BSE origin confirmed

[kato]

I've been watching news conferences all afternoon, as I expect you all have.

I commend our CFIA vets for their quick response to all this. They came off as being the ones with the professional, and correct responses and behaviours in this whole episode. Their response to the issue is to release information only when you have positive proof, not when someone thinks it "looks" like this is what it is. Announcements like this need to stand up to scrutiny. Too many people's livelyhoods are on the line to be speculating publicly on unproven theories.

There was a government official from Minnesota being interviewed this afternoon on one of the stations, and the spin I got from this was "The cow came from Canada, therefore this is soon to become a non-issue". In the eyes of the American public, it probably will be a 'nothing' story as soon as it is confirmed. (Assuming it is)

The Americans are really hoping they can dump this one on us, as they know that if it is an American cow, the trace will not be nearly as easy or quick as if it was a Canadian cow. I heard one commentator say, "Thank goodness it's a dairy cow, because dairy farmers keep good records." Does this mean that if it was a beef cow, it would be untraceable? I think our neighbours better think that one over, and get on the ball with a ID program.

There is one ray of light here, if it does prove to be a Canadian cow, and I hope our guys at the CFIA have thought of it. I bet they have.

Dr. Evans, when questioned, would not tell who owned the supposed original herd, but did say that it was north of Edmonton. Now...to take that logic a little further, IF it was a Canadian cow, and IF it did come from there, that makes her about the same age as the infamous Angus cow. Now, maybe it's just possible that these two cows' feed records may overlap at a common feedmill. The Angus cow born in Saskatchewan wasn't THAT far away from the Holstein, especially if dealing with a large feed company. Feed and supplements move over provincial borders all the time.

To find a shared feed source would be the key to the whole thing. Imagine this..There are two BSE cows in North America, who were born the same year, and received feed from one feed mill. Talk about a red flag! Dr. Evans hinted at this feed issue in his news conference. He keeps mentioning also, that even if it was feed from Canada, that it was probably sourced in another country. He's diplomatic enough, however not to name that country. I think he has a personal theory that he isn't saying out loud.

Next step...hunt down the other customers from that feedmill at that time and deal with those other potential problems.

The main thing that's keeping us from restoring our trade is the fact that we can't find a definitive source of the infection. In a backhanded sort of a way, perhaps we can now.

There...they said it couldn't be done! A positive spin.

[Muttley]

Well just when many were thinking it was looking up for cattle in Canada.

I figure we are now in for a long haul no matter what the outcome. The world will now say BSE in North America!!!!

Watch the markets drop now!!

[rsomer]

kato: As you point out "Announcements like this need to stand up to scrutiny. Too many people's livelyhoods are on the line to be speculating publicly on unproven theories." There is only one spin that belongs on this. The U.S. is "tagging" the blame on Canada to save their industry.
Lets look at the facts. The downer cow was slaughtered on December 9. On December 23 the USDA announces they have a probable positive. On December 25 British officials confirm the cow had BSE. On December 27 after two days of limit down moves on the CME the USDA announces that oh, by the way, the cow had a Canadian import tag in her ear at the time of slaughter. On December 23 the cow was 4 ½ years old. After Canadian officials point out that the cow that crossed the border into the U.S. was nearly 6 - 6 ½ years old the USDA quickly alter their story so now the U.S. positive cow is older.
If this cow really had a Canadian ear tag in her ear on December 9 how come it wasn’t known to the USDA until today? Although cattle do move north and south across the 49th parallel, the chance that a BSE positive cow would have come from Canada is remote beyond belief. It is also beyond belief that the USDA did not know before today that the cow was of Canadian origin if indeed such really is the case. The UDSA is going to conduct a DNA analysis of the cow's tissues. I would hope the CFIA conducts their own independent analysis.

[grassfarmer]

I agree rsomer, if the cow in question was CCIA tagged as some reports say you can be damn sure the US didn't announce to the world that they had a BSE case if it was so obviously a Canadian cow. The age story does look kind of suspect - if the US thought she was imported mid summer 2001 and was 4-4.5 years old when she was slaughtered she must have been between 18 and 24 months at time of import. If Canadian records show the cattle exported were two years older than that it should be pretty easy to sort out - either she was a bred heifer or a cow that had calved probably twice. It all sounds a bit too convenient too me.
On further reflection this isn't going to let the US of the hook internationally. Even if it proves to be a Canadian cow the case still occurred in the US so they should lose their BSE free status. Afterall the beef went into the US domestic or export foodchain and they have plenty other Canadian cows in their dairy herd so in theory risk more cases. Didn't Canada lose it's BSE free status after the 1993 case that originated in the UK?

[rusty1]

Maybe we should remind the Americans that if it weren't for Canada they would not have any exotics. So all those cattle have Canadian roots.
I agree, if the cow had a CCIA tag - it must have been visible when she died. If the proper people in Canada were not notified on Dec. 10 then tell them to go whistle Dixie somewhere else.
And furthermore if they can prove she had BSE before she was exported to the USA then we will cover their losses.

