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Brucellosis found in Montana Cows

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Montana Cattlemen's Association
Member Alert
News Release
Seven Montana Cows from One Herd Have Tested Positive for Brucellosis

Governor Remains Committed to Brucellosis Free Status and Solutions in MT

5/18/2007
Sarah Elliott
406-444-9725
[email protected]

( HELENA ) – A cow shipped from Baker, MT tested positive for brucellosis last week reported Governor Schweitzer and the Montana Department of Livestock today.

"We are concerned about our brucellosis free status," said Governor Schweitzer. "Federal and State agencies are investigating the test results now and we will continue to work toward solutions to keep Montana 's brucellosis free status."

The state maintains its brucellosis free status until 2 herds test positive under federal guidelines. If Montana loses status, all adult cattle going out-of-state will be brucellosis tested at the owner's expense. "If we lose our status we will be looking at ways to help ease the burden on private livestock owners," said Governor Schweitzer.

Investigation Timeline

May 1, 2007 51 head of Angus cows were tested for brucellosis in Baker, MT for destination to Iowa .

May 4, 2007 1 Cow tests positive

May 8, 2007 Cow was euthanized at Iowa State University . Blood samples were positive for brucellosis

May 16, 2007 Trace-back herd of 301 cows in Bridger, MT were tested at the Mt Department of Livestock Diagnostic Lab

May 18, 2007 Blood tests from trace-back herd: 6 of 10 are positive for brucellosis

May 18, 2007 Investigation continues

The cattle originated from a ranch where Yellowstone bison had not commingled. The likelihood of the source being Yellowstone bison is remote. In recent years both Idaho and Wyoming have lost their brucellosis free status, Governor Schweitzer said the following in March testifying before Congress:

The livestock industry in Montana and nationwide has gone to great lengths, at substantial costs, to eradicate brucellosis from cattle. Montana remains brucellosis-free, but in the last 2 years Idaho and Wyoming have both dealt with the loss of their brucellosis-free status. As a result, livestock producers in Wyoming and Idaho have been subject to additional time-consuming and costly measures when they ship cattle from their states. Recently Wyoming regained its status, but even as Idaho works to do the same, no clear plan exists to prevent a recurring situation, and it may be simply a matter of time before Montana loses its status.

"I will continue to work with the livestock industry, conservationists, and the federal agencies that bear responsibility for managing the Park – the last remaining reservoir of the brucellosis threat. We must provide real risk management for Montana 's cattle industry and manage bison and elk with the respect they deserve," said Governor Schweitzer.

Over the past couple years Governor Schweitzer has offered his ideas for maintaining better separation between bison and the approximately 700 units of cattle near the Park in order to protect the status of the 2.5 million head of cattle throughout the rest of the state:

Establishment of a small, specialized area near the Park where we would apply stricter management protocols for cattle—100% test in, 100% test out. In exchange, USDA-APHIS would agree that Montana would not lose its brucellosis-free status should two herds become infected inside that designated area.

Negotiation of grazing leases with private landowners near the Park that compensate them for grazing only non-ruminant animals until brucellosis is eradicated—or even permanent purchase of grazing rights or other management agreements that landowners find reasonable. Whatever the mechanism, agreements would be voluntary, and the federal government would need to provide fair-plus compensation.

* Funding of further research into a more effective brucellosis vaccine, and into more effective vaccine delivery methods.

Visit liv.mt.gov for more information on brucellosis
 
State's brucellosis-free status at risk
Infection traced to Bridger herd; if next test is positive, state faces long recovery
By JAN FALSTAD
Of The Gazette Staff

Seven Montana cows have tested positive for brucellosis, and if at least two cows from a separate herd near Emigrant test positive next week, Montana will lose its brucellosis-free status.

That means Montana ranchers would have to pay to test all adult cattle being shipped out of state until Montana can regain its brucellosis-free status.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer said he expects the second set of tests results as early as Tuesday.

"There is a process you go through - rounding up cattle, drawing blood, testing it and then it's either 'Whew!' or 'Oh, my God,' " Schweitzer said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is in charge of controlling the disease. APHIS rules say that a state loses its brucellosis-free status when at least two cows from two herds test positive within 12 months.

On May 1, 51 Angus cows bound for Iowa were tested for brucellosis in Baker. Because Montana is a brucellosis-free state, the cows wouldn't normally be tested. But because the cows were going to be surrogate mothers, the tests were conducted.

