In sci.med.nutrition Jim Webster wrote:

"Brian Sandle" wrote in message
...

I was trying to inquire into the drop in wheat prices, so look for
the drop in consumption of wheat.

In sci.agriculture Jim Webster wrote:

"Brian Sandle" wrote in message
...
In sci.agriculture Jim Webster wrote:

"Brian Sandle" wrote in message
...

You have a related problem - another unnatural agricultural
procedure
that
was warned about: feeding meat to cattle, causing spread of BSE.

and that affects wheat prices exactly how?

BSE did impinge on beef prices

And there were fewer cattle to feed,

no, because beef animals are predominantly a by-product of the dairy
industry.

I see, dairy cattle not eating animal byproducts, therefore not
getting BSE, therefore not being slaughtered and reduced in
numbers owing to BSE?

Total and utter rubbish, you have missed the point by so much it is hardly
worth the effort of correcting you.

So instead dairy getting supplementary feed till they become too
old, then go onto grass as beef animals?

Now where was BSE and culling in that?


The number of beef cattle has been falling very slowly over the
years as the number of dairy and beef cows has slowly fallen. The
biggest
cause in the fall in beef numbers is milk quota which, when combined
with
steadily increasing dairy genetic merit and milk yields has meant there
are
less milk cows producing the same about of milk

and less money to buy grain
feed?

Ruminants are not big users of wheat, pigs and poultry and the largest
users

What proportion of UK wheat is bought buy farmers? Then the
available storage silos would be getting full sooner, so the wheat
would have to go to market without waiting for a better price.

Not a problem, the beef industry is not a major user of wheat


I see 1/3 of UK wheat goes to animal feed. And a few days ago you
wrote:

: In the long term, maize has been displaced by wheat in UK diets
: purely on price, the last round of CAP reforms cut the market price
: of EU produced feed wheat which made maize comparatively expensive
: for feed compounders using 'least cost' formulations. When I was a
: kid cattle feed was basical ly a mixture of maize and soya, which
: is something the UK industry hasn't be en able to afford for over
: thirty years.

Looks like you were relating of cattle feed.

That was why I used the words Cattle feed, because I was relating it to
cattle.
Indeed the largest consumers of cattle feeds are dairy cows anyway, which is
why I said the beef industry is not a major user of wheat.

It is remarkably easy to understand if you actually read the words

So animals eat 1/3 of UK wheat, pigs and poultry eat the better part
of this, but it is also an important supplementary feed for dairy.

Did or did not BSE culling cause a reduction of some percent in
demand for UK wheat? Did that follow on to a some percent sooner
filling of silos and wheat going straight on to market, triggering
lower prices?

Note:
Linkname: From BSE to GMOs - What Have We Learned?
URL: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/bse.php
*****
[...]
The aim of this booklet is to inform the public about some of
the major failings in the government's handling of the BSE
crises, and to demonstrate that a similar scenario is now being
repeated with GMOs. Dr Narang combines his experience with BSE,
with his concerns over food GM foods, to convey an important
message to all members of the public.
[...]
The authorities in Ireland adopted the approach of slaughtering
the whole herd in which any clinical case of BSE was detected.
Breeding from affected animals was also stopped so that the
infectious agent did not pass from one generation to the next.
These practices succeeded in keeping the total number of BSE
cases in Ireland to below 100.

Advice to adopt the same approach was also available in Britain
to the relevant authority, the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries
and Food (MAFF), but it was ignored, and breeding from affected
animals continued in Britain. Out of the170, 000 animals
confirmed with BSE in Britain, 40, 000 of them were born after
the feed ban was introduced in 1988.
[...]
Dr Narang has published all his findings in peer reviewed
scientific journals on the nature of the infectious agent of
BSE. The infectious agent is a slow acting virus that consists
of a single stranded (ss) DNA genome which is associated with
the prion protein. Furthermore, the agent is transmitted
maternally from cow to calf via the ssDNA. Without the
implementation of a diagnostic test, maternal transmission has
gone unchecked. This means that the infectious agent may still
be widespread within British livestock while thousands of
perfectly healthy cattle may have been destroyed unnecessarily.
Dr Narang has also suggested the need to develop a vaccine
against BSE and new variant CJD.

In 1997, the Medical Research Council (MRC) agreed to evaluate
Dr Narang's diagnostic test (western blotting/ELISA equipment)
and set up a special CJD urine test-committee to oversee his
work. The National CJD Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh was asked
to provide Dr Narang with 20 blind samples of urine, 10 samples
from CJD cases and 10 from non-CJD cases, so as to evaluate the
test.

However, the National CJD Surveillance Unit failed to provide
the urine samples in the form requested. The test therefore has
not been evaluated by the MRC and no CJD diagnostic test is in
use to this day, making it impossible to monitor the actual
number of CJD cases. Dr Narang has found it increasingly
difficult, if not impossible, to get funding for scientific
research in this country. He has been forced to pursue his
endeavours abroad.
[...]
******
A tonsil test was recently used in New Zealand to prove a young
person did not have vCJD. So apparently some of Narang's work is
getting through, now.

I am trying to figure the economic forces in it all. Who made the
most money on the great cull? Or was it nobody and just stupid?