Canada confirms new case of mad cow disease

[crossfield_beef]

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/307009

Feb 26, 2008 11:52 AM
Reuters

OTTAWA–Canada confirmed a new case of mad cow disease Tuesday, the 12th since 2003, and said the animal in question was a six-year-old dairy cow from Alberta.

BSE has not hurt our small Canadian market. But now of this helps our cause.
Bloombergs is reporting that wheat futures have topped $12 for the first time with strong demand.
Master Feeds is paying $7.20 for feed wheat in Red Deer. Barley is strong.

Feeds costs are going to affect the price of beef more than any other factor now.

I do not see that the consumer can afford to pay more for beef right now. Energy costs like power, heating fuel and car gas is still increasing.

These are certainly nteresting times. A person really has to keep the old Crystal Ball polished and working during these changing times.

[crossfield_beef]

Darn-- I pasted my corrections into box and they were not there in the submitted post.

I meant to leave out the part about the Canadian market and I meant to say that "None of this helps our cause."

I do not know why the corrected text did not get submitted.

[Willowcreek]

Wheat hit $21 bushel in Montana yesterday...Some are asking $22 for their seed wheat.....

[Willowcreek]

Ironically yesterday- several local cattlemen and I got into a discussion of Canadian BSE...

Lots of folks down here looking for bred cows-- but the prices are out of sight- with even old Broken Mouth gummers bringing over $900, since big cull cows are up to $1000.. I was mentioning the lower prices you Canadians have been talking about- and the possibility of picking up some cheaper cattle to the north- but like me- everyone down here is scared to death of touching a Canuck cow because of this Cow of the month syndrome- and their fear of importing in a positive cow...

What the availability of a live test would do right now...Looks to me like if some of these companies are actually developing a live test- the CFIA and the Canadian government would be wise to be fasttracking the development...

[grassfarmer]

Yeah, if we had a live test you would be needing to import lots of canuck cows - to replace all the BSE positives in US herds! You have the same risk status as Canada and no amount of lying by R-CALFers can change that. Grow up.

[Willowcreek]

grassfarmer- I didn't realize Canuck cattlemen were so well off financially that they can take 5-10 more years of your market...But thats what the past 5 years of inaction and opposition to testing all by your socalled cattlemans groups (ABP,CCA,SSGA) and government have got you...

Just think what could have been- if everyone had stood behind some of those live tests- and testing all...

[Bez]

No matter what the banter, I am well and truly tired of this.

Looking and finding - fine.

But I for one want to TEST!!

Man do I ever want a live test.

I am not interested any more in the north vs south - "you have it and we do not" or "you are not looking and we are" rhetoric.

I am real tired of the cows being found and the soft shoe shuffle people are doing to play it down.

Screw it all.

Dammit - I want to be able to advertise as "Certified and Guaranteed BSE Free".

My very uninterested fed politician will be hearing from me tomorrow - face to face - I know where he is.

Getting seriously tired of the big boys - our supposed friends the cattle orgs - both provincial and federal - as well as the damned packer boys and their shiny suits - and for that matter the double God damned cattle guys who support all of those losing barstards - telling me what I can and cannot do.

Real tired of the north south stuff too.

Rant off.

Bez

[Willowcreek]

Yep- Bez..If these socalled cattlemens groups- including our US NCBA/Farm Bureau had stood up to the multinationals, AMI, USDA, CFIA, governments-- and put full support into companies like Creekstone testing for marketing- we might now actually have "real" markets built back up in Japan, Korea,- maybe even China that is crying out now for meat products...

[rkaiser]

I hope we see another one next week and another the week after. These cows no longer affect our already pathetic market and only strengthen our need for market entry testing, which WILL change the entire situation.

Time is far past to leave old Willowcreek and the Rcalf cherry picking scientists in the Montana metal contaminated dust.

[kato]

BTW, how's it going with the Canada Gold proposal? I've been trying to find information, but can only find one story from Maple Creek.

[farmers_son]

“I hope we see another one next week and another the week after”. And here I was hoping for a nice spring rain and good grass this summer. Actually that is quite the statement, hoping for more BSE cows. I suppose R-Calf is hoping for more BSE positives in Canada too for that matter so you are not alone in your wishes, however unfortunate the company you decide to keep may be.

Your hope is probably not going to come true however. We should expect to see fewer and fewer BSE cows in Canada and in a few years none at all as our stringent SRM disposal programs eliminate BSE in the Canadian cow herd.

