The feeder import program has been put on hold until Canada is able to reopen its borders to cattle and beef trade, says Alberta’s chief veterinarian.
“It is really disappointing,” Gerald Ollis told the agriculture division of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region summit in Calgary. “All the efforts and work that has been going on has been nailed with BSE.”
Feedlots have stopped buying cattle since a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy halted beef exports on May 20.
“There is no point in importing more cattle when we can’t eat what we’ve already got,” Ollis said.
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As many as 200,000 American feeder animals have entered Canada per year without a regimen of health tests since the feeder import program was initiated in October 1997, although numbers fell to 16,000 during the latest import period of October 2002 to April 2003 because of drought and poor market conditions.
A summer program had been ready to go for selected Montana steers and heifers this year, but the future of that initiative is now uncertain.
In past import periods, Alberta feedlots took the greatest number of U.S. feeder steers and heifers, with most coming from Montana. British Columbia feedlots also imported about 10,000 animals from Hawaii.
Only North Dakota and Montana were eligible to ship cattle to Canada under the summer program because their state health status was equal to Alberta. Rules were already in place, including those for tracking the steers and heifers.
