Another case of BSE should not prevent Canadian livestock from returning to the American market this spring.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced borders will open March 7 to all ruminants including cattle, bison, sheep, goats, cervids like deer and elk and camelids like llamas and alpacas.
When the reopening was announced Dec. 29, American officials already knew about what was then a suspected BSE case in an Alberta dairy cow. They said it made no difference to the rule posted on the U.S. federal registry Jan. 4.
Read Also
Calf hormone implants can give environmental, financial wins
Hormone implants can lead to bigger calves — reducing greenhouse gas intensity, land use intensity and giving the beef farmer more profit, Manitoba-based model suggests.
Ron DeHaven, head of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said American officials are confident in Canadian measures to prevent BSE, combined with existing U.S. domestic safeguards and additional rules announced last week.
“If this animal proves to be positive, it would not alter the implementation of the U.S. rule announced yesterday (Dec. 29) that recognizes Canada as a minimal-risk region,” said DeHaven, before the the Jan. 2 confirmation that the suspected animal did have BSE.
Canadian producers view the border opening with cautious optimism.
“We had 14 hours of euphoria,” said feedlot operator Rick Paskal of Picture Butte, Alta., referring to the time between when the U.S. border reopening was announced and when the potential second Canadian BSE case was announced.
The next step is making ready for an open border.
People have 60 days to get organized said feedlot owner Jeff Ball of Brant, Alta. The challenge may be getting enough truckers to haul livestock and making sure necessary paperwork is in place.
“However many trucks show up at the border, (they) will have a hard time getting processed there because of staff shortages at the border crossings,” he said.
Nevertheless, Ball does not see the rules applied to cattle as being too onerous or expensive.
“I’d give a lot more than that to get cattle down there right now because we are losing $300-$400 a head the way things are now without competitive bidding,” he said.
Besides admitting live animals, the U.S. rule allows meat and meat byproducts from animals of all ages. Most international customers stopped ruminant meat and livestock trade 19 months ago after the first Canadian case of BSE was announced May 20, 2003.
The rule designates Canada as a minimal-risk region because of steps it implemented to control BSE. It has restricted imports from BSE-positive countries since 1990, its BSE testing program exceeds international guidelines and an effective ban on ruminant-to-ruminant feed has been in effect since 1997.
The American rule to restore more normal meat and animal trade with Canada requests the following:
- Cattle younger than 30 months must carry a CAN brand on the right hip, an individual ear tag identification tracing it back to its farm of origin and appropriate animal health paperwork. Cattle must be shipped directly to the U.S. in sealed containers to designated feedlots or slaughterhouses.
- Meat, meat byproducts and meat food products must be derived from animals where all specified risk materials, including the brain, skull, eyes, glands, spinal column, vertebral column excluding the tail and dorsal root ganglia have been removed. The small intestines and tonsils must be removed from cattle of all ages. These are the areas considered to potentially carry the infectious BSE agent.
- Tallow with less than 0.15 percent insoluble impurities and not mingled with any material of animal origin is acceptable. Gelatin is accepted providing it was derived from the bones of bovines subject to the ruminant feed ban and from which all SRMs were removed.
- Sheep and goats younger than 12 months must carry a C brand, appropriate ear tags and health certification papers. Sheep casings from animals under 12 months that were subject to the ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban are allowed. The USDA is prohibiting importation of sheep or goats that are positive for or suspected of carrying any transmissible spongiform enceph-
alopathies.
