Another cattle herd in Manitoba has bovine tuberculosis.
The confirmation was made by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency earlier this month. That means there are three infected herds in the province so far this year.
The latest confirmed infection was at a farm in the rural municipality of Rosedale, which is in the area of Riding Mountain National Park. The other confirmed cases were also at farms in the park area.
About 20 cattle will have to be slaughtered as a result, said Maria Koller of the inspection agency. That includes cattle at the infected farm as well as cattle that had been sold from that farm to another Manitoba producer in the past couple of years.
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The eradication of cattle at those two farms will mean 250 head have been slaughtered this year in Manitoba as a result of bovine TB, Koller said.
That includes 140 cattle from a herd believed to have been exposed to the disease, although no tuberculosis infection was ever confirmed.
Most of the cattle and bison herds around Riding Mountain have now been tested for bovine TB by the agency. Only about 20 herds remain to be tested.
After May 1, cattle farms in the Riding Mountain eradication area could be placed under quarantine if they have not had TB testing done and if the owners do not appear to be making an effort to arrange testing for their herds.
The eradication area includes farms surrounding the park and was established to help eliminate the disease from farmed livestock.
With the testing of all cattle and bison herds now almost complete, Koller said the next steps will be to review the boundaries of the eradication area to determine whether they are “scientifically sound.”
In the coming months, there will also be discussion about how frequently farms in the eradication area should be retested for TB. The frequency of that testing could vary anywhere from one to three years, depending on where each farm is located and how much risk there is of TB infection.
After that review, the agency will be in a better position to approach the United States Department of Agriculture for a review of Manitoba’s tuberculosis status.
Currently, all breeding cattle from Manitoba being shipped to the U.S. must undergo TB testing. If the USDA can be convinced that the eradication area is effective, those restrictions could be confined to only the cattle and bison herds around the park.
