WINNIPEG – Ted McCaffrey is living a rancher’s nightmare.
Over the next three weeks, his herd of about 240 cattle will be destroyed because 13 of them have tested positive for tuberculosis.
“It’s a devastating thing,” said McCaffrey, who lives in south-central Manitoba, near Altamont.
Agriculture Canada has spent the past 20 years working to eradicate TB, said George Luterbach, animal health program manager. The disease last popped up five years ago and this latest is what he called a rare and isolated incident.
The department discovered McCaffrey had TB in his herd when he took 20 animals to an auction mart last September. One heifer tested positive during a routine skin test, and was killed so a more definitive test could be done.
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Disease confirmed
McCaffrey’s farm was quarantined in December, pending the test results. On Jan. 18, TB was confirmed.
Agriculture Canada is also testing approximately 1,000 animals on five neighboring farms, Luterbach said.
The government is compensating McCaffrey for the cattle at market prices. He’ll receive an average of $650 per cow.
McCaffrey said the compensation will only cover the cost of buying another herd two-thirds his present size. In addition, he lost a calf crop. He feels he’s being penalized for something that is not his fault.
“If I did something intentional, then I’d be liable. But I’m a sitting duck, and I have to pay the price.”
McCaffrey also wants to know how his cattle got the disease.
Luterbach said there are two likely explanations. Either a vestige of the disease has stayed on McCaffrey’s farm for many years, or it came from another herd.
McCaffrey finds it hard to swallow that TB has been in his herd all along. He sells short-keeps, which end up on the kill line within two years, where they’re inspected. He thinks TB would have been spotted before now.
McCaffrey said the 13 infected cattle all spent time in a pasture bordered by an escarpment which is frequented by wild animals.
Agriculture Canada officials have told him it’s not likely his cattle got the disease from an infected deer or elk. But McCaffrey thinks they should investigate the idea.
“I’m hesitant, if I restock, to put anything in that pasture because it must be something in that pasture that’s causing (TB).”
McCaffrey said he’s talked to three farmers in the Rossburn area who had their herds destroyed when TB was discovered there in 1990. About 750 animals were killed.
“They’re still mad as wet hens,” McCaffrey said. “They’ll never be the same. These people have paid a big price for them saying that we’re TB-free. I will too.”
