Bovine TB Creating Big Headaches F or California Dairyman

By Ron Johnson Dairy Editor
Thursday, November 6, 2008 2:11 PM CST

A single case of bovine tuberculosis has drastically changed the life of California dairyman Doug Maddox. The owner of RuAnn Dairy and Maddox Dairy, near Riverdale, Calif., talked about his ordeal during last week’s policy summit of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) at Manitowoc.

The disease could cost the federal government $60 million if his herds are killed, or “depopulated,” the farmer said. What’s more, Maddox, a breeder of registered Holsteins, is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars more by no longer being able to sell cattle.

His troubles began April 25 of this year. That’s when an eight-year-old cow that was “born and raised” at RuAnn Dairy tested positive for tuberculosis (TB). That cow tested negative for the disease in 2002 and 2003, Maddox said.

Immediately, the USDA quarantined his herds. On June 1, the culturing of bacteria from the infected cow’s lymph nodes was finished. The DNA that was found does not match the DNA from a different herd in California that was found to have TB in it in 2007, Maddox noted. Nor did the DNA match that from “any previous California TB case,” he added.

So the source of the Maddox herd infection is officially “unknown.” But the dairyman made it clear that he firmly believes TB got into his cattle by way of an employee.

Transmission from people to cows is not supposed to be possible, Maddox acknowledged. The type of TB that afflicts people is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, while the strain infecting cattle is Mycobacterium bovis. Both attack the respiratory system.

Maddox said that “95 percent” of his 200 employees are “Mexican,” and that TB is “endemic in Mexico.” While he checks potential employees’ paperwork, to try to make sure they are in the U.S. legally, it’s possible that at least one employee was here illegally, Maddox said. And if someone enters the nation illegally, no health test gets administered.

Both his dairies had been certified as TB free until April, Maddox said. He called his “the most tested herd in California history,” adding that it was “improbable” that the disease would exist there, “but not impossible.”

Government investigators came to the Maddox farms looking for TB because of a case in December in 2007 at two other farms. In all, 5,000 cattle were killed between the two.

Investigators began to track down all the cattle that entered those farms, along with all the cattle that had left. The trail led them to Maddox Dairy because it had sold them four heifers for 4-H projects.

His herds were the last tested in the investigation of the other two farms. Maddox said that was because, “They thought we wouldn’t have anything (TB reactors).”

Under the USDA’s “trace in, trace out” method, all the animals Maddox sold to other farms are being tracked and slaughtered, he explained. In addition, those farms have their cattle TB tested.

RuAnn Dairy and Maddox Dairy do not have many animals to trace in n just 14 head purchased in the last few years. But the trace out work is much more extensive.

Maddox said his farms have sold approximately 14,000 cows, heifers and bulls to farms in 15 states during the past five years. In all, that means some 400,000 head will have to be tested for TB, because of all the intertwining contacts of the cattle he sold with others.

The USDA, he said, has 70 veterinarians working full time on the tracing and testing. The cost of all that work, Maddox added, will total $200 million.

Another large bill would be approximately $60 million for his 15,000 head if he decides to depopulate, Maddox continued. Slaughtering his cattle would eliminate the fruits of much of his 51 years of breeding registered Holsteins. Maddox founded RuAnn Dairy in 1957. It was, in his words, “the original mega dairy.” His second farm, Maddox Dairy, was founded in 1982.

But the USDA, Maddox said, is loath to see him slaughter his 15,000 head. That’s because the department would have to pay him $60 million in TB indemnity money, with each animal carrying an average value of $4,000. He said the USDA fears the public outcry that would result from paying one farmer $60 million of taxpayers’ money.

Still, he might opt for that, Maddox said, noting that he is 73 and might not want to choose the “test-and-removal” plan that is an alternative to depopulating. That plan keeps his herds quarantined, keeps testing the cattle, and lasts four to seven years.

Maddox, who is president of Holstein Association USA and the California Holstein Association, said he is mulling another alternative. He said he might ask the USDA to let him sell his cattle to private dairy farmers in Mexico for perhaps $35 million.

Changes made

In the meantime, Maddox has changed a few things at his farms, to lessen the chances of more diseases coming in. All employees and potential employees are now tested for not only TB, but for alcohol and other drugs.

Cattle that die or have TB-like symptoms are checked for the disease.

Maddox has boosted the farms’ biosecurity, too. The number of visitors to his dairies had declined from 50,000 annually to 2,500 now, he said.

Visitors either stay on their tour bus or stay on concrete, Maddox explained. All alley gates have locks on them; visitors are not allowed to enter the pens; and they are not allowed to touch the cattle.

Suggestions for USDA

Maddox had suggestions for the USDA. He said the dairy industry should be required to use radio frequency identification (RFID). And, he said the USDA should launch a “strategic plan for the control of infectious diseases on dairies.”

Plus, Maddox continued, the USDA needs to “control (the movement of) Mexican feeder cattle into the U.S.” But most important, he said, “We need immigration reform that allows workers to come into the U.S. on a legitimate program that includes testing for drugs and tuberculosis.”

The USDA also needs to “reevaluate” its TB control program, Maddox added. He called for scrapping the herd depopulation program and only slaughtering cattle that react positively to the TB test.

As for the problem of TB in wildlife, such as deer, he said, “I don’t know how you’re going to solve that problem.”

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