USDA broke the rules AGAIN

[cowman]

It seems to me that the border is a "done deal" and R-CALF and Conrad are just wasting their time? I guess Conrad has to play the game so the good old boys will keep him at the trough! Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of American ranchers are probably going to be throwing money to the lawyers in a lost cause? However it is their nickel and I guess they can waste it however they like! I don't think they understand the "big picture"...maybe they need to get off the farm a bit more?

[rkaiser]

You are not kidding cowman. It's amazing when Oltimer talks of Canadians sticking their head in the sand. Rcalf has had it's head down there so long they have forgotten what the real world even looks like. Let me add to that - Rcalf's protectionist stand is the part I speak of. Thinking they can stop the world from turning by blocking trade is the notion that has lost Rcalf any credibility in my mind. Digging for every scap to accomplish this goal has led to deception and bed lying with groups out to destroy the industry. How can members ever think that this group of bafoons are their saviours. Of course producers need representation; our sytem demands it.

There is influence by the multinational packers on the USDA, which in turn influences the Canadian Government and our current Canadian industry leadership. Somehow producers need to be heard. But grasping at crap like Rcalf does only gives the powers that be more ammunition. If they don't use it now, they will save it in their arsenal for tommorow.

This border opening will prove the power of the AMI (Cargil Tyson and Conagra) and if the Canadian Governement is too bloody stupid to let things go back to the way they were prior to BSE with 80% or more of the packing industry controled by these folks we will have gained nothing as producers.

The OTM issue is the main concern in my mind. Yes AMI is behind blocking OTM boxed beef; they want the cows to fill thier plants south of the line. Even in the world of Multinationals, democracy can be useful. Cargil can't kill cows at High River without major renovation, and Swift doesn't have a plant. So they will block OTM boxed beef until they can
either build, or get the border open to cows.

None of these negotiations, and very little, if any, involve Rcalf, or even the membership of NCBA. This is all about the clout of Mutinational packers.

Rcalf is made to look like scapegoats one day and hero's the next simply to distract the attention of producers on both sides of the border.

[jensend]

oldtimer: Apparently USDA was not too proud of their rules and were trying to pull another sneaky-- they had stapled the proposed Border rule change notice to the backside of a proposal on tangerines...

so what you're saying is usda's technicality trumped your technicality. it's fun to watch hypocrisy in action. who's the bigger problem to the american cattleman; canadian cattle or the packers? forget the health thing, the oie has said we're a better risk than the us anyway and so have all your export customers. if the packers are the problem focus your efforts on them. bullard gets up and yips about canadian cattle and it sounds good to a bunch of angry ranchers but when it comes to solving your problem his talk is pretty much irrelevant. the border will open, the packers have beat you and will continue to beat you until you guys get down to business and build a case.

[Willowcreek]

None of these negotiations, and very little, if any, involve Rcalf, or even the membership of NCBA. This is all about the clout of Mutinational packers.
------------------------

rpkaiser- You just said it right there- but since no one in Canada will stand up and even try to fight these Multinationals or the status quo- the producers on both sides of the border will get the shaft-Canada's theory is just open the border and we're happy as a pig in you know where-- Canadians can again pass off their product as US beef--Yippee-- Canadas prices might raise $20 and the US prices drop $20 so we can all set there together and SUBSIST...

[Willowcreek]

forget the health thing, the oie has said we're a better risk than the us anyway and so have all your export customers.

jensend- If this is true, how come Canada isn't exporting to all the markets around the world? How much Canadian beef is Japan and the Asian Rim taking? Big problem is that most of them don't even know they have ever taken Canadian beef before- It was all ran thru the US- received the USDA stamp and exported as a US product...

[jensend]

oldtimer: jensend- If this is true, how come Canada isn't exporting to all the markets around the world? How much Canadian beef is Japan and the Asian Rim taking? Big problem is that most of them don't even know they have ever taken Canadian beef before- It was all ran thru the US- received the USDA stamp and exported as a US product

oldtimer i make that statement based on the fact that all the known positives come from canada and yet your markets haven't opened up any more than ours. the rest of the world accepts the n. american market concept and usda has acknowledged it. i think it's futile for r-calf to deny it and go even further by running down the canadian product when as you say yourself the rest of the world thinks they are the same. i'm pretty sure the japanese are informed enough to know some of the beef they imported from the usa came from canada. my point is that i think it's counterproductive and not very intelligent to be concentrating on the canadian border when it's not the biggest part of the problem. you continually run down canadian cattlemen as having their heads stuck in the sand (or worse) but at least cattlemen here are trying to find market alternatives. is that happening in the states (and i'm not being sarcastic)? are there initiatives down south to try to regain a bigger part of the value chain? it seems to me that while you concentrate on the canadian border you are slipping further into the grips of the big packers.

[farmers_son]

Willowcreek: I believe that prior to September 10, 2001 Canada was the third largest exporter of beef to Japan. A bold statement as we were way behind the U.S. and Australia but we were still firmly in third place and making inroads into the Japanese market.

Yes that is September 10, 2001 not May 20, 2003. The September date is when Japan reported its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a cow in Chiba prefecture. Since then imports of beef from all countries have been down, U.S. sales to Japan were only about 50% of pre September 2001 sales and of course there have been no U.S. sales of beef to Japan since the discovery of the Washington Holstein in December 2003. In the period from 1994 to 2001 U.S. share of Japanese beef imports fell from 61% to 52%.

Canadas sales of beef to Japan were increasing dramatically, from $28 Million in 1999 to $45.5 Million in 2001. Like the U.S., Canada's sales of beef to Japan were cut in half in 2002 to $21.5 Million in 2002.

See:http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp2/IATRs/2002/japan0205.pdf

[Joe-2]

Facts suck, don't they Oldtimer!!!

Hahaha!!!

[Willowcreek]

Facts suck, don't they Oldtimer!!!

Hahaha!!!

Joe-2 --How true.. And the fact is that Canada has a very small beef industry on its own that doesn't require riding on the shirtails of the US- which in the past has been at the expense of the US producer......

[rkaiser]

All that a chicken$hit protectionist Rcalf follower like yourself can come up with is some sort of Flag waving "save the American producer" crap.

WE HAVE NO PLAN TO BREAK THE BEEF PRODUCERS OF AMERICA!

Get with the program Oldtimer. The ploys that Rcalf pulls are useless and only serve to entertain the real power players of the beef industry.

Spout your country vs. country b.s. somewhere else. If you had any guts you would be attempting to market your beef yourself instead of hiding behind the USDA one minute, and calling them down the next.

[WoolyBear]

Good golly gee aready...... Doesn't anyone that supports R-calf not recognize the similarity to Mob protection/extortion? R-calf is basically telling all the American cattle producers that the neighbors (Canadians) are thugs, and that to protect their interests, you pay their goon/lawyers/Bullards a small fee and you keep your neighborhood/markets safe from the bullies to the north.

Who's trying to muscle who? Think about it Oldtimer....... its not the Canadians that want to hurt the American producer, its all the "special interest groups" that R-calf has allied/aligned themselves with.

[Joe-2]

Ya OK Oldtimer, whatever you want to believe. Montana State University says that the "riding on shirt tails"(COMPETITION) amounted to $4.02 per head. That's less than what a salebarn charges in commission.
Or isn't good old MSU a credible source?