Test all Canadian Beef for BSE

[15444]

Wonder if anyone else saw the coverage on The National tonight of several producers in the Peace River region that are trying to get a slaughter plant built that will do universal testing? I thought it was a very good representation of the true nature of who and what is running this industry.

The comment was made by one American that the US is very concerned and watching our situation very closely up here and will put pressure on Canadian cattle organizations to follow the US lead with respect to testing.

The producers in Alberta want to sell BSE-tested, hormone free beef to the domestic, Asian and European markets. A major issue holding them back is the CFIA's refusal to support universal testing.

[ALICIA]

Don't forget that there are also a few thousand head of cattle in Canada that are made in the USA and it would be a real blow if we tested one of theirs and it tested positive. So no wander they don"t want us to test every thing, we just may open up a bigger can of worms.

[ALICIA]

Okay cowman you're right. Let's give up on the ony thread of hope we have.
I will take your advice maybe--------never.

You still haven't told me which parts of Cam Ostercamp's article are lies rsomer.

Testing is our only hope, and government legislation is the only way to get Cargil and Lakeside to test. It may take time, but that is the one thing that everyone above the cattle producers seems to have lots of.

Election time is the only time that we could possibly get some attention from our politicians. But hey, lets give up like cowman says. Hope everybody has gas wells, and high priced land like good old cowman so that they can JUST GIVE UP.

[rsomer]

I note the references to hope. We all need something to hang our hope onto. I was hoping the border would open today. Although the day is not over it looks like I have to find some other reason for hope the border will open soon. Testing is going on right now and there is absolutely no doubt that more testing will be done in the future, how much remains to be seen.

The ongoing talks between the U.S. and Japan are going to determine just what testing gets done from here on. These talks have began and are scheduled for June and July. The international rules on BSE are being written right now not by the OIE but by these two major economic powers. Maybe they will decide on 100% testing on all animals even under 30 months, who knows. Canada is not even part of these discussions but there is absolutely no doubt that whatever the U.S. agrees to Canada will follow. We don’t have any choice.

Lots of time? I am having to rethink our commitment to keep our calves until the border opens. There are a lot of calves still on the farm and a lot of decision making is going to be made. Fortunately the grass looks like it is coming not too bad which might buy our industry some needed months.

Where I see an election issue coming out of this is not so much with BSE itself but with Canada’s role in the world and NAFTA. As a nation rich in energy reserves we should be taking our rightful place as a world power. Instead Canada seem to have no power at all. U.S. leaders go to Japan to kowtow to resume imports of U.S. beef. I cannot imagine U.S. leaders coming to Canada to ask us for anything. How did we as a nation get so impotent? Ontario alone trades more with the U.S. than Japan but you would never know it. Whichever party’s leader can inspire confidence in our nations voters that he has a vision of Canada as a nation taking its rightful place as an influential world power would very likely become the next Prime Minister of this great nation.

Cam Ostercamp just expressed his opinion in his essay, I did not see any lies. Myself, I do not see Canada pursuing its own BSE course here, we will stay harmonized with the U.S. I can see angry producers pointing out that harmonization has not done us much good up to now. But we are shipping beef to the U.S. and things would be much worse if we did not have that market. Harmonization has created a North American marketplace and ultimately that is the greatest hope for our beef industry, now and in the future. One thing we can do independently as a nation is increase our domestic packing plant capacity. But our BSE testing, our food safety protocols, grading etc. are going to stay harmonized with the U.S.

[kato]

I think a lot of the reason we have no power is that our government likes to go to a gun fight with a water pistol. You cannot negotiate with the biggest bully on the block without bringing some ammunition.

We have only one thing that the Americans don't want us to do, and thats the BSE test.

This is serious business, and our government has to be willing to play it like the Americans do. Like they wouldn't push us? They've been pushing us for a year. There are no guilty consciences down there at all over what's been happening.

And we think that if we ask nicely they will just let our beef in?

[kato]

Once again excellent points rsomer. Especially talking of our position with the US as a trding partner in general.
Maybe we just don't stand up for ourselves. Maybe the US is going to Japan because they are standing up for themselves. Maybe it will all work out in the end when everyone else decides our fate, but I guarantee that in the mean time lots of our great cattle people in Canada will be lost to the industry forever.

The open border might be the only LONG term solution to our problem, but the only SHORT term solution is to find some leverage, some way to show how bad we need things to change. Test every cow for BSE, or at the very least threaten it as a desperate resort to save some of our industry leaders(THE CANADIAN CATTLE PRODUCERS).

[jensend]

rsomer - the reason canada's trade is viewed as not as important as japan's is because most of what goes from canada to the states is being shipped home by american controlled companies. central canada is almost completely a branch plant economy as is the oil industry. the americans don't have to listen to us; they tell us. the grain sector and now the beef sector have been pretty much taken over by the americans and its going to take a new style of leadership with some balls to stand up to the americans including telling cargill and tyson test or you're nationalized. klein would have to grow nuts to do it and i don't see it happening unless there is grassroots demand and maybe not even then.

[cakadu]

There is something like 80% of our value-added processing done down in the Lethbridge area. Now, lets see who is down in that neck of the woods. Lamb Weston, Cargill, Hostess-Frito Lay, IBP (Tyson). Do any of these sound like Canadian companies? Is it any wonder we have no way to stand up to the US?

When I went to Chile, the only Canadian province that the Chileans considered aggressive enough to make it on the world market was Quebec. Quebec has a "war chest" of money that they use to prove their agriculture point - that and the UPA.

We keep giving so much, what do we get in return?

[cowman]

Rkaiser: My decision to leave the cattle business happened long before BSE. BSE forced me to stay in this business longer than I hoped. Maybe that is unreal thinking on my part...but I sure hate to sell an asset for two bits on the dollar! But eventually a person can't keep beating a dead horse and you accept the new "market reality"? And I'll let you in on a little secret...we all get old and for just about everyone there comes a time to quit. In everyones life you have to set priorities and ask yourself "What is really important?"
Now if being in cows is the number one priority in your life then that is good, but it is also good if you value other things? The idea of getting out of cows was painful for me, but necessary(I just don't have enough time). I just wish I could leave the business on a happy note instead of losing a lot of equity and labour...so yea I'm pretty bitter.

[cowman]

You missed my point cowman. "Just give up" was refering to your advice for those of us who are fighting for testing the cowherd for BSE.

I accept the fact that you are old and were ready to quit the cow biz before BSE. Personaly I am in my cow career prime at 43, and will do everything in my power to try to help the industry.
With our marketing scheme,we are probably suffering less than most, but my fight to help end this anarchy will never end as I do not beleive that Cargil and Tyson will be very good customers for my breeding stock when they are the only cattle producers left in Canada.