Deceptive Words

DR. ANDREW P. GRIFFITH

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

   The English language is an extremely tough language. Yet, a person who masters the English language can be an effective communicator, or they can use it in a deceptive way. Suppose the following question was asked, can an elephant fly? Most people would immediately answer no to that question, because elephants do not have wings. That would be a correct answer, but someone answering yes may say an elephant can ride in an airplane and fly anywhere. Still, another person may answer no because an elephant cannot fit in the pilot’s seat. Here is another example. Do you ever lie? No one is going to say yes and feel good about that except for the fact that a person may lie in their bed every night to sleep.

   What does this have to do with cattle? Maybe it has nothing to do with cattle, but then again maybe it does. Many words in the English language hold multiple meanings and those multiple meanings can become more confusing when there are different perspectives. For instance, if a person asks how are feeder cattle prices. If prices of feeder cattle are high then most people in this business would say prices are good. 

   However, if it were a cattle feeder asking that question and the response was cattle prices are good. They are higher than they have ever been. The cattle feeder probably does not view it the same way.  Thus, when someone asks me if prices are good, I need to know what side of the market they are on to appropriately answer that question.

   These examples are the exact reason the cattle industry uses a grading system and specific terms to describe cattle. It is uniform terminology and is mostly consistent across all participants. If a person was describing a set of cattle and said they are the heaviest muscled calves I have ever owned then what does that statement mean. 

   It could mean they are a really nicely muscled set of calves, or it could mean that producer had only fed Holsteins and this was their first step in to a set of beef cattle. That set of calves could all grade as a number 2 muscle and be superior to Holsteins but inferior to number 1 muscled calves. Thus, the industry uses a scaling system such as muscle scores of 1 through 4, frame size of large, medium, and small, and flesh scores ranging from 1 to 9 to describe and represent cattle.

   These types of descriptions are not typically associated with weekly auction markets where cattle move through the sell ring and the buyers can physically examine the cattle. Rather, these types of descriptions are largely used for cattle being sold through video and internet auctions. The cattle description may also include any defects the cattle may have, percentage of cattle of certain colors or breed, health and feed programs, and anything else the seller may deem beneficial to their marketing. This may seem elementary to many folks, but such descriptions are becoming even more important as more and more people are trading cattle private treaty. This may take the form of a person selling tractor trailer load lots to feedlots or it may take the form of a person with 10 acres that wants to purchase 5 cows via social media or maybe even a producer purchasing seedstock via the internet.

   It is not only the English language that is deceptive, but people are deceptive. Cattle producers should be familiar with how the industry does business and the terminology that is used so they can perform business effectively. Similarly, cattle producers should be aware of folks that may attempt to take advantage of a situation. As cattle producers near the time of marketing the spring calf crop, it is imperative to know the business, know who the business is being done with, and be cognizant that some people are simply dishonest. On the other hand, there are more honest people in this business than dishonest people. Work with people known in the industry and take the necessary precautions when doing business with new folks. Many of them will be good folks too. ∆

   DR. ANDREW P. GRIFFITH: Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee