California Loses Bovine Tuberculosis-Free Status

On April 25 USDA amended its bovine tuberculosis regulations regarding state and zone classifications by removing California from the list of “Accredited-Free” states, downgrading it to the list of states classified as “Modified Accredited Advanced.”  This downgrade was triggered by the discovery of three California dairy herds infected with bovine tuberculosis between May 2002 and February 2003.  It will require California’s beef and dairy cattle producers to comply with additional regulations and testing requirements for the interstate movement of cattle for a minimum of two years.

 Given the considerable costs to beef cattle producers of complying with these regulations, the California Cattlemen’s Association has worked closely with USDA, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and neighboring states to lessen the impacts of this new ruling to California beef cattle producers. Among the actions taken:

•  Assisted in the development of a pasture-to-pasture movement agreement to waive certain testing requirements on cattle exiting California via pasture-to-pasture and 50-mile permits.  This movement agreement has been approved by USDA and neighboring states. Approximately 105,000 beef breeding cattle exit California annually via pasture-to-pasture and 50-mile permits.

•  Lobbied to have funds appropriated for the depopulation of bovine tuberculosis-infected dairy herds.  Funds have been provided for the depopulation of all three infected herds in California. Depopulation of these herds will allow California to regain its bovine tuberculosis “Accredited-Free” status in an expeditious manner.

•  Provided input to USDA and has met with top USDA officials regarding bovine tuberculosis state and zone classification regulations, which are currently under review.  California Cattlemen has urged USDA to base state bovine tuberculosis status on the actual prevalence of the disease and the risk of bovine tuberculosis transmission, rather than an absolute number of infected herds within the state. USDA will likely publish new regulations in late 2003 or early 2004.

•  Formally requested that the California Department of Food and Agriculture assess the feasibility of regionalizing the state of California with respect to bovine tuberculosis.  The agency is conducting the necessary preliminary work to accomplish this task.

 “Our successes to date will serve to lessen many of the impacts to ranchers of this downgrade,” says California Cattlemen’s Association President Darrel Sweet. “However, these successes would have been impossible without the support and assistance of state and federal animal health agencies. We sincerely appreciate the close collaboration between these agencies and California’s ranchers.”

 Bovine tuberculosis is a contagious, infectious and communicable disease. Federal and state agencies are currently investigating the cause and spread of bovine tuberculosis in California, and to date no beef cattle herds have been determined to be infected with the disease. The quality and safety of USDA-inspected milk and meat products in California are in no way threatened by bovine tuberculosis.