Just watch

[ALICIA]

The US keeps things close until they are ready. I belive that the next step for US beef is they are going to advertize 100% BSE free beef because they are all ready throwing what test positive away with out saying a word, so if the test every thing, then they do not have to tell about the ones that do test positive.
They are one step a head again.

[ALICIA]

PLUS- They know our tagging is a joke. Every one knows that a calf is sold about 3 to 6 times before it even gets to the slotter house.
So for they, do not have a tagging system in place. It would be cheeper to just test every animal and throw away the ones that tests positive.
If out of 10 million head, 7 test positive and is throw away, who cares where it came from, just get rid of it and go on with life.
7 head at $1000.00 isn't that much money, come paired to millions of dollars in exported beef to Japan or else were.

[Willowcreek]

ALICIA- I don't know if I agree with everything else you say- but I do agree with the fact that live cattle will not come across the border until their is permanent method of marking them as Canadian ( hot iron brand) and their is a method of total traceback to where they have been. The current tagging process is a joke. This is almost a mandatory with US cattle organizations-both NCBA and R-CALF.

[cowman]

When the whole cattle tag thing first came in I was not "For it"! Not because it wasn't a good idea but because the cow/calf guy got all the expense/labor/responsibility. I still think the feds should have picked up the price of the tag...food safety is their responsibility and they are paid very well by the Canadian taxpayer to ensure food safety?
However after attending a couple of info meetings and talking to the late Carl Block, I became convinced it was probably the best system available.
Was it a joke? Well we traced the Alberta mad cow pretty fast, right? And we also traced the Washington mad cow pretty fast using the CCA tag? I would assume when we get the RFID tags or implants the system will work even better?...although Ron Dehaven might have more trouble cutting one out of a Canadian cow the next time they find an American mad cow?lol
Personally, and this is just a personal belief, I think branding is one of the practices in the beef industry that should be abolished. Barbaric and crude to the extreme. Surely in this day and age, with all the new technology we don't need to go around burning animals?

[grassfarmer]

Well said Cowman, Willowcreek our system is a joke? at least we have a working system which is years ahead of the US model. Or is it only important that Canada has a tracking system so you can blame some new cases on us to keep the border closed while at the same time concealing your own cases like USDA did with the recent Texas case. Be warned, cheating by concealing cases of BSE will get you into big trouble with consumers as was the case in Japan and the UK.

[grassmarketeer]

Was at a farm sale the other day. It sure was interesting to see the ccia eartags sell with the other vet supplies. Hope that noone is taking them stateside, eh.

[grassfarmer]

Obviously a little loophole that needs tightening up - well spotted perhaps it would be worth bringing it to the attention of CCIA, ABP or CCA. They all have plenty of time on their hands - sitting around waiting for the US to open the border.

[kato]

True. Once those numbers are handed out, whoever they were assigned to will take the rap for whatever turns up.

The guy who was having the sale should have burned them.

And the auctioneer should have known better. You might want to give the auctioneer a call.

[Willowcreek]

If you don't have a system that shows anything besides farm of origin, then what good is the system? That animal could have been on 20 places between the time its tagged and the time its slaughtered. Could have lost 3 or 4 tags during that time period.

Then it could have been brought across to the states where once the tag disappears its worth double the price.

[cowman]

The idea was to start at the place of origin and to track the animal forward to final destination? Which really makes sense if you think about it? This is exactly what they did with the Canadian mad cow and the American mad cow and it worked very well?
I'm not sure how it works in America but in Canada every animal leaving the farm must have a "manifest" which is a four copy record of where that animal is going.
It is not the perfect system for sure, but it is about the best one available at the time? Of course the whole thing assumes honesty and doing the right thing, which by and large is adhered too? Our cattle producers are a pretty honest and responsible bunch...probably more so than any other group in the whole country? I believe that most of our producers understand the importance of a traceback system and the necessity of food safety and integrity in those systems?
So far the Americans really don't have any system for traceback? That is why they didn't find a whole lot of "vanished" herdmates from the Washington cow? Who knows where those herdmates ended up and if any of them were infected? In fact the only way they traced her at all was because of the Canadian tag system? You guys really do need to get a system in place, before you have some major, major problems! We can trace any sick animals we have...you can't.

[pandiana]

A good description of how it should work, cowman. I agree, however, that nothing is perfect and, as with gun legislation, it only the effects honest person. There remains many ways to beat the system if that is your business.

[kato]

Scenario

A steer comes in to a packing plant and tests positive for some reportable disease. He had been bought from a feedlot where he was one of 300 head in a pen. Those 300 all need to be traced back. Say they were all bought at different auction marts and assembled before going to the feedlot. Now you have to go to, say, 10 auction marts and they each had sales of two thousand head on the days when these 300 were bought. Now you have to check the origins of twenty thousand cattle. Just eliminating the obvious ones would take days.

Or you do it the other way. You find the owner of the original tag. He sold calves at two sales that year. You eliminate the heifers, that cuts it in half (more or less). Then you check with the buyers of the steers, and trace forward. The numbers are much much lower in a trace forward than they are in a trace back.

It's as simple as that.

[grassfarmer]

Kato it's as simple as that with calves sold to a feedlot from a ranch but not so in the case of an old cow that turns up with a problem at the packing plant. She has been through many herds potentially and if she isn't branded she can be tough to trace - look at the black cow that started all this mess. It's a passable system for young animals but not great for older cows that may have been in six or seven herds in their lives.

[ALICIA]

I'ds know good for young calfs eather because I know that my calfs go to the sale barn, to a dealer that takes them to howards station (nother sale barn) makes 5 or 10 cents more, another dealer that takes them to Kitchener and may be from their they get to a feed lot to be put on feed till they are say 1200 pounds, then off to a nother dealer that sends them to the packer for processing. AND I'LL JUST BET THERE ARE NOT THAT MEANY TAGS IN HIS EAR. also just how many animals has he been exposed to.

[grassfarmer]

If it is like the UK this ridiculous amount of trading will stop - post BSE with tighter margins people realise there is not enough to be made off animals to cover 5 or 6 lots of trucking and selling expenses. Also more farmers will retain the cattle on their farms for longer and cut down on changes of ownership