The infected animals are linked to a herd in Indiana, according to officials
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
Two cows at a Michigan processing facility have tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB), the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) announced yesterday.
Further testing led investigators back to a roping cattle herd in Ottawa County, Mich.
MDARD has established a three-mile surveillance area around the farm. Other farms in the area will be required to perform bovine TB testing within six months. Government officials will notify those farms individually.
MDARD has confirmed the infected animals are linked to another state.
Indiana officials confirmed in 2016 that two beef herds in Franklin County were bovine TB positive. A white-tailed deer in the area also tested positive for the disease.
Scientists used genome testing to confirm the link between the infected Michigan herd and the herds in Indiana.
“Every time a bovine tuberculosis animal is identified at a processing plant, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and MDARD work to track where the animal has traveled,” Jarold Goodrich, acting assistant state veterinarian, said in a release yesterday. “In Michigan, all cattle moving off any farm or property must have a radio-frequency identification ear tag that begins with 840 to ensure animals can be traced during a disease emergency.”
Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Texas have all been battling bovine TB recently.
“We’ve had cases of bovine TB in the southeast portion of Indiana over the last couple of years,” Joe Moore, executive vice-president of the Indiana Beef Cattle Association, told Farms.com today.
Officials confirmed 216 cases of bovine TB on American cattle farms between 2003 and 2009, according to the USDA.
An information session to discuss bovine TB will be held on March 6 at 7 p.m. in the Grandville Public Middle School auditorium in Grandville, Mich.