MAD COW DISEASE

Quarantine lifted on mad cow herd

A hold was removed Monday from the Texas ranch that housed a cow infected with mad cow disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The hold – which blocked the movement of cows from the ranch – was lifted after the Agriculture Department killed and tested 67 animals from the herd of origin, looking for signs of the brain-wasting disease. "The hold is lifted today," said Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "That means he can go about his normal business," he said, declining to name the rancher. "There are no restrictions on the movement of livestock from the herd." Steve Kay, editor of the trade publication Cattle Buyers Weekly, said he did not think the rancher would be ostracized when he returns his animals to market. "I imagine that he'll be treated with great respect and generosity," Mr. Kay said. "He did nothing wrong, and everybody knows that."....

Feds want to test former herd mates of infected cow

The federal government is looking for some former herd mates of a Texas cow infected with "mad cow" disease, planning to test them for the fatal brain-wasting disease. "We want to see how far we can get with a paper trail on the animals that are no longer on that farm," said Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA is trying to trace cows that are roughly the same age as the infected 12-year-old Brahma cross beef cow as well as any of the cow's offspring. Many scientists believe that "mad cow" disease is spread through feed containing infected cow or sheep remains. The sick Texas cow and the older cows formerly in the same herd might have eaten contaminated feed before a 1997 U.S. ban on feeding most cattle and sheep remains to cows. The government said Sunday that 67 older cows that were currently in the same Texas herd had tested negative for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in a government "rapid test" performed in Ames, Iowa. Animals tested included those a year older and younger than the 12-year-old infected cow, along with its offspring, Cooper said. Other cows in the herd were not tested, and the USDA has no plans to test them....

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