Cattle Herd in Park County Tests Positive for Brucellosis. Livestock Board Says Herd is Quarantining

Sep 13, 2024

By Olivia Weitz

A cattle herd in Park County has tested positive for the disease brucellosis.

The Wyoming Livestock Board says the herd is quarantining and they don’t anticipate impacts to other herds.

Brucellosis can cause cattle to abort their young. Elk are known to transmit the disease. Park County is in a part of the state that’s regularly surveilled for the disease because of the presence of wildlife carrying it.

Fifth generation rancher Dustin Taylor’s cow-calf operation is southwest of Meeteetse and not tied to the recent detection. He said last November, one of his cows got the disease.

“The earliest we can be completely off of quarantine would be in the spring of ‘25,” he said.

Taylor said not being able to feed his cows at feedlots where he typically would has already cost him $30,000 in added feed costs, which includes hay.

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