Bovine Tuberculosis in Minnesota: The Problems and Solutions Associated with this disease
 
Abstract
 
This paper shows the effects that bovine tuberculosis has had on Northwestern Minnesota. It examines a farm that is only a few miles from the main zone infected with TB that could be widened to this farm. This paper shows some of the possible solutions, either good or bad. It explains what bovine TB is, different ways it could have come to this area in Northwest Minnesota area, and how it is spread. It also details what a farm has to go through if their herd is infected.
 
Bovine Tuberculosis: The Problems and Solutions Associated with this disease
 
Many people do not really understand what kind of problem Bovine Tuberculosis is or don’t even know what it is. Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that mostly affects cattle and deer herds in Northwestern Minnesota. It has become such a problem that it is affecting the farmers economically and even making some go out of business.
 
Bovine Tuberculosis is a horrible disease that needs to be eradicated from NW Minn. as soon as possible in order to save the famers and hunters from having a disease that could affect them for many years to come. The best way to do this is to get rid of all the cattle and deer in the infected zone and areas around the zone as best as possible.
 
Bovine Tuberculosis is a respiratory disease of cattle, caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium bovis. It is a chronic and slowly progressive disease that does not spread easily and may show no symptoms for years in infected animals. It can take years from the time of infection to the development of clinical signs. There are very few signs of an animal having bovine TB, but some are that the animal may become increasingly thinner, less active, and depressed.
 
Usually the infection involves the lungs, the infected animal may have a hard time breathing, cough or show nasal discharge. The most tell tale sign is that there are abscesses filled with a gritty white or yellow substance in the lungs or lymph nodes when the animal is in slaughter. (Peterson, n.d.). The bacteria is an organism that thrives in moist and cool environments.
 
TB is mainly spread from animal to animal contact, but can be spread from an animal eating from a hay bale, and then another animal eating from the same part of the hay bale that is covered with the saliva from the other animal. There are many animals that can carry bovine TB. Some animals in Michigan that have been identified to have bovine TB are elk, coyotes, raccoons, black bears, bobcats, red fox, and opossums. The primary carriers of the disease are cattle, bison, and deer. (Karls, 2005).
 
Background
 
Bovine TB was first discovered in a cattle herd in Northwest Minnesota in February of 2005. A cow at harvest was detected with lesions consistent with bovine TB and was traced to a Roseau County beef herd. When the whole herd was tested, an additional 21 cows in the herd were infected and the herd was completely depopulated.#p#分頁標題#e#
 
It has since been discovered in an additional 10 cattle herds and 17 free-ranging whitetail deer. Currently there have been 3,400 beef cattle from positive bovine TB farms that have been depopulated. The total number of cattle in the nine county area is almost 160,000 head between beef and dairy cattle. (Stender, 2008)
 
The same strain that has been found in NW Minnesota is consistent with bovine TB found in cattle in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. (Minnesota Board of Animal Health, n.d.) There are many different theories on how bovine TB got to this area but all that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters now is how to get rid of this disease before it gets too out of control.
 
TB Status
 
Minnesota’s TB status was Modified Accredited Advanced (MAA). Now the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has downgraded the status to Modified Accredited (MA). Minnesota attained TB Free status in 1976 and kept that status until 2005. The highest status is Accredited Free (AF), which Minnesota was before the first herd was infected. A TB status downgrade is prescribed when more that three cases are reported within a 12-month period and within the last year 4 cases have been reported.
 
There are many problems that arise when the status is downgraded to Modified Accredited. Some of them are that all livestock leaving the state of Minnesota will have to be tested for TB before 60 days of movement. Another is that other states can put restrictions on the cattle from Minnesota if they are moved into their state. As of February 21, 2008, North Dakota already put on some restrictions.
 
North Dakota also has a plan in place to control the bovine TB if it comes into the state. Next, every cow will have to be tested annually. Lastly, it has been estimated that the TB tests will cost the producers $10 per cow plus the vet fee and with the shortages of veterinarians in Minnesota, it might not even be possible to test all the cattle herds. (Hill, 2008). Bovine Tuberculosis needs to be treated as a health issue. If there is a disease going around in people, they find the quickest and best ways to get rid of it. They don’t wait 5 years and then try and figure it out.
 
TB Spreading
 
Bovine TB is mainly spread through mucous, saliva, urine, milk, nasal secretions, and manure between infected and uninfected animals. This usually happens when animals are in close contact with each other. Animals may also become infected by ingesting the bacteria from feed that an infected animal has already eaten from. This is when deer and cattle density takes a major role in how TB is transmitted. (Buddle & Wedlock, 2005).
 
