NMPF estimates that additional annual imports of approximately 47,000 Canadian dairy heifers could increase milk production by up to 0.5% per year over the next five years, reducing farm-level milk prices by as much as 18% and dairy farmer revenue by up to $5 billion per year during that time period.

More importantly, because Canada's government has continued to find cattle that have BSE, the USDA is estimating that up to 700 BSE-infected cattle could be exported to the U.S. during the next twenty years resulting in as many as 70 U.S.-born cases. The discovery of even one native born BSE-infected dairy cow as a result of reopening the Canadian border could ruin consumer confidence in dairy products and undermine the U.S. response to BSE.

NMPF urged USDA and OMB to give these impacts their due consideration.

ImportWatch [13] and the Dairy Market Report [14] on the NMPF website.