AR-News: (Canada) Close to a year, and still stranded at the border

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Canadian live cattle exports to the U.S. remain in limbo

Effects of mad cow disease plague domestic beef industry

DANIEL GIRARD
WESTERN CANADA BUREAU

STANDARD, Alta.—As they have during the previous 21 winters, cattlemen from 
across Western Canada recently made their way to Dallas Jensen's farm here for 
the annual red and black Angus bull auction, a chance to pick up top-quality 
animals to sire prime beef cattle. 
But even with a large turnout of bidders — some in cowboy hats, others in 
baseball caps — filling two grandstands in front of the auction ring and spilling 
onto bales of hay stacked around the barn, Jensen sensed this year's sale 
would be a disappointment. 
And from the moment auctioneer Brent Carey sold the first animal — a red 
Angus tipping the scales at about 725 kilograms and fetching $3,700 — Jensen knew 
he was right. 
After 2  1/2 hours, 173 bulls and one pen door smashed from its hinges by a 
bull anxious to get out, sales totalled about $250,000, half the take from a 
year ago. 
The outcome is part of what looks like "a double whammy" in 2004, Jensen 
fears. 
Not only was there a slump in sales, but the so-called discards, animals 
deemed unworthy as breeding seed stock but valuable as part of a beef cattle herd, 
will likely fetch much less when sold due to the impact of mad cow disease.





full story:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article
_Type1&c=Article&cid=1078528210257&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040306/47c19954/attachment.html