Now What?

[CattleAnnie]

No problem, whiteface! I was chuckling over your response as it made me think of the much sung praises of that "trickle-effect" that the gov't subsidies were supposed to have for the cow/calf producers. Unfortunately by the time the trickle gets to us, it simply seeps right out into another service sector. Oh well, not complaining, (I'm sure not qualified to perform c-sections), just enjoying the irony of it all!
Take care (it's raining up here - second consecutive day with some precipitation-hooray hooray!!!).

[cswilson]

Ohhh Saskaychewan isn't all bad lol-we've muddled through it here for 87 years so far.

[cakadu]

Like it or not, the royalty money off of oil does play a huge part in what happens here in Alberta. Just how much of a surplus do you think we will have now that oil is in the stratosphere and so is gas?

No other province in Canada has oil like Alberta does - although they are discovering how much is actually in Saskatchewan.

If we didn't have the oil money, we wouldn't be sitting so pretty and it is what is driving most of what happens in this province. Despite the fact that agriculture accounts for 1 in 3 jobs in this province, where does ag sit in the grand scheme of things? If we lost all our ag production tomorrow, we would still have food and I daresay because we are of the "have" ilk, we can have whatever we want because we have the means to get it here from around the globe.

If we didn't have the oil revenues we wouldn't be paying down the debt as quickly as we are - it's just that simple.

There is an ever increasing gap between the have's and have not's in this province and that should be of concern to us all.

[whiteface]

I don't doubt at all that there are some perks to living in your neck of the woods, cswilson ( I'm thinking property taxes for sure off the top of my head) but yeah, cowman, I love a lot of things that being close to a major urban center offers as well, in fact, when I first told friends I was moving to Alberta (from just outside Vancouver, most people gasp just at that!) I was mocked about how unless I moved very close to a city, I would likely forget how to speak english, and would have to import my nail polish! You guys have all heard the jokes, are there any microwaves/answering machines/internet access, you name it. Turns out, I'm the one who wins with wonderful rural people, all the amenities one could ask (including nail polish) and not only do I remember english, some of these nice country folk speak in ways that I am so proud to have been able to learn! Like they actually like each other rather than want to kill one other in a drug-savaged, over taxed, over crowded environment. I'll never go back, which is why it's more important to me than ever to find a way for our industry to survive. Otherwise myself, and a lot of us will be "stuck" in a city working a 7-11 instead of the freedom to enjoy the city but a few (sometimes more) miles out.

[rsomer]

Kline was on a trade mission to China and South Korea from May 31 to June 9. Information on the trip can be found at http://www.gov.ab.ca/premier/missions.cfm and the text of Klines speech in China is at http://www.gov.ab.ca/premier/dsp_speech.cfm?content=129
Kline was focusing on resuming imports of breeding livestock genetics.

Rpkaiser: In one thread you call me an eternal optimist, in another a negative cynic. There is no easy route to resuming international trade once a country has had a case of BSE and there is no point pretending there is. The only countries I see buying our beef are the U.S. and Mexico. They are not requiring a test and if we could only slaughter more cattle they would take all our beef.

Cowman: I do not believe in the science of BSE. Obviously the science is interpreted by each government to suit their purpose. Bottom line I believe the science does not know what to make of BSE. I do believe in focusing our limited resources on doing things that have some hope of success however. Unfortunately lobbying in favour of 100% testing has little hope of success as our governments have clearly set out their policy on testing and producers contrary efforts could actually serve to delay the opening of our borders to live cattle going south and weaken consumer confidence in our product. Japan and U.S. will work out the rules for trade between North American and Japan and that will end up being the new science. It might involve testing and it might not. As grassfarmer pointed out Japan and Europe are taking different approaches to BSE and for that matter so is North America. We all need to remember the incidence of BSE in North America is very, very low when compared to Europe and even Japan. We can’t forget that. Given the truly minimal testing Australia is doing, I think it is fair to say our beef is every bit as safe as theirs. Safer because we are removing the SRMs on OTM cattle and Australia is shooting, shoveling and shutting up.

I prefer to focus my efforts on seeing packing plant capacity built. 100% testing offers no competitive advantage for a new packing plant, all plants will be testing the same. Right now in North American that means surveillance test.

[rsomer]

rsomer says"Unfortunately lobbying in favour of 100% testing has little hope of success as our governments have clearly set out their policy on testing and producers contrary efforts could actually serve to delay the opening of our borders to live cattle going south and weaken consumer confidence in our product."
Just won't quit hey rsomer.

We all have two sides rsomer, depending on the situation we are all cnyical, or we are all (except cowman) optimistic.

Your continued point about delaying the border opening makes me sick.
I realise that this is simply your view, and you will continue to try to proove it through diligent pursuit of information.

Telling the consumer that we, the producers, want to test our beef will boost consumer confidence and help to open the border sooner.

When you say our governments have set out their policy, I wonder if you ever get time away from your fight against testing to notice that our government may actually change on June 28th.

The worst thing that we can possibly do is follow the path of lieing to consumers as rsomer wants to continue to do. Keep them in the dark. Use the Veil of science, but for goodness sake, don't tell the truth.
Give me a break.

With leaders like you rsomer, we will never get 100% testing, nor will we ever see profits in the cattle industry again. Keep your head up the packers ass just long enough to get yourself out of trouble buddy.

[cowman]

(From the eternal pessimist)...Well rpkaiser, I am going to try to attend a Big C meeting in the near future...probably at Olds...just to hear for myself what they have to say. Who knows maybe I will become a convert!

[rsomer]

Rpkaiser: I think you will find no matter which party forms the next government the policy on testing will remain unchanged. If anything, the Conservatives would see us move closer to the Americans. If you expect to see the NDP form the next government perhaps you could be right as they would be the party most likely to agree with your views.

[rsomer]

I'm votin Green rsomer.

[rsomer]

Pessimist / optimist. Positive / negative. Right / wrong. Yin / yan.
We need find balance.