FORT WORTH, Texas, June 9, 2006 -- Leaders of Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association met June 2 with Franciso Javier Mayorga-Castaneda, secretary of agriculture for Mexico, to discuss beef industry issues that involve our southern neighbor.

Mayorga's visit to the Fort Worth area was hosted by TSCRA and the Texas Christian University Ranch Management Program.

Participating in the discussions were TSCRA Executive Vice President Matt Brockman and David Winters, vice chair of TSCRA's Animal Health Committee, who ranches near Del Rio on the Mexican border.

Foremost among TSCRA's concerns was reinstating exports of U.S. beef cattle seedstock to Mexico. The border was closed in 2004 after the December 2003 discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Washington State.

"The United States has proven unequivocally BSE is not a threat to our cattle herd," said Brockman. "We have tested over 700,000 cattle with only two positive results."

TSCRA urged the secretary to work with USDA to allow imports of beef cattle under the same protocol that is currently being developed for the export of dairy heifers to Mexico.

"Purebred seedstock trade between Mexico and Texas has existed for decades, resulting in mutual benefits for ranchers on both sides of the border," Winters emphasized.

From Jan. 1, 1999, to December 2003, the United States exported 598,501 head of live cattle to Mexico, valued at $553.4 million.

TSCRA also urged Secretary Mayorga to continue efforts to eradicate TB in Mexico in order to avoid the imposition of more stringent entry requirements for Mexican cattle.

Currently, Mexico ships 10,000 head of feeder cattle a month to the United States.

TSCRA pointed out that tests from TB-infected cattle in four U.S. states show the genetic fingerprint is very similar to that found in Mexican-origin feeder cattle that had been imported.

Texas, Minnesota, Michigan and New Mexico have lost their TB-free status from USDA. Texas has implemented extremely costly procedures to regain TB-free status. USDA is currently reviewing the state's application.

TSCRA leaders emphasized the mutual benefit of trade between Mexico and the United States, and Texas in particular.

"Much of the success of this of this two-way trade has been because of the close cooperation between the governments and livestock industries of the two countries," Brockman said.

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association is a 129-year-old trade organization whose 13,700 members manage approximately 5.4 million cattle on 70.3 million acres of range and pasture land, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma.