First Live Cattle from Canada come in to USA today...

First Live Cattle Cross Border from Canada to U.S. - Canadian Cattlemen's Association Reacts to Historic Event
Monday July 18, 3:13 pm ET


CALGARY, July 18 /CNW/ - The Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) is very pleased that today the first live Canadian cattle crossed into the U.S. since BSE was diagnosed in Canada in May 2003.
"This is an historic day for the Canadian beef cattle industry," says Stan Eby, President of the CCA. "I want to thank Minister of Agriculture Andy Mitchell and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and their senior staff for all their efforts on this issue and for directing their agencies to quickly get the processes in place to get the cattle moving. I also commend staff of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture for the extraordinary effort they put in over the weekend working to ensure that all was in order to enable exports to quickly resume. It was only on Thursday that the preliminary injunction preventing the export of live Canadian cattle was overturned on appeal, and here we are on Monday with cattle actually moving. This is exemplary service on the part of regulators on both sides of the border."

Beef from the cattle exported today will join the 632,000 tonnes of Canadian beef that has been exported to the U.S. since the border re-opened to boneless Canadian beef from cattle under 30 months in August, 2003. Canadian processors are now also permitted to export bone-in beef from these younger animals. A fully competitive market with rational trade in both beef and live cattle will benefit both the Canadian and U.S. beef industries.

A hearing into R-CALF's request for a permanent injunction against Canadian live cattle and beef must still be heard in U.S. District Court, Montana Division on July 27.

"We look forward to the correct decisions being made in any future court actions," adds Eby. "We will continue working to ensure that adequate slaughter capacity is maintained in Canada to make us less vulnerable to border disruptions. However we all benefit from a North American marketplace that is permitted to operate according to marketplace signals."