January 26, 2007

 

US rule would let in 610,000 older Canadian cattle yearly

 

 

A recently unveiled US plan to let Canada ship older cattle--usually too decrepit to produce milk anymore--to the US for slaughter would result in an average of about 610,000 of them crossing the border yearly, according to an estimate made by the US Department of Agriculture.

 

The US has banned such "cull cattle" since Canada reported its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in May 2003.

 

The US eased restrictions on cattle under 30 months old, which are the bulk of Canadian exports, in July 2005. The younger cattle are believed to be far less likely to be infected with BSE.

 

Older cattle are believed to a higher risk for infection with the fatal brain-wasting disease that is transmissible to humans through consumption. All of the eight BSE cases found in Canada--and the three discovered in the US--have involved cattle over 30 months old.

 

A "Key Economic Impacts" summary that USDA recently distributed to state agricultural leaders is a five-year prediction. It says the imports of Canadian cattle over 30 months old "would account for about 10 percent of US cull cattle slaughter."

 

The expected boost in Canada's exports of older cattle to the US would result in fewer shipments of younger fed and feeder cattle, according to government documents, one of which was submitted to the US Federal Register. Fed cattle are mostly 20- to 30-month old beef cattle, while feeders are young beef cattle, such as yearlings and calves that are placed into feedlots for finishing.

 

Canadian feeder cattle exports to the US would decline by 100,000 to 250,000 head yearly if the USDA is successful getting its proposed rule on older Canadian cattle approved, according to government estimate.

 

That, the USDA says, would cause an average increase in US feeder cattle prices of 0.6 percent per head over the first five years the rule is in place.

 

The impact on Canadian fed cattle exports would be smaller, the USDA said: "The decrease in steers and heifers imported (by the US) for slaughter would range from about 15,000 to 85,000 head in the years 2007 to 2011." US fed cattle prices would rise an average of 0.2 percent over five years.

 

There are some US cow-slaughter operations that specialise in processing older beef and dairy cattle. They have suffered without imports from Canada.

 

The US was importing about 250,000 head of older Canadian cattle each year before the US banned them, according to the American Meat Institute.

 

The USDA's rule proposal to ease its ban on older Canadian cattle--unveiled to the public earlier this month--also paves the way for Canada to ship beef derived from the older animals, and that would initially replace some of the fed beef now being sent to the US.