This is an excellent example of why the deer herds need to be majorly depopulated. With a less density of deer, they are less likely to spread the disease. All the cows don’t need to be taken out because farmers can spread the cows out among their pasture land. Another remote way TB can spread is when an animal coughs or sneezes in close contact with another. (Minnesota Board of Animal Health, n.d.)#p#分頁標題#e#
 
TB in Deer
 
Another major problem is bovine TB in free-ranging white-tail deer. The deer hunters are just as important in this process as are the livestock producers. Every year since 2005, hunters have been encouraged to register their deer and also get them tested for bovine TB. Even though officials say that bovine TB came into this area from cows, it is now a major problem for cows and deer.
 
There are certain steps that deer hunters can do to help. The biggest step is to eliminate the practice of baiting. Baiting has been banned in Minnesota for a long time now and it has a big fine that goes with it if caught. Baiting is probably the main reason why bovine TB is spreading.
 
A large sum of deer eating on a small pile of feed is where saliva from one deer is transferred. Another one is promoting wildlife food plots as a management practice. Food plots have the potential to keep free ranging white-tail deer away from livestock feed piles. it should be promoted to deer hunters to plant food plots in the core and managed areas and cost share dollars could be available for the land owners who agree to plant them. (Grafstrom, n.d.)
 
Eating Meat
 
The biggest question that scares a lot of people from eating beef and deer meat is if bovine TB can be passed on to humans. In the U.S. today, the chance of humans getting bovine TB from animals is extremely rare. Even though in Michigan, where there has been a massive outbreak of TB, there have been two cases that have been identified in humans and they were both the same strains as the one in animals. (Mathews & Lovett, 2006).
 
While most human tuberculosis is caused by the bacteria M. tuberculosis, which is spread from person to person. The bovine tuberculosis in animals is caused by the closely related M. bovis,which infects all mammals including people. It is also very safe to eat venison (deer meat) because the TB bacterium is very rarely found in meat or muscle tissue. The beef and dairy food supply is very safe right now also.
 
All cattle that enter the food supply are inspected at slaughter by qualified inspectors. Animals with TB do not enter the food supply, which is the way the first infected herd in Minnesota was detected. Historically, milk was the main way that people got TB from cattle. Now the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) requires that all milk come from TB-free herds and all milk sold commercially be pasteurized. (Minnesota DNR)
 
Solutions
 
Split State Status. These problems are only a few of the reasons why some people want the state to have a split state status. The people that are for a split state status have a good argument because they don’t want to be stuck with the restrictions because only a corner of the state has tested positive for bovine TB. The livestock producers in NW Minn. don’t like the split state status because it has the potential to cause a collapse of the livestock business.#p#分頁標題#e#
 
Also they might be forgotten about because it’s their problem now. But without the split state status, the problem might get fixed quicker because all the farmers in the state will be working toward the same solution so the cattle producers in the rest of the state don’t have the restrictions that are going to be put on when the state’s TB status goes down.
 
Both sides have very good arguments. An excellent example of how producers got scared of lowering the TB status is that in the last week of February this year, over 7,000 animals were sold at the two area livestock auctions compared to 1,000 animals for the normal animal movement for that time of year. (Walker, 2008)
 
Rigorous Testing. There are many steps that need to be taken in order to solve this problem. The first proposed step is that we need to continue a rigorous testing for TB in the core area, and the testing needs to be expanded into a buffer area around the core zone.
 
With more testing, additional funds will be needed for more large animal veterinarians to work in this area, or even provide training for qualified farmers to aid as the vet’s assistants. There also should be portable corrals, head gates, and other sorting equipment that will only be used in this area for the TB testing since most farms aren’t equipped with good enough equipment. (Grafstrom, n.d.).
 
Fencing. Another step could be fencing. Farmers would have to build a deer-proof fence around their feed to keep it the deer away. The fence would have be at least 10 feet high. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is currently in charge of this program and has provided up to $5,000 worth of fencing materials. (Minnesota DNR, n.d.). One problem with this is that some insurance companies don’t want farmers to keep all their hay together in one spot where it could all be destroyed by fire.
 
So the amount of money farmers get will have to be raised so farmers could put up more than one fenced-in area for insurance purposes. The amount of money that a farmer gets is all determined on how big of a fenced in area they will need. Currently there are 15 fences on 10 different farms in NW Minn., 10 more sites are scheduled to be put up in 2008. (Hill, 2008)
 
Record and Data Keeping. Record keeping and data management is a new way to help with the solution. With the new technology, it is probably the best way to quickly record and retrieve data from the individual animals to show that each individual animal is healthy and has its own record.
 
Record keeping would show the consumers that livestock from NW Minnesota have no known health issues for human consumption and are healthy. The problem I think this idea could have is that some of the farmers are older and may not be able to use a computer, which would make it hard for them to record data.
 
