AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.

Hands and fists across the border: Canadian and American cattlemen in the twentieth century.

Alberta History

| March 22, 2008 | Foran, Max | COPYRIGHT 2008 Historical Society of Alberta. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The American and Canadian cattle industries are very similar and through time they have developed close personal, commercial, and cultural bonds. They have fought common battles against animal disease; have integrated their breeding regimes: developed similar technologies, and adopted like scientific principles to range management. However, a reliance on inflexible cattlemen's associations as mouthpieces and on federal governments to set protective trade agendas, has led to periodic and sometimes acrimonious disputes. The Canadians through their associations want government to secure free access to lucrative markets in the United States while the American cattlemen utilize the same avenues to gain some protection or restraint of trade.

For the most part the two industries have developed in like fashion, following similar breeding, range management, and marketing practices, and along the way, each falling prey to wider national interests while profiting from the twentieth century fixation with beef as a status food. One has only to note how the industry promotes the mythology of beef in both countries. For instance, Omaha beef is eulogized south of the border in much the same way as Alberta beef is north of the 49th Parallel. To J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute, "the beef industries in the U.S. and its northern neighbor have become so alike in recent years that it's nearly impossible to differentiate between the two, outside of political jurisdictions. In fact, the cattle not only come from the same gene pool, but are raised under nearly identical conditions, fed virtually the same feed and handled under the same regimens. In fact, if Canadian cattle didn't occasionally utter 'eh' instead of the traditional 'moo,' they'd be completely indistinguishable from their American counterparts." (1)

A worthwhile prelude to this paper may be to consider the very different ways academics in both countries have depicted the two founding ranching traditions. In Canada, scholarly interest has not focussed on the historical evolution of the industry itself but rather on socio-cultural factors which distinguished Canada's ranching tradition from that in the United States. Canadian historians Lewis G. Thomas and Sheilagh Jameson, and later, David Breen in his seminal study of the early western Canadian ranching industry, have argued that the presence of powerful east-west metropolitan forces differentiated it from its American counterpart. (2)

In Canada this resulted in a law abiding and hierarchical frontier that contradicted the more egalitarian and lawless American ranching experience. This debate has received short thrift in the United States where historians have argued that there were never two ranching traditions separated by a national boundary but rather different regional manifestations. (3) As for the Canadian cattle frontier, Terry Jordan Bychkov simply places it as an extension of what he called the Midwestern ranching experience. (4) What is interesting is that Canadian scholars, ever seeking ways to isolate Canadian distinctiveness, have used the early cattle industry to exemplify significant cultural differences between the two countries. Not surprisingly, the Americans take a larger more continental view.

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and more
Festering friendship: the closed border between Canada and the United States,...
Magazine article from: The National Provisioner Young, Barbara May 1, 2005 700+ words
...relationship between Canada and the United States. The trade embargo between...The global impact on the United States in the wake of the discovery...competing head-to-head with American cattlemen for expansion in a fairly static...
United States Immigration Alert.
News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing April 1, 2009 700+ words
...five years for multiple trips to the United States. Visa waiver passport holders cannot enter the United States without such an approval notice...certain countries who are visiting the United States for business or pleasure purposes...
United States Uranium Mining Industry Analysis and Forecasts to 2015.
Press release article from: M2 Presswire July 8, 2009 700+ words
...2009-Research and Markets: United States Uranium Mining Industry Analysis...researchandmarkets.com/research/70b97f/united_states_uran) has announced the addition of GlobalData 's new report "United States Uranium Mining Industry Analysis...
United States Virgin Islands Quarter Launched in St. Thomas
Newspaper article from: U.S. Newswire October 9, 2009 700+ words
...EDITORS Contact: Carolyn Fields of the United States Mint, +1-202-354- 7222 WASHINGTON...quarter-dollar coin honoring the United States Virgin Islands was officially launched...in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. United States Mint...
United States Nuclear Power Market Analysis and Forecasts to 2015.
Press release article from: M2 Presswire February 27, 2009 700+ words
...2009-Research and Markets: United States Nuclear Power Market Analysis...researchandmarkets.com/research/1b60fb/united_states_nucl) has announced the addition of GlobalData 's new report "United States Nuclear Power Market Analysis...
United States Uranium Mining Industry Analysis and Forecasts to 2015.(Report)
Newspaper article from: Mining & Minerals July 24, 2009 700+ words
...com/research/02711c/united_states_uran) has announced the...GlobalData's new report "United States Uranium Mining Industry Analysis...2015" to their offering. United States Uranium Mining Industry Analysis...
United States Country Profile.
Press release article from: M2 Presswire February 18, 2003 700+ words
...February 2003-Research and Markets: United States Country Profile(C)1994-2003 M2...indispensable reference guide to the United States, putting key facts and figures, political...Indicators LIST OF TABLES Table 1: United States GDP, 1991-2001 (1995=100) Table...
The United States again flunks a test on human rights.(COLUMN)
Magazine article from: National Catholic Reporter Drinan, Robert F. October 6, 2006 700+ words
...000-word report reprimanding the United States for its many violations of the covenant. The United States has until July 2007, to respond to...provided for in a treaty ratified by the United States and some 160 other nations. The covenant...
For more facts and information, see all results
©2009 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
About us | FAQs | Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions
Other Gale sites: Encyclopedia.com | HighBeam Research | Acquire Content | Books & Authors | Goliath | MovieRetriever | Smart QandA