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Canada Not to Blame for Cattle Mix-Up (02/02/07 07:00)
NASHVILLE (DTN) - Canada did not violate any trade restrictions in a mix-up of cattle last November that led a livestock group to call for an investigation, a top veterinarian for USDA said Thursday.
An investigation was launched by USDA after the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association questioned why a packer refused to pay a producer for cattle with a Canadian tag, claiming the producer was not aware he had bought Canadian cattle at a sale barn.
Canadian feeder cattle are not allowed for import or sale at a stockyards. Cattle are only allowed to go to a feedlot then directly to a meatpacking plant.
The controversy flared when officials from Swift & Co. in Grand Island, Neb., told a South Dakota cattle producer some of his cattle had to be condemned and could not be sold because he had improperly co-mingled undocumented Canadian cattle in his shipment to the plant. The stockgrowers group, which opposes Canadian imports, denounced the situation.
John Clifford, chief veterinarian with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told members of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association working group for Canada-U.S. trade that Swift had actually imported the cattle and then they were improperly co-mingled with U.S. cattle in the pens at the packing plant. Clifford said USDA officials had the health certificates from Canada and the ear tags showing the animals were properly imported.
The slaughter cattle were delivered Nov. 28 to the packing plant and processed Nov. 29. That same day was when the South Dakota cattle feeder also had his cattle delivered to Swift. Earlier this week, Swift acknowledged the mistake and paid the producer for his cattle.
USDA "was satisfied those tags were from cattle legally exported from Canada to the packing plant," said John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemens' Association.
The cattle from Canada were able to be tracked because of the animal identification system in that country, Masswohl said.
Such incidences, as minor as they may seem, are a major complication for Canadian cattlemen trying to expand trade of live cattle to breeding cattle and older cull animals born after March 1, 1999. Masswohl and other officials with the Canadian Cattlemens' Association are at the NCBA convention to alleviate fears over the issue.
"We're talking about how people trade and what that means for the producers," Masswohl said. Older Canadian cattle have been banned from the U.S. since the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in that country in May 2003.
Cattle producers in northern states are worried about price impacts on the cow market and what happens if there is another positive case of BSE from a Canadian animal on U.S. soil.
"Nobody can guarantee that's not going to happen," Masswohl said. "We have assumed all along there are going to be more cases."
Still, the risk of contaminated beef in the food supply is minimal and the safeguards are strong, Masswohl said.
For more News Headlines, Commodity Quotes, Market Reports, Market Analysis, Auction Sales and more, please visit http://www.teamauctionsales.com.
NASHVILLE (DTN) - Canada did not violate any trade restrictions in a mix-up of cattle last November that led a livestock group to call for an investigation, a top veterinarian for USDA said Thursday.
An investigation was launched by USDA after the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association questioned why a packer refused to pay a producer for cattle with a Canadian tag, claiming the producer was not aware he had bought Canadian cattle at a sale barn.
Canadian feeder cattle are not allowed for import or sale at a stockyards. Cattle are only allowed to go to a feedlot then directly to a meatpacking plant.
The controversy flared when officials from Swift & Co. in Grand Island, Neb., told a South Dakota cattle producer some of his cattle had to be condemned and could not be sold because he had improperly co-mingled undocumented Canadian cattle in his shipment to the plant. The stockgrowers group, which opposes Canadian imports, denounced the situation.
John Clifford, chief veterinarian with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told members of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association working group for Canada-U.S. trade that Swift had actually imported the cattle and then they were improperly co-mingled with U.S. cattle in the pens at the packing plant. Clifford said USDA officials had the health certificates from Canada and the ear tags showing the animals were properly imported.
The slaughter cattle were delivered Nov. 28 to the packing plant and processed Nov. 29. That same day was when the South Dakota cattle feeder also had his cattle delivered to Swift. Earlier this week, Swift acknowledged the mistake and paid the producer for his cattle.
USDA "was satisfied those tags were from cattle legally exported from Canada to the packing plant," said John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemens' Association.
The cattle from Canada were able to be tracked because of the animal identification system in that country, Masswohl said.
Such incidences, as minor as they may seem, are a major complication for Canadian cattlemen trying to expand trade of live cattle to breeding cattle and older cull animals born after March 1, 1999. Masswohl and other officials with the Canadian Cattlemens' Association are at the NCBA convention to alleviate fears over the issue.
"We're talking about how people trade and what that means for the producers," Masswohl said. Older Canadian cattle have been banned from the U.S. since the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in that country in May 2003.
Cattle producers in northern states are worried about price impacts on the cow market and what happens if there is another positive case of BSE from a Canadian animal on U.S. soil.
"Nobody can guarantee that's not going to happen," Masswohl said. "We have assumed all along there are going to be more cases."
Still, the risk of contaminated beef in the food supply is minimal and the safeguards are strong, Masswohl said.
For more News Headlines, Commodity Quotes, Market Reports, Market Analysis, Auction Sales and more, please visit http://www.teamauctionsales.com.
