A cattle industry group says measures that helped ranchers weather the BSE crisis in the early 2000s should be brought back immediately as the COVID-19 pandemic slows down work at packing plants.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is calling for a federally co-ordinated program that would enable producers to keep their animals longer by feeding them a maintenance, rather than a growth, diet.
It says it could follow a model similar to one developed in 2004 after the discovery of BSE, or mad cow disease, in Canada forced borders to close to Canadian beef exports. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ] The cattlemen’s group says capacity has been reduced at a number of beef processors across North America