WASHINGTON, (Feb. 10, 2005) — U.S Agriculture officials reiterated a pledge to allow young live cattle back across the border, but bowed to pressure from industry groups to delay the export of Canadian beef from older animals.

Originally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would reopen the border on March. 7 to live cattle younger than 30 months and all beef and boxed meat shipments. However, while the Bush Administration says it’s on track to allow younger cattle — which are viewed as unlikely to carry bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) — it has delayed beef imports from cattle over 30 months.

The border has been closed to live cattle shipments since a single Alberta bovine was diagnosed with mad cow disease 20 months ago. The ban has since cost the Canadian cattle industry an estimated $5 billion.

Reports say the USDA reversed its decision on older meat after a heated lobbying campaign by American beef workers and meatpackers. Likely strengthening their cause were two more back-to-back cases of mad cow found in Alberta in December and January.

Industry groups have been pulling U.S. officials from all sides over the last two months. Ranchers, for example, have vowed to fight any liberalized border policy, while other groups dependent on Canadian beef such as slaughterhouses have demanded the Bush Administration remove all trade barriers.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told media that his agency decided to delay the effective date for meat over 30 months until the ongoing investigations of Canada’s two latest BSE cases are complete.

While some in Canada’s beef industry are anxiously awaiting the March 7 opening, others say they’ll believe the U.S. will open the border in March only when they see it. This latest revision to the border-opening plan is unlikely to alter such pessimism.

“I always get accused of being the eternal optimist but I’m very pessimistic about this,” Keith Horsburgh, owner of Brooks, Alta-based Grace Cattle Carriers and president of the Alberta Livestock Carriers Association told Today’s Trucking right after the USDA announced the March 7 date earlier this year. “I would imagine they’ll go back to politics instead of science. If they paid attention to science in the first place, the border would have been opened a long time ago.”

Even if the border is reopened, no one should expect to see a long line of livestock trailers at the border. Many cattle haulers are weary of the fragile cross-border industry and are unlikely to invest in new equipment and drivers until the resurrected market proves its stability.

“There’s such a stigmatism in the livestock hauling sector because of the uncertainty of what’s going to happen,” Horsburgh said. “Until we see something written in stone and things actually start moving again, I don’t think your going see that trust yet.”

— with files from Associated Press