Texas attacking TB problem

By MANDY SPIKES | Central Texas Edition

Joe Bennett, of Bennett Veterinary Hospital in Mexia, tests a purebred beef heifer for TB. Bennett is one of a group of veterinarians under contract with TAHC to administer the test. -Staff photo by Spikes

November 13, 2003 -- Cattle ranchers and dairy farmers are under new guidelines for tuberculosis (TB) testing due to the recent outbreaks of TB around Texas. Joe Bennett, of Bennett Veterinary Hospital in Mexia, is one of a group of veterinarians who is under contract with the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) to administer these tests.

"TB is a very serious illness because of the ways it spreads," Bennett said. "Cattle can spread it to humans and vice versa. TB damages the lungs. You can usually tell if cattle have TB just by looking at the lungs."

Because of the seriousness of the disease and the way it can be transmitted, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has canceled Texas' "accredited-free" status for the cattle TB eradication program in 2002. This was after TB infection was detected in 2001 in two of the state's 153,000 cattle herds.

One of the herds was a purebred beef herd in Fayette County. The other was a beef herd in Irion County and a dairy herd in Pecos County. These two operations were considered one herd since they had a single owner. The infected herds have since been discarded.

In August 2003, a third infected herd, a purebred beef herd, was detected and discarded in Zavala County.

Bennett explained, "The state now wants to test all dairy herds and 30 percent of the purebred beef herds in Texas. In the future, it will become mandatory to test the dairy herds and optional for purebred herds."

Bennett is one of the veterinarians contracted by the TAHC to administer the TB test. "In order to be under contract, you first had to attend a seminar to learn about the rules and regulations that have been set up for TB testing. I felt that this was important for me to do because I have worked with dairies and purebred herds in the past."

The state is currently paying for dairy farmers to have the test administered to their cattle, but it's still a chore to their owner, he said. "The owner still has to take the time to line up their cattle and handle them while the test is being done.

"I believe that when the dairy farmer sees the testing as an advantage to him is when he will go out and have the test done. All diseases seem to jump on dairy cattle because of the confined spaces that they are in. Most dairy farmers are very good at raising cattle and taking care of them."

The surrounding states at the time have all Texas breeding cattle under quarantine. "Under the new USDA regulations, Texas breeding cattle not from a TB-accredited free herd many not be moved out of state until they have tested negative for TB.

"So that means once a buyer from another state purchases cattle from a Texas sale barn, the cattle must be tested for TB and stay in the quarantine for three days. This new system is sort of a pain, but it has to be done," he said.

Bennett added, "We are hoping to be TB free in about a year. Texas needs to be back to being TB free. We are going to go after TB hard for the next couple of months."