Announcement from Tyson Foods

Just saw this on facebook:

Fairview Salebarn: Bulletin---This is a breaking story and this is what we’ve heard so far.
Tyson has announced that it no longer accept slaughter cattle that have been in the show ring this summer. If one even looks like it has been shown, Tyson does not want it in any of its plants. They are instructing their buyers to refrain from even bidding on one. Illinois State Fair officials have been notified and it will be one of the losers along with every small show hereafter.
The reason---supposedly around 40 head of show cattle in a nearby state were slaughtered in one of the Tyson plants and either 6 or 8 head of them tested positive for antibiotics and/or Zilmax making the carcasses unsuitable for export and a huge handling problem for the plant.
A few careless or non-caring show jockeys have created havoc for a great many innocent youngsters who follow the rules costing them dearly as they are now ready to cash in their years’ labors. Buyers who take possession of animals purchased at these shows, or youngsters maintaining ownership will take a beating when the animals are delivered to a sale barn. Their value will not be near that of the going market for fat cattle. With Tyson, the biggest handler of fed cattle out of the market, finding a home for these animals at a big price is going to be very difficult.


And some wonder why I get a bit testy when someone ask about using "bantamine" and they can't even spell it.  The show people HAVE to clean up their act or this will be repeated by other companies. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Has to make you wonder how this is going to affect the market. With cattle prices at an all time high, what does Tyson stereotyping animals not buying near as many do to the prices for cattle across the board.

This likely has as much truth to it as 99% of the other news stories on Facebook.

Just slick shear em ,and cover them in mud before you take them to the sale barn.

I have few questions, has the state/show these cattle came banned zilmax? If not then there were no rules broken, the antibiotics a different story.
You would think that the cattle they get from outside of feed lots with tight records would not be processed for export.

You would also think they would be trying to find away to keep 34000 pounds of tainted chicken from getting out of their facilities.

When did Banamine (regardless of whether it's spelled correctly or incorrectly) become an antibiotic?

This came from Fairview sale barn.  We sell there and they are as good of a sale barn as I have seen.  They aren't prone to making things up.  That being said Fairview is hard on anything that looks clubby anyway.  I've sat through multiple sales where they have specifically said that's not the kind they want there. 

I would love to hear the specifics on this one. 

I'm don't know the number of show cattle going to kill but I can't see the numbers being large enough to have much if any impact on the market. 

I guess we can all assume they will not be buying any show pigs either then.  Some how these sales have to be able to identify individual carcasses and hold the people responsible for what they put into their animals. A producer who feeds out commercial cattle would be held accountable as I am sure someone could track it back to at least a handful of sources.  I also didn't know that zilmax suddenly became an illegal substance.

illegal ALIENS -illegal  CATTLE ,  Tyson LIKES ONE AND PUT  THE HAMMER DOWN ON THE OTHERS ,JUST TO MAKE MORE MONEY ....  SOME OF THEE PRACTICES PRACTICED BY Tyson we should Boycott them ...

I just asked the cattle coordinator at one of the plants and they have had several head in the last few weeks test positive for both drugs and zilmax. She said they are only handling existing bookings and evaluating them on a case by case basis. Most fair cattle they do what is called a tag transfer on so they track each carcass and know who brought them in.

I am a little surprised when I read some of the comments here. Why would anyone want a single animal that is positive for antibiotics or any feed additive that has a withdrawal period, to hit the rail and possibly our food supply? Even one is uncalled for. And yes, banamine is an antibiotic and it should never be introduced to human food supplies. What did you think it was if it wasn't an antibiotic?

Another issue with many animals that go directly from a show to slaughter is that there can be a much higher incidence of the animals carcasses being graded as dark cutters which also brings a huge discount. This was such a problem at some shows here a few years ago, that we would gather steers and put them in a feedlot pen for 7-10 days and then ship them to slaughter. That usually helped a lot.
I am not surprised in the least that Tyson has taken this stand. Their necks are in the rope if any animals with antibiotic residues hit the food chain. To me this pretty close to being a common sense decision. Maybe I am missing something here.

