Emigrant ranch's cattle pass brucellosis test
Source: Billings Gazette, by Jan Falstad
May 24, 2007
Montana ranchers get to keep their brucellosis-free status for now, although the state remains in danger of losing the favored rating as the federal and state investigation continues.
Final tests Wednesday showed that 190 cattle on the Bruce Malcolm ranch near Emigrant were clean of brucellosis even though several of the seven Montana cows found carrying the disease came from this herd.
"It means that this place up here is free from brucellosis. No reactors. No positive ones. Every animal we have is negative," said Malcolm, who also serves as a Republican state representative from Emigrant.
Over the past few years, Malcolm has shipped some of his cattle to his daughter and son-in-law's ranch near Bridger, including a few of the cows that tested positive. The Bridger herd has been quarantined and investigators are focusing next on testing cattle in the Bridger area that may have been in contact with the Malcolm family cattle during the past two years.
If even one cow from another herd tests positive in the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Montana will lose its brucellosis-free status.
Ranchers and others in the cattle industry will then have to pay for expensive testing and perhaps vaccinations against the disease that causes pregnant cows, elk, bison and hogs to abort.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer called a news conference in Helena Wednesday to say that this is "a big wake-up call."
"It leaves us with our brucellosis-free status intact," the governor said. "But it's a heck of a warning and we're not done yet. We've become CSI Montana."
Schweitzer again called for setting up a 50-mile "hot zone" around Yellowstone National Park where all cattle entering and leaving that area would be tested for brucellosis. This is the area where elk and bison, which can carry the disease, are most likely to come into contact with cattle. If any cattle test positive, only this area would lose its brucellosis-free status, not the whole state.
The governor said APHIS officials have told him they handle other diseases on a regional basis and are willing to discuss setting up a brucellosis "hot spot" in Montana.
The idea is supported by the Montana Cattlemen's Association, but not the Montana Stockgrowers Association.
Schweitzer said the bison management plan isn't working and he called on the stockgrowers to support his "hot zone" plan.
"We're not managing the disease, we're chasing buffalo in and out of the park," he said. "I sure wouldn't want to be that livestock organization that announces Montana has lost its brucellosis-free status."
Schweitzer also asked Christian Mackay, recently hired as the executive officer for the Department of Livestock, to start work immediately instead of June 1. And he called an emergency meeting of the livestock board for Tuesday.
Acting State Veterinarian Jeanne Rankin said that under federal rules, the state only has two months to trace and test all contact animals.
"We're at 55 days and counting and we will not rest until we've finished," she said.
There will be no appeal for the cattle on the Bridger ranch that have tested positive.
One cow was sold and shipped to Iowa before her positive test came back. She was euthanized at Iowa State University.
Six more positive cows, all with calves, remain on the quarantined ranch near Bridger.
Under APHIS rules, the entire herd of nearly 300 head must be destroyed by July 6.
"If Montana wishes to keep its class-free status, even without a new infected herd, that Bridger herd would have to be depopulated," APHIS spokeswoman Teresa Howes said from Fort Collins, Colo.
APHIS is negotiating a fair market price with the ranchers and when and agreement is reached, Howes said the Bridger cattle will be shipped.
"These animals in the Bridger herd will go into the food chain and they are perfectly safe to eat," Howes said.
Professor Emeritus Paul Nicoletti at the University of Florida in Gainesville is an expert on this disease, which he began studying in 1960. Nicknamed "Dr. Brucellosis" by his veterinary students, Nicoletti said the bacteria are concentrated in the animal's reproductive areas.
"Eating the beef isn't a problem, and the reason for that is the bacteria that causes the disease is confined to the organ parts of the body," Nicoletti said. "And those aren't used for consumption."
Montana State University Extension Beef Specialist John Paterson agreed with Nicoletti and recommended cooking beef to 160 degrees, which destroys brucellosis and other bacteria such as listeria or E. coli.
"It's OK to eat the meat because brucellosis does not get into the muscle," Paterson said. "If you are concerned about it, cook it to medium."
People can contract brucellosis, called undulant fever in humans, if they come into contact with infected tissues or fluids. That means veterinarians, slaughterhouse workers and ranchers are most at risk.
When he hunts, Paterson said he wears plastic gloves to field-dress an elk, but he doesn't worry about eating the meat.
