Cows are down again?!!!

[cakadu]

Willowcreek - some in the US know when they've eaten a piece of Canadian or more importanly Alberta beef simply because it does taste different. Maybe more would have chosen Canadian beef over American, had they known and actually been given the choice instead of having all Canadian stamps etc removed.

What you are saying about consumers is very true - many have absolutely no idea where their food comes from, how it was raised or how it was processed.

Your comments do bring about a question though - if there were no real differentiation of products in the consumers mind, then what brought about the proposed COOL regulations?

[intr3est]

The US was importing what about 5% of their beef supply from Canada, and then probably exporting about half of this! So, I agree with you OT, MOST US citizens probaly didn't know they were eating Canadian beef, becasue they weren't. But the export markets sure do enjoy the barley feed beef.

[intr3est]

OT, what soes the USDA tell a consumer anyway? And is it stamped on every piece of meat?

[Willowcreek]

Imported meat comes in 3 different ways- totally packaged (a finished product) like the New Zealand lamb- this is already cut and ready for sale-- since nothing is done to it in the US it has to be marked as product of New Zealand- but most, like the Canadian beef now comes in boxed beef which is cut or trimmed as necessary by the packer or retailer and repackaged- then the USDA approved stamp is put on by the retailer--same was happening with swinging beef before the border closure- This is then put out for sale with the only marking being the USDA stamp-- which most consumers (even myself, until a few years ago)believe means US beef.. Its a total fraud.... But with the BSE issue and more consumer groups becoming involved in food safety more are being enlightened...
COOl really first came to light when the Jack in the Box ecoli deaths happened several years ago-..It was believed some of the meat involved was imported--that along with the finding that some packers were selling low quality tainted imported beef in the school lunch program led to the passage of a law allowing only US product in the school lunch program. NCBA then took up the battle to have meat products from the over 40 countries we import from marked as to country of origin..NCBA split over how to define US cattle and dropped the issue- that is when R-CALF came along and picked it up.. It has probably lost NCBA more members than any other issue...
Personally I would say open the border tommorrow if we had a mandatory COOL law in effect.. Consumers could choose on the quality issue and the safety issue of Canadian beef- and if 10 more cases of BSE were found in Canada it would have a much less effect on the confidence of the US product...

[JD6320]

Willowcreek,
When/if cool is implemented in the states,the consumer will be the big winner because you will be Walmartizing the meat case. I think in the long run consumers don't care were there foods originates as long as it inspected and safe. If two products are relatively the same, price will rule-Walmart proves this every day-How many American made products does walmart sell?

[InAHurry]

Willowcreek, I can't get into a debate about COOL, I don't know enough about the guts of it, it's the US's baby. At a glance though, you might have a positive response if it implemented as Patriotism right now, would be working in your favor. And if R-Calf keeps up the negative (mostly false) comments about Canadian (all imported) beef without being corrected this also would work to your favor. But the glory could be short lived as consumer's shift their thoughts and $ elsewhere or domestic beef suddenly is put into the same light as R-calf is protraying Canadian Beef.

Responding to your other post - "You are right that the US packers bought the Canadian cattle and beef- but then they cut off the Canadian markings and put a USDA stamp on it and passed it off to all consumers- US and foreign as a US product........Canada has totally lost the identity of their product..

I wouldn't say we lost our identity - the buyers of our beef (and cattle pre-BSE) were 'repeat' customers - they knew it was Canadian, still had our sticker on it, so to speak!

[Willowcreek]

inahurry- I think the time will come when Canadians are screaming for COOL...After AFTA, CAFTA, and a few more trade agreements go into effect and packers can access beef way cheaper in Brazil or other country, run it into and thru the US and send it into Canada to drive down cattle prices for both of us....Canada doesn't worry me- we need to look further down the line......

[ALICIA]

It was my undersanding that replacement cattle are not included in the rules for crossing the boarder.

[15444]

I have seen a few references in US ag papers online that say the American cowherd is in expansion mode.

What do you guys think is going to happen to the cowherd expansion in the US, based on the potential border opening rules, proposed by NCBA?

My thinking is that the extra feeder steers going south will negatively influence the prices enough that guys will go into major expansion mode to pick up what might be lost per calf.
With no breeding heifers or cows heading south, I wonder what the going rate for bred heifers and young cows will hit in the US?