12/19/07 Canadian cattle

Canadian cattle over thirty months of age were allowed into the United States recently. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back after this with some comments. On November 19, 2007 Canadian cattle over thirty months of age or OTM were permitted into the United States. This age group of cattle has been denied access to the U.S. since December 2003 when a cow of Canadian origin was diagnosed with BSE in the state of Washington. These older cattle have the greatest risk of contracting BSE and Canada has had many more cases of the disease than the United States. One of the fears of opening the border to these cattle was the negative effect on our older cattle prices. We sold some older cows out of the breeding herd last week and the price seemed fairly stable for this time of year when many older cows hit the market. According to the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 414 OTM live cattle crossed into the United States on November 19th. Nearly 40 per cent of those came through ports in Montana and Washington. Several factors may be holding down the number of imported OTM cattle. First, the U.S. dollar is weaker. Also, R-CALF USA has an emergency restraining order to block Canadian OTM cattle pending with a South Dakota judge that has not been ruled on as of November 28, 2007; and Montana has imposed some strict health restrictions on these cattle if they get off any conveyance in that state. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 11/28/07