MAD COW CONFIRMED ALABAMA

[Bill]

Oldtimer remember this from last week?

Oldtimer wrote:
I'll wait a week or two and see what happens--We both know that just because a government bureaucracy denies something doesn't mean its the truth--Maybe CFIA is taking lessons from the USDA

Besides you're due for another pretty soon anyway- unless you've learned how to grease CFIA's palms the way USDA's have been....

What say you now?

 

[Anonymous]

Oldtimer remember this from last week?

Oldtimer wrote:
I'll wait a week or two and see what happens--We both know that just because a government bureaucracy denies something doesn't mean its the truth--Maybe CFIA is taking lessons from the USDA

Besides you're due for another pretty soon anyway- unless you've learned how to grease CFIA's palms the way USDA's have been....

What say you now?

It makes me wonder how long USDA had knowledge of their positive- maybe the wrongly reported Canadian cow was actually this US one- since USDA has had a history of sitting on things and leaking this info to the right people first so they can make the right investment moves before announcement....

Release of info on Sat. also worked quite well to move all the media coverage away from USDA's GIPSA, and PSA hearings allegations which had filled Fridays papers :???: .......

 

[jrmckee]

This is the perfect example of why we need the mandatory ID system.

If this cow is around 10 years old as they say and has been on this farm for less than 1 year she was probably culled from somewhere and sent to the local stockyard. She has long since lost the backtag they put on her. If the guy who ownes her now didn't record when and where he purchased her along with the backtag number there is no way to trace her backwards.

I purchased 150 older short and solid bred cows 2 years ago. I bought them at 4 different stockyard each week for about 6 weeks. If one of those cows came up positive there would be no way to trace them backwards to their herd of origen.

Maybe after enough of these cases we will get on the ball and move forward with mandatory ID.

Johnny

 

[Broke-T]

Bangs tags are often missing. We vac all our heifers and many are lost within a few years. If she went thru a sale barn they would have tested her and put in a new tag if she didn't have one. Hope that one is still in place. If she was from a PB herd she will have tatoos and possible brand that could track her to herd of origen.

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just scan an EID tag and pull up all that info.

Johnny

 

[Anonymous]

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just scan an EID tag and pull up all that info.

Johnny

Johnny- Those RFID tags fall out just like the bangs ones do.....I'm not against an ID system- but brands have worked pretty well up here for over 100 years- and are permanent.....

 

[HAY MAKER]

Bangs tags are often missing. We vac all our heifers and many are lost within a few years. If she went thru a sale barn they would have tested her and put in a new tag if she didn't have one. Hope that one is still in place. If she was from a PB herd she will have tatoos and possible brand that could track her to herd of origen.

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just scan an EID tag and pull up all that info.

Johnny

All tags can be lost Johnny,never seen a brand lost yet,seen one or two altered but never lost :wink: ..............good luck

 

[jrmckee]

BSE has become a serious issue. When the USA loses all exports and the local consumers began to stop buying locally grown beef and all of or consumable beef is imported, then a $2.50 RFID tag plus mandatory ID will seem cheap. There is virtually no way to trace back animals as it is now. :!: :!:

 

[bse-tester]

Here is Cliffords complete release, for those who may wish to read it.

Statement by USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford (DVM) Regarding Positive BSE Test Results
March 13, 2006

"We received a positive result on a Western blot confirmatory test conducted at the USDA laboratories in Ames, Iowa, on samples from an animal that had tested "inconclusive" on a rapid screening test performed on Friday, March 10.

"The samples were taken from a non-ambulatory animal on a farm in Alabama. A local private veterinarian euthanized and sampled the animal and sent the samples for further testing, which was conducted at one of our contract diagnostic laboratories at the University of Georgia. The animal was buried on the farm and it did not enter the animal or human food chains.

"We are now working with Alabama animal health officials to conduct an epidemiological investigation to gather any further information we can on the herd of origin of this animal. The animal had only resided on the most recent farm in Alabama for less than a year.

"We will be working to locate animals from this cow's birth cohort (animals born in the same herd within one year of the affected animal) and any offspring. We will also work with Food and Drug Administration officials to determine any feed history that may be relevant to the investigation. Experience worldwide has shown us that it is highly unusual to find BSE in more than one animal in a herd or in an affected animal's offspring. Nevertheless, all animals of interest will be tested for BSE.

