Mike said:
I presently, as we speak, have a heifer that had an abnormal presentation last Friday and is down and will be. Paralyzed.
Called the local slaughter house to ask if I could bring her and grind her.
He said that he couldn't take a downer period. I explained that this cow was paralyzed trying to give birth and the meat would be for my personal consumption............... Didn't matter.
E-mailed the State vet today for some sort of exemption but wouldn't you know............today is a Holiday!!! :roll:
I've seen dairy cows spread eagle slip and fall in the dairy barn and never get up.
Nothing wrong with them at all. :roll:
BUT, but, but, what about ;
Emergence of a Single Case of BSE
The index cow had difficulty giving birth to a bull calf on November 29, 2003, and was
subsequently sent to slaughter. On December 9, 2003, the animal was observed to be
nonambulatory (a "downer" animal). Accordingly, as part of USDA's targeted BSE surveillance
program, brain samples were taken from the animal and sent to USDA's National Veterinary
Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, for testing. After NVSL's presumptive positive
finding, samples were hand-carried to the OIE reference laboratory in Weybridge, England, for
final confirmatory testing according to international animal health requirements. On the morning
of December 25, 2003, the OIE reference laboratory confirmed USDA's diagnosis of BSE.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/bse/downloads/WashingtonState_epi_final3-04.pdf
This message of reassurance was based on a key assertion: that the BSE-infected cow
was tested because it was a downer. Appearing on the Today Show on December 24,2003, you
told Katie Couric:
The cow had difficulty standing on its own, which is why it was a downer cow. My
understanding . . . is that this cow had given birth, and that it had not been able to get up
since them4
'u.s. Department of Agriculture, Banscript of News Conference with Agriculture
Secretary Ann M. Veneman on BSE (Dec. 23,2003) (online at
http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0433.03.html).
3 ~ . ~ . Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Yeneman on FOX and
Friends (Dec. 24,2003) (online at http://www.usda.gov/NewsroodO440.03.html).
4 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman 's Intewiew on
the Today Show (Dec. 24,2003) (online at http://www.usda.gov/Newsroom/0438.03.html).
The Honorable Ann M. Veneman
February 17,2004
Page 4
Following the announcement of the discovery of the BSE-infected cow, USDA stated
repeatedly that the cow was a downer. USDA officials making this statement included USDA
Chief Veterinarian Dr. Ron ~ e ~ a v e n ~ and Dr. Kenneth Petersen of the Food Safety Inspection
Service (FSIS).~ In a January 2004 briefing for the Committee on Government Reform's
(Committee) staff, USDA officials reiterated that the cow had not walked since giving birth.7
USDA's surveillance program is designed to sample only downer cows and cattle with
symptoms of central nervous system disease. There is universal agreement that the BSE-infected
cow did not have central nervous system symptoms. If the cow was also not a downer, then
under USDA's surveillance program, there would have been no reason for the cow to be tested
for BSE.
New Information about the BSE-Infected Cow.....
SNIP...
Mr. Ellestad's affidavit also provides additional evidence disputing the assertion that the
BSE-infected cow had not walked since giving birth several days before slaughter. Mr. Ellestad
recounts a January 19,2004, conversation with a Washington State official involved in USDA's
BSE surveillance program. The official spoke with the cow's former owner and later came to
visit Vern's Moses Lake Meats. Mr. Ellestad states:
The official informed all present that he had been present at meetings where the . . .
owner advised the USDA and other government officials that the BSE-positive cow had
given birth on November 29 and that the cow went through the milking shed for 3 or 4
days, which would have required that she be walking - there would be no other way for
her to go through the milking shed.15
Mr. Ellestad's account of this conversation is confirmed by Rick Parks, a GAP
investigator, who was also present at the meeting with the official. According to a
contemporaneous "investigative memo" written by Mr. Parks on the day of the conversation, the
Washington State official stated that "two herdsmen . . . confirmed to government officials that
the BSE positive Holstein walked onto the trailer when she was picked up the day of December
9,2003."'~
SNIP...
Need for Further Investigation
In a handwritten letter faxed on January 6,2004, to an Enforcement, Investigation and
Analysis Officer in USDA's Boulder District office, Mr. Ellestad stated that "the brain stem
sample was not taken because this animal was non-ambu~atory."~~ USDA has not released to
Congress or the public the contents of Mr. Ellestad's fax. As the oversight committee over all
federal agencies, it is the Committee's responsibility to ensure a complete and thorough
investigation of these claims. If it is confirmed the BSE-infected cow was not a downer, public
confidence in USDA may suffer. Confidence in the food supply requires that the public be able
to rely on the statements of USDA officials.
It is critically important that the contradictions between USDA's statements and the
information that we received from GAP be thoroughly investigated by Congress. We therefore
ask that you provide us with the following documentation:
FULL TEXT AT ;
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20040608105007-72922.pdf
TSS
