Eleven more Daniel cattle test positive

Pinedale – With more than 600 cattle tested, a Daniel-area ranch was found to have 26 animals seropositive for exposure to brucellosis, state animal health officials said this week. This includes both the ranch’s commercial and purebred cattle herds.
    Two animals from this herd tested positive at a sale barn recently, leading to testing of the entire commercial herd last week, where another 13 cattle in the 327-head herd tested positive. On June 23, the same producer’s purebred herd was bled, with another 11 head seropositive in the herd of about 300.
    Wyoming Assistant State Veterinarian Jim Logan said the owner of the cattle has not yet decided what he is going to do: depopulate his herd or enter into a long-term test-and-slaughter program under quarantine. Federal animal health officials prefer that infected herds be depopulated, but such an action is voluntary. If the herd is not depopulated, Wyoming will lose its brucellosis-free market status. Fellow cattlemen from throughout Sublette County have expressed support for the producer in this case, pledging to support whatever decision he makes.
    Meanwhile, neighboring cattlemen began receiving calls June 25 as state and federal animal health officials contacted owners of 12 contact herds that will also be bled for brucellosis.
    “The majority of those herds are turned out, so we’ll be looking at fall testing,” said Logan. These herds will be under a verbal hold order not to sell any animals from their herds until they can be tested this fall. Once they return to home ranches, they will be under quarantine until the testing requirement is met. At that time quarantines can be lifted but these herds will also have to undergo a second test after the cattle complete their next reproductive cycle.
    Cat Urbigkit is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.