Montana rancher Bill Murdock has 175 bred heifers grazing in southern Saskatchewan and since May 20 he has been wondering about their future.
He typically sells them at auction in Canada but now he is worried about poor prices and the inability to export.
“I’m thinking I might have to buy some land up there,” he said.
He wants the U.S. border reopened to live Canadian cattle so normal trade can resume.
Canadian animals were prohibited from entering the United States after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was confirmed in an Alberta cow May 20.
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Last week, the American government announced limited shipments of boneless beef would be allowed in from Canada under a special permit system.
“This boneless meat is just a Band-Aid. It’s going to help but Canada can’t kill all those overweight steers they’ve got,” he said in an interview from his ranch near Malta, Mont.
Live markets have improved for Montana cattle so some producers there are reluctant to see Canadian animals return. However, there are also shortages.
Murdock’s local market has sold cull cows for an extra $250-$300 US per animal and he knows cattle buyers are looking for culls to fill grinding meat demands.
“I have a friend who is looking for 200 bulls or dry cows a week and he is getting 20 or 30,” said Murdock.
Groups like R-Calf and United Stockgrowers of America want more ass-urances about the boneless beef export plan before markets expand to live animals.
“There are still quite a few questions that have been brought up,” said John Lockie from the R-Calf office in Billings, Montana. R-Calf is a lobby group that has tried to limit Canadian beef and cattle imports into the U.S. for years.
It wants verification about slaughter plant procedures and age of the slaughtered animals.
“We’re like everyone else, waiting to see what the situation is. This is so new for the United States because this is the first time the United States has reopened the border to a country with a native case of BSE,” said Lockie.
The U.S. has excluded Finland, Austria, Israel and Greece since they reported BSE cases two years ago. This announcement may prompt them to request re-entry as well.
This issue is forcing American pro-ducers to think about mandatory animal identification and stricter disease surveillance. Producers fear a BSE outbreak in the U.S. would result in exponential losses compared to what happened in Canada.
Lockie of R-Calf argues country of origin labelling, which some cattle groups were pushing for in the U.S., would have eased the reopening of the American market to some Canadian beef cuts while providing assurances to Asian buyers.
“Japan and South Korea are not completely confident in the United States’ ability to segregate,” he said.
To assuage Asian concerns, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a voluntary beef verification program for American processors to export beef.
