What's a Canadian Cow? Trade Blurred Distinctions

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/national/nationalspecial2/06SEAT.html?th

 

January 6, 2004What's a Canadian Cow? Trade Blurred DistinctionsBy SARAH KERSHAW

and BERNARD SIMON

 

SEATTLE, Jan. 5 — From the moment the news filtered out that the Holstein with

the first case of mad cow disease in the United States was believed to have been

born in Canada, the nation's cattle industry, from Washington, D.C., to the far

reaches of the Northwest, was abuzz with relief.

 

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association issued a news release urging trading

partners to " reopen their borders to U.S. beef exports " in light of information

linking the diseased cow to Alberta, Canada. On the West Coast, where imports of

live Canadian cattle were heaviest until last May, when trading was halted after

Canada reported its first case of mad cow disease, farmers and industry

officials held teleconferences and meetings, hopeful that the Canada link meant

the United States could maintain its mad-cow-free status.

 

The United States' ability to maintain that status remains to be seen. But the

industry's effort to distinguish American cattle from Canadian cattle has drawn

criticism from Canadian ranchers and cattle industry officials, who say the

United States has suddenly portrayed mad cow disease as a Canadian problem.

Heavy trading of dairy, beef and breeding cattle and feed between the two

countries until eight months ago, they say, created a deeply integrated cattle

market.

 

" There is going to be heated debate on whether mad cow disease is here, " said

Jay Gordon, executive director of the Washington Dairy Federation, a trade

association in the state where the country's first case of mad cow disease, or

bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was found.

 

" If an animal is not born in the country, you can argue that you have your

B.S.E.-free status, " Mr. Gordon said. " If that does shake out and become the

case, with any luck at all, we can quickly and fairly rapidly get all the

material necessary to prove our case. "

 

Clint Peck, a senior editor at Beef Magazine, an American trade publication, was

a guest on a Canadian radio show last week and the host asked him, " How mad are

U.S. cattlemen at Canada? "

 

Mr. Peck recalled telling the host: " When it comes to the North American cattle

business, the hole isn't in your side of the boat. We're pretty much in this

ballgame together. "

 

But that is not the message the American beef and dairy industry would like to

send to consumers or to the dozens of nations that have banned American beef

imports.

 

Rick McRonald, executive director of the Canadian Livestock Genetics

Association, which represents exporters of breeding animals, said there were

300,000 to 400,000 Canadian cattle in American cattle herds.

 

And Ryan Dykstra, a dairy farmer near Moncton, New Brunswick, who sold cattle to

American farmers regularly before the trade ban, said, " Cattle have been flowing

back and forth for years. "

 

Mr. Dykstra said he was frustrated by what appeared to be an eagerness to

portray mad cow disease as a Canadian problem. " If the Americans don't like

something, they will change their laws to suit their needs, " he said.

 

In 2002, Canada sent 1.2 million live cattle to the United States, the Canadian

government said, but all imports were halted when Canada discovered its first

case of mad cow disease, in a black Angus.

 

Until the trade ban, the scene at Walker Dairy Sales in southwestern Ontario was

typical for many Canadian cattle auction yards: On the last Friday of every

month, about 100 buyers showed up to bid on cattle, but American buyers,

numbering only about a half-dozen, would leave with the most, frequently buying

a trailer-load of 35 cows each.

 

John Walker, the auction yard owner, said he could not recall a more difficult

time for Canadian dairy farmers since he began selling cows 40 years ago.

 

On the other side of the border, cow auctioneers and dairy farmers, particularly

on the West Coast, said Canadian cattle were highly desirable because of their

quality and the favorable exchange rate. So many cattle were imported into

Washington State, dairymen and auctioneers said, that farmers rarely

distinguished between cows from the two countries. " One Holstein looked like

another, " said Ronald Mariotti, owner of a livestock auction yard in Enumclaw,

Wash.

 

The news that the diseased cow in Washington was believed to have been born in

Canada came as American officials were moving toward reopening the border to

imports of Canadian cattle younger than 30 months, those considered at low risk

for mad cow disease. The Department of Agriculture, which proposed resuming the

imports, has now indicated it may reconsider.

 

The ban on exports of live cattle has not only financially pinched Canadian

farmers, but has also, some said, left them feeling abandoned by their neighbor.

 

A columnist for The Montreal Gazette, Bill Brownstein, wrote last week about

issues that have divided the United States and Canada, including the war in

Iraq, prescription drugs, the environment and wheat and lumber subsidies.

 

" And now it appears that their mad cow came from Canada, " Mr. Brownstein wrote.

" There is no respite. Or respect. We have become their whipping-boy, their

98-pound weakling. " But, he continued, " We are entirely blameless in the matter

of Michael Jackson. "

 

 

 

Sarah Kershaw reported from Seattle for this article, and Bernard Simon from

Toronto.

 

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

 

 

 

 

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