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There is no good reason for our cattle producers to have such limited market access. Our beef is the best in the world, and we need to be allowed to reach global markets.

The best proof of the high quality of American beef is the continued negative BSE findings supported by the highest surveillance possible. The administration should be working to increase our surveillance of BSE, not scaling it back.

In beef trade issues, we base our decisions upon science.

U.S. agricultural products, including safe, high-quality Montana beef, face unscientific trade restrictions in many important markets.

The cows have ID numbers. And we should be able, throughout the investigation, which is ongoing as we speak, to be able to track that cow back to where it came from initially.

This was a dairy cow, and dairy cows have IDs on them. The ID was traced back to the farm in Washington. It's a dairy farm. And that farm now has been quarantined, and the owners have been very cooperative in doing that.

We had Taiwan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Oman open their markets to our beef, and we're excited about that.

The weekend brought good news for our friends in the cattle industry. At long last, Japan has taken the steps needed for American beef to make its way back into the Japanese market.

I think it's important that, as a matter of course, the brain and spinal column were removed from this cow, and that would be the material that would cause concern in terms of human health. And therefore we're confident in the safety of the food supply.

The land is not in the least bit fertile and yet the cattle herds grow larger and larger. A cow represents capital investment here.