Texas cow?

[Smithy]

There is a rumour floating around about a mad cow in Texas. Anyone heard anything about this?
http://www.agriculture.com/worldwide/IDS/2004-04-30T145253Z_01_N30589501_RTRIDST_0_MADCOW-TEXAS-RUMOR.html

[almoy]

Apparently the animal showed "central nervous signs" so they condemned the animal but didn't test it!! If you don't test for BSE I guess you won't find it !! Wonder if they only test the healthiest looking ones !

[jensend]

they didn't test it because ron dehaven didn't have a ccia tag handy.

[whiteface]

I believe that too jensend, let the media get a hold of that one and maybe USDA will get enough questions to finally get this BSE dealt with rather than covered up. Too bad for him he didn't have a tag handy though, that would really seal the border shut for R-calf. I'm sure they will try and fabricate another Canadian-born BSE case, maybe a day or two before they are actually ready to announce a border opening, just like they did last Christmas...that's okay though...we're going to get stalled until WE finally do something and by that I mean private investors, our own packing plants and export markets. Hurray up and wait is not working for us, let's stop waiting.

[jensend]

i agree wholeheartedly whiteface. on ranchers.net i said we should leave american politics to the americans and get caught up with the parts of the world that are on top of the bse situation. the rationale for blanket testing is that a positive gets tossed out of the system so is of no consequence and the reason to not test is that a significant number of positives destroys the credibility of cfia and usda. if they keep playing this stalling and hiding game they will damage their own credibility over time. while they try to cover their own butts its the producers who suffer. i wish cfia could be put in the position of quantifying the cost of this debacle and then measure the cost of testing. canadian producers are victims of canadian politicians as well as american. our so-called industry leaders have not served us well and are looking like wannabe americans as they chase after the elusive favors of the cattle people south of the border.

[rusty1]

"our so-called industry leaders have not served us well and are looking like wannabe americans"

Maybe they will show up in the sponsorship scandle yet. wannbe Liberals if they might win the next one.

[blackjack]

whiteface and jensend ... at the auction mart on Wednesday lot of ranchers feeling the same way ... I hope rusty1's packer group is a large one to compete against the american packer. If Canadians build a plant that is up to BSE specs and test everything it won't matter if our north american cattle market is integrated or not. Would it not be ironic if usa ranchers would want to use the Canadian packer!

[jensend]

in fairness to our industry leaders i think we have to recognize that there is probably a lot of pressure being applied by the us and the packers because this system works very well for them and people such as jahnke, eby, speller, etc will know better than me that there would be a blizzard of trade actions started against us if we blanket tested. they would use nafta against us because we break the harmonization process. that being said i think we still have to find our own way and let the americans screw up their own lives. i think it's interesting that we heard so little from the feb. 18 draft from wesupport beef.com. at least here in sask it didn't hit the radar and i would suspect the packers and alberta govt. would regard it as untouchable.

[whiteface]

Jensend, I definatly appreciate that we have to be fair to our leaders and they are probably doing "everything possible" to understand our plight. Unfortunatly as the saying goes, they don't actually "walk even one hour in our shoes" and they really don't get just how much we are being held hostage by this whole "hurry up and wait" bullshit. I know for sure there will be consequenses to our actions of "violating" NAFTA and "defying" the almighty USA with taking action into our own hands...but for crying in the beer already what else should we do other than wait. The hell with waiting, life is too short to just spend it waiting. Besides, I swear to all of you, Bush's promise of "as soon as possible" really means "when I'm satisfied with you Canadians paying dearly for not participating in Iraq." And incidentally to Bush, "as soon as possible could and likely means how many months or years even." As soon as possible sounds good but think about guys, it really has no date whatsover to it and really I believe that those Americans will use it against us to get funding and support for Iraq, missiles, personal apologies, whatever before they lift a finger to help us and if and when they're ready to help us, they'll come up with an excuse again, like "I'm really sorry but R-calf managed to get an injuction to stop imports...or whatever." I'm not complaining, I want us to be proactive and do whatever its going to take to own our own problem and get ourselves out of this mess. With or without their support. Yes, Blackjack, we WILL see Americans asking for kill space in OUR new slaughter facilities once WE'VE earned back the export markets and I know that stepping out on our own is not without some consequense but what the hell are the consequenses of NOT taking the intiative, like cowman said there are no young farmers..., too many of their parents just gave up and encouraged their kids to get into a business that "makes money." We can make money if, like any thriving business does, we produce the product that people ask for, take intiative to make calculated risks, go after what we believe in, stop whining and stop letting who we percieve to be "bigger boys" own us. We're playing right into their hands - enough already. Do all your MP's know how you feel because really they're the ones who will need to know when we're ready to have a revolution and be given permission to execute plans for our own fee enterprise. And incidentally, I adore Ralph Klein but I think he missed the mark with his Friday proposal, I figured he of all people would be moving toward more independance of this province and Canada and I'm sure hopeing he's not sucumming to hurry up and wait to see what Bush decides for us. We need a leader or as group we need to lead ourselves out of this mud. I for one never got anything just sitting around waiting for it to fall out of the sky - not to be impetuous but not just sitting around in hope, cope or dope mode for the rest of your life either. Let's go guys. If not our own facilities and blanket testing then what? I'm not so stubborn that it has to "my way" but I sure don't what to just wait and see. We've had enough of that. What are the alternatives?

