Ag Minister on the move - Horay

[rsomer]

On COOL, South Korea tried to label it’s domestic beef in 2001 as Product of Korea and the U.S. successfully challenged it before the WTO and won. Mandatory COOL would not survive a WTO challenge either. However, the U.S. may move to voluntary COOL which would not be open to WTO trade sanctions. U.S. producers should know COOL would have a big downside when U.S. food problems come to media attention. How many times can the U.S. BS the world into believing its BSE positive cows come from Canada. Given the problems with the U.S. feed ban and the fact that their BSE positive made it into the food chain, I don’t think the U.S. can walk the talk when it comes to food safety and BSE.

I think Canadian beef is government certified BSE free right now.

[pandiana]

Alicia and cowmen. Did I miss something regarding the last BSE case. The information I had was that she was 6.5 years old and had been in the US 2.5 years which would have made her 4 years old when she left Canada. Plenty of time to be fed Canadian feed. Also, she would have been in production, receiving the high protein/energy supplements that most dairy cattle 'worldwide' receive in order to sustain the incredible level of milk production that holsteins are capable of and is expected to remain competitive.

I wonder how many beef cows receive this type of supplement? I am still waiting to hear what form this rendered supplement took and who bought it and did we, without knowing, feed it to our cows, in pellets or whatever. I would never have knowingly fed anything like this to my cattle. Nonetheless, we are at the mercy of the companies that supply us. As operations get larger, and in an effort to become more efficient, it would seem that processed feeds would have more appeal. Just the sort of trend we see in our own kitchens with many quick packaged meals ready for the table in 10 to 15 minutes. Who knows what is in these?

[ValueChainFX]

Anyone that feels they haven't eaten SRM's has never had a T bone, Rib, chuck (bone in) or sirloin (bone in) steak! Each of these cuts has the backbone on it.

The science we rely on is the accepted science of our customers! As in the recognized tests for this challenge. The possibility that the challenge is something other than what the science says at this point is really mute to the end user! They want the preception the product is safe. If we go beyond the requirements, let our competition catch up. Who will pay for this? As if we all aren't paying already! If you have $2.00 left (sorry pandiana) and you think you are going to pay and don't want to; Ask yourself howlong the $2.00 will last if we do nothing? As far as COOL goes, why wait for down south to tell us what to do! Florida advertises Canadian beef because the customer wants to buy Canadian beef, as do others in the US!

Let's face it! We all knew some day a challenge like this would come to Canada, and chances are other challenges like this will come as well! Any labs that do go up will be well used for BSE or some other food safe issue! I would rather see the primary producer lead than being dragged behind the mob! Images such as that do not do the REAL grass roots primary producers justice!

[cowman]

Pandianna: I don't know, thats just what Neil Janke said on Rutherford! I mean he's president of the CCA so I figured that was how it was. The Washington cow could have only been fed the contaminated feed for 4 months before the ban came into effect. The supposed feed mill had pretty decent records and the owner claimed he'd complied with the law after the ban came in, in 1997.
Value Chain: You've got it right! Apparently a poll done for the radio station in Calgary that carries the Rutherford show, shows that 87% of those polled think ALL cattle being slaughtered should be tested. Old Ralph has a pretty good idea what the public wants.

[ALICIA]

Pandiana: These are the discuripions that I have heard on the BSE cow in the U.S. You pick the one you like and go with it.
1. Holstein
2. Holstein 4yrs old
3.Holstein 6.5 yrs old
4.Holstein Downer, calving complications
5. Holstein born in Canada, one of 74 head in a Alberta Dispersal Sale.
6. Holstein born in Canada, Shiped to Canada at 4 months old.
7. Holstein's heifer calf in still in Washington dairy herd of 4000 cattle.
8. Holstein one of 3 downer cattle killed that day.
9. Holstein's bull calf is in with 450 other bull calf so they are going to kill all bull calfs.
10. Heifer calf is now a bull calf. ( sex change I guess)
11. Cow is jumping from 1st. time heifer to 4.5 yrs old.
12. Have you picked the right cow .
13. I have not.

[kato]

Roseanne Wowchuk, our minister in Manitoba is now saying that testing cows born before the feed ban would be a good idea. It's easy to say when you let all the packers leave the province years ago, but at least she said it.

The more noise we make about testing all animals the better. You'd better believe that the Americans don't want to see it. Japan has already said it would take our beef if it was tested. I bet we could get it up and running pretty quick up here, especially for cows and prospective export animals.

Even in Japan, where the consumers are supposed to be so fussy, does their beef consumption drop when they find a positive now? I'm not sure it does any more. Maybe someone could answer that one for me?

Test them, get it over with. Anything has got to be better than the last 8 months.

As for the COOL, maybe now the American public will find out where the good steaks are really coming from. I don't care what anyone says, a 13 month old barley fed steer will beat a 2 year old corn fed longhorn cross any day.

[cowman]

I believe once the Japanese government went to the full test the consumer came back on line and are very satisfied with the safety of the Japanese product. After all they are assured that they are getting BSE free meat. Now if the USA buffaloes the Japs into taking their untested meat, that could rapidly change!
Perhaps Bob Speller will get a better understanding of what the Japanese and Koreans need in the way of food safety. I suspect he knows what has to be done...he sort of left the testing question open when he said "We don't feel we need to test every animal...AT THIS TIME" I guess you could call that a veiled threat to the Americans, or maybe just a good politician setting up the public for the real deal! He also announced funding for a new string of labs....
I would imagine the pollsters are hard at work this week finding out how the public is percieving this. Martin has an election coming up and he doesn't need to be seen as not up to par on food safety!
Perhaps our redemption is at hand?

[rsomer]

Bob Speller announced that Canada will be testing 8000 head for BSE in 2004. This would be consistent with a similar small increase in testing in the United States. No matter what Ralph Kline says or what the Japanese are demanding or what the couple from the farm at Calmar who raised the Washington Holstein say needs to be done, the Canadian response to BSE will be harmonized with the U.S. response. If you want to know what Canada is going to do in regards to the BSE crisis, look south of the border. I’m not saying that is what should be done, but it is the reality that we are dealing with.
I haven’t figured out how COOL will figure in with this harmonized approach to a "North American" beef industry.

[kato]

Offering to go to the next level on our own is exactly what the Americans don't want to hear. It's call leverage. The United States has made leverage an art form, and it's about time we took it up ourselves.

We can't keep up like this much longer, so we'd better do something.

[StrawBoss]

Bob Speller is wasting time and money by just traveling the world and telling people Canadian beef is safe. His line should be “ will you buy our beef if we test all our cattle for a minimum of three years to prove we are BSE free”? --- anything less and he may as well go on a pleasure trip and catch some contaminated west coast farm salmon, and see if he can sell it the local bars.

[cowman]

Well Bob Speller is going to Asia to ask them just what it will take. You don't cut those kind of deals over the phone. Or in the papers!
Who knows what will happen? I suspect the Americans will be nervous about what he might be talking about with the Japanese? I mean he could be telling them we are going to test?
I am pretty sure the Americans would be quite happy if he just stayed home and let the USA decide our fate...you know sort of how VanClief did?