12/21/05 ISDA waits for USDA`s decision

More than 50 cattle have been slaughtered in eastern Idaho after a confirmed brucellosis infection. A Swan Valley ranch was quarantined. Idaho Department of Agriculture's John Chatburn says more testing was done outside the infected herd. CHATBURN "In fact we tested over a thousand head of cattle in the Swan Valley area and found no additional evidence of infection in those herds." Prior to the quarantine, six animals were sold through livestock markets. They were tracked and one that had gone to a small Idaho feedlot was infected but it was slaughtered along with 16 other cattle at the feedlot. If officials at the US Department of Agriculture decide the feedlot is a second infected herd, then the state would lose its brucellosis-free status, which it has had since 1991. Chatburn doesn't believe that should happen here. CHATBURN "That calf should still be considered part of the original herd and therefore USDA should say that we only have one infected herd and we should retain our status." Three years ago, an Idaho cattle herd was found to be infected with brucellosis but officials believed that it came from elk that had migrated from Yellowstone National Park. The Idaho Legislature has banned the private feeding of big game animals in areas where there is a risk of elk transmitting the disease to cattle. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott