This is a heartbreaking story to have to report, as the situation in Calif. continues to develop concerning three dairies where cows have tested positive for tuberculosis. Now it looks like many of the animals will have to be slaughtered. Tuberculosis is a highly contagious respiratory disease that California had been free of since 2005. Our thoughts and prayers here at WDD go out to the dairy producers faced with this terrible situation.
More than 4,800 dairy cows at risk of carrying tuberculosis are being slaughtered this week in central California, where nearly 16,000 cattle in the country’s largest milk-producing region have been quarantined, federal officials said.
Undersecretary of Agriculture Bruce Knight met privately with local dairy operators Tuesday along with the state veterinarian and other industry officials monitoring three new cases of TB recently discovered in Fresno County dairies.
Federal and state agriculture officials were still tightlipped about the identities and locations of the three dairies where cows tested positive for the disease, which can be transmitted to humans and other mammals through the air or through drinking unpasteurized milk from an infected cow.
The discovery of the highlyalready has prompted changes in interstate shipping regulations.
Pasteurization kills the TB bacteria, but trade organizations still worry about the possible financial impact on California’s $7.3 billion dairy industry.
The owner of one dairy has accepted a USDA buyout of up to $3,000 a head, and his cows are headed for the slaughterhouses. The two other dairies are weighing whether to operate under strict quarantines, which can last for years.
One of the affected dairies milks more than 10,000 cows and sells semen and embryos from high-production cows and bulls internationally. The operation faces losing 50 years of genetic development if the dairy operator chooses to slaughter his cattle, said Michael March, chief executive of Western United Dairymen.
“It’s tragic when you have that kind of investment and build up that legacy and genetic bloodline,” said Marsh. “He’s facing a very difficult choice.”
A routine inspection of a slaughterhouse cow in January found TB lesions on its lymph nodes, prompting the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s inspection so far of 150,000 cattle. Ninety percent of infected cattle do not show symptoms, which include weight loss, cough and rough coats.
“Because we don’t have a good test and it can be spread so easily, unfortunately they are guilty until proven innocent,” said Andrew House, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, whose constituents include dozens of dairy operators. “That’s especially tough if you have a dairy herd with 10,000 animals and only one confirmed case.”
State officials are still trying to understand how the cows got exposed. DNA testing shows that two of the cows that tested positive this spring share a strain of the bacteria that originated in Mexico.
3 Comments on “Tragedy in Calif.”
Sorry about the loss of the dairy cattle but do you mean to tell me that disease can be found and tracked without the help of NAIS?!?!?!?
Disease from Mexico? How can that be? Yet it was found without the help of NAIS. Would NAIS have stopped that strain of bacteria from coming over the border?
As you can see from my facetious comments I am against NAIS. I am not happy being included in a program that makes me a partner with corporate ag. I am not in the dairy business, did not want to be any part of it, was never asked what I thought or given any chance to help make the rules. But since NAIS will make all of us partners even if we own just one livestock animal, even as a pet, (and believe me I am doing everything I can not to be included in NAIS) I will not be a silent partner.
Sorry about the loss of the dairy cattle but do you mean to tell me that disease can be found and tracked without the help of NAIS?!?!?!?
Disease from Mexico? How can that be? Yet it was found without the help of NAIS. Would NAIS have stopped that strain of bacteria from coming over the border?
As you can see from my facetious comments I am against NAIS. I am not happy being included in a program that makes me a partner with corporate ag. I am not in the dairy business, did not want to be any part of it, was never asked what I thought or given any chance to help make the rules. But since NAIS will make all of us partners even if we own just one livestock animal, even as a pet, (and believe me I am doing everything I can not to be included in NAIS) I will not be a silent partner.
Sorry about the loss of the dairy cattle but do you mean to tell me that disease can be found and tracked without the help of NAIS?!?!?!?
Disease from Mexico? How can that be? Yet it was found without the help of NAIS. Would NAIS have stopped that strain of bacteria from coming over the border?
As you can see from my facetious comments I am against NAIS. I am not happy being included in a program that makes me a partner with corporate ag. I am not in the dairy business, did not want to be any part of it, was never asked what I thought or given any chance to help make the rules. But since NAIS will make all of us partners even if we own just one livestock animal, even as a pet, (and believe me I am doing everything I can not to be included in NAIS) I will not be a silent partner.