Bovine TB creates hassles, few losses for ranchers

Bovine tuberculosis has created costly problems for the cattle industry in states where the disease has appeared, but it appears to be a manageable threat. Nebraska and Texas are investigating positive cases of bovine tuberculosis to determine whether there has been an outbreak of the disease already confirmed in California, Minnesota, Michigan and New Mexico. The disease is considered untreatable in cattle, so both infected and uninfected animals in a herd usually are killed when bovine tuberculosis is found. But cattlemen and others say few cases have been confirmed and the disease is proving more of a nuisance than a real threat to their roughly $60 billion industry. "The fear and the phobia that's been caused by all of this has been much more damaging than anything to do with the disease," said Bim Nelson, who runs Bassett Livestock Auction in north-central Nebraska, where two cases of the disease were found in one herd. For cattlemen in states where the disease is present, the biggest problem related to bovine tuberculosis is the cost and hassle of testing cattle before they are shipped over state lines. On average, testing adds $5 to $15 per head to the cattle industry's costs...AP