The Rural Voice, 2004-02, Page 21wide system is likely to be
compatible with Canada's.
Also coming soon is the
geographic referencing of all
Canadian producers. This won't be a
hardship for producers, Gracey said,
but will be picked up by the CLIA
data base.
Speaking of that data base system,
Gracey said the total cost of the
program had reached $4 million.
Compare that, he said, with the
Canadian Gun Registration which
cost $1 billion — and there are more
cattle than gun owners. The name has
also been changed to Canadian
Livestock Identification Agency
because sheep and bison producers
have already joined in and hogs and
horses want to.
The current ban on meat from
cattle older than 30 months into the
U.S. is hurting many farmers because
the only method of aging cattle has
been by determining the development
of animals' teeth. Often mistakes are
made and cattle under 30 months are
being judged as being older, with
farmers receiving a fraction of what
they should because of the
unacceptability for export.
"It would be in your best interest
to record the birth dates of your
calves this spring," Gracey urged. If
calves are born on their own as part
of a group and you don't have the
date, at least record the month. CLIA
now has room in its data base for this
information and if there is a question
of date, it will record the birth at the
first of the month when the birth took
place to give the best protection to
consumers and producers.
Concern over the inadequacy of
visual testing to determine the age of
animals was also expressed by Ron
Woodisse, president of the Ontario
Cattlemen's Association. When one
questioner suggested that the fact that
producers of animals under 26
months were being paid as if the
cattle were over 30 months was
"legalized robbery" Woodisse said he
didn't know if it was legalized but it
certainly was robbery.
Woodisse said the CFIA's
identification standards were based
on those used in Britain where
different breeds of cattle are
produced that are grown on grass.
North American breeds are different
and so the development of the teeth
Charlie Gracey: record cattle
birthdates to head off future aging
trouble.
is different, causing many younger
cattle to be judged too old for export,
bringing farmers peanuts instead of a
decent price.
Woodisse said the next month to
six weeks would likely be the key to
the Canadian cattle industry. That's
the window of opportunity for a
science -based opening of the border
before the politics of the upcoming
U.S. election take over, he said.
"It's illegal for the U.S. to close
its border except on a health issue,"
he said. "Now that they have (BSE)
... they have no basis for a ban (on
Canadian imports). But that didn't
stop them on softwood lumber. This
is a trade issue, not a health issue."
Still, Woodisse felt the situation
has improved for Canadian producers
following the December 23 discovery
of a Washington State dairy cow with
BSE. On December 27 U.S
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman
announced the implementation of the
same regulations for removal of
specific risk materials such as brain
and spinal cords from carcasses
slaughtered in the U.S. that Canada
had earlier adopted. Prior to that, if
the border was to be reopened to
Canadian cattle there had been calls
for segregation of Canadian animals
in U.S. plants, but with the same
regulations in place in both countries.
that's no longer necessary, Woodisse
said. "Now they would be treating all
cattle the same so they should be able
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