US finally finds native case of mad cow!

[15444]

Apparently the results are from a simple test and that the results are 'inconclusive.' The USDA needs another week to do another, more accurate test. That time will most likely also be used to find a CCIA tag of sufficient age to apply to the animal's ear.

But, if it happens to be that they can't find a way to label this on us, I think this day has become just a little bit brighter for all Canadian cattlemen who were waiting for this day to come.

[JD6320]

I fail to see how another positive bse cow in North America will help us out in the long run,if the borders ever does resume trading in live cattle will there be any customers in the U.S. still wanting to consume beef. On top of that if the animal is positive we will be sitting on pins and needles hoping the animal did not originate in Canada. What will another bse case traced back to Canada do to our already dismal markets??? Personally I hope there are no more positives found on either side of the border- it benefits nonone except the antimeat groups.

[whiteface]

I read that on reuters too. Gives us some personal satisfaction I suppose, doesn't help our cause in the least other than maybe, just maybe if we were going for their export markets and they have "more" cases than us, possibly it helps get us to export faster. The whole mad cow thing is getting old, so old in fact the politicians don't even see it on the radar. How are things in Ontario, 15444? Are any of the farmers demanding answers from any of the leaders? Stephen Harper supposed to be here on the eleventh hour ( almost literally ) Sunday night, I'm not quite sure how he'll be recieved even though most of us are Conservative all the way. The "mad cow" in the states, almost certainly they'll try and nail it to Canada.

[rsomer]

I have pasted the USDA testing protocol below. Note there could be as many as 20 to 30 inconclusive test results in a year. The NVSL will do another rapid test on this first "inconclusive" test. If that test is also "inconclusive" (in other words positive), the NVSL will run a confirmatory test which will take an average of five days to complete.

Begin of clip: "USDA has certified twelve geographically dispersed state laboratories that will assist in the surveillance program. Seven of the certified laboratories are high-throughput labs that are currently using automated testing procedures, where it expects to test the majority of the 200,000-plus samples. The other five labs are not automated and will be used for samples not easily accessible to the high-throughput labs. All of the labs will use one of the five USDA approved rapid tests. USDA has indicated that non-negative, rapid test results from regional labs will be called "inconclusive." Inconclusive test results will be publicly reported and sent to the National Veterinary Service Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa for confirmatory testing. NVSL will run another rapid test. If that rapid test is negative, NVSL will consider that result as conclusively negative and no other test will be performed. If the second rapid test is inconclusive, NVSL will run immunohistochemistry (IHC) as the confirmatory test. USDA estimates samples sent to NVSL for confirmatory testing will average a five- day turnaround time before test results become available. If the IHC test at NVSL is positive, USDA will publicly report that result and forward the sample to the OIE international reference laboratory in Weybridge, England. USDA plans to post online the number of animals tested, number of inconclusive tests on primary screening and the number of positive tests test, if any. Based on statistics surrounding the use of rapid tests in other countries, USDA said there could be as many as 20 to 30 inconclusive test results in a year. The number of inconclusive BSE test results will be reported at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse- enhan_surv/bse_test_results.html. In the event of an inconclusive test result, the carcass must either be held for confirmatory testing, or disposed of in a way that prevents the carcass from entering the food chain."

[15444]

Whiteface:

Ontario is split when it comes to BSE.

South of Sudbury the basic idea is to keep hoping for the border to open. They keep making dates which just seem to emphasize false hope. They were really banking on May 20, 2004. Now the next date is after the Canadian elections or after the American ones. They really aren't worrying much as most have solid paying off-farm jobs and are just in Herefords as a hobby.

[15444]

North of Sudbury and all the way to the Manitoba border:

The general consensus up here is that we are sick of seeing people like Neil Jahnke and Stay Eby and a lot of the producer groups that keep advising to pin hopes on the border. We see the $1 billion into the BSE issue from the Liberals as a pathetic attempt to buy votes, as it would have been much better to put that money into federal packing plants. Although it seems to have failed here in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding as the Conservatives seem to be well in the lead.

