Certified Ontario Beef

Beef Industry News

Aug. 14, 2007 >>COB hosts a group from Russia interested in developing high technology Beef production systems. Pictured here the Group, is at the BIO office receiving a presentation from Brian Pogue, of Beef Improvement Ontario. Brian’s presentation was an overall view of the Across Breed Comparative EPDs ( the only system in the World that has these technology ), and how these ABCs can be used to obtain the Project’s End Goal.

Brian showed the Group, the ease of understanding and how it is Breed neutral in it’s use, and indicated how accurate the ABCs are because they are generated against the actual data from Bull Test centres and herd information is Actually the Physical Contemporary Group, and not some imagined group made up for the purposes of calculation.

Greg Nolan of COB Agro Exports Ltd. made a presentation on the wholesale pricing of the carcasses, and Revenue Development. The Group, hosted by COB, is in the Toronto/Guelph area for one weeks time to develop a Beef Production System based upon Canadian technologies. BIO info all at www.biobeef.com

Brian Pogue makes a presentation to the Beef project Russian Group in the BIO office.

Sergei, Greg Nolan of COB, Hansof, Igor & Josef in the BIO office - Aug. 14, 2007

Aug. 13, 2007 >>

Greg shares some laughs with sons, Ronald & Michael & good friend “ Golfer John Krpan who develops some real estate on the side but isn’t very good at it”, or is John’s skills the other way around ?

Anyway, a nice supper in Guelph for the boys on a hot summer day in Moxies, Guelph’s newest hot restaurant in the Guelph Mall, right across Stone Rd. from the Semex World Headquarters; … hhumm, time for a lunch out of Myles !!! Rumour has it Myles has been cleaned out of Beef Embryos ( Fleckvieh, Angus, Red Angus ) from his recent trip to Colombia; so if International buyers are interested in Semex Beef Embryos, you are needing to get on a waiting list now. Please contact Myles at www.semexbeef.com

Ronnie, Golfer John Krpan ( Ronnie's godfather ) & a laughing Michael at Moxies after a hot summer day. We carried our golf clubs right into the restaurant, Ronnie got the new FT-I Sqaure Callaway, and Mikey the MOJO Jr driver and the drives are getting longer.

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Ronnie, Michael and Greg after a nice supper at Moxies.

Aug. 5, 2007 >>Genetic Import Company

COB Agro Exports Ltd. hosts Alex & Leo from from Agro Valex Moscow who own and operate a Genetic Import Company, specializing in Pork Genetics from Europe. Alex & Leo contacted the CLGA office and arranged for a visit to Toronto & Winnipeg, hoping to make contacts here in Canada for future opportunities in Pork, Beef & Dairy Genetics. A nice dinner at the Aberfoyle Mill hosted by Bev Spriel of the CLGA, Niagara Falls, Night life in Toronto, and some Dairy farm tours in Guelph highlighted the Ontario visit. They spent some very interesting days in the Province of Manitoba inspecting Pork operations and came back very impressed with all, including the Lobster at the Winnipeg Keg !!! So, we hauled them to the Keg at the Toronto airport on exit day and let them sample some more. They expressed their gratitude to all Canadians for such wonderful hospitality and to the CLGA for making the initial contacts. They will try to return for The Royal in November, from November 4 to 12, 2007. www.royalfair.org

AUG.1, 2007 >> The livestock traceability news for the second half of July are:

1. ISO standard set for food traceability

A new international standard has been set for traceability along the food chain, setting out a complete system under which processors can get certification.

2. Cattle Identification: USDA Selects K-State To Lead Benefit-Cost Analysis Of NAIS WASHINGTON, July 16, 2007--The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced the selection of Kansas State University to lead a multi-institutional benefit-cost analysis of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

3. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - draft regulation Livestock Identification; Use of Alternative Numbering Systems. We are adopting as a final rule, with several changes, an interim rule that, among other things, amended the regulations to allow for the use of additional numbering systems for purposes of animal and premises identification.

4. U.S.: Lawmakers challenge mandatory premise ID The controversy over requiring 4-H and FFA participants to have their livestock entries enrolled in a mandatory premise program continues to grow as one state senator is rallying support in opposition to the proposal.

5. European Commission demands Italy drop law on poultry labelling Italy's compulsory law requiring poultry meat and related products to carry country-of-origin labelling has been deemed illegal by the European Commission.

6. Northern Ireland: UFU To Consider New Traceability Proposals The Ulster Farmers' Union says it will urgently and carefully consider new proposals for the identification, registration and movement of cattle, put forward this week by Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development.

