Manitoba_Rancher
Well-known member
Older cows won't be crossing border this year
Leader-Post
Canadian Press
April 21, 2006
WASHINGTON (CP) -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns says it's unlikely that older Canadian cows and beef products will be crossing the border this year.
Two recent mad cow cases north of the border, including one confirmed in British Columbia this week, have created more work for administrators devising a plan to resume trade, Johanns said Thursday after meeting with Canada's Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl for the first time.
"I'd hate to set a date," said Johanns. "I'd hate to say it will be by the end of 2006. But I will say this, we're very committed to getting it done."
It's important, he said, that the plan withstand the kind of legal challenges that have marked attempts to renew the cattle trade since it was shut down completely in May 2003 after Canada's first case of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
R-CALF United Stockgrowers, a Montana-based ranching group, said this month it would target plans to trade in cows older than 30 months of age, thought to be at higher risk for contracting BSE than younger cattle.
The group's lawsuits have already prolonged the mad cow crisis for Canadian cattlemen.
"All of us understand the discovery of this latest cow means you have to do due diligence," Strahl said in an interview after a brief appearance with Johanns at the department's headquarters.
"Whatever rule goes ahead, it will be contested by somebody -- it's the American way."
And caution is appropriate to ensure every detail is checked, he said.
"If they don't and somebody finds something out of order, then a judge would likely send them back to the drawing board and make them start over."
But Strahl said he was encouraged by Johann's remarks earlier in the day, when he told reporters Canada has a "very, very good beef industry."
"They're doing just a lot of things very, very well," said Johanns.
The latest mad cow, Canada's fifth, was born after a 1997 ban in both countries on cattle feed containing cow parts, considered the prime way the disease is transmitted.
Still, Strahl said he's confident the ban is working.
"You don't like ever to see a BSE case, but unfortunately the scientists tell us that occasionally it will crop up over the next two, three or four years as BSE is slowly eliminated from the North American system.
American experts are participating in investigations of the B.C. dairy cow.
Trade in younger cattle resumed last July.
So far this year, Canada has shipped 386,071 cattle into the United States, according to Agriculture Department reports.
BSE is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain, from a deadly human nerve disorder, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
Johanns and Strahl, who agreed to meet at least once a year, talked about several other issues, including avian influenza preparations and World Trade Organization talks on eliminating export subsidies on agricultural products.
Leader-Post
Canadian Press
April 21, 2006
WASHINGTON (CP) -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns says it's unlikely that older Canadian cows and beef products will be crossing the border this year.
Two recent mad cow cases north of the border, including one confirmed in British Columbia this week, have created more work for administrators devising a plan to resume trade, Johanns said Thursday after meeting with Canada's Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl for the first time.
"I'd hate to set a date," said Johanns. "I'd hate to say it will be by the end of 2006. But I will say this, we're very committed to getting it done."
It's important, he said, that the plan withstand the kind of legal challenges that have marked attempts to renew the cattle trade since it was shut down completely in May 2003 after Canada's first case of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
R-CALF United Stockgrowers, a Montana-based ranching group, said this month it would target plans to trade in cows older than 30 months of age, thought to be at higher risk for contracting BSE than younger cattle.
The group's lawsuits have already prolonged the mad cow crisis for Canadian cattlemen.
"All of us understand the discovery of this latest cow means you have to do due diligence," Strahl said in an interview after a brief appearance with Johanns at the department's headquarters.
"Whatever rule goes ahead, it will be contested by somebody -- it's the American way."
And caution is appropriate to ensure every detail is checked, he said.
"If they don't and somebody finds something out of order, then a judge would likely send them back to the drawing board and make them start over."
But Strahl said he was encouraged by Johann's remarks earlier in the day, when he told reporters Canada has a "very, very good beef industry."
"They're doing just a lot of things very, very well," said Johanns.
The latest mad cow, Canada's fifth, was born after a 1997 ban in both countries on cattle feed containing cow parts, considered the prime way the disease is transmitted.
Still, Strahl said he's confident the ban is working.
"You don't like ever to see a BSE case, but unfortunately the scientists tell us that occasionally it will crop up over the next two, three or four years as BSE is slowly eliminated from the North American system.
American experts are participating in investigations of the B.C. dairy cow.
Trade in younger cattle resumed last July.
So far this year, Canada has shipped 386,071 cattle into the United States, according to Agriculture Department reports.
BSE is linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain, from a deadly human nerve disorder, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
Johanns and Strahl, who agreed to meet at least once a year, talked about several other issues, including avian influenza preparations and World Trade Organization talks on eliminating export subsidies on agricultural products.
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