Quarantine releases could take months

By Justin Seward
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency provided an update on the TB Bovine outbreak on Feb. 3 and there hasn’t been any new confirmed cases in the past month. The CFIA is also reporting they have been experiencing delays on cultural testing and there will likely be no release of the quarantine until possibly the fall.
According to CFIA, the agency has completed the depopulation of all mature cattle from the 18 farming operations that were infected and has conducted screening tests on all these animals. Additionally, all of the cattle that reacted to the initial screening tests were subjected to enhanced post mortem examination. The number of infected cattle still remains at six, infected herds one, approximately 58 premises quarantined affecting about 28,000 animals. A total of eight sites have been released from quarantine.
There have been  no new reported cases of a TB Bovine outbreak.
Furthermore, the focus now will shift to  tracing activity to decrease the spread of the disease and will commence in the fall because calving season has already began. This activity will help in reducing the stress on pregnant cows.
In late Nov. 2016, the province and Ottawa agreed to make up $16.7 million available to help regional producers with interim costs of having animal movement or sales restricted.
As of Feb. 3, 39 of 41 applications received has generated a payment of over $3 million through the 2016 Canada Alberta TB Bovine Assistance Initiative and ranchers are still encouraged to continue to submit their applications.