Zone Alberta

[DNaker]

Relax everyone. I did say it as a tongue and cheek statement and I dont agree with a zone in Alberta. I did say it though to bring light to the frustration and isolation producers are feeling in the TB zone. We talk about sticking together as producers but people in the zoned area have ben left out to dry. We have not once in ten years seen any of the high level CCA members come address this area. Our own MCPA up untill 2 years ago have not taken it serious and it wasn't untill people threatened to withdraw their checkoff that they masqueraded that they cared. And producers outside the zone have voted down resutions that would have helped out producers in the effected zone area.. The second point I wanted to maked is that for those of you who think zoning Canada into seperate areas is a pipe dream think again. At our district MCPA meeting we heard it is on the drawing bored. Trust me it is not a great feeling being isolated in order for other producers to protect their own self interests.

[cowman]

DNaker: Perhaps you could enlighten us a bit more about the TB zone? How long since you got the last case of TB? Also, is the federal government compensating producers who are located in the zone? From what I remember reading, was the cattle in this TB zone contacted TB from the wildlife? If that is correct then wouldn't it be proper for the Crown to reimburse farmers...after all the deer and moose belong to the Crown, right?... Too bad the Crown won't pick up their feed bill either!

[cowman]

good points cowman. Seems to me that producers were paid a fairly good dollar in this area when elk and cattle were destroyed due to the TB issue. Either way, joking about an AB. zone likely isn't to humerous with the current situation with BSE. We are seeing feedlots going under and some producers as well, and that is not a joking matter. I am a bit grumpy this morning....-40 does that !!!

[cowman]

Got to agree with you on the weather thing emerald! It is a little "fresh" out there today, but at least the darned wind isn't blowing!
What's your take on the Bonnet feedlot thing? Seems to me Bonnet might have been a wee bit bitter? I guess who could blame him...seeing three generations of work going up in smoke!
There are also rumors that a lot of cattle are missing and the books might have been cooked a bit! Well I hope he got enough squirreled away so he doesn't have to go begging on the street or something! Having a hard time feeling sorry for the banker though.
I have heard an "auction market rumor" of who the farmer was who owned the last mad cow, but won't repeat it here as it is just a rumor based on the feds looking for a certain farm in the area south and east of Innisfail!

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, if you read the court documents filed on Monday re Bonnetts at "http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/050110/n0110111A.html" it makes me sick. If these accusations are proven correct the industry is better without these guys. If these cattle were killed deliberately I would like to see jail time for those guilty. Funny with all the dubious counting/ accountancy involved that Rick stood as a Liberal candidate in the Federal election - he seems well qualified.

[ivbinconned]

The idea of "zoneing" is not new and has been floated in Quebec as was shown in a post of mine last October: the following...

...President of the Union of the agricultural producers, Laurent Pellerin abounds in the same direction, saying that program ESB 5 “will not do the job” with its 24 M$ for Quebec. In addition to the question of the financial support, he again recalls the importance to regionalize the country in order to limit the consequences of a catastrophe to the only touched areas.

“Europe now counts 25 countries which all do not fall under embargo when one of them is touched. It is a good reflex to compartmentalize… as in our submarines”, is ironical Laurent Pellerin.

It seems to me that we had more about this on here, and that it was being seriously considered, but I can not find it!!

[ivbinconned]

The following is from a Quebec paper...notice the "zoning" idea is mentioned!

January 13, 2005


Less than two weeks after the anouncment of a 2nd case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (ESB) in Canada, the Canadian Agency of inspection of food (ACIA) confirms that a 3rd BSE cow has just been discovered.

The animal in question is a cow of Charolaise butchery of Alberta, old of a little less than seven years. The animal was born eight month after prohibition from the flours from ruminants in the food from the animals from the same species, into force since 1997. It is about a precedent for Canada since in the two former cases of ESB, the bovines had been born before prohibition. The ACIA specifies that “no part of the animal entered the human or animal food chain”. According to the Agency, this new case would not be connected to that confirmed on last 2 January.

The ACIA currently follows the track of the food. It suspects that the cow would have been put in contact with “food produced before prohibition concerning food of the cattle, in 1997”. This revelation offers additional ammunition to the opponents with the reopening of the American border announced for next March. In theory, this 3rd insane cow should not change the statute of country at the minimum risk allotted to Canada by the United States. Indeed, up to 10 cases of ESB could be discovered during 11 next months, without Canada losing this statute which gives again the access to the United States to him. “The results of our investigation and analysis will be used to evaluate the next stages appropriate concerning the payment on the statute of country to minimum risk published last week”, however declared Dr. Ron DeHaven, administrator of the Service of inspection and animal health of the American department of Agriculture (USDA). Moreover, the members of the American Congress have the capacity to defer the lifting of the embargo. In addition, the concentration of the cases of insane cow in Alberta is an argument moreover for the partisans of the medical regionalization of the country.

To Quebec, the president of the Federation of the producers of bovines of Quebec, Michel Dessureault, does not say himself surprised of this new diagnosis. “The international experts had informed us that it was foreseeable that other cases of cows reached of ESB are detected”, underlines it. The fact that the cow was born after prohibition from the flours from ruminants does not disturb it in addition to measurement. “(…) the experts had mentioned that it would be necessary to count over one period of approximately a year before the banished animal flours can be eliminated”, points out the president.

[ivbinconned]

cowman, we don't seem to hear much about Bonnetts in the past few days. Hopefully all the facts will finally be made public.
Nice to see the weather warm up a bit. The cows were plenty content to just stand around in the sun today. Had a guy here with a Bobcat moving snow all afternoon.