Cattle ranchers are concerned over a recent outbreak of
tuberculosis in cattle that jeopardizes the state’s cattle health
status.
Cattle ranchers are concerned over a recent outbreak of tuberculosis in cattle that jeopardizes the state’s cattle health status.
The outbreaks are the first in the state since 1991, with two incidents occurring in Tulare County and one in Fresno County. If another outbreak occurs in California during the next 48 months, the state’s bovine TB-free status will be lost, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
“Whenever there’s an unfortunate situation where you have an outbreak that could potentially contaminate the food supply, it’s a concern to the agriculture industry,” said Robert Frusetta, a cattle rancher in San Benito County.
Local cattle ranchers, including Frusetta, however, are confident that the outbreaks will not spread to other cattle in California and the government task force handling the situation is doing a good job in controlling the disease.
In May, when bovine TB was confirmed in a dairy herd in Tulare County, the CDFA, USDA and the cattle industry established a task force, which is now working to control and eradicate the disease.
In November, all 6,400 cattle from the first affected herd were slaughtered after 27 were confirmed to have the disease. And all cattle sold from or associated with the affected herd during the past five years were being traced and tested.
To date, 135,435 cattle from 88 herds have been tested for exposure to bovine TB since the investigation began. Estimated costs for testing and reimbursement for the animals was estimated at $13.6 million so far.
Cattle in Michigan and Texas have recently been diagnosed with TB and the disease is common in cattle in Mexico. Yet, cattle from these places are shipped to other states, provided they have a negative TB test.
Many cattle ranchers ship their cows out of state then back again. Charles McCullough, a San Benito cattle rancher who sells calves to ranchers, recently shipped his cows to Oregon for grazing purposes, but he only ships to ranches that he knows are clean, he said.
“At this point I don’t think there’s any problem at all. They have it isolated at this point,” McCullough said. “It was an isolated incident and I have no concern.”
The cattle in California that were infected might have contracted the disease from cows in other states, McCullough said.
For Mitt French, president of San Benito Cattle, which also ships cattle out of state, the outbreak was nothing to be alarmed about since the herd that was infected was dairy cattle, which are usually isolated.
“I don’t think it’s to alarming. I think it occurs anyway. I don’t think its anything to worry about,” French said. “I think this happens occasionally.”
French said if the state loses its TB-free status, he would have to spend more money on testing each cow before it is shipped.
If the state does loses its bovine TB-free status and is moved to a Modified Accredited Advanced status, cattle ranchers would be required to have official identification and a negative TB test for cattle within 60 days of interstate movement or originate from a TB accredited-free herd or move directly to slaughter, according to the CDFA.
Costs for testing an individual cow for TB range from $5 to $10 per cow. Statistics from the CDFA indicate there are more than 5.1 million cattle in California.
In order for the state to maintain its accredited-free TB status, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that an effected herd be depopulated and there is no evidence of TB spread in California.
The CADF is taking every precaution and now requires all dairy breeding animals leaving California that are more than six months old are required to have a negative TB test within 30 days of interstate movement.
