Posted on: Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Parker Ranch allowed to move cattle to U.S.
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Parker Ranch was allowed to move most of the cattle it was holding in Canada into the Mainland last week despite a U.S. ban on imports of Canadian beef.
Earlier this year, the ranch shipped 2,700 calves from Hawai'i to Canada with plans to move them to the Mainland, fatten them for a year and sell them on the U.S. market. That plan hit a snag last month when a case of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was discovered in northern Alberta.
A U.S. ban on all cattle imports from Canada left the Parker Ranch calves stuck.
Michael Bryan, Parker Ranch vice president for livestock operations, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture was "very cooperative" in helping the ranch win permission to move the cattle across the border.
No case of mad cow disease has ever been found in U.S. cattle, and Parker Ranch has its calves inspected and certified by the USDA before they leave Hawai'i.
Once in Canada, the animals are quarantined so they have no contact with Canadian cattle, he said.
"We did all the proper things, and so that helped," Bryan said.
The main method of BSE infection is believed to be from feed that contains the remains of other sick cattle or sheep. The disease is generally not passed from one living animal to another, although scientists believe it may be transmitted from mother to calf.
The ranch has another 2,500 calves on their way to Canada, and plans to move those animals to the Mainland "whenever it's appropriate," Bryan said.
Parker Ranch moves almost all of its calves through Canada each year in spring and fall shipments that total about 11,000 to 12,000 head.
Hawai'i ranchers have been using Canada as a low-cost transshipment point because it allows the ranches to use less expensive, foreign-flagged ships to move the cattle between Hawai'i and the Mainland.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
