Possible Case BSE - Canada

[farmers_son]

Interesting post from Willowcreek. I noted the comment “Dr. Brian Evans, Canada's chief veterinary officer, added: "Nobody likes to find BSE, but it's important we actually look for it." I take that as a very diplomatic evaluation of the U.S. testing program. Canada and the United States are not harmonized in their approach to BSE testing. Canada has their BSE Surveillance Program which is testing an incredible amount of the very highest risk animals. This particular cow was part of that program. The cow was exhibiting signs of neurological problems and a brain sample was obtained which turned out to be positive.

Does anyone believe that this same cow would have tested if she had been in the United States. Not on your life! And if she had been tested by mistake, the test would have been lost.

The U.S. is taking the approach that they hide their BSE situation and pretend it is not there. Now that is not to say that their food supply is unsafe because it is safe due to the removal of SRMS plus continuing bans on downer cows at packing plants. However Canada is taking a different approach by seriously targeting its surveillance program to the highest risk cows. Yes we are going to find some by doing that. Does that mean the incidence of BSE is higher in Canada than in the United States. No, what it means is that the United States has probably concealed about 30-40 BSE positives.

[cowman]

Willowcreek: Well I am going to wreck your day because I have never said MCOOL isn't a good thing? Personally I have never said it was bad?
The fact is so little of our Alberta product ever hits your supermarket shelves...why would it matter? And to be fair that applies to your product here?
Willowcreek: I suspect you are not that different than me? We probably have a lot more in common than we are different? We probably have kids and grandkids(in my case) who are westerners at heart? I would assume we both want what is best for our descendants?
Personally, if you close the border till hell freezes over, it won't stop my vision of where I am going, or where my desecedents are going! Fortunately my sun doesn't rise or set on the damned cattle market!... But....my soul does. It distresses me to no end how this thing has divided what should have been.... to what it has become? You and me should be allies...not enemies!
I suspect you are an honorable man? I suspect you have family values? And I suspect you and me could sit down and have a coffee or a beer and get this damned garbage worked out within an hour? I know it is not quite as simple as that, but hey I bet it could be done?

[Willowcreek]

cowman- Now you sound more like the Canadian neighbors I talk to regularly...And I agree we should be working together to free both countries from a cattle and beef industry controlled and dominated by the multinational corporations......

But as has been shown by the last several Inspector Generals Office investigations we are fighting an uphill battle against $billions of government bought influence.....This has been apparent by the fact that one or two very heavily lobbied Congressmen have been able to stop an M-COOL law that has been already signed into law- and Big Bucks from the Packers, Renderers, dairymen, and poultry industry (Tyson) have been able to stop our closing of the feedban loopholes...Sometimes its taken drastic moves to keep from going backwards.....

I said many years ago that if one Canadian rancher and one US rancher could set down with the authority and without the outside dollar influences, the Border Issues could be solved in one day over a bottle of Crown Royal....

I still would like to see a Canadian ranchers group open a repore with R-CALF- with the new leadership, I think the time is right...And its pretty much been proven that dealing with NCBA is the same as dealing with the AMI/Tyson/Cargill etal....

[rkaiser]

If the space monkeys who cannot see the harm that they are doing to the beef industry in general and the puppets who keep acting just the way that the AMI and the packer led USDA want them to - left the daily workings of Rcalf up to ANYONE else, there may be something to your statement Oldtimer.

Could you step aside Willowcreek?

Could you stop your quest to pad the pockets of mutinational packers with your retarded conversation about BSE?

Could you stop beleiving that stomping on anything Canadian will help the producers of Montana?

You may be right cowman, about sitting down to coffee with this Oldtimer and discussing grass or tractors, but his brainwashed noodle is far too lost for any conversation regarding balanced bovine producer economic advancement in Cardston AND Cutbank.

[DieselRam]

To answer the question before on how a cow born in 2000 could be infected:
It only takes 1/1000th of a gram of the infected feed to infect an animal. This small of an amount is indetectible to the human eye. It could have been lingering in some storage containers or bins and infected the cow. This could happen even if the farmer cleaned all the old feed out. To properly disinfect you would have to take apart and sanitize every part,building,and equipment that would have come into contact with the infected substance.

[cowman]

Well the science always said we'd find some more? And its not like the vets aren't out there looking! My local vet says it has become the meat and potatoes of his practice!
Now I wonder though? If we have only found one animal in all the thousands we test, how prevalent was this disease? Just about every farmer knows if he has some old crock or some cow dies, he can get $225 from the local vet?
The other question I wonder about is this? If we find one or two, how come the USA isn't finding anymore? The science say they should...but it isn't happening! Now why is that?

[cowman]

I agree the 4D cow payment has been a cash cow ( pardon the pun) for vets. They get paid to scoop the brain sample plus a good fee for mileage. I wonder how closely some of them stick to the criteria !!
I have an old gal here that weighs around 1800 pounds, she is in excellent shape and in calf, so I am going to 'run her one more year'. The neighbour was over the other day and suggested I have her VET drop by and euthanize the cow so I could collect the $225. Now this cow wouldn't qualifiy on any of the criteria, but the same vet has put quite a few cows down at the neighbours so it makes me wonder!!

[dfarms11]

Just a note on the comment that it is easy money for the vets. Actually it is more of a waste of their time. To our standards as a farmer, yes it is good money, but as a vet charges it is not near enough. Think about it how much they would charge to make a simple farm call to pull a calf or push in a prolapse. $200 . They don't get that from the govt.

[grassfarmer]

Don't they? I'd heard they got more than the $225 after counting time and mileage?

[kato]

Is the Alberta government topping you guys up? In Manitoba the vet gets $100, flat rate, no matter what the mileage is, and the producer gets $75 for the cow.