“We received a positive result on a Western blot confirmatory test conducted at the USDA laboratories in Ames , Iowa , on samples from an animal that had tested “inconclusive” on a rapid screening test performed on Friday, March 10.
“The samples were taken from a non-ambulatory animal on a farm in Alabama . A local private veterinarian euthanized and sampled the animal and sent the samples for further testing, which was conducted at one of our contract diagnostic laboratories at the University of Georgia . The animal was buried on the farm and it did not enter the animal or human food chains.
So the case of BSE was confirmed. So what's the good news, bad news here.
The good news is that this shows that our program for catching BSE is working. This particular animal wasn't even at a packing plant. It was on the farm and caught so there was no worry about the critter getting in the food chain. One other thing to think about, two cases is all we've had in a herd of around 100 million. We don't have a large problem in the US, our meat supply is safe.
The bad news is this cow was not born and raised on the farm where it was discovered she had BSE. The government will use this fact to beat us over the head with their National Animal Identification System (NAIS). DAMN.
The best quote I've seen on the whole issue comes from this story
Morgan Paisley, a livestock analyst with Alaron Trading Co., said the market held up well Monday. BSE, he said, is now "more of a known thing on both sides of the border. ... It's not like it's a brand new press release or anything."
Magagna said he isn't seeing the fear or panic that surrounded mad cow disease cases early on.
"I think it's more like, instead of panicking now, we flinch," he said.
"We flinch." That's about right, flinch and cringe inside. The battle of life goes on, let's see where we go.
Good fortune lieth within bad, and bad fortune within good. Lao-tzu
