“I told you that I would wait a little while to ship cattle into the U.S. after the border opened,” said Wally Schaus of Schaus Land and Cattle when we originally interviewed him in July. Schaus waited a mere two days after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the injunction keeping the Canadian border closed to live cattle. His were the first cattle to head south after the border opened, destined for the Cargill-Taylor plant at Wyalusing, Penn.

Schaus laughed and said that we can now tell what “a little while” is for him.

“We got a request on Friday night to have a load ready on Monday morning,” Schaus said. “On Sunday, the cattle were sorted, weighed, ID verified and age verified under veterinary supervision. Tag numbers were recorded and veterinarians from both countries signed the papers.”

Monday morning, all the proper officials were notified and 35 finished steers crossed at 11:59 a.m.

“We feel we are back in business again,” Schaus said when asked how he was reacting to the news. “We have been on a 26-month sabbatical and are anxious to do business with our customers and friends in the U.S. We also want to thank our friends at St. Helens here in Ontario for their support and hope to do a lot of business with them in the future.” Schaus and his company are looking forward to providing high quality feeder and finished cattle on both sides of the border.