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7 more Michigan counties join those free of bovine TB

 

 

By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

 

LANSING, Mich. — The USDA has announced seven more counties in Michigan will be designated as free from bovine tuberculosis, or TB-free.

TB-free is the highest designation a county or state can have regarding bovine TB. In order to have the status, the location in question has to have no reported cases of bovine TB in any cattle herd for at least five years, according to Rick Smith, an assistant state veterinarian for Michigan and the state’s Bovine TB Project coordinator.

Michigan, with 83 counties, will have only four remaining that will have a designation lower than TB-free. Those counties are Alcona, Montmorency, Alpena and Oscoda. The seven counties to receive the new upgraded designation are Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Otsego and Presque Isle.

The announcement was in the form of an interim rule published last week in the Federal Register. The comment period for the interim rule lasts through Nov. 10.

If there are no changes to the interim rule, it will become a final rule sometime after that.

Smith described the latest development as "very good news." Yet he said 20-30 infected deer are being discovered each year in the four-county problem area.

The interim rule gives people a chance to comment, but Smith said he’s not anticipating any issues. The interim rule "allows us to go out and start to do things immediately."

The worst-hit area for bovine TB in Michigan has always been the northern Lower Peninsula, in a significant swath of land around Atlanta. Smith said there’s a lot of work still to be done to get the remaining four counties into a TB free status.

"There’s a lot of producers in these counties that have been jumping through a lot of hoops for the past 19 years," Smith said of the newly upgraded territory. "This is really a wonderful thing for them. It’s definitely a step forward. We’re hoping to get all the testing in these seven counties discontinued."

Testing will go on in at least some of the seven Michigan counties for the time being. In Presque Isle County, there will be random testing of 122 herds of cattle this year and next year. In Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmett and Otsego counties, there will be a total of 110 herds tested over the next two years. A herd will not have to be tested twice.

In conjunction with the USDA announcement, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) will seek comments on a new proposed zoning order for Michigan to reflect bovine TB-free status for the seven counties.

Two public meetings will be held in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula for producers and others to comment on the proposed zoning order.

Bovine TB zoning order public hearings for formal comment are scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at Wolverine Village Community Center, 5714 W. Main St., Wolverine, MI 49799; and for 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the MDARD office at 16860 M-32 East, Atlanta, MI 49709.

9/17/2014