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Martin to lead bovine TB fight

By JOY POWELL, Star Tribune

Last update: April 4, 2008 - 12:11 AM

As Minnesota's cattle industry braces for a big economic hit, officials responded Thursday to a serious outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in northwestern Minnesota by appointing a point person for the fight, and by launching a website with TB information for farmers and others.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty named Joe Martin, currently an assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, as state bovine TB coordinator. He'll help with eradication efforts, which involve killing infected herds and with ways to minimize the economic strain on cattle farmers.

Martin will work with multiple agencies to coordinate the battle, in which wild deer have been suspected as the source.

Since 2005, Minnesota has found 11 infected cattle herds, all in Roseau and Beltrami counties, with the latest in February. The state Department of Natural Resources detected TB in wild deer in the same area where cattle had fallen sick with the infectious respiratory illness.

Means of eradication

The state has used a special hunting season and federal sharpshooters to kill wild deer around those farms.

"Eliminating bovine TB is very important, both for cattle producers and to help keep the economy of northwestern Minnesota strong," Martin said. "The cattle industry in our 14 northwestern counties generates $141 million in economic activity and supports more than 2,200 jobs."

The new website, www.mntbfree.com, will supply information on bovine TB in wildlife, biosecurity, interstate restrictions and informational meetings for farmers. The state also has a hot line at 1-877-668-2373.

Running the website are the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, the departments of agriculture and natural resources, and the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

Federal testing coming soon

Cattle farmers worry that out-of-state buyers will be skittish about even healthy beef cattle from Minnesota.

Because of the disease, Minnesota farmers will soon be required to follow costly federal testing requirements before they can ship cattle or bison across state lines. State agriculture officials are trying to reach an agreement with the federal government so that dairy farmers would not have to do the most costly testing.

"We are committed to doing all we can to eliminate bovine TB in Minnesota," Pawlenty said Thursday in announcing Martin as the point man.

The USDA this week allocated $2.7 million in emergency funding to fight the TB, which had been nearly eliminated from the nation's herd before it resurfaced, spread by deer and cattle to cattle.

The money will be used to kill infected herds and to indemnify their owners. And it will be used to upgrade surveillance of white-tailed deer in Minnesota and Michigan.

Since the mid-1990s in Michigan, the disease has cost farmers an estimated $156 million in cattle sales and taxpayers have spent upward of $100 million to fight the disease.

Joy Powell • 612-673-7750

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