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Vol. 75 · # 38 Wednesday, October 10, 2012 GST Included $1.35 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono and Starkville since 1937 by: Christopher W. Brown Where's the "Bad" beef? the recall. "Since I deal with all natural beef, we have seen a increase. Consumers are wanting safe beef," he stated, and added, "On this farm, we grow everything the cattle eat. We know exactly what food is being fed and we know what exactly is in that feed." Cartwright said that he doesn't use any chemicals or hormones on his cattle. "We are all natural, and we take pride in that." Cartwright says he can see the natural beef outselling the other beef after this scare. "People are looking for safe meat, and we can always deliver that." Leslie McBride, a partowner of McBride Farms in Newtonville, says, "I don't expect the cattle farms of Durham or Ontario to be affected by the recall in Alberta, but I'm just waiting, who knows what could happen in the next few weeks." Elizabeth McClung the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture spokespersons said, "While the Ontario Government understands the problems that the cattle farmers of Ontario are facing, we are doing what we can to provide support to them." McClung stated in an interview with The Times "Ontario has a good risk christopher@oronoweeklytimes.com What is being dubbed as the biggest recall in Canadian beef history has some local cattle farmers worried and others preparing for an increase in business. In September, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency began recalling beef that was shipped from a Alberta based company; XL Foods which was tainted with Escherichia coli (E-Coli). Supermarkets are removing packaged meat from their shelves, after the recall took effect in September. All supermarkets in Clarington have been affected by the recall including Foodland in Newcastle and Orono. John Cartwright of Cartwright Farms on Shiloh Road in Newtonville, has been farming cattle for over 35 years. "In all those years I haven't seen this big of a recall. When the mad cow scare happened a few years back, it wasn't this bad," he told the Orono Times in an interview on Tuesday. The Cartwright Farms have around 150 free range cattle, according to Cartwright. Cartwright says that his business has seen an increase in the last few weeks due to Great Pumpkin Caper ­ four-year-old Elliot Burns participated in the Pumpkin Olympics on Saturday at the Newcastle Fall Festival. The games were organized as a fundraising event by the Bowmanville/Orono Pathfinders for their trip to England this summer. BEEF see page 3 Taking the bull by the horn At 32 years of age Steve Foster admits he is not one of the `young guys' in the bull riding circuit, but he is not nearly ready to give it up. Last month Foster won the biggest title yet of his professional bull riding career. On the weekend of September 28 ­ 30 Foster competed in the bull riding finals at the Cowboy Association of Eastern Canada Rodeo in Saint-Agapit Quebec and won. While he wins an average of three or four rodeos a year, Foster admits the Quebec win was a big one for him. Whereas many rodeo riders learn their craft from their fathers who learned from their fathers, Foster who grew up on a small farm in Starkville, says he got interested in bull riding in Australia. Working on a farm exchange down under for ten years, Foster says he got involved in bull riding in 2010 and got hooked. Bull riding is big in certain areas of Australia, according to Foster, "And it is bigger up here than people realize." This year, Foster competed in rodeo events in the fairs at Port Perry, Uxbridge and Newmarket. Foster says he is gone almost every weekend as he competes in over 50 events a year in Ontario, Quebec and the United States. And he admits the traveling is the hardest part about the profession, which Foster says is one of the fastest growing sports today. The best way to get involved in the sport is through bull riding schools, according to Foster, and the only way to learn is, "Just do it; get on as many bulls as you can." Bull riding can be scary, especially if the bull tries to go after you when you hit the ground Foster says, "It is such a rush!" And that is what keeps the riders in the game. "We do make some money, but we do it because we love it." Injuries are just part of the sport, according to Foster, who says he has broken a few bones over the years. But unlike in some professional sports, rodeo competitors do not get paid if they don't perform. Foster can count on his parents Bob and Doris Foster of Starkville to be in his corRODEO see page 3