Grrrrr

[15444]

Thank heavens the moron from Shawinagan is gone. Whoops, spoke to soon. Looks like the new idiots are taking the same stance on mass testing.

http://www.oneworld.net/article/view/76820/1/

[cowman]

So do you think we should test? Or is it business as usual?

[jensend]

seems to me business as usual hasn't been great business for the last eight months. maybe we should try catch up with the parts of the world that have dealt with this problem. there have been health problems in the food supply before and they were dealt with. why are we trying to talk our way out of this one?

[raymondb]

Talk is cheap-action requires capital.The capital we are losing today as we continue to talk could pay for all testing for a long time. Producers should all get together and demand that their product is tested so that they can ensure the consumer(with action by testing)that the beef they are purchasing is safe. Iknow that the safe does not mean infinitly safe as we can not forsee the future but we can sure safety to our knowledge of today and therefore keeping all our customers happy.

[grassfarmer]

raymondb,you say about testing all animals "I know that the safe does not mean infinitly safe as we can not forsee the future" Why spend dollars on a useless exercise when removing specified offals already does the same job?
It is international politics and packer/retail profiteering that are responsible for the current mess we are in, not people being afraid to eat beef. We have to realise that the world does not need our beef desperately enough to bend over backwards to allow us to export again - test or no test.

[kato]

There's a famous sign...it says

Rule Number 1 - The customer is always right.

Rule Number 2 - If the customer is wrong, see rule number 1.

If our customers want it tested, then we should test. It would be different if the markets didn't go all to pieces every time we find a positive under random testing. The way it is now, we are going to get kicked in the pants every single time a positive comes up, due to the fact maybe there were others out there that were missed.

In reality, removing SRM's should be enough, but if the customer doesn't believe it, it's not enough.

[15444]

You nailed it 100% Kato! We should be testing all beef and I for one would gladly pay for it. If they want to take $100 a head off of my cull cow cheque to pay for the test, I am more then willing. We shipped 10 cull cows on April 15th of last year and averaged about $800. Now they would be more like $50. The main problem we face is all of these moronic industry leaders like Neil Jahnke and the provincial ag ministers who say that producers don't wan't to have all animals tested. This is bullshit. The producers who don't want beef tested are the hobby ones. Every 'true' producer who draws his sole income from the farm knows he/she is hurting and can't wait around for the politician's to get off their asses. Bob Speller said today that this whole thing is political. Well then!, Let's start some trade wars! Lets boycott Japan and keep our thick beautiful Canadian oil up North where it should be!

[ValueChainFX]

The producers are the ones that are in front of the fan on this one and the money is being lost at the producer level. Until the producer gets together and has a real voice our so called industry leaders will wait for the government or big business to come up with a solution. If any producer thinks for a second the solution these folks come up with will put more coin in their jeans needs to get back into the real world!

[grassfarmer]

Kato, which customer has stated they would buy our cull cows if they were tested?

[ivbinconned]

grassfarmer I think you got it about right. The north american consumer is happily eating beef.

They must be confident!

When importers of our beef say they will guarantee us a P.O. number for tested beef then and only then do we start testing every animal to be exported.

[kato]

As far as I know, Japan has always said they would buy tested beef. That was the thing that was keeping the border closed all along, wasn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong please.

Our industry "leaders" just didn't want to do it. Probably afraid of p#%#ing off the Americans.

[kato]

Honest, I wasn't swearing there. I meant to say "putting", but my fingers slipped on the keys.

Tee..hee...hee..

;-)

[15444]

Ivbinconned:

Canada is allowed 15 animals until we lose our 'limited risk state.' If we aren't testing by then, what happens to our consumer confidence?

Kato: I agree. As far as I have ever heard, Japan has said right from the start that it will begin importing Canadian beef once we adapt their practice of universal testing. But we have too many bureacrats that are whipping boys for the Americans. No need to apologize for swearing. Your a beef producer in Canada, you have a right!

[ALICIA]

15444- I'm geeting dam sick of hearing us hobby farmers are the only ones that don't what our beef tested. Is there some limit on how much money each farmer looses before he is considered a farmer. Well I'll just tell you one thing if I'm a hobby farmer, I work dam hard at it besided doing a 8 hr job. So I do 2 jobs and you do l. I'd say I'm a better man then you are and when this is over I hope you are still above water because I know that I will be. Have a good day.

[15444]

Alicia,

Not everybody that has another job or two is labelled as a hobby farmer. Two kinds of people fall into this catagory.

1. People who have 15-20 cows or less and hold off farm jobs so they can play cowboy (This is really popular in Southern Ontario) and then whine as though it really hurts them when something like BSE hits.

2. Guys who own high end jobs so they can own a nice little ranch with 200 or so cows so they can run around in cowboy hats with modern stables and pretty $10,000 horses and half a dozen farm hands. (I know a few big purebred guys who had this mindset).

So if you are somewhere in between these two extremes Alicia, my distaste for these types of people is not directed towards you. As far as I am concerned, the way a person can personally judge if they are a 'true' farmer is look at the current beef situation. If the border doesn't open up within the next year, do you face losing all of your hopes and dreams that you have strived for in all these years? will you lose your love for the farm and for that which you produce?....If you answer yes to both of these, then say your a FARMER loud and clear for all to hear! I don't know how many true farmers that can keep on going when all the inputs for farming keep rising and the bottom starts to fall out!