Llamas in limbo

Border closure strands C. Falls rancher's animals in Canada

The United States' closing of its border to Canadian cattle over mad-cow disease is having an unintended consequence for a Columbia Falls rancher. Eight of his alpacas and llamas are among hundreds of U.S.-owned animals stranded in Canada by the border closure.

Steve Rolfing, owner of Great Northern Ranch near Columbia Falls, routinely sends camelids (llamas and alpacas are in the camel, or camelid, family) to Canadian breeders. Once the border was closed, the animals weren't allowed to return to the U.S., even though they're not meat animals and have no history of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the scientific name for mad-cow disease.

"These [eight animals] represent approximately $100,000 in lost sales and breeding revenue for my ranch," Rolfing said in testimony sent to Montana District Judge Richard Cebull.

"Llamas and alpacas got lumped into this and shouldn't be a part of it," Rolfing told the Inter Lake. "It's hurting our business considerably."

Rolfing is paying a Canadian rancher to hold the animals in limbo.

The U.S. border has been closed to live Canadian cattle since May 2003 when BSE was first discovered in an Alberta cow. There since have been three other discoveries, including one in the U.S. on Dec. 23, 2004, that involved an animal born in Canada.

The two most recent cases - both discovered in February - came as the U.S. was contemplating reopening its border on March 7. With the support of Montana's congressional delegation, that re-opening was postponed by a District Court injunction.

Rolfing's sales to Canada also came to a halt because Canadians are unwilling to participate in an uncertain market, he said.

"I have no problem supporting a cautious approach to Canadian BSE issues," Rolfing said. "While I am sympathetic to the need to keep our beef supply free of BSE, I am frustrated that the ban, as written, affects llamas and alpacas because they are ruminants."

Steps need to be taken to distinguish between cattle and camelids, he added.

The prolonged border closing has spurred a number of appeals by national livestock organizations.

The U.S. National Meat Association has applied for intervenor status in the Department of Agriculture's appeal of the preliminary injunction delaying the U.S. border from reopening to live cattle.

Intervenor status permits lawyers for intervening organizations to present information to the court representing the interests of those organizations.

The National Meat Association is also appealing the preliminary injunction in a separate case.

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association and Alberta Beef Producers have jointly filed for intervenor status in the R-CALF vs. U.S. Department of Agriculture lawsuit to be heard in U.S. District Court in Billings, in late July.

Meanwhile, Canada is ramping up its slaughter capacity and causing what could be irreparable damage to the U.S. meat industry, Rolfing said.

FarmWeek, an Illinois Farm Bureau publication, reported this month that Canada's cattle industry will be self-sufficient by 2007 to slaughter all the cattle produced in Canada.

"A lot of meatpacker jobs are being lost to Canada," Rolfing said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com