We really don't care a whole lot if Kerry wins in the US anymore as we would rather see our politicians obtain something that resembles vision and focus on other world markets, rather then falling back into our hole of the USA's little brother who does all the work and gets his ass kicked into the mud as a reward. And if that results in banning medicated feeds, animal-based feeds and hormones to get into markets like Europe, then so be it.

Quite a few of Northern producers also have off-farm jobs, but our ideaology and vision for the cattle industry mimics that of the West. We wish to see the day when we can make an honest living from this type of life. We see the lives of our friends here and out west crumbling before our eyes and become more frustrated everyday that we are the puppets of big packers and bureaucrats who cannot even fathom the hearts of cow/calf producers who keep this industry going.

[15444]

err, that first post was supposed to say, 'just in CATTLE as a hobby.'

[ALICIA]

I'm thinking this mean another cow was found in USA, besides the Texas and Washington cow. I've been off the site and haven't keep up on the news. Nothing on tv new.

[topper]

Is it just me or do others find it suspicious that these cases always pop up on Friday afternoons or before major holidays when the markets are closed. Maybe just my suspicious nature!

[whiteface]

Thanks for the info 15444 and no topper, I don't find it suspicious at all. I think we're absolutly correct in how the USDA operates these days. They "have to" confess when they "find" BSE especially if it just "turns out" to be of Canadian origin, so they can put a halt to our inroads of optional testing and new markets. They know we're way ahead of them in this race and that we have every shot at winning the Japaneese ( and other markets ). Just as soon as we have the politicians on board and some old packing plants revamped a little to get more slaughter capacity while the new ones are built...Japan had testing in place inside of six months... I feel sorry for those poor suckers down there! With no vision for the future other than blast and bully. I'm certain that cow "showed up" on Friday after market close and holiday for a reason. Same reason they'll have when they find a CCIA tag to slam in her ear ( which is why they've said absolutly nothing until the test comes back positive... they need all 5 days to find a tag and get their story straight, to try and stop looking as stupid as they do, unfortunatly, some of us are getting on their little scheme ). I'm not being a #@%# here, I'm like you, topper, I can see a "pattern" emerging here and it's a little bit irritating. Their goal this time when they announce it's Canadian will be "look Japan, they have more than us, don't take their beef, and look how hard we're working testing, but all the cases are Canadian, you don't want their beef now do you..." All the more reason we should be testing. They will NEVER have a homegrown case that we will hear about...otherwise they would have come forward with their Texas case rather than cover it up. This new case is all about us getting a leg up on them with our plans to help ourselves...it's being heard ( remember their were Americans at the meeting in Olds!!!) and they're freaking out and THEY SHOULD BE! I think most of us in Canada have accepted that BSE is here (in reality or perception) and want to move forward with it and as cases come up it's no big deal because we really are moving toward testing and markets, for them new case will be more scare tactics which is another reason they announced Friday at close. They are expecting more fear and critisism on how they handle this. How do you tell when someone has something to hide? Just by they way they sneak around, and don't want to tell you anything. This sound like USDA to anyone other than me?

[kato]

It'll be interesting to see how next week plays out. The story on the positive American cow on the agricultural news this morning on the radio was the last one they put on. It was the bottom priority. As far as the TV news, I only heard it mentioned quickly a couple of times.

Could it be that BSE is not quite the most important thing on the news these days? That can only be a good thing for cattle producers on both sides of the border.

Perhaps 'perspective' is starting to kick in. There are so many more urgent things going on than the so called health questions raised by a one in billions chance of maybe getting sick years from now from such an obscure illness.

Things could change a lot after this week, but for the better or the worse is the big question.

If it's American we can only hope that R-Calf's fearmongering tactics haven't worked. It's in no one's interests to see American consumers scared off by such irresponsible behaviour.

If it's a Canadian cow, then I guess we'll have politicians who may be more receptive to our requests for testing.

Whatever, I just wish it was Friday already and we knew. We've been waiting for so much for so long that I'm sick and tired of it. It's time to move on and get back to business.

[kato]

I have never carried a protest sign in my life,,,,,,but tonight I will.
Stephen Harper will see my sign.

BSE IS HUMAN MADNESS
OUR BEEF IS SAFE
LET US PROOVE IT BY TESTING