How much more can you take?

[johnnytill]

Can somebody tell me a trucking company that may be crossing the Canadian border with American Bone in Beef?

This ridiculous mess just keeps rolling along. Our government and our beef producer groups support, and jointly create projects to send the majority of 400 million taxpayers dollars to the American shareholders of Tyson foods, and Cargil. They found a way to open our border to blue tongue and anaplas cattle in hopes that it may help the politics. All the time watching their producers get kicked again and again while price fixing anachy is the rule of the day.

It is upsetting enough to hear that this dipshit uninformed monkeys ass
judge has brought food safety into this R Calf pout, but if our Government, and our producer groups don't counter this attack to my nuts, I will!!!!!!

[grassfarmer]

It's a sad state of affairs when we must take time out of our own businesses to fight the battles that our Government and Beef Associations are being paid to fight for us. Particularily ABP - who have sat back and done nothing always saying that a path of least resistance is the best way to get ahead and the Americans are our best friends. I have thought all along we should be playing hardball with them - it's the only language protectionists understand.
Look at what R-Calf have done though - in a matter of days turned around and got a court award that halts international trade agreements. Has no-one in the Canadian ranks considered some form of legal action at any point? Like challenging the Packer Cartel, the legality of the American ban in the first place or again after the Americans had their own case of BSE?
R-Calf are maybe small but they are effective. Doesn't bode too well for a border opening soon.

[Willowcreek]

Today I read on another chatline where NCBA's attempt to invigorate membership by allowing mail-in policy voting had failed due to a lack of interest. They had required 20% of membership (24,500) to vote and had only received 3.2% ballots (700 ) back.

This is no surprise to many of us in the states, because we knew NCBA's membership has been highly inflated. To get the numbers, many feeders, packers, buyers and state or local cattle associations required NCBA membership before they would do business with you. So while they had the numbers, they really don't have the active support. And as their power decreases their membership declines porportionately.

On the other hand R-CALF is a grassroots group that has active participation and support of the cow/calf man. In the last two months their new members (629) was almost as many as NCBA could even get to return their ballots.

[kato]

I think it's time to take off the gloves, and play the testing card. Announce that we are willing to test every #$%@ animal, and walk in and take over the American export markets.

If they want to live in their own little fortress, let them. It'll take them years just to argue about the ID system, let alone testing how many million head of cattle.

Imagine how it will look when and if they find a native born American case. All that R-Calf rhetoric will suddenly apply to American beef!

We are smaller and faster. We could get it done in a very short time if we really worked on it. I for one am sick and tired of this constant litigation and harrassment.

[kato]

When I asked for a trucking company name, I was serious. However Whiteface, I was also considering contacting the Dali Lama, who I beleive is still in Canada, to see if he would lay down in front of one of these trucks with me!!!

Right on kato, test the cows. A freind told me today that when that was suggested in the beginning of this mess (June 2003) Anne Venemen said that would only disrupt an integrated North American market. What a mess. Central AB is starting to see producers dropping. Feeder co-op at Rimbey AB is irrepairable. Disrupted my butt, this thing is turned right upside down in Canada, and our government, and producer groups keep asking us to stay calm.

[kato]

Canadian Beef to Stay Put (04/27/2004)

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said late Monday in a news release that he is "pleased" U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull in Billings, Mont., granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting USDA from proceeding with a plan to allow imports of ground beef and bone-in beef from Canada. The United States banned imports of Canadian beef after the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in Canada last May.

The USDA authorized imports of boneless meat several months ago and a USDA technical panel decided Friday Canadian bone-in beef and ground beef were safe to import.

Cattle group R-CALF USA filed suit, alleging USDA had not followed proper decision-making protocol in restoring the imports of bone-in beef and ground meat, Daschle said.

"The risk of BSE is simply too great for us to fail to ensure that we have taken a thoughtful and deliberate approach to resuming beef imports from Canada," he said. "Both animal safety and food safety demand that we take a science-based approach to reopening our border with Canada, and producers are extremely concerned that USDA has not done so."

[blackjack]

kato... We basically have wasted a year waiting for our ABP and CCA to convince us how much the americans need our beef. For somebody that want it they sure have poor way of showing it.

Kato... I agree with you as it will the american cattle assocations years before they can get a national ID program into place. The Americans get the one native case of BSE and the whole North American industry will be hooped again.

