February 25, 2005

Manitoba will be working in conjunction with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to offer a free cattle and other ruminant deadstock pickup service in designated areas starting immediately, Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Rosann Wowchuk announced today.

"This program is being repeated because it worked well in many ways last spring," said Wowchuk. "Most important was the use of the carcasses to test for BSE, which resulted in Manitoba being the first province to reach and exceed its testing goal. Second, it provided scientific proof that our province remains BSE-free and third, as a free service, the deadstock removal saved producers the cost of disposing of the carcasses."

The 2005 program is being jointly funded by the province and CFIA as part of its cattle BSE surveillance program. The province will cover the cost of the pickup and disposal of cattle and other ruminants. CFIA will reimburse the province for the cost of collecting older cattle that will be sampled for BSE by the province. All information on the animals collected will be shared with CFIA.

This pick up service is just one aspect of CFIA’s BSE surveillance program.  CFIA will also be taking BSE samples on-farm and through large-animal veterinarians.

The deadstock pickup will be limited to designated areas that can provide disposal grounds. If additional disposal sites become available, the pickup area will be expanded.

Currently, the agricultural areas which will be serviced include areas south of PTH 68 on the eastern side of the province and south of Riding Mountain National Park on the western side of the province. For more details please contact the local Manitoba, Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives office.

Rothsay will be hired to provide the pickup service. To qualify for the service, cattle carcasses must have an official Canadian Cattle Identification Agency or CFIA tag.

Rothsay will maintain a list for deadstock pickup and collect in specific areas when there are enough carcases for a load. To be placed on the list, producers can call Rothsay at
1-888-Rothsay or 1-888-768-4729. The company will also pick up other ruminants including bison, goats, sheep and farmed deer and elk.

"The success of our program last spring has encouraged other provinces to follow our lead in collecting and testing deadstock for BSE," said Wowchuk. "It will also provide further scientific evidence that our surveillance program is working."

The program will run until April 30 and will be monitored to ensure sufficient number of deadstock for the BSE surveillance program is being received.

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