U.S. Reopens Border to Young Canadian Cattle

WASHINGTON — The United States reopened its borders on Monday to young Canadian cattle, ending a two-year ban imposed because of mad cow disease concerns, an Agriculture Department official said.

"The border has been opened," said Ed Curlett, spokesman for USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "We know a truck came through Buffalo or Niagara Falls, New York, today."

A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that U.S. meatpackers can again import Canadian cattle, overturning a district court judge’s injunction preventing such action.

Canadian ranchers can now resume shipping cattle younger than 30 months old, which are believed to pose the least risk for mad cow disease.

In 2002, Canada exported 1.7 million head of cattle to the United States. Most of the animals were either sent directly to U.S. packing plants or fattened in cattle feedlots for several months before slaughter.

The USDA has said it does not believe Canadian ranchers will send large herds of cattle across the border before a July 27 district court hearing, which could close the border again.

Four cases of mad cow disease stemming from Canadian cattle have been identified since May 2003. That includes the first U.S. case of the disease in a dairy cow from Canada.

A second case of mad cow disease in the United States was confirmed last month, in a 12-year-old cow born in Texas.