On May 4, the Montana State Lab in Bozeman found that one cow tested positive for brucellosis. That cow was euthanized and tissue cultures were re-tested at the National Veterinary Services lab in Ames, Iowa, which conducts the testing for APHIS.

The infected cow was traced back to a herd of 301 cows in Bridger, and that herd was quarantined after six more cows tested positive for brucellosis.

Brucellosis is a contagious disease in ruminant animals that can cause fetuses to abort.

The Bridger cattle came from a ranch near Emigrant, Schweitzer said. A second herd in the Paradise Valley is being tested now.

To prevent the spread of brucellosis from bison to area cattle, officials from the Montana Department of Livestock have hazed wandering Yellowstone National Park bison back into the park. Last year, more than 1,000 bison that ranged onto private lands in Montana were captured, and most were sent to slaughter.

However, the governor said information he has received indicates that bison aren't to blame.

"It seems almost impossible this was a direct transmission from Yellowstone bison to cattle. It could have been it came from elk," Schweitzer said. "Or it could have been someone shipping cattle into Montana from some infected herd in Texas or Mexico."

Jeremy Seidlitz, executive director of the Montana Cattlemen's Association, expressed concern but said he feels helpless for now.

"I really don't think there is anything we can do but watch and hope," Seidlitz said. "Losing the brucellosis-free status is very expensive in terms of money and time."

Brucellosis is considered one of the most serious livestock diseases, primarily affecting cattle, swine, bison and elk.

Ranchers, veterinarians and workers in slaughterhouses are most at risk for the human strain, called undulant fever.

Montana has been brucellosis-free since June 1985. Wyoming found brucellosis in its cattle in 2004 and regained its brucellosis-free status last September.

Currently, Idaho and Texas are the only states without a brucellosis-free rating.

Testing costs from $5 to $10 per animal, depending on whether the tests are conducted at the ranch or elsewhere, said Ray Randall, who owns Bridger Veterinary Service.

"It's a significant problem," he said. "The last time I remember having a brucellosis-positive herd was in the '70s."

Randall said he hasn't taken any blood tests for brucellosis yet.

Even if the second herd tests free of the disease, the 301 cows quarantined near Bridger must be slaughtered, according to APHIS rules. There is no immediate financial help for the owner.

Indemnity funds exist for ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, but not this disease, Seidlitz said, adding that he's never heard of brucellosis insurance.

Schweitzer said the bad news is reason to adopt his plan to test all cattle within a ring around Yellowstone National Park.

He has proposed to APHIS that Montana be allowed to mark off an area of 60 to 70 miles around Yellowstone National Park and require that all the cattle moving in and out of the zone be tested. If the disease shows up, only that zone would lose its brucellosis-free status, not the whole state.

"We would have caught it at its source," the governor said. "Now we're in a position where people long removed from Yellowstone Basin are being painted with the same brush."

Meanwhile, APHIS spokeswoman Teresa Howes in Fort Collins, Colo., said tracing back and testing cattle is a long process, one that's just starting in Montana.

"The good news is that this was found and it didn't go on to infect the national herd," she said. "Now we're doing the investigation to make sure no other herds are infected."

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/19/news/state/20-brucellosis.txt
 
Man I feel bad for that rancher. I had Listeria run through my chinchillas when I was raising them killed every single one. I hope the same doesnt hold true for this poor fella.
 
Brucellosis confirmed in Montana herd

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

It's finally happened. Brucellosis was confirmed this week in domestic cattle in Montana, in a herd near Bridger.


Since 1985, the state's beef herds have been certified as free of the disease, which causes cattle to abort their first calf after infection.

Fear of brucellosis drives most of Montana's controversial efforts to limit bison moving into the state from Yellowstone National Park. However, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Friday that it doesn't appear the outbreak is linked to bison.

"These are not cattle that ever commingled with buffalo," he said by telephone Friday.

The outbreak affects seven cows traced to a ranch in Bridger, a small town south of Laurel and far from any Yellowstone bison.

Schweitzer said some of the infected cattle might have spent time in the Emigrant area in Paradise Valley, about 25 miles from the park's northern boundary.

"That still doesn't mean buffalo" are the source of the disease, he said. "Buffalo don't make it to Emigrant."

