Canadian BSE

I have not commented on the latest <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/07/05/news/state/65-mad-cow.txt">cow with <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> in Canada</a> because testing caught it and it was an older cow born before the 1997 feed ban. In a way the whole <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> thing has become a non issue to the public and with other things going on I didn't say anything.<br />n<br />nNow R-Calf has come out with it's take on the situation and I share parts of it here.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.r-calfusa.com/News%20Releases/070606-latest.htm">Latest <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> Case Shows Canadian <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> Problem Worse Than First Thought</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>The Canadian government confirmed another positive case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (<acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>) on July 4, 2006. Canada’s total reported <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> cases now number eight – one detected in a cow imported from Great Britain in 1993 and seven detected in native-born Canadian cattle.<br />n<br />n“It is clear that Canada’s <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> problem is making it more difficult for U.S. beef to get back into the markets of South Korea and Japan,” said R-CALF USA President Chuck Kiker. “We need to be able to differentiate high-quality U.S. beef from Canadian beef to gain full resumption of U.S. exports. I hope that President Bush will ask the United States Department of Agriculture (<acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>) to make this important policy change. I also ask the President to urge Canadian Prime Minister Harper to increase <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> testing and take other mitigation measures to get this problem under control,” Kiker continued.<br />n<br />nSouth Korea recently informed the U.S. that it was delaying the resumption of imports of U.S. beef because it was concerned that the U.S. was commingling Canadian beef with U.S. beef.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI've talked about the South Korea situation and Canada so I won't belabor the point here. American producers are being screwed over by the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> in favor of Canadian producers for no apparent reason other than to benefit the Meat Packers. This just again shows that to be happening.<br />n<br />nThe press release also talks about the prevalence of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> in the Canadian herd and gives numbers. The numbers get a little mind numbing after a while but it brings up the point I have wondered about for a while. Why is the prevalence of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> so much higher in Canadian cattle than American cattle? The Canadians have a lot smaller herd size yet they have more cases than the US. What is the cause of the difference? I wish somebody could answer this question for my idle curiosity but I haven't been able to find the information.<br />n<br />nI do worry about the prevalence of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> in the Canadian herd causing problems for Americans via our export market since the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> lets Canadian cattle in willy nilly to co-mingle with the American herd but there doesn't be much i can appear to do about the situation. All American consumers care about is the price of beef and letting Canadian cattle in helps hold the price of beef down for the consumer so the Government condones the whole situation. <br />n<br />nI've asked both of Montana's Senate candidates, Conrad Burns and Jon Tester, about there thoughts on Canadian cattle, Bse and our cattle export markets and both have not responded to the question at all. Typical politicians, ask a tough question and they ignore or duck the question. That tells me that they both don't care about Montana, or US, cattlemen. It doesn't leave me much option when the election comes. Typical.<br />n<br />n<strong>Common sense is judgment without reflection, shared by an entire class, an entire nation, or the entire human race. Giambattista Vico </strong>