Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: |By BRIAN KELLEY| |STAFF WRITER|
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The move to "depopulate" the herd, as the state puts it, will mean a financial loss for farmer Allen Harman, but could save money and trouble for other Virginia farmers by enabling the state to retain its 6-year-old TB-free status.
Harman's cattle are headed for one of two fates: noninfected ones will be going to slaughter; those with lesions will be rendered and become a protein supplement for animal feed.
"They hauled the majority of them away today," Harman said Monday.
The Floyd farmer said he didn't know how much money he will lose. Federal reimbursements, which are up to $450 for noninfected cattle and up to $750 for infected animals, come in well below market value.
"I don't have any idea and won't know until the government makes the settlement" offer, he said. "I need to get it over with and get back at something, whether it's a grazing program or a cow-calf operation."
State and federal inspectors were at his farm identifying each animal and appraising it for reimbursement. The carcasses will be inspected after slaughter at plants in Virginia and North Carolina. Once the operation is over, Harman's barns and trucks will be sprayed to disinfect them.
The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received notice Friday that tissue samples from five of six cattle from Harman's herd produced positive TB cultures at a federal laboratory in Iowa.
Those tissue tests confirmed earlier positive TB tests that led the state to quarantine the herd nearly two months ago.
"We have been working closely with the farmer and with [the federal government] so that when the results came back we could act quickly," said Toni Radler, a state Agriculture Department spokeswoman. Harman "is to be commended because he's really worked with us to do the right thing."
The larger issue, beyond the loss of Harman's herd, is what effect a positive TB determination would have on Virginia's $334 million-a-year cattle industry. Carlton Courter, the state agriculture commissioner, noted last month that losing TB-free status could cost cattle producers millions of dollars in lost international business and testing expenses.
But in this case, the lumbering pace of the federal bureaucracy may work to Virginia cattle farmers' advantage.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture already has launched the process to suspend Virginia's TB-free status by placing a notice in the Federal Register, Courter said Monday.
"Since the publication process takes a couple of months, we might forestall its publication if we can get the herd depopulated and follow all necessary steps," he said. "That is our goal."
Without TB-free status, many of the cattle and calves headed for sale outside Virginia will have to be tested within 60 days of the sale. Such a stipulation would affect much of the state's cattle industry.
by CNB