I sometimes wonder to what extent some people will go to in order to achieve their ends. Hoping for more BSE cows is going too far, in my opinion. That is nothing short of irresponsible. Maybe you were joking although it is not that funny. Did you hear the one about the farmer with the BSE cow…yea he lost his herd. Yuk Yuk.

[grassfarmer]

I don't know how quickly you expect cases to disappear f_son, In the UK the tightest SRM rules went in place in 1996, following on from 7 years of slightly less strict precautions. In the last 12 months the UK reported 47 new cases - that is 11 per million head of total cattle population. I'm not suggesting that Canada or the US have such high numbers but there will be every chance that cases will be detected for many years to come.
Given that the accepted theory of BSE is junk I suggest that it would still be wise to consider BSE testing.

[rkaiser]

Nothing short of irresponsible?????? Oh my goodness. Talk about irresponsible. If ABP/CCA had taken the responsible road in the first place, we would not find ourselves in the situation we are in.

Your response -- Mr. ABP and newly elected CCA director, has prompted my resignation letter to your "has been" association. I have no time for the likes of you and the gang who are partially RESPONSIBLE for the economic mess we are in due to your POLICY decision on BSE testing.

As I will say in my resignation letter this afternoon, I apologise to those who voted for me at the fall zone meetings where I ran on the one single issue of testing for market access. I also respect many of the delegates and staff for their efforts in dealing with the likes of "cows and fish" or ESA programs and hope that the directional levy that ABP receives next year helps to pay for their efforts.

My efforts with BIG C and Canada Gold will continue along with a new found industry initiative which will take too much time to ever hope to drag anyone from ABP along anymore.

As far as wishing for anything to fulfil my needs farmers_son, I wish for BSE testing to stop this ridiculous captive market situation that you and the rest of the irresponsible folks at ABP want to continue.......

By the way - spoke with ANOTHER supporter of BSE testing yesterday who said --- as I have always said --- that BSE testing will continue in Japan and the only way to break in to this MOST lucrative market in the world will be to test.

[rkaiser]

This letter should be in your email in box this afternoon farmers_son.


subjectRe: BSE CASE CONFIRMED IN ALBERTA
mailed-bygmail.com

hide details 2:51 PM (1 minute ago) Reply


Dear fellow delegates and ABP staff,

It is with my sincere apologies to the folks in zone 6 who elected my to my position at ABP for issuing this resignation letter. The latest BSE cow along with new knowledge of the testing issue in Japan has shown me that I cannot sit with an organisation who continues to see themselves as policy makers on this very important issue that continues to cost the producers of this country millions of dollars.

I ran on the single issue of market access testing and was elected by my peers. I saw the issue debated in front of the largest Zone meeting in Fort Macleod, and saw the resolution passed with a large majority. I saw a resolution on market access testing narrowly defeated in one of my own zone meeting and soundly supported in one more despite the misinformation given by one of my own zone delegates at the AGM concerning these resolutions. Yet somehow this organisation not only defeated the resolution at the AGM but created a policy statement on it as well. I would guess that this bold move by ABP was never before taken.

My efforts with Beef Initiative Group Canada and the Canada Gold Beef initiative will continue as well as a new industry initiative which I have become personally involved in.

I appreciate and respect the efforts of the staff of ABP and many of the hard working volunteer delegates. I would hope that the very important promotional initiatives, and work on programs like the ESA continue to be funded after the current policy review finds that most producers in this province support a directional levy. I hope to see the question on a ballot or answered by an independent poll of some type in the near future so that I personally do not have to start a signature petition.

Thankfully there was one more nominee in my zone who I would suggest might welcome the thought of filling my now vacant position. All other zones but one would not have this luxury as all other zones had to beg and plead to fill the positions open.

I feel that structural and functional changes to ABP need to happen NOW, and do not feel that the in house policy review, nor the pathetic excuse for a democratic organisational process will get this done. My life and the lives of cattel producers of this country are far too short to wait for change in ABP/CCA.

Please consider this my official resignation letter and take whatever steps need to be taken to remove me from your organisation.

Best Regards

Randy Kaiser

Ponoka Alberta

[grassfarmer]

Sorry to hear that Randy, but you've stuck it out longer than I could have. Delegates of your caliber are what is needed to represent producers but unfortunately unless the majority of delegates are of similar worth ABP will continue to be a useless organisation. I've thought for a while ABP was beyond reform - time for demolition!

As for BSE testing, I heard last week that one of the local processing plants has got numerous leads on new, higher value markets (in north America) that they cannot access without BSE testing.
Same old story - multi-national packers do not want testing so the ABP will serve their masters and make sure it does not happen.