09/27/07 USDA's pet project II

A USDA pet project is slated to be implemented November 19, 2007. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to tell you about it Yesterday I told you the USDA will be opening the Canadian border for cattle 30 months of age or older to enter the U.S. The border has been closed since December 2003 when an imported Canadian cow tested positive for BSE and caused our international trading partners to cancel future U.S. beef imports costing the U.S. beef industry billions of dollars. Now, Chief Veterinary Officer for the USDA, Dr. John Clifford says the border will be reopened using World Organization for Animal Health guidelines and expects U.S. trading partners to follow the same guidelines. It just hasn't worked that way at all. The nations we trade with set their own guidelines and seem to care more about what products they want and a lot less about what we want to send them. Dr. Clifford also says an estimation of 650,000 head of cattle entering the U.S. when the border reopens has been downsized to 75,000head. Now that's quite a difference. It would be interesting to know how those figures changed so much. Are those figures just to help U.S. cattle producers feel better since there is a good chance the price for our hamburger cows will be significantly lowered when more cows are channeled into the market. I know comments like this will label me a protectionist, but I think of it more as survival. Other countries follow this philosophy and are called smart traders. I'm Jeff Keane.