A move by the American Sheep Industry has caught the Canadian industry by surprise.
It appears the ASI has successfully lobbied to have U-S politicians keep the COOL regulations covering sheep in place while they move to drop the rules covering cattle, hogs and poultry.
Canadian Sheep Federation Vice-Chair Rob Scott says the industry estimates it has lost up to about 300 million dollars since 2003 because of trade problems with the U-S.
Those problems started with BSE in cattle in 2003 and were worsened by COOL.
Scott met with Bruce-Grey Conservative MP Larry Miller in Ottawa this week to discuss the situation.
He says it's been a great lesson for the sheep industry, showing the sector needs to increase it's profile with the public and with government.
The Federation has started a letter writing campaign to make the government aware of it's concerns over COOL.
According to Scott, the sector has gone from a cottage industry to a commodity with a large potential for growth over the past 15 years.
But he argues they need access to the U-S as an alternative market to continue to foster that growth.
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Scott says the industry's problems started in 2003 when the U-S border was closed because of the BSE outbreak in cattle.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SCOTT-Lamb-1.mp3"][/audio]
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Scott says the move to leave sheep under COOL caught the Canadian industry by surprise.
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Scott says that comes at a time when the Canadian industry is growing.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SCOTT-Lamb-3.mp3"][/audio]
