Farmers wary after mad cow case

FEEDLOT operator Buck Peddicord knows his success depends on the health of the beef cattle being fattened in his pens.

Mr Peddicord and other cattle producers say they would never violate a 1997 Food and Drug Administration ban on feeding cattle parts back to cattle, a ban enacted to guard against the spread of mad cow disease.

Feedlot operators submit to random inspections, and many sign affidavits required by buyers that none of their animals was fed beef bone meal.