7. Uruguay Increasing Herd's Traceability Uruguay's Animal Identification and Registry System (SIRA) has already identified 2.1 million cattle, 17% of the country's 12 million national herd, since it was implemented on 1 September 2006.

8. MIXED VIEWS IN BRUSSELS ON BRAZIL BEEF BAN. THE Scottish and Irish farmers and representatives of the meat trade who lobbied the EU's council of farm ministers in Brussels yesterday, calling for an immediate end to all imports from Brazil, received minimal understanding of their concerns.

UPDATES/NEWS FROM:

Eric Aubin
Chief, Livestock Identification and Legislation Meat Division Canadian Food
Inspection Agency
Floor 3, Room 3020
1431 MERIVALE RD
OTTAWA ON K1A 0Y9
Telephone: (613) 221-5220; Fax: (613) 228-6618 aubine@inspection.gc.ca

July 25, 2007 >>

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has recently decided to build five dairy production bases nationwide in an effort to remove the bottleneck in the supply of milk and guard against the entry of poor-quality foreign cows.

They include dairy production bases in the skirt of metropolises, northeastern China, northern China, northwestern China, and southern China. Construction of milk source production bases has been listed among the long-term development strategy of Chinas dairy industry.

The dairy production base in the suburbs of big cities refers to Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, which are home to such big milk enterprises like Sanyuan and Guangming and has a big dairy consumer market.

The northeastern base covers Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which boast about three million cows on hand and produce 30% of the country's total milk production. These four provinces and regions have rich forage grass and feed resources, a climate fit for the
breeding of livestock and a low breeding cost. But the per-unit production is not high there, leaving a great potential to be tapped.

The northern base covers Shanxi, Hebei, Henan and Shandong, where the processing base is relative good but the breeds of cow need to be improved. It will focus on building centralized raw materials industrial production belt and exploring a new model of comprehensive utilization of resources.

The northwestern base covers Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Shaanxi and Ningxia, where a small proportion of milk becomes commodity and the breeding technology is relatively backward. It will focus on developing cattle breeding zones and dairy farms of proper size.

The southern base covers Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and Sichuan, where less than one million cattle are on hand. But it has over five million buffalos that can be improved to produce milk.

July 24, 2007 >> EU27 Retail Milk and Dairy product prices

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July 23, 2007 >> Thomas Grupp, Director, Bavaria Fleckvieh, Munich, DD

Indeed the dairy industry is facing a tremendous challenge at the moment. The milk price is going up because of a milk shortage internationally but on the other hand the industry is not willing to give an adequate share to the dairy farmers. In Canada the milk price per kg is about 54 €cents/kg. In US about 34 €cents, almost the same what farmers get here in Germany but our big dairies pay on the spot market at the moment about 42 €cents for the milk they get from their neighbour dairies. Quite interesting situation and I am sure it will last for the next 12 months.

The export of subsidized milk from the EU is zero and that’s the main reason that the milk price is going up. On the other hand in some parts of the world the demand for milk and milk products is increasing of about 5 – 10 % per year (China more than 10 %)

We already have a severe shortage of pregnant heifers in Europe as exports are skyhigh to Eastern Europe; adding more upward pressure to prices of cattle.

July 7, 2007 > McKittrick to Leave World Dairy Expo for Pastoral Job

Wisconsin Ag Connection

The general manager of World Dairy Expo in Madison is leaving his post just one month before this year's show. Tom McKittrick has submitted his resignation to WDE President Roger Ripley and the show's board. His last day will be August 31.

McKittrick has managed the internationally renowned World Dairy Expo for 19 years as it became the nation's premier dairy show. In a given year, the event will attract nearly 70,000 visitors from around the globe, along with 2,000 dairy animals and 700 commercial exhibitors.

According to The Capital Times, McKittrick will join the pastoral staff of a large non-denominational church in Cincinnati, OH, where he will work with individuals and small groups.

The WDE office also manages the Dane County Fair.

Meanwhile, the Expo's board of directors is expected to set up a search committee to find a replacement for McKittrick.