[Bruce14]

I listened to the Peter Warren show on radio today and a Canadian official said they would be getting a some DNA from the positive sample in ENGLAND and matching to DNA from the Alberta herd.

Sounds to me like not everyone trusts the Americans on this.

[cowman]

I heard one report that the "mystery" dairy farm north of Edmonton where this cow supposedly came from no longer is operating. It makes sense to me that if they dispersed their herd and an American buyer bought the entire herd then all 74 of these cows could have been that herd? So where are the other 73? Shouldn't be too hard to find out if they left the ID tags in them?
Or did the Americans even understand the importance of the Canadian ID tag? For traceback? If all 74 of these cows had been fed the same contaminated feed then we have 73 possible time bombs walking around somewhere down there!
Now if this thing is spread by the feed and is not passed down to the offspring then why is another Washington dairy quarentined because they bought one of the cows calves?
TOM4CWB over in the Commodity marketing section has some good stuff from the scientist who discovered the BSE prion. He has stated very clearly that for food safety every animal should be tested! He has apparently patented a cheap effective test. Why aren't we using it? What is the problem here?

[raymondb]

Appology accepted Topper-we all have frayed nerves now and we should all become real angry. All our beef should have be tested as Cowman and I mentioned quite a while ago. Costs should not be a problem because as this story unfolds our losses will far exceed any testing costs.

Now if the BSE was contacted from food supplied by some mill (as some of us are speculating)do you not need an animal with BSE that is mixed with the animal food to contaminate the animal food supply? If yes/ where did this animal come from?

[cowman]

Raymondb: An old farmer told me it was quite common to still get product from England up to about 1994. He had been buying an English product from there because apparently it was quite cheap. So if cows ate it and had BSE and went into the animal food chain...?
In the end who can you blame? The farmers who bought the English product? After all it was approved by our government agencies. So maybe they were to blame? I don't know. I suspect they didn't know either or what the consequences might be. And really, blaming someone doesn't solve the problems we have today. But it is time for our government to step up to the plate and make some bold moves...if not we are in big trouble!

[pandiana]

No matter how you look at this, in the short term we are in trouble. For those of us we believed that "If you hold onto the cows tail she will pull you through" may be rethinking this strategy.

Without a doubt, the concensus in these threads has been that Canada should be testing every cow over 30 months. I wonder, however, how many of our politicians have been informed of this concensus. An interesting article in Cattlemen Research Makes Sense "Does One Made Cow Equal One Dead Industry?" outlines a presentation made by Jim Untershulz of the U of A on the economic impact of BSE in Canada. He concludes that "the Canadian beef industry appears to have 2 choices:
1. Continue to concentrate on commodity level exports to the U.S. Market.
2. Develop and lead in world standards of excellence for quality and safety in beef as part of an overall strategy of Canadian beef brand recognition. The latter can be achieved, in part by improving tracebacks for food safety and by BSE testing all mature alaughter animals."

Prior to BSE II is think the CFIA was reluctant to do this for just this reason, in case we did turn up another case. Assuming that this cow turns out to be Canadian, this would no longer be an issue. We need to stop waiting on the benevolence of other nations and take this matter into our own hands I think.

[cakadu]

Pandiana - is there a place online that you know of that a person could get a copy of the article which you refer to? It sounds pretty interesting and I would like to get a look at it if all possible?

Personally, I think it was premature to "Blame Canada" when the Americans don't really know anything definitive - facts you can deal with - innuendo is just that.

What I find hard to swallow (pun intended) is that the U.S. is telling their countryfolk that they have to believe the science and it isn't a health risk. What causes the science to change at the border?

No matter how you look at it, this is not good news at all. It is always better to take the high road, even in this instance we weren't quick to close the border or take extraordinary measures, but in light of what is happening, it is hard to keep doing that. Earlier it was stated that we need to quit relying on the benevolence of others - perhaps we have to get tougher to survive?!?!

[pandiana]

cakadu
Cattlemen/ December 2003 p 40
For more information cantact: James R. Untershultz, 529 Rural Economy, University of Alberta, Edm AB T6G 2H1 phone: 780 492 5439 Fax 780 492 0268 email jim.untershultz@ualberta.ca

[Bruce14]

Does anyone know where the facts can be found regarding the 1993 Canadian BSE case of the imported animal in ALberta? I believe it was either a purebred Charolais or Salers animal brought over from the U.K.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman I'd be interested to know the facts on your allegation of UK feed being imported into Canada in the early '90s. Sounds highly unlikely to me given that UK feeds whether grain, grain based pellets or other by-product based pellets cost 150 - 200% more than Canadian prices over there. Add on the shipping charges and your guys must have been buying some pretty expensive feed.

[grassfarmer]

Oops should have read "costs 50-100% more than Canadian"