UNITED STATES-NEW PROBLEMS WITH FALLEN CATTLE.
Wisner feedlot operator Tom Feller thought he had a good thing going in starting Wisner Rendering and transporting dead cattle from the surrounding area to a plant where they become food for racing greyhounds.
Now he’s not so sure. New regulations put in place Monday by the Food and Drug Administration, meant as a safeguard against mad-cow disease, prohibit conversion of animals over 30 months of age into pet food.
"That’s a problem," Feller said Monday.
There may be other problems, too, as those affected spend the next six months getting in compliance mode. One concern is that rendering companies will no longer pick up dead cattle and that landfill operators will have to decide if they’re willing to be the disposal point.
The new federal restrictions are intended to cut the risk of humans contracting a brain-wasting disease that is the equivalent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, found in cattle.
The federal government put its first BSE regulations in place in 1997. They included a ban on feeding brain, spinal and other connective tissue from cattle as bone meal and other cattle-feed supplements.
Monday’s adjustments affect the pet food market. They also shut down the option of feeding body parts from ruminant animals as protein sources for such non-ruminants as chickens and hogs.
Reaction to the new beef regulations varied, even within the ranks of beef producers.
While Feller and Todd Schroeder, also of Wisner and president of the Nebraska Cattlemen, voiced skepticism, Bill Bullard enthusiastically endorsed more regulations.
Bullard, of Billings , Mont. , is part of the leadership of R-Calf USA . He said more precautions are needed because the U.S. changed its border restrictions in 2007 to allow the import of live Canadian cattle older than 30 months.
Older cattle are regarded as more likely to convey disease to humans through their meat. And Canada has had 16 confirmed cases of mad-cow disease in cattle since 1993, far more than in the U.S.
"All of the pet food manufacturers that have been using rendered cattle parts would have to modify their operations to exclude brains and spinal cords from animals over 30 months of age," Bullard said.
R-Calf would like to see even sterner steps. "We believe we must reverse this trade liberalization that allows higher-risk Canadian cattle into the U.S. — even with the feed ban."
Feller said he’ll do what’s necessary, but he doesn’t want trade protectionism portrayed as a health concern.
"If it’s sound science and scientists across the nation sign off on the thing, I guess that’s what we have to live with."
Schroeder and the Nebraska Cattlemen don’t like Monday’s news.
Schroeder said rendering companies have already imposed a fee to pick up dead animals in the Wisner area as they gear up for more restriction.
"It costs us about $10 a head to get rid of them now."
Feedlot operators can probably produce some type of verification that their cattle are less than 30 months old, Schroeder said. "But if they won’t pick up the cattle, that creates a whole new set of problems."
Many of the cattle that die as part of cow-calf operations and in grazing settings may be older than 30 months. "The Nebraska Cattlemen are working with landfills," Schroeder said, "to help educate them on that and on what may be coming their way."