National & World Ag News Headlines NMPF Urges USDA to Close Canadian Border to Cattle USAgNet - 08/01/2008 A new internal report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture which faults the agency's ability to track imported Canadian cattle is ample evidence that the agency should reconsider its decision last year to open the border to those livestock, according to the National Milk Producers Federation. In a letter sent Thursday to Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, NMPF President and CEO Jerry Kozak noted that the USDA's Office of Inspector General, in a report finished last March but now publicly available, "suggests USDA has problems tracking and ensuring the health of cattle imported from Canada." "NMPF believes that the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease) situation in Canada is such that an animal could be imported into the U.S. and, if allowed to reside amongst the U.S. dairy herd, introduce or disseminate BSE in the U.S. This is evident by the number of cases of BSE from animals born after the USDA determined date of effective enforcement of their feed ban," the letter states. The letter then asks the USDA to consider closing the border to animals to be used for breeding purposes, which would include dairy heifers. USDA reports that approximately 45,000 Canadian dairy animals have been sent to the U.S. since the border was reopened in November 2007. The NMPF letter noted that there have been nine Canadian cattle infected with BSE that were born after 1997, when Canada's ruminant feed ban was imposed - a measure believed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease from infected feed. Seven of those nine animals were born after March, 1999, a point in time that the USDA determined Canada achieved compliance with international standards to prevent the spread of BSE. Copyright © 2010 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.