|
|
USDA Urged Yet Again to Reallocate from NAIS Budget Billings, Mont. (June 26, 2008) – Recent discoveries of brucellosis in a cow near Paradise Valley, Mont., and in cattle from a Daniel, Wyo., ranch have prompted the R-CALF USA Animal Health Committee and the R-CALF USA Animal Identification Committee to – yet again – request that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) keep brucellosis vaccination and surveillance programs in place across the U.S., and to pay for such activity by diverting funds from the agency’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS). R-CALF USA also requests USDA to implement and fund brucellosis surveillance in all other states where cattle are present, but no formal testing program is in place. “There are a number of states that have just stopped any kind of brucellosis testing, which in my opinion, is not very forward-thinking because brucellosis certainly isn’t going to disappear just because surveillance stops,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian, who also chairs the group’s animal health committee. In a letter from USDA to R-CALF USA dated Jan. 3, 2007, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Bruce Knight stated that since surveillance for brucellosis began in 1956, “124,000 affected herds were found in the United States as a result of testing. By 1992, this number had dropped to 700, and as of October 31, 2006, no know affected domestic cattle or bison herds remained in the entire United States,” – a point that proves testing should continue, in light of the new cases detected in Wyoming and Montana, Thornsberry said. “USDA keeps cutting back on money for brucellosis testing, yet continues to sink millions and millions of taxpayer dollars into NAIS, trying to force NAIS down our throats,” Thornsberry continued. “Well, NAIS is not going to keep a cattle producer from losing his herd if those cattle get brucella. NAIS is not going to reduce the need to test for brucellosis. The disease will eventually show up, as it has in Montana and Wyoming, and if USDA doesn’t test for it, how will a producer know they have it until it’s too late?” Knight also stated that “…for participating {emphasis added} producers, NAIS would enhance rapid tracing capability in the event of a future brucellosis detection.” The Wyoming cattle that first tested positive for brucellosis recently were quickly and efficiently detected through a longstanding tradition of veterinary services at an auction barn – not because of a costly and burdensome 48-hour electronic traceback system, nor by a method encouraged by USDA’s Knight: “an official NAIS device – for example, an approved radio frequency identification device.” Thornsberry states in his June 26, 2008, letter to Knight that he believes it is critical to maintain testing at livestock auction barns because many of the cattle that go through the market system don’t end up going to slaughter, but back to someone’s farm.” “How would you like to have a positive cow that you bought at a livestock auction that wasn’t tested and you take it back home and two years later, you’ve got a dozen cows infected,” he asked. “R-CALF simply wants to point out to USDA that it needs to maintain brucellosis surveillance and vaccination programs around the country, and we are urging USDA to take the millions of dollars it’s pumping into NAIS and utilize those funds to prevent the spread of diseases like brucellosis.” R-CALF USA also requests that USDA continue brucellosis testing, vaccination, and surveillance in states where such action already occurs, and to implement brucellosis surveillance in all other states where cattle are present but no formal testing program is in place, and to fund all such programs, and that the agency maintain a nationwide brucellosis surveillance/vaccination program, which would be a means to provide a proven method of animal identification for livestock disease traceback purposes, with minimal financial burden or recordkeeping burdens on independent U.S. livestock producers and related livestock marketing facilities. We recommend that USDA funds presently appropriated for NAIS be redirected to fund ongoing and existing brucellosis surveillance/vaccination programs. Note: To view R-CALF USA’s letter to Knight and Donch, visit the “Animal Health” link at www.r-calfusa.com. For more information on brucellosis, see pages 49-52 here: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/animal_health/content/printable_version/06_AHReport_508.pdf. # # # R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA has dozens of affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516. |
|
This page was last updated on Wednesday, December 24, 2008. |
