frenchie
Well-known member
Think this is about health reasons think again.
Other species also shut out
this document web posted: Wednesday May 18, 2005 20050519p76
By Michael Raine
Saskatoon newsroom
Defying advice from most scientists, 182 species of cud chewing, multiple stomached creatures other than cattle have been caught for two years in the American BSE import net.
For the agricultural species on that list the harm to their markets may be greater than that done to beef.
Chris Clark of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan said the logic that keeps Canadian cattle out of the United States is flawed "and keeping these other species out is really twisted.
"As if sheep, goats, deer and bison weren't enough, they somehow added camelids (llama and alpacas) to the list," he said.
"It was a knee-jerk reaction. But one (the Americans) haven't been willing to back down from."
Most scientists say the chance of BSE occurring naturally in a species other than cattle is remote.
In France, a single dairy goat is suspected to have contracted BSE while exotic deer in the London zoo are the only other cases known to exist outside of cattle.
Lamb and goat prices dropped 50 percent in many cases after the border closure. But prices in Western Canada have recovered significantly this spring.
Many producers chose to leave the industry in 2003 and 2004 causing the closure of a southern Saskatchewan feeding and finishing operation.
"The Canadian sheep industry, about a million animals, is too small to lobby government or a foreign power effectively on its own on something like this, so they get crushed ... the bison industry is even smaller," said Clark.
Bison were caught along with the other ruminant species.
"Bison, sheep, deer, they don't get fed animal-based protein supplements," he said.
Jim Warren of the Canadian Bison Council said the closure of the American border means bison producers are earning half the income they would be without BSE.
"We just don't have the slaughter capacity. There are three federal plants and one with (European Union) status, so we can't even get enough (younger than 30 month boneless) meat to market," he said.
The loss of the higher priced American market has hurt many bison breeders, however it has put the industry in touch with its true meat-based market values.
Today only two federally inspected plants will custom process younger than 30 month bison - Winkler, Man., and Kamloops, B.C. The plant at Fort Macleod, Alta., processes for the U.S. and the European Union, but no longer provides custom processing, preventing producers from retaining export premiums.
Murray Woodbury of the University of Saskatchewan said many in the bison industry are being realistic about the business and are finding ways to make their operations better.
"They haven't done a lot of work on their production performance and deciding what genetic phenotypes they really want for the meat industry yet. If this keeps up, that'll be next though," he said.
Woodbury said the deer industry was already hurting from the closure of the U.S. market due to chronic wasting disease.
Alpaca and llama producers are also facing ruin.
Producers in Eastern Canada say their sales were based on American acreage and pet markets in the U.S. northeast. That loss has created a 50 to 70 percent drop in prices and sales volumes.
The March 7, 2005 American rule to open the border to live slaughter cattle, goats and sheep did make provision for the importation of live deer as well as camelids.
Other species also shut out
this document web posted: Wednesday May 18, 2005 20050519p76
By Michael Raine
Saskatoon newsroom
Defying advice from most scientists, 182 species of cud chewing, multiple stomached creatures other than cattle have been caught for two years in the American BSE import net.
For the agricultural species on that list the harm to their markets may be greater than that done to beef.
Chris Clark of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan said the logic that keeps Canadian cattle out of the United States is flawed "and keeping these other species out is really twisted.
"As if sheep, goats, deer and bison weren't enough, they somehow added camelids (llama and alpacas) to the list," he said.
"It was a knee-jerk reaction. But one (the Americans) haven't been willing to back down from."
Most scientists say the chance of BSE occurring naturally in a species other than cattle is remote.
In France, a single dairy goat is suspected to have contracted BSE while exotic deer in the London zoo are the only other cases known to exist outside of cattle.
Lamb and goat prices dropped 50 percent in many cases after the border closure. But prices in Western Canada have recovered significantly this spring.
Many producers chose to leave the industry in 2003 and 2004 causing the closure of a southern Saskatchewan feeding and finishing operation.
"The Canadian sheep industry, about a million animals, is too small to lobby government or a foreign power effectively on its own on something like this, so they get crushed ... the bison industry is even smaller," said Clark.
Bison were caught along with the other ruminant species.
"Bison, sheep, deer, they don't get fed animal-based protein supplements," he said.
Jim Warren of the Canadian Bison Council said the closure of the American border means bison producers are earning half the income they would be without BSE.
"We just don't have the slaughter capacity. There are three federal plants and one with (European Union) status, so we can't even get enough (younger than 30 month boneless) meat to market," he said.
The loss of the higher priced American market has hurt many bison breeders, however it has put the industry in touch with its true meat-based market values.
Today only two federally inspected plants will custom process younger than 30 month bison - Winkler, Man., and Kamloops, B.C. The plant at Fort Macleod, Alta., processes for the U.S. and the European Union, but no longer provides custom processing, preventing producers from retaining export premiums.
Murray Woodbury of the University of Saskatchewan said many in the bison industry are being realistic about the business and are finding ways to make their operations better.
"They haven't done a lot of work on their production performance and deciding what genetic phenotypes they really want for the meat industry yet. If this keeps up, that'll be next though," he said.
Woodbury said the deer industry was already hurting from the closure of the U.S. market due to chronic wasting disease.
Alpaca and llama producers are also facing ruin.
Producers in Eastern Canada say their sales were based on American acreage and pet markets in the U.S. northeast. That loss has created a 50 to 70 percent drop in prices and sales volumes.
The March 7, 2005 American rule to open the border to live slaughter cattle, goats and sheep did make provision for the importation of live deer as well as camelids.
