
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 6, 1994                   TAG: 9408080045
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATES LIFT TESTS OF COWS FOR TB

Virginia cattle farmers will not have to test their cattle for tuberculosis before shipping them to eight of the nine states that buy 90 percent of the state's cattle.

Despite losing its status as a tuberculosis-free cattle-producing state, Virginia still will be able to ship cattle to Indiana, Michigan, Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Kentucky.

With the main season for selling livestock approaching, many in the cattle industry worried that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's suspension of the status could cripple their efforts, state Agricultural Commissioner J. Carlton Courter wrote in a letter sent Thursday to cattle producers and livestock-market operators.

Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services identified the main states where Virginia's cattle are sent to be fattened before slaughter, said Agriculture Department spokeswoman Toni Radler.

``As a result of our discussions with them, these states have eased their restrictions and they will not now require testing for feeder cattle,'' Courter wrote.

``It's definitely good news,'' said Jim Johnson, a field man with the Virginia Cattleman's Association. With about 60 percent of Virginia's cattle sold from September through November, things ``look a whole lot better than they did a month ago.''

The USDA suspended the status last month after a herd of Floyd County beef cattle was found to be infected with the disease. The cattle were destroyed.

Johnson said the USDA's designation in the Federal Register of Virginia as ``Accredited Free (Suspended),'' a new classification just implemented this year, confused some states as to how they should treat Virginia cattle.

``Because it was new, the other states hadn't really put any policy to it,'' he said. ``It was like in-between.''

Missouri, another major market for the state's cattle, still will require testing, and Indiana will require testing for any cattle from Floyd County, according to the letter.

But Radler said the other states' agreement will allow most Virginia farmers to avoid the time-consuming and potentially costly process of rounding up herds, testing them, then rounding them up again three days later to check the results.

But unfortunately for cattle farmers, other worries this fall remain, Johnson said. Farmers still are worried about low prices and an oversupply of cattle.

``Right now there are a lot of other things to worry about than just TB,'' he said. ``They're trying to still make some money back on these cattle.''

by CNB