The Rural Voice, 2003-06, Page 51Ag News
Beef producers, industry struggle with BSE
Ontario's beef producers and all
those who depend on beef for a living
are struggling to make the best of a
bad situation since the news first
broke May 20 that a cow in Alberta
had tested positive for Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy,
otherwise known as Mad Cow
Disease.
There was some good news May
25 when the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA)
announced that the rest of the herd
where the single case was found had
tested negative for BSE.
But the the impact of the BSE
announcement was felt almost
immediately here in Ontario, said
Paul Coultes, president of the Huron
County Beef Producers.
In week -over -week pricing, the
price for fed cattle dropped 25 per
cent and cows were down 41 per
cent, he said. Trading volumes also
dropped significantly with fed steers
off 55 per cent and cows down 66 per
cent. "A lot of sales were shut down
last week."
The biggest concerns for
producers currently, said Coultes, are
cash-flow problems and the inability
to move finished cattle.
"They can manage at this point,
but there could be problems after a
couple of weeks," he said.
Provincial Agriculture Minister
and Huron -Bruce MPP Helen Johns,
who has been trying to get word from
the federal government, which is in
negotiations with the United States
regarding the lifting of the ban, sees a
ban of five to seven weeks as
"impossible" for the Canadian
industry.
"Cattlemen can hold on for two to
four weeks," she said, and the costs
will be lessened if the ban is lifted
quickly."
Both levels of government are
currently looking at disaster relief
with Federal Agriculture Minister
Lyle Van Clief assuring the industry
the relief plan will be enough. Johns
said the province is also looking at
the issue.
It is not just the producers who are
impacted, but also processors who
have laid -off several employees.
Johns said May 27 she expected that
to jump to half the workforce that
week, particularly at large plants
such as Better Beef and Bruce
Packers.
The Ontario Cattlemen's
Association (OCA) has been in talks
with Johns regarding the impact on
the industry.
Because much of the crisis is out
of the Ontario government's hands,
Johns said in her meetings with the
cattlemen's association, they have
asked her to continue to work with
the federal government and the
Canadian Cattlemen's Association
(CCA), maintaining a cohesive front
across the country.
"We have been asked not to
deviate from the central theme," she
said, but are looking at steps Ontario
can take unilaterally which will not
impact the future work with the
Alberta industry or Ontario's ability
to import or export animals.
Johns was planning to speak with
the agriculture minister from Quebec
May 27 and was also looking at the
New Brunswick situation. Both
provinces were asking for zones of
the country to be excluded from the
American ban on exports.
However, Johns is unsure how
this could work for Quebec as they
take approximately 17 per cent of
their beef from Alberta, as does
Ontario. "There are close ties
between the provinces."
The minister suggests that this
situation would not have occurred in
the same way in Ontario because the
system is set up differently.
The animals go through
surveillance at the killing plant with
questionable ones pulled aside,
slaughtered and tested at the
University of Guelph. The carcass is
held until the testing is complete so
tags are still available to identify the
history of the animal.
Testing is also completed within
10 days generally, she said, but can
be done in as little as 48 hours.
"Our system is superior. We have
spent $500,000 in new equipment at
Guelph and substantial processing is
done. There have been 1,000 tests
done and not one case of BSE has
been found."
"We have to keep the consumers
on our side, knowing the food is
safe," she said. "There will be long-
term ramifications if they go off-
side."
Johns has also been in contact
with Van Clief with respect to the
rendering and dead stock industry
which impacts the Huron -Bruce
riding in an effort to keep the
businesses open. The industry has
been hit hard because it has
traditionally used animals not fit for
human consumption as well as
unusable bones and scraps from the
packing plants. The cow in question
went into the rendering system. In
Britain, it was protein from rendered
animals that is believed to have
caused spread BSE.
"The dead stock industry can take
animals, but has nowhere for them to
go where they can be paid for them,"
said Johns.
The rendering industry expects to
see a long lag time even after the ban
is removed.
The halt in the beef trade is
causing as much as an $11 million
loss to the industry each day with the
domino effect to truckers, exporters
and processors almost tripling the
impact.
"This has been devastating," said
Len Gamble of Brussels Livestock.
"There will be a few guys go out of
business."
Gamble said there were 150 to
200 cattle on the auction block for
the May 27 sale and prices ranged
from 95 cents to $1 a pound with a
high of $1.05.
"All the Ontario packers are out
here giving us support," he said as
the sale progressed.
Likewise Keady Livestock Market
expected to proceed as normal, said
Scitt Kuhl in a May 26 interview. He
was impressed that even during the
first week of the crisis that the
Quebec packer they worked with
hadn't dropped prices as much as
expected. "They're doing their best
to help."
However, numbers were down at
the Keady sale that first week as
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