Whatever happened to the guy

[Bruce14]

who shipped the infamous cow that tested positive for BSE? I saw him on T.V. once and haven't heard anymore since. Here in the Sask. media the McCrae family were constantly hounded and interviewed. They had more patience than I would have.

[ALICIA]

I am also conserned for the familys of the lost cattle. Know one seems to have given them much needed support, or because I do not live close by, I have heard nothing.

[stevek]

I think everyone would like to know if he's still around. Like you, we seen him on TV once, he did'nt seem to tore up about anything, and that was the end of it. The media stories on the other families were so hard to watch and they kept focusing on them. I would like to know if he left and went back to catfishing???

[Bruce14]

I didn't start this thread out of concern for the doughhead that shipped the cow. I was curious if he was hanging from a rope or not. I heard he had disappeared back to the U.S.

In the CFIA report just released it stated that the cow had been sent to slaughter for his own use. I doubt that very much. It was more like a case of a greedy, stupid individual trying to squeeze a nickel out of a downer cow.

I hope he has many long years ahead of him to think of the grief he has caused an entire nation.

[rusty1]

Whoa Whoa Whoa I'm sure he feels unbelievabley terrible. Even if he had done it on purpose - seeing what it's done must be devastating to him and his family. I don't think that we as mankind really have any justification to respond the way we are. I'm in the beef industry too, and love what I do, and our future hangs in the balance too. Howevever I have enough "road rash" to know that when I reture anger and meaness it will come back to bight me in the but too. We all knew that we were going to face this kind of situation some day. It was a matter of time.
If I was to point any finger I would point it at those who stood in the way of taking the required steps to insure a consise and quick tracking sustem to have put a lid on the whole situation much sooner.
Our Liberal eastern buracrates have faied us as did the tracking system.
So lets be carefull that we only point fingers when we know the facts and evaluate things objectively.

[stevek]

If he feels that bad, then maybe he should explain to everyone of us why the h#$@ he pulled a sick cow on a trailer and took her for slaughter. Real cattlemen DO NOT do that. I agree with Bruce14, may his nightmares never end. If this comes back to bite me in the butt, well so be it. With drought for 2 years and finally a rain this spring, we thought we just might keep on going in this business. There is enough bad politics without having idiots raising cattle who have no idea what they are doing.

[rusty1]

Those of you who would like to see just due to the ownerer of the indexed cow are probably the same onew who fought the CCIA tagging system

[Bruce14]

Actually Rusty there are many of us that feel this way that have also been great supporters of the CCIA tagging program. It is not perfect but I don't know how anyone can not see its merits now.

The question is not the tagging program but how could an individual be so greedy to jeopardize so many livliehoods and an entire industry.

Question. If he was so desperate to make a buck on that downer cow, how many times do you think he followed the withdrawal period on a bottle of medication?

[jensend]

No matter how she was disposed of she still had BSE. Maybe you should focus your ire against the person who fed her the contaminated feed. That would be just as productive because he probably didn't know anything about exactly how the feed was constituted.

[rusty1]

Yeh we could focus ourselves on a lot of things - which would waste our time and energy and accomplish nothing. If the CFIA know how the old cow got BSE, their not telling us. It's just all speculation. They can't haven't even found her birth herd with all the DNA testing they did, and the 2000 head they slaughtered. So let's be productive and focus our attention on how to prevent this from happening again, and insure our food safty and valuie.
One question I have is why have our Provincial and Canadian Vet. organizations not come out of the closset and taken more leadership in public.

[Bruce14]

O.K. how's this for a solution. Set up labs to handle the testing of every animal going to slaughter. (That's what the Japanese want and do.) The Americans would have to follow us.

Some will argue that it would cost too much but if it is costing us $11,000,000
a day now that would pay for a lot of labs and staff.

Even if the borders opened to muscle cuts and young animals we will have to do this with our cull cows and bulls or else dispose of them on farm.

What are your suggestions?

One question for jensend. I didn't know that she had contracted BSE from contaminated feed. Why were there no herdmates or others test positive. I doubt she was fed alone?

[stevek]

In regards to the CCIA tags, we did'nt like them, but use them anyway. The only reason we don't like them is that they are not as good as quality as the one's we used. And yes, where are the VETS in this situation? Surely, they have a tale or two. Or have they been told to be quiet?

[Bruce14]

Rusty, you asked why the national and provincial vet associations haven't been more active. I am not sure I understand what they would do. The CFIA is the governing body in something like this and I think they did a pretty good job all things considered. At least that's what the international investigation team reported.

Maybe we should ask "Where was the SPCA and Humane Society in all this?" The public (our customers) are asking how a person can let an animal get so weak and diseased that it can't get up and then try to take it for a tralier ride.

Yes I agree the system will change to limit the chance of this ever happening again. You mention that we need to do this to ensure value for our product and food safety. The value part I agree with. Our food however is just as safe now as it has ever been. If we don't believe that ourselves how do we expect the consumer to?

[farmboy1]

I'm with Rusty on this one. Anyone that has raised livestock has no doubt had a downer animal. When an animal gets sick, you diagnose and treat the animal. If, for some reason, the animal does not recover, you have to make the choice of euthanasia or salvage.This has absolutely NOTHING to do with greed. It has to do with economics and animal husbandry. Not one of us is doing so well financially that we can afford to throw away any money. We have to decide what to do with the animal. If we decide to ship it to a slaughterhouse, then it is up to the inspection system to determine whether that animal is fit for human consumption. At that point, it's out of our hands and science must take precedent. I do not for one minute think that the farmer who shipped the cow made the conscious decision to take the chance of screwing every livestock farmer in the country in order to make a personal gain. Absolutely ludicrous presumption. In fact, if he had any thought there was a problem, he probably would have shot and buried the animal. Would that have been the right thing to do? And, yes, I am a livestock farmer. This is costing me a pot of money. To me, the most disheartening thing is that now the politicians have to play with this issue and drag things out. In closing, let's leave that poor Sask. farmer alone. His only mistake was perhaps in keeping the animal too long trying to help her recover. Been there, done that. I am very thankful that our first news report on this issue was NOT the SPCA showing up at the farm and starting the ball rolling.

[stevek]

farmboy, you have some good points, but the "poor" farmer we're talking about was not from Sask. We're talking about the guy in Fairview who wasn't sure if it was a sick cow or a catfish.