Senate to Vote on USDA Border Rule

[cowman]

Before anyone gets too excited I think we all need to take a deep breath and hold back a bit? This wasn't exactly unexpected and I suspect is just a small bump on the road, not a 12 foot pothole?
I was a little concerned that a judge could be so blatantly biased? And to make such idiot statements about Canadian beef...it sounded like he must have been attending a few R-CALF/PETA rallies?
The facts are this: Canadian beef has and is entering the USA. The only thing this so called judge did was confirm that the USA slaughter/inspection is not up to par and is defacto corrupt? Isn't that really what he has said? He has actually told Japan and Korea one thing very plainly? Don't open your borders because the US system is not safe and the US industry are liars and cheats!
Meanwhile the various US halfwits cheer loudly because they think they have slain the dragon, never realizing they are doing immense damage to their own industry? They continue to babble about "tainted meat" and "death for consumers"...while the "poisoned meat" continues to roll across the border in boxes! The simple fools.
In the end the border is going to open. Might take a bit longer is all. I hope those dumb idiots haven't ruined the consumers confidence to a point where we'll never get it back.

[whiteface]

Well said cowman!

[farmers_son]

Cowman, I agree. The real casualty is consumer confidence. The border is going to open, there is no doubt about that. Although I do think the latest actions south of the 49th parallel will give further support to increased packing plant capacity in this country.

You can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. The U.S. will not be able to fool the consumer into believing they are BSE free indefinitely. Unfortunately, the actions of R-Calf, Judge Cebull, the Senate will certainly cause a significant loss of consumer confidence when the inevitable happens and BSE is confirmed in the U.S domestic herd. And the resulting decreased demand for beef will hurt us as much as it will hurt them.

[jensend]

cowman you're right about the message cebull has given korea and japan. why don't we take advantage of it and dis-integrate the north american market by setting our own standards and hitting those markets (and europe too because they are going into a beef deficit and will continue with their environmental laws, etc)? the americans will buy our beef regardless of what we do. they need it and we are the best source they have for quality, safe beef. we'll have to compete with others as the years go by but the states will be importing beef. we could put ourselves in the position of them needing us at least as much as we need them if our politicians and industry leaders weren't so gutless.

[kato]

There's another reason to go it alone. We don't want to go down with their ship when one shows up down there. It will some day, it's only a matter of time, no matter what the dreamers in Montana may say.

They are one cow away from a total disaster, and we don't need to pay the price for their refusal to see the truth.

BSE exists. It exists in America, and no amount of wishful thinking is going to make it go away. It is very likely VERY MINIMAL, just like here, but if no one believes them about that because they've screwed up in the integrity department, that ain't going to help.

Even one cow, if no one trusts you any more can sink you. How do they go back after the fact and say that they did everything they could to determine the prevalence of BSE, when it seems they have not.

Our buddies in R-Calf have been played for patsy's by the consumer anti-meat groups they've taken on as partners. These professional activists will take those well intentioned cowboys and slap their quotes and names all over the media with stories of how American cattlemen themselves say that beef from under 30 month cattle isn't safe, and that removing SRM's and having feed bans don't guarantee safety, and that one cow in a million is an outbreak.

Sometimes the stupidity of it all just makes you shake your head in amazement.

[farmers_son]

R-Calf is doing what no one else could do, destroy the USDA brand.

Internationally known, previously world respected, the USDA brand was thought of as a guarantee of food safety and the highest quality. No one, not Canada, Australia, the EU had the resources to attack that brand image and identity.

But the USDA brand is being attacked from within. The soft underbelly of the USDA powerhouse is the very producers who benefitted from that brand identity world wide. It is amazing to see how personal greed and self serving narrow sightedness can attack the USDA goose that in many ways was laying golden eggs for U.S beef producers to harvest.

As you say, the stupidity is amazing.