This still doesn't solve the problem of the Feds killing the affected herd for no reason but I can't do much about that. There is rumblings that the herd affected in Bridger is a purebred breeder that sells bulls and that anybody that bought bulls from him in the past 5 years is going to have their herd tested too. That could be a lot of cattle. That means a lot of chances for a second herd to come up positive and give us problems in Montana.
Even though Montana has not lost its Brucellosis free status because of this situation, North Dakota has instituted a policy like we have lost our status and is going to require testing of cattle or bison being imported into their state from Montana. It won't surprise me if more of this comes down the line. Is it right that ND is doing this even though we haven't lost our brucellosis free status? No, but I can under stand why they are doing it. States are very scared of losing their brucellosis free status and are going to do everything they can to protect it. It's going to cost Montana cattle producers but we have no control over what other states do so we are stuck dealing with their rules.
Governor Brian Schweitzer has made a list of ideas and recommendations for dealing with the reservoir of Brucellosis that is Yellowstone National Park.
Continue to hunt bison as a bison management tool. Montana joins
Alaska, Arizona, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming in managing bison
through hunting.
Maintain better separation between bison and the approximately 700
units of cattle near the Park in order to protect the status of the 2.5
million head of cattle throughout the rest of the state.
Establish a small, specialized area near the Park where stricter
management protocols for cattle would be applied-100% test in, 100% test
out. In exchange, USDA-APHIS would agree that Montana would not lose
its brucellosis-free status should two herds become infected inside that
designated area. The intent is not to increase the area where bison may
wander outside the Park, but instead to better manage cattle in the
area, and to utilize geography to control bison from December to March,
when they are commonly on the move. Beyond this area a "drop dead" zone
would exist as it does now. Each spring, all bison would still be moved
back into the Park.
Negotiate grazing leases with private landowners near the Park that
compensate them for grazing only non-ruminant animals until brucellosis
is eradicated-or even permanent purchase of grazing rights or other
management agreements that landowners find reasonable. Whatever the
mechanism, agreements would be voluntary, and the federal government
would need to provide fair-plus compensation. The amount of private
land involved likely would not exceed 9,000 or 10,000 acres. Montana
has 94 million total acres, so the area in question would make up about
one ten-thousandth of the land area of the state. For perspective, that
is an area the size of New York City on a map of the lower 48 states.
To these ends, the state has been involved in productive negotiations
with Royal Teton Ranch, the largest cattle operation on the north side
of the Park.
* Fund further research into a more effective brucellosis vaccine, and
into more effective vaccine delivery methods. The Park Service has
recently completed studies confirming the efficacy of remote vaccine
delivery, but vaccine effectiveness lags. RB51 is credited with 65-70%
effectiveness in cattle. Novel vaccines exist, including "RB51-plus,"
developed at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary
Medicine, and "Strain 82," developed at the All-Russian Veterinary
Institute. USDA funding for the National Brucellosis Eradication
Program should be prioritized for further research for bison, cattle,
and elk. Ongoing quarantine studies should continue as well. The
federal government must provide the resources necessary to dramatically
speed up disease research and development.
I have to admit this are pretty good ideas but getting the Federal Government to buy into it will be very tough. They don't want a separate management area for Brucellosis. That would complicate their life. The park Service doesn't want to take responsibility for controlling the Brucellosis problem in the park so they don't want to look at a vaccination program or figuring out to use one. The items that the Governor has control over he is working on but these items under Federal control he is powerless to do anything about. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
I have come across an interesting theory as to how the cows got Brucellosis in the first place. It's because of the wolves.
It’s the wolves fault. Anyone can see that.
The recent outbreak of brucellosis, which probably can’t be traced to bison or elk migrating out of Yellowstone National Park, is being caused by wolves eating infected afterbirth and then crapping near where cattle are grazing.
Remember, the wolves were introduced by the feds. This is their way of getting cattle away from Yellowstone so they can create a huge buffalo commons.
Quite the conspiracy theory.
News is history shot on the wing. The huntsmen from the Fourth Estate seek to bag only the peacock or the eagle of the swifting day. Gene Fowler