[jensend]

whiteface - i was just trying to soften my previous criticism of jahnke et al because i don't think they have had an easy year. that said i agree with every thing you have said. there is no upside to not testing. there will be more cases and we might as well find them, eliminate them from being fed to anything or anybody and market our beef as being PROVEN safe. it will hurt the dignity of those who have tried to avoid the issue but i value my living over their pride. if the way the texas cow was handled is any indication when r-calf gets their version of cool they can put 'caveat emptor' on all their us origin beef.

[whiteface]

If I speak with so much conviction that at any time it comes across as "in your face" I apologize to you jensend or anyone. I'm on team Canada and when I put it out there that I want to know what the alternatives might be it's only that I don't pretend for one minute to know everything. At all times I am open to cheering as well as critisism that maybe I have missed something. I believe wholeheartly in what I say and write but always willing to hear another persons view. Really, no bitterness to my writings, just passion for all of us to benefit. Nobody ever be afriad to voice any opinions with me. I do want what you want and will fight for all of us as passionatly as I write. I just can't do it all by myself.

[jensend]

to me the biggest issue is what will it take for speller, cca, abp, etc. to realize the strategy that has been followed for the last year hasn't worked and it's time to change course? there are nations dealing quite successfully with bse and we could learn something from them but especially cca has no plan b; they live or die on the whim of the usa.

[cowman]

What has been the point of all the massive government payouts to the beef industry? It is true that the money has kept the industry from completely collapsing but how did it solve any of the fundamental problems?
The fact is we have two American predators basically controlling the industry? The other fact is we need the US export market due to the fact our cow herd is way to large for domestic consumption?
Two simple solutions: Kill off the cow herd. Get rid of the two predators.
How much money did the government waste? If they had bought 1 million cows and slaughtered them and payed the producer $600, we would have a million less calves to move this fall! Do that for a few years and you've reduced the cow herd substantially? Use the pit if necessary!
Pack up 40 million in cash, go down to High River/Brooks and tell them they've just been bought out! Give them about 6 hours to get across the border!
Once the cow herd is at a sustainable level, limit all imports of beef and pass legislation to limit the number of cows in this country.

[Joe-2]

Cowman-"...pass legislation to limit the number of cows in this country."

I hope you aren't serious!!

[whiteface]

I like that idea of buying out the packing plants and giving them about 6 hours to move south where they belong. The govenrment buying the exess cows and giving the money to the producers would have, in hindsight, worked better. I would have been disgusted at the waste of meat if they had just buried the carcasses but back then I was as optimistic as rsomer still is. I just think it's time to get real. I love your optimsim rsomer but by the time you realize that optimsim by itself doesn't open borders and save your butt will it be too late for you to find another way - after the rest of us have given up. There will be that many less voices for any politicians to care about. We have the energy now and potential solution now, let's do something now and if we fall on our face at least we can leave with the dignity of having tried everything we could rather than someone else deciding for us.