July 19 2007>>USDA Updates Testing Regulations For US Cattle Exports | Farms.com

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is amending its livestock exportation regulations to eliminate tuberculosis and brucellosis testing requirements for certain U.S. cattle prior to export. Under this final rule, APHIS is eliminating the requirement for pre-export tuberculosis and brucellosis testing of certain cattle being exported to countries that do not require such testing. These actions relieve restrictions on certain exports of U.S. cattle to Canada for which testing is no longer necessary. Canadian animal health authorities have recognized our success in eradicating brucellosis, tuberculosis and other diseases by establishing the Restricted Feeder Cattle Program, which allows certain untested feeder cattle to be imported into Canada. To participate in this program, the feeder cattle must originate from a state that has been designated by APHIS as brucellosis and tuberculosis free. In addition, should other countries importing U.S. cattle suspend or remove their testing requirements, this rule will ensure that U.S. cattle exporters receive the full benefits of no longer being required to perform pre-export tests.

Date: Fri 13 Jul 2007 From: Martin Beer [edited] <martin.beer@fli.bund.de>

New cases of BTV-8 infections in Germany
----------------------------------------
The National Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue disease at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) in Germany confirmed several new outbreaks of BTV in Germany. A total of 2 sheep and one cattle, all with clinical symptoms of bluetongue disease, had initially been tested positive for BTV in both cELISA and PCR in regional laboratories. Subsequently, the suspected cases were confirmed by the reference laboratory at the FLI, Isle of Riems.

The Ct-values of the real-time RT-PCRs using EDTA-blood as sample material were between 19 and 25, demonstrating a high viral load.
Therefore, the laboratory data are indicative of recent BTV-infections. In all cases, including the 1st outbreak of BTV reported in June 2007 (ProMED Archive Number 20070613.1928), BTV serotype 8 was confirmed by using serotype specific PCR and sequence analysis.

The diseased sheep were detected in 2 herds in North Rhine-Westphalia, located close to the 1st BTV outbreak of the year
2007 in Germany confirmed on 6 June 2007. The diseased cattle was detected in Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km [15.5 miles] from the border to North Rhine-Westphalia. All confirmed cases have been detected within the German BTV protection zone established in 2006.

Based on these 4 new BTV-8 outbreaks in different locations within the same region in 2007, it has to be concluded that BTV-8 has started to re-circulate within the ruminant population.

Dr. Bernd Hoffmann (Head, NRL Bluetongue) PD Dr. Martin Beer (Head, Institute of Diagnostic Virology) PD Dr. Franz Conraths, (Head, Institute of
Epidemiology) Prof. Dr. Thomas C. Mettenleiter (President, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Insel Riems, Germany)

--
PD Dr. Martin Beer
Head of the Institute of Diagnostic Virology FRIEDRICH-LOEFFLER-INSTITUT Boddenblick 5a
17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems
Germany
<Martin.Beer@fli.bund.de>

[ Note: This 1st-hand, authoritative notification is very much appreciated.

It will be interesting to obtain data on the breed of the affected sheep and about the species of culicoides vector involved in the renewed transmission of the virus in Germany.

It will also be useful to hear about the availability of a BTV-8 vaccine.

BT surveillance results from Belgium, France and the Netherlands are anticipated. - Mod.AS ]

No beef, no KORUS FTA, U.S. trade ambassador reiterates

By John Gregerson on 7/17/2007 for Meatingplace.com

She's said it once, and now U.S. trade ambassador Susan Schwab is saying it
again: Unless Korea fully normalizes beef trade with the United States, the U.S. government has not intention of proceeding with the proposed U.S.-South Korean free-trade pact.

"We made it clear all along - I personally made it clear, the President of the United States made it clear to the President of Korea - that unless and until they reopen their market in full to U.S. beef exports, we aren't even going to submit this FTA to Congress, because we know Congress just isn't going to act on it," Schwab told the radio station AgriTalk.

Schwab says she expects to see action from Korea by late September. "I want to see beef moving. I want more than commitments. I want it done," she said.

FDA still pondering.and pondering expanded BSE feed ban

By John Gregerson on 7/17/2007 for Meatingplace.com

It's been more than a year since FDA issued a proposal for an enhanced feed ban it says would reduce the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy by 90 percent, but the beef industry is still awaiting publication of a final rule.

"There is no estimated time frame for when a final rule will be published,"
FDA spokesman Michael Herndon told the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "The agency is working to develop and issue a final rule as expeditiously as possible."

CIDRAP posed the question to Herndon after Canada broadened its BSE safeguards last week by banning the use of all specified risk materials for the disease from all animal feed, pet foods and fertilizer, thereby reducing the risk of infection by 99.8 percent.

Although FDA's proposed rule seeks to prohibit only the more highly infective brain and spinal cord from all animal feed, the agency is reportedly considering a more restrictive ban that would more closely mirror Canada's.