News Update
Dec. 4, 2008

Buyout Program Leads to Discovery of TB Positive Cows

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health today announced that three mature cows sent to slaughter from a buyout herd in Beltrami County tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB). The herd is located in the state’s Modified Accredited Zone, within the Management Zone. This finding will not result in a downgrade of status for this area or the state.  

The disease was initially detected during routine slaughter surveillance when a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) veterinarian detected suspicious lesions on three animals. Tissue samples were submitted to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, where a diagnosis of bovine TB was confirmed. The cows were systematically traced back to the herd using the Animal Movement Certificate and individual identification (ID). The remaining cattle in the herd have been quarantined. 

The Beltrami herd owner was participating in the state-funded herd buyout program, along with 45 other producers located in the Management Zone. The aim of the buyout program, authorized by legislation signed into law this year, is to eliminate herds located in the area where the disease has been known to exist. 

“This positive finding validates the entire buyout program,” said Minnesota Bovine TB Coordinator Joe Martin. “We have found positive herds in this area before, and we knew it might happen again, especially in older animals such as these. By removing higher-risk cattle from the Management Zone and working to decrease the deer population, we are carrying out our strategy of eradicating the disease. And that’s good news for everyone involved.”

The Board of Animal Health has received 45 herd buyout contracts signed by cattle producers in the TB Management Zone. The Board estimates that 6,800 cattle will be removed from the TB disease management area as a result of the buyout program. To date, more than half the animals have been removed. All animals that are part of the buyout must be removed from the zone or be harvested by Jan. 31, 2009. Producers taking part in the buyout program will not be allowed to keep livestock in the Modified Accredited Zone.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports testing approximately 1,250 deer this fall hunting season in the northwest for the disease and did not detect any obvious cases of bovine TB in the deer sampled.

“While this is encouraging news,” said Michelle Carstensen, DNR Wildlife Health Program Coordinator, “Final test results are pending and should be available in early 2009.” While the total number of infected deer found since 2005 remains at 24 cases, DNR plans to continue management efforts this winter to minimize the risks of this disease persisting in the local deer population.

For more information on TB, visit the state’s bovine TB web site at www.mntbfree.com.

— Release provided by the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.

Know Your USDA Watersheds

For the first time, information collected during the past 40 years from instruments on large watersheds across the country is available online, thanks to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) web site.

The web site, called STEWARDS (Sustaining the Earth’s Watersheds, Agricultural Research Data System), has interactive maps of watersheds. The site allows users to see the topography of the watersheds and the instrument locations, as well as download data.

Jean Steiner, director of the ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory in El Reno, Okla., came up with the idea of organizing data from watersheds nationwide into one site with a standardized format. One key purpose is to make the information available to people involved in the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) and to expand the usefulness of the information gathered at each watershed for nationwide analyses.

CEAP began in 2003 as a multi-agency effort to quantify the environmental benefits of conservation practices used by private landowners participating in selected USDA conservation programs.
But the data are also crucial to others doing hydrological analyses, and to the public, especially to people living in these watersheds.

The data include information on pesticides, nitrogen and phosphorous in streams, rivers, lakes and drinking water reservoirs. The web site also has data on daily stream discharge levels, air and soil temperature and other weather data.  

Two papers on STEWARDS appear in the November-December 2008 issue of the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

— Release provided by the USDA.

Prescribed Burn Workshop Scheduled Dec. 16 in Henrietta

Prescribed burning is a tool landowners can use to manage heavy grass and brush growth and minimize risks created by the lingering drought and high wildfire conditions, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent said.

But knowing the rules and right conditions are key to a successful and safe burn, said Missy Hodgin, AgriLife Extension agricultural and natural resources agent for Clay County.

A prescribed burning workshop is scheduled for Dec. 16 at Henrietta. The program will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Pioneer Hall, located at the rodeo grounds approximately 0.8 mile north of the intersection of Texas Highway 82 and Farm-to-Market Road 1197.

The workshop is sponsored by AgriLife Extension, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The program will offer participants three continuing education units for their pesticide applicator license certification, Hodgin said.

Topics will include prescribed burning and vegetative responses, state prescribed burn policy, planning a prescribed burn, prescribed burning techniques, on-site field demonstrations and implementing burn plans to maximize wildlife benefit.

Advance registration and a fee of $15 is required by Dec. 9. Space is limited to 100 people. Checks should be made payable to Clay Beef Committee.

Registration forms should be sent to Texas AgriLife Extension Service-Clay County, 210 W. Ikard St., Suite B, Henrietta, Texas 76365.

For more information or to get a registration form, call the AgriLife Extension office at 940-538-5042 or Texas Parks and Wildlife at 940-538-5689.

— Release provided by Texas AgriLife Extension.

— compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.