Silver said:
But stepping all over them by taking advantage of a bunch of smoke and mirror legal loopholes thereby starving them out is okay, right?
You mean when right after the passage of NAFTA Canada declared that "ALL US CATTLE ARE DISEASED" and restricted US cattle from going north and started sending bullhauler after bullhauler south loaded down with "cheap" cattle (your dollar was worth about 50 cents) to wreck the US markets???
Did you folks ever think why R-CALF originated mostly in border states like MT, ID, WA, and the Dakotas ? Do you think it was because cattlemen in those states knew Canadians better and knew they were terrible folks, thought them evil , and wanted to do them harm :???: :roll: NO- it was because these border states saw all the one way cattle traffic.... All headed south.... And saw the damage it was doing to US cattle producers and the country as a whole....
I actually saw the perspective from 3 positions- Sheriff's Officer, Brand Inspector, and cattleman.... And like others in the state I saw truckload after truckload of cattle all headed south- and Trans X trucks parked lining the truckstops on their way back and forth hauling swinging Canadian beef south... We'd have to go get the drivers out of the Cafe because they would be interfering with traffic on the 4 Lane...
And I saw neighbors/acquaintances and their families in tears watching these trucks taking their livelihood away as we had to foreclose on them... Ranchers that lost their places partially brought about because of the wrecked prices... And as a brand inspector for 6-7 years after the NAFTA passage I saw MT cattle being allowed to be shipped all over the US with just a Vets health inspection- but I saw/inspected NONE going north (cattle that ran across the fenceline from the Canadian cattle)... I inspected hundreds of potloads of cattle being shipped out of state- but not a one went north from this area until about 2001 or 2002 when Jones, Vold, Jones bought some video auction cattle at a sale in Malta and I inspected about a dozen semi-loads...
And even tho MSU tested hundreds of cattle herds - NONE tested positive for the diseases the Canadians were claiming (Anaplas and Blue Tongue)-- but Canada kept up the ALL US CATTLE ARE DISEASED claim-- and much of the restrictions... Until during the BSE era when Canada had their teat in a wringer and was trying to get the border open to their cows going south- and all of a sudden WALLAH- magically the Canadian government decides your US cows really aren't as diseased as we thought and they finally dropped most of the restrictions, (10-12 years after having the border closed to US cattle :roll: )
Yep Silver- that does remind me of someone taking advantage of a bunch of smoke and mirror legal loopholes and using them to step all over their neighbors

!!!!
And Silver-- you surely don't want all these DISEASED US CATTLE being comingled with your Canadian cattle as a North American herd- would you :???: