R CALF

[Willowcreek]

farmers_son "Both the United States and Canada have strong food safety equivalency protocols in place to ensure imported food is every bit as safe as domestic production."

If FDA closes the feed ban loopholes in the next few months I will agree with that....

But do you believe Mexico has equivalent protocols? Do you think their enviromental, chemical, antibiotic and vaccine usage, and feed rules are equivalent? Their slaughterplant process and inspections? In a country that is rift with government graft and bribery- where teenage boys peddle their sister for a dollar- how much would it cost to get an inspector to let things slip?

How about Central America or South America where many of the people work for an average wage of $6 day...

Remember- once this meat enters the US and given the USDA stamp it can go to Canada unrestricted and passed off as generic beef beside the Canadian and US beef under NAFTA....

[farmers_son]

The statement regarding food safety was taken from the Food Safety and Inspection Service of United States Department of Agriculture document referred to in the link.

From the Canadian side of the border our impression is that the USDA very vigorously, even to the point of being over zealous, inspects Canadian product entering the United States. I would assume they act the same way at the Mexico border.

Unfortunately the MCOOL law lumps Canadian product with South American product which certainly does not get you very much support from this side of the border for MCOOL. If food safety is the issue it would be cheaper for the industry to tighten import protocols. However it appears that the issue is protectionism.

[farmers_son]

Willowcreek: Again my comments about costs are supported by the FSIS document.

[Willowcreek]

Farmers_son--"Willowcreek: Again my comments about costs are supported by the FSIS document."

Then you are getting only what the multinational packers have told them they can say.....

[farmers_son]

The problem with disputing information from sources as the FSIS is where do you go for information. When producers turn to organizations like R-Calf to get their information on issues like MCOOL they stand to get told only what they want to hear.

[cowman]

Haymaker: I don't know if Canadian pork is sought after by US consumers? Maybe Canadian bacon...but then I doubt it is mandatory labelling? Probably more of a marketing stratedgy?
I personally don't have a big problem with the idea of COOL, except for the extra costs? Who will pay for that? Will the packers just chalk it up on the Canadian cattle or , more likely, add the costs to both American and Canadian cattle?
You say all cattle coming from Canada to the US are branded CAN, I wonder if all cattle coming to Canada from the US are required to be branded USA? I doubt a supermarket up here could sell any, after the way you Americans have treated us...but what do you care right?
Anti-American feeling is very high here right now because of trade disputes that have devastated industries up here. R-CALFs contention that Canadians shouldn't be relying on their markets is fine...but maybe you shouldn't be relying on our oil and gas? Trade between our countries is a two way street...you can't expect to screw us on whatever you choose and not expect some retaliation? And that is just plain stupid because in the big picture nobody wins? Whether you like it or not our countries have a very close relationship and despite recent events we're going to get a lot closer! Despite you protectionists and our own little American haters up here!
If the costs of COOL make slaughter of Canadian cattle in the US unrewarding, I would think the Canadian packers would just ship processed beef south, already labelled? Remember Tyson and Cargill haven't been asleep up here...they have the capacity to kill just about every fat available! But with MCOOL in place you just eliminated a competitive market here and have set yourself up to have to compete with some pretty cheap beef!
In the end the USA will decide whether MCOOL is in their best interests? According to you the packing industry runs the whole shebang down there so I guess if that is true MCOOL won't happen? I suspect the US government doesn't really care what a bunch of ranchers think anyway...just like our wonderful government up here? They will go with the money boys.

[rkaiser]

Why do we keep talking about Canadian beef in the first place.

Canadians sell cattle to American companies, and they in turn sell beef.

It just so happens that these American companies are located on Canadian soil.

Bark all you want about COOL and BSE Oldtimer and Haymaker, your stategy is flawed. If you want to battle the packers, then by all means BATTLE THE PACKERS. But quit trying to convince anyone up here, or anywhere in the world for that matter, that you are anything but fearful of competition and protectionist in nature.

I will not argue that we need to do something about the power and control the Cargill and Tyson weild, but the border to Canada will not help the cause. In fact the fight has HELPED these two on both sides of the border.

Find another route boys. Build your own plants, or damn well help us build ours.

[HAYMAKER]

I believe the canadian cattle man needs to decide who he is gonna partner with,packers or the "US" cattle man.All this "BS" strategic alliance,farm to fork,ranch to rail,is nothing but a shell game,where packers will give you 15 cents more of a dollar that they beat your neighbor out of.All these captive supply games are damn old down here,packers dont use captive supplies to be efficent,so they can pay more for your cattle,they use them to play hard ball in the cash market,..........figure out how to partner with your neighbors to the south,take your industry back so you will have something to leave your children...............good luck

[farmers_son]

I could not agree more. Canadian producers do need to partner with the U.S. cattlemen. But at least from our side of the border R-Calf seems to be moving in the other direction and as Rkaiser points out helping the packers by doing so.

[HAYMAKER]

I could not agree more. Canadian producers do need to partner with the U.S. cattlemen. But at least from our side of the border R-Calf seems to be moving in the other direction and as Rkaiser points out helping the packers by doing so.
_______________________________________



well you can thank the "cca" for that,I asked why it was so hard to partner with the canadians and was told flat out that the "CCA"had no interest in meeting with R CALF,things may have changed by now since CCA's partner the ncba is getting weaker every day,I hope you men get some cattle mans group that will point you in the right direction,get some packer laws on the books,I know we need these packers,I also know they will rob you blind given half a chance,I think we can agree on that point...........good luck

[cswilson]

Have you ever sold cattle on the rail there Haystack-you're a wandering a bit far from your old nest at Ranchers.net-trying to find some fresh ears for your R-Calf rhetoric. Any Canadian cattleman dumb enough to fall for Leo's lies probably deserves to go broke-in my experience I've taken a way worse hooking at the salebarn than I ever did selling finished cattle on a grid.