SAN ANTONIO, Texas Ñ If not for BSE appearing in Canada in 2003 and throwing the country’s beef industry into disarray, American feeder cattle would have been allowed to enter Alberta feedlots with little fanfare.
“Our problem was under our BSE prohibition, there were no importations,” said Brian Jamieson of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
A Canadian restriction on U.S. feeder cattle because of concerns over bluetongue and anaplasmosis has been a longstanding bone of contention between the two countries and recently became an issue during efforts to reopen the U.S. border to Canadian cattle.
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Canada accepts American feeders from 39 states into Canada without costly tests for the diseases. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in the United States has been demanding that its government refuse to accept Canadian cattle younger than 30 months until Canada relaxes its bluetongue and anaplasmosis rules and extends the policy to include breeding stock.
While the CFIA recently announced changes to the policy, Jamieson said free movement of breeding stock requires a regulatory change.
In the meantime, the U.S. announced it is standing by the March 7 date for resumption of more normal cattle trade with Canada, but mature cattle and beef from cattle older than 30 months will not be allowed in.
The bluetongue situation will be reviewed later this year when final results of a three-year study at Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Lethbridge are published in June.
The study monitored the insect culicoides to see if it could survive long enough in Canadian weather to become a viable carrier of the bluetongue virus. Evidence collected during the first two years of research showed the insect was not a competent carrier, prompting the CFIA to accept broadening imports of American feeders.
“We all knew instinctively that bluetongue was not a problem,” said Rob McNabb of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
“We needed the scientific evidence that Canada couldn’t get it.”
Canadian cattle producers argue that bluetongue and anaplasmosis may be present but are manageable and should become reportable diseases on an annual basis.
The new CFIA policy opens up U.S. imports from 39 states to certified feedlots.
British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley may import cattle anytime from Hawaii and Alaska and other states between Oct. 1 and March 31. Bluetongue occasionally shows up in this warmer region of Canada.
Under the old policy, U.S. feeder cattle also had to be treated with tetracycline to eliminate anaplasmosis. The requirement was dropped after studies showed it did not work on carriers of the disease. The drug is effective in treating animals with clinical signs of the disease.
Under CFIA’s new policy, cattle must also be certified brucellosis- and tuberculosis-free. They must be identified with unique blue ear tags and the identification must correlate to the import certificates.
The cattle could conceivably be fed in Canada and exported back to the U.S. for slaughter so identification must be maintained.
