Producers brace for changes in wake of U.S. mad cow case

La Crosse Tribune, Jan 18, 2004 by Bloom, Betsy

The shock waves created when the first case of mad cow disease surfaced in the United States last month have barely been felt at the Jim and Tim Servais dairy farm near Stoddard, Wis.

The most immediate effects - the drop in market beef prices, the decision by more than 30 countries to stop importing U.S. beef - had only minor ramifications for dairy producers like the Servaises.

Beef prices have begun to recover, Tim Servais said, although cull cows still fetch 20 4percent to 30 percent less at sale than before the Dec. 23 announcement that a cow in Washington state had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.

But the government already has changed some livestock regulations under the shadow of BSE, and the Servaises can see others on the horizon that could, profoundly alter how they manage their herd of 450 to 500 Holsteins.

The most immediate local effect was a federal ban on "downer" cattle - those too sick or injured to walk - from being processed as human food.

BSE is caused by an aberrant protein called a prion that creates holes in the brain. Because humans can contract a similar brain-wasting condition - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - if they consume certain parts of an infected animal, the ban was designed to keep questionable cattle out of the food supply.

It's understandable, the Servaises said, that sick cattle would be excluded - even before the ban, they never sent an animal that appeared ill to slaughter. Extending the restrictions to injured cattle, however, is tougher to swallow.

The Servaises haven't had a cow go down on their farm since the ban was announced Dec. 30. But winter is a tough season for cattle, Jim Servais said, and it's always a possibility one will slip and fall.

"You get a little water on the concrete, it turns to ice and they have a lot of problems," he said.

The Servaises said they don't often have downer cows, perhaps four to five a year. Most are due to injury or complications during calving. In the past, they usually called a custom meat processor to the farm, and the animal would end up as beef in the family freezer.

"The meat's fine on the animal," Jim Servais declared.

But since the ban, processors have told the Servaises they can't butcher a downer cow anymore, even if it trips and breaks a leg in front of them. Producers have to send such animals to a renderer, which pays nothing for a carcass.

"If they're sick, they shouldn't go to market," said Steve Rischette, La Crosse County agricultural agent for the UW Extension Service. "But I hate to see an otherwise good animal go to waste."

In fact, under the new rules, even a steer injured clambering down the chute at the processing plant has to be "condemned," no matter how healthy it otherwise might appear, said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

"They painted this with a very broad brush," Gilson said of the federal ban.

There is some justification for this approach, she said. The Holstein that became the first U.S. case of BSE had been sent to slaughter because of calving paralysis, and showed no outward signs of the disease.

Which points up another snag in the government ban on processing downer cattle most BSE testing up to this point was done on downer cattle. Renderers are not equipped for testing, Gilson said, or to store carcasses for days or perhaps weeks until results are returned.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is "scrambling" to get a system in place for testing at renderers or on farms, she said. "We got caught off guard on this, too," she said.

Sidney Erickson is general manager at Countryside Hides Inc. in Alma Center, Wis., which runs 15 trucks collecting carcasses throughout western Wisconsin for transport to rendering plants. He's open to on-site testing but said any federal plan better come with funding.

"I'm not making no killing (in this business); we're existing," Erickson said. "I'd have to hire at least two people to keep track of what cow comes from what farm."

Which leads to another major change in the works - a nationwide cattle identification system. Each producer would have a premises number, and animals would be assigned a set of numbers that would stay with them as they are raised, sold or slaughtered. The goal is to be able to trace an animal back to its birthplace within 48 hours.

Government and industry representatives were working even before the ban to get an animal identification plan in place within three years. But the effort has been slowed by disputes over how the system will be funded and the database maintained.

Wisconsin already had received several federal grants to develop a numbering system when BSE surfaced, Rischette said. "A good record system is going to be crucial to every farm," he said.

While not opposed, the Servaises are concerned the expense of maintaining such a system will fall on the producers. "It seems like a lot of costs get pushed onto the farmer, and the (profit) margin, is already so low," Tim Servais said.