News Update

News Update
March 1, 2007

R-CALF Asks Johanns to Extend Comment Period on Import Rule

Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) has sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns requesting an extension of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) public comment period regarding the agency’s proposed policy to allow importation of cattle more than 30 months of age.

According to an R-CALF USA release, the organization requested the deadline be extended for 60 days, or for 30 days after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) releases the final epidemiological investigation concerning the latest Canadian case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), whichever date is later.

The current deadline for comments is March 12. R-CALF USA has posted a copy of its letter online. Click the “BSE-Litigation” link at www.r-calfusa.com for more information.

Veterinarian Assists With Livestock Tracking Program

A University of California-Davis (UC-Davis) veterinarian is helping California cattle producers learn the ropes of a new nationwide livestock tracking system that would help them avoid catastrophic losses in the event of a major animal disease outbreak.

John Maas, a Cooperative Extension veterinarian specializing in beef health and food safety at the UC-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, has been part of three groups that have presented more than 100 meetings on the new tracking system in California and throughout the United States.

The system was developed by the USDA, state agricultural agencies and livestock producers after the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in the United Kingdom. It is designed to help producers and animal health officials respond quickly to an animal disease outbreak.

When fully implemented, the voluntary system should enable officials to identify all livestock owners and ranch managers within 48 hours if a disease outbreak puts their animals at risk. Ranchers with animals at risk could take preventive measures, and those not at risk would not be unnecessarily restricted.

“The beef industry is the largest and most complicated agricultural industry in the United States, especially in the West. With about 900,000 head living in California, beef cattle are at the forefront of the animal identification (ID) process,” says Maas, who comes from a ranching background.

“Twenty-five percent of California’s beef and dairy cattle producers have registered their premises at this time, and the number is presently increasing at a pretty good clip,” he said.

In 2005, the USDA began implementing the program’s first phase, which focuses on identifying all premises where livestock and poultry are born, handled, housed, managed, marketed, processed or exhibited.

Now in the second phase of implementing the three-part system, Maas is demonstrating for beef producers the electronic ear-tagging technology for identifying individual animals.

Tracking of animal movement will be the third and final component for the program, which eventually will involve all domesticated animals, including cattle, swine, sheep, goats, horses, poultry, bison, deer, elk, llamas, alpacas and farmed fish.

— release provided by UC-Davis

Panel Recommends BSE Rating Change

A World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) panel has recommended the U.S. and Canada be given a favorable rating on BSE safety, Dow Jones reports.

According to the article, the organization is proposing both countries get a “controlled” risk rating for the handling of BSE.

Drovers reported the OIE will meet in May for its annual general session, where members will approve or disapprove rating categories being proposed for several countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.