A couple of interesting points.
American Meat Institute president J. Patrick Boyle said the industry will be able to resume cattle shipments quickly.
"Feeders in Canada and packers in the United States, working with our respective governments, had planned to begin importing those live cattle effective March 7," Boyle said. "A lot of the preliminary work is already done. I think you'll see the industry move quickly."
But here we see;
Edwards said he expected the "bull racks (trucks) to race south across the Canadian border directly. I'd look real carefully north before I crossed the highway."
Alberta cattleman Darcy Davis discounted Edwards' scenario.
It will be a week or two before any cattle move south, said Davis, the vice chairman of the Alberta Beef Producers.
Davis said there would be "no wall of cattle" coming across the border all at once.
"We have packing plants up here, there is feed available and the price is up," he said. "Our trucking industry has been decimated (by the border closure two years ago) so we have no excess trucking."
So will they or won't they be bringing cattle across? The meat packers say they are going to flow across quickly but Canadian cattle producers say they won't. Who to believe?
If there are packing plants in Canada, plenty of feed, and no excess trucking, why was it so important to Canada to get the border open? Leave it closed and their own packing plant benefits. Open it and the cattle flow across so the magical USDA seal of approval gets stamped on the meat.
Donald, president of the MSGA, said the state organization and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association had presented Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns a list of 11 conditions they wanted met before the border was opened.
Donald said the condition "most unreachable" was keeping the USDA grading stamp off imported cattle.
Consumers wrongly see the USDA stamp as a sign of US beef. Nothing will change now, the big meat packers win and everybody else loses.
"This is a sad day for the cow/calf producers," he said. "USDA made a political decision then worked backward to craft the science."
I feel disappointed, but I don't remember just what I expected. Mason Cooley
So I sarcastically ask the question "If there are packing plants in Canada, plenty of feed, and no excess trucking, why was it so important to Canada to get the border open?"