Beef Farmers 'Cautiously Optimistic' On U.S. Ban
CANADA - Canada's beef farmers are continuing to suffer the effects of a BSE crisis but some good news could be on the horizon, says a local director with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

CFIA Launches Feed Ban Awareness Campaign
OTTAWA - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has launched a communications campaign to raise awareness of new safeguards intended to accelerate the elimination of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, from Canadian cattle...

NFU to USDA: Don’t Expand Canadian Border
WASHINGTON – National Farmers Union submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expressing the organization’s strong opposition to the Department’s proposed rule to expand beef and cattle trade with Canada.

Minimal Risk Rule Important Step to Normalized Trade with Canada
US - USDA's proposed rule to allow additional imports from Canada “is one more step toward returning to normal cattle and beef trade between the United States and Canada,” according to comments submitted to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service...

Statement by Dehaven regarding OIE risk recommendation
US - “In October 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture submitted an application and supporting documents to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to formally request country classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk.

AAFC: $39.8 Million to Implement Enhanced Feed Ban in Alberta
EDMONTON - The Government of Canada and the Alberta government are investing nearly $40 million in Alberta's beef industry to help accelerate the elimination of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from Alberta's cattle herds. The Canada-Alberta funding...

Canada's measures recognized
OTTAWA - The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today issued the following statement in response to the preliminary recommendation from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)...

Cattle producers upset over USDA plan to open border to older Canadian beef
US - A large group of livestock producers testified at a U.S. Senate Hearing that a proposed USDA rule opening the borders to older Canadian cattle jeopardizes U.S. beef export markets and dumps more cases of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) on...

Nine Canadian farms quarantined
CANADA - Nine Saskatchewan farms have been quarantined after receiving shipments of tainted feed from a Saskatoon feed mill, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Sunday.

Cattle Producers seek to Extend Comment Period on Canadian Cattle Imports
BILLINGS, MONT. - R-CALF USA sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to formally request that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extend the public comment period regarding the agency’s proposal to allow imports of Canadian cattle over...

IE panel recommends favorable change to BSE rating
US - A panel for the World Organization for Animal Health has recommended to its 167 member countries that the U.S. and Canada be given a favorable rating on "mad cow" disease safety, a designation both countries want to spur beef and cattle trade, according...

Region's sole lab that tests for mad cow will shut soon
US - The government is scaling back its testing and tracking programs nationwide, saying the costs aren't warranted.

South Dakota vs. USDA and Canada over live cattle
US - A U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan held a field hearing in North Dakota Wednesday on USDA’s proposed over-thirty-month rule, also known as USDA's minimal risk rule II, which would allow any Canadian cattle born...

Mad-cow scrutiny is scaled way back
US - While Washington ranchers are raising a fuss over Canadian cattle and the danger of mad-cow disease, the region's only mad-cow testing lab is quietly preparing to close March 1.

Canadian cattle slip past USDA safeguards
US - Hundreds of cattle from Canada, which this month confirmed its ninth case of mad cow disease, have entered the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags, according to documents obtained by cattlemen in Washington...

Canada mad cow case delays Mexico import plans
CANADA - Mexico has postponed plans to reopen its borders to dairy cattle imports from Canada after a case of mad cow disease was found in an Alberta bull last week.

Groeneveld expects BSE case to impact U.S. border decision
US - Alberta Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld said the discovery of the ninth case of BSE in the province is unfortunate considering the U.S. has begun the process of normalizing cattle trade with Canada.

Scientists work on identifying variation in bovine prion gene
US - Do genes affect bovine spongiform encephalopathy - also known as BSE or “mad cow” disease? Are some cattle more susceptible than others?

USDA says Canadian mad cow case won't impact trade
US - The day after Canada detected its ninth case of mad cow disease, the United States on Thursday said beef trade with its northern neighbor would remain unaffected and promised to press ahead with a draft rule to allow older Canadian cattle into the...

Food inspection watchdog confirms mad cow disease in mature Alberta bull
CANADA - Canada has confirmed its ninth case of mad cow disease since 2003, in an Alberta bull.