Wyoming To Continue Testing
For Bangs Despite Results

RIVERTON, Wyo. —(AP)— A new requirement for testing cattle in six Wyoming counties for brucellosis before sale will remain in place even though none tested positive this year, state agriculture officials said.

Interim state veterinarian Jim Logan of Riverton said more than 10,000 cattle in Fremont, Hot Springs, Teton, Park, Washakie, Sublette and Lincoln counties were tested for the disease this year and none have been found to carry the disease.

Brucellosis can cause cattle to miscarry and can cause undulant fever in humans.

Logan said the results of the program so far may not be enough to convince other states that Wyoming does not have a brucellosis problem.

"The problem with that disease is that it's a political-perception type of thing, and the wheels are going to move slowly on it," he said. "There is a lot of producer concern, we realize, and we share and appreciate those concerns, but the wheels are going to move slowly because we're dealing with several different agencies that have to reach consensus."

Logan took over as acting state veterinarian after the Livestock Board fired Don Bosman earlier this spring. Bosman had been heavily involved in developing the review program for the state's brucellosis control efforts.

Many cattle producers have criticized the testing requirement, saying it is an unnecessary expense and inconvenience.

The requirement stemmed from the presence of the disease in elk and buffalo on federal lands in northwestern Wyoming.

Wyoming officials agreed to the program after asking the U.S. Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to review the state's brucellosis control program. The state agreed to comply with any recommendations from the agency, one of which was to test cattle from the six counties before their sale.

Logan said state officials will continue efforts to limit the testing requirement to one year, but he said that may not be possible.

"The goal of the Wyoming team is to weather the storm through this testing period, as we have agreed to, and try to get that ground to a halt," he said. "But it's not going to be as easy as saying, ‘We haven't found anything significant, so we want to end it.’ It will require a lot of negotiation and education."