Feds Agree With Plan
To Limit Bangs Tests

RIVERTON, Wyo. —(AP)— A team of federal animal health officials has endorsed plans to scale back a brucellosis testing program that ranchers have criticized as unnecessary and time-consuming.

But heavy surveillance is still necessary to ease concerns that elk and buffalo might transmit the disease to cattle, the Department of Agriculture team wrote in a report last week.

The team has concurred on the Wyoming Livestock Board's proposal to end testing of cattle headed for slaughter. The state's program tests cattle for brucellosis in six counties.

Brucellosis can cause livestock to abort, and, in rare cases, can cause recurring fever in people who drink unpasteurized milk from infected cows.

The team recommended continued testing of breeding cattle, despite the low risk of infection.

``Although precautions are being taken to prevent commingling of elk and bison with cattle, the potential for contact is a reality and will likely exist well into the future,'' the team's report said.

The state has done a ``commendable job'' of increasing testing over the past year, and none of the 32,584 cattle tested this year were found to have brucellosis, the report said.

Riverton Livestock Auction Manager Steve Worton said less testing would benefit the ranching industry.

``We were hoping that we'd get out of it completely,'' he said. ``I don't know what we've really accomplished by it.''

The team also recommends identifying cattle with metal eartags to help officials trace the animals through slaughter. It ``strongly recommends'' mandatory vaccinations on calves statewide.

``The ramifications of brucellosis reach far beyond the six-county area of concern, and the brucellosis problem in wildlife is far beyond the control of ranchers in the affected area,'' the report said. ``Therefore, it is recommended that public funding be continued to support surveillance and control activities.''