MDARD - State Designates 10-mile Radius Cattle Testing Areas in Northeast Lower Michigan

State Designates 10-mile Radius Cattle Testing Areas in Northeast Lower Michigan

10-mile circle areas to be established for cattle testing

LANSING - The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) today announced the establishment of a "Potential High Risk Area" around three different Presque Isle County deer taken during the 2011 hunting season. The free-ranging white-tailed deer were recently confirmed by the Michigan departments of Natural Resources and Community Health to be bovine Tuberculosis (TB) positive. As a result, any cattle and bison farms within a 10-mile radius around where the deer were harvested must complete testing for bovine TB in the next six months.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Modified Accredited Advanced status to Presque Isle County in 2011 because the cattle industry has controlled the spread of disease by testing, using electronic ID, and risk mitigation practices. These are all important components of keeping that status," said MDARD's State Veterinarian Dr. Steven Halstead. "By designating a ‘potential' high-risk area, we are saying we want to make sure, through testing, that the disease has not spread from deer to cattle."

MDARD will be contacting producers to schedule whole-herd bovine TB tests before calving starts and/or after calving is over - whichever time is least stressful for the animals. A town hall meeting will take place at the following location to discuss the circle testing:

7:00 p.m., Thursday, February 23, 2012
Case Township Hall
5561 Main St., Ste. 5
Millersburg, MI 49759

Additionally, an Alpena County cattle herd was recently diagnosed as bovine TB positive. A town hall meeting to discuss this occurrence, and MDARD's response, is scheduled for:

7:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Green Township Hall
14621 M-32 West
Lachine, MI 49753

Since the bovine TB eradication effort began, the state's 1.2 million cattle have been tested for the disease. U.S. Department of Agriculture moved 57 counties in the Lower Peninsula to TB-Free Status, moved Presque Isle into the Modified Accredited Advanced Zone with Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, and Otsego counties, and merged the Modified Accredited Zone to the counties with the highest risk of bovine TB in cattle to Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Oscoda.

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