The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

- 19 The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, February 3, 2004-13 Campio -/Local cattile farmers hit hard by BSE scare Issue has been blown well out of proportion, say areafarmers By ROBIN DOWNITON-POIRIER Special to The Champion Justified or not, ongoing fear over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - more cornmonly known as mad eow disease - is wreaking havoc among local beef cattie fanners and many others in Use mndustsy. "Its worse than depression time," stressed Sixtb Line resident Bert Stewart, a longtime industry expert, having spent 38 years as a 4-H Club leader and traveled around Use world as a buyer, sell- er, consultant and judge of cattle (mostly dairy) after Whtead sB E graduatmng fromn Us a owde - or BSE - is Ontario Agricultural braiaqdgeatig disease that can College in 1954. drvelop- ia cows that have liera fed 'There's flot a farmer iqfectrd,mea*s and boar mealfromother thats happy Use way animais. Usinga have gone in Thse disease is aMt transmissible Use last year.' betwrra animas or humans ualrss taint- Nearing reûrement ed matais 1* lgrster If a human dors yet still active in Use J . gest taitid maa (from the braia or mndustsy, Mr. Stewart spinal eotwiiiio an~0 ected eow), they feels Use mad co ,o devrlop hamn mcsd coir diseasr, diaease issue has haussai as varian*t Canif zfel&hJakob dis- been blown out of e<'s' <vCJP> - thasfiaal proportion. He's flot alone mi Usat belief. "The chances of a humnai contracting mad eow disease is vety minuscule,' said area heef cattle farier Doug Gardbouse. 'It's less threatening to, humnais Usai most Usings. We're flot womred about it in Use cattle ndustiy, just its effecta." And its effeets are - to say Use least - significait. A sixth-generation beef cattle fariner who's lived i Milton since 1950, M. Gardhouse said Use mad eow issue has devastated bis business beyond aiytbing he's ever seen. Finin Use very first day Usat Use cow was discovered (in Wasbington last May), Use market plusnmeted aid neyer recov- ered," be explained. 'T7here are two Usings Usat are very disturbimg Photo by GRAHAM PAINE Industry expert Bort Stewart visite an ares beef cattie farm, oneO of many that have fallen on hard times due to ongo- ing fear of msd cow disease. about Usis problein. The fiast being Usat it has gone on for so long aid Use second is Usat altbougb Use market bas dropped aid faim- ers are paid very littie for beef, Use stores are still seling the beef at regtslar prices. It doesn't make aiy sense.' The price of cattle bas dropped by nearly two-tbiids - from 60 cents a pound to 22 cents - according to recent figures fromn Use Ontario Livestock Exchange. And wiUs cattle feed jumping to $40 a ton in the past five monUs, fainsers are defmitely losing out. Said M. Stewart, "Farmers stili need to, feed Use animais, pur- chase machinery aid bools to take care of Useir faims, aid keep Useii businesses going. But everything is crazy expensive aid Usere's no money coming ins." For Usose like Milton's Bob Merry - wbo unlike some beef cat- ese. DEVELOPMENT on page 15 Put. your on it.