What does this mean?

[cowman]

Recently read an article that had an interview with Stan Eby. He talked about how the CCA and ABP had a contingency plan in place in case the Americans shut the border to boneless beef! He talked about more set aside programs and tying cattle to a basis, but he also said that they had developed an "emergency harvest plan". Now what does that mean..."emergency harvest plan"?
Does this mean digging pits and shooting? That is about the only thing I can think it might mean? Do you think the government might ever have the guts to do something that drastic?

[farmers_son]

I am hearing talk of setting up plants to harvest cull cows. Not a traditional packing plant but a way to kill cows and get what value from hide, tallow, whatever else would have a market with some formerly saleable items disposed of in a nontraditional manner.

The problem is for this strategy to work as a viable contigency plan these plants have to be up and ready to go, not wait until a further crisis hits and then tell producers hang on for a year while we get these things going.

I don't think and I certainly hope we will never see cows dumped in a pit. That would be very negative for our industry.

[farmers_son]

I agree with you farmers_son. If we expect and want to contiue to enjoy the support the beef industry has received for the past two years, there should never be discussion of or actual a mass slaughter and burying of cattle.

[pandiana]

If we were to lose the US market for box beef, what would you expect our 'leaders' to do realistically?

I understand that the USDA vs RCalf has been expedited to May or June. Is it possible that we could lose our market as soon as this?

RCalf is still arguing that the border should be closed as Canada, a country that has had 3(4) cases of BSE (US 1(0)) has not done sufficient testing, especially around the nucleus of BSE infection in Central Alberta to establish the level of infection in our herd and to restore confidence in Canadian beef.
It makes sense that, if Canadian live cattle pose a risk of BSE to US markets as Cebull has declared, then boxed beef carries the same risk. If we lose one, I think there is a good chance that, logically, we could lose both.

According to Ted Haney, the government (CFIA) is seriously considering testing for BSE as part of this contingency.

A cow plant that was up and running would have given us an opportunity at least to market to other trade partners. Once more we are at risk of getting caught despite having a clear idea of what needed to be done.

[grassfarmer]

Hopefully it won't come to that - it would certainly be a most outrageous piece of nonsense if it did.
If this worst case scenario did arise and as you say we may need to test for BSE and have a large cow plant to get the cows slaughtered I hope all the fools in industry organisations that have opposed the BIG C initiative will have the decency to step down from their posts. Or like the crooks in Ottawa will the have to be slung out forcibly?

[cowman]

I wonder what will happen if the US does close the border to boxed beef in the next month or so? I suspect once it closes it sure won't be opening for a long time?
Will we see fat prices drop down to that 35 cent level again...or lower? Two years ago a lot of people had a few bucks in their pockets...how about today? Will the banks be understanding?
How much government support can we hope for? Martin seems to have just about blown the bank account buying up support and our own Ralph seems to be getting sick of doling out the cash!
I suspect most farmers will ride the tiger all the way down, but in the end the bank will call the shots? Might be time for some people to start thinking about what they might want to do if they have to pack it in?

[cowman]

cowman, depending on where a person is located, 'packing it in' will be a lot less painfull. EG: owning a ranch in Cochrane area vs Clear Hills County !!

[kato]

Could the foot dragging on the appeal that's going on over this 'temporary' injunction be due to the speed up of the court date? No sense appealing a temporary injunction if you can wait two weeks and appeal the final ruling.

I just hope the USDA sends better lawyers to Montana this time! I read the transcript of the trial, and wasn't very impressed with the last ones.