Election year politics blamed for delay in mad cow border dispute
CANADA - American domestic politics in a presidential election year have contributed to the delay in reopening the U.S. market to Canadian beef, U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci said. Cellucci, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, blamed Democrats...

U.S. likely to re-open border to beef
CANADA - Although it's unclear whom Prime Minister Paul Martin will be dealing with at the White House, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada says he's confident the American border will re-open to Canadian beef. "There will continue to be some opposition in...

Canadians Detect Zero Cases of BSE; Testing Program Exceeds Goal for Year
CANADA - Canada has not detected a single new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the nearly 9,000 animals it has tested as part of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) enhanced surveillance program. As of Oct. 27, exactly 8,968...

Canadian slaughterhouse shares offered to ranchers
CANADA - Canadian ranchers frustrated with export markets that have remained closed since the 2003 discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta now can buy shares in a planned meatpacking plant in the Edmonton area. Source: Meatin...

BSE Update: Canada Announces New Strategy
CANADA - The Government of Canada is pleased to announce that the implementation of the national Repositioning the Livestock Industry Strategy is fully underway. The $488 million strategy was first announced on September 10th by Agriculture and Agri-Food...

Canada Exceeds 2004 BSE Testing Targets
CANADA - Canada has surpassed this year's national target for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance. As of October 27, 2004, more than 8,600 animals have been tested for the disease this year, with all results returning negative. Source:...

BSE still boils Albertans' blood
ALBERTA - About 100 ranchers, meat packers, farm experts and politicians braved the first snow of the year to chew the fat about the beef industry crisis yesterday. The all-day symposium on BSE at a hall in Innisfree, 141 km east of Edmonton, heard...

B.C. offers $6 million program to help cattle ranchers through mad cow fallout
CANADA - The B.C. government and federal governments are offering a $15 million program to pay farmers to keep their calves from market. The program is aimed at helping farmers brave the fallout of the mad cow scare. The federal government is expected...

Canadian Mad Cow ground up for stock food - Broadcaster
CANADA - The diseased cow that sparked Canada's mad cow crisis in May last year was turned into feed and may have been mistakenly fed to other cows. Canadian broadcaster CBC News reported that documents disclosed through official information requests...

BSE testing increased
ALBERTA - Alberta’s government testing laboratory reported a tenfold increase in the number of cattle submitted in a single week for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, The Calgary (Alberta) Herald reported. The University of Guelph’s FSNet electronic...

Cattle farmers across Canada fight for survival amid BSE fallout
CANADA - Don Procter can barely stomach the thought of it. Eighteen months ago, he considered himself lucky. His modest cattle operation was not making him rich, but he was doing just fine. Then, on May 20, 2003, a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy,...

Rules banning BSE-risk materials from animal feed on the way
CANADA - Rules banning the use of cow brain, eyes and backbone in all animal feed will be published in the next few weeks, the federal agriculture minister said Friday. Andy Mitchell was responding to a CBC report that highlighted how cattle can sometimes...

Time for mandatory BSE tests
CANADA - The Canadian cattle industry is playing with fire. The producers are lagging behind in meeting the target of 8,000 cattle tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) by the end of this year, a target set by the federal government less...

BSE panel to chase solutions
CANADA - Finding solutions to the mad cow crisis is the aim of a new advisory panel unveiled by the official opposition. "Conservative Members of Parliament are not prepared to stand idly by, as the Liberal government has done, while our industry suffers,"...

Canadian Cattle Industry Looks for Slaughter Capacity Increase
CANADA - Sixteen months after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) financially dented Canadian cattle producers and processors, officials are hoping an increase of domestic slaughterhouses, as well as new feed policies will assist the...

Minister Mitchell continues to work on issue of BSE
CANADA - Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Andy Mitchell is continuing to work on addressing the issue of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). August 28, Minister Mitchell met with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman in New York City. The...

Agriculture minister argues case for opening U.S. border to live cattle
CANADA - Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell came away empty-handed Saturday after arguing the case for reopening the Canada-U.S. border to live cattle exports in a meeting with his American counterpart. Mitchell travelled to New York City specifically...

Cattle income drop no surprise
CANADA - Statistics Canada numbers that show declining revenues for cattle farmers come as no surprise to those suffering from the BSE-based border closures. "I'm living proof," said Glen Thompson, a cattle feeder from Iron Springs, northeast of Lethbridge,...

Governments remain committed to resolving the BSE situation
CANADA - Developing a long-term solution for the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) situation was a key topic of discussion during a call held recently between Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Andy Mitchell and his provincial counterparts. Source:...

Agriculture groups want early action on mad cow file after federal election
CANADA - The next federal government needs to move quickly to come up with a plan to assist a beef industry still hurting from the mad cow crisis, the president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture said Wednesday. Source: CP via CNews