LANSING, Mich. — The USDA and Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) said last week 57 counties in the state’s Lower Peninsula (L.P.) are now Bovine tuberculosis (TB) free.

“Congratulations to our producers. This announcement marks a turning point in the Bovine TB program,” said Keith Creagh, MDARD director. “Through hard work by beef and dairy farmers, effective surveillance testing, RFID (radio frequency identification) and movement certification requirements, we are able to protect and now open up new market opportunities for our combined beef and dairy industries.

“It has been a long haul for our 13,000 beef and dairy producers since we started addressing this issue 17 years ago.”

For years most of these counties, comprising the bulk of the L.P., have been considered at low risk for Bovine TB. As such, restrictions on the movement of cattle have been in place, along with more regulations on how the cattle in the L.P. are handled. These regulations cost money for cattle ranchers.

According to an interim rule published in the Federal Register last week, reclassification of a zone to TB-free immediately removes all movement restrictions and reclassification from modified accredited (MAZ) to modified accredited advanced (MAAZ) reduces requirements.

“Advancement of status for the above-mentioned counties will allow producers to move their cattle with fewer pre-movement testing requirements, saving time and money,” the rule states.

The most restrictive zone is the MAZ, which is a small area in the northern L.P. around Alpena. Bovine TB is known to be endemic in this area. Before the interim rule, which was published Sept. 14, the MAZ consisted of Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, Oscoda and Presque Isle counties, as well as portions of Iosco and Ogemaw counties. The rest of the state was in the MAAZ, a status between the MAZ and TB-free. The Upper Peninsula has always been designated as TB-free.

Iosco and Ogemaw counties, which were subdivided into two different zones each, are now part of the TB-free zone. The USDA has also decided Presque Isle County qualifies to be moved to the MAAZ, further shrinking the size of the TB endemic zone.

“This is a huge accomplishment,” said James Averill, MDARD’s Bovine TB eradication program coordinator. “Today we’re going from 18 percent being TB-free to 86 percent, so that’s a big change. This is a huge step forward. It’s been a long haul, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

“What we’re hoping is that other states will allow cattle coming from our TB-free areas in without any testing.”

Averill went on to say Illinois and Wisconsin treat the whole state as being in the lowest TB zone; in other words, it doesn’t recognize split-state status. Indiana and Ohio do acknowledge split-state status.

“We’ve been waiting for the news for some time now,” Averill said. “It’s a big deal for us, and especially a big deal for our farmers.

“There’s a big savings for our industry. I would argue that there is cost savings for the state of Michigan with this change. There’s cattle going out of state all the time.”