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Montana Governor orders Inspection of Canadian Beef

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i'd have to agree with ya BMR. let 'em inspect them, kill them and eat them in MT. what the heck!! at least then the BSE danger would be contained within one state. wouldn't probably change much as far as the the intelligence level anyway...

JUST KIDDING!!!!! JUST KIDDING!!!! i have a lot of admiration for the ranchers/cowboys etc who do the work that 99% of the people in this country don't even realize what goes on behind that package of hamburger. they are the best. period.
 
Even before 5/20 Montana could be a bear to get cattle into-when exporting bulls I ran into more than one state official with his own interpretation of the regs and personal agenda-it does teach a person patience though.
 
Don't most of the Alberta Feedlot Alley fat ones go through Kingsgate Crossing into Idaho heading for the Tyson plant at Pasco, Wash.? Anyone who's driven that route on a hot August afternoon nose what I mean.
 
Hi Neil and all, Having travelled the road from Coutts north hundreds of times, I know that many of those times there were loaded cattle trucks lined up for miles north of Coutts waiting to clear customs and get on the road south to their destinations. Maybe a lot more cattle go south at other ports, but this is the one I am familiar with. Of course, that has always depended on market conditions here and there. There have been times the liners were bringing lots of feeder cattle north as well.

One thing that always amuses me on this type of forum is the attitude of some Americans (not all) that if the US imports any commodity from Canada, they are doing Canada a big favor. In a way they are as it often brings higher prices for us, BUT the US doesn't do it for that reason. The only reason I can see for the US buying anything from Canada is that it benefits someone in the USA.
An example I often think of is a Montana neighbour who buys most of his hay in Alberta. A few years ago, as we struggled to feed our cattle because of the extreme drought, that neighbour from the USA with a lot higher exchange rate on the money than now ( I think at that time A Can. $ was worth only about 65 cents US), could pay much more to the hay broker than anyone here could. So, he got all he needed much cheaper than buying hay in Montana. (He didn't need all the hay in the prairie provinces so we could still buy the rained on rotten stuff that was brought in from Manitoba and Sask. during our BIG drought.)

Sure, his hay purchases made money for the hay brokers and producers here, but I really don't think that was his reason for buying in Canada!
 
It seems that Gov. Schweitzer's plan may be back firing!



Great Falls farm news commentator stated this AM:

1. Montana Stock Growers thank Gov. S. for his interest in protecting Montana cattle producers.

2. Montana law cannot legislate inspection of cattle travelling through Montana, just those going to MT. destinations.

3. Cattle travelling to a Montana destination are mostly owned by the Montana feeders/speculators who purchased those cattle in Canada and now want to get them to the US to feed/sell or whatever.

4. Estimated cost to the exporter of the cattle (who would also be the importer in this situation) would be about 5.00 US (over and above the costs already in place).

There was more but I was too tired to get my recorder so had just my sleepy memory to rely on.

However, this is how I feel about it!

Wouldn't it be ironic if the R CALF members that paid a little more for our feeder cattle in the last 2 years than Canadian feedlots could (or would) didn't make any money (or lost money) on the ones they sold here, and now they have to pay a surcharge for the testing that R CALF (the organization) is supporting just to get those cattle home?

A saying I have heard my Canadian friends and neighbours use often regarding the US protectionists has been "What goes around, comes around"

As I have said in other posts, I (and most of my neighbours) think that those protectionists will PAY either:

1. For repercussions from practically spitting in the face of what we are led to believe is the most powerful government in the world.

2. By losing export markets when and if Canada can follow through with plans to become self sufficient by developing new plants and testing as is required by any foreign customers. (Oh, I forgot! R CALF doesn't want or need export markets!)

3. By having to deal with the results of their actions when the US industry fully realizes the damage caused by the R CALF agenda and by other like thinking individuals who support the same ideas. Maybe those individuals won't have quite so many friends as before and maybe organizations like R CALF won't have many members!

4. If none of the above happen maybe those people might just be punished by having to watch as the Canadian producer finally gets a share of the beef profits that those in the US have been enjoying for the past 2 years, 2 months and 5 days!
 
BR--SOME of us have seen the repercussions (sp?) of the border closing since it happened; unfortunately, the small (-minded) strident, litigation-happy percent of the US cattlemen have gotten all the attention, and for a while, the justice (?) system in this country backed them, for whatever reason.

the "judge" in MT has been spanked fairly hard by the court of appeals; his "vacated" injunction in reality means "i quit", "i roll on my belly to the big dogs", "i pee in front of you"...

the bottom line is, IMHO, that the US beef INDUSTRY has been , at best, badly served by R-CALF. that in the LONG RUN, we will become an EXPORTER to CANADA, and that all the rhetoric about the loss of "family farm/ranch", and "saving" it will simply be expedited by that group's actions over the past 2+ years.

the guys who bought into the rhetoric and false logic are the one's who REALLY lose-their cash now, their markets later, their ranches later on...while the people who led them on cash in on all the markets now, and make even more $$...and could really care less about the "suckers" and their "family farms".

"Wake up, America..."!!!! :roll:
 
...chuckie quote...in the long run I see the USA exporting to Canada... I agree ...with an abundance of feed and water and a government up here open to ILO ... could be wrong but if the dollar spread continues to narrow... we will see more American's feeding cattle and also slaughter cattle with the added capacity coming on line...
 

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