Dairy Declared Clear of Bovine TB & Gang-of-8 Immigration Plan

Dairy Declared Clear of Bovine TB & Gang-of-8 Immigration Plan

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Ag Information Network’s Greg Martin has this update on a suspected case of bovine tuberculosis in a Monroe dairy cow.

MARTIN: Earlier this month we reported on a positive TB result from a cow at a Cowlitz County slaughter facility. Investigations by the USDA and the WSDA led back to a purchase of the cow by a Moses Lake dairy from a Monroe dairy about a year ago. The team of seven investigators have now declared the Monroe dairy to be clear of bovine tuberculosis, but are still examining and testing cattle at the Moses Lake dairy, as well as several other herds in Washington and Idaho. Sources with the WSDA say that they should know within a week about where the source of the infection possibly came from.

A bi-partisan group of eight senators, four Republicans and four Democrats, have released a five page immigration reform plan that they say is “tough but fair”. This plan from the so-called “Gang of Eight” calls for tighter border security, but also makes note of the importance of agricultural workers. The plan would increase guest worker permits and create a pathway to citizenship; allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in this country under probationary legal status for an undetermined length of time. They would not however be eligible for citizenship until those immigrants who have legally applied for citizenship receive theirs. The senators want to draft legislation by March. Kristi Boswell, American Farm Bureau Congressional Director and a key agricultural negotiator on the bill, will be providing a full report on the immigration reform proposal at the WAFLA Labor Conference in Yakima February 21.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.