BSE confirmed in Alberta bull

[crossfield_beef]

CBC has posted this following message on its website.
A mature bull from Alberta has tested positive for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, becoming Canada's ninth confirmed case since 2003. more »
Comments were supplied by CFIA representative George Luterbach.

Luterbach doesn't expect the latest case of mad cow disease to affect the proposed plan.

"We are open and transparent with the United States," he said. "We do not expect that this [latest case] will negatively impact impact any of the planned measures proposed."

Canada has close to 13.5 million cows and calves, with about 5.7 million, or 42 per cent, in Alberta. Canada's total beef exports amount to $2.2 billion annually.

One thing I can say about calving and checking cows in the middle of the night is that I can get the scoop on bad news.
While the CBC article doe not inflame the situation, nonoe of this is good.
The article does not mention how old the bull was, if it was a beef or dairy animal or the location, other than province. If the disease is feed related, I wish they would let producers know which supply outlet sold the feed and how the disease got into the feed. This would let me make some decisions to lessen the chance that this sort of thing could happen in the future.

[grassfarmer]

C-B, The information you seek is all out there if you can sift it from the BSE BS. To avoid BSE you didn't want to be feeding powder milk replacer or manufactured calf pellets to calves under 2 weeks old PRE 2003. Post 2003 these practices are not a problem that is why we have a working feed ban. On the other hand if you get a sporadic case of BSE you are just unlucky. It happens, as the late Mark Purdey tried to prove, otherwise how could the original case have occurred?

[Willowcreek]

CattleNetwork_Today 2/8/2007 3:39:00 PM


CFIA: Latest Canadian BSE Case Likely Born In 2000



WINNIPEG (Dow Jones)--The Alberta bull that was recently announced as Canada's latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was likely born in 2000, according to preliminary information provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.



"Based on some very preliminary information provided by the owner, the animal was likely born in 2000," said Dr. George Luterbach, a veterinarian with the CFIA, on Canada's ninth case of BSE.



While that would mean the animal was born three years after the implementation of Canada's feed restrictions in 1997, Luterbach noted that the country has already seen other cases of BSE in cattle born in 2000.



Luterbach said a thorough investigation was important to determine the exact age of the animal. An investigation of the other cattle born on the northern Alberta farm within a year of the animal in question will also help track down those other animals that may have been exposed to BSE.



A feed investigation will also be conducted, said Luterbach.



The CFIA's investigation could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the availability of records on the farm, said Luterbach.

[Cedar]

Wonder why we never seem to hear where the feed investigations lead them to?

[joedales]

From CFIA website

BSE CONFIRMED IN ALBERTA

OTTAWA, February 7, 2007 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a mature bull from Alberta. The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems.

Preliminary information indicates that the age of the animal falls well within the age range of previous cases detected in Canada under the national BSE surveillance program. This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of infective material, most likely during its first year of life.

An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is underway to examine what the animal was fed early in its life and to identify its herdmates at the time. All findings will be publicly released once the investigation concludes.

Under Canada's enhanced feed ban, which comes into effect on July 12, 2007, BSE should be eliminated from the national cattle herd within approximately 10 years. The CFIA expects the periodic detection of a limited number of cases to continue as the level of BSE continues to decline.

The finding of a mature animal should not impact Canada's BSE country categorization submission to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The science-based BSE risk-level determination process requires that a country is able to demonstrate a full understanding of the pathways that resulted in BSE exposure and expression, as well as the implementation of appropriate comprehensive measures to block those pathways and protect human and animal health, leading to the eradication of the disease over time.

The animal was identified at the farm level by the national surveillance program, which has detected all cases found in Canada. The program targets the highest risk cattle populations and has tested roughly 150,000 animals since 2003. The surveillance results reflect an extremely low incidence of BSE in Canada.

- 30 -

For information:
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Media relations: 613-228-6682

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Since science has determined that feeding infected milk replacer can cause BSE, I wonder how many of our BSE cases actually stem from US product, Willow?

Its an interesting question, since the US feed ban is so weak.

