Sunday, March 17, 2019

Kansas Rancher Educates Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez


A rancher recently wrote an open-letter to Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In her letter, Kansas rancher and beef producer Brandi Buzzard Frobose addressed Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez's bizarre attack on "farting cows."

In the very short time that New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a member of Congress, she has shown that she has the ability to upset folks with her asinine over-the-top proposals such as her Green New Deal. The particulars of that plan includes upgrading every building in America, providing free medical care, free college, free housing, free everything, while taking away cars and trucks and planes and trains, and cows because cows fart.

She is self-identified as a Socialist but sounds more like a full blown Communist who has absolutely no idea how the economy works even though she supposedly has college degrees in International Relations and Economics. Some sources say she only minored in Economics. Yes, imagine that. While she gripes that people are concerned about how to pay for all of her free stuff that she wants everyone to have, she refuses to address the cost. This is probably because she has no idea of the exorbitant cost involved. Cost that no industrialized nation can afford.

As for the farting cows, she stated in her Green New Deal FAQ section: "We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast."

She then went on to say that ranchers and farmers would need to make changes in accordance with her Socialist green energy agenda, stating, "Work with farmers and ranchers to create a sustainable, pollution and greenhouse gas free, food system that ensures universal access to healthy food and expands independent family farming."

Well, Kansas rancher and beef producer Brandi Buzzard Frobose read the Congresswoman's Socialist agenda and took her to task over what she had to say. In her letter, published on the website Buzzard’s Beat, the Kansas rancher who also happens to be the Communications Director for the Red Angus Association of America, attempted to educate the New York Democrat in regards to how ranchers and farmers are the true stewards of the land.

Below is what she wrote to the New York Democrat Congresswoman:

Hello Congresswoman,

You don’t know me from Adam but I’ve been following your actions for several months now; both leading up to the election and, now that you’ve taken office, even more so. I swell with pride at the sight of so many women in leadership positions in our nation’s capital and the most recent State of the Union Address highlighted the start of a new chapter in American politics; one that has women more heavily involved than ever before. That’s a great thing and I support this new normal!

However, as a beef producer in rural Kansas working with my family to raise cattle, I feel the need to point out some facts about agriculture that were misrepresented in your Green New Deal. As a rancher, I am proud to produce safe, healthy and affordable beef for a hungry nation. We are producing beef in the United States more sustainably and efficiently than ever before – did you know that the U.S. produces nearly 20% of the world’s beef with only 9% of the world’s cattle? That’s pretty amazing and tells a great story of our efficiency using the resources available to us!

As a rancher, I can tell you that we take the quality of the great outdoors very seriously – air, soil and water quality are all of utmost importance to us here because, well we are the ones living here in the sticks. Which is why our segment of agriculture actively works to reduce our impact on the environment every. single. day. For example, from 2005-2011, the U.S. beef industry reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and water use by 2% and 3%, respectively. That reduction in air emissions puts our figures at just 2% of the sum total of U.S. GHG, according to the EPA. Comparatively, the U.S. transportation sector contributes 28% of GHG emissions.

You might wonder how us farmers and ranchers are lessening our footprint? Good question:

• We are using better genetics from cattle to produce animals that yield more tasty beef using fewer inputs from water and land.

• Every year we are utilizing the best technology available to us to help us manage the health and growth of our animals so we can be efficient with our resources.

• Did you know that cows are great up-cyclers AND recyclers? Cows are able to take foods like sugar beet pulp and carrot tops – things that would otherwise be wasted as food production by-products – and turn those into beef. This reduces the overall amount of food waste in our great nation. Additionally, what other animal do you know that can take grass and turn it into a delicious steak? Seriously, cows are like superheroes.

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, I appreciate your dedication to improving our earth and pursuing sustainable futures but I beseech you to please have a conversation with your constituents and colleagues that have an agriculture background. Cows are not the problem – the nearly 264 million cars on the road in the U.S. are a glaring issue. I applaud your efforts to make vehicles more environmentally friendly and if you can commit to working on transportation, I assure you that my fellow farmers and ranchers and I will continue to improve our practices to keep reducing our already negligible impact on the environment.

I would welcome your questions, comments or even a visit to our little ranch property for a tour of the cows.

Thank you for your time – I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Brandi Buzzard Frobose
Rancher, wife, mama and steward of the land

Every once in a while, I read about someone who I just have to tip my hat to. Brandi Buzzard Frobose is one of those folks who I tip my hat to with all sorts of respect and admiration.

In her letter, she attempted to educate the New York Democrat in a direct yet polite manner. She told her, while not beating around the bush, that ranchers are already efficient in reducing their environmental impact. She made note of the fact that "the U.S. produces nearly 20% of the world’s beef with only 9% of the world’s cattle."

She pointed out how America's beef industry is already reducing greenhouse gas emissions despite the myth of the "farting cows" through research and innovation. As she stated, "We are using better genetics from cattle to produce animals that yield more tasty beef using fewer inputs from water and land." And she went on to explain to Ocasio-Cortez how ranchers are "utilizing the best technology available to us to help us manage the health and growth of our animals so we can be efficient with our resources."

Since she knows how much Democrats love recycling, she made the point of saying, "Did you know that cows are great up-cyclers AND recyclers? Cows are able to take foods like sugar beet pulp and carrot tops – things that would otherwise be wasted as food production by-products – and turn those into beef. This reduces the overall amount of food waste in our great nation. “Additionally, what other animal do you know that can take grass and turn it into a delicious steak? Seriously, cows are like superheroes."

While it is very obvious that the self-proclaimed "Radical Socialist" knows nothing about ranching or farming, and I believe that it's a safe bet to say that Ocasio-Cortez never took a single ag course while studying Marxism, Communism, and hate for America. She really should have consulted a rancher or two, or more, to get an honest picture of what's going on in the beef industry before making herself look like a fool by talking about "farting cows."

Brandi Buzzard Frobose was a lot more polite than I am when she stated, "Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, I appreciate your dedication to improving our earth and pursuing sustainable futures but I beseech you to please have a conversation with your constituents and colleagues that have an agriculture background."

Of course, that would mean actually talking to a rancher or ranchers, beef producers, who actually live the life, work the job, tend to the land, and have real-life experience when solving honest problems. That would mean letting go of Socialist ideals of government take-over of beef production, of letting go of Communist ideals of controlling every aspect of our lives, of letting go of the idea that you know what you're talking about when you don't have a clue.

My advice to Ocasio-Cortez is that she may want to read up on the history of cattle in America. If she can't read, then maybe she can have her handlers read to her. Either way, she should find out that prior to the advent of cattle being introduced to America, that there were millions upon million of bison that roamed this land pretty much from coast to coast. Yes, for thousands of years long before the introduction of cattle and horses, long before the arrival of Europeans, even long before the arrival of Native Americans who arrived here by crossing over from Siberia.

What do bison have to do with this? Well, bison are bovine no different than cattle. They did not destroy the land long before the arrival of humans to this land. Not with their hoofs or by farting. So frankly, the whole farting cows complaint is just hot air coming from Environmentalist wanting to over-regulate the beef industry. It's a con game being played on Americans who don't know better and will believe such a scam.

Tom Correa

1 comment:

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