March 7, 2008

Reminder provided as Minnesota's TB status is expected to change.

In an ongoing effort to help protect the health of Nebraska's livestock, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) would like to remind those importing cattle from Minnesota of expected additional import requirements.

According to Minnesota officials, the state recently discovered its fourth tuberculosis-infected herd within the last twelve months, which will likely downgrade Minnesota's current bovine Tuberculosis status to Modified Accredited (MA).

The MA status automatically triggers certain NDA Tuberculosis regulations. The regulations require all cattle imported into Nebraska from states certified with a MA Tuberculosis status to meet one of the following two criteria:

1. Originate from an accredited herd and obtain a permit for entry, list the accreditation number on the Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI), be individually identified on the CVI, and be tested negative to an official tuberculin test within 60 days prior to entry; or
2. Originate from a herd which has tested negative to an official whole-herd tuberculin test within 365 days prior to entry and obtain a permit for entry, be individually identified with identification listed on the CVI, have tested negative to an official tuberculin test within 60 days prior to entry, and be quarantined at destination until slaughter or retested negative to an official tuberculin test.

"We encourage all producers importing cattle into Nebraska to be aware of the requirements," said State Veterinarian Dr. Dennis Hughes. "These safeguards are in place to help protect the health of our animals, as well as our livestock industry."

The above regulations will be effective immediately when Minnesota's Tuberculosis status is downgraded.

"We are putting this reminder out now in order to prepare livestock producers/importers of this important, pending change to their normal import practices," Dr. Hughes said.

The regulations are in addition to the current Nebraska Animal Importation Act. Individuals who are planning to import cattle into the state should contact the NDA, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) at 800-572-2437 for more information.

NDA will issue another notice once Minnesota's status change is made official.

News Release
Nebraska Department of Agriculture