State to Lose TB-Free Status for Cattle
California officials said the state would lose its bovine-tuberculosis-free status, which would boost the costs for some dairy and cattle ranchers and make it harder for them to move cattle across state lines.
The U.S. Agriculture Department is expected to officially change California’s status in the coming months and require that any cattle capable of breeding be tested for TB before leaving the state.
Cattle producers say the additional labor and expense involved in testing these cattle could cost the industry an extra $2 million a year.
“You’re dealing with an industry with pretty low profit margins,” said Ben Higgins, an executive vice president with the California Cattlemen’s Assn. In Northern California especially, he said, “producers rely on taking their herds pasture to pasture for summer forage.”
About 24,000 breeding cattle leave the state each year, the trade association said, and an additional 100,000 beef cattle are shipped out of the state to other pastures.
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