Another example of the USDA gone mad

The fact that APHIS has made statements regarding the insignificance of improper documentation accompanying imported Canadian cattle while holding Darrol Dickinson to another standard just proves to me that USDA and APHIS are being run by very bad people who don't know what their right or left hands are doing. And just that alone should cause everyone to demand that USDA/APHIS be investigated.

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America


For Immediate Release Contact: Shae Dodson, Communications Coordinator

April 13, 2007 Phone: 406-672-8969;
e-mail: sdodson@r-calfusa.com

Group Questions USDA Enforcement Actions

Billings, Mont. – R-CALF USA is seeking information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on why it appears that agency officials describe incomplete paperwork on perhaps hundreds of imported Canadian cattle as “minor record-keeping problems,” yet initiate enforcement action against a U.S. cattle producer, claiming animals were transported in interstate commerce without a valid health certificate.

The U.S. producer in question is Darol Dickinson, owner of Dickinson Cattle Co. in Barnesville, Ohio. The event in question is the transport of a 6-year-old Texas Longhorn cow and a bull calf from Oklahoma to Ohio in January 2006. The veterinary health certificate – issued by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture – states the identity of the pair as “Rosey Bark-B” and “Bull Calf at side” on the form under “EARTAG NO. OR OTHER OFFICIAL IDENTIFICATION, NAME OR DESCRIPTION.’

USDA correspondence to Dickinson dated Feb. 26, 2007, from the Investigative and Enforcement Services (IES) branch of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) states that Dickinson transported the pair without a valid health certificate because “the consignee portion of the health certificate was incomplete and no official identification was listed for the cow.” The IES correspondence instructs Dickinson that he can waive his right to a hearing and settle the matter by paying a $1,250 penalty by March 26, 2007. If Dickinson does not request a hearing or pay the fine by said date, the IES letter states that litigation will result, and furthermore, “…The penalty offered in this Stipulation is not relevant to the sanctions APHIS may seek, or that will be assessed after issuance of a formal complaint…”

Dickinson maintains that all charges are false for the following reasons:

1) The animals were transported with an official Oklahoma State Health Certificate of Inspection prepared and signed by a USDA-licensed Oklahoma State Veterinarian.

2) Information for the Consignee portion of the health certificate was indeed complete for a resident of a small rural village.

3) All official identification for the cow was provided exactly as required by the printed form issued by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

4) He relied on the USDA-licensed professional to properly execute the government form in its entirety.

5) The truck driver who transported the animals stopped at every port-of-entry crossing in every state required by law during the legal transport of these cattle.

6) The truck driver is not a USDA-licensed professional, and therefore, unable to evaluate the official veterinary health certificate for errors.

“Apparently, USDA doesn’t think the veterinarian who filled out the health certificate for these animals did so in a way USDA considers to be correct,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who also chairs the R-CALF USA Animal Health Committee. “We have written a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns protesting that fine, particularly drawing attention to USDA’s comment that all the cattle coming in from Canada without proper paperwork was a simple, minor paperwork infraction.”

R-CALF USA sent the letter to Johanns on March 23, 2007, requesting that the fine immediately be rescinded. Only today did USDA confirm to R-CALF USA that an investigation is ongoing and that the results will be forthcoming in the near future.

“USDA’s citation against Dickinson Cattle Company appears to be discriminatory, based on recent statements to the media by APHIS officials regarding the insignificance of improper documentation accompanying imported Canadian cattle,” Thornsberry continued. “It appears APHIS is holding Dickinson Cattle Company to a much higher standard than it holds individuals or entities that authorize the transport of imported Canadian cattle, and this is patently wrong.”

On Feb. 23, 2007, the Chicago Tribune published an article by Washington Bureau Reporter Steve Hedges, with the headline “USDA: Mistakes tracing Canadian cattle are ‘minor’”. The piece quoted APHIS spokesperson Andrea McNally as characterising problems with the documentation of imported Canadian cattle as only “minor record-keeping problems.”

