Thread: Mexico opens doors to U.S. cattle again

Mexico opens doors to U.S. cattle again

By Louie Gilot For the Las Cruces Sun-News
Article Launched: 05/08/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


Click photo to enlargeDaniel Manzanares, director of the Santa... (Photo for the Sun-News by Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)«12»
SANTA TERESA — For almost five years, Mexico closed its doors to U.S. cattle, but on Wednesday afternoon, 37 Angus bulls from Nebraska and Kansas crossed the border.

Their crossing was the first since the ban was lifted by Mexico earlier this year — a move that may mean millions of dollars in sales for the U.S. cattle industry — officials said. Mexico imposed the ban after a case of mad cow disease was found in Washington state in 2003.

The 37 bulls crossed at the Santa Teresa port of entry. They are the property of Jay Whetten, who owns 40,000 acres and about 1,000 head of cattle in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua.

Whetten and other cattle ranchers had been pushing for a lifting of the Mexican ban.

"There are bulls in Mexico, but with open borders, this gives us a wider variety, added genetic variety to give our cattle. That means that the cattle that come over to the U.S. can be of higher quality," he said.

Whetten's Mexico-raised cattle are exported to the United States to be "fed and finished."

Daniel Manzanares, director of the Santa Teresa livestock crossing, said that northbound crossings of Mexican cattle continued over the past five years at a rate of about 320,000 a year, but that only an occasional dairy cow crossed the other way.
The Mexican ban was officially lifted March 26, and southbound traffic is about to boom, Manzanares said.

"They need 5,000 bulls in Mexico right now. I'll have another 120 (bulls) by Friday and 600 are also on the way," he said.

New Mexico officials applauded the end of the ban.

"We are resuming some long tradition of commerce with Mexico. There are $35 (million) to $40 million of pending sales with Mexico that we couldn't do," said Tom Bagwell, deputy director of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.

Bagwell also gave some credit for lifting the ban to Todd Staple, Texas commissioner of agriculture, who took a hard stance with Mexico when Mexico officials wanted to import Canadian cattle through Texas. Whetten, the rancher, said the last time he could remember the border being closed to cattle was in the early 1940s, for fear of hoof and mouth disease in Mexican cattle.

Wednesday's historic crossing did not go as smoothly as planned. It was delayed a day because of a missing veterinarian. Then, a cattle chute broke. Finally, at 6:10 p.m., the first black hoof plodded through the border line.


Louie Gilot writes for the El Paso Times, a member of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership. She can be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_9188239

I don't want ANY food from Mexico or China! NO WAY!

I STAND WITH *MIGUELINA*. NO MEXICAN GROWN FOOD ON MY TABLE.
OR CHINESE. IF IT ISNT GROWN HERE IN USA....DONT WANT IT.