2007 U.S. Farm Bill

[Willowcreek]

farmers-son-- Two corrections--M-COOL is not in the 2007 Farm Bill...It has already been passed into law with the 2002 Farm Bill- all it needs is to be funded and pressure on USDA to implement it, since they've drug their feet...And the lone Congressman that before blocked funding is kicking his lunch bucket down the road....LOL

And I don't believe Canada has dropped both the Anaplas/Blue tongue rules...Still playing games.....

M-COOL will be implemented...I have no doubt about it...

[cowman]

MCOOL was never about consumer safety. It is a sneaky protectionist ploy...nothing more.
In the end I do believe it will fail for this simple reason:
MCOOL only applies to the meat case, not the restaurant trade, not the maunufacturing trade or institutional trade. Yes you will keep Canadian cattle out of American packing plants! Instead the beef will come in, in a box, slaughtered and processed in Canadian packing plants!
In Canada packing capacity can actually kill all the cattle we produce now? These aren't some old mickey mouse plants, but very modern, very efficient plants!
By making MCOOL effective...the likes of R-CALF just cut their own throats! You just created a situation where Cargill(Canada) and Tyson(Canada) will eat you for breakfast! One of the dumbest things the American cattleman ever asked for!
And please don't drivel about an "expanded" MCOOL...because it just isn't going to happen! US farmers have about as much clout as Canadian farmers? NONE! The consumer is what matters. The American consumer is going to benifit from very cheap Canadian beef.

[farmers_son]

Cowman: I would agree with your assessment of MCOOL with one comment. I do not believe the American consumer will benefit from cheaper Canadian meat. The packers and further processors will keep all the profit for themselves and sell our meat into the U.S. market at the going market prices.

The message I would like to pass on to our American neighbours is the surest way to ensure high live cattle prices in the United States is to have high cattle prices in Canada.

If American producers would like to reduce or stop trade in live cattle and beef between Canada and the United States or see the trade take place on an even basis then prices of live cattle in Canada need to be higher. If our live cattle were the same price as U.S. live cattle then live cattle and beef would not flow from one country into the other. The pressure for trade in live cattle and beef comes from the fact that Canadian live cattle are cheaper, due to U.S. protectionist policies.

R-Calf, and the U.S. government create their own problems when they pursue policies that effectively create a pool of cheaper live cattle right next door in Canada. The same packing plants that buy U.S. live cattle buy Canadian live cattle and they will buy it from where it is cheapest.

It is in all cattle producers interests to see other producers in other countries receive fair prices for their cattle as to do otherwise only benefits the global corporations that buy our livestock.

[Willowcreek]

That is why I would love to see Canada get some export markets- ANY export markets beside the US...Canadian meat has lost all identity and will be tied to the US's shirttails forever if they don't fight to regain their identity...

But Canada will not get their exports back for some time unless they offer the Japanese and the other Asian markets what they want: TESTED BEEF...

But since they are stuck to the US Packers teat, neither your industry leaders or your politicians will push for that....

Rmemember the more overseas markets Canada gets- the better for the US...It isn't coming down and depressing our markets with oversupply...

[farmers_son]

Since the incidence of BSE is the same within the United States as it is in Canada I would suggest your remarks would apply to America was well as Canada.

The truth of the matter is the United States is not an export market for Canada. The United States, Mexico and Canada are part of one and the same market. Beef moves north into Canada from the U.S. at the same time as Canada sends beef south into the United States.

Both you and I are stuck to the U.S. packers teat and one would think it wise if that is the case that we find some way to get along. When U.S. producers lobby for policies that lower the price of live cattle in Canada they are directly hurting themselves. And since the U.S. market is about 8 times larger than ours I would think it hurts the U.S. more than it hurts us.

I understand that it may seem easier to lash out at producers in another country as a simpler solution to dealing with the common packer problem. However I put it to you that when the price of our cows rises that the price of your cows will be strengthened too.

[Willowcreek]

farmers_son posted Feb 4, 2007 10:32
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"Since the incidence of BSE is the same within the United States as it is in Canada I would suggest your remarks would apply to America was well as Canada."
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I don't know how you can compare 10 BSE cattle with connections to Canada in a herd 1/7th the size, 4 of which have been POST feedban with one as young as 4 years old-- with the 2 origin US cases and even come up with that statement....

The statisticians and experts say Canada's risk factor is several hundred times greater than the US's...

I guess we will find out more next month when OIE gives their indication if the US will receive "negligible" risk status...Because if Canada was to reapply for classification under the current new rules they would not be eligible for negligible for 5-6 years and because of the POST feedbans would not even be eligible for "controlled"...

[farmers_son]

The International Review Committee that looked into the United States first admitted case of BSE clearly pointed out that BSE was a North American problem, not a Canadian problem. Given the hundreds of thousands of live cattle that moved both North and South in the years prior to the discovery of BSE in North American it would be foolish to think that the incidence of BSE was any different in the U.S.A than Canada.

However the two countries approaches to testing for BSE have been pointedly different. Clearly the United States has attempted to hide BSE positives while Canada has implemented programs to directly target testing at the animals most likely to be affected. It remains to be seen which approach will gain the confidence of the consumers. For instance, the Japanese clearly do not trust the United States to be upfront, honest or trustworthy when it comes to BSE.

[grassfarmer]

Willowcreek, I won't bother pointing out again what farmer_son, and anyone in the world that is interested, is saying - that the US has concealed additional cases of BSE and is lying, you are fooling no-one.

Apart from the lies the figures you quote are clearly nonsense - who is the mathematician at R-CALF?

"10 BSE cattle with connections to Canada in a herd 1/7th the size... compared to the 2 origin US cases."

By my reckoning that is a simple calculation - on these figures Canada would have 35 times the risk of the US.

Yet you claim "The statisticians and experts say Canada's risk factor is several hundred times greater than the US's" .... more R-CALF lies and BS.

[cowman]

In case anyone doesn't realize it yet...Willowcreek is very good at spinning just about anything into an anti-Canada message? Even when he gets caught spreading rumors and lies(eg. the SD calves) he spins that into more protectionist rhetoric!
I guess after awhile most people realize he is not the most truthful person in the world and his slanted propaganda is nothing more than the R-CALF "truth"...which we all know is pure unadulterated BS!
The good news is R-CALF has shot itself in the foot so many times that very few people take it seriously!

[jensend]

i was at the bud williams livestock marketing course in calgary in january. it's an american production and there were a couple ranchers from montana there. r-calf was the butt of the jokes by the woman presenting the course. i think they've just about used all their ammunition and will smother in their own crap.