Your rumor is untrue
The TB status of a state does not change with the identification of one herd - they will test the herd of origin and do trace backs and trace forwards to determine if it is an isolated case of infection or more pervasive. As I recall there must be 2 separate farms identified as infected within 12 months (I believe) to drop the states status. The state of Illinois is reacting in an emotional not science or risk based fashion but heck that is why we have states rights
From:
www.lajuntatribunedemocrat.com
June 18, 2010
by Candace Krebs
Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease threats, traceback on cattlemen's radar
PUEBLO, Colo. — The federal approach to monitoring and containing
bovine tuberculosis is changing just in time for the state of Colorado.
Cattlemen packed into the animal health and welfare committee meeting
during the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association annual convention earlier
this week to hear the latest on a case of four cows at a Colorado dairy
confirmed positive for bovine TB. The outbreak was first discovered in a
cow sold through the La Junta Livestock Auction.
A discovery of TB within a state has traditionally been cause for
concern because it threatens the state’s TB-free status and leads to
onerous disease testing requirements and trade restrictions. Once a
state loses its TB free status, the process of upgrading its health
status can take years.
New Mexico, along with Michigan, Minnesota and California, all had
their TB status threatened in recent months when cases cropped up at
dairies in those states.
But State Veterinarian Keith Roehr assured cattlemen that disease
defense protocols are changing.
On April 15, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a
federal order eliminating movement restrictions and testing obligations
for non-affected animals in states where TB has been found. It was
described as an interim measure meant to minimize negative impacts of
the existing TB program until those regulations can be studied and
amended.
Many agree it is time to modify the cooperative eradication program
began in 1917 to eliminate what was once the most prevalent infectious
bovine disease. The economic toll of a broad-brush policy is high and
indemnity costs can quickly rise into the millions.
“Why are they doing this? It’s a funding issue,” Roehr said.
“They have started using reasoning rather than one dogmatic
approach.”
The cow in Colorado that red-flagged the infected herd fortunately had
an ear tag, which Roehr said allowed animal health officials to achieve
traceback. Had it not been for that identifier, health officials would
have had to quarantine 11 herds for further testing, he said.
TB surveillance is now being based on logical risk models instead of
arbitrary state lines, Roehr said.
“There is very little co-mingling between the dairy and beef
industries,” he added.
The emergence of TB in Colorado eclipsed ongoing concerns over
trichomonisis, a parasitic venereal disease of cattle.
So far this year five Colorado counties have had positive trich cases:
Conejos, Crowley, Prowers, Rio Blanco, and Saguache.
Tests insuring bulls are free of trich fueled additional discussion
during the committee meeting.
CCA members crafted an amendment asking the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association to petition other state animal health agencies to accept
trich pool testing by an accredited lab.
The procedure saves money by pooling five samples at a time. Jim
Kennedy, director of the Rocky Ford Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory,
said his facility is currently the only one doing pool testing in the
country, although it does contract out diagnostic services to other
states that use pooling for in-state purposes.
Pool testing is the same method blood banks use to screen for HIV,
Kennedy said.
Any animal disease lab has the equipment to do batch testing and is
welcome to come to Rocky Ford for training, he said.
Many states have imposed stricter tests in reaction to rising concerns
over trich. CCA members hope to deliver a message at the national level
that pooled tests are scientifically valid and refusing to accept them
inhibits trade between states and puts an undue economic burden on
Colorado’s seedstock producers.
Ongoing animal ID push
Colorado State Veterinarian Keith Roehr is involved with the federal ag
department’s effort to grapple with protecting the nation’s herd
from a disease outbreak, serving as one of five state veterinarians on a
federal working group drafting the framework of a proposed rule for an
animal traceability plan expected to be published early next year.
“National animal ID is not totally dead,” he said. “We are still
using components and parts of it as we continue moving ahead.”
The new, decentralized plan will only apply to livestock that cross
state lines. Some form of traceability that meets “performance
standards” shared between all states and tribes will be required,
although use of federal premise IDs will not be mandatory, Roehr said.
The two main forms of identification will likely be health certificates
or an individual animal ID, he said.
The group plans to exempt “commuter cattle,” which are moved
between states to properties of the same owner, as well as feeder cattle
that travel in easily identified production lots.
The working group also wants to allow the use of low cost technology,
such as metal clip tags, which run about 7 to 10 cents each.
Roehr said Colorado imports more feeder calves than any other state,
and those animals co-mingle with native herds, increasing the risk for
diseases to be introduced. “TB has been diagnosed in cattle as young
as six months of age,” he added.
Only 28 percent of cattle slaughtered in the U.S. are officially
identified. In addition, even when “back tags” are applied at the
auction barn, they are only randomly retrieved and recorded at packing
plants during processing, Roehr said. To trace a diseased animal to its
source, packers as well as producers will have to do their part to
maintain traceability, he said.
Roehr estimated that fully half of the ranchers in the West are
receptive to a coordinated animal ID program, but Midwestern states like
Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are experiencing more resistance from
producers.
Roehr also announced Ft. Collins would be the site of a foreign animal
disease training workshop on July 29. Animal health officials are
seeking producers interested in attending.
“We are preparing vets to be deployed in emergency situations. I
think we should do the same thing with producers,” Roehr said.
