The B in BSE is for bovine, a fact that specialty livestock producers say is lost on American officials who closed their border to all ruminant exports from Canada after the disease was detected in Canada last May.
Sheep, bison and cervid producers were stunned to find their products lumped in with beef in the subsequent border closure.
One year later, the specialty livestock industry is reeling from the effects of guilt by association, with losses mounting to tens of millions of dollars. Producers say in many ways the border closure has been harder on them than it has been on the beef sector.
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The industry feels betrayed by politicians, ignored by government and overlooked by the media.
Randy Eros, chair of the Canadian Sheep Federation, said the border closure choked a $19.8 million market for live lamb exports. Traditionally, little processed meat is exported so when the U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted the ban for certain cuts of meat, it had minimal impact on the sheep industry.
“We have been without any access to our American market,” said Eros.
Producers had to find a home for that 20 percent of the lamb population, or 140,000 head, which used to be shipped to the U.S.
That hasn’t been easy. Americans like their slaughter animals in the 160-180 pound range, while finished lambs sold into ethnic markets in Montreal and Toronto are 80-110 lb. Producers had to sharply discount the price of the large animals to sell them domestically, while the increase in the supply depressed prices for smaller lambs.
“We just had some devastating prices,” Eros said. “What we were looking at out west here were half-price sales.”
Eros said nobody seems to realize that the sheep industry and other specialty livestock producers are hurting every bit as much or more than the cattle sector.
“The shadow of that beef industry is huge.”
Politicians and bureaucrats have to be continually reminded that others are suffering as a result of the border closure, he added.
“We have to keep hounding them to think sheep,” he said.
“You feel a little bit like you’re the devil on the shoulder poking them.”
Serge Buy, executive director of the Canadian Cervid Council, said his producers lost an $8.1 million market for live animal and meat exports when the border closed, but the damage didn’t stop there. The $5.9 million revenue earned annually from hunt farms has been “dramatically reduced” because U.S. hunters can no longer take their meat and trophies home.
“It’s not going to affect any American unless they have a tendency to eat their trophies when they arrive home,” Buy said.
The BSE crisis also contributed to China’s decision to close its border to elk antler velvet.
“Where does that leave the elk and deer industry? At this time, nowhere.”
Approximately 16,000 elk and deer brains have been analyzed in the past four years for chronic wasting disease, a test that would also reveal signs of BSE.
“There was never any case of BSE in elk and deer.”
Border restrictions will eventually be relaxed, but Buy worried it will happen in stages and that the specialty livestock industry will be the last stage.
“If we’re looking at another year, that’s a huge issue.”
Buy said if specialty livestock had a higher profile in government circles there would have been further progress on the border issue by now. He also blamed the media for focusing debate on the beef sector.
“The media failed us 100 percent on that, 100 percent. There was no support for any other industry.”
Many specialty livestock producers were already going through a tough spell when BSE hit. Elk and deer producers were contending with CWD and bison ranchers were just starting to feel a sense of optimism after years of depressed prices caused by overproduction and high feed costs due to a prolonged drought.
“When BSE was announced the light at the end of the tunnel was much more distant,” said Terry Kremeniuk, executive director of the Canadian Bison Association.
It took away an important market for bison meat, once again lowering prices. The U.S. was Canada’s second biggest bison customer, averaging $3.2 million in export sales in the two years before BSE was discovered.
It has been especially tough for producers who invested in a bison slaughter plant in North Dakota but can no longer deliver their animals there, said CBA president Mark Silzer.
Like his counterparts in the sheep and cervid industries, he is frustrated and disappointed that bison were included in the border ban.
“I think it was unjust,” Silzer said. “Once you’re in there, you’re fighting to get out.”
Watching U.S. bison markets heat up due to red meat diet fads and the opening of a bison restaurant chain by media mogul Ted Turner have also been frustrating. However, it has been a source of hope too.
“If we can see some relief on this border issue, I think we’re going to see some pretty good times for the bison industry.”
Eros shared that optimism because the American sheep industry has been steadily contracting over the past decade while demand for lamb meat has been growing.
“I’m quite convinced that once this border issue recovers, our prices will come back strongly.”
