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[cowman]

Thankyou Farmerfudd. You have taught me something new about the dairy industry. I always thought the milk replacers were made from Soy?
I know once upon a time to export breeding cattle to the US they had to be tested for Bangs and TB. The vet then put a small narrow metal tag in their ear. I don't think it said Canada on it just a lot of numbers that corresponded to a bill of health that accompanied the animal? My Dad used to sell bulls to the States but that was a long time ago so my memory might be a little fuzzy.

[ALICIA]

you know I don't belive that there is such a thing as a grade holsten any more. Most holstens today milk atleast 85 to 100 lbts of milk a day. Dairy is big and I read just the other day that most of Canada's dairy cattle are sire by a total of 12 sire. So this could involve all the big AI industrys. And that could littery whape out dairy farms in Canada and the US. The picture really isn't pretty, this mad cow thing has dug a big hole this time. If they are smart at all they will shut up and just say they can't find the herd of origion. Stop pointing fingers and do something.

[cowman]

Well Alicia, are we running a snake oil business or are we running a safe food business? Do we pretend it never happened and dazzle the public with BS? How long can we go feeding the public an inferior(perhaps deadly) product? We need to know as much as possible about where this cow came from and how she got this disease(wherever that might take us). Shoot, shovel, and shutup just isn't an option if we expect to raise a truly quality food product.

[kato]

I checked our tags at work...the export tags have H of A and a number on them. (Health of Animals)

The papers for export have description, tag, tattoo, age, breed, sex, Brucellosis/TB status and physical address where the animal was located. This would be section/township/range and municipality. As well, name, address and phone number of the exporting person, and importing person. It's a no-brainer to trace with one of these papers.

Once the CCIA tags came in we switched to those, but some USDA vets insisted for a long time that the cows have both tags. Others were happy with one. One of the cranky ones we deal with wanted both tags, and a tattoo. She's a bit of a despot, though. She once made one of our customers unload 400 sheep so she could look at every one of their tags.

[cowman]

Kato: You restored my memory! Definitely that is what the tag had on it and I remember definitely we had to put in the land location! The government vet took the blood work for bangs/TB.
When they were bringing in the dangle ID tags I argued with the "experts",at many a meeting, that this was the kind of tag we needed, but to no avail as it was too time consuming for the packers to read this sort of tag. This type of tag rarely falls out compared to the dangle tag. Of course what do dumbies like me know?
These tags were once upon a time in every cows ear when Bangs testing was compulsory back in ??? A government vet took the blood samples. Put in the tags. All we had to do was run them through the chute! Of course that was in the days when the government actually lived up to their responsibilities of food safety!

[boone]

cowman: Was that the Ketchum Clincher Tamper Proof Tag out of Ottawa, Ont.? Bring back any memories lol? They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Canada hesitates to test every animal and looks like we wasted six months. We have taken the highroad here and consequently our lumps. Let us really walk the talk of food safety and purity that we espouse. The world loves a turnaround story let us give them one. Start tommorrow, if the big packers don't like it that will solve your multinational problem, they will pull up stakes and the producers can buy it cheap from the receiver. PollyAnna you think? Maybe but the old saying is Quality displaces crap in currency/machinery and food.

[ALICIA]

Farmer: Are you siting on the barb wire fence.
The goverment sold the public this story on how diedly BSE is, but science says NO.
So yes it is not a food safty issue. Its a politic issue, that they blow all out of whack and now its gone to far and ?
Joe public is confused, Your making two statements, The goverments making two statements.
You know I believe Bucilosis in Holsteins in still far deadlyer because you can get it by drinking the milk.
And any way ?

[cowman]

boone: I believe it was a tag the vet supplied but it could have been from Ketchum and you had a hard time getting it out because you had break the little tabs that held it in place...actually you could do it by slowly and gently twisting the tag with a pair of needlenosed pliers. The things you learn when cheating at 4H!
I liked the old Ketchum company and used to buy quite a few things from them back in the 70s. They made a little round metal tag about the size of a quarter that was very effective at staying in and you could have got a bar code on it. When I mentioned this type of tag at one of the ID info meetings a couple of years back the powers that be looked at me like I was some sort of dinosaur who couldn't fathom the marvel of the plastic dangle tag!

[ALICIA]

You know I've taken a pair of scicors a cut off the back of them plastic tags may times, just poped the little metal part out of the tag, put it back in the pliars with a new back and put it back in the ear. This was after the d. calf moved its head at just the wrong time, and the only thing you did was tar a chunk of ear out of the calf and put the tag togeather, so you have to start over. You been their,done that?