DAUPHIN, Man. – Canada’s goat industry could suffer greatly if the United States and Mexico export ban drags on, producers say.
Soon after the case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta was made public in May, Canadian goat farmers were told they could not export livestock to the U.S. and Mexico. Goats are ruminants and thus came under the ban, even though there has never been a case of the disease in Canadian goats, said Sandy Larocque, a producer and general manager of the Canadian National Goat Federation.
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“If this lasts for any length of time, the repercussions are going to be great,” she said during the Canadian Boer Goat Association national show in Dauphin on June 27.
Canada’s goat industry has been building meat exports to the U.S. in recent years. There were also opportunities to export dairy goats to Mexico as breeding stock.
Larcocque said she is getting reports of lost sales because of border closures. That includes a cancelled shipment of 250 dairy goats to Mexico.
“They didn’t want to wait for the border to open, so they bought from the States,” she said.
Monica Griffiths, media chair for the Manitoba Goat Association, is growing more anxious. She and her family operate a mixed farm with grain, cattle and goats near Elie, Man.
Because of BSE, abattoirs can’t get rid of ruminant offal. Now the Griffiths can’t get their goats slaughtered so they can’t supply their Winnipeg buyer.
