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[rusty1]

Like I tried to say in an earlier note. It's time we do a risk analysis, used some common sence and remove this disease from the lofty elevated position that it hold. It is NOT a human health risk of the magnitude that it has been given. So come up with something else that you want to make a crisis out of.

[boone]

It will be interesting to see if the U.S. farmer is supported by their ATKINS diet friends as well as Canadian farmers have been. Oprah better have an information meeting and get the masses in tune. rusty1, it seems your comments here are quite plausible, but I question whether it is the right time for a "Subordinate Claus". cowman I agree with everything you say here but I have a question. Your last name isn't Vanclief is it?lol

[cowman]

The Americans have now been shut out of the lucrative Japanese and Asian markets. I don't believe any amount of bullying will get those open. Japan has stated very clearly what they need...every animal tested. They do it with their own animals so why should they take anything that isn't tested?
And quite frankly I'm with the Japanese on this one! Personally I don't want to catch Mad Cow disease and become some kind of doddering idiot(Don't go there!)!
Get a cheap test and do everything. Then the Japanese consumer(as well as Canadian/American consumer) can be assured that they are eating the safest product available. Forget "science"! The customer is ALWAYS right...and if you don't believe that then get out of the business because the customer does not need you. He has options!

[rsomer]

cakadu: you asked "Should this come back as a confirmed case of BSE - should the border be closed until they can ensure that it is one isolated case? " Yes, I think the Canadian border will be closed to U.S. cattle once the test is confirmed in Britain. That is a correct response. However, based on our experience and the proposed OIE guidelines for BSE I would say the border should be reopened to U.S. beef as soon as possible. Other countries of the world should reopen their borders too.
Hopefully the world has learned from our experience. Isolated cases of BSE will occur but that does not mean we have a situation like Britain. Canada and its NAFTA trading partners took steps years ago to ban the feeding of ruminant protein which is thought to be the method that BSE is spread from animal to animal. Japan and other European countries did not take the same steps to prevent the spread of BSE. Their situation is different.
I foresee the U.S. will be required to remove the SREs like we are now. The country will move quickly towards a identification system like Canada has only it will be based on RFI rather than barcodes. The U.S. will effectively use its political influence to move the world to a more reasonable response to BSE and international trade in beef. I have always questioned whether country of origin labeling will ever happen but this event should provide ammunition to those sectors of the U.S. industry that were not in favour of COOL.
The most important question is what will the U.S. consumer’s reaction be. The U.S. chose to point the finger at Canada and say our beef needs to be kept out of the country in order to protect U.S. consumers. Now what are American consumers to think? I think the U.S. will regret that they did not move much faster to reopen trade to Canadian beef. The U.S. cannot necessarily expect the same consumer support that we enjoyed in Canada.
I for one have no joy that the U.S. has found a BSE cow. It is bad for them and it is bad for us. I think the U.S. reaction to our single case of BSE was wrong in that the border remained closed even after it was confirmed that our situation was an isolated case. The U.S. and the world’s response became political. Lets hope that doesn’t happen this time. I expect Canada’s response to the U.S. situation will based on science. And of course there is a slim chance the cow came from Canada.

[Muttley]

Mark my words here people!!!

The Americains will determine that their mad cow has links to Canada.

[boone]

Well it looks like we won't have to wonder for long, how Saddam felt, spending a few months living in a hole wondering when the end was coming. When we see the light of day we may be all ready to "negotiate"!

[kato]

I think the timing of this announcement all by itself indicates the support that the American industry is going to get from it's government. The worst thing that seems to happen at times like this is panic and knee jerk reactions in the markets. The announcement was made late in the day, with only a half day of trading left before Christmas. Next week is a short week too. This will give everyone a chance to calm down, and properly assess the situation.

I think in the long run, this isn't a bad thing at all. It will be a little hairy for a while, though. The international rules aren't being followed by very many countries right now. If they were, the punitive actions taken against us wouldn't have been nearly as severe. We could complain all we liked, and rant on and on about 'science', and no one listened. What kind of clout does a little country like this have?