Rod

[cowman]

grassfarmer: I'm a little vague on this milk replacer thing? I know I heard something about it but not sure? I thought it had something to do with blood used in the product? Was any SRM type products used in milk replacer?
I think many dairies use milk replacer? It would seem we should be seeing more dairy animals affected than beef animals? Is that the case here in Alberta?

[Willowcreek]

I thought that CFIA had tracked most of these down to some feedmills mixing feed-- and some pre feedban feed that sat for years...Or is that not so?

Did CFIA ever really pinpoint it? Or release the name of the company(s) out....
You know I have always thought Canadian producers should be screaming to high heaven to get the government to release the names of these believed mill operator violators-- so if nothing else you could avoid purchasing from them...

But all of Canada seems to have a ho-hum attitude on BSE--"If we poohpooh it away long enough, eventually the US will bail us out again and put us back on the gravy train" attitude..

[cowman]

Well I think they did track it down to one company at least? I believe someone sued them and asked others to join in? I think Randy said he sent some money to be included.
I wonder why you think we pooh-pooh it? You Americans don't do anything with your feed mills? My local feedmill guy says they have to jump through hoops like you wouldn't believe! Maybe its because most of us have faith in our CFIA while you guys seem to think the USDA is owned by an evil cabal of packers? I wonder how that goes over with the Asians...to see ranchers saying their national food inspection agency are a bunch of liars and crooks? Probably really inspires a lot of confidence? Better hope the American consumer never starts listening to your ravings!

[cowman]

Well I think they did track it down to one company at least? I believe someone sued them and asked others to join in? I think Randy said he sent some money to be included.
I wonder why you think we pooh-pooh it? You Americans don't do anything with your feed mills? My local feedmill guy says they have to jump through hoops like you wouldn't believe! Maybe its because most of us have faith in our CFIA while you guys seem to think the USDA is owned by an evil cabal of packers? I wonder how that goes over with the Asians...to see ranchers saying their national food inspection agency are a bunch of liars and crooks? Probably really inspires a lot of confidence? Better hope the American consumer never starts listening to your ravings!

[grassfarmer]

Cowman there is a lot of bogus nonsense attached to this "infected feed" theory - first it has never been proven that it was the cause of BSE. One big weakness in the theory is where did the first case of BSE originate from if there wasn't any BSE contaminated feed for it to eat? If you speak to a world expert, like Dr Bob Church, it's interesting to hear him explain the most likely cxause of BSE - he says Mark Purdey was probably on the right tracks with the origin of BSE - environmental and mineral levels being the trigger. Bob also believes in sporadic cases and that vectors may play a part in it's spread. There is probably a genetic susceptability level involved with some breeds being more prone than others. However in the case of the UK it was without a doubt spread through feed once we had the initial cases. By feed I mean milk replacer and calf pellets eaten by calves in their first few days of life only. Milk replacer has a very high fat content - that fat came from rendering plants in many cases. Only during these first few hours of life before the absorbent holes in the stomach walls (that allow the passage of the large colostrum molecules) narrow down to a more mature animal size could the BSE molecules sneak in. The talk of feeding ground up bones in feedlot rations to older cattle is all nonsense - it just couldn't have spread BSE. No-one anywhere in the world has proven which company sold "infected feed" as there is no proof this has ever caused BSE. I personally doubt anyone will ever sucessfully sue a feed plant over BSE. You are right though BSE is a disease largely of dairy cattle - it was very much so in the UK and that ties in with the link to milk replacer. I know the first (of very few) cases in the Galloway breed in the UK was in a calf that was orphaned at birth and raised with dairy calves on the large estate where it was born. The ones reared on beef cows didn't catch it. The Luing breed has never reported a case. Willowcreek is spouting his usual BS pretending that this is some Canadian disease - where did USDA track the source of your cases to WK? It's pretty obvious there has been a fair level of trade in calf food between the two countries so of course they have as much, if not more BSE in your herds than we do. Hope that answers your questions Cowman, apologies if my explanation isn't overly scientific.