Wyoming livestock industry awaits word on brucellosis spread

State livestock officials are encouraging ranchers to keep their cattle away from elk to avoid getting brucellosis, a bacterial disease that can cause cows to abort their calves. But abundant elk might make separation difficult in parts of northwest Wyoming where the disease keeps reappearing in cattle, State Veterinarian Jim Logan said. Wyoming went four years without a case of brucellosis in cattle until laboratory tests confirmed the disease in a cow in Park County in November. Test results on a second suspected case in Sublette County are pending and should come back later this week or early next week, Logan said. Analysis is underway at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie and the federal National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa...more