Texas TB Plan Expands to Purebred Industry

AUSTIN - Apr 14/05 - SNS -- Livestock health officials in Texas will implement the state's cattle tuberculosis (TB) mitigation plan by randomly testing nearly 2,000 purebred or seed stock beef herds for the disease this summer.

The plan was developed in 2002 as part of an effort to regain Texas' TB-free status.

The plan calls for TB testing all of the state's 811 dairies and about 2,400 purebred or seed stock beef herds. Dairy herd testing has been completed, but only about 500 owners of purebred or seed stock beef herds have volunteered their herd for a test. Federal funds for herd testing "expire" October 1, so the TAHC is tackling the problem with a high-tech version of drawing names from a hat.

"In early March, we reconvened the Texas TB Task Force, which included leaders from the purebred cattle industry, to determine how to get herds tested and meet the agreement made with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has funded the plan," said Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas' state veterinarian and executive director of the TAHC, the state's livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.

"Random selection of herds was seen as the most equitable way to complete a statistically valid disease surveillance of purebred and seed stock cattle herds. By mid-April, a computer program will pick names from a database listing purebred and seed stock producers. We then will contact the ranchers to line up the test that will be conducted by private veterinarians at no cost to the herd owner.

"We will try to accommodate ranchers' schedules, and if an owner wants to volunteer their cattle for TB testing, we welcome their participation," he said.

"No herd is too small for testing." Dr. Hillman said more than 500 private veterinary practitioners in Texas have completed additional TB training and are on contract with the TAHC to conduct herd tests. To volunteer herds for a test, locate a contract veterinarian, or obtain information, ranchers should contact their local TAHC area office or the TAHC headquarters in Austin at 1-800-550-8242.