Several thousand Hawai'i cattle already are temporarily trapped in Canada.

Parker Ranch said this week that it has about 2,700 calves in Canada and paid to ship another 2,500 next week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture banned Canadian cattle imports after one Canadian cow tested positive for the lethal disease.

Canadian health officials say it's probably an isolated case, but Hawai'i ranchers say that if the ban lasts a while, they'll have to find a new way to get cattle cheaply to the United States.

"We're concerned for ourselves and for the state," said Monty Richards, general manager of Kahua Ranch, one of the largest of 23 Big Island cattle ranches.

Richards said it just so happens that Kahua Ranch has no cattle in or en route to Canada, except for a few cows destined for the Canadian market anyway.

"This could have caught us just like it caught Parker," Richards said.

Until now, Canada has been the best cattle route from Hawai'i to the U.S. Mainland. The Jones Act prevents internationally-flagged carriers, which represent most cattle ships and other massive barges, from stopping at consecutive U.S. ports.

The boats of Horizon Lines, formerly CSX, and Matson, the two U.S.-flagged ship companies running between Hawai'i, aren't equipped to ship large numbers of cattle.

The only way to avoid Canada is to go through Mexico, but high refueling costs and bureaucratic hold-ups make ranchers reluctant to try that route.

"We did look at Mexico pretty hard, but decided it's just too scary to go there," said Michael "Corky" Bryant, vice president of livestock operations for Parker Ranch. "They're pretty expensive, and would have required us to keep the animals there a couple months. That would just screw up the deal."

The other alternative is to ship small groups of cows directly to the West Coast on Matson or Horizon container barges. But the cost would be prohibitive, Richards said.

"With cattle ships, you can take about 3,000 animals at a whack, but on Matson, they put them in specially made containers and you can ship maybe 120 animals at a time," he said. "It's not only more expensive, but it isn't as good for the animals."

Hawai'i ranchers ship about 46,000 head of cattle out of state annually, according to state statistics.

Ranchers said if they can't find a reasonable alternative to shipping through Canada, Canadians better get used to eating Hawai'i beef.

Parker Ranch is already searching for grass, land and other resources that would let them market cows in Canada, Bryant said.