Banamine brand of flunixin meglumine is the pioneer injectable non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug approved for cattle in the United States,
So not an antibiotic, does not make it right to have in their system at time of slaughter, just setting the facts.

The thing with zilmax is that the USDA has not banned it (at least not the last I knew).  I know some shows have banned it, but many others haven't.  The fact that Tyson doesn't want zilmax treated cattle is their choice, and though I agree that it's something we all need to consider, it doesn't mean that using it correctly is illegal or unethical.  With a 3 day withdrawal period, it's unlikely that steers that have been shown, been through a premium sale and then shipped to slaughter would get there within 72 hours of their last dose of zilmax - again if it has been used correctly.

Banamine, when used correctly, also has a short withdrawal time.  But as an anti-inflammatory, it's use is prohibited at most, if not all terminal shows.  Worst problem for slaughter is that in show animals, it's usually not used IV (as labeled) but IM, which can result in both drug residue and substantial tissue damage.

It's pretty simple really - any packer has the right to condemn any carcass that tests positive for illegal substances.  That includes drugs or additives that may be legal but have obviously been used incorrectly.  If the shows will bother to use the tag transfer system that the packers already have in place, and withhold all premium monies from and ban any and all exhibitors whose animals' carcass have been condemned or found to have residues from drugs that are legal but against show rules, they could put a quick end to the misuse of drugs and additives.

Rules of a show are just like laws of a nation - if the powers that be pick and choose which ones they'll enforce and when, they shouldn't be surprised if any their rules are no longer taken seriously by anyone.  Enforce the rules and they'll be respected.

DLD said:

It's pretty simple really - any packer has the right to condemn any carcass that tests positive for illegal substances.  That includes drugs or additives that may be legal but have obviously been used incorrectly.  If the shows will bother to use the tag transfer system that the packers already have in place, and withhold all premium monies from and ban any and all exhibitors whose animals' carcass have been condemned or found to have residues from drugs that are legal but against show rules, they could put a quick end to the misuse of drugs and additives.

Rules of a show are just like laws of a nation - if the powers that be pick and choose which ones they'll enforce and when, they shouldn't be surprised if any their rules are no longer taken seriously by anyone.  Enforce the rules and they'll be respected.

Click to expand...

(clapping)

More effective than regulation.

The show industry continues to separate itself from the commercial industry.

The only articles I could turn up about this online only mention Tyson not buying cattle that have been feed zilmax, I didn't see show cattle called out specifically. The articles were also all dated August 2013, which makes this in no way breaking news. If some one has a more recent link to prove me wrong please post it.
I hesitate to believe any "news" article on Facebook, especially one like this with poor grammar. "Careless or non-caring cattle jockeys," doesn't careless and non-caring mean the same thing?
We have always sold our show steers and market heifers to local buyers at a premium well above market price. What Tyson does has never really effected the price of our 4-H/FFA sale animals.
But I could be wrong, just my opinion.

We received an email yesterday from our county fair (4-H Extension people) that Tyson would not buy any cattle given Showmaxx (Zilmax), but would accept those given Optaflexx.  We were told not to call Tyson direct because that might cause them to not buy any of the calves brought to the fair. 

I know we have to regulate use of drugs and is the only way, but here of so many champions being tanked in some big shows and  especially in the hogs ....My criticism of TYSON is their hiring of Muslims and their exceptions made to accommodate them...If this country stays onn the path it's on we won't have to worry about showing them period ....

A diiference without a distinction.

Shows should ban both and get ahead of the game instead of continually lagging.

They are show cattle. All theses show experts shouldn't need the additives.

Show cattle are supposed to be better than commercial cattle as a given, but more and more they are slipping into a joke with a just a few good shows.