"Under USDA testing protocols, surveillance samples are sent to contract laboratories for screening tests. If the sample is found to be inconclusive on the screening test, it is then shipped to our National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, for an additional rapid test and two confirmatory tests: the immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, which is conducted by APHIS scientists, and the Western blot test, which is conducted by scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service. USDA considers an animal positive for BSE if either of the two confirmatory tests returns a positive result.

"In this instance, the inconclusive result from the contract lab in Georgia was confirmed through a second rapid test at NVSL. Now, the Western blot test has returned a positive result, and that is sufficient for us to confirm this animal to be positive for BSE, which is why we are making this announcement today. The IHC results are still pending and we will release those results as soon as they are available, which we expect to be later this week.

"I want to emphasize that human and animal health in the United States are protected by a system of interlocking safeguards, and that we remain very confident in the safety of U.S. beef. Again, this animal did not enter the human food or animal feed chains.

"While epidemiological work to determine the animal's precise age is just getting underway and is ongoing, the attending veterinarian has indicated that, based on dentition, it was an older animal, quite possibly upwards of 10 years of age. This would indicate that this animal would have been born prior to the implementation of the Food and Drug Administration's 1997 feed ban. Older animals are more likely to have been exposed to contaminated feed circulating before the FDA's 1997 ban on ruminant-to-ruminant feeding practices, which scientific research has indicated is the most likely route for BSE transmission.

"By any measure, the incidence of BSE in this country is extremely low. Our enhanced surveillance program was designed as a one-time snapshot to provide information about the level of prevalence of BSE in the United States. We have conducted surveillance in the United States since 1990 and following the initial positive in December 2003, we developed an enhanced surveillance program. Since June 2004, all sectors of the cattle industry have cooperated in this program by submitting samples from more than 650,000 animals from the highest risk populations and more than 20,000 from clinically normal, older animals, as part our enhanced BSE surveillance program. To date, including the animal in today's announcement, only two of these highest risk animals have tested positive for the disease as part of the enhanced surveillance program.

"As we approach the conclusion of our enhanced surveillance program, let me offer a few thoughts regarding surveillance going forward. I can assure you that we will continue to base our maintenance surveillance testing on international guidelines. Though the nature and extent of maintenance surveillance has not yet been finalized, the incidence of BSE in this country remains extremely low and our interlocking safeguards are working to protect both human and animal health and we remain very confident in the safety of U.S. beef.

"As we move forward with the epidemiological investigation that has been initiated today into this case of BSE, we will continue to be very transparent in sharing information with the public and with our trading partners around the world."

 

[jrmckee]

Branding would be the ideal ID because location of origin is the most important. The best individual animal more fail prove EID will be the boluses or minitransponder. Even if using brands, this will have to be made mandatory for it to work. The only people I know who brands is the larger purebred or registered producers who also tag and tattoo. Without being mandatory, even branding wont work. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

BSE has become a serious issue. When the USA loses all exports and the local consumers began to stop buying locally grown beef and all of or consumable beef is imported, then a $2.50 RFID tag plus mandatory ID will seem cheap. There is virtually no way to trace back animals as it is now. :!: :!:

jrmckee- You apparently did not read NCBA's press release concerning this BSE find.......

"The bottom line for consumers remains the same: Your beef is safe. Experts in human and animal health agree that U.S. beef is safe from BSE because of the progressive steps taken by the U.S. government over the past two decades. The world's leading scientists, medical professionals and government officials agree that BSE is not a public or animal health risk in the United States."

 

[cowsense]

jrmckee- You're right on for the money; if anything Canada's painful experiences with BSE have proven that we should have started our program even sooner. I had the priveledge of visiting with an older British cattle farmer that was visiting Canada to purchase embryos and semen to rebuild his PB herd. He stated that if they would have had an ID system in place at the outbreak of BSE, the disease might have been more manageable and might have helped prevent the bankruptcies of scores of producers.He went on to state that Canada's producer run program was far more palatable than the onerous, expensive British Govt. program they were eventually saddled with!

 

[Broke-T]

The problem I see with brannding is that it only tells where the animal was branded at. It doesn't ID an individual animal. That prevents traceing the path that animal took to get from point A to point B.

I agree with you Oldtimer that US beef is safe. The problem is perception of the comsumer. It seems that the world is wanting 0 risk. Nothing can ever be guaranteed 100 % safe. But thats what people want. We know our beef is safe but how do we convince the Japanese consumer if we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

 

[jrmckee]

The attitude of the USA on everything is "if it ain't broke don't fix it, we will fix it when it breaks, no matter what the cost" or " We've been doing fine without it for years why do we need to change now".