A small percentage of elk also carry brucellosis, and elk wander more widely than bison. Officials in Wyoming and Idaho, which lost their brucellosis-free status in recent years, said mixing with infected elk is a likely source of the domestic cattle infections in Montana.

In Wyoming, four herds near Yellowstone tested positive in 2004, but the state regained its brucellosis-free status in 2006. Idaho lost its brucellosis-free status in 2005. The status has not been regained.

The herds in Wyoming and Idaho "most likely were infected by elk," said Teresa Howes, spokeswoman for the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, which oversees the federal brucellosis-eradication program.

One infected herd does not mean the entire state loses its brucellosis-free status. But if a second herd tests positive, every rancher in Montana will face expensive testing and time-consuming restrictions when exporting cattle.

Though once considered a significant public health threat because it spread through unpasteurized milk, brucellosis is now considered mostly an animal disease.

For Montana to retain its brucellosis-free status, the infected herd must be quarantined and depopulated within 60 days, and an investigation must confirm that the disease has not spread.

Dennis McDonald, past president of the Montana Cattlemen's Association, said guessing at the source would be "pure speculation." He also called the existing management plan inadequate.

The disease was first noted in the state when a load of 51 cattle from mixed sources was shipped from Baker, in far-eastern Montana, to Iowa. The cattle were tested for the disease May 1, and one tested positive in preliminary tests, Schweitzer spokeswoman Sara Elliot said Friday.

After the test was confirmed, the cow was euthanized at Iowa State University on May 8.

Investigators then traced the cattle movements to a 301-head herd in Bridger, where more testing was done May 16. The Montana Department of Livestock Diagnostic Laboratory in Bozeman confirmed that six cattle from that herd had the disease.

For the past couple of years, Schweitzer has been calling for a new brucellosis plan near Yellowstone. His plan would involve greater disease-control efforts by the National Park Service and a zone near the park in which all cattle entering or leaving would be tested. The plan also calls for the federal government to compensate ranchers who voluntarily stop grazing in that zone.

And, if two herds become infected, it would not mean the loss of disease-free status for all ranches in the state.

"I just hope we can get people to start listening to us," Schweitzer said. "We're going to make the best of it. Wyoming and Idaho went first. Now I know how they felt."
 
Bruce Malcolm, a rancher and Republican state representative from Emigrant, said Monday that seven of the cows that tested positive for the disease brucellosis came from his herd and that he supplied bulls to the herd under quarantine in Bridger.

More blood was drawn from his herd Monday, he said, and yearlings will be tested this morning. Then it's all over but the waiting.

"We've worked with these cows all our life, it's like losing a member of our family," Malcolm said.

Tests are being conducted on at least two herds in the Paradise Valley, and if two cows from a second herd test positive, Montana will lose its brucellosis-free status, causing a serious economic hit to the state's largest industry. "We're still looking at probably the end of the week before we have test results," said Teresa Howes, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Humans can get a form of brucellosis called undulate fever if they come in contact with infected live animals or birth material, so veterinarians and ranchers are most at risk.

Friday, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's office announced that seven cows from a herd assembled in Baker from cows traced back from Bridger to Emigrant had tested positive for brucellosis, which causes cows to abort their calves.

If the Montana State Laboratory in Bozeman gets a positive test result, APHIS retests the animal at a national lab at Iowa State University. That double testing accounts for some of the delay in results.

Malcolm, whose wife's family established the first permanent ranch in the Paradise Valley near Emigrant, said his herd has had only two bulls introduced in the past 15 years. The Quarter Circle U7 brand cattle, belonging to the Malcolm family, has been vaccinated for brucellosis, but he said the vaccine is only 65 percent effective.

He blames his neighbors - the bison from Yellowstone National Park.

"This is a one-iron, one-brand herd," he said. "You tell me where this comes from."

Depending on the next round of tests, Malcolm said he may be facing the loss of nearly 500 animals.

FULL STORY:

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/22/news/state/30-brucellosis_g.txt
 
Yesterday while in town at the Waterhole we were discussing this Bangs case- and I brought up the fact that at least it wasn't TB, as I remember all the testing that had to be done back in the 50's for that....

