MAD COW NEWS

USDA Says Mad Cow Probe Should End in Weeks The investigation into the first U.S. case of mad cow disease expanded into Oregon on Wednesday, and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said all of the infected animal's herd mates should be located within weeks, not months. "I would say it would be a matter of weeks, not a matter of months" before all herd mates are found, Veneman said. "We're working to get this done as soon as possible." Veneman also said restoring U.S. beef exports was a "top priority" for the Bush administration. USDA officials have also been talking with Mexico, the second-largest buyer of U.S. beef. "We're hopeful that once they finish the review of their investigation," Veneman said, "that they will act to also open up the Mexican market." Veneman also told lawmakers that the USDA was talking with Canada about stricter livestock feed regulations on both sides of the border. "The FDA is considering further actions with regard to additional regulatory actions on our animal feed, but I can't at this time tell you what or when they're going to announce," she said. During more than two hours of testimony, Veneman also said the USDA was considering a mandatory national livestock identification program, rather than a voluntary one, which would help track cattle infected with ailments like mad cow disease....Knee jerk BSE response now haunts U.S.: Veneman Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman says the United States has seen the light when it comes to basing international beef trade decisions on science, not on false perceptions about mad cow disease. A lot has changed since the Americans closed their border to Canadian beef products in May after a lone Alberta animal tested positive for mad cow, she told a congressional agriculture committee Wednesday. "We reacted exactly the way other countries are now treating the U.S.," Veneman said. Since confronting their own case in December, U.S. officials are leading the charge to standardize the way countries are treated in such situations by the rest of the world, she said....US 'downer' ban hurts cattle producers -lawmakers The U.S. ban on using sick and injured cattle as human food will put a financial strain on cattle producers, farm-state lawmakers said Wednesday. Some of the lawmakers said the government should pay producers for getting their "downer" cattle tested for mad cow disease. Without an incentive, farmers, ranchers and feedlot operators might kill downer cattle rather than haul them to a rendering plant or some other site for testing, they said. During a House Agriculture Committee hearing, members praised Veneman for protecting consumer confidence in U.S. beef safety but some questioned if it was fair to ban otherwise healthy animals with a broken leg....Click here to read the complete testimony of Secretary Veneman....Japan orders wholesalers not to sell U.S. beef products The Japanese government is ordering meat wholesalers to halt the sale of any American beef products considered at risk of carrying mad cow disease. That could mean more hardship for specialty meat packers in Nebraska, like the Fremont Beef Company, which sells specialty meats like beef tongue, liver and other "secondary" meats to Japanese markets. The order affects more than 860 tons of steaks, soup stocks and other products made of bone parts and calf brains that were imported during most of 2003. The ministry also ordered supermarkets and restaurants not to sell American beef products containing cow backbones. Officials say cow backbones and their extracts could contain proteins that are linked to the brain-wasting illness....State restricts Oregon dairy in mad cow probe The state of Oregon has placed a "hold order" on a dairy near Boardman to help facilitate the U.S. Department of Agriculture's multistate investigation into mad cow disease. The order restricts the movement of animals on or off the dairy. USDA is tracing all animals potentially associated with a Canadian herd of cattle that contained a cow that tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Mabton, Wash. USDA said an animal at the Boardman dairy is part of a group of 17 heifers originally dispersed from the Canadian source herd in August 2001....Poland is first to lift US beef ban due to mad cow Poland reopened its borders to American beef products, becoming the first country to lift its ban since the U.S. mad cow case was discovered last month in a Washington state dairy cow, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Wednesday. Poland Saturday began allowing U.S. beef imports under certain guidelines, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said....U.S. expects beef nations to adopt its mad cow rules The Agriculture Department expects beef-exporting nations such Brazil and Argentina to adopt mad cow safeguards that match new U.S. rules, such as banning sick and injured cattle from use as human food, if they want to sell beef to U.S. buyers. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees meat safety, sent letters to 10 exporting nations earlier this month, saying exports would be blocked if nations did not comply with the new rules. The letter was made public on Wednesday. The letter was sent to agriculture ministry officials in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, New Zealand and Uruguay....At auction, cattle sales still brisk W.F. Baker leans against a railing inside Port City Stockyards as a crossbreed steer calf is led into the ring. He listens intently to what sounds like gibberish coming from the auctioneer's mouth and is relieved when the brisk bidding ends. "Ninety-three. That's a good price for that animal," says Mr. Baker, as the unruly calf is prodded out of the ring. (That's 93 cents a pound.) But while prices for fed cattle - those about to be slaughtered - are still lower than normal, feeder cattle - those who need several months to mature - are bringing in roughly the same amount they were prior to the mad-cow discovery. "Buyers are betting that fed cattle will be profitable in the future," says Stephen Hammack, a beef cattle specialist at Texas A&M University's research and extension center in Stephenville. "And that's significant. It shows that consumer confidence has not been greatly affected by this."....Cattlemen confer with Kulongoski Oregon's cattlemen corralled Gov. Ted Kulongoski for an hour Tuesday, urging him to support their industry at home and abroad. No one uttered the words "mad cow." But much of the conversation between the governor and nine representatives of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association circled around repercussions from the discovery of the disease last month in a Washington dairy cow....