Rio Arriba County and most other New Mexico counties will be re-accredited as bovine tuberculosis free, the federal Agriculture Department announced Monday.
The Department removed the entire state’s accredited bovine TB-free designation in September after herds in parts of Curry and Roosevelt counties were discovered to be heavily infected. Curry and Roosevelt counties will remain on the list of TB-affected herds, New Mexico Livestock Board Executive Director Myles Culbertson said.
County ranchers must still follow strict tuberculosis surveillance rules but now they can be reimbursed for the cost of the testing, Culbertson said.
“Testing requirements will remain the same for commuter herds that pasture on both sides of the state line,” Culbertson said. “Cattle need a TB test that’s good for three years, even though they’re not in the TB zone. It’s part of an effort to maintain a high level of surveillance across the state.”
Surveillance testing, such as for herds that are grazed across state lines, will now be paid for by the state, Culbertson said.
That’s good news, according to Chama rancher Brian Quinlan. Quinlan grazes 40 cattle on summer pasture in Colorado.
“A lot of local ranchers run cattle in Colorado back and forth,” Quinlan said. “This will help the economics. But I don’t understand why we have to keep going through (testing) if the zoning’s changed.”
Show cattle have to be tested as well, even if they remain in the state, Culbertson said.
Bovine TB can infect humans as well as cattle, Cebolla veterinarian, rancher and former state livestock epidemiologist Leroy Martinez said.
“I was the state field TB epidemiologist and saw countries where it’s an issue,” Martinez said. “It isn’t pretty.”