This latest BSE case will add fuel to the fire of PETA and VEGGIE's to persuade people to stop eating meat or don't beleive what the livestock community says about beef's safety.

I afraid that FDA will probably take over NAIS before it's over with like they have all other food and feed sectors. FDA totes a big gun and it's always loaded to the max. You don't mess with their regulations.

Visit http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsbtac23.html or www.iowagrain.org and see FDA's current regs. as part of the Bioterrorism Act.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with you Oldtimer that US beef is safe. The problem is perception of the comsumer. It seems that the world is wanting 0 risk. Nothing can ever be guaranteed 100 % safe. But thats what people want. We know our beef is safe but how do we convince the Japanese consumer if we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

I think with all the flipflops, foulups, and questions left unanswered by the USDA- the only thing the Japanese consumer will accept is tested beef...And It doesn't matter if their government takes it or not if the consumer doesn't want it....BSE tested may not guarantee BSE free, but that is what the Japanese consumer wants.....

I think USDA should allow Creekstone and any of the other Packers (US or Canadian) that want to test for the Japanese market....Give the consumer what he wants...

 

[Bill]

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just scan an EID tag and pull up all that info.

Johnny

Johnny- Those RFID tags fall out just like the bangs ones do.....I'm not against an ID system- but brands have worked pretty well up here for over 100 years- and are permanent.....

How does a herd brand ID an animal other than to the owners herd. How does it distinquish one animal from another within that herd to allow a calf to be id'd to it's mother or even to animals born the same year or do you have enough brands to ID each animal differently?

Yes a brand is permanent which is a fault of any eartag but that's where the advantages end in the type of ID system which seems to be required in a true and credible traceout.

 

[Econ101]

If bse testing were not a hassel to the current system of fast and "cheap" slaughter, it probably would have already been allowed. The fast and cheap will happen as soon as it is allowed and then after a while bse could be handled properly and laid to rest. Economics has a way of making that happen. My concern is that the decisions on bse issues are big packer desires, not science, market, or good govt. policy desires.

 

[ranch hand]

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just scan an EID tag and pull up all that info.

Johnny

Johnny- Those RFID tags fall out just like the bangs ones do.....I'm not against an ID system- but brands have worked pretty well up here for over 100 years- and are permanent.....

How does a herd brand ID an animal other than to the owners herd. How does it distinquish one animal from another within that herd to allow a calf to be id'd to it's mother or even to animals born the same year or do you have enough brands to ID each animal differently?
Yes a brand is permanent which is a fault of any eartag but that's where the advantages end in the type of ID system which seems to be required in a true and credible traceout.

Your system doesn't ID a calf to it mother. So why are you worried about the brand doing it? Most serious cattle producers also brand the year on heifers they keep. That can't be lost either.

 

[cowsense]

I'd sure like to see a comparison done on the percentage of branded vs. unbranded cattle in the states. The duplication of brands must be high as well with all the different states (and even individual counties in places) that administer brands. Is brand inspection compulsory in all states? at all transactions (private or sale barn) ? Brands can be part of ID but leave a lot to be desired in traceability!

 

[Anonymous]

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just scan an EID tag and pull up all that info.

Johnny

Johnny- Those RFID tags fall out just like the bangs ones do.....I'm not against an ID system- but brands have worked pretty well up here for over 100 years- and are permanent.....

How does a herd brand ID an animal other than to the owners herd. How does it distinquish one animal from another within that herd to allow a calf to be id'd to it's mother or even to animals born the same year or do you have enough brands to ID each animal differently?

Yes a brand is permanent which is a fault of any eartag but that's where the advantages end in the type of ID system which seems to be required in a true and credible traceout.

Bill- I truly think that a individual ID tag along with a hot iron brand and written records (red book) is about the most foolproof system available today...We've been doing it with our cows since 1968 when I added individual numbered tags to the brand practice...I also have records of granddads going back to the 1930's where he recorded the brands of boughten cattle and bulls before he rebranded them- and he kept all brand inspections....And all movements of these are recorded with the state on the brand inspection forms.....

Adding a RFID tag too will not be that much harder for me- but could be quite an expense to the producers as a whole....Intitial estimates were for $8-15 per cow--Pilot studies are showing that the cost could be double that...I see where Australia figures it costs $35 per head for their ID system- and it still isn't working well....

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

RFID tags bought in Canada with Canadian dollars at $3 or less.