Newsletter. A very good step that could be implemented is to send out a bi-weekly or monthly newsletter to everyone in Roseau County and surrounding counties. (Grafstrom, n.d.).#p#分頁標題#e#
 
The newsletter will improve communication to people that are left out of the main discussion and so that everyone knows the same thing and not just parts of the whole idea. There could be public meetings to increase the knowledge base for everyone in the area.
 
Property Tax Relief. Probably the most important step to implement is to provide a property tax relief for the producers in the core and buffer area until Bovine TB has been eliminated from this area. The reason for property tax relief is because one possibility is that all the cattle will have to be taken out of the area until the disease is gone, all the producers’ land that is pasture will go unused and be raising no money.
 
On most of the cattle farms, their main source of income is from the cattle and if they are taken away for a long period of time, they will have no money. So there needs to be some sort of property tax relief or funds need to be set up so these farmers still have a farm when cattle are allowed back in the area, if they are taken out in the first place. (Grafstrom, n.d.)
 
Deer Culling. This is a very important part of getting rid of bovine TB. During the last two winters there have been sharpshooters that have been hired to take out as many deer as possible. Last year alone, almost 500 deer were killed by sharpshooters, primarily over feed piles at night. This year there have been over 350 deer killed. The sharpshooters use high tech thermal image devices, night vision scopes, and silencers on the gun.
 
But with the sharpshooters over the past two years, officials don’t think that it has done enough to get rid of the deer. This past month, helicopters have been used to shoot deer. In the helicopter, the sharpshooters will be able to take out more deer than waiting for them by the bait piles. (Dokken, 2008). Another way of deer culling is letting the farmers in the core zone shoot any deer on sight.
 
The deer killed by the sharpshooters are found with the help of GPS locaters and they are then tagged and there location is recorded. All the deer that are killed by sharpshooters and farmers are then taken to the Thief Lake Wildlife Refuge to be tested. The DNR is also going to add a special spring hunt for deer hunters along with the regular seasons and the antlerless season in the fall added last year. (Minnesota DNR, n.d.)
 
Economics
 
What most people don’t understand is that Bovine Tuberculosis can be economically lethal. The livestock industry is an important contributor to the local economy. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NAAS) figures in 2007, that the beef and dairy cattle make a 186 million dollar contribution to the economies of a nine county area of Northwest Minnesota. The nine counties include Lake of the Woods, Roseau, Kittson, Marshall, Beltrami, Clearwater, Pennington, Red Lake, and Polk. (Burkel, 2008).
 
This is also the area where the split state line has been proposed. This number includes the cost of the animal only, and not the flow of dollars that this sector of agribusiness generates. If all the cattle are depopulated it will hurt the bankers because they won’t be able to lend money. Also, implement dealers will sell less equipment and there will be less demand for feed, fertilizer, fuel, and other supplies.#p#分頁標題#e#
 
There is also a bill that was given to the Legislature from the Governor that would provide the Board of Animal Health with $472,000 for 2008 and $2.3 million each year thereafter. (Hugoson, 2008). This funding would provide the board with resources to monitor and eradicate Bovine TB in Northwest Minnesota. It would also provide funding for fencing projects and to buy out infected herds.
 
If a farm does get infected, they will have to clean and disinfect everything that they used on their farm. All the manure will have to be cleaned out and the feed piles will have to be gotten rid of. Even though the farmers get reimbursed for their cows, they still have to pay for the labor and fuel to clean and disinfect their farm. (Stender, 2008)
 
If these businesses get fewer and fewer people buying their products, they might go out of business and move away to a different community. With families moving out of the area, school districts will suffer even more because in rural areas there are already fewer people living there. If the farmers move away there will be a lot of land that will be unused and useless because most of the pasture land cannot be farmed.
 
If this happens the land will be devalued and probably be enrolled in a government program (CRP), where it can’t be used for many years. (Minnesota DNR, n.d.). The NAAS it is also states that the economic impact to the local communities would be almost 1.5 billion dollars. (Walker, 2008). As you can see it could be like a domino effect that could happen if all the cows in the nine county areas are totally depopulated.
 
Not only would the farmers hurt, but the whole community could suffer. This is an excellent example of why only the cows in the core area and buffer zone should be gone to begin with so the communities don’t feel the whole economic blow at one time and also to see if the disease disappears.
 
Conclusion
 
Both the livestock producers and wildlife land owners need to work together to solve this problem. If they don’t work together to control the problem, it could be the end of the livestock industry in Northwest Minnesota. The MN Board of Animal Health, DNR, producers, and businesses need to put their private goal aside and come up with a solution to solve this disease as fast as possible.
 
All the proposed solutions have their own good and bad qualities, but one thing that they all have in common is that each one will need lots of money to complete. A big problem with the whole solution is where all the money is going to come from. It is hard for the companies and farmers to pass on their business to the next generation because they are not sure that there will be a future for their kids.