A
Anonymous
Guest
I wonder how all this will effect the cattle run into the states IF Rule 2 goes into effect :???: If their are no slaughterplants wanting to kill OTM's in Canada- will it cheapen these cattle, there in turn cheapening the US cull market if they try to send all to the US for slaughter-- all the while it makes the US the dumping ground of all the Canuck diseased SRM's - raising the risk to US cattlemen :???:
It may not only be devastating to the Canadian slaughter industry- but to the US cattle industry.....
Wake up USDA and dump Rule 2......
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Who will slaughter cattle over 30 months of age?
The day is fast approaching when some abattoirs may refuse to process older cattle because of the costs associated with separating specified risk materials
by DON STONEMAN
Better Farming
AgMedia Inc.
April 2007
Vankleek Hill, Ontario
Canada
By mid-May, or perhaps earlier, some producers will find that their local abattoirs won’t kill cattle over 30 months of age any longer, warns the Ontario Independent Meat Processors (OIMP).
Specified risk materials (SRMs) from older cattle must be segregated from the rest of the cattle packing industry’s waste stream and, for some abattoirs, the cost will be prohibitive, says Dave Tiller, the OIMP’s technical director.
On July 12, Canada will invoke “enhanced” feed rules for dealing with rendered materials in order to fulfill obligations made to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Meat and bone meal made with SRMs won’t be allowed in pig or poultry rations, nor in fertilizer or pet foods. The July deadline is “immovable,” warns Paul Stiles, assistant general manager of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association.
The deadline for processors is sooner. Packing plants must begin segregation by May 12. Renderers say it will take two months to get the old rendered material through their systems.
Specified risk materials include the skulls, brains, eyes, tonsils and spinal cords of cattle aged 30 months or older, and part of the small intestines of cattle of all ages. Deadstock will also be directed into the SRM stream as well.
The issue is staring the processing industry squarely in the face. The federal government set aside $8 million last year to deal with the issue, but nothing has been done with the money so far. “There is no infrastructure or logistics existing right now,” says Tiller, and the industry is at the “eleventh hour.”
At the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting in February, provincial agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky said Ontario will participate in a federal-provincial program to help the processing industry adjust to the new federal SRM regulations. “That was the highlight of the meeting,” Stiles says. At deadline, Alberta also appeared ready to sign on to the program.
There are other implications when the Americans open their border to cattle over 30 months of age. Canada is banning SRMs from feed and fertilizer because it wants “controlled risk” status, as designated by the OIE. The United States is not segregating SRMs from packing plants, notes Laurie Nichol, executive director of the independent meat packers. “They don’t have BSE.”
Slaughter costs will be lower in American plants and Canadian packers will be at a cost disadvantage once the Americans adopt Rule 2 and open the border to sales of cattle over 30 months of age. “This will be devastating for our industry,” Nichol says.
Gencor kills mostly cattle over 30 months of age and is the “major SRM producer in the province,” says managing director Darryl Robinson, He says Gencor will be at a competitive disadvantage if the border opens and American packers begin importing older Canadian cattle.
In 2005, member countries of the OIE agreed to revise the three definitions of risk categories for countries affected by BSE. The three definitions are negligible risk, controlled risk and undetermined risk of cattle being infected with the fatal brain-wasting disease that can be spread to humans.
‘“Controlled risk’ is a desirable status to have internationally,” says the OCA’s Stiles, and keeping SRMs that might spread BSE out of animal feeds and fertilizer is a way to get that status. Dropping to an ‘undetermined risk’” status would be costly, Stiles warns. Moreover, adds Brian Evans, Canada’s chief veterinarian, “there would be repercussions” both internationally and domestically. Countries that have already opened their borders to some Canadian beef products might “rethink” their position and even Canadian consumers might lose confidence.
Furthermore, a controlled risk status puts Canada in a position to take trade action against countries that don’t allow beef trade to resume, Evans says.
Stiles notes that there is a much larger amount of SRMs in cattle more than 30 months old and picking it up will require either a separate pickup or a truck with separate bins.
Landfilling is a short-term option for dealing with SRMs, says Tiller, who has been part of a working group looking at the issue. SRMs must be segregated from other offals, dyed and stored in separate labelled containers. Some abattoirs will be able to compost the materials, but management is a problem and a permit from the Ontario agriculture ministry may be required. “There are some grey areas,” Tiller says.
In the long term, one option may be to render the SRMs and deadstock separately from other inedible slaughter waste and burn them in cement plant furnaces at high temperatures, Tiller says.
In 2006, provincially licensed abattoirs produced 2,500 tonnes of SRMs, says Leslie Woodcock, manager of animal health and welfare for the Ontario agriculture and food ministry. She estimates that federal plants in Ontario produce 600-700 tonnes of SRMs a week.