Well boys..... we're not alone any more. We basically have the North American market a little closer to being unified again. As far as international rules are concerned, Canada and the United States are now considered to be in the same BSE category.

We should use this opportunity to make use of the political clout our big neighbour to the south has to bring some rational thought to the whole BSE issue. Sooner or later every country in the world is going to have a case to deal with, so it's time to bring reason to the front.

[cakadu]

kato - I like your point about there being some time to breathe between actions. I agree that this is NOT a good thing at all for any of us. Cowman, I think we do need to take the higher road and help out where we can.

It seems to me that the border should be closed once the confirmation is official, but not indefinitely as has been the case with Canada.

So much of this is wait and see and has been for some months now. All sectors of the livestock industry are hurting and we need to have a turnarond.

Who knows, maybe it will bode well for our industry and get things opened up a whole lot faster. I wonder how much the Americans will support their beef industry, especially since many of them were wanting Canadian beef back in the system.

If there was any silver lining in the Canadian domestic beef market it's that beef consumption rose after having been stagnant for a good number of years. How much effect it had on the other meats is something I wonder about as well.

Raises the question about whether we should be trying to get into the global marketplace to the extent that we have been. If nothing else, this should help us to see that we can't keep doing things the way we have been.

[raymondb]

I definately agree that we must do something different. We have to agree that we are in the food business and that the number one priority in the food business is ensuring and guaranteeing that our product is safe for human consumption. If this means that we will test every animal at slaughter or come up with some method of testing before slaughter-lets put the money into being able to achieve this goal. Lets be the first or second country to do this. Lets quit fighting the change required and lets do it with dollars. The billion dollars we lost in this industry could have done wanders to developing good test procedures on all our animals and we could say that our beef products are 100% safe for all human consumption.

[grassfarmer]

As I said in my earlier post I dread the implications of this new BSE case both for Canada and the North American beef industry - with BSE there is no good news. However I for one do not feel overly sorry for the Americans. When Ann Venheman insists there was no danger to US consumers from eating the beef of the infected cow as "muscle cuts present no BSE risk" it highlighted the pretence that they have used to try and ruin our beef industry to their own personal advantage since May 20th. Suddenly their backward attitude of having no traceability system doesn't look so clever either.

[rusty1]

BSE - in the 50 great states is the only way to bring people to a serious determination to sit at a table and seriuosly negotiate. This is an opportunity to remove BSE from a "Trade Sanction" tool (ploy) to a honest health issue, that is really a non-issue. If you want to negoiate anything with seriousnes then there has to be a willingness based on reasonable cost/benefits. I assure you that now the USA will be willing to be realaistic about life. Even R-Calf will be ready to get of their (the world revolves around ME) additude, and become objective instead of subjective!

[cowman]

It will be interesting to see just how much help the cow/calf sector will get from their government. I suspect it will be more than $159 Canadian on 8% of the herd...and only when they are slaughtered!
I doubt we will see Montana have a different program or South Dakota, because the federal plan is a complete joke! Watch carefully Mr. Martin! See how a country that protects its industry, helps its farmers! You just might get some idea why we are going broke.

[kato]

I agree. One big difference between north of the border and south, is the respect that agriculture receives down there. The politicians there actually seem to listen to producers.

Ours, on the other hand, see the agricultural sector as just a bunch of money losing enterprises that are interfering with more important business, like language police, and the smooth operation of Bay Street.

A national viable and safe food supply is the basic foundation of a solid and free society. That concept seems to have been forgotten here.

I hope our politicians watch and learn.

[cakadu]

One of the differences between north and south of the border is that south of the border they have an absolutely HUGE lobby that works wonders for them.

How effective is our lobbying up here?

I do have to agree though that the producers are treated much better down there than they are up here. What do you suppose is the difference?

[carebear300]

One of the big reasons that agriculture has so much clout down in the states is the fact every state has two senators no matter how big or small. Thus the sparser populated states such as Montanna have as much power in the senate as a more populous state as California or New York. These less populated states have a bunch of agricultural production. That doesn't sound just right am still half asleep(too much turkey yesterday).