The Wheels Slowly Turn

[kato]

November 22, 2004
Author: Canadian Cattlemen's Association


This is the daily update for Monday November 22 brought to you by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and BMO Bank of Montreal.



A crucial step for the Canadian beef cattle industry took place on Saturday with the movement to the Office of Management and Budget of the rule to allow the importation of live cattle and an expanded list of beef products. OMB will now give the rule its final legal review. OMB has not yet announced whether the rule will be considered major and/or economically significant, which will determine the length of the review period. The review period can last from under 30 up to a maximum of 90 days. An implementation period may follow.



The United States Department of Agriculture has not yet announced the final result of the inconclusive BSE test result obtained in that country last week.

[ivbinconned]

Lets keep our fingers crossed, but not abandon the push for more slaughter capacity here.

[wd40]

That news is "Old News", we all knew the process and nothing has changed.

However we need to (won't happen) close the border to shipping live fats south bound, then maybe we will balance the beef industry.

[farmers_son]

The result of the BSE test on this last cow will have an impact on whatever procedures are implemented to safeguard the U.S. industry while seeing normal trade resume with Canada. I can't believe the U.S. will not eventually find a BSE positive of their own. If this cow is indeed positive then the U.S. can quit pretending they don't have BSE and channel their considerable resources into seeing normal trade resume with Canda and globally. For that matter Australia and Brazil would find BSE if they actually looked for it.

As for producer owned packing plants, the need for these plants does not change whether the border opens in 90 days or 6 months from now. If there is a silver lining behind the cloud of BSE it is that Canadian producers finally saw how the big packers are manipulating the price of fat cattle in this country. Producers have learned some hard lessons and we are not as naive as we were before May 20. I for one will never forget as long as I live.

I actually see the opening of the border as positive for producer plants because the uncertainty concerning the date of the border opening will be eliminated and the industry can focus on the future. These producer owned plants were never really about BSE anyway. They were about creating alternatives for producers having to sell cattle into a commodity market controlled by the big packers. The plants were about producers creating the option of selling beef instead of cattle and participating in value added opportunities that were being denied them.