Brucellosis Revisited
I will be in Helena to meet with the Executive Branch. Does anyone have any questions (regarding brucellosis, please) that they’d like me to ask?
I will be in Helena to meet with the Executive Branch. Does anyone have any questions (regarding brucellosis, please) that they’d like me to ask?
September 30th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I don’t really have any questions, either, but if they ask you for any advice or input or whatever they call it this year I suggest that you telll them that the state needs to have someone who keeps in touch with and informs the parties who are holding the cattle about what is happening. IMO the “buffer zone” is a dumb idea. The powers that be need to get serious about solving the problem of infected wild life but the state of Montana won’t be able to do that alone. Don’t get your hopes up. I doubt they want advice from a producer…after all, it is only your livelyhood. Are the neighbors going, too?
October 1st, 2007 at 7:39 am
I’ve got a few questions. I would like to know what was done with the offspring. If everything is on the up and up, why is the process such a secret? Were the calves really shipped (risking possible exposure on the road or in an auction yard) and when they are sold who takes the profit? If there is a profit, why isn’t is shared with the herd owner since it was a forced sale for a non-negotiable price.
October 1st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
There was no secret, Jon. The calves went to California in sealed trucks and were slaughtered.
We owners took “the profit”. We were paid by APHIS.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:24 am
Oh, okay. I remember reading some of the articles in the Gazette that made the process seem pretty shady, guess it wasn’t so shady.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:52 am
No questions here either, Karen. Just wanted to wish you good luck at the meeting and hope you get some answers. Also, wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed your company last night.
Hang in there!
October 4th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Brucellosis came from European cattle.
The only know transmitters back to cattle is elk which are repeatedly documented to transmit.
The biggest brucellosis breeding pit in the world is the elk feedlots in Wyoming.
Cattle and bison grazed in the same pastures for forty years in Grand Teton National Park and there was not a single incident of transmission from bison to cattle.
If anyone doubts this, and actually has documented proof that bison can transmit then you are the person that Montana’s Department of Livestock has been looking for for ten years - because it doesn’t exist.
Brucellosis goes around and around in the Yellowstone ecosystem but the blame for this disease is continually not put where it belongs: on the introduction of European cattle in the region and on the elk feedlots but the blame, in that circle, miraculously stops at the one species that competes with cattle for grass and in Gallatin National Forest, a forest created as migratory territory for Yellowstone animals in the winter, wildlife is continuously chased off and killed to make room for welfare ranchers.
Take your cow cult and split; stop making the ecology suffer for your own lack of willingness to adapt to your environment. You are the ugly Americans that embarrass us all abroad.
*
October 4th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Eric - I said much of what you’re saying in the original post.
Except for the ugly American part, thanks.
October 5th, 2007 at 6:32 am
And so what is accomplished? Nothing? More political posturing but no movement of any kind towards finding a real solution to the problem. Not your problem or the Morgans’ problem but the BIG problem. Oh, and Eric, it wasn’t the Morgans or Karen who caused the problem. They just had to deal with it. A hit like Karen took will take many years to recover from. Will the Morgans even get one chance to recover? Not the way the paper reads.
October 5th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Damn, Had I had better driving conditions, deer, rain, etc., I would have made that meeting with Karen and Craig. As it turned out Karen and I had a chance for a late lunch and I was filled in with the details of the meeting. Suffice it to say “they are working on it” does little to actually solve the problem unfortunately for them.
My meeting about my VA disability fight went much the same at Reberg’s office - more of the same they are working on it!
So IF I can hang on I may be able to keep my house and belongings but then again maybe not. As in all government the wheels turn OH so SLOWLY.
However I doubt Karen will give up and I surely will not either.
October 14th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Karen, it was nice to meet you in 3-d. I still am in shock about this whole cow thing — it’s just makes no sense. But then what does these days?
Will you update your site? Get new cows?
Take care — and keep in touch.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Karen; It seems to me that the Morgans are the ones to ‘thank’ for the demise of your cattle. Since they brought in unvaccinated cattle. How were they allowed to get away with that?
The Morgans have put this entire state at risk, NOT the elk nor the bison. And they have succeeded in pitting the ‘advocates’ against the ranchers. All this concern for a ranching family that blatantly ignored the laws. Maybe the vaccine isn’t 100% effective, but NOT vaccinating is completely idiotic.
My heart goes out to you for ‘trusting’ a supposed good neighbor, and in so doing they stabbed YOU in the back. All this public outcry seems to be put for the WRONG family and for the WRONG reasons.