That is why we need to test to show our export markets we have nothing to hide.

Our major problem though as Canadian producers is the American packing plants control us. How we get into the export markets using their plants (I think) is our biggest stumbling block.I still believe as Canadian producers we need our own major packer if we are going to have a sustainable industry here in Canada. With all the cattle we raise in Western Canada we will need to band together
to build that packing plant so it can compete. Even if the border does open this summer we cannot forget as producers how vunerable we have been to the current system. I hope a lot of the younger ranchers (as I am) go to the cattle assocation meetings this fall demanding changes to the system so we can continue to ranch as the generations before us.

[cowman]

Ah, the joys of politics! I can just see the democrats licking their lips over this one?
But have no fear I heard Arno and Dennis say this is just a small bump on the road and things will soon be back to normal. Also Ralph Klein is going to make an announcement on Friday about his solution...that should be interesting? Hope he doesn't say something stupid again?
There was an article in one of the local weeklies about a small packer at Grand Prairie, who has basically come to an agreement with Japanese officials. The deal is they do the tests and Japan will take their beef! Apparently this is the real deal and not some vague promise.Shades of Creekside? It will be interesting how our Canadian officials react? I was sort of amazed that the USDA had put a stop to Creeksides plan...after all I thought they were a free market democratic country? Shouldn't any company have the right to do whatever tests they want to? For a few minutes there I thought how is America any different than the former Soviet Union. Well I guess we'll soon see if Canada is any better?

[whiteface]

My gloves are already off kato, rpkaiser, you tell me when and where and I'll be laying in front of the trucks with you, cowman, once or twice it has sounded vaguely like you understand R-calfs position and I'll admire that for sure when we have one in Canada that keeps out American cattle once we are testing all our cattle and have taken the US market. How the hell can any country (and we might get included in that ) be so stupid and stubborn as to not realize Japan has asked nicely for a product and the supplier (US) is cutting it's own throat letting someone else (maybe us) move into that market. Definatly the gloves are off, definatly it's time to stop waiting for the US to invite us in. We build our own plants, we test everyone if that's what our market asks, or maybe even only animals over 30 months - europe did it without necessarily hopeing or expecting to resume exports and has anyone noticed, nobody opened the door to them either. Face it , the states will not let us back in if they can possibly afford it - meaning if they can produce the meat cheaper and the groups like R-calf can keep packing houses quiet. They have no intention of letting us in, their game plan all the way is to increase their exports ( their anaplas and colored tongued cattle to Canada ) and reduce competition for their own. I mostly try really hard to see another persons point of view but sorry this time it's just @##$@%#@@ ridiculous and I don't want just sit around and hope they let us in - let's do something about our own situation. We have CCIA tags - they don't, we shouldn't have to worry about disrupting their poor bullying tactics with Japan if we test. Maybe we become the worlds largest export market but we have to own our own problems first and have a way to deal with them rather than pleading with American bullys to play with us. ##$@$ them! Tell your MP's its time to test and the hell with the Americans "plans"

[rusty1]

H & R of Lethbridge is probably the out fit hauling the beef. They do most of it.

[kato]

Here we go! Let's take this one to the top. No more fooling around.

When the temporary restraining order is up and the decision on whether to make it permanent happens, we'd better make sure our leaders know what we think.

Prime Minister Paul Martin

email pm@pm.gc.ca

I for one am tired of being kicked around.

When will our country learn that playing by the rules is not the way things work in this world.

Gotta go now, have to compose a letter to Paul!

[kato]

I'm back! Paul's got his letter.

[Horse]

While you are trying to get ahold of your meat markets again from the US companies there is another faction of canadian agri that with the support of King Ralph is doing all it can to give them the grain business as well. I do believe that we as producers are about the stupidest lot on the face of this earth.
With the CWB gone who will enter the business cargil dryfus monsanto and so on will we never learn.

[kato]

How true!

People like to complain about the Wheat Board, but really, what else stands between Canadian grain farmers and the type of ripping off and domination that is going on in the beef industry right now?

Not much.

[cakadu]

Does it really have to go from one extreme to the other? Surely to goodness we can learn from the other sectors and apply it in grains so that we don't have the same problems?

I'll use that "c" word again - if we "cooperate" and work together instead of coming at it from a cuthroat perspective, shouldn't we be better off? Work it so that the value is kept at each level or part of the system and don't give away the value to someone else. Couldn't that work?