What’s the future for California beef cattle producers?
In last month’s column we alerted you that Tuberculosis (TB) had been discovered in a California dairy herd in June of this year. This herd, located in Tulare County, is a relatively large dairy herd (in excess of 3,500 animals) and the initial investigation has found dozens of cattle in that herd infected with the tuberculosis organism. Last month, Dr. Hamlen and Dr. Davidson-York authored an excellent review for this column on bovine tuberculosis. This included a general review of the disease in cattle, other ruminants, and humans. It also detailed some of the current problems that are being encountered across the nation in the attempt to eradicate TB. I would refer you to last month’s column for some of the basic information and this month we will try to answer some of the most frequent and important questions regarding TB in California. Will the outbreak of TB in the Tulare dairy herd affect all of California? The short answer is yes it may very well affect all of California, both
