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Brownfield Ag Network –
Wednesday – May 23, 2007 – 12:30 p.m. CDT
Some
like the OIE ruling, some do not
by Bob Meyer
Bill Bullard is CEO of
R-CALF USA, he is not happy with the fact that Canada has the same designation
as the United States, he thinks we should have gone after the higher “Negligible
Risk” classification. “We believe the United States meets that category,” says
Bullard, “But unfortunately, the United States wants U.S. cattle producers to be
viewed as part of a North American cattle industry.” He contends the only way
that can happen is if the two countries are on the same level.
Bullard says the OIE ruling has no impact on USDA’s pending rule to open the
border to older Canadian cattle. “We have empirical evidence proving the
Canadian feed ban was ineffective in preventing the spread of the disease.” He
cites the fact that over half of the BSE-positive animals found in Canada were
born after the feed ban went into effect. “That issue is not addressed by the
international standard that merely looks at the disease risk of countries and
puts them in separate categories.”
Chris Galen with the National Milk Producers Federation doesn’t agree with that
assessment, he thinks this supports USDA’s plan to reopen the border to older
cattle. “Now they have an independent international agency saying Canada has a
controlled risk status, the same as the U.S.” So if the two countries have the
same status, “Then there’s not really a rationale to prevent the border from
opening.” Recently, National Milk asked USDA to hold-off on implementing the
proposed rule to open the border, citing concerns over the number of BSE-positive
animals found in Canada. The contention is that if the proposed rule had been in
effect, the most recent positive animal could have been exported to the U.S.
Galen says had that animal been here, it would have been a U.S. problem, not a
Canadian problem. “We still have concerns and I don’t think this OIE status
notice will alleviate those.”
The biggest question facing the dairy industry is how quickly the Canadian
replacement dairy heifer industry will rebuild once the border opens. At its
peak, Canada exported about 60,000 animals a year to this country. Rick McRonald
with the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association believes the OIE ruling
supports reopening the border and the replacement industry will rebuild but it
will take some time. “It’s going to take maybe three years, whether it comes
back totally will depend upon the marketplace.” Another factor, there was a
shortage of milk production in Ontario and Quebec so quotas were increased, that
will take some of the replacements as well.
This comes at a time when the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program has
just completed another round of the herd retirement program. Chris Galen with
National Milk says if the Canadians build back to the 60,000 animal level, he
thinks the market can absorb it but they have asked USDA to do an economic
impact analysis on the dairy industry.
http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=B9FC861F-C33F-0E3F-18F0ECBFB4D903AE
Related
Links:
R-CALF USA statement
CLGA statement on BSE risk
Rick McRonald talks about the OIE ruling 3:55 MP3
(note from Shae: Rick McRonald is CEO
for the Canadian Livestock Genetics Association)
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