State to raise deer kill to reduce bovine TB

The state's latest attempt to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis, a sickness that poses little threat to humans but has hit 11 herds in northern Minnesota -- and threatens more -- comes to northern Minnesota this week.

Watch out, wild deer, blamed for spreading the disease.

With the blessings of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who flew to the northwestern corner of the state on Monday to visit ranchers hurt by the disease, state officials plan to distribute expedited deer-hunting permits at a meeting in the northern town of Wannaska tonight.

A proposed emergency rule, expected to take effect later this month, would allow any landowner in the area to shoot deer without a permit or license until May 15, provided the deer are turned in for TB testing. The new steps come on top of a crew of state and federal sharpshooters sent to Roseau and Beltrami counties last month to thin the deer herd.

"The problem here is that anybody from Minnesota that has livestock to sell, beef or dairy, outside of Minnesota, suddenly has a new detriment," said Gene Hugoson, Minnesota commissioner of agriculture. As a result of the disease, the cattle are worth less or even unmarketable, he said.

Surveys of the area show about 5 deer per square mile in the 140-square-mile area managed for bovine TB. Some 17 infected deer have been found since 2005, according to government accounts.

The state discovered a Roseau County cattle herd infected with bovine TB in 2005, the first occurrence since 1971. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) downgraded the state's cattle industry in 2005, requiring a TB test on breeder cattle and bison within 60 days of movement from one farm to another. Eleven herds have tested positive since 2005, all of them in Roseau County or neighboring Beltrami County.

A second downgrade from the USDA is expected within two to three weeks, state officials said. That would require both whole-herd tests and individual tests for animals moved across state lines.

The tests cost about $10 per animal, according to Tom Pyfferoen, president of the state Cattlemen's Association. That's amid rising feed costs as ethanol and global demand raise corn and grain prices.

But it's not just the cost of additional testing, he said, but also the work of grappling with the animal as it's first injected with a test agent and then, after a 72-hour incubation period, tested for TB. Handling the animals twice, "something usually goes wrong," he said.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329