I no longer have ANY sympathy for the Morgans. THEY brought this on themselves, I do, however; hope Karen, that you get compensated for your loss. The Morgans should be ashamed of the dissention they have caused within the state and for destroying YOUR cattle. They should apologize to the entire state for their negligence!
October 18th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Debra, this is something that I have heard before - and I have heard quite a bit since May 18th. There has been much information, disinformation, speculation and rumor. Folks have picked up on a piece of info here & there & ran with it. Perusing the comments on any online Billings Gazette article (on any subject) proves that people don’t read everything. How could we possibly read all that has been written? Especially those of us who work and do not have the luxury of sitting at the keyboard for hours? It’s good for people to question things. Especially if they are honestly looking for answers with an open mind. However, many people have what I call the “I’m right, you’re wrong, and I’m not listening to you” attitude.
The Morgans and the Malcolms have always had vaccination programs in place for their cattle. You are calling them idiotic for not vaccinating. They do vaccinate. Yes, the Morgans owned some Corriente cows. They were “bought cows”. Those cows were not bangs vaccinated before they purchased them. They cannot be vaccinated after reaching a certain age. You ask “How were they allowed to get away with that?”. It was and is perfectly legal - what exactly do you believe they got away with? Do some research and you’ll find that many cows in the state are not vaccinated. There were no laws blatantly ignored. My late husband insisted on a vaccination program, as do I. Many ranchers in Montana do not. Vaccinating for brucellosis is not mandatory in Montana. I have read and heard countless times since May that it is the law. That simply is not true. It is only a requirement if you are selling cattle out of state. There will be a few cows in most herds without a readable tattoo, she will not be able to be sold outside Montana, either.
I have “neighbors” who do not bangs vaccinate their heifers. I have “neighbors” who do not vaccinate or worm their cattle. I have “neighbors” who might feed their cattle one mineral/salt block a year - whether they need it or not.
Two years ago, during beet harvest, I left a message for a neighbor. I had seen one of my heifer calves in with some of his cattle. I gave him her tag number and asked that he keep an eye out for her. He runs cattle in Montana and Wyoming. On another Lovell parts run I spotted her again. I called and told him about her that time. Later that fall, Allan spoke with him, too. Shortly after that we ended up living at the hospital. Jim and Sandy did return a stray pair of ours at that time, but we never did find out what happened to Orange tag #14. These things can happen to us small operators as well as the big guys. Allan and I returned many strays to their owners. Can you say “Open Range”? Sarpy’s calves had a happy ending. We consistently “lost” one black bull every year from 2000 until 2004. We never found as much as a bone.
Last November, I received a call from a neighbor that he had one of my pairs. How could that be? My cattle were at home. He is just north of the Wyoming state line. Remember Orange tag #14? She was all grown up and with her new daughter. Obviously not bangs vaccinated, since she survived in the hills on her own. And much too late now. This is simply an explanation on how a herd with a vaccination plan in place can have some cattle that fall outside that plan.
The original “hot cow” was a bangs vaccinated Black Angus. It has been proven that the strain of brucellosis she had was not from a bovine source.
We know that the bison are not passing this disease to livestock.
The test for brucellosis requires a blood sample. This sample is checked. If there is a questionable reading there can be three subsequent tests done on that sample.
The other six cows that tested “positive” - were only considered “positive” because of subsequent testing. Those numbers would not have been considered positive normally. They were called “positive” because they had been exposed to the original hot cow.
They included three bangs vaccinated Black Angus, and three Corrientes that were not vaccinated. They were healthy cows with strong calves.
October 20th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
KKM
I didn’t call the Morgans idiotic. I simply stated that “Maybe the vaccine isn’t 100% effective, but NOT vaccinating is completely idiotic.” I guess if the shoe fits…. But I’m not calling anyone names. They are in a high risk area around Emigrant. Why would anyone want to take the chance of purchasing Unvaccinated cattle and bringing into a high risk area?
Just because something is legal does not make it ethical. Why can’t people use their heads? Not all of the State is in a ‘danger’ zone for brucellosis either. Seems to me that people surrounding the Park would want to take EVERY precaution available to them. Bringing in UNvaccinated cattle isn’t being very cautious.
I still feel that they were mistreated, in the fact that APHIS destroyed an entire herd. There are a lot of ‘what-ifs’ out there. I can’t help but wonder if Karen would have pastured her cattle with them had she known all the facts.
As has been stated before APHIS needs to be questioned on their policies. I can’t see the sense in slaughtering healthy animals because of some minute chance. Why their personal Beef steer?