Texas Cow

[rsomer]

Personally, I am watching Mexico’s reaction to what will become known as the Texas Holstein. Mexico moved towards more normal trade in beef with the U.S. as recently as April 4, 2004 after the discovery of the Washington Holstein last December. In the past, Mexico has moved swiftly to close their border to U.S. beef when they suspected a health or food safety concern. To date, there seems to be no reaction from Mexico on this issue.

[CattleAnnie]

Here's another oldie but goodie.

Not one cow offered to BSE test Program

July, 4, 1997
Capital Press, Salem,OR Tam Moore

There were lots of phone calls, but no offers of cattle to test two weeks after California scientists pleaded for research animals from U.S. veterinarians and cattle producers.
Lily Yang, head of Neuromark Corp., said a June 12 teleconference and widespread publicity in cattle trade publications generated interest in the procedure that may lead to detecting bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE. The cattle brain disease in 1996 forced British beef off the European market.

But a full two weeks after Yang and scientists from California Institute of Technology and Univeristy of California-Davis pleaded for live cattle material for testing, not one sample has been volunteered.

Yang's company is handling the development of the test, which uses molecules in spinal fluid that indicate BSE is present in the brain of cattle. Michael Harrington, a neurologist at Cal Tech, came up with the technique as a way to diagnose a human form of the ailment, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD. Robert Higgins, a veterinary neurologist at UC-Davis, adapted the technique to cattle.

Yang says the scientists obtained tissue samples from England to run their first test. The result, she says, was a 98 percent correlation between results of the marker test and post-death examination of the animals when traditional viewing of brain sections confirmed BSE.

There's pressure from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get a reliable live animal BSE test, Yang said. She speculated that the reluctance of veterinarians and producers to volunteer material for testing might come from a fear that the research could actually turn up a BSE case. The disease has never been confirmed in U.S. cattle.

Getting the test perfected is a safeguard, said Yang, pointing to the fact that similar brain disease has been found in U.S. elk and deer, among other animals.

A live animal test would let veterinarians isolate suspected carriers of BSE, providing traditional mamagement opportunities used in other animal disease situations. The current U.S. Bse surveillance program uses a spot-check of brain tissue taken from animals after commercial slaughter.

Scientists, including those from USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, speculate that the condition turns up spontaneously in some animals. Last week APHIS confirmed that it has a national contingency plan for public information and surveillance if a BSE case should be found.

Information an the BSE diagnostic test and specifics if tissue and spinal fluid samples sought by Neuromark can be obtained by contacting Lily Yang at voice: (415) 917-0401; fax: (415) 917-1434
To get on the Neuromark information distribution list, call (800) 600-711(sic) extension 234.

[ALICIA]

The only thing that this tells me Is there is not much hope for the border to be open any time in the next 6 years or so.
Their is just to much cloke and dagger going on. They (US) can't even keep a eye on their own cattle with out our live cattle coming across the boarder.
I think our efforts would be beter spent on making a market in our own country, and some farm are just going to have to go under or be 100% part-time farmer and not like the 80% where is now.
Plus, the water situation is not what it should be this spring, and nutrigion managment etc. the restictions are just getting out of hand. Ask any city person and they will tell you, we don't need farming in Canada.
I'm from the East and I knew its not fair but the big Eastern citys do run the show and have the deciding vote, and they are born and raised in the city and they treat country people in goverment like durt under there feet and told to keep quit. The farmers in goverment are out numbered and voted by city people in goverment, so they have to fight a up hill battle with people that just don't what to hear it. The only thing city people under stand is if it doesn't make money than don't do it, and how much income tax has farming generated to the goverment to so call run the country. From me nothing, but I did clam big expences and they had to pay me. As you know the goverment is slow at handing out money, but you better pay them on time.
I'm not down, I'm a Hereford Breeder. I just went on like normal and sold the culls and the once I didn't wait. I didn't get much, but the ones that are left are better. The seed stock producer keeps on trying for that perfect cow or bull, and I never really liked selling them for meat any way, but it was a place for the culls to go, I know you can't feed them all because if I could I would and have tryed, I'm buying hay now. Will there be a return, Not in my life time.