U.S. finds third possible BSE case

[crossfield_beef]

Pasted from
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/07/27/cow-050727.html
It will be interesting to see the results of this BSE animal. Now that the border is open and the market returns to a North American market these events effect all of us negatively. Events like this create uncertainty. Let's hope for the best for all concerned.

Start of paste
The United States is looking into a possible third case of mad cow disease, the country's agriculture department says.


INDEPTH: Mad Cow Disease


(CP file photo)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is conducting further tests on the animal, said the department's chief veterinarian, John Clifford.

Clifford said the cow was at least 12 years old and died of complications during calving on the farm where it lived. He wouldn't give the farm's location.

"It is important to note that this animal poses no threat to the human food supply, because it did not enter the human or animal food chains," Clifford told the Associated Press.

End of Paste

[cowman]

This was entirely predictable? Common sense tells us this was going to happen? The good thing is maybe this sort of thing will restore the faith in the USDA? That they are actually wiling to admit they have a problem and not just covering up?
Maybe now R-CALF will shut up about how North American beef will kill you?
Time to get beyond the insanity of trying to blame Canada for everything and get on with the business of making sure we have a safe product to sell to the consumer?

[cowman]

For what its worth I agree with the USDA not identifying the owner or location of the animal. The Wanham cow in AB turned into a media circus which really wasn't valuable to anyone. Better to test the animal, follow protocol and where it came from does not matter.

[farmers_son]

Believe it or not, it is Wednesday today and not Friday.

The transcript of the announcement of this inconclusive test is at:

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2005/07/0280.xml

Also see: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27421013.htm

"A local veterinarian who submitted the cow's brain sample to the USDA first treated it with a preservative, making it impossible to conduct a sophisticated test known as the Western blot, Clifford said. USDA scientists can still conduct an immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, but they cannot use the Western blot test for a comparison.

In addition, the veterinarian obtained the brain sample in April but did not send it to the USDA until a few days ago, Clifford said, because he "simply forgot to send it in." The sample was also frozen, counter to USDA guidelines."

[grassfarmer]

Good to see the Americans are still looking hard for BSE cases and following all the proper protocols when they get a suspect - not!

[grassfarmer]

Kind of makes our three month delay in testing the first cow a non issue now !!

[JD4ME]

Never a dull moment sheesh,do cattle coming into canada for what ever reason now need to be hide branded USA hmmmmmmmm???

[kpb]

grassfarmer, I think that fats in the U.S. are going for around .77 and the Canadian dollar last I looked was at 80.9 (may be off a little on both). That should give a Canadian fat price equivilant of about .95 if my math is correct. Adjusted for the pre-BSE norm of, say, 8 cents basis, should still give us a fat price of .87 to .88 in Canada.

I don't know, maybe people are still skeptical about the border opening. But, also, maybe someone is now making good money buying fats on the arbitrage between here and south of the border?

kpb

[greybeard]

F-S ,they didn't have to wait till friday,as there was no room on the news for mad-cow today. Many other bigger stories to follow. Shuttle program grounding, lots of terrorist BS,record rain in India. BSE is old news. It didn't even get mentioned on the National. Maybe the media has finaly lost interest. It's even seen as over as a trade dispute.

[farmers_son]

The 6 state 5-day weighted average price for choice steers sold in
Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas was 79 cents cwt.

The dollar closed today at 81 cents. That makes it to be 97 cents Canadian for a live steer here without basis adjustments. We are looking at a basis of over $200 on a 1350 pound steer assuming our live price of 82 cents.

CME live cattle closed up today.

I do not believe the spin that the there are not enough trucks. Maybe if we were in our fall run I could see the trucks being busy but there should be trucks available now to haul cattle south.

[rkaiser]

The legal cattle theft continues!

[PureCountry]

Helluva point there JD!!
Not that we want to start throwing their own medicine down their throats or anything...do we? Tee, hee, hee.

I know we shouldn't joke about this crap, but it's sort of relieving to see we're not the only ones on the continent. And further, it will finally make the Americans realize the fact as well.

[cattleman2]

If there is so much money to be made, rkaiser and g_f, why are you not buying all the cattle you can and arbitriaging them into the USA for such a big premium. Good diversification of income for your farm, with very little downside using your math and logic.

Start talking to people that are actually exporting cattle south and you will find out what kind of a hassle it is, and what extra costs are involved. Do I think that it is a full $15/100 lbs - No, but it is certainly more than the normal 7-8.

Still goes back to the supply/demand issue that g_f doesn't believe works in the beef marketplace. Lakeside is now killing cows, therefore reducing the amount of live steers/hfrs killed, therefore increasing the amount on offer for other packers...stable pricing to what was before an open border. With Canada only export 7000 hd since the 18th that isn't even 1 days kill in Canada. How do you think that would increase the prices dramaticly? We need to be getting 15,000/week before we will see any real price increase from the locals, based on reduced numbers available.

CFIA/USDA rules are really cumbersome and time consuming until everyone gets the process down pat. going to take some time, as no-one wants to make an error now to give R-CALF or the US vet a chance to make a name for himself by sending a load back because of a document or animal error.

[grassfarmer]

Cattleman2, I think you misunderstand my post - I was pointing out that live cattle prices have not risen in Canada since the border opened. Nowhere did I mention that I expected them to be higher or that I was considering buying some and trying to make money shipping them south. I have never believed the "salvation" of the farm income crisis in Canada lay in once again exporting live fat cattle to the US. Indeed my post was me speculating that perhaps the new reality is for returns to Canadian producers to remain about the same as they have been with the rest of the money going into the hands of the shippers and US packers. Let's face it USDA, AMI and all the other interested parties south of the line that wanted to open the border were interested in making money at our expense not helping us out out of the kindness of their hearts.

I'm not sure what the "Still goes back to the supply/demand issue that g_f doesn't believe works in the beef marketplace" remark refers to.

[farmers_son]

Grassfarmer: Perhaps Cattleman2 was referring to comments I made to the effect that supply and demand are not working to fairly distribute the returns from the consumer to the producer.

And certainly when we see a $200 per head basis between the U.S. and Canada I think I am not far off the mark. I agree with Cattleman2 that the cost of jumping through the artificial non tariff barriers the U.S. has erected around BSE will not cost all of that $200.

Cattleman2 said “If there is so much money to be made, rkaiser and g_f, why are you not buying all the cattle you can and arbitriaging them into the USA for such a big premium. Good diversification of income for your farm, with very little downside using your math and logic.” I for one have stretched myself about as thin as I can just to keep the animals I have up to this point. No money left for arbitraging cattle into the USA. That game is reserved for players who got far more set aside money than I.

Although Cattleman2 questions my theory that supply and demand are not working here as they should, something is causing the basis to be $200 per head. Supposedly it is not the border being closed to live cattle any more. In an industry that reportedly lives and dies on $25 per fat calf you would think there would be more live cattle moving south. I am not in a position to speculate just what is the reason we do not see more cross border trade but I am sure the reason is interesting whatever it is.