About 230 cattle will have to be slaughtered at two farms in Manitoba after confirmation last week that three cows were infected with bovine tuberculosis.
The farms are in the Rural Municipality of Grandview, which is in the disease eradication zone established by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency around Riding Mountain National Park.
“It was not entirely unexpected, although it’s certainly not happy news to report this at all,” said Maria Koller of the agency.
“On the other hand, it at least gives us the opportunity to deal with the infection before it spreads further.”
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The three infected cows all originated on one farm. Two are still on that farm, while the third was sold to another farm in the same area last summer.
The herd of origin is considered infected, which means the 90 cows and calves on that farm will be slaughtered.
The herd at the farm with the other infected cow is considered exposed at this time, but not infected with the disease. However, because as many as 140 cattle on that farm could have been exposed to the infected animal, they will have to be destroyed and tested for the disease.
“If we find any (TB) infection in those animals, then we have another infected farm on our hands,” Koller said.
There are at least another 100 cattle at the second farm that are thought to have had no exposure to the infected cow. Their fate hinges on the outcome of tests on the other 140 cattle. Testing will begin in February, said Koller, and will take a few weeks to complete.
Both farms have been under quarantine since last November, when suspicions surfaced that there might be infected cattle there.
The discovery of more infected cattle wasn’t a surprise to producers, but it adds anxiety, said Manitoba Cattle Producers Association president Betty Green.
“It heightens, in their minds, the need to address the source of the problem,” Green said.
A small percentage of wild elk in the park area are known to be infected with the disease, particularly toward the western side. The cattle association earlier this month passed a motion at its annual meeting calling for a science-based cull of the wild elk in areas of the park where the disease is known to exist.
“Producers are willing to do their part,” Green said. “The focus really is turning to Parks (Canada) and Manitoba Conservation and how are they going to get this problem solved?”
The CFIA established a disease eradication area around Riding Mountain National Park at the start of this year. The agency has been testing all cattle herds in that area for signs of bovine TB. As of Jan. 22, about 85 percent of the herds had been tested.
The discovery of more infected cattle means at least another three years before the area around the park can be considered free of the disease. TB-free status would mean the removal of testing and movement restrictions on cattle there.
Currently, all breeding cattle and sexually intact heifers destined for the United States from Manitoba must undergo TB testing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be invited by the CFIA to review the Riding Mountain disease eradication area later this year. Following that review, the USDA may decide to lift the testing requirements on cattle herds outside the eradication area, although that’s not guaranteed.
