The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) program provides the basis for good animal care and beef quality at my feed yard. It is the core of the Beef Quality Assurance Program, and originates from NASA’s protocol for ensuring food safety for their astronauts while on space missions.
HACCP provides the cornerstone…
HACCP plans are incredibly thorough and their development instills a mind-frame of critical thinking and challenge prevention.
HACCP sets both my animals and your beef up for success…
A thorough understanding of HACCP changes the way that you look at the world. So much so, that when this cattle feed yard “boss lady” leaves the farm she takes it with her…
My two oldest and I pausing for a moment of seriousness on the slopes…
As I skied with my family last week, I developed a variety of HACCP plans for skiing safety. My list of protocols became rather long. The discussion of them brought my family many laughs and earned me a variety of eye rolls as we rode the ski lifts together.
My favorite part of skiing–the heights of the chair lifts…As you might guess, I have a HACCP plan for getting on, riding, and getting off!
For every detailed protocol that I defined, my husband and girls came up with a juxtaposing humorous one.
You can tell the difference in our personalities from our choice of hats…
My personal favorite was my beloved farmer’s plan for skiing down the slopes…
Point your skies straight downhill— Ski really, really fast.
When someone or something gets in your way, TURN!
I feel the need to mention that my beloved farmer skied outside of the marked terrain, crashed into a SLOW skiing sign, and broke one of his skiing poles during the trip. Obviously his plan was not particularly effective…
The smile never faltered—although the plan went slightly awry…
I also feel the need to mention that I had NONE of these mishaps as I conquered the blue slopes on Steamboat’s beautiful mountains. Obviously my way of thinking set me up for success!
I found it more rewarding to stop and enjoy the breathtaking scenery while Matt was altering the position of the orange “Slow” sign…
Perhaps all of you are lucky that I am the “boss lady” at our family’s feed yard, not my beloved farmer. The conscientious and thorough member of the family might just be the best one to care for our animals and raise your beef.
Although it is probably a good thing that he is around to keep me young at heart 
Anne with all the hype in Washington wanting to reduce meat inspectors at packing plants, what is your take? It is my understanding the plants have to pay the government for the inspectors. I know the administration wants to make these cuts be as painful as possible. Too bad it’s politics over the good of the country.
Hi Dan, I am very concerned about USDA and meat inspections. I wrote a letter to Secretary Vilsack almost a month ago expressing my concerns. You can read the letter here: http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/did-you-know/ as I blogged about the issue when I wrote the letter. It is my understanding that paying inspectors does fall under the responsibility of USDA/FSIS except for when the plants run over-time (if the plants choose to run overtime then they pay the inspectors).
In addition to sending a letter to Sec. Vilsack, I have also been in contact with all three of my Congressmen in Washington DC. Senator Johanns just sent a letter to Sec. Vilsack voicing concerns similar to ours. Apparently USDA had the opportunity several months ago to secure additional funding to ensure that plant inspections would not be interrupted, but they chose not to do so. Knowing that, I agree that we are seeing politics at it’s ugliest.
I encourage you to read the above listed blog post with my letter to USDA, and then also draft a letter of your own. This is very serious.
All the best,
Anne
So many things to say…
Yes, Jeff–I can picture you struggling with that
Anne