Cattlemen calm on word of BSE disease: Cow on B.C. dairy farm identified as possible 5th case
April 15, 2006
The Gazette (Montreal)
CanWest News Service
The president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association says he's optimistic that even if another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy is confirmed in Canada, it will blow over quickly.
"I guess I'm a little apprehensive depending on how our major trading partners view it," Hugh Lynch Staunton said yesterday from his ranch near Lundbreck in southern Alberta.
"But I think they'll look at it and it'll be a ho-hum thing."
This week, a 6-year-old cow on a B.C. dairy farm was identified as possibly being this country's fifth case of the disease. The animal has been slaughtered and test results are expected tomorrow.
No portion of the animal entered the food chain.
Lynch Staunton said that Canadian producers are patiently awaiting the relaxation of rules on the entry of Canadian beef and cattle into the U.S. market.
And despite a recent court ruling against the U.S. protectionist lobby R-CALF, Canadian producers still have some more waiting to do.
"Our American friends tell us that it's moving, the secretary of agriculture wants it to move as quickly as possible, and then they tell us all this but say it's going to take longer than any of us want. I'm a little reluctant to pick dates out of a hat because I don't want people to be making marketing decisions on guesses that I make," he said.
But he added that the United States may now be able to move even more quickly with the R-CALF case pushed aside by a Montana court.
