Local beef industry analysts and participants said they are not anticipating any fiscal advantage from Britain's "mad cow" misfortune.
In fact, local cattle owners are concerned about the bad press.
"We're damn worried," Leroy Dell Holmfren, co-owner of the Smithfield Livestock Auction, said. "With cattle prices so low, this kind of publicity doesn't help any."
Holmgren said there have been no noticable decreases in cattle sales since Britain's scare, but he is concerned the issue is being blown out of proportion.
"When the public hears something like this, it's like talk in a coffee shop: It gets bigger and bigger until there's really no truth to it," he said.
And although Britain's problem has forced the slaughter of a slew of cows, the likelihood that the U.S. will benefit from it is slim, said one analyst.
Utah State University Extension Agricultural Economist Dee Von Bailey said more than likely Britain will look to purchase cattle elsewhere in the European Union, which is a major producer of beef. England's McDonald's, which recently destroyed its whole herd, has decided to purchase beef from the Netherlands.
"One has to assume that with any shortage of meat, (Britain) will go to the EU first," Bailey said.
Holmgren agrees that local beef producers don't anticipate an increase in beef prices or export.
Bailey said buying U.S. beef is not only more expensive for Europe, but there is also a European Union ban placed on hormone-implanted U.S. beef.
Yet, not all is hopeless.
"One thing that this will hopefully do is have them reconsider the ban," Bailey said. "There is no documented evidence that implanted animals are a health-risk."
Another possibility is that there may be an increased demand for breeding stock – cows and bulls used to produce the offspring. USU Extension veterinary specialist Clell Bagley said if such demand occurs, it is not likely to happen in the near future.
For concerned consumers, the appearance of the disease is unlikely in Cache Valley and the U.S. According to Bagley, there has never been a case of mad cow disease ever detected in the U.S.
Bans of cattle imported from England and Ireland in 1989 has largely diminished the presence of infected cattle and only 35 of the 499 cattle that were imported previous to the ban remain untested for the disease. The cattle that have undergone testing so far have shown no sign of infection.
Besides, says Bagley, there is a lot of worry with not a lot of facts. The link of the disease – called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE – with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, a similar disease found in humans, is weak.
"We don't even know what causes (Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease)," Bagley said. "The likelihood of BSE being related is pretty remote."