“If that’s USDA’s position, then the citation issued to Dickinson for transporting U.S. cattle within the United States is wholly unjustified and discriminatory,” Thornsberry asserted. “Based on our understanding of the circumstances, Dickinson’s documentation was in substantial compliance, if not complete compliance, with APHIS rules and regulations. R-CALF USA is requesting that USDA take steps to ensure that U.S. cattle producers are not discriminated against by being held to a higher standard than that imposed on individuals or entities handling imported cattle.

“This heavy-handed USDA enforcement action focuses only on whether an animal identification number was included in the documentation – it had nothing to do with the health of the animals in question,” Thornsberry concluded. “R-CALF USA is concerned that this situation may be indicative of the control USDA intends to exercise over U.S. cattle producers under it proposed National Animal Identification System. If this is the case, then the U.S. cattle industry would be subjected to an unacceptable level of regulatory control by USDA.”

Note: To view R-CALF USA’s letter, the veterinary health certificate, USDA’s correspondence to Dickinson and other supporting documents, visit the “Animal Health” link at www.r-calfusa.com.

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R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization and is dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on both domestic and international trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA has more than 60 affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.

Minor when the USDA does it. Time to dismantle the USDA

How does the USDA expect to manage NAIS?

USDA: Mistakes tracing Canadian cattle are `minor'

By Stephen J. Hedges
Washington Bureau
Published February 23, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that hundreds of cases of incomplete documentation of imported cattle from Canada, where mad cow concerns continue, involve "minor record-keeping" issues that do not endanger the safety of the U.S. food supply.

The cattle, many of which were missing ear tags for identification or whose health papers did not match their tags, have entered the United States from Canada in 2005 and 2006. They must be under 30 months old, which the USDA contends minimizes the risk that they have contracted cow disease.

"While we're still in the midst of the review, we're finding that the bulk of the violations appear to be minor record-keeping problems at the state level," said Andrea McNally of the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "We don't have a conclusion."

McNally said the USDA is still examining the documents, most of which consist of e-mails between Washington state agriculture officials and cattle feedlots and meatpacking companies. The e-mails show the industry representatives reporting about incomplete documentation of cattle from Canada.

The cattle ranchers who have been complaining about what they call lax enforcement of border controls by the USDA dismissed the department's explanation.

"I think this is passing the buck, ain't it?" said Lee Englehardt of the Cattle Producers of Washington, which filed a public disclosure request for the documents in 2006. "What's the point of an animal ID system if we can't keep the records straight on a select number of cattle from Canada?"

The documents, which were obtained by the Cattle Producers of Washington under the state's public disclosure law, suggest state and federal officials have had a difficult time tracking the entry of cattle from Canada.

Englehardt's group also contends that the mix-ups show that the USDA is incapable of administering a proposed federal cattle identification program to trace livestock.

McNally said the cattle trucks are checked at the border by a government veterinarian, and that so far the department's review has not found problems in that process. "If they don't meet our import requirements, they are denied entry," she said.

But some of the records, which Englehardt's group shared with the Tribune, suggest that some cattle came into the U.S. missing required ID ear tags and the appropriate health papers. In other cases, the ear tags did not match health certificates provided for the cattle.

One memo suggests that an entire truckload of cattle, usually about 60 cows, entered without required health certificates.

USDA figures show that about 182,000 Canadian cattle entered the U.S. for the year ending Feb. 17, 2007. The total U.S. cattle herd is about 95 million.

Consumer groups have raised questions about the USDA's decision to allow Canadian imports in the first place following the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada in May 2003. Mad cow in the U.S. was discovered near Yakima, Wash., in December 2003. The cow involved had been imported from Canada.

Canada announced its ninth confirmed case of mad cow two weeks ago. It discovered five cases in 2006 alone.

Mad cow, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), attacks a cow's central nervous system. It is believed that humans can contract variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a disorder that eats away at the brain, by consuming beef from cattle infected with BSE.