Manitoba Cow is Positive!

[Willowcreek]

Today 7/4/2006 5:25:00 PM


Cattle Alert: BSE Confirmed In Manitoba Cow

OTTAWA, July 4, 2006 - Final test results have confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a mature cross-bred beef cow from Manitoba,

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is conducting a comprehensive investigation. Officials have confirmed the animal was purchased by the owner as part of an assembled group of cattle in 1992. This means that the animal was at least 15 years of age and would have been born well before the 1997 introduction of Canada’s feed ban. As a priority, investigators are attempting to locate the birth farm, which will provide the basis needed to identify the animal’s herdmates and feed to which it may have been exposed at a young age. Given the animal’s age, investigative efforts may be constrained by few surviving animals and limited sources of information, such as detailed records. A calf born to the affected animal in 2004 is also being traced.

The safety of Canada’s food supply remains protected through the removal of specified risk material (SRM) from all cattle slaughtered for human consumption. SRM are cattle tissues that have been shown in infected cattle to contain concentrated levels of the BSE agent. This measure is internationally recognized as the most effective means to protect the safety of food from BSE. On June 26, 2006, the CFIA announced regulatory enhancements to Canada’s feed ban, which further strengthen the animal feed system.

The detection of this case demonstrates the ongoing effectiveness of Canada’s surveillance program, which targets cattle most at risk of BSE. Based on the over 155,000 animals tested since Canada’s first case in 2003, the CFIA is confident that the level of BSE in the national cattle herd is very low.

[silverback]

For all the bull____ the U.S. has run us through lately, you gotta admit they are way smarter than we are in this BSE thing.

Tell me again who in the hell would submit an ancient old cow for testing? Just shoot the bitch and put her in a ditch and cover it up. How hard is that? Is there a cash payment for testing in Manitoba? Is it worth it? You got 12? 13? calves out of her, why would you bother shipping her? I would love to know what sort of body condition these cows are in. Are they old skin and bones or do they look full and healthy?

We all know what is happening in the U.S. Why are we so stupid.

p.s. Any chance this was another dairy/beef cross? The dairy industry seems to be a source of a lot of these cows?

[mb_rancher]

This cow was a char cross cow and from what I was told is a 15 year old. In manitoba I havent heard anything about a program that pays you for testing.

[food4u]

I find it VERY interesting that there has been No positives from the large dairy herds in Ont. and Que.

[cowman]

Not real sure but I think Manitoba pays about $75 for a test downer...it should be more!
The point here is we need to test every suspect animal and NOT do the old shoot, shovel, shutup like our good neighbors to the south?
In this world you either do the right thing or you don't. The right thing is to find out the extent of this disease, eliminate it from the food chain, and safe guard our customers health? The wrong thing is to cover it up and maybe endanger the consumers health!
Doing the right thing might cost you dearly. Doing the wrong thing might make you wealthy. You choose?
I, for one, am very proud of how the CFIA has stepped up to the plate and acted in an open and honest way trying to get this thing right! I think Canadian cattle producers understand you need to do the right thing?

[silverback]

I will agree that testing as many as we can is the right thing to do.

What I am saying is that if you have a cow that looks like she has 3 hooves in the ground already, I would hope that someone would just get rid of her on the farm.

That is why I said that it would be nice to know if these cows are showing any external signs of the disease. All I have ever seen are the infamous pictures of an old holstein slipping and sliding on the wet concrete in Britain.

[Willowcreek]

Can you imagine what could have been accomplished if the Canadian government had taken all the BSE disaster funding, that mostly ended up in the Packers pockets- and the US had taken all the money they have spent negotiating with foreign countries (Japan, Korea, etc) and spent it to test all cattle for a couple years?

Actually get a true picture of the extent of the disease, while having open export markets, and truly building confidence for the consumer-- instead of the juggling they are still performing to try and get their acts together...

If both governments hadn't been so hell bent to immediately change the rules and their policies for the packers economic benefits and had followed up on what the scientific community had first suggested, both countries would be past the issue- instead of still adding piecemeal safeguards here and there to fill this and that loophole...

[jensend]

and if r-calf had concentrated on moving the american industry in that direction instead of instigating meritless legal actions against canadian beef they would have had many allies in canada. you just said exactly what has been said here for the last three years. r-calf spit in the soup at every opportunity and lost credibility in doing so.

[Willowcreek]

jensend- R-CALF did not sue Canada- R-CALF sued the USDA and asked them to prove their BSE policy changes which were made against the advice of their scientific advisors - which the courts then said were flawed changes, but then that the law does not allow anyone to question USDA's decisions...

Some of these policies and theories are now being shown to have been flawed- and are coming back to haunt them...

[jensend]

every time you post to explain how you've done nothing to harm the canadian cattle industry you lose credibility. it's a legal fund which has concentrated on keeping trade one-sided. actions speak louder than words. r-calf is on the way down. you've lost every war even though you won a couple of minor skirmishes. you have no significant success and you never will because you have no major players in dc who are on your side.

[WoolyBear]

Just had a chance to watch some TV. Tonight on Iron Chef America the secret ingredient was American Kobe Beef. BOY did it ever look good! I guess the AKB is actually a result of crossing imported Kobe Beef from Japan (pre 2002) and Black Angus.

Maybe this is where the USDA should be looking if they need to find some mad cow USA?

[mb_rancher]

cowman,

we ve had a few tested and we have yet to recieve any $$$.

[wd40]

Why test anything DDD - There is no science to the cause of BSE, it's all theroy.

[canuck]

How many times do we have to shoot ourselves in the foot.If I ever had a cow that I even remotely thought might have BSE, no one from the government would ever get the chance to test her.She would not enter the food chain,and more importantly she would not be another case added to a list that could crash our industry all over again.Did we not learn anything from the past 3 years?Ag Canada vets,politicans and other bereaucrats never lost a dime from the BSE crisis but we sure did.Albertas premier may not have sounded politically correct but I sure believe he was right.

[grassfarmer]

What's the big panic? Learn the lesson from Europe and now Canada, BSE is something consumers forget about very quickly. The last cases have created zero market disruption so we must continue to monitor and report suspect cases. Doing so will help our export trade resume because it gives us credibility. The big BSE crisis in the world have been in the UK and Japan where Governments trying to cover up the extent of the problem caused real problems. In Canada we got of lightly from BSE due to adopting the correct policies to protect human health and consumer confidence.