Few others remembered it (or were born yet), but what a change it brought to this country- some probably for the good...Back when the TB hit, few ranchs had much of anything for corrals (few sheep pens and sheepsheds)- almost none had an alleyway (unless they had one at a dipping vat) and none had chutes....No one vaccinated- preg tested - tagged...If you were selling you cut whatever out and trailed them to one of the railroad stockyards....Cows ran on their own and if they needed doctoring they were roped and doctored...But with thousands of cows needing to be tested and bled more was needed...

The old local Vet (Doc Spratlin) went and bought himself a portable chute to pull behind his car-- makeshift corrals and alleyways were thrown together...It was still a pretty cowboy way of testing & drawing blood- but it started the first corrals being built in this country...
 
I helped in a TB test in Michigan a few years ago.. HAD a lot of the same results you were talking about Ot.. Folks who didn't have facilities had to make them or get them or they couldn't ship animals anywhere.. Royal pain in the arse because Avian TB would trip false positivves and thans tate would come out and test three antigens on the critters.. It was next to impossible to bring a bovine into Illinois from Michigan at the time.. Something like a 6 month wait with three different tests.. Might have been close to a year wait when it wa all said and done.
 
Worst brucellosis fears unrealized
Subsequent tests of two Bridger herds are negative
By JAN FALSTAD
Of The Gazette Staff

Brucellosis tests run on two herds of about 45 animals each in the Bridger area Friday have come back negative.

That means Montana gets to keep its brucellosis-free status for now.

full story:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/30/news/state/20-brucellosis.txt

--------------------------------------------------
Looks like we'll have another batch of chanting hippie's and tree huggers putting the State on the map again... :roll: What the hay!!!- we should be getting used to them...

State vet details plan to slaughter up to 300 bison
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau

HELENA - Starting this week, state and federal agencies will begin capturing and slaughtering up to 300 bison, including 100 calves, that have entered Montana from Yellowstone National Park.

Ranchers packed a crowded meeting of the state Board of Livestock Tuesday and generally supported the plan as critical to protect their industry.

However, a spokeswoman for the Buffalo Field Campaign vowed that her group would let Americans know through a media campaign about Montana's slaughter of the bison "moms and babies."


http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/30/news/state/40-vet.txt
 
Oldtimer Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 11:05 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Worst brucellosis fears unrealized
Subsequent tests of two Bridger herds are negative
By JAN FALSTAD
Of The Gazette Staff

Brucellosis tests run on two herds of about 45 animals each in the Bridger area Friday have come back negative.

That means Montana gets to keep its brucellosis-free status for now.

full story:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/30/news/state/20-brucellosis.txt

--------------------------------------------------
Looks like we'll have another batch of chanting hippie's and tree huggers putting the State on the map again... What the hay!!!- we should be getting used to them...

State vet details plan to slaughter up to 300 bison
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau

HELENA - Starting this week, state and federal agencies will begin capturing and slaughtering up to 300 bison, including 100 calves, that have entered Montana from Yellowstone National Park.

Ranchers packed a crowded meeting of the state Board of Livestock Tuesday and generally supported the plan as critical to protect their industry.

However, a spokeswoman for the Buffalo Field Campaign vowed that her group would let Americans know through a media campaign about Montana's slaughter of the bison "moms and babies."


http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/30/news/state/40-vet.txt
Click to expand...



That is great news OT...thanks for sharing.

As for the activists/hippies...make sure you keep them in your state. The rest of us don't want them :lol:

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 
Thanks for posting this :) . For 4H, if you take a market animal, you have to do a poster relating to that animal. I chose to do my poster this year about Brucellosis, and I've started collecting these news articles to put in a folder/binder to go along with my poster.
 
6/4/2007 11:24:00 AM


Cattle Health: Brucellosis Infections Prompt Restrictions



Kansas Animal Health Commissioner George Teagarden has signed an order restricting cattle imports from areas of Idaho , Montana and Wyoming that have experienced recent brucellosis cases. Cattle intended for breeding and/or milking purposes and originating from the designated areas of these three states must test negative for brucellosis within 30 days of entering Kansas or come from a certified brucellosis-free herd. This rule applies to females 18 months of age and older and bulls 12 months or more of age.



The order is designed to protect Kansas cattle herds from contracting the disease. Kansas currently is designated as brucellosis free.



Infected cattle herds in the northwestern U.S. were traced to an outbreak in elk. DNA samples from the infected cattle showed the same strain of brucellosis as in area elk herds.



Source: KLA
 

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