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

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Jan 18, 2004 | by Bloom, Betsy

Added Gilson: "The farmers are right, a huge burden is falling on them. We're working to come up with something to give them some assistance."

The changes ahead might be sweeping and the effects longterm, but Rischette said he is confident the beef industry will weather the BSE storm.

He raises sheep and noted that sheep farmers have dealt with a prion-related condition called scrapie since the 1700s.

"The good thing is, it shows us we probably can adapt," he said. "In the sheep form, we lived with it, and we changed."

The life of a dairy cow

A dairy calf can be born at any time during the year, though farmers who favor seasonal production tend to focus on spring births. Bull calves often are sent away for finishing as beef or veal. A heifer the term for a young female not yet bred - will be fed milk or a milk replacer for about four to five weeks, then be weaned onto a grain-based calf starter. Hay is introduced when the calf is about 2 months old, and calves can be turned out to pasture by 6 months.

Heifers are first impregnated between 14 months and 2 years, with pregnancy triggering milk production. Gestation takes about 9 1/2 months. The calf rarely remains with the cow longer than 24 hours after birth.

The cow stays in the dairy herd for as long as milk production remains consistent, producing a calf annually. Most dairy operations produce their own new stock to replace older cows. The average age of a milking dairy cow in Wisconsin is 4.

The most common reasons for culling a cow from a dairy herd is age, failure to conceive despite several breeding attempts or mastitis, a bacterial infection of the udder that can permanently impair the ability to produce milk.

Cull cows may be used for beef for the farm family or sold at auction for slaughter. Beef processors will assemble a truckload of cull cows at auction for shipment to a packing plant. Because the meat is leaner and tougher than that of cattle raised for beef, dairy cows usually ends up as ground beef or luncheon meat.

Downer cows - those unable to walk - occur occasionally in dairy herds, mostly due to injury or complications from calving rather than disease. These cows often were slaughtered for personal consumption, but some commercial meat processors also accepted downer cattle. Shortly after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was announced Dec. 23, downer animals were banned from being processed as human food and must now be sent to a rendering facility.

How did BSE start?

In the mid-1980s, farmers in Great Britain began reporting "mad cows" - cattle that staggered around drunkenly and seemed to have little coordination over their limbs.

An examination of carcasses showed the affected cattle had brains riddled with tiny holes, like a sponge. The first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was officially diagnosed there in 1986. From November 1986 to February 2001, an estimated 182,000 head of cattle from more than 35,000 herds developed BSE in Great Britain.

The cause of this fatal brain condition is an abnormal protein called a prion. Prions also cause a sheep illness called scrapie, and scientists have speculated cattle developed the disease from eating feed containing meat and bone meal from diseased sheep.