I know I am a little behind on this one but life sometimes gets in the way of things. The <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> <a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007/09/0247.xml">has approved</a> the import of Canadian cattle over 30 months of age into the US. This is, to say the least, a very controversial decision in Cattle producer circles which is why I say I should have commented on this sooner.<br />n<br />nWhy is this so controversial? It has to do with <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> and trade issues. The Internationally accepted age of cattle where you don't have to worry about <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>, is 30 months of age. As long as a critter is under 30 months of age you don't have to worry about <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> and over 30 months of age, you worry about it. This <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> rule recognizes Canada as a "minimal risk" country which is eligible to import cattle into the US over 30 months of age since they are at "minimal risk" of having <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>.<br />n<br />nThat's the basis of the controversy in producer circles. According to the <acronym title="National Cattlemans Beef Association, shills for the big meat packers">NCBA</acronym> and the meat packers, Canada is at "minimal risk" and should be allowed to import cattle and groups such as R-Calf and <acronym title="United States Cattleman's Association">USCA</acronym> think that Canada has a higher risk for <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> than "minimal" and don't want them importing cattle over 30 months of age into the country.<br />n<br />nSome more information. (I lost the rest of this the first time around so I am trying to recreate it) As I said, this whole thing has to do with <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>. It is generally accepted that <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> is spread form cow to cow via feed. Use of cattle by products in the slaughter process being fed back to other cows starts and spreads <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>. Both Canad and the US instituted a feed ban a number of years ago that does not allow cattle to be fed back to cattle to prevent the start and spread of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>, we won't go into my personal theory that there is a naturally occurring form of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>. The US has had two domestic cases of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> and Canada has had approximately 10 cases of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>. Both cases in the US were in cows that were born after the feed ban was instituted. This is not the case with some of the Canadian cases. Some of these cattle were born after the feed ban was put in place. This leads producers in the US to question the effectiveness of the Canadian feed ban and question whether Canada is actually a "minimal risk" country or not.<br />n<br />nThis is the whole situation that has led <acronym title="United States Cattleman's Association">USCA</acronym> to <a href="http://www.uscattlemen.org/TheNewsRoom/2007_News/9-14BeefTradeCanada.htm">ask the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> to change the rule</a> calling Canada a "minimal risk" country for <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> and allow them to import cattle into the US. They claim that the importation of Canadian cattle will hurt our export markets since other countries don't want Canadian cattle.<br />n<br />nSo far I have just laid out the facts. Let me give you my take on the situation. Most people in the greater world stage aren't going to understand or want to know all the facts I have laid out here. They are going to see two things that don't make sense to them. They are going to see that the US wants countries around the world to accept beef from cattle that are over 30 months of age even though they have had <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> found in the country while stopping Canada from importing cattle over 30 months of age into the US because they have had cases of <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> in Canada. This appears to be sheer hypocrisy. They aren't going to care about when the feed ban was instituted and when the cattle were born in which country. They are just going to see the hypocrisy of the US position if the <acronym title="United States Cattleman's Association">USCA</acronym> were to prevail and Canada was not allowed to ship cattle over 30 months of age into the US.<br />n<br />nAnybody that has read this site very long knows that I almost never defend the governments position on things and NEVER agree with the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> on things. This time though I am going to have to give the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> credit, I won't go so far as to defend them but give them credit. I truly believe they have done this with the thought in mind that if we want other countries to take our beef from cattle over 30 months of age, we have to bite the bullet and accept cattle from Canada and show the world that this is the right thing to do. <br />n<br />nThis is the thought I have had in mind all along with this situation and why you have never heard me ranting about this rule when it was proposed. We can try to explain away the differences in the US and Canadian <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> situation all we want, the perception of the situation is going to rule the day though. If we don't allow Canadian beef in over 30 months of age we will be seen as hypocritical when we try to get other countries to accept US beef over 30 months of age. Perception in this case trumps facts and we have to suck it up. Sorry if you don't like to hear that but that's the way it goes sometimes. We have to do things we don't like to move forward in life and this is one of those cases.<br />n<br />n<strong>The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a process of unlimited scope, as much for thinking as for perception. Walter Benjamin</strong>