Bovine deadstock volumes have totalled 18,000-20,000 tonnes annually in recent years. The volume will go down as the cost of off-farm disposal increases, and farmers dispose of deadstock themselves, she says.
betterfarming.com
It may not only be devastating to the Canadian slaughter industry- but to the US cattle industry.....
Wake up USDA and dump Rule 2......
------------------------------------------------------------------
Who will slaughter cattle over 30 months of age?
The day is fast approaching when some abattoirs may refuse to process older cattle because of the costs associated with separating specified risk materials
by DON STONEMAN
Better Farming
AgMedia Inc.
April 2007
Vankleek Hill, Ontario
Canada
By mid-May, or perhaps earlier, some producers will find that their local abattoirs won’t kill cattle over 30 months of age any longer, warns the Ontario Independent Meat Processors (OIMP).
Specified risk materials (SRMs) from older cattle must be segregated from the rest of the cattle packing industry’s waste stream and, for some abattoirs, the cost will be prohibitive, says Dave Tiller, the OIMP’s technical director.
On July 12, Canada will invoke “enhanced” feed rules for dealing with rendered materials in order to fulfill obligations made to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Meat and bone meal made with SRMs won’t be allowed in pig or poultry rations, nor in fertilizer or pet foods. The July deadline is “immovable,” warns Paul Stiles, assistant general manager of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association.
The deadline for processors is sooner. Packing plants must begin segregation by May 12. Renderers say it will take two months to get the old rendered material through their systems.
Specified risk materials include the skulls, brains, eyes, tonsils and spinal cords of cattle aged 30 months or older, and part of the small intestines of cattle of all ages. Deadstock will also be directed into the SRM stream as well.
The issue is staring the processing industry squarely in the face. The federal government set aside $8 million last year to deal with the issue, but nothing has been done with the money so far. “There is no infrastructure or logistics existing right now,” says Tiller, and the industry is at the “eleventh hour.”
At the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting in February, provincial agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky said Ontario will participate in a federal-provincial program to help the processing industry adjust to the new federal SRM regulations. “That was the highlight of the meeting,” Stiles says. At deadline, Alberta also appeared ready to sign on to the program.
There are other implications when the Americans open their border to cattle over 30 months of age. Canada is banning SRMs from feed and fertilizer because it wants “controlled risk” status, as designated by the OIE. The United States is not segregating SRMs from packing plants, notes Laurie Nichol, executive director of the independent meat packers. “They don’t have BSE.”
Slaughter costs will be lower in American plants and Canadian packers will be at a cost disadvantage once the Americans adopt Rule 2 and open the border to sales of cattle over 30 months of age. “This will be devastating for our industry,” Nichol says.
Gencor kills mostly cattle over 30 months of age and is the “major SRM producer in the province,” says managing director Darryl Robinson, He says Gencor will be at a competitive disadvantage if the border opens and American packers begin importing older Canadian cattle.
In 2005, member countries of the OIE agreed to revise the three definitions of risk categories for countries affected by BSE. The three definitions are negligible risk, controlled risk and undetermined risk of cattle being infected with the fatal brain-wasting disease that can be spread to humans.
‘“Controlled risk’ is a desirable status to have internationally,” says the OCA’s Stiles, and keeping SRMs that might spread BSE out of animal feeds and fertilizer is a way to get that status. Dropping to an ‘undetermined risk’” status would be costly, Stiles warns. Moreover, adds Brian Evans, Canada’s chief veterinarian, “there would be repercussions” both internationally and domestically. Countries that have already opened their borders to some Canadian beef products might “rethink” their position and even Canadian consumers might lose confidence.
Furthermore, a controlled risk status puts Canada in a position to take trade action against countries that don’t allow beef trade to resume, Evans says.
Stiles notes that there is a much larger amount of SRMs in cattle more than 30 months old and picking it up will require either a separate pickup or a truck with separate bins.
Landfilling is a short-term option for dealing with SRMs, says Tiller, who has been part of a working group looking at the issue. SRMs must be segregated from other offals, dyed and stored in separate labelled containers. Some abattoirs will be able to compost the materials, but management is a problem and a permit from the Ontario agriculture ministry may be required. “There are some grey areas,” Tiller says.
In the long term, one option may be to render the SRMs and deadstock separately from other inedible slaughter waste and burn them in cement plant furnaces at high temperatures, Tiller says.
In 2006, provincially licensed abattoirs produced 2,500 tonnes of SRMs, says Leslie Woodcock, manager of animal health and welfare for the Ontario agriculture and food ministry. She estimates that federal plants in Ontario produce 600-700 tonnes of SRMs a week.
Bovine deadstock volumes have totalled 18,000-20,000 tonnes annually in recent years. The volume will go down as the cost of off-farm disposal increases, and farmers dispose of deadstock themselves, she says.
betterfarming.com