June 7, 2004

 

 

US Cattle Producers Scramble As TB-Testing Deadline Nears

 

US dairy and breeder cattle producers are far behind schedule to meet an August deadline for testing hundreds of thousands animals in order to regain the coveted tuberculosis-free status for Texas herds.

 

Texas is the nation's leading cattle-producing and exporting state. But the U.S. Agriculture Department stripped the TB-free status in 2002. If the USDA deadline of August 31 is not met or extended, other states might not allow Texas feeder cattle in.

 

As of late May, 449 of 850 dairies had been tested and just 177 of 7,600 herds of breeder cattle had been tested. The state TB-surveillance program approved by the federal agency requires only 25 percent of breeder herds to be tested.

 

"In my opinion the purebred breeders may not understand the urgency of the testing goal," said Dr. Dee Ellis a veterinarian with the Texas Animal Health Commission who is managing the heightened surveillance program. "The dairies are on track, the beef people are not."

 

Bovine TB is a highly contagious lung disease among cattle but it rarely is passed along to humans. Infected cattle spread the bacteria by coughing, bellowing and snorting in the confines of a feedlot or pasture.

 

Two issues have probably kept breeder producers from testing their animals, Ellis said. As all the breeder herds are not required to be tested, few producers stepped forward initially, Ellis said.

 

"They're all waiting for someone else to do it," he said. "It's just human nature."

 

It is also harder to test breeder cattle than dairy cattle. Dairy cows get fed twice daily in a place where veterinarians can more readily perform the test. Breeder producers must place each animal in a chute to be tested. The tests are checked three days later and the animals must again be placed in a chute.

 

In recent weeks, Ellis has met with breeder industry groups to reiterate the importance of the testing.

 

Since the program began in November, only one infected dairy has been found and it was in Hamilton County, said Ellis.

 

Dairy and breeder cows are no more susceptible to TB than commercial cattle, but they are usually kept in herds much longer because of their value for milking and breeding. If exposed, it would be several years before these animals are tested or sent to slaughter where carcasses are examined for signs of TB.

 

Those in the dairy and breeder industry are also pushing breeder producers to shift their testing into high gear.

 

"I can understand their reluctance to have the government come out and test," said Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers spokesman Matt Brockman, "but on the other hand if we don't get enough herds tested and prove we don't have a significant prevalence of TB then we're liable to face repercussions of additional restrictions. Texas ranchers are caught in the proverbial Catch-22."

 

Had movement restrictions been imposed by the USDA, cattle producers would have been required to identify some feeder cattle - those leaving Texas to graze in other states - with negative TB tests before moving them across state lines. About 1.5 million feeder cattle leave Texas each year.

 

When TB is detected, the entire herd is usually destroyed. Two outbreaks of the bacterial infection triggered the change in Texas' federal designation in 2002.

 

In 2001, an infected herd was found and destroyed in Fayette County, just east of Bastrop County in Central Texas, and state officials recently have killed a herd at a beef and dairy operation in Pecos County in West Texas. In 2003, an infected herd was found in Zavala County.