March 7 was to have been the light at the end of the tunnel for Canadian livestock producers, as the border closure to live beef in place for nearly two years was to finally end, but producers were disappointed once again as a group of Montana ranchers convinced a judge in Montana District Court to issue a temporary injunction against the border reopening.

To compound matters, the next day the U.S. Senate voted by a narrow 52-46 margin to reject the rules set forth for the reopening of the border by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with the vote on the issue now going to Congress.

"Producers are naturally very disappointed. People were realizing this was going to increase the prices, and even our prices were going up in anticipation of the border reopening. When the injunction came down, immediately the prices started falling back down, so we know this is going to have a negative impact," said Brian Ross, president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association.

Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki said this court decision poses grave concerns for the cattle industry.

"One has to wonder as to how well Canada's case was substantiated by the USDA and whether the government of Canada did its homework in its presentation," he said, adding the hope the U.S. government will use its resources and influence to ensure this situation doesn't drag on for months.

Fillmore area producer Tom Grieve said he was skeptical the border would actually reopen.

"They must have a very different judicial system than we have. It seems a small special interest group can sway their judges and politicians to do as they like. Everytime someone's got a challenge, they have to have a hearing on it," he said.

The initial injunction is a temporary one as the Montana group known as R-Calf works on getting a more permanent injunction in place. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, said they are considering their appeal options, and stand by their ruling that Canada is a country of minimum risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and there would be no risk to allowing Canadian cattle back into their packing plants.

In addition, President George W. Bush indicated if Congress votes against reopening the border, he will veto that bill and support the reopening of the border.

Grieve feels the border closure won't be all bad, however, as the cattle industry needs to continue with recent efforts to increase the processing capacity here in Canada so the industry is more self-sufficient, but government help is needed to make this possible.

"We've really got to stress through our livestock association and the governments we need to press for assistance in getting producers going. There is so much red tape to get a business going. The government needs to make the process happen faster," he said, adding the whole agricultural industry should look at doing more processing here at home rather than shipping away the raw product.

"I think that's all we can do, is to keep striving. We have to overlook (the border closure) and quit dwelling on that situation. We can take hold and do more for ourselves. Why don't we process it here and then ship it out? The problem is we can only go so far; we have to have help from the top," said Grieve.

As far as reopening the border, Ross feels the ball is in the USDA's court to overturn the injunction, and there isn't a lot that politicians in Canada can do to help. He noted that both the federal government and the Canadian Cattlemen's Association had briefs ready to go at the Montana court hearing, but they were not granted intervenor status by the sitting judge.

In the meantime, producers here don't have any idea how long this injunction will last, or if or when the border will ever reopen.

"My own opinion is if we don't get it sorted out in the next 30 days, we're going to be in for the long haul," said Ross.

He agrees the Canadian industry needs to continue trying to expand the processing capacity here in Canada.

"We need to put even more emphasis on that than we have. It's important to get our packing capacity up to provide a market for our beef. Once we get this product into a box, we can sell it. We just haven't been able to get in the box fast enough," said Ross.

The border closure began on May 20, 2003, after a single cow was found to have BSE; in the massive investigation which followed, new standards were put in place and more testing was done of Canadian animals. The heightened testing brought two more animals to light with BSE, but under international standards, Canada is still a minimum-risk country for the disease.