Downer cow debate

ALBUQUERQUE — The Portales Livestock Auction lost its biggest customer last week, as Texas-based Caviness Meat Packers, which supplies ground beef to the National School Lunch Program, announced it would not buy animals from the Portales auction until the company changes the way it handles livestock.

The move brings to a point a recent debate over how best to deal with non-ambulatory, or "downer" cattle. The Democratic Party of New Mexico recently slammed U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican candidate for Senate, for failing to support two pieces of legislation that would force the euthanasia of non-ambulatory cattle. Pearce’s opponent in the Senate race, Democratic Rep. Tom Udall, voted for one and sponsored the other.

Last week, DPNM issued a press release criticizing Pearce for not signing on to legislation that would force the euthanasia of downer cattle. It read, in part:

"We all remember 2003, when a downer cow tested positive for mad cow disease," said Josh Geise, executive director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. "It shouldn’t take a tragedy for government to do what’s right and Congressman Udall is cosponsoring important legislation to stop the processing of downed cattle so no one in America will be infected with the deadly mad cow disease.  We hope Steve Pearce will step up and stop the dangerous act of auctioning downed cows."

Specifically, Geise refers to 2003, when Pearce voted against an amendment to a federal agriculture appropriations bill that would have banned downer cattle from being slaughtered for human consumption; the amendment was narrowly defeated 199-202. Udall voted for it.

In 2007, Udall co-sponsored H.R. 661, a bill that would require "all non-ambulatory livestock in interstate and foreign commerce shall be immediately and humanely euthanized when such livestock become non-ambulatory." The bill is in currently in committee.

"First of all, everyone needs to understand that Pearce and Udall agree that we should not be selling contaminated food. What the amendment would have done is it would have required the ranchers themselves to euthanize and dispose of the cattle. Right now we have a process in place with 6,500 USDA-regulated slaughterhouses. Veterinarians go through the cattle and make sure they’re fit to be consumed. This bill would have taken away the discretion on the part of the slaughterhouses and veterinarians as to whether or not the animal is fit for consumption. If there’s nothing wrong with the cattle, you’re essentially throwing away the rancher’s money. Requiring the rancher to euthanize and dispose of the animal himself would have imposed an unneccesary burden. We alredy have a process in place to ensure that the animal is fit for consumption." 

As for the bill that is in committee now, Phillips says, "We never make a decision on a bill until it hits the floor. If this bill does similar things, we would have to take a close look at it." 

The risk of mad cow disease or other diseases entering the food chain is real and terrifying. But Steve Cornett of Farm Journal, writing on his Beef Today blog, explains with an apt analogy why some haven’t supported euthanizing all non-ambulatory cattle:

Not every cow that sulks down is a “downer” that should be euthanized, either. More than once I’ve seen perfectly healthy calves go down in a chute and refuse to get up. Once you get them up, they go on to live perfectly healthy lives. And, in fact, next time they go through the chute they’re as portable as any other animal. The HSUS seems to think anything that doesn’t hop to her feet when asked should be knocked in the head on the spot. Sheez, how many teenagers would we have to euthanize in their beds if we followed the same rules on kids?

Downer cattle has been much in the news lately.

Last week, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced that one of their undercover investigators observed the sale of three non-ambulatory cattle who had been mistreated at the auction house. (The Humane Society is an animal welfare advocacy group that also investigates animal cruelty; CEO Wayne Pacelle says his goal is to make HSUS "a National Rifle Association of the animal rights movement.") However, according to the Roswell Daily Record,Pacelle told reporters that the organization has no evidence that the animals left the auction grounds or entered the food chain.

Earlier this year, HSUS released a video of downer cattle being abused at the Hallmark/Westlandmeat packing plant in California. At the time, that plant was the nation’s largest supplier to the National School Lunch Program. Although the Department of Agriculture said there was little risk from the meat, cattle who are too sick to get up are at a greater risk for things like mad cow disease. As a result of the video, the company issued the nation’s largest beef recall in history;and the financial losses put Hallmark/Westland out of business.HSUS targeted Caviness for its undercover operation because it is now the largest supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program.

In 2004, after a dairy cow was found to have mad cow disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture banned the sale of non-ambulatory cattle. Earlier this year, USDA announced it would close a loophole that had allowed a small number of those animals, submitted to extra inspection, to proceed to slaughter. Beef industry groups supported the ban because they said it would increase consumer confidence and open more foreign markets to American beef.

"We consider this a wake-up call," Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, says of the allegations of abuse at the Portales facility. "While 98 or 99 of our producers do the right thing, we can no longer allow that 1 to 2 percent to put the entire industry at risk."