R-CALF proposes brucellosis tag

by Cat Urbigkit

The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America is proposing that that the brucellosis surveillance/vaccination program be used to accomplish the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s objectives for a national animal identification system and a proven traceback system.

In a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, R-CALF advised the USDA “to 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.”

The letter urged USDA to 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.”

R-CALF asked that funds presently appropriated for an animal identification program to be redirected to fund ongoing and existing brucellosis surveillance and vaccination programs.

The letter also tackled the issue of brucellosis in the Yellowstone region, requesting USDA to mandate brucellosis testing of bison in the Yellowstone region and to work toward the eradication of brucellosis in bison “by multiple means, including but not limited to: trapping, testing and vaccinating bison in that area.”

R-CALF said that “humane management practices” should be implemented to control the size of bison and elk herds in the Yellowstone region.