US Beef Scarce

<a href="http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=70747" >Scarcity Of Smaller Cattle, High Market Prices Suppressing Beef Sales In Japan</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>U.S. beef is selling for almost as much as domestic Wagyu beef in Japan, and the "paucity" of cattle under 20 months of age has combined with high prices to suppress sales of U.S. beef in Japan, according to Phil Seng, chief executive of the U.S. Meat Export Federation.<br />n<br />n"Onerous and time-consuming" procedures at customs, which can take up to a week to clear a single shipment, are making matters worse, he added.<br />n<br />nHowever, not all the news from Japan is bad, he said, speaking to reporters in the midst of a five-city tour of the country to promote U.S. beef. One bright spot is growing suspicion in Japanese scientific circles that two cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in animals aged 21 months and 23 months may not in fact have been legitimate cases. If that is true, it would undermine Japan's demand that only beef from cattle under 20 months is safe, and open up a far larger pool of cattle in the United States for possible export.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI've always been skeptical of the younger <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> cases Japan has had. It just doesn't square right with what is known about <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym>. The thing is, even if they discount the younger <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> cases I doubt whether Japan will let in any older cattle. Any way to stymie the US seems to be Japan's modus operandi lately and I doubt they will change their ways now.<br />n<br />nI will say that the guy who bought my calves last year had the majority of them fat, around 1400 pounds, and to the packer by 16 months of age so they would be eligible to go to Japan. I'm sure he will try to do the same this year. Hopefully it works out for him.