<a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JAPAN_BEEF_BATTLE?SITE=MTBIL&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">Japanese shun U.S. beef, eat Australian</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Kenji Miyoda, savoring a bowl of rice topped with beef from Australia, raw egg and spicy sauce, believes Australian beef is far safer than American beef.<br />n<br />n"It tastes OK, it's cheap, and it fills me up," the 27-year-old banker said gobbling down his 450 yen ($4) meal at Sukiya, a nationwide chain that placed a full-page newspaper ad to declare it's opposed to serving U.S. beef because of safety concerns.<br />n<br />nMiyoda's view is typical among many Japanese. Australian beef was once viewed as tough and tasteless compared to its U.S. counterpart, but that stereotype is vanishing on quality upgrades by switching feed to grain, instead of just grass, to cater to the Japanese palate.</blockquote><br />n<br />nNo surprise here. Australia is taking advantage of the situation and you can't blame them. We had opened this market back up until the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> screwed up and let banned meat get shipped over to Japan. I wonder if the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>'s screw-up could be considered a "taking" and beef producers will get just compensation for the governments screw-up? Yea, if you believe that I have some ocean front property near Billings MT for you. Take it and smile is about all you can do.<br />n<br />nOn the bright side got almost .75 inches of rain yesterday. Spring is looking good with some moisture and the grass growing and calves running all over the place. Looking pretty promising for this year, if the market holds up and the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> quits "helping us" by destroying our markets or driving us out of business with their burdensome <acronym title="National Animal Identification System">NAIS</acronym> program. With friends like the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>, who needs enemies?<br />n<br />n<b>The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Ronald Reagan </b>