Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407040131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``This won't bring Virginia's cattle industry to a standstill, but it will cause inconvenience and expense to our producers,'' J. Carlton Courter III, the state agriculture commissioner, said Friday.
The status allows Virginia cattle producers to ship their animals out of state without TB testing, and virtually all of the state's beef cattle cross at least one state line before they are slaughtered.
Loss of the status may require cattle being shipped from Virginia to other states to be tested individually for TB unless they originate from a herd that has been tested and accredited as TB-free.
The specific requirements vary from state to state, Virginia's Agriculture Department said in a statement.
Those shipped directly to Midwestern stockyards, where they are fed grain a few months and then slaughtered, most likely will not be affected. But those sold for breeding or for more feeding before being sent to the feedlots may be affected.
Virginia may have to move cattle to quarantined feedlots in some states while others - Indiana, Ohio and perhaps Pennsylvania - will not accept the cattle because of the loss of TB-free status, according to W. Dee Whittier, a Virginia Cooperative Extension Service veterinarian.
More than 28,000 farms in Virginia raise beef cattle. The sale of cattle and calves in Virginia leads all agricultural commodities, bringing in more than $400 million in gross receipts annually.
The tuberculosis was traced from an Ohio packing plant to a herd near Floyd, and the 287 animals were destroyed.
To have the status reinstated, the state Agriculture Department will have to complete its investigation on all the cattle bought by the Floyd County farmer and sold from the infected herd. In addition, the department is testing herds within a mile and a half of his farm.
Virginia possibly can regain its TB-free status before fall, as long as no other cattle with tuberculosis are discovered, Courter's statement said.
More than half of the state's cattle are sold in September and October, according to Jim Johnson of the Virginia Cattlemen's Association.
The loss of TB-free status, Johnson said, ``will have no real impact on the cattle industry this summer. If it would carry into the fall when we get into the big runs of cattle, it's going to have an impact.''
But he said a potentially bigger problem is that buyers will place less value on Virginia cattle.
``It's going to affect perception of Virginia cattle, as much as anything,'' he said. ``That's something we really can't measure.''
by CNB