelling speech in the form of costly and detailed labels on meat products that do not directly advance a government interest.

Plaintiffs in the case include the American Association of Meat Processors, American Meat Institute, Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Canadian Pork Council, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, North American Meat Association, and Southwest Meat Association.  

Click here to read more- and for links to the complete litigation filed in the Washington, DC Federal Court and audio of the telephone news conference held by AMI on Tuesday to explain the lawsuit to the media.

Drilling Down Into the COOL Lawsuit- Consumer Curiosity No Justification for Government Mandate  

Consumer Curiosity is not enough justification for the new COOL Rule that the US Department put into place in late May as they hoped to placate the Canadian and Mexican governments who challenged their earlier COOL Rule in the WTO World Trade Court. WTO sided with Canada and Mexico, which has resulted in a rule that requires a lot more information be provided to consumers- and according to the US Meat and Livestock industry, will higher costs of doing business from the farm or ranch through the beef and pork pipelines to the supermarket.


The contention that consumer curiosity is not enough has been made in legal arguments that are the basis of a lawsuit filed on Monday of this week by eight organizations against the USDA and their new rule for Country of Origin Labeling. The groups, including


According to Kate Stetson of the law firm Hogan and Lovells, the lawsuit calls out the USDA for the new COOL rule for several reasons, including the fact that it is unconstitutional.

You can hear her comments on the specifics of consumer curiosity not being enough to hang the COOL Rule onto- they are featured on today's Beef Buzz- CLICK HERE to check them out.

The Beef Buzz is heard on many of our great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- and you can review present and previous Beef Buzz shows on our website- click here for the Beef Buzz websection.

R Calf Cries Foul Over Lawsuit Against USDA and COOL Rule 

The populist cattle industry group, R-Calf USA, and their CEO, Bill Bullard, are claiming foul over the lawsuit against the new COOL rule from the US Department of Agriculture. They have released the following news release claiming that checkoff dollars are somehow associated with the lawsuit that has gone forward against the USDA.

From their news release- "At least three of the eight plaintiffs that filed a lawsuit July 8 against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) final country of origin labeling (COOL) rule have already directly received and/or are attempting to directly receive producer checkoff dollars.  

"According to Bullard, producer checkoff dollars flowing to the NCBA and NPPC are the equivalent of "soft money" contributions in election campaigns.

"Although the NCBA may not be directly paying their COOL litigation expenses with checkoff funds, the checkoff funds allow it to offset a large portion of its organization's administrative expenses, which allows it to devote its more limited non-checkoff money toward fighting COOL and other initiatives the multinational meatpackers do not like," said Bullard. 

Click here to read more of the R-Calf release on the Lawsuit against USDA over their COOL Rule. 

Farm Bill Follies- House GOP Leadership Whipping Members Over Farm Bill Sans Nutrition- Still Short of 218 Votes

It appears that the House GOP Leadership- especially Eric Cantor of Virginia- have their hearts set on stripping out Nutrition from the 2013 Farm Bill- which in theory will net them enough votes on just the Republican side of the aisle to push an "everything else" farm bill across the House Floor.  

However, according to David Rogers with Politico- "Early soundings by the House whip organization Tuesday afternoon indicated that the leadership still had an uphill climb to get to 218 Republican votes."

Chairman Frank Lucas is stuck in the middle- indicating that if the Leadership can assure him that there are 218 votes in the bag- it would provide a way to move the bill across the House floor and get to the Conference.

It's All About Summer- Talking Hot and Dry with Gary McManus

Triple Digit Temperatures have returned to the state- and coupled with little to no rain over the past month- have Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus concerned. We talked with McManus about the dryness, the heat and the current drought that continues to rage in western counties of the state.

Gary points out we have gone about a month without much rainfall and have little chance of getting a gully washer in the near future anywhere in the state.

Will that keep the west in drought and drag other parts of Oklahoma back into drought?  Maybe- you can learn more about what the weather wizards are thinking by clicking here and listening to our latest conversation with Gary McManus. 

Missouri Cattlemen Take Verbal Shot At Their Governor Over Veto of Trespass/Cattle Rustling Bill 

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon axed legislation that would toughen penalties for cattle rustling and provide a fix to the animal abuse and neglect law. S.B. 9, which was an important bill for Missouri farm and ranch families, fell victim to the governor's pen last week causing the Missouri Cattlemen's Association (MCA) to question Governor Nixon's commitment to Missouri agriculture. MCA Executive Vice President Mike Deering said the governor turned his back on families providing safe and nutritious beef for a growing global population.



"Governor Nixon has often touted himself as a friend to farmers and ranchers. Our association endorsed the governor and certainly appreciate the many efforts he has made in support of Missouri's top economic driver, but a veto of S.B. 9 is reason for serious concern," said Deering. 

The governor opposed the provision within this measure that would have allowed the amount of foreign ownership in farmland of up to 1 percent. Thus- the veto.

Click here to read more about the displeasure being expressed by the Missouri Cattlemen's Association.

Big Iron Closing Items- Starting at 10 AM This Morning 

There are a total of 247 items in this week's Big Iron no reserve farm and ranch equipment auction- click here for our auction listing which includes some valuable FAQs- Frequently Asked Questions- to explain the Big Iron concept.  There is also the link  to get to the Big Iron site where you can learn more about this week and future week's auction.

You can also call Mike Wolfe at 580- 320-2718 to learn more about buying or selling on Big Iron.