U.S. May Pay Farmers to Test for Mad Cow

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

The USDA, which banned sick or injured cattle from human food earlier this week, also said on Friday it might pay farmers to turn in such animals, known as "downers," so they can be tested for mad cow disease.


Downer cattle that are unable to walk are thought to have a higher possibility of being BSE infected. Out of nearly 36 million slaughtered yearly, some 200,000 cattle are downers. "Providing some financial incentive (to farmers) ... is one of many" measures under discussion, USDA chief veterinarian Ron DeHaven said. "Right now, all options are on the table."


Because downer cattle can no longer be taken to slaughter plants more mad cow testing must be done at rendering plants and on farms, DeHaven told reporters. A meeting will be held on Monday with rendering firms, farm groups and veterinary groups to discuss how to collect those samples for the USDA, he said.

snip

Such a payment is crucial for farmers to turn over downers, instead of destroying and burning them on the farm, said Leon Thacker, an animal disease expert with Purdue University. "In most instances the value of the cow to the rendering plant is not as much as it costs them to pick it up," Thacker said. He estimated farmers should be paid at least $200 for bringing a downer cow in for mad cow testing.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=15&u=/nm/20040103/bs_nm/madcow_dc

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Move along it is not a serious thing really

just listein to the poser in chief, "I still eat beef."

But USDA quietly is doing haltingly so, what we demand

No beef for me until we test EVERY COW.

[MR. ELECTABLE]

2. Sounds like another under-the-table handout for agribusiness to me

Back home in the Hoosier state I don't know of anybody raising cattle who doesn't work for a larger, corporate entity, essentially as another employee-- same as for chickens, and to some extent hogs. But most of the hog farmers have just given up and made way for the giant factory farms in Iowa and Kansas. I would assume that cattle is the same way everywhere.

Maybe they could offer this service for independent farmers, but I don't think it's appropriate to give more handouts to the companies that have sold out the American farmer. Make them pay for the testing, and while you're at it, tell them to stop skirting environmental regulations in dumping their animal waste. The last thing we need is more geysers of shit.

[Mairead]

7. Bingo! And we have a winner here

[donsu]

8. agree

so, we are going to pay farmers to inspect their stock so that we can then pay them to buy the meat? twice scammed.

[LoZoccolo]

3. Now what would a supply-sider say about this?

"If you reinforce farmers to make an easy buck this way, they'll make the cows sick on purpose!"

"Why should I pay for farmers that don't know how to raise cows? They should let the market forces drive them into bankruptcy!"

Any more?

[cliss]

5. All I can say is,

this could just backfire on the corporate cronies. They've ignored safety issues for years, just to save a few pennies.

Now, their blatant practices have come back to haunt them. They may find themselves losing a TON of business to small operators, who raise maybe 1 or 2 cows on their property.

People are quickly going to realize that home-grown meat is safer. There is nothing more motivating than human safety needs, and mad cow disease is fatal. So look for some big operators going out of business, and smaller outfits thriving.

The way it should be.

And those big operators are finally going to find out WHO'S BOSS: the person with the pocketbook.

[Robbien]

4. Well, I was wondering if farmers would even turn in their downers

If I had a downer and I could no longer get paid for it at the rendering plant, why would I take the chance of turning it over for testing? Especially if it would cost me out of pocket? I am not talking about responsible small farmers here. It is the big farm corporations. They would not want their herds being labeled contaminated and would just bury the suspect downers.

I agree, this is just another giveaway. They would only turn over cows they are sure are downers for other reasons such as cancer or broken bones. The crazy downers would be backhoed under.

[lostnfound]

6. "Free-marketeers" suck up to big business again..

If the Feds required testing, price of meat would go up and maybe people would eat less of it -- a good thing for health and the environment. (Although I heard yesterday on KPFT that 100% testing on cows would add less than 3 cents to a pound of meat.)

Instead, they plan this handout to agribusiness, paid for by taxpayers and mounting debt.

[SOS]

9. The 2002 Farm Bill

is $190 billion in corporate welfare. It will cost every American taxpayer $200 a year for the next ten years.
That seems like it ought to cover the cost of testing.