But Agriculture Secretary Javier Usabiaga said at a press conference that a decision to make those exceptions could take months and would only occur after Mexico was satisfied that U.S. controls were adequate.

Japan, the largest market for U.S. beef, continues to question the effectiveness of U.S. safeguards against mad cow disease, suggesting Tokyo will hold out for stricter U.S. screening of livestock before lifting its ban on American beef.

Meanwhile, fewer cattle made it to the auction block at one of the Pacific Northwest's largest cattle auctions, but the prices they drew made cattlemen smile for the first time since word broke that mad cow disease had been detected in Washington state.

Only about 100 cows were sold Monday, with the market high 61 cents a pound for a 1,850-pound cow. That was only 2 cents down from a 63-cents-per-pound high for slaughter cows in late December, said John Top, co-owner of the Yakima Valley-based the Toppenish Livestock Commission.

"I loved it. I was tickled. I could have used another couple hundred head of cattle at these prices," he said. "Demand is good, short supply, prices are high. Simple economics."

The first Monday sale of the year usually features between 200 and 300 Holstein cows for beef slaughter. They are typically aging cows that are no longer producing milk or younger cows that have been unable to calve.

The auction particularly draws cattle from farmers in Washington's Columbia Basin and Yakima Valley, where the nation's first case of mad cow disease was discovered in a Holstein cow from a dairy farm in nearby Mabton.

Unable to determine which calf was born to the nation's first cow diagnosed with mad cow disease, federal officials plan to kill a herd of 450 calves out of "an abundance of caution."

The herd of bull calves from Sunnyside will be killed this week at an undisclosed and unused facility, said Ron DeHaven, 천안출장마사지 - https://www.anmapop.com/%ec%b2%9c%ec%95%88%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf... the U.S. Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian.

Agriculture officials decided to kill all the calves in the unidentified herd because the calf born to the sick cow was not tagged and can't be identified. They have said they can't rule out the possibility that mad cow disease could be transmitted from mother to calf.

More than 30 countries banned imports of U.S. beef after the Dec. 23 announcement. But the half-dozen buyers for packing companies who were on hand for the auction praised the prices — even if they didn't buy.

U.S. Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services J.B. Penn and Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Bill Hawks were in Mexico City Tuesday to talk with Mexican officials about lifting the mad cow-prompted ban.

Mexico banned imports - http://blogs.realtown.com/search/?q=imports of all U.S. cattle and beef on Dec. 24 after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow - http://search.huffingtonpost.com/search?q=mad%20cow&s_it=header_form_v1 disease, was discovered in Washington state.

Javier Trujillo, director of safety and inspection at the Agriculture Department, said Mexico will consider importing meat taken from parts of the cow not close to the nervous system.

Trujillo noted that in the case of Canada, Mexico took four months before making exceptions for certain cuts of beef.

Usabiaga also said a decision will take time.

"In the area of health, there can't be any pressures, only facts," he said.

The U.S. shipped 106,000 head of cattle to Mexico in 2002, and Mexico was the top buyer of U.S. beef that year in terms of volume, importing 384,900 tons.

Trujillo said Australia, Canada and Nicaragua are likely to supply Mexico's beef needs arising from the ban on U.S. meat, and that Mexico is evaluating the sanitary status of Uruguay.

Both federal and state officials have declined to disclose how the dead calves will be disposed of, but have said the meat from the animals will be kept out of the food supply. The calves also won't be rendered for animal feed or other products.

"This should just continue to instill additional confidence among consumers," said Mary Beth Lang, spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture. "The likelihood of any transmission to this calf is very remote," she said. "This is an abundance of caution."

The calves range in age from 1 month to several months.

The herd is one of three under quarantine in Washington because of ties to the infected animal, a 6½-year-old Holstein dairy cow that was shipped to the United States from Canada in 2001. The other herds include cows that may have come from the same Alberta farm.

Officials are awaiting DNA tests to confirm the sick cow's origins.

"I'm glad that the USDA is responding openly to the situation and that the decision has been made to ensure consumers of the safety of the beef supply," said Patti Brumbach, executive director of the Washington Beef Commission.

Officials have said contaminated feed is the most likely source of the infection. U.S. and Canadian investigators still are trying to locate the other animals from the Canadian herd and trace the feed eaten by the sick cow to determine if it contained tissue that carried the disease.