December 22, 2004

US Beef Producers Mark Good Year Despite Mad Cow Scares
 

U.S. consumers continued to gobble down steaks and burgers in 2004 even in the aftermath of the country's first-ever mad cow case.

Meanwhile, Texas beef producers weathered temporary price drops at auctions and commodity markets.

Matt Brockman with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association said considering  that 2004 started out with the announcement of a mad cow case in Washington state, the year has turned well for the beef industry.

Mad cow disease attacks an animal's nervous system and humans may contract it through eating infected beef.

In Texas, the U.S.¡¯s largest beef producing state, and elsewhere, an expanded national testing program allayed consumer fears about mad cow.

A national cattle identification system to keep track of individual animals and their farms as well as the rising popularity of the Atkins and South Beach diets, have kept beef consumption high.

Jim McAdams ranches southeast of San Antonio and is president-elect of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. McAdams said while the export business fell, Americans ate more beef, making 2004 possible one of the best for producers in years.