Mad cow disease - Ag minister outlines future of beef industry at rally

By Pamela Roth
Staff Reporter

Provincial government officials gathered in High River on Saturday for a barbecue to show their support for Alberta’s battered beef industry.
Alberta Minister of Agriculture, Shirley McClellan, and Cargill Foods general manager Brian Derksen both enjoyed hamburgers compliments of Cargill and spoke to Albertans about where to go from here.
“The next issue is really culled cows and bulls,” said McClellan. “The difficulty with the cow side and the bulls is that there is no outside hold for that so we have to put that product into our system.”
During the peak of the BSE crisis, approximately 650,000 fat cattle in feed lots had to be moved out. Early last week, some farm groups suggested a mass slaughter of 620,000 animals as a solution to the already crippled beef industry.
“To suggest we are going to dig a hole and shoot these animals that have good, valuable meat in them is garbage,” said McClellan. “There will be some planning to get rid of some of the product because we can’t use all of these animals, but we are going to find a place for that.”
Instead of a mass slaughter, the Canadian Cattleman’s Association plans to process 300,000 cattle into ground beef by the end of the year.
The next issue on the agenda is how much the product is worth now that there is a partial border opening.
“The prices that we are seeing right now are pretty darn good,” said McClellan. “You have to consider the seriousness of this issue. It will take us a few months to work through it.”
The border closures of more than 30 countries has cost the Alberta cattle industry approximately $11 million per day.
Cargill Foods, which processes about a third of Canada’s beef, was one of the hardest hit in the province.
Now that the United States has announced a border opening to boneless products of animals under 30 months of age, the plant hopes to have business running almost back to normal.
“It is a limited opening, but we do have somewhat of an opening,” said Derksen. “We are very much hoping and expecting our business to start exporting next week.”
In addition, plants are now able to slaughter cattle in the same plant as cattle being exported as long as they are on separate production lines.
Last Thursday, an 18,000 kilogram shipment of Ontario veal was exported to the United States becoming the first Canadian beef to cross the border since the crisis began in May. Normally, Canada ships about $1.7 billion worth of beef products and $1.8 billion worth of live cattle to the U.S. every year.
Since the discovery of the disease in a lone Alberta cow in May, Canadians have shown an overwhelming support for the country’s beef industry — by consuming enormous amounts of its own product.
In July, Canadians consumed 62 per cent more beef than at the same time last year. August beef consumption are expected to be even higher.
“It just shows the trust the Canadian people, particularly in Alberta, have in this product,” said McClellan. “We are going to get through this. It’s a valuable industry to this province and we are not going to let it go without a fight.”
The U.S. accounts for 40 per cent of Canada’s beef trade. So far both Mexico and Russia have followed its lead